We welcome the stories of your lives that will help and inspire other men in the body of Christ!
The Charismatic “Smackdown”
By J. Lee Grady
"Do you want the real power of the Holy Spirit? Then don’t pretend by pushing people to the floor when you pray."
I love it when the Holy Spirit shows up in church gatherings. Whenever sinners are converted, backsliders repent, bodies are healed or self-centered believers are broken by God, we see evidence of the Spirit’s work. But I don’t appreciate it when people fabricate spiritual manifestations to prove God is using them.
A few years ago a popular charismatic preacher spoke at a meeting I attended at a church in Orlando, Fla. After his message he asked all ordained ministers to run to the platform so he could lay hands on them. Immediately this man’s team of beefy bodyguards began grabbing people, dragging them onto the stage and holding them in place until the evangelist could pray for everyone.
“We seem to have become masters of mixing the anointing with other ingredients. The charismatic movement has become an embarrassing mixture of flesh and spirit.”
I felt queasy about this spectacle. It resembled a charismatic version of World Wrestling Entertainment: lots of smacking noises, falling bodies and cheers from the excited crowd. We Christians seem to love a good show, even if it is staged!
I cringed as I watched the bizarre theatrics. But before I could move to the side of the auditorium, one of the evangelist’s 220-pound goons strong-armed me onto the platform. When I looked up, the wild-eyed preacher was heading toward me with his arms flailing. I tried to duck, but when he got close enough he shouted “in the name of Jesus” and slapped me across the face. I tumbled to the floor.
My face and neck were stinging with pain. I had not been slain in the spirit, as some observers assumed. I had been assaulted. This man used his own strength to make people think he had imparted a special anointing to me. All he did was give me a headache.
Because of this embarrassing smackdown, I decided I would never push people during prayer, not even gently, or do anything to manipulate the Holy Spirit’s power. I want the real thing. I don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit by pretending.
Why do some Christians insist on pushing people during prayer? Some do it out of ignorance or because they have seen famous evangelists doing it. Others push to force spiritual results. They think if enough bodies end up on the floor, people will assume God showed up.
I know there are times when people can be so overcome by the Holy Spirit’s presence that they become weak in the knees. King David trembled in God’s presence, and the priests in Solomon’s day could not stand in the temple because of the heaviness of God’s glory (see 1 Kings 8:10-11). But there is absolutely no biblical precedent for forcing people to fall.
In Exodus 30:22-29, God gave Moses the recipe for the holy anointing oil that was to be used in the tabernacle. Each ingredient— cinnamon, myrrh, fragrant cane and cassia—had to be crushed first and then blended in olive oil. All five components represent Jesus, who was crushed for us. Moses was warned that the oil was never to be misused, nor were any ingredients to be left out or substituted.
God commands us never to cheapen the oil of the anointing, mix foreign substances into it, dilute it or create our own version of it. The Holy Spirit is holy! People in the Bible who tampered with the holy recipe (such as Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who offered strange fire on God’s altar in Lev. 10:1-2) suffered serious consequences.
Today I fear we have blended the anointing with other ingredients. The charismatic movement has become an embarrassing mixture. Some preachers dangle God’s promises over people’s heads and offer elusive promises of prosperity "if people will call this number now and give a donation." Others fake certain body movements to make people think they are super-charged by God. Others mix exotic anointing oils (on sale now for only $12.99!) or they create anointed candles, suggesting that certain scents can trigger the Spirit’s power. This borders on witchcraft.
Please search your heart. Do you push people to the floor when you pray for them, rather than trusting the Lord to do His work? Are you trusting in Him, or in the arm of the flesh?
Have you lied to the Holy Ghost by faking the anointing? Have you mixed your own version of the anointing oil, adding exotic substances that are not of Christ? Have you become addicted to sensational experiences, always craving a sign yet never satisfied with Jesus alone?
How sad that a movement that began in the Spirit has wandered so far from the holiness of God. He sees through our charade. Let’s repent of our childishness, throw out the fake oils, stop making false claims, and quit abusing and manipulating people to make ourselves look spiritual.
><> February 2, 2012; Source: Revival List
 |
Is Bible Prophecy Important Today?
By Mark Wells
Many Christians today do not study Bible prophecy, thinking that all they need to do is believe in Christ Jesus and they will be fine. But I want to show in this article how important Bible prophecy is to us today, and why we should be studying it to find out the truth about last day events, and the deceptions that Satan has in store for the world.
All Christians should be studying the Word of God with an eagerness and desire to learn more about our precious Saviour and His revelation in the Bible. The majority of Christians who don't study prophecy, don't study it because they think it's too complicated, with it being full of symbolic language. And many don't feel it necessary to study prophecy, as they think they just need to "believe" in Christ and they will be ok.
Well, in the beginning of the book of Revelation it says that it is the "revelation of Jesus Christ". So Christ had Revelation written for a good reason. It is to "reveal" something about Christ Jesus and the things that are to come to pass. Should we not find out about His revelation? I think we should. The word of prophecy has been opened to us now in these last days and God has given us an understanding of it. After all, what would be the point of God giving us prophecy in the Bible if He wasn't going to reveal it to us? It would be useless. But thankfully He has revealed the truth about it.
If we look at a prophecy that Jesus gave Himself, then we can see how important it is for us to understand. In Matthew 24, Jesus prophesied that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. Not just attacked and broken down, but completely flattened, having not one stone left upon another. Jesus said that the His people should flee to the mountains when they see the sign that this is about to happen. Now in AD70, the Roman army came against the city of Jerusalem, but withdrew unexpectedly. Some of God's people (Christians) saw this as the sign to flee, and they did, but over 1 MILLION Jews stayed in the city, not heeding the prophecy of Jesus and the Roman army came back and destroyed the city as Jesus said. Those 1 MILLION Jews were killed because they did not heed the prophecy of Jesus. So does this teach us something? Yes, it wouldn't surprise me if there were many "believers" in that city, but only those who heeded the warning contained in the prophecy of Jesus were saved!
Bible prophecy today is backed up by hundreds and thousands of years of validated history. Take a look at what the apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 1:19... 'We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.' ..... We need to heed the word of Bible prophecy. Why? Because we leave ourselves open to be deceived if we don't take any interest in it. Satan is roaming around seeking whom he can deceive, and he is the one who doesn't want you to study Bible prophecy, because as Revelation states, it is the REVELATION of Jesus Christ. Of course Satan doesn't want you to have the revelation of Christ. Which is why he has brought about so many different theories on Bible prophecy to keep people away from it.
Let me give you just one reason why Bible prophecy is so important for us to study today. In Revelation 13, we find two beasts that play major roles in the end times and cause the world to take the "mark of the beast". And in Revelation 14, we find three angels giving a warning message to the whole world that anyone who takes the mark of the beast will receive the full wrath of God and will be forever lost!
There will be only two groups of people in the last days. Those who take the mark of the beast and those who receive the seal of God. And it will only be those with the seal of God who are saved and enjoy eternal life with Christ Jesus and the saints. So is it important to study about this and find out what the mark of the beast is? Most definately.
Some of the most solemn warnings are found in Bible prophecy, and we need to find out what these warning are about and heed them. Please study the prophecies contained in the Bible and ask God to guide you and help you understand them, as prophecy is very important for us today.
About the Author - Mark is the owner of a number of Christian websites and he enjoys writing articles about Christian beliefs. He has been a keen Bible student for over 15 years. For more from this author log on to http://www.end-times-prophecy.org or http://www.endtimes-bibleprophecy.com
><> January 26, 2012; Source: Faith Writers
New Recession Threatens The Globe
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The OECD's index of leading indicators for China, India, Brazil, Canada, Britain and the eurozone have all tipped below the warning line of 100, with the pace of the decline in Europe exceeding the onset of the Great Contraction in early 2008.
Professor Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the IMF, rattled nerves earlier this week by warning the world is "looking straight into the face of a great depression".
The grim data is coming thick and fast. Japan's machinery orders fell 8.2pc in September as the post-Fukushima rebound lost steam and the delayed effects of the super-strong yen began to bite. Export orders have been declining for eight months. "Outright contraction is possible in the quarters ahead," said Mark Cliffe from ING.
Exports in the Philippines dropped 27pc in September, the sharpest fall in two years. Korea's exports have showed sharply, caused by a 20pc slide in shipments to Europe. Manufacturing has been contracting for the past three months.
Christine Lagarde, the IMF's chief, warned in Asia that "there are dark clouds gathering in the global economy. Countries need to prepare for any storm that might reach their shores". She said "adverse feedback loops" are at work as financial stress and economic woes feed on each other.
China's carefully managed soft landing has turned uncomfortably hard, with ripple effects through the commodity markets. Spot iron-ore prices have dropped 30pc since July to $126 a tonne. Copper prices have fallen 20pc since August.
Barclays Capital said the risks of contagion to China has become serious. The bank is monitoring the country's "key high frequency data" for early warning signs of the sort of sudden crash in metals demand seen during the Lehman crisis...
"The credit spigot has been turned off in the US," said Chris Whelan from Institutional Risk Analytics...
Fiscal and monetary stimulus has disguised the underlying sickness in the debt-laden economies of the West over the past two years. This heavy make-up has at last faded away, exposing the awful visage beneath.
It is a delicate moment. The risk of a synchronised slump in Europe, the US and East Asia is bad enough. What is chilling is to face such a possibility with the monetary pedal already pushed to the floor in the US, UK and Japan.
Worse yet is to do so with Europe spiraling into institutional self- destruction...
><> January 12, 2012
Christianity In America
By Steven E Coffman
At the infamous Scopes Trial of 1925 Christianity in America was dealt a serious blow. After the Scopes Trial ended, Christians retreated from American public life with their tails tucked between their legs. Then, over the next 50 years Christian Americans stayed almost silent and allowed Secular Humanism to replace Christianity as the official religion of America.
The result, our cherished freedoms to express our Christian faith eroded before our eyes. Judges began banning nativity scenes, retailers renaming Christmas trees " Holiday trees," public schools forbidding our children from having group prayer or from even singing Christmas carols. The quality of our Christian education also sank to new depths.
It was not until 1975 and the "born-again" era ignited that Christians began to re-emerge and re-engage the American culture once again. Christians have made progress since 1975. Many Christian American ministries and Christian American organizations have risen out of this "Christian Reawakening" to challenge and debunk the theory of evolution, to challenge the ACLU, and to take on the 14 percent of those that do not believe God exists.
Yet, with all the ground we have taken back from the secular humanists and the non-believers, there is still work to be done. If the 86 percent of Americans who believe in God want America to truly be restored to the Christian American nation it once was, we first need to teach and prepare this generation, and the generations that follow to recapture their Christian American future.
Since 1999 I have also noticed that some Christians seem to be paralyzed by an obsession with life in the "Last Days." Because of this notion some Christians have lost sight of our fight to restore our nation to the same Christian American values it once held in our government institutions and as a way of life demonstrated publicly in our culture. These Christians should refocus on what it means to truly be a Christian in America!
Over 200 years ago, our "Constitution" made the following statement:
"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
Should we abandon what are Constitution says for Christian Americans to do? Are we to forsake our heritage? The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said:
"Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."
He made this statement to reinforce what are Constitution instructs us to do as Americans to help ensure that our Christian heritage, values, and way of life will never be changed.
Are we so preoccupied with our daily lives that we will just stand by and stay silent, as the Christian Americans once did for 50 years following the Scopes Trial, and continue to let our America's values, heritage, and way of life erode? Remember, in a Democracy the majority rules, but only if each and every person of that majority takes action and speaks out, can we exercise our Democratic rights and truly make a difference.
In his Inaugural Address on Friday, January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy said, "United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder." Then later in his speech he goes on to say, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country."
And so my fellow Christian Americans, what are you going to do for your country today?
><> January 3, 2012; Source: Christian Article Bank
“Iconoclasts” - An Insightful Word
By Robert I Holmes.
"Where, O where is the prophet? Where are the incandescent ones fresh from the holy place? Where is Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord?... the one with a terrible earnestness, the one totally otherworldly." - Leonard Ravenhill.
Ravenhill's words are reminiscent of a podcast I was listening to on my way to Sydney... It was a communication from the Banff Leadership Centre in Toronto Canada titled "Iconoclasts" outlining the role of men and women in organisations who shake things up.
They gave this definition of iconoclast: The breaker or destroyer of images or idols set up for veneration. A person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditions, institutions and error. You might be familiar with its synonym: Curmudgeon.
This idea, this concept of shaking the house, shattering the idols, attacking cherished beliefs is very much the life blood of Christianity, of early Christians and indeed, draws from their long heritage as recipients of faith from Israel. Peter, in describing his fellow believers said they were "sons of the prophets" (Acts 3:25) - for Peter faith meant being like the prophets of old.
Enter Moses
There are many iconoclasts in church history, some as far back as Moses in the Old Testament. He, looking forward as far as Peter was looking back, said he wished "that all God's people were prophets and that the Lord would pour his spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:29). Remember that Scripture defines Moses himself as a prophet (Deut. 34:10, Luke 24:27), and Moses prophesied of a time when one "likened unto Moses" would arise - Jesus himself (Acts 7:37).
So who is this man - this prophet after whom we are sons? Moses was the man: - who confronted Pharaoh - who split the Red Sea - whose enemies were swallowed by the sand - who saw God and lived - of whom God said, "Moses is my friend"!
This is the iconoclast. This is the prophet. This is Jesus all the way through his ministry. And where is the spirit of Moses in the church today? Where is the nature and character of Christ amongst Christian today? There are a number of facets to the prophetic that should be reflected in our lives including: being a forerunner; dealing with isolation; holding God's opinion above men's; going against the flow; dealing with rejection; being a recoverer and; driving for balance by being out of balance.
1. Forerunning
Prophetic people are forerunners. They come into things first. God deals with the church before he deals with the world (ref) and he deals with natural things before spiritual things (ref). Prophetic people in the church are even further ahead and as a result are quite out of step with the mainstream. They are often in the opposite phase. Happy when everyone else is sad, sad when everyone else is happy.
2. Dealing with isolation
Bring prophetic very often means having an unpopular message, and results in fierce isolation. You have to have a thick skin to say the unpopular thing. You might be a solitary figure rebuking a corrupt king. The one who rats out sin in the camp. The one who cares about what God cares about. However just because we are isolated does not mean we isolate ourselves. We seek out the brethren, we want companions. We resist being a loose canon or a law unto ourselves.
3. Holding God's opinion above men's
If we face heaven, and we care about heaven's opinion and perspective on things we will care more about God's opinion that peoples. We will seek to experience heaven's favour and not curry the favour of men. We will desire heaven's stamp of approval even at the expense of men's favouritism.
4. Going against the flow
Have you noticed that God has a very different set of priorities to us? He values integrity whilst the world pushes for sensuality; he desires honesty when the world wants duplicity; he aims for longevity when the world demands expediency. Prophetic people even find themselves going against the flow in church - and sadly sometimes even going against the prophetic flow!...
5. Dealing with rejection
Being out of step, being isolated, being a lone voice comes with rejection too. People do not just take kindly to your obstinate passion for truth and purpose, they buck against it. The donkey kicks against the goad, the horse bolts when spurred. So too people rebuke and rail against those who are prophetic...
However, we do not imbue the spirit of rejection. We do not walk around with a sour face, expectant of rejection - wishing it upon ourselves and provoking it from others. Rather we understand it is part of the call, a necessary companion on the journey. After all we are followers of Jesus: a man despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).
Instead, Jesus came into situations expectant of finding the Kingdom at work, and his Father at work, with work for him to do there (John 5:17).
6. Being a recoverer
"The function of the prophet has almost always been that of recovery." - T Austin Sparks
The prophetic person is not a maintainer, they come in to repair what is broken. Recovery is required after an accident or injury - people need rescue and decisive action is needed for triage. Recovery is needed after a loss or fall - lost things need to be found, people adrift at sea need to be rescued. Recovery is needed after a mop up campaign. The troops have gone through and the land needs to be restored. As a result, when all is well, prophetic people are quiet.
7. Driving for balance
"Prophets were not made for the status quo, they were made to bring things back to the middle. This means they stand for the extreme, to bring the church back to where she should be." -Brian Medway.
If the church gets imbalanced, or has forgotten a truth the prophet pushes back to recover it. They take an extreme view of stance, to bring the church back to centre. Which is why it seems that their message is unbalanced, because of necessity it is. But this contains a dilemma for us.
Once an issue has been championed, and accepted the church must move on, lest she camp in that imbalanced position. Nothing gets done when things stay the same. Movement is required - things grow by getting out of balance - but nothing remains if it stays unstable.
We quickly become false if we camp at and insist on an extreme.
Conclusion
This is the church, as sons of the prophets. This is the Christian following Jesus the prophet. They are...
-An iconoclast: standing for truth; standing against tradition.
- A forerunner: out of step and out of season.
-Solitary: but not a loner or a loose canon.
- Rejected: but without a spirit of rejection.
- A recoverer: to bring things back to wholeness.
-Unbalanced: extreme but not staying out there.
><> December 29, 2011; Source -
http://www.stormharvest.com.au/library/latest-in-library/2328-iconoclasts
Comments On The Islamic Antichrist By Joel Richardson
By Karl Kemp
I don't know much about Joel Richardson, the author of "The Islamic Antichrist." (This book, a second edition, was published by WND Books, copyright © 2009; a first edition with a different title was published in 2006.) Recently several Christians asked me what I thought about his end-time teaching. They recommended that I watch the Sid Roth "It's Supernatural" program (I had a footnote here in the original version of the article: Many Christians need to be warned, and warned again, that many things that are supernatural are not from God. Many miracles and revelations come from Satan and his kingdom of evil, and those miracles and revelations are carefully designed by the angel of light to look quite good. We must be humble and very carefully check out everything that is supernatural. First and foremost we must check everything against the Word of God, and we must humbly and continually seek God's wisdom and guidance, realizing that many demonic counterfeits are manifesting in our day. God has warned us!) where he interviewed Joel, and someone recently gave me a CD of a Glenn Beck program where he interviewed Joel. And now I have read Joel's book. He seems to be a sincere, intelligent, evangelical Christian, who believes the Bible, and he is an effective communicator.
When I quote the Bible in this paper, I use the New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition. Sometimes in this article I make comments in the middle of quotations using brackets [ ].
I don't mean to show disrespect for Joel, but I totally disagree with his major premise that Antichrist will turn out to be the Muslim Mahdi and that he will arise in the Muslim world, not in the revived Roman empire. Based on past experience and what I have heard from Christians so far, I expect Joel's teaching to cause considerable confusion among many Christians. As he knows, his viewpoint contradicts the very widely accepted viewpoint that Antichrist will arise in the revived Roman empire. I believe this very widely accepted viewpoint is clearly taught in the Bible, as I will demonstrate in this article.
Joel spends much of his time in this book discussing Muslim views on the end times, and he discusses the rise of Islam in our days. I agree that the Muslims will undoubtedly play some major roles in the last few years before the millennial kingdom begins. They could, for example, play a major role in the very intense warfare of the sixth trumpet (Rev. 9:13-21), which is (I believe) to be equated with the warfare of the short great tribulation. I believe the short great tribulation will take place during the one-month period that will take place between Antichrist's abomination of desolation and the return of Christ and the rapture in the middle of the seven-year period that is sometimes called Daniel's 70th week. (I had footnote here: On the abomination of desolation, you could start with #7 on page 13 of my book, "The Mid-Week Rapture." On the short great tribulation, you could start with #8 on page 14 of my book. On the mid-week return of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection and rapture of the saints at the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet, you could start with #s 11-13 on pages 15, 16 of my book. For a somewhat brief overview of what the Bible teaches on the end times I recommend my 24 broadcast (half-hour) audio series titled "The Mid-Week Rapture." The written text for those broadcasts is located on my internet site. Google to Karl Kemp Teaching.)
Even if you disagree with me on the timing of the rapture, etc., you will still want to read this article. You will be able to fully follow what I say in this article about Joel's end time viewpoints and why I have to disagree with him. Besides that, I'm confident that many of my readers will be convinced that the mid-week rapture viewpoint is correct if they will take the time to seriously consider that viewpoint.
I am not, of course, making an attempt in this rather brief article to address everything that Joel says in his 282 page book. I have just picked several key items to discuss, but I believe I say enough to demonstrate that his major premise is wrong, for one major thing.
Joel doesn't speak all that much about what the Bible teaches on the end times in the book, but more often than not I disagree with what he does say on that topic. However, sometimes he is teaching views that are held by many Christians, but not when he teaches that Antichrist will turn out to be the Muslim Mahdi, who will not arise in the revived Roman empire. For one thing, Joel doesn't teach that we will be raptured before Antichrist begins his super-evil reign where he, for one thing, overpowers the saints for three and one-half years. (I believe all true Christians who will have been saved before that time will be raptured in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, and that Antichrist will overpower Christians who will be converted after the rapture, which will center in the repentant end-time remnant of Israel.) Several times Joel refers to David Pawson, who teaches the end-of-the-week rapture.
You can learn a lot about Muslim beliefs from this book, including the fact that they put a very high priority on their beliefs regarding the Last Days. "Among the Major Signs, the most anticipated and central sign that Muslims await is the coming of a man known as the Mahdi" (page 21). His coming is the first Major Sign. The Mahdi's reign, which will probably last for seven years according to Muslim traditions, will take over the world for Islam; all who do not convert will be removed by judgment.
Muslims believe that the Bible includes some true accounts of what was said and what happened; other accounts that need to be corrected (like where the Bible says that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, but the Muslims say it was Ishmael), and other accounts that are blasphemous (like those that deal with the deity of Christ, or the Trinity, or the atoning death of Christ).
Joel bases a lot on a Muslim tradition regarding a seven-year peace agreement. (That was the primary thing that caught my attention when I heard Glenn Beck interviewing Joel. I wanted to learn more about this peace agreement.) For Joel this is strong evidence that the Antichrist of the Bible and the Muslim Mahdi are to be equated. I'll quote part of what Joel says on the seven-year peace agreement on pages 28, 29, then I'll make some comments. "While there is more than one tradition regarding the nature and timing of the Mahdi's ascendancy to power, one particular hadith places this event at the time of a final peace agreement between the Arabs and the Romans. ('Romans' refers to Christians, or, more generally, the West.) Although this peace agreement is made with the Romans, it is presumably mediated through a Jew from the priestly line of Aaron. The peace agreement will be made for a period of seven years. ...
It appears that the period of this seven-year peace agreement will likewise be the period of Mahdi's reign. While a few traditions specify that Mahdi will reign on the earth for as much as eight or possibly nine years, most traditions state that his reign will last seven years...."
For one thing, I have a big problem with the idea that this seven-year peace agreement is to be equated with the Bible's seven-year treaty of Dan. 9:27 that Antichrist will make, or will confirm, with Israel. They don't seem to have much in common, except for the seven years. As I mentioned, Joel believes that the Antichrist will turn out to be the Muslim Mahdi and that he will arise in the Muslim world, not in the revived Roman empire. Antichrist a great Muslim leader? I don't think so! For one thing, there is a very solid Biblical basis to say that Antichrist will arise in the revived Roman empire:
See Daniel 9:26, for example; it says (in part), "the people of the prince [or, ruler] who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." The Romans fulfilled this prophecy when they destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in AD70. So, "the people of the prince [or, ruler] who is to come" in Dan. 9:26 are the Romans. "The prince [or, ruler] who is to come" is Antichrist, who is spoken of in Dan. 9:27, and he is called "the prince [or, ruler] of the covenant" in Dan. 11:22. The words "prince [or, ruler] of the covenant" in Dan. 11:22 build on Dan. 9:26, 27, with the word "prince [or, ruler]" being used in Dan. 9:26 and the word "covenant" being used in Dan. 9:27. Also, it is significant that the prophecies of the various world empires in Daniel chapters 2, 7 and Rev. 17:8-13 demonstrate that the world empire that follows the Roman empire is the revived Roman empire.
Daniel chapters 2 and 7 demonstrate how closely connected the Roman empire and the revived Roman empire are by lumping them together as one empire, which is very reasonable since they are both Roman. It would not be reasonable, however, to lump together as one empire the ancient Roman empire and an end-time Muslim empire. Joel believes that the world empire that follows the Roman empire in Rev. 17:9-11 is the Turkish/Ottoman (Muslim) empire, which will be revived/restored under the Mahdi and become the next and last (the eighth) empire of Rev. 17:11. We'll discuss Rev. 17:9-11 after we discuss Daniel chapters 2 and 7. (I had a footnote here: Actually Rev. 17:10, 11 mention kings [rulers], not empires/kingdoms, but the empires were mentioned in 17:9 [the "heads" and "mountains" of Rev. 17:9 both serve a symbols for empires/kingdoms], and the rulers of the empires and the empires go together [see Dan. 2:37-39, for example].)
In Daniel chapter 2 it is very widely recognized that the iron legs of the statue represent the Roman world empire and the feet of the statue made of iron and clay represent the revived Roman world empire of the end times. The two empires are very closely connected, for one thing, by the iron in the legs and in the feet. Daniel chapter 7 builds on Daniel chapter 2. In Dan. 7:7 the beast, with its iron teeth (note the iron here that corresponds with the iron in Daniel chapter 2) represents the same two empires lumped together, but in Daniel chapter 7 all the emphasis is on the revived Roman empire, which (as we learn as chapter 7 continues) is eventually ruled over by the little horn who grows with a supernatural growth to become Antichrist.
I'll quote Rev. 17:10, 11 and make some comments in brackets: "and they are seven kings; five have fallen [referring to the rulers of the first five world empires and their empires, which are the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Greek world empires], and one is [referring to the ruler of the Roman empire and the empire (the sixth empire), which existed when the apostle John wrote the book of Revelation about AD95], the other has not yet come [referring to Antichrist and the revived Roman empire]; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. (11) The beast which was and is not [These words build on Rev. 17:8; Antichrist (and his empire) is the beast "which was and is not." The words "is not" speak of the time when he is gone from the scene, having been killed; but as Rev. 17:8 goes on to show, he will come up out of the abyss, which means that he will come back from the dead. In Rev. 11:7 we also read of Antichrist coming back from the dead with the words, "the beast that comes up out of the abyss." Revelation 11:7 goes on to show that Antichrist will kill the two prophets/witnesses after he comes back from the dead.] is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven [I prefer, "and is out of [or, from] the seven." The eighth king (Antichrist) with his kingdom emerges out of, or from, and is a continuation of, the seventh world empire.
Gigantic changes take place for Antichrist in the middle of Daniel's 70th week. He comes back from the dead in time to kill the two prophets three and one-half days before the rapture. His coming back from the dead is a gigantic change. Even more significant, the devil gives Antichrist "his power and his throne and great authority" right in the middle of the seven years (see Rev. 13:2), and the ten horns, the ten rulers of the revived Roman empire, "give their power and authority to the beast" (to Antichrist) right in the middle of the seven years (see Rev. 17:12, 13). At that time Antichrist will be ready to begin his super-evil three and one-half year reign. That reign will be so evil and powerful that it deserves to be considered a different empire, an eighth empire.
God will not have lost control. Antichrist will come in accordance with God's plans (see, for example, Dan. 8:19; 11:36; Zech. 11:15-17; and Rev. 17:16, 17). Antichrist's reign will come to an abrupt end at the end of Daniel's 70th week, when the Lord Jesus will remove him by judgment (see Rev. 19:19-21).
Revelation 17:9-11 prophesy of the Roman and revived Roman empires as the sixth and seventh empires. When the book of Revelation was written it was reasonable to separate the Roman and revived Roman empires into two empires, since the Roman empire already existed at that time and the revived Roman empire was still in the (distant) future. When the book of Daniel was written, the Roman world empire was still hundreds of years in the future.
In Dan. 7:7 the combined Roman and revived Roman empire was called "a fourth beast." In Rev. 17:10 the Roman empire is the sixth empire and the revived Roman empire the seventh. The difference is explained by the fact that Rev. 17:9-11 included the two world empires of the Bible (the Egyptian and Assyrian empires) that existed before the Babylonian world empire, which was the empire that existed at the time Daniel received the revelations contained in his chapters 2 and 7. (I had a footnote: For more details, see the chapters in my book that discuss Daniel chapters 2 and 7. On Rev. 17:8-13 see pages 281-284 of my book, and see on those verses in my "Paper on Revelation 14:6-19:21," which is located, with most of my papers, on my internet site; Google to Karl Kemp Teaching.
As I mentioned, Rev. 17:12, 13 prophesy of the ten horns (the ten rulers) of the revived Roman empire, who give their power and authority to Antichrist in the middle of the seven-year period. (I had a footnote here: Revelation chapter 13 [especially see 13:5], for example, shows that Antichrist's super-evil reign will start in the middle of Daniel's 70th week and last for three and one-half years.) They will reign with him (and under him) throughout the second half of Daniel's 70th week. It is significant that we already knew about the ten horns from Dan. 7:7, 20, 24. Daniel 7:24 even spoke of the ten horns (of the revived Roman empire) arising out of the Roman empire, which further confirms that the seventh world empire is closely related to the sixth world empire, the Roman empire. The really important point for our present purposes is that seventh world empire (or the eighth) is not a Muslim empire.
In chapter 10 Joel argues that the seventh empire of Rev. 17:9-11 isn't the revived Roman empire but is the Turkish/Ottoman (Muslim) empire. That is a gigantic difference! Joel acknowledges that "the most common belief...held almost universally by Bible teachers is that the Antichrist's empire will be a revived Roman empire" (page 94). Joel goes on to say that the eighth empire (of Rev. 17:11) will be the revived/restored Muslim empire under the Mahdi. (Keep in mind that Joel believes that the Mahdi will fulfill the role of the Antichrist of the Bible.) I am quite sure, as I mentioned, that the eighth empire represents Antichrist's empire as it will exist throughout the second half of Daniel's 70th week, after he begins his super-evil three and one-half year reign right in the middle of the seven years. Daniel 7:21, 25; 12:7 confirm that Antichrist's super-evil reign, when he will, for one thing, attack the saints, will take place throughout the second half of Daniel's 70th week.
On page 37 Joel says that "the Bible establishes the fact that the Antichrist will be a spiritual leader whose authority will be recognized worldwide," and he goes on to mention his "role as a universal religious leader" and similar comments. I don't see the Bible teaching that Antichrist will be a "spiritual leader" or a "universal religious leader." Those statements would fit the Mahdi, but not the Antichrist of the Bible. As far as I know, the Bible doesn't say anything about Antichrist's religious beliefs in the days before his abomination of desolation, but from that time on the Bible shows that he will be against all religion, God, gods, or object of worship; he will demand that he be worshipped (see Dan. 11:36, 37; 2 Thess. 2:3, 4).
On pages 42-44 Joel speaks of the Mahdi conquering Jerusalem, setting himself up in the rebuilt Jewish temple and then ruling from there. I agree, of course, that Antichrist will enter the temple, stop the sacrifices and demand worship, but I don't agree that he (who Joel thinks will turn out to be the Muslim Mahdi) will then rule from Jerusalem. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ will claim Jerusalem as His city when He returns right in the middle of the seven years (see under the heading "The Lord Jesus Christ Will Claim Jerusalem as His City" on page 70 of my book).
On page 50 Joel mentions Muslim scholars who interpret Rev. 6:2 of the Mahdi riding on a white horse, and he believes the rider is Antichrist (who he thinks will turn out to be the Mahdi). Many end-time teachers agree with Joel that Rev. 6:2 refers to Antichrist, but I am totally convinced that it refers to the Lord Jesus, or the Word of the Gospel, going forth victorious throughout this age. (It's very good to be conquered by the rider on that white horse.) That's quite a difference! (See my "Paper on Revelation chapters 1-10," which is located on my internet site. In that paper I quoted from H. Alford, a Christian scholar, who says that all Christian scholars understood it the way I understand it, with some room for differences in details, until about AD1500.)
Joel's chapter 6 is titled "The Muslim Jesus." He says that the return of the Muslim Jesus is the second most important Major Sign after the appearance of the Mahdi. The Muslims don't believe that Jesus died but that He ascended into heaven alive and has been with Allah since then. One thing that the Muslim Jesus will do when comes back from heaven will be "to oversee the institution and enforcement of shariah law all over the world" (page 54).
Joel's next chapter is titled "Comparing the False Prophet and the Muslim Jesus." I'll quote his last sentence of this chapter, "The biblical description of the False Prophet and the Islamic description of the Muslim Jesus, on all the essential points, are identical." The Muslim Jesus doesn't sound like the false prophet of Revelation chapter 13 to me. Joel says the false prophet will convert the world to Islam. I can't see the false prophet of Revelation chapter 13 promoting Islam. The false prophet of Revelation chapter 13, who "ministers" throughout the second half of Daniel's 70th week, isn't going to promote Islam throughout that period. It seems clear to me that he is going to promote the worship of Antichrist, who is against all religion, God, gods, or object of worship throughout the second half of the seven-year period (see Dan. 11:36, 37; 2 Thess. 2:3, 4). That's quite a difference!
In chapter 19 Joel admits that the fact that Antichrist (the Muslim Mahdi) will demand that he be worshipped doesn't fit well with his viewpoint (because Muslims don't worship men, only Allah). Nevertheless, he believes the Mahdi will demand worship after the middle of the seven years. "...the Mahdi now declares himself an incarnation of Allah, and as such, he demands worship" (page 183). That doesn't sound right to me, but the primary point I want to make, as I have said before, is that I am quite sure that the Antichrist of the Bible will not turn out to be the Mahdi.
I should point out that, according to the Bible, Antichrist will demand worship at the time of his abomination of desolation (2 Thess. 2:3, 4). The abomination of desolation will take place (I believe) a month before the middle of Daniel's 70th week, before Antichrist has been killed and come back from the dead; before he has begun his super-evil three and one-half year reign in the middle of Daniel's 70th week (see Rev. 13:2, for example); before the "ministry" of the false prophet that is spoken of in Rev. 13:11-18; and before the false prophet has the image of the beast (Antichrist) made to commemorate the fact that Antichrist has come back from the dead and to further demand that Antichrist be worshipped. The false prophet will demand that all people worship Antichrist and his image and take his mark. (I had a footnote here: See the chapter on Revelation chapter 13 in my book. That chapter deals with Antichrist's receiving from the devil "his power and his throne and great authority; with his being killed and coming back from the dead; with the ministry of the false prophet; with the image of the beast; with the number 666, etc.)
I'll briefly comment on one last topic. On pages 215, 216 Joel speaks of Antichrist overcoming/conquering the saints at the end of this age. For one thing he quotes Rev. 7:9-17 and applies these verses to those saints. I believe it is very important to see that the saints that Antichrist will overpower for three and one-half years are the saints who will be converted after the rapture, centering in the repentant end-time remnant of Israel. Those saints will be very thankful to be saved at the last minute, even after the last minute in that the Lord Jesus will have already returned and the resurrection and rapture will have already taken place before they become Christians. I agree with Joel that Antichrist will not overcome the saints spiritually. Those saints will be the real winners, not Antichrist, and they will be glorified and begin to reign with Christ forever by the time the millennial kingdom begins. Antichrist and the false prophet will be in the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20).
Revelation 7:9-17 are not prophesying about the saints who will be attacked by Antichrist throughout the second half of Daniel's 70th week. Those verses prophesy of the large number of Christians who will be raptured from the earth and glorified right in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, just before Antichrist begins his super-evil three and one-half year reign (during which he will overpower the saints). Those faithful Christians (which could include all of us) will have been kept out of the hour of great testing (Rev. 3:10) by being raptured from the earth right in the middle of Daniel's 70th week. The "great tribulation" mentioned in Rev. 7:14 is the same as the great tribulation of Dan. 12:1 and Matt. 24:21, 22. As I discuss in some detail in my writings, the short great tribulation will start right after the abomination of desolation (see Matt. 24:15, for example) and will end before the Lord Jesus returns in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, at which time the seventh and last trumpet will sound and the resurrection and rapture will take place (see Matt. 24:29-31, for example). (I had a footnote here: On Rev. 7:9-17 see under these verses in my "Paper on Revelation chapters 1-10" and on pages 154-156 in my book.)
If I have misunderstood Joel or misrepresented him in any way, I want to be corrected. I very much want this paper to be a blessing to the body of Christ. I don't want to show disrespect for any true Christians, even when I disagree with them; however, we desperately need the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches on every topic, including the end times. I want to be a blessing to every true Christian (to all God's elect), including Joel.
May God's will be fully accomplished in us and through us, including correcting us anywhere and everywhere we need to be corrected! In Jesus name!
About the Author - Karl Kemp, who worked as an engineer on various space projects throughout the 60s, became a born-again Christian in 1964. (He received BS and MS degrees in engineering from St. Louis University.) At the end of the 60s he left engineering behind. He received an MA in Biblical Studies from Covenant Seminary in 1972. He has been a Bible teacher in the greater St. Louis area for the past forty years, and he has been doing radio broadcasts for the past few years. For more on this author please visit his website at http://www.karlkempteachingministries.com
><> December 15, 2011; Source: Christian Article Bank
The Answer of Peace
By Rick L. King
What is peace? The dictionary defines this as: (3 definitions listed)
1 a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations:
Try to live in peace with your neighbors.
2. the normal freedom from civil commotion and violence of a community; public order
and security: He was arrested for being drunk and disturbing the peace.
3. cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension.
To be at peace means:
untroubled; tranquil; content.
The world seeks peace. Eze 7:25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
Peace is something that we all seek and need. Peace is one of the fruit of God's Spirit. Galatians 5:22 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
God has promised to us peace if:
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
To have peace is then having the fruit of the spirit and knowing that your mind is stayed on the Lord and that you are truly trusting Him. Years ago, I had an interesting experience that I needed to have. I had been upset about something. All the sudden God gave to me His peace. I was unhappy that I only got peace. I felt like because the problem still existed and did not change, that peace was a copout. I mistakenly complained to the Lord and found that my peace was taken then for 3 weeks. I needed to learn a good lesson. I had to cry out and repent and ask for this peace to return. He did give it back to me, thankfully. Often we pray and ask for something specific from the Lord. Yet we seem to not realize that not all requests can be answered in seconds. Some at least when they are about something going on in us, He can answer very quickly. Yet others take time as they are about others and situations that just don't change overnight. Those answers take time to bring change in other peoples thoughts and actions so that they will line up with God's will and purpose. Let's face it, we all have thoughts and hold on to things that we really shouldn't. It takes time to get through to us that these are not the best thoughts that we should have or we need to change some actions that we take to please the Lord. These all take time.
I have found that peace is God's way of letting us know that all is all right. When we are at peace we know that God has the problem in His hands and we are no longer to be concerned over it even though we may not see changes. We can trust in a very big, loving, all-knowing God to take care of the issue at hand.
Much of the world does not have this peace. They carry many burdens and weights that they need not carry. They have not learned the value of coming to God with their cares and concerns. They don't realize that Jesus is the burden bearer. He does not want them weighted down but actually wants them to be at peace. We are told to cast our cares upon Him for He careth for us (1 Peter 5:7). If we are trusting in self to carry these things we are deceived. We were not designed to carry these things. God wants to carry these cares. Scripture says that we go out with joy and are led forth by peace (Isaiah 55:12). If we have no peace it is difficult to be led of the Lord. So even though we may not see a quick answer or change as a result of our prayers, when God gives to us peace we can know that all is well. Peace may not be the answer we desired necessarily, but it is often God's answer and is a good one as He can lead and guide us when we remain at peace.
About the Author - Need to contact me or make a comment? Please direct all correspondence to: r_king60@hotmail.com (Please note that there is an underscore (_) between the r and the k in my email address). Thanks so much!
I am a 62 year old Born-Again spirit filled Christian, that has been saved for 30 years. Jesus found me when I was suicidal. I learned real quickly that I was powerless to be in control of my life, so I let Jesus take over. He has chosen me to be a warrior for Him. WE win, if we fight His way.
><> December 1, 2011; Source: Faith Writers
Overflowing Generosity
By Peter D. Mallett
I remember that Thanksgiving whenever gratefulness seems difficult; even though it was almost twenty years ago. I was a young pastor. I’d only been at the Parkview Ave Church for three years...
I looked out my office window, "It couldn't be”, I thought, but it was.
Another family was pulling into the parking lot. Each year our small congregation tried to help the neediest around Thanksgiving. Donations that year were sparse. I inventoried what we had and called ten households, then carefully put together the ten boxes of food.
"Ten is no small number”, I smiled, “Jesus healed ten lepers, and we can help ten this year."
The ten chosen were already assembled in the gymnasium. All the boxes had been received. I was back in my office grabbing some forgotten paperwork. That’s when the old car drove in. It wasn’t the car, or the two kids in tow that worried me; it was the humbleness in their faces. I knew they were in need and longed to help.
“I’ll meet them at my office after we finish”, I whispered,
“Perhaps make a few phone calls to other Churches, in other towns.”
Even though it was two days till Thanksgiving and I knew most other places had exhausted their resources too. Sending out a quick prayer for wisdom, I headed back to the gym. This new family obviously heard about the meeting place, because they wandered in a few minutes later. Meeting them at the door, we spoke softly each explaining our situations. They understood. My offer to call some other churches to see if there was one that could help was interrupted.
“Pastor, do you have another empty box?” one of the moms inquired.
I turned around to see the reason she had asked. Old gyms echo and my hushed tones still carried. Each of the families, hearing the dilemma, had made a decision to take an item or two out of what they had received to make another box. I was humbled. As I walked over to the other corner of the rec. center for the box, the other recipients welcomed the additional family into their circle. I thanked God for the wonderful picture of grateful giving that shaped the rest of my ministry.
2 Corinthians 8:1-4 Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more and they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem (NLT).
About the Author - Peter Mallett is the Founder and President of the Tidewater Christian Writers Forum that meets the fourth Tuesday of each month, except November and December 2011. He welcomes all of you who wish to strenghten your writing skills and network with other Christian writers in our area.
><> November 23, 2011
Not good and evil: In America the Battle is about Truth and Lies
By Rev Michael Bresciani
In reality there is no contest between good and evil but there is a raging battle between truth and lies. There is also an objective in the battle, which is; the souls of men and women.
Evil has an end, it is not permanent and if anything is clear at all in the Biblical message it is that, evil has its day but then is gone forever. In the interim the battle rages for the most precious prize of all: the permanent salvation or ultimate loss of the human soul. The frontlines of that battle are fought in the hearts and minds of all of us. The weapons of that warfare are simply; truth and lies.
The Bible predicts that the battle between truth and lies reaches its zenith near the last days of time as we know it. For all intents and purposes it will look like lies are winning as we approach that day. Everything that heretofore was deemed sinful, taboo, off limits or perverted will start to be tolerated and some evil will and has already become vogue.
Popular notions become acceptable morality if they endure for a time but, they are never any less evil. Knowledge, technical advancements and worldwide travel and communications are all prophesied to come in the last days. Unfortunately the rise of evil is also promised to accompany these advances. In fact, perversions, lies and evil behaviors will actually be elevated as something good.
The other prediction the Bible makes about the rise of lies is that the entire shift to acceptance of them takes place in about one single generation. The rise of lies is said to accompany the rise in knowledge and technology and both take place in the same limited time period.
It is hard for anyone to read this verse but, even harder is the fact that in only about the last forty years its fulfillment has been unmistakable.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
Make no mistake; evil is never good and just saying it is regardless of popular acceptance doesn’t make it change. It is the lie that is socially accepted that causes many to let down their guard and become victims of a popular perversion.
Homosexuality which is condemned by the Bible, generally disdained by society and argued against by nature is one prime example.
On the “View” recently, pop Latino singer Ricky Martin was heard telling all America’s teenagers that he loves them if they are struggling with their sexuality. He has de-closeted and thinks everyone else who shares his inclinations ought to follow him down that primrose path. The response to that proclamation on The View was: a hearty round of audience applause!
Martin, the father of twin boys said "If you're out there, and you're struggling with your sexuality, I love you. You are very important to me; you're very important to this society. God doesn't make mistakes. You are very special. It gets hard sometimes, but it gets really cool afterwards. Accept yourself. It's very cool."
The only thing that could be an unequivocal truth in Martin’s statement is that God doesn’t make any mistakes. That means that homosexuality which God said is an abomination is still just that. He didn’t make a mistake. It is man that makes the mistake of thinking God will change his mind. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Nu 23:19)
The “don’t ask - don’t tell” policy of the military is now under fire and as expected Hollywood celebrities and their drones have shown up in numbers to champion the cause to rescind the ruling. The message they are putting forth is that hindering the exercise of homosexuality in the military is “bullying.
The fully mesmerized, mind melded minions of the Hollywood set are bound to march in step to the clarion albeit twisted call of the fallen stars. This doesn’t change a thing. Popularizing or legalizing gross immorality is a cause that will ultimately fail.
To the Hollywood crowd flying against the Bible, nature, common sense, social norms, good health, the propagation of the species and the privacy and sensibilities of our warriors is not bullying. Now the perverted are preferred and are seeking to have their preferences placed before the law to be elevated by the strength of the law to force acceptance whether we like it or not. Using the law to force an issue is no different than using a club to force someone into submission, by any other name it is still just bullying.
Some Hollywood liberals are actually calling for a Constitutional amendment to bring the homosexual agenda in the military and throughout the nation up to par with the emerging social acceptance of the gay life.
Be it one, or a million, we should all realize that what Ricky Martin says is an immutable truth even if he spoke in total ignorance of the Biblical mandates about homosexuality. “God doesn’t make mistakes.” He was not mistaken when he moved the Apostle Paul by the power of his Holy Spirit to say the following.
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” (Romans 1: 26-28)
Moving from the closet to a state of complete reprobation is not the best advice to give America’s teen agers. The battle is between truth and lies the object is the hearts and minds of America’s youth. God forbid that we accept this lie.
America has been able to deal with splits and divisions pretty well in past times. We have been able to make partisanship work for us for over 230 years. Now the lines have deepened and it is more of a conservative, liberal split but looking closer it can be see that America is divided on a far more fundamental level.
Conservatives are the ones who mourn the days gone by and they see our greatness is slipping. Perhaps they and the recently victorious GOP are as some liberals say, the party of no, but to be fair, for the true lovers of the nation it is; no we don’t want the country to be destroyed and no you can’t continue in excesses of spending, bad social behavior and laugh through to the last day in an unending party of indulgence and concupiscence.
We are as a drunken man who does not see the party has ended. He is ushered to the door but will not go willingly. He demands more wine and laughter but the revelers are thinning out and his behavior is becoming excessive. He cannot see the hard morning of sickness and regret that is next for him but only the fleeting moments when friends stood near with warming smiles, every cup ran over with wine and the ring of laughter filled the halls with mirth.
We must never forget that when the handwriting appeared on the wall it was not a command to hoist up the banner of mirth once again and bring on new wine for the crowd it was the edict of doom to the very discerning and the end of the party for those with only a nominal amount of good sense.
I’ll not quote Lincoln or Ronald Reagan to add emphasis to what is already clearly known or understood but rather I will quote from a vision of the hand of God. It is a well known Biblical vision and you may want to check your Bible or Google it until it is found. It is simple, it is profound and it is the warning that must not go unheeded. Oddly this vision took place in the middle of a drunken feast held by the heads of state in an ancient land known today as Iraq.
“MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.”
No doubt some would say, “Preacher, we are very busy, just pop us the reference to the quote while we are chatting on our cells and driving to our many tasks.” Instead I will quote another verse that might lead you to act on your own.
“But go and learn what this means…” (Mt 9:13 NAS)
About the Author - http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.
><> November 17, 2011; Source: Christian Article Bank
It’s (Past) Time for a Charismatic Reformation
By J. Lee Grady
In honor of Reformation Day, here are some complaints I’m nailing on the Wittenberg door.
Long before there was an Occupy Wall Street, Martin Luther staged the most important protest in history. He was upset because Roman Catholic officials were promising people forgiveness or early escape from purgatory in exchange for money. So on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a long list of complaints on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.
Luther’s famous 95 theses were translated from Latin into German and spread abroad. Like a medieval Jeremiah, Luther dared to ask questions that had never been asked, and he challenged a pope who was supposedly infallible. Through this brave monk, the Holy Spirit sparked the Protestant Reformation and restored the doctrine of grace to a church that had become corrupt, religious, dysfunctional, political and spiritually dead.
I am no Luther, but I’ve grown increasingly aware that the so-called “Spirit-filled” church of today struggles with many of the same things the Catholic church faced in the 1500s. We don’t have “indulgences”—we have telethons. We don’t have popes—we have super-apostles. We don’t support an untouchable priesthood—we throw our money at celebrity evangelists who own fleets of private jets.
In honor of Reformation Day, I’m offering my own list of needed reforms in our movement. And since I can’t hammer these on the Wittenberg door, I’ll post them online. Feel free to nail them everywhere.
1. Let’s reform our theology. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God and He is holy. He is not an “it.” He is not a blob, a force, or an innate power. We must stop manipulating Him, commanding Him and throwing Him around.
2. Let’s return to the Bible. The Word of God is the foundation for the Christian experience. Any dramatic experience, no matter how spiritual it seems, must be tested by the Word and the Holy Spirit’s discernment. Visions, dreams, prophecies and encounters with angels must be in line with Scripture. If we don’t test them we could end up spreading deception.
3. It’s time for personal responsibility. We charismatics must stop blaming everything on demons. People are usually the problem.
4. Stop playing games. Spiritual warfare is a reality, but we are not going to win the world to Jesus just by shouting at demonic principalities. We must pray, preach and persevere to see ultimate victory.
5. Stop the foolishness. People who hit, slap or push others during prayer should be asked to sit down until they learn gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
6. End all spiritual extortion now. Christian television ministries must cease and desist from all manipulative fundraising tactics. We must stop giving platforms to ministers who make outlandish claims of supernatural financial returns, especially when Scripture is twisted, deadlines are imposed and the poor are exploited.
7. No more Lone Rangers. Those who claim to be ministers of God—whether they are traveling evangelists, local pastors or heads of ministries—must be accountable to other leaders. Any who refuse to submit their lives to godly discipline should be corrected.
8. Expose the creeps. Churches should start doing background checks on traveling ministers. Preachers who have been hiding criminal records, lying about their past marriages, preying on women or refusing to pay child support should be exposed as charlatans and shunned if they do not repent.
9. Stop faking the anointing. God is God, and He does not need our “help” to manifest Himself. That means we don’t sprinkle glitter on ourselves to suggest God’s glory is with us, hide fake jewels on the floor to prove we are anointed or pull chicken feathers out of our sleeves to pretend angels are in the room. This is lying to the Holy Spirit.
10. Let’s return to purity. We’ve had enough scandals. The charismatic church must develop a system for the restoration of fallen ministers. Those who fall morally can be restored, but they must be willing to submit to a process of healing rather than rushing immediately back into the pulpit.
11. We need humility. Ministers who demand celebrity treatment, require lavish salaries, insist on titles or exhibit aloofness from others are guilty of spiritual pride.
12. No more big shots. Apostles are the bondslaves of Christ, and should be the most impeccable models of humility. True apostles do not wield top-down, hierarchical authority over the church. They serve the church from the bottom up as true servants.
13. Never promote gifts at the expense of character. Those who operate in prophecy, healing and miracles must also exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. And while we continue to encourage the gift of tongues, let’s make sure we don’t treat it like some kind of badge of superiority. The world needs to see our love, not our glossolalia.
14. Hold the prophets accountable. Those who refuse to take responsibility for inaccurate statements should not be given platforms. And “prophets” who live immoral lives don’t deserve a public voice.
15. Let’s make the main thing the main thing. The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s anointing is to empower us to reach others. We are at a crossroads today: Either we continue off-course, entertained by our charismatic sideshows, or we throw ourselves into evangelism, church planting, missions, discipleship, and compassionate ministry that helps the poor and fights injustice. Churches that embrace this New Reformation will focus on God’s priorities.
><> November 10, 2011; Source - http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones
Once Saved, Always Saved?
By Karl Kemp
INTRODUCTION. Essentially every Christian I knew when I became a born-again Christian (in the spring of 1964, at the age of 26) believed once saved, necessarily always saved (eternal security). I was attending an evangelical Presbyterian church and started taking classes at a local evangelical Presbyterian seminary. I also had some association with IVCF and a local Bible church. The first three were Calvinistic, and the Bible church was at least Calvinistic when it came to the doctrine that it is impossible to lose your salvation. Because of what I had been taught, and especially by those who helped me find Christ (actually it would be more accurate to say He found me), I believed this doctrine was an important part of the gospel. If you had given me three sentences to present the gospel, I would have included once saved, always saved, and I could have given a few standard verses and arguments to support this doctrine. The last section of this paper discusses the origin of this doctrine and the primary passages of Scripture used to support it. Before closing this paragraph, I want to mention how thankful I am for all the good input I received from all the Christians I was associated with, first as one that did not know salvation, then as a needy young Christian. I very sincerely mean that.
Within a year of becoming a born-again Christian, I became friends with an Assembly of God pastor. This Pentecostal denomination is Arminian in doctrine. Arminians do not believe once saved, necessarily always saved. (Most Pentecostal churches, most Holiness churches, the Methodists, and others, are Arminian.) We talked some about this doctrine, and he gave me a book to read. The book, "Life in the Son," by Robert Shank, was written to refute eternal security. This input began something of a serious struggle for me. Could this doctrine possibly be wrong? (It's often very difficult for Christians to accept the idea that some things they believe could be wrong; but we all need to humble ourselves before God and seek Him for the balanced truth and full salvation.) It took a couple years for me to come to a firm conviction that the Bible (that is, taking the balance of all that the Bible says related to this topic) does not teach once saved, necessarily always saved.
One primary reason for writing this paper is my concern with the abuse of this doctrine that is widespread in our day. This doctrine is often abused in a way that dampens any motivation for a healthy, necessary (Biblical) fear of God and the urgent need for repentance and holiness. Because of their understanding of eternal security, many can't hear much that the Bible clearly says, including the intense warnings of eternal judgment for those not ready to stand before God. This is not surprising, since many pastors etc., in an effort to defend the doctrine of eternal security, explain away the powerful warnings contained in many Bible passages, including those discussed in this paper.
I believe we have a great need for a revival of righteousness and holiness in our day. An abuse of the doctrine of eternal security is part of the problem, but a greater part of the problem is the common tendency to put most of the emphasis on forgiveness and positional (legal) righteousness while subordinating the need for righteous living and holiness. There is no denying the importance of forgiveness, but I don't believe this is more than ten percent of the gospel message. The ninety percent of the message is the transformation to righteous living and holiness, by grace through faith. Holiness comes by grace, through the blood of the cross, as much as forgiveness does. God hates sin, and He sent His Son to remove sin from the lives of His people, not just to bring forgiveness. I trust that this paper will stir up some Christians to the topic of holiness. I recommend my book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin: Full Salvation Through the Atoning Death of the Lord Jesus Christ," for further study. The book is available at my website (Google to Karl Kemp Teaching) and at amazon.com.
Another reason for writing this paper is that the more we Christians come to the balanced truth of what the Scriptures teach, the more we can unite around the truth. I believe that's important. Even when we still don't agree on topics like the one discussed in this paper, we must do everything we can to promote unity in the Body of Christ, including treating one another with respect.
It is possible to believe in eternal security and still make righteousness and holiness a top priority item, and there are many such believers. Also, I should say that once saved, always saved is exactly what should happen, and will happen, if we do our part. We need to emphasize God's part (His love, plan of salvation, atoning sacrifice, grace, mercy, convicting, drawing, teaching, forgiveness, sanctifying power, Spirit, etc.) and give Him all the glory. But at the same time, it is mandatory that we know, and do, our part (as outlined in the Scriptures). Our part is pretty well covered by the word faith; that is, if we use the word in the full-orbed sense often used in the New Testament. (We could say repentance and faith.) But God doesn't just give us saving faith, and He doesn't force us to continue in faith. (See my "A Paper on Faith.") His grace is, however, sufficient for those who will appropriate it by faith, faith that is based on His Word. We desperately need the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches. Eternal security is closer to the balanced truth than the idea that Christians immediately lose their salvation if they commit a sin.
As far as I'm concerned, the passages of the Bible quoted (and discussed) below, are more than sufficient to demonstrate that the doctrine of eternal security is wrong. All of the passages speak rather loudly to me, but especially the passages from Revelation chapters 2 and 3, where the Lord Jesus Christ, in His resurrection glory, speaks to His churches (about AD 95). All quotations are from the NASB, 1977 edition. Sometimes I will make comments in the middle of quotations using brackets [ ] or [[ ]] to make them more obvious.
In concluding this Introduction, let me say that I consider the message of this paper to be good news. The gospel, by definition, is good news. God is good, and His will is good. It's good news to know that the gospel provides everything we need to become, and to remain, holy and blameless. God is not out to get us, but to bless us. To the extent that we walk in His will, He can bless us. Let's put Him first to the maximum so that He can bless us to the maximum, and be glorified to the maximum.
Matthew 25:1-13. "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. (2) And five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. (3) For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, (4) but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. (5) Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. (6) But at midnight there vas a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' (7) Then all those virgins rose, and trimmed their lamps. [Trimming their lamps means putting them in order, including adding oil to them.] (8) And the foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' (9) But the prudent answered, saying, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' [There is a limit to how much one person can do for another. We must all be prepared to stand before God.] (10) And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and THOSE WHO WERE READY WENT IN WITH HIM TO THE WEDDING FEAST; AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT. (11) And later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord open up for us.' (12) But He answered and said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.' (13) Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour [Since we don't know the day nor the hour, we must always be alert and ready for His coming]."
The main point of this parable is that all Christians are required to always be prepared and ready for the return of Christ, including being prepared for a delay in His return. This is a common scriptural theme. If we wait until the last minute to get ready, we'll probably be too late. To be ready for Christ's return includes believing the truth of the gospel and living in the righteousness and holiness of the gospel through the atoning death of Christ and by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. The "oil" in this parable symbolizes the Holy Spirit, or something similar, like the enabling grace of God. Those running out of oil are, of course, responsible for their situation.
This parable warns of the all-too-real possibility that many who start out as true Christians will not be ready for the return of Christ and will be denied access to God's eternal kingdom. It seems clear enough that initially all ten virgins are considered to be true Christians and members of the Body of Christ. They are all called virgins, and, more significantly, they all have lamps that have been burning (see verse 8). Some other verses from the same discourse by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew chapters 24 and 25, spoken a few days before the cross) that also warn that some Christians will not be ready for His return and will miss heaven are Matt. 24:9-13, 42-51; and 25:14-30.
John 15:1-6. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit [Bearing fruit includes living in the truth, righteousness, and holiness of God, and faithfully serving Him.], He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. (3) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (4) Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (5) I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
All of the branches are pictured as being in Christ, the true vine. But we are warned that unless we continue to abide in Christ, we will be cut off from the vine and suffer eternal judgment (see verse 6). We abide in Christ by continuing to make Him and His Word top priority. Abiding in Christ is not automatic. It requires continuing on by grace through faith.
Romans 11:17-24. "But if some of the branches [Jews that rejected the Messiah] were broken off, and you [It is clear in this passage that the apostle was speaking to Gentiles who had become part of God's true Israel by faith.], being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, (18) do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. (19) You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' (20) Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; (21) for if God did not spare the natural branches [the Jews who rejected Christ], neither will He spare you. (22) Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, IF YOU CONTINUE IN HIS KINDNESS [by continuing to hold (and live) the gospel by faith]; OTHERWISE YOU ALSO WILL BE CUT OFF. (23) And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. (24) For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?"
1 Corinthians 15:1, 2. "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, IFYOU HOLD FAST THE WORD WHICH I PREACHED TO YOU...." The recipients of this epistle had received the gospel in faith, at least most of them had. But they (like all Christians) must continue to "hold fast the word" of the gospel in faith, which isn't just automatically accomplished. For one thing, they must continue to believe the same gospel that Paul proclaimed. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul was dealing with the fact that some were beginning to deny the bodily resurrection. We must continue to believe the true gospel if we want to be saved by it. We must also continue to live the gospel by grace through faith.
Galatians 5:2, 4. "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. (4) YOU HAVE BEEN SEVERED FROM CHRIST, you who are seeking to be justified by law; YOU HAVE FALLEN FROM GRACE."
The apostle Paul had preached the gospel to the Galatians, and many of these Gentiles had become born-again Christians. Verses like Gal. 3:2, 3 and the awesome words of 5:4, "You have been severed from Christ...you have fallen from grace" confirm that they had become born-again Christians. To fall from grace is to fall from (to lose) the saving grace of God in Christ (to lose your salvation).
The problem was, as this epistle shows, that some time after Paul left Galatia the Judaizers came and preached a "different gospel" (Gal. 1:6) to them. And some of the Galatian Christians were, at a minimum, seriously considering their "gospel." Their "gospel" required ceremonial works of the Mosaic Law, like circumcision (see, e.g., Gal. 5:3; 6:12, 13). But as the apostle strongly warns in this epistle, there is no other gospel than the one Paul had given them (e.g., Gal. 1:6-9), and to abandon it is to abandon salvation in Christ.
1 Thessalonians 3:5. "For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor should be in vain."
1 Thessalonians 2:10-3:10 with Acts 17:1-15 gives the background to understand 1 Thess. 3:5. The apostle Paul was forced to leave Thessalonica before he wanted to, and before the church was adequately grounded. Not long after being forced to leave Thessalonica, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica from Athens "to find out about [their] faith," etc. These Christians at Thessalonica had known opposition and affliction from the time of their conversion. There is no basis to doubt that they, at least most of them, had become born-again Christians (cf., e.g., 1 Thess. 1:5-2:14). But as 1 Thess. 3:5 shows, there was some basis for Paul to be concerned that, in the worst-case scenario, their "labor should be in vain." The labor of Paul and his companions (Silas and Timothy) would have been in vain if the Christians at Thessalonica had turned their backs on the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of all their tribulation. But, thank God, Timothy brought back good news: Although he found their faith lacking in certain areas (e.g., 1 Thess. 3:10), he was able to bring back news of a genuine faith.
Hebrews 3:5-4:3, especially 3:6, 12-14, 18, 19; 4:1-3. "(3:6) but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, IF WE HOLD FAST OUR CONFIDENCE AND THE BOAST OF OUR HOPE UNTIL THE END. ... (12) TAKE CARE BRETHREN, LEST THERE SHOULD BE IN ANY ONE OF YOU AN EVIL, UNBELIEVING HEART, IN FALLING AWAY FROM THE LIVING GOD. [The writer of Hebrews clearly views his readers as true Christians, but he is concerned that some are in very real danger of "falling away from the living God." This strong warning permeates the entire epistle.] (13) But encourage one another day after day...lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (14) For we have become partakers of Christ [that is, we will partake of all the glorious blessings of God's salvation in Christ], IF WE HOLD FAST THE BEGINNING OF OUR ASSURANCE FIRM UNTIL THE END [cf. Heb. 3:6] ... (18) And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest [[God's "rest" here, understood in the higher sense, refers to the rest of His eternal glory. This is the meaning of "rest" in Heb. 4:1 and 3. His rest, understood in the lower sense, refers to the land of Canaan. I wouldn't say that all of those who failed to enter Canaan will fail to enter the rest of God's eternal glory.]], but to those who were DISOBEDIENT? (19) And so we see that they were not able to enter because of UNBELIEF. [Note that unbelief and disobedience go together.] (4:1) THEREFORE, LET US FEAR LEST, WHILE A PROMISE REMAINS OF ENTERING HIS REST, ANY ONE OF YOU SHOULD SEEM TO HAVE COME SHORT OF IT. [He is speaking of failing to enter heavenly rest.] (2) For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also ["they" refers to the sons of Israel at the time of the Exodus]; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in [or, with] those who heard. [For God's word to be effective in our lives, we must take it into our hearts, and keep it in our hearts, by faith. This includes obeying the word by grace through faith.] (3) For we who have believed enter that rest." [I agree with those commentators who translate "ARE ENTERING" instead of "enter."] The whole emphasis of Hebrews is that we must keep running the race set before us until it is finished. Then, and only then, is the time for rest. But it is true that, in another sense, there is a rest for us as we run the race by faith. See, e.g., Matt. 11:28-30. God's grace is sufficient.
Hebrews 6:4-12. "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened [[At a minimum, these words mean that the ones spoken of had come to understand the basic truths of the gospel. (In Heb. 10:32 "enlightened" is used of those who had become Christians.) I believe it is clear that the Christians being spoken to here (and in Heb. 6:1-3, 9-12; and in the verses quoted above from Heb. 3:5-4:3, and in the verses quoted below from Heb. 10:26-31, for example) had become born-again Christians (cf., e.g., Heb. 3:1, 6, 12-14; 4:14-16; 6:9-12, 19, 20; 8:1; 10:19-39; 12:1-13:25). The words of Heb. 6:4, 5 clearly speak of those who had become born-again Christians. I'm belaboring this point because so many try to evade the strong warning contained in these verses (and in many other verses) by arguing that those spoken of in 6:4-8 had not become born-again Christians.]] and have tasted of the heavenly gift [The "heavenly gift" is salvation in Christ, or the equivalent.] and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit [These words further confirm that the recipients had truly become born-again Christians (cf., e.g., John 7:37-39; Rom. 8:9; Acts 2:33, 38, 39).], (5) and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come [[To "taste" includes experiencing. In one (very real) sense, all true Christians already live in "the age to come." We have, in one sense, already had our final judgment and been resurrected into the eternal life of the age to come (see, e.g., John 5:24; Rom. 6:1-11; Col. 3:1-11). I believe the writer of Hebrews is speaking from this point of view in 6:2 when he mentions "the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment." Speaking from this point of view, he is very concerned lest his readers violate such a glorious salvation by falling away from the gospel of the new covenant. As the next verse, and much other scripture shows, there is a limit to how far God's people can go with sinning against His covenants. (In the ideal case we won't have any sin. God knows our hearts; He knows rebellion. We know from this epistle that some of the readers were being tempted to draw back from new covenant salvation.]], (6) and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. [[The writer is speaking of willful rebellion by those who were not babes in Christ, but were established in the faith. In Heb. 10:29 he speaks of one "who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which HE WAS SANCTIFIED." These verses were written to strongly warn the Christians who were being tempted to turn from their faith commitment to God and His Son and His gospel that they must stop their wavering and renew their commitment. These verses were not written to tell Christians who had a desire to repent that God would not accept their repentance. The recipients of this epistle were being encouraged to repent (where repentance was required) throughout this epistle. The devil and his hosts frequently tell Christians that God will not accept their repentance. Jesus said the devil is a liar.]] (7) For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; (8) but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. (9) But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. (10) For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. (11) And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end ["To realize the full assurance of hope until the end" means to continue to the end with the full assurance that the things hoped for (especially the promise of heavenly glory), based on the promises of God (note "promises" in v.12), will all come to pass. The only way that a Christian can "realize the full assurance of hope until the end" is by continuing to hold to, and walk in, the basics of the gospel by grace through faith.], (12) that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." The word translated "patience" could be translated "endurance" or "steadfastness." The basic idea behind patience here is of continuing to press on by grace through faith, no matter what happens. To "inherit the promises" means to inherit the things promised in the Word of God, especially eternal glory.
Hebrews 10:26-31. "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins [[In context, he is speaking of a willful rebellion against the new covenant by Christians grounded in the faith. We know from verses like 1 John 2:1, 2 that forgiveness is provided for Christians through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. All sin is serious business, but most sin does not fall in the category discussed in 6:4-8 and 10:26-31. I believe we can safely say that any repentant Christian who asks for forgiveness will be forgiven. Satan has convinced many Christians that they have committed an unpardonable sin when they haven't. He will even accuse Christians of sinning when they haven't even sinned; his lies must be rejected.]], (27) but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. (28) Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. (29) HOW MUCH SEVERER PUNISHMENT DO YOU THINK HE WILL DESERVE WHO HAS TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD, AND HAS REGARDED AS UNCLEAN [common; NIV has "an unholy thing"] THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT BY WHICH HE WAS SANCTIFIED [These words confirm that the writer is speaking of those who had become true Christians. They also confirm that he is dealing with the sin of willful rebellion against (which includes turning away from) the new covenant.], AND HAS INSULTED THE SPIRIT OF GRACE? (30) For we know Him who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.' And again, 'THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.' (31) It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Author Resource:-http://www.karlkempteachingministries.com. Karl Kemp became a born-again Christian in 1964. He received an MA in Biblical Studies from Covenant Seminary in 1972. He has been a Bible teacher in the greater St. Louis area for about 45 years. He has written two books, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin" and "The Mid-Week Rapture" and many papers and articles. He has taught several classes in New Testament Greek in the past, and he has been doing some radio broadcasts the past few years. © Copyright by Karl Kemp
><> November 3, 2011; Source: Christian Article Bank
A Burden
By Michael Carl
Have you ever wondered how we can have million dollar church buildings and pack-in huge crowds on Sunday, but have no power in our witness? Do you wonder how about half of the people in this country claim to have had a born again experience and how the churches are having so little of an impact? Have you been amazed at the fact that American society is becoming increasingly antagonistic to the church.
How can this be?
The answer seems to be that it's because the pastors in the pulpits have sold out to the 'Seeker Sensitive' movement. We've opted for programs, lights, smoke machines, stage props, and the prosperity Gospel.
Pastors preach the Gospel of Self-Fulfillment and talk about how we're destined to reign. Our pulpits echo with: 'God wants you to be happy' and 'You can have your best life now'. We have major tele-preachers holding 'camp meetings' where the 'preacher' shouts, 'Let's celebrate you!'
I heard a preacher say once that if you have trials in your life, then you don't have enough faith. What a ludicrous statement and how utterly un-Biblical!
Paul had more faith than most of us and he never stopped going through trials. We talk faith and prosperity while the church around the world grows in not merely number, but in depth and maturity. They see miracles and God's power; they sense His presence.
How? They've learned to persevere through trials. A Charismatic Episcopal Church Bishop in Pakistan had a Muslim slit his throat, throw him off of a bus and leave him for dead just because the Bishop was a Christian. But the Bishop's ministry grows and he sees the fruit.
Christians in other parts of the world weep for revival in the American church. What does that say about us?
It means that we are weak and self-absorbed.
I heard another television preacher turn the tables and suggest that a preacher who focused on subjects like F. F. Bruce's The Hard Sayings of Jesus was not preaching the Gospel and ignoring the truth of the Word! 'They didn't want to hear that' he claimed!
What utter disregard for the truth! Jesus said, '"The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,"' and told His followers of His coming arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion.
This means we're deceived and taken with greed.
There are no tears for revival and the only One weeping is Jesus. He bled and died for us and we proclaim that the Gospel is a means to prosperity, power and influence. Church services look more like pop concerts and the preaching is only a babbling collection of self-absorbed slogans and how God wants us to be happy!
No, God wants us to be holy!
Where is the message of repentance? Where is the '"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me"'?
Folks, the message of the cross is foolishness and offensive to the world. Paul told us that 191/2 centuries ago.
Paul also told us that if he wanted to please the world, he would not be a follower of Christ.
Can you imagine Elijah having a chat with the wicked King Ahab about how we can 'Coexist'? Or, do you think John the Baptist should have opened a dialogue with Herod about tolerance?
No, those mighty men of God were sent to confront the leaders of their time about the sin in the society! Why is it that our evangelicals spend their time trying to cozy up and make nice with our politicians while there are souls perishing hourly and going into a Christ-less eternity?
This is the message that will transform this culture and turn this country around.
><> October 27, 2011
The Insidious Nature of False Doctrine
A Lesson in Torah Observant and Hebrew Roots
By Jim Pruitt
Three issues have popped up in other areas within the public arena and it is important to address them before they become defacto doctrine. In the first century some of the Jewish Christians sought to impose these behaviors on Gentile Christians and they were addressed in several places in the New Testament (most notably in Acts 15). They are the doctrinal view that all Christians should worship on Saturday (as opposed to Sunday), should abstain from non-kosher foods, and that the Jewish holidays and festivals should still be observed. Adherence to these behaviors were explicitly commanded by God of the Hebrews in the Old Testament and most were from the book of Leviticus.
However, when Christ came He fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17-20) and “things which were a mere shadow of what was to come” were no longer applicable.
Here are verses which specifically address the Sabbath and Jewish holidays and festivals:
Colossians 2:16,17 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Romans 14:5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.
John 9:16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath " But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And there was a division among them.
Mark 2:27 Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
If you read these verses without preconception (i.e., without a doctrine that you’re trying to rationalize), then their meaning is perfectly clear and self-explanatory. It’s wrong to consider someone as sinning because they don’t keep the Old Testament definition of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is made for man. If you want to consider every day holy then that’s fine. If you want to pick one day or a series of days as above others to worship God, then that’s fine, too. You won’t find any verses in the New Testament which contradict this.
Here are verses which specifically address food (in addition to Colossians 2:16,17):
Mark 7:18-20 And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.”
1 Timothy 4:3-5 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
Romans 14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself…
Colossians 2:20-23 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
1 Corinthians 8:8 But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.
Again, these verses are self-explanatory and you will find nothing in the New Testament which offers any contradictory stance concerning food. Jesus declared all foods clean. The dietary restrictions delineated in Leviticus no longer apply.
How Is It That You Compel The Gentiles To Live like Jews?
In Acts 15, Jewish Christians tried to get the Gentiles to follow their traditions. However, after a heated discussion between those who advocated having them observe Jewish customs and the Apostles (including Paul), they only advised them to keep a minimal set of rules. There was no mention of having them observe the Sabbath, restricting their diet to kosher foods, or observing Jewish holidays. In addition, in all of Paul’s epistles to the Gentiles, there is no mention of it. In fact, I can find no indication in the New Testament or in historical records of the early church of any time where Christian Gentiles were instructed to do so. If it is not mentioned much less commanded in the New Testament, why is it important for us to reinstitute it now?
Looking at these three issues brings to mind Galatians 2 where some Jews had secretly infiltrated the Gentile Christians in order to “spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.” When Paul met with the Apostles, Peter began to refuse to sit or speak with the Gentiles (which he would normally and which was against Jewish tradition) because he was trying to keep from offending the Jewish Christians who were present. But Paul wouldn’t let it slide:
Galatians 2:13-16 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
I find no evidence in the New Testament or in the early church histories where Gentile Christians worshipped on Saturday, ate only kosher foods, or observed Jewish holidays. Scripture clearly indicates that these subjects are a matter of personal choice and that we are not to allow anyone to try and bring us into bondage by saying that God’s Word says otherwise.
Causing A Brother To Stumble
However, there is clear guidance concerning not offending someone by what you eat or by what days you worship in Romans 14:
Romans 14:2-4 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Romans 14:5,6 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
Romans 14:14-17 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:20-23 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
Personal Choice versus Doctrine
How should we interpret Romans 14 in light of the other scriptures we find in the New Testament concerning food? Should we allow doctrines such as we are discussing to be taught and promoted without challenging them? If so, where does the deviation from sound doctrine end? Hasn’t history taught us that error uncorrected only increases in magnitude over time?
I think the key is in the phrase “one person.” Romans 14 is talking about how to interact with a Christian brother who has made a personal choice concerning diet or observance of one day over another. If someone chooses to eat only vegetables or restrict their diet in some other way because they believe it is better for them, or they feel God leading them to do so for a time, or any other personal reason then we should respect that. To try and get them to eat something which they don’t want to (for whatever reason) would be to try and cause your brother to stumble or sin because they would be doing something that they believe is wrong. The same goes for religious observances on certain days. If they feel God leading them to pray, or study the Bible, or worship on a certain day or days then we should respect that.
However, it is entirely another matter when someone begins to teach their fellow brethren that God has commanded these behaviors and to do otherwise is to disobey God. It then is no longer a matter of respecting personal choice but a matter of legalism and the “leaven of the Pharisees” creeping in to restrict our liberty in Christ and begin to put us back into the bondage of the law. Although its initial effects may be innocuous, such thinking inevitably leads to further restrictions until at last we find ourselves back trying to earn God’s favor through works.
All Things To All Men
One reason put forth as justification for such restrictions is that our liberty gives offense to Jews and Muslims who still adhere to these sorts of doctrines. Granted, it is entirely scriptural to avoid giving offense to those of another culture or religion where it is possible without disobeying God when trying to minister to that group:
1 Corinthians 9:20-22 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.
But to say that such restrictions are to be observed at all times as a way of life in order to avoid offending anyone is to misrepresent the meaning of the passage. Paul himself didn’t live like a Jew except when he was trying to reach Jews. Paul didn’t stay “weak” in order to avoid offending those who were weak but only when he was trying to reach them.
What Does Christ-Like Mean?
Another rationalization given for these doctrines is that they make you more “Christ-like” since these were behaviors that we believe Jesus observed since he was, after all, Jewish. However, if that is the reason for doing these things then where does it end? There are many rituals and customs which were commanded by God in the Old Testament and which were observed by the Jews of Jesus’ time. Are we now to say that God commands all Christians to observe the following:
Christians are to be considered unclean and untouchable for period of time after having had contact with a dead non-kosher animal (for instance, touching bacon), during menstruation, after giving birth, and after a seminal emission (Leviticus 11,12 and 15)
* Women can’t wear men’s clothing and vice-versa (Deuteronomy 22:5)
* It is forbidden to wear a garment where wool and linen are mixed (Deuteronomy 22:11)
* You can’t eat the fruit of a tree for the first three years after you plant it (Leviticus 19:23)
* Anyone who works on the Sabbath shall be put to death (Exodus 35:2)
* Anyone who curses their mother or father, commits adultery, or has sexual relations with someone in their immediate family or of the same sex will be put to death (Levitius 20:9-13)
* If you’re in fulltime ministry, then you can’t shave your head or trim your beard (Leviticus 21:5)
* If you have a garden or are a farmer, then every seventh year you are forbidden from sowing any seed, gathering any crops, or weeding and trimming (Leviticus 25:4,5)
These are just a handful of the restrictions found. If the commandments concerning observing the Sabbath only on a certain day, eating only kosher foods, and observing Jewish festivals are still in effect then it stands to reason that all the others are also still in effect. Isn’t it hypocrisy to pick out one or two and choose to just obey them? Isn’t that part of the “leaven of the Pharisees” that Jesus spoke against?
There are many aspects of Jesus’ life which differs from most people today. Unlike Jesus, most of us drive when going long distances, have homes and mortgages, bathe daily, and use deodorant. It is obvious to even a casual student of the Bible that trying to be “Christ-like” means to emulate His character and not his cultural customs.
The Appearance of Wisdom
There is something in our “old self” (Colossians 3:9) which longs for religious ritual and self-abasement. It has to do with the same reason that Christ and salvation by grace is a stumbling block to those of other religions and non-Christians. We have trouble accepting the fact that there isn’t something which we can do to earn our own salvation. If we can do things to show how pious we are, then we can feel better about ourselves. It’s all part of a “works” mentality (Ephesians 2:8,9) and helps to feed the most common of sins… pride.
The pride we take in how devout we are is something which all the other religions of the world can relate to. Those who sincerely seek to follow those religions must by nature focus on discipline and what they can outwardly achieve. When your spiritual future is entirely up to what you can accomplish by the force of your own will then you can count on many tasks and rituals being required so that you have a means of measuring your success. Again, this is one of the reasons that followers of other religions hold much of Christianity in such contempt because we insist that we are saved by grace alone and that there is nothing we can do to merit it.
Within Christianity, the concept of being saved by grace alone often causes people to stumble into extremes at both ends of the spectrum. On the one hand, you find those who believe they have their “fire insurance” so they can pretty much do what they feel is right (often phrased as “being led by the Spirit” in order to make it sound spiritual). On the other, there are those who set out to offset that very perception and go right past sanctification and wind up in the same techniques used by other religions to curry God’s favor. Of course, we should be led by the Spirit but the Holy Spirit will never lead you to ignore the Word of God. And we should seek sanctification as we continue in the process of repentance and maturity but that doesn’t mean seeking to revive restrictions from the Old Testament which the New Testament has removed. Doing so may have the “appearance of wisdom” (Colossians 2:23) but is actually just a step towards putting yourself back into the bondage of the Law.
Conclusion
There appears to be a wider (and more bizarre) variety of false doctrines among Pentecostals and Charismatics (which I consider myself a member of). I think the reason for this is that we have swung more towards the experiential in our efforts to know God and have begun to neglect the Word of God. The Word of God should be our standard against which we measure any experience or compulsion which we believe is from the Spirit. If we did so, then many of these aberrations could be avoided.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
In summary, we need to respect the personal choices of our fellow Christians even if we find no Biblical basis for them as long as they do not actually conflict with God’s Word. However, when false doctrines begin to be taught which go beyond personal choice and declare that God has commanded something which His Word contradicts, then we need to address it before it multiplies and mutates. Satan (although better known for his tactical methods eliciting immediate gratification) has been around for thousands of years and acts strategically as well. He can take the long view to achieve his means and, failing to get us to abandon our faith out right, he will use methods both subtle and gross in an attempt to bend our passion for God. Remember, brothers that each bizarre doctrine, sect, and denomination which is in the world today started but with a single man.
Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
Galatians 5:1-4 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Romans 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Please comment on this topic at the website below-http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
October 20, 2011; Source- http://www.cyshift.com/false_doctrine.html
Extremes of "Leadership"
By Andrew Strom.
I have been having a discussion with some friends on extreme types of "Leadership" in the church. It would be great to hear others' opinions on this.
I wish we could find a better "balance", but today it often seems that the choice is limited to either the "One man band" style of leader who rules the church like a mini-"fiefdom" - or in the more "post-church" type settings the "facilitator"-type leader who is anxious not to be seen to really 'lead' at all ("group hug", anyone?)
Neither of these types are the answer, in my view. But I have seen a lot of both over the years. The first "chieftan" style is so controlling and likes the sound of his own voice so much that he hardly lets anyone else minister to the people. The second type is so apologetic about "leading" that he would rather not preach and wants everyone to have "equal time". He thinks that the early church was "all body" and 'no strong leaders' at all. In this he is quite mistaken.
I have spent quite a bit of time in the last 25 years around "House church" and 'Out-of-church' type Christians. A lot of them have rejected the "One man band" style of leadership completely. (I cannot fault this). But then they have gone right over to the other extreme. There is to be no real leadership or preaching, no authority, no "Joshuas" or Peters or Pauls exhorting the Body to "go forward and take the land". And there is certainly to be no "eldership" to come 'under'. (Perish the thought!)
Many of these people will "say" that they believe in leaders and the "5-fold" ministries, but in every way by their actions and attitudes they show that they basically want *none*.
The opening sentence of John's gospel tells us that "In the beginning was the WORD". That is how important the "spoken word" is to God. He uses it to "found" everything. And we need to take note that the very first description of the early church starts with this phrase- "And they gave themselves to the APOSTLES' TEACHING" (Acts 2:42). In other words, the very first thing that the early Christians did was to devote themselves to the "anointed word" coming out of the apostles' mouths. That 'word' was life-transforming and essential. But many today no longer want preachers. It is seen as an "outmoded" form. Tomorrow's church, they say, will be "all body" and no leaders. (Because its too "old-school," they say).
I beg to differ. I say that without such preachers or leaders there will be no Revival, no Reformation, no new move of God, and no "New Testament" church. As we can clearly see from Scripture, true New Testament Christianity is simply LOADED with preaching and LOADED with leadership. And if we cannot see how important these things are, then we will never get back there. We need to start valuing the "anointed word" just like they did. But where do we find it today? -That is the biggest problem.
This is not to say that it will be back to the "One man band". For true "apostolic" preaching raises up the whole Body to be who they are meant to be in Christ. That is what real anointed preaching does. It cleans people out and helps raise them up into their calling. Especially if the leaders have learnt to be truly "Body-enabling" in a very active, practical way. In this sense, I totally believe in the "Facilitating" model of leadership as well. Only then can all the gifts and functions of the Holy Spirit flourish and be raised up into their fulness. -"Every joint supplying". -Full "body" ministry.
Sadly it is so rare to find this combination - this "balance" of both types of leader. I am convinced that this is what is needed in any future move of God. Not one extreme or the other, but leaders who are both "word"-oriented and "Body-enabling". -Totally essential.
I would love to hear your comments on this topic of "leadership", my friends. Please post your thoughts at the website below- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
God Bless you all!
><> October 13, 2011
The Mid-Week Rapture Part 1
By Karl Kemp
I'll give a little background information since this is the first article. I am a Bible teacher. For one thing, I have been teaching the Bible in the greater St. Louis area for about forty years, in churches, Bible colleges, home Bible studies, etc.
I received BS and MS degrees in engineering from St. Louis University and I worked as a test engineer on various space projects throughout the 60s; it was interesting. Very often we were doing things for the first time.
In 1964 the best thing that ever happened to me happened. I became a born again Christian; thanks be to God! In the fall of 1969 I quit my job as an engineer. For one thing, I wanted to go to seminary to learn Greek and Hebrew and everything else that could help me understand the Bible. But I realized back then, and I realize even more now, how dependent I am on the Holy Spirit to be my primary teacher. I graduated from Covenant Seminary in 1972 with an MA degree in Biblical Studies. I have found Greek and Hebrew to be very helpful in my study of the Bible, especially Greek, and I have taught some ten classes in New Testament Greek over the years.
The church I was attending when I became a born-again Christian - and I'm very thankful for that church - taught me the pre-week rapture. Most Christians call it the pre-tribulation rapture, but I believe it is far more accurate to call it the pre-week rapture. The week refers to that seven-year period we learn about from Dan. 9:27. It's called Daniel's 70th week; it's a week of years.
Not long after I became a born-again Christian, I learned of the mid-week rapture while taking night classes at Covenant College and Seminary. My first five or six years as a Christian, I didn't study the end times much, and I didn't teach on the end times. Finally, about 1970, after I began to seriously and prayerfully study the topic, it became clear to me that the mid-week rapture is correct, and I have been teaching the mid-week rapture for about forty five years now. I wrote a book titled "The Mid-Week Rapture: A Verse-by-Verse Study of Key Prophetic Passages." You can check out the book (or, order a copy of the book) by Googling to Karl Kemp Teaching. A chapter of the book is included on my internet site. You can also check out my other book there, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin: Full Salvation Through the Atoning Death of the Lord Jesus Christ." And many of my articles and papers are posted on my internet site.
I'm not here to argue, and I'm thankful I can sincerely say that I respect those teaching the pre-week rapture (people like Hal Lindsey and Dave Hunt, for example), and I respect those teaching other views like the end-of-the-week rapture, and the pre-wrath rapture, but it is very important that we seek God and make it a top priority to find the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches on the end times, and on every topic. Some topics are more important than Bible prophecy, but this topic is quite important, and especially for those living in the end times, which I believe we are. The primary topic I have been studying, teaching, and trying to live the last forty five years is holiness and victory over sin.
I have been reading the Jerusalem Post every week for about twenty years now and the Jerusalem Report every two weeks for about that long; they are both written in Israel ; And I read some other publications too, trying to keep up with what is happening in the world, especially in and around Israel . For one primary thing, I have been watching for the treaty that will initiate the seven-year period we call Daniel's 70th week.
That seven-year period is very important in Bible prophecy. We learn about that seven-year period from the book of Daniel, but the book of Revelation picks up on that theme. The book of Revelation never mentions seven years, but it mentions the equivalent of three and one-half years five times; it mentions 1260 days, 42 months, and a time, times and half a time. The first two uses refer to the first half of Daniel's 70th week and other three uses refer to the second half of that seven-year period. This information is very important to help us understand the end times. For one primary thing, the book of Revelation speaks of several very important things that will take place right in the middle of the seven-year period, including the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet, the return of the Lord Jesus to save His people and to judge the world, and the resurrection and rapture of the saints. At that same time, the devil and his angels will be cast down to the earth and Antichrist will begin his super-evil three and one-half year reign. God will use Antichrist in His end-time judgment of the world.
One last comment before we move on to the Scriptures. We'll spend most of our time discussing key passages of Scripture verse-by-verse. I read an important article in the Jerusalem Post recently titled, "Chirac, it's time to impose peace." Chirac, as you know, is the president of France , and he was speaking of France and the European Union doing everything they could do to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians, or should I say, to use his word, to "impose" peace. That mentality in Europe and many other places around the world could easily lead to the final seven-year treaty before long. I should mention that Chirac has been replaced by Sarkozy since I made that comment, but that mentality is stronger than ever.
Let's turn to the Bible, 1 Thess. 1:9, 10. I'll always use the NASB, 1995 edition, unless I mention otherwise. I have been using the NASB since about 1969. Before that I used the KJV, the Scofield Reference Bible. I will frequently make comments in the middle of quotations using brackets [ ] or [[ ]]. 1 Thess. 1:9, "For they themselves report about us [referring to the apostle Paul and his companions Silvanus and Timothy] what kind of a reception we had with you [referring to the time when Paul and his companions first came to Thessalonica to share the gospel with them. See Acts 17 for the details.], and how you turned from idols to serve a [or, the] living and true God." Whether we translate "a living and true God" or "the living and true God," which sounds better, there's only one living and true God, the God of Creation, the God of the Bible (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).
I'll read verse 9 again and then read verse 10. "For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, (10) and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus who rescues us [or, delivers us] from the wrath to come." Our being delivered from the wrath to come is good news, good news indeed. We probably know more about the details of this deliverance from the wrath to come than the apostle Paul did. For one thing, he died some thirty years before the book of Revelation was given, and the book of Revelation is super-important and packed with important details regarding the end times.
I'll read two other verses that speak of our being saved from the wrath to come. 1 Thess. 5:9, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." And Rom. 5:9, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." I believe we should understand the words "having now been justified" in a very full sense here, as is often the case in the New Testament, a very full sense that includes being forgiven and declared righteous and being born-again and made righteous by the awesome power of Jesus' blood and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are made righteous and holy by the atoning death of Christ, as we walk in, by, and after the Holy Spirit by faith, in accordance with the terms of the new covenant. (See my book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin.")
I'll read 1 Thess. 5:9 and Rom. 5:9 again, then I'll go back and read 1 Thess. 1:10. 1 Thess. 5:9, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:9, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." And now 1 Thess. 1:10 again, "and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us [or delivers us] from the wrath to come." What wrath will we be saved from? The primary wrath we will be saved from is the eternal lake of fire, the second death of Revelation chapter 20. But we will also be saved from all the wrath that will be poured out during the second half of that seven-year period called Daniel's 70th week.
Now we'll discuss 1 Thess. 4:13-17. I'll start to read 1 Thess. 4:13 , "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep [Those who are asleep are the Christians who have died already; they are with Christ now.], so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. [Christians are the only ones who have the hope, "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27), for example. Our hope looks to the future, when we will be glorified, at the time of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't receive the glory until it is God's time. If we stay faithful we will receive the glory at the right time. And we can stay faithful by the sufficient grace of God in Christ. And we are going to stay faithful, aren't we?] (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. [Don't worry about the Christians who have died, Paul says, they are with Christ now, and when the Father sends His Son back to fully save His people and to judge the world, He will bring with Him the spirits of the departed Christians, who are with Him now. They will come back to get their resurrection bodies, to be glorified, and to begin to reign along with the overcoming Christians who will still be living on the earth at that time.] (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. [The apostle Paul will have more to say on this point as he continues.] (16) [Verses 16 and 17 are very important verses to understand the end times] "For the Lord Himself [the Lord Jesus Christ] will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel [The voice of the archangel, that's Michael. We read in Revelation chapter 12 that Michael and his angels are going to wage warfare against the devil and his angels. That intense, brief warfare will take place right in the middle of the seven years, and that is when the devil and his angels will be cast down to the earth. By the way, we learn from that passage in Revelation chapter 12 that a third of God's angels joined Satan in his rebellion against God. The sin problem runs very deep, with the rebellion and fall of the devil and the evil angels and the demons, and finally with the rebellion of a large number of the sons of mankind who follow the devil in his rebellion against God.] and with the trumpet of God [[This trumpet is very important. It is quite significant that this is the same trumpet as the trumpet of Matthew chapter 24; the trumpet of 1 Corinthians chapter 15; and the trumpet of Revelation chapter 11. In Matt. 24:30, 31 there is a trumpet when the Lord returns with the clouds to initiate the rapture and the day of judgment. In 1 Cor. 15:52 the apostle Paul gets more specific. He speaks of our being changed at the last trumpet (Our being changed includes the resurrection unto glory of the believers who will have died before that time and of the glorification of the believers who will be living on the earth at that time). Paul may not have known the details regarding the last trumpet because, for one thing, he died some thirty years before the all-important book of Revelation was given. When we finally get the book of Revelation (about AD 95), we read of the seven trumpets, and we see that at the seventh and last trumpet is when the Lord returns and the glorification of the believers take place. We read of the seventh and last trumpet sounding in Rev. 11:15. It is important to see that the trumpets of 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:31; the LAST trumpet of 1 Cor. 15:52; and the seventh and LAST trumpet of Rev. 11:15 are the same trumpet and that that trumpet will sound right in the middle of Daniel's 70th week. Let's take a quick look at these three passages that speak of this same trumpet. (We will look at these passages in more detail in future articles. - Part 2 tomorrow.......)
The Mid-Week Rapture Part 2
By Karl Kemp
First let's take a quick look at 1 Cor. 15:50-52, "Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [In other words, we have to be glorified and have glorified bodies to inherit God's eternal kingdom of glory.] (51) Behold I tell you a mystery, we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed [Some true Christians will still be living on the earth when Christ returns. They will not die, but all will be changed. That is, we will be glorified and enter God's kingdom in its fully glorified sense. We will begin to reign with Christ at that time in a never ending reign.] (52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the LAST TRU MPET, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we [referring to the believers still living on the earth when Christ returns] will be changed [we will be glorified, including having glorified bodies designed for us to live in God's eternal kingdom of glory]."
Now let's take a quick look at Matt. 24:30, 31. I'll read the verses and make a few comments, "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn [They will mourn because the day of judgment will have arrived.] and they will see the Son of Man [the Lord Jesus Christ] coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. (31) And He will send forth His angels with a GREAT TRU MPET and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other [In other words, the angels will gather His elect worldwide.]. This gathering of God's elect at the time of the sounding of this trumpet is the rapture. His elect are the believers of all generations, all the members of God's true Israel. In Rom. 11:17-24 the apostle Paul spoke of the fact that all true Gentile Christians have been grafted into the tree of God's true Israel.
Now I'll read Rev. 11:15-17, verses of key importance, and make a few comments, "Then the seventh angel sounded.[The seventh angel sounded his TRU MPET. The seven trumpets were given to the seven angels in Rev. 8:2.], and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.' [When the Lord Jesus returns at the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet, He will begin to reign on the earth, and His reign will include judging. In most ways God is not reigning on the earth at the present time. He has all authority, but He has not chosen to reign on the earth in any full sense. If He were reigning things would come into divine order quickly, but as it is many things are getting worse (more sinful) instead of getting better. But it will be different when the Father sends His Son to begin to reign on the earth at the sounding of the seventh trumpet in the middle of Daniel's 70th week.] (16) and the twenty-four elders [high-level angelic beings who are reigning with God (see Psalm 89:6-8, for example), who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, 'We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and HAVE BEGUN TO REIGN.' " He will begin to reign on the earth (mostly through the ministry of God the Son) at the time of the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet of the book of Revelation.
Now I'll continue quoting from 1 Thess. 4:16.]], and the dead in Christ shall rise first. [That is, the true Christians who will have died before the Lord Jesus returns will rise from their graves with resurrected bodies.] (17) Then we who are alive and remain [referring to the true Christians who will still living on the earth when the Lord returns] shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air [That is, the resurrected believers and the other glorified believers will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. That's the rapture. The catching up of the believers in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air is the rapture.], and so we shall always be with the Lord. [And not only will we be glorified and be with Christ, we will be reigning with Him from that time on in a never-ending reign.] (19) Therefore comfort one another with these words." Yes, I guess so! What a destiny! Resurrected if we have died, glorified, raptured, and beginning to reign with the Lord Jesus Christ in a never-ending reign in glory.
Let's consider one more detail regarding those who will be raised from the dead at the time of Christ's mid-week return to the earth. Will the believers from the Old Testament days be resurrected at that time? Many Christians say no, but I believe they will be included, even if the apostle Paul didn't really make that point here. See Dan. 12:2, for example. (We'll study all of Daniel chapter 12 verse-by-verse in these studies.) They are saved through the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are part of God's true Israel along with us.
Now let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5; I'll quote and discuss the first four verses here. Then I'll quote and very briefly discuss verses 5, 6. "Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. [Why not? Because Paul had taught them quite a bit already.] (2) For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. [It is very important to see that the Lord Jesus is not coming for us like a thief in the night, like many teach He is. He is coming like a thief in the night for those who are living in rebellion against Him and who are not looking for, and ready for, His coming. Verses 3 and 4, which I'll read next, suffice to demonstrate that the Lord is not coming for us like a thief in the night.] (3) While THEY are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon THEM suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and THEY will not escape. [They will be saying things like 'Peace and Safety' instead of repenting and submitting (in faith) to God and His new-covenant plan of salvation. They will not escape, but those who are ready for, and looking for, Christ's second coming will escape. Instead of facing God's destructive judgments, they will be glorified and raptured from the earth to begin to reign with Him.] (4) But you brethren are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief."
I'll give an important cross-reference, Rev. 3:1-6. I'll start to read at Rev. 3:1, "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars [The Lord Jesus Christ], says this: 'I know your deeds [or works], that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. (2) Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds [works] completed in the sight of My God. [To the extent we really have faith, we will have works, the works that the saving grace of God, which includes the indwelling Spirit of God, enables us to do. Faith without works is dead, that is, it isn't real faith.] (3) So remember what you have received and heard, and keep it, and repent. [We don't hear the word repent near enough in our day. We should hear about the need for repentance when we become Christians and the need for repentance whenever Christians are living in sin. If we are in sin, we must repent; there is no other satisfactory answer. The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, has a lot to say about repentance.] Therefore if you do not wake up [Christ warns these Christians at Sardis and all Christians in the same situation], I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. (4) But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white for they are worthy [We are made worthy by the saving grace of God in Christ]. (5) He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (6) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' " There is a powerful warning here. The Lord Jesus warned those Christians that if they did not repent they would forfeit their place in God's eternal kingdom that is filled with His glory. If we look to God, He will give us the grace to repent.
Jesus said that if those Christians at Sardis who needed to repent did not repent, He would come against them in judgment like a thief (like a thief in the night; at an hour they would not know) and He indirectly stated that He would erase their names from the book of life, which would mean that they would no longer be His people. He said the same thing to many other Christians in the seven churches. You frequently hear it said that those Christians that Jesus threatened with loss of salvation never were true, born-again Christians, but that is clearly wrong. In verse 2 Jesus exhorted them to "wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die." Those words confirm that they were still part of the true Christian church. And the fact that the Christians who needed to repent at Sardis had soiled their clean garments through living in sin without repentance (unlike the few Christians at Sardis who had not soiled their garments), showed that they had become true Christians. I'll read Rev. 19:8, which speaks of the bride of Christ, "It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints [the righteous acts (and lifestyle) of the Christians during their lives on the earth]." If the Christians at Sardis who had soiled their garments would repent, which Jesus was calling them to do, they would cleanse their garments through the powerful saving grace of God in Christ.
Furthermore, the fact that that Jesus indirectly stated that He would erase their names from the book of life also demonstrates that they had become true Christians. Otherwise their names wouldn't have been in the book of life "from the foundation of the world." (See Rev. 13:8; 17:8.) I'll give one more example to demonstrate that the Christians who were called to repent, or forfeit their salvation, were true Christians. The fact that the Christians at Ephesus (see Rev. 2:1-7) had a lampstand demonstrated that they were part of the true Christian church (Rev. 1:20). However, Jesus warned them that if they didn't repent, He would "remove their lampstand" (Rev. 2:5).
I recommend that you read my paper, "Once Saved, Always Saved?" that is on my internet site. I tried very hard to give the balanced truth of what the New Testament teaches on this topic in that paper. Even though I don't believe that doctrine lines up with the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches, I have significant respect for Christians who hold that doctrine, as long as they are not abusing that doctrine, and there are large numbers of Christians like that. An example of abusing the doctrine is when Christians disregard the powerful warnings to repent throughout the New Testament in passages like Rev. 3:1-6. As long as Christians who need to repent take the warnings seriously and repent, we don't have much of a problem. But we must repent!
True Christians should not lose their salvation. And I am much closer to Christians who don't believe true Christians can lose their salvation, as long as they aren't abusing the doctrine, than I am to Christians who very sincerely end up striving (mostly in the flesh) trying to please God and stay saved. We desperately need the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches!
I have observed over the years that large numbers of Christians are not doing much seeking God for the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches, because they assume that they have it already. All of us Christians (and especially ministers) need to humble ourselves before God and sincerely seek Him for the balanced truth of what the Bible teaches. Every misinterpretation of the Bible hurts, and some are catastrophic.
Now I'll quote 1 Thess. 5:4 again and further discuss this verse, "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief." "The darkness" goes with Satan's kingdom of darkness, a kingdom of rebellion and sin, a kingdom not established on God's truth, righteousness, and holiness. The apostle Paul clearly states here that the day of judgment will not overtake us like a thief if we are living for God in His divine order.
One reason that the day of judgment will not overtake us as a thief in the night is that God has told us several definite things that will come to pass in the years just preceding the return of Christ. For example (and we will talk more about all these things in some detail as we continue with these studies), we will see the seven-year treaty that Antichrist will make, or confirm, with Israel. There may be some doubt at first about whether that particular treaty is the one spoken of in Dan. 9:27. But any doubt will be removed when things start taking place in sequence in accordance with God's prophetic word. For example, the three and one-half year ministry of God's two prophets/witnesses that we learn about from Revelation chapter 11 will begin at the time that treaty is initiated. The first six trumpets of the book of Revelation will sound and the prophesied events associated with those trumpets will all come to pass, in sequence, before the Lord returns at the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet in the middle of Daniel's 70th week. For one last example, Antichrist's abomination of desolation will come to pass in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem about a month before the Lord returns and the rapture takes place. We should know the approximate day of His return many days before He returns.
Now I'll read 1 Thess. 5:5, 6. "for you are all sons of light and sons of day [The light and the day goes with walking in God's truth and His righteousness and holiness.] We are not of night nor of darkness; (6) so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober [or, self-controlled]."
About the Author - http://www.karlkempteachingministries.com Karl Kemp worked as an engineer in the space firld throughout the 60s. He became a born-again Christian in 1964. He received an MA in Biblical Studies in 1972. He has been a Bible teacher for 45 years. See the website for more info on his books, papers, etc.
><>September 22, 2011; source: Faithwriters.com
George Whitefields Impact on America
Extracts by Eddie Hyatt
George Whitefield (1714–1770) was uniquely prepared for his role as the firebrand of the Great Awakening that would bring all the individual flames of revival together into one blazing inferno of Divine Awakening... At Oxford he had come under the tutelage of John and Charles Wesley and had experienced a dramatic conversion that forever changed his life. His gifted preaching ability drew great crowds and quickly launched him into leadership, along with the Wesleys, of the Methodist revival in England. Having eyes that were crossed, his critics poked fun at him calling him Dr. Squintum.
Sensing a Divine call to America, he departed England in August of 1739 with a burden for the colonists and a prayer that they would not live as thirteen scattered colonies, but as “one nation under God.” As he travelled up and down the eastern seaboard, shop- keepers closed their doors, farmers left their plows, and workers threw down their tools to hurry to the place where he was to preach. Crowds of 8-10 thousand were common. At a time when the population of Boston was estimated at 25,000, Whitefield preached to an estimated crowd of 30,000 on the Boston Common. Through his incessant travels he became the best known and most recognized figure in colonial America.
The Awakening Impacts all Segments of Society
Whitefield became a friend of Benjamin Franklin and stayed in his home on at least one of his visits to America. Franklin’s testimony of the power of the revival is particularly significant since he did not profess to be a Christian. In his Autobiography, he tells of the incredible change that came over his hometown of Philadelphia when Whitefield came there on his first of seven visits to America. He writes,
"In 1739 there arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitfield who made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches, but the clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was a matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."
Franklin admits that he was skeptical of reports of Whitefield’s preaching being heard by crowds of 25,000 and more. While listening to Whitefield preach from the top of the Philadelphia courthouse steps to a huge throng, Franklin, having an enquiring and scientific mind, retired backward to see how far Whitefield’s voice would reach. He then did some calculations and decided that Whitefield’s voice, which he described as “loud and clear,” could be heard by crowds of 30,000 and more.
The Awakening Touches All Sects & Denominations
Everywhere he went the Holy Spirit was poured out in great power. On one occasion after preaching to a huge throng gathered outdoors, Whitfield surveyed the crowd and noted the amazing response. "Look where I would, most were drowned in tears. Some were struck pale as death, others wringing their hands, others lying on the ground, others sinking into the arms of their friends and most lifting up their eyes to heaven and crying out to God." In Delaware there was such an outpouring of God’s Spirit and grace that Whitefield himself was overcome along with many of his audience.
Although a native of England, Whitefield became best known for his ministry in America’s First Great Awakening. He loved America and made seven visits to this land. A tireless worker, he travelled incessantly from Georgia to Maine preaching primarily in the open air and raising money for his beloved orphanage, Bethesda, which he had founded in Georgia. He died during his final visit to America at the age of 58, probably of congestive heart failure brought on by fatigue.
The Significance of Whitfield’s Contribution
Whitfield’s contribution to the First Great Awakening was enormous. More than any other person he, by his incessant travels, helped make the Awakening a national event. It was the first time the scattered colonists of various denominational and theological persuasions had participated together in a single event. Denominational walls were broken down and, for the first time, they began to see themselves as a single people with one Divine destiny—“one nation under God,” as Whitfield had prayed.
The preaching of Whitefield, Edwards, Frelinghuysen, the Tennents, and others thus paved the way for nationhood. This is why Harvard professor, William Perry, said, “The Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a result of the evangelical preaching of the evangelists of the Great Awakening.”
Source: From Chapter 5 of the book "GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEE"
><> September 15, 2011
I Choose
By Michael Halleen
"I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'" (Psalm 91:2)
Mrs. S. had lived alone for many years and got out only with the help of a wheelchair. Every Sunday she wheeled herself into the side aisle of our sanctuary (one without handicap access) where she worshiped enthusiastically. She always seemed to be "up." People smiled when they were around her.
One evening Mrs. S. spoke to the youth of the church and was asked how she could always be so alive, so full of joy. She responded, "Because I *choose* to. I had no choice about living the last half of my life as a widow or having one of my sons killed in the Korean War. And I certainly didn't choose to have to ride around in this chair for the past ten years. But one thing I did choose - to be happy. I decided to make the best of every day and to see the best in every person."
A friend who had been a missionary in South America told me of taking some American visitors through his city. One of them spotted a beautiful, large poinsettia tree in front of a small house as they passed by. The visitor wanted to take a picture and, not realizing that the plant was brittle, reached up to pull down a branch for the camera. A six-foot length of flame-red poinsettia snapped to the ground.
At that moment the woman of the house stepped out of the door and confronted the gringos standing there, poinsettia branch in hand. Humiliated, they offered to pay for her loss. But they could no more fix the personal damage than they could repair the tree. Still, instead of adding to their embarrassment, the woman cheerfully asked them in for tea. She chose to forgive them, to overlook their clumsy behavior. She chose to offer them grace.
Nothing is more crucial to the quality of our lives than the choices we make about how we approach the circumstances and relationships of each day. In the end it is that attitude which largely determines the outcomes we will find. The Lord made today, but it is we who decide how we will live in it. I *choose* God as my refuge . . . I *choose* to believe . . . I *choose* to find a way.
About the Author: Monday Moments are an inspirational and thought provoking weekly newsletter. This newsletter is written and emailed out every Monday by Dr. Michael A. Halleen. Contact Mike at mhalleen@att.net to be added to his email list.
><> September 8, 2011
Why Do So Many Bad Things Keep Happening in the US?
By Michael Snyder
At a time when the American economy is already reeling like a drunken sailor, the United States is being hit by what seems like an endless parade of horrible disasters that threaten to push the fragile financial system over the edge. The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is now destroying not only the the entire economy of the Gulf Coast but also the entire way of life for hundreds of thousands of people is getting all the headlines right now, but it is far from the only major crisis that has hit the United States recently. The old saying, "when it rains it pours", is certainly applicable to the United States right now.
Already faced with some of the biggest economic problems in a generation, America is also being forced to deal with horrifying natural disasters, rapidly growing environmental nightmares and agricultural problems that could end up being absolutely unprecedented. So why do so many bad things keep happening to the United States? Does there come a point when the economic damage from all of these disasters just becomes too much? After all, how many body blows can the "biggest economy in the world" take and still remain standing?
Consider just a few of the major disasters that the U.S. is having to deal with....
The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill
Industry experts are now saying that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be increasing at a rate of 25,000 barrels a day - five times the U.S. government's current estimate...
So how much is this disaster going to cost?
The cost to the fishing industry in Louisiana alone could top 3 billion dollars, and it is being projected that the tourism industry in Florida could lose even more than that.
This is rapidly shaping up as one of the biggest environmental nightmares (perhaps the biggest) that the United States has ever had to face. In fact, there are some who are saying that this incident has already eclipsed the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident as the worst U.S. oil disaster in history.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is warning that the oil spill in the Gulf threatens the very way of life of people in his state. As bad as Hurricane Katrina was, there are those who are already claiming that this disaster will be worse than Hurricane Katrina for the region, because it will literally take years for this mess to be cleaned up. In fact, there is a very real possibility that the fishing industry may be crippled for generations by this disaster.
The Disappearance Of The Honeybees
For the fourth year in a row in the United States, more than a third of all bee colonies have failed to survive the winter.
To be more precise, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the U.S. government's Agricultural Research Service, the number of managed honeybee colonies in the United States fell by 33.8% last winter.
Needless to say, this is not a good trend.
In fact, it could quickly turn into an unmitigated disaster as it is estimated that a third of all that we eat depends upon honeybee pollination.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Most flowering plants require insects for pollination. The most effective insect for pollination is the honeybee.
Without honeybees, we are going to be in a world of hurt... In fact, Ohio State University's honeybee specialist, James Tew, recently told the following to the Dayton Daily News.... "The average person should care. Bees of all species are fundamental to the operation of our ecosystem."
So what happens if they all die off?
You don't even want to think about that.
But certainly our scientists can find a solution, right?
Well, the World Organization for Animal Health announced on Wednesday that the huge die off of bees worldwide is not due to any one single factor.. the truth is th.at a "solution" seems to be very far away right now and we are running out of time.
The Drying Up Of The Ogallala Aquifer
Most Americans have never heard of the Ogallala Aquifer, but it is absolutely critical to food production in many areas of the United States.
The water from this massive underground lake is used to irrigate much of America's Great Plains. But it is being drained at a rate of approximately 800 gallons per minute and it is starting to dry up.
So why is that a bad thing?
Well, the Ogallala Aquifer is a gigantic underground lake that stretches from southern South Dakota all the way through northern Texas, covering approximately 174,000 square miles.
If it gets depleted, the era of "pivot irrigation" in the region will be over. That would mean that the Great Plains could quickly turn into the Great American Desert.
America could very well see a return to the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s.
Are you prepared for that?
Even if agricultural production continues to grow normally, scientists are telling us that the world is heading for a massive global food shortage. So what happens if our food production does not increase or is even reduced?
Sadly, the United States has only enough grain stored up to give about a half a loaf of bread to every man, woman and child in the United States.
How long do you think that is going to last in the event of a major emergency?
The truth is that "the good times" we have all grown up with are not going to last forever. The United States is in big trouble economically, and all of these natural disasters and environmental problems are not helping things one bit.
We are not entitled to endless wealth and prosperity just because we are Americans. In fact, we have recklessly squandered the wealth that prior generations have left for us.
About the Author – to read more from Michael Snyder please visit his website http://www.benzinga.com/
><> August 25, 2011
Real Disciples or Not?? - That’s the Big Question
By LibertyWorld
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kindly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.
(Hitler had Bonhoeffer shot because he chose to bow to Christ rather than to the Gestapo.)
Matthew 28:19 reads "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." R.S.V., and most versions. The Greek reads, "To become a pupil." "Enroll as a scholar."Christ did not say to make "converts," but rather to "make disciples." "Followers." In verse 20 He says, "Teaching them to 'observe' all things whatsoever I have commanded you..." Again the Greek reads to "hold fast." How very imperative it is to hold fast the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ!
The 'gospel' of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the gospel that is being preached in most pulpits today! Today's gospel is "another gospel," it is not the gospel of the Scriptures! Generally speaking, the church that provides the best and the most entertainment is the church that garners the greatest number of attendants.
Much of today's gospel is a false gospel, built on false premises, built on false teaching! Should any sincere Christian question this statement, let this individual read Matthew chapter 7:13-28 and verse 29 which says that those who heard Christ's teachings were astonished. Can you imagine the astonishment of people today also, if His message were being preached and taught in our pulpits!
And they of the church
And they of the world;
Walk hand and heart,
And only God who knoweth all
Can tell the two apart.
Hear what Dr. A. W. Tozer has to say on this matter, "Any objections to the carrying on of our present golden-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, 'But we are winning them.' And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To hard self- discipline? To love for God? To total commitment to Christ? Of course the answer to all these questions is 'No'." John Fletcher said, "More is said from our pulpits in favor of sin than against it."
"No longer is the thundering message of the prophet of God heralded from the sacred pulpit, warning against the wrath of a holy and just God against sin" - Wesley Duewel.
><> August 18, 2011
Double Dip Depression – Is it Here?
By Andrew Strom
Five years ago we began prophesying "another Great Depression" and in 2007 even put a timeframe on the start of it. A lot of these predictions have come true, but there was one major one that needed "time" before we could tell one way or the other. This was the prediction that it would be a "Double Dip Depression" - that there would be a partial recovery - then a 'second wave down' in this crisis. (The 'spiritual' implications of this are discussed below).
Yesterday the US stockmarket fell 513 points, which is a very serious fall - the worst since the collapse of 2008. But this does not come out of nowhere. For several months now, the data has begun to point downwards all over the world. As we know, Europe was in deep trouble already - especially Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The Italy/ Spain situation is particularly serious, and could even take down the Eurozone - it is that bad.
But even the UK is flirting with Recession - as are Australia, Japan and many other major nations - including the USA. Already Housing in the US has gone into a "Double Dip" and economists have been getting more and more concerned that the whole economy is about to follow it down. The 'Double Dip' talk is suddenly everywhere.
A Gallup poll in April found that 29% of those queried thought the US economy was in a “depression” and 26% said that the original recession had persisted into 2011. By July, a different polling group found that roughly 63% of Americans believed that the US economy had slipped into a "double-dip" recession. So clearly, people are feeling it at ground level. Unemployment is still high, housing is tanking - and virtually every economic indicator is pointing down.
The SPIRITUAL IMPLICATIONS
I have stated before that I believe the West - particularly America - is going through a great "purging". This still has YEARS to run yet, I believe. And I see it as one of the main things that must happen for Revival to be possible. There must be a "purging" first.
And along with this "seven years of famine" so-to-speak, I believe there is also a SPIRITUAL dearth that is occurring - a famine of the "hearing of the word of the Lord." It is very significant to me that David Wilkerson died this year. And thus America has lost one of her only "watchmen" of any note. It is going to get harder and harder to find the true "word of the Lord". Thus I believe there is a spiritual "famine" underway in the West - that will last about the same length of time as the 'physical' crisis. But our big hope is that at the end of this period, these nations (particularly America) will be ready for a true move of the Holy Spirit of God.
Please comment on this topic at this website: http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
God bless you all.
Andrew Strom
><> August 11, 2011
Under the Shadow of Our Steeple: Unintended Prophecy?
By Rev Michael Bresciani
In 2005 the extremely popular contemporary Christian soft rock group Casting Crowns released a song title that has become a much beloved song throughout the world. The title, "Does Anybody Hear Her" poses the question that every young person in this generation has asked at sometime in their lives.
The lyrics to the song were written by band leader Mark Hall who has helped his group to win GMA Dove and Grammy awards and has produced albums that easily sailed into platinum status. Whether Hall meant his words to be prophetic or not, is not fully known. Any Christian group that practices singing to lead others to Christ already knows that when conducting themselves under the power of the Holy Spirit the prophetic is not all that unusual.
Whether unwittingly or intentional a couple of lines in the song describe the state of the church and the sad results of the predicted apostasy of the church as we approach the last days. In the second verse of the song are these seemingly prophetic words.
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
The words describe a young woman who is in a deep search for meaning even as she is in the middle of making life changing decisions that will lead to heartache or worse. She wants inner peace and could use the best counsel and guidance but travels ahead without it, even though she is directly in the shadow of the church. It is a case of her missing the church and the church completely missing her. It is today.
The prophesied apostasy of the church has been underway and traveling at top speed away from the guidance that once was central to its existence. In this generation more than any other before it, the church has begun to leave the only hope it had of pleasing God or carrying on in what is known as true discipleship.
In new and twisted versions of the gospel message, adherents gather themselves to things like the prosperity gospel, the emergent church, domionism and a plethora of others. Whatever they may call themselves they are made up of two distinct groups, the fluffers and the scoffers.
The fluffers are throwing off the essentials of the faith like salvation by grace, the moral teachings of the Bible and other basic doctrines of the scripture. They have opted in to a more personal and eclectic gospel of their own making. They are those the Bible says will not, "endure" sound doctrine as the end of time approaches. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (2Ti 4: 3)
The scoffers are those who have just grown tired of waiting for the fulfillment of scriptures and the prophesied return of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Peter 3: 3, 4)
The church can and does go blithely forward even without the presence, blessings and the authority of the Lord but it becomes an empty shell. It is a form without substance. It may be deeply involved in social issues and have dozens of seemingly worthwhile projects underway at any given time, but if you are looking for God in the midst; don't hold your breath.
The Apostle Paul warned his young disciple Timothy that churches would begin to do this in his time but more so in the last days. Rather than trying to undo the effect of these churches Paul warned Timothy to just steer clear of them. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2Ti 3: 5)
This generation has been pounded unmercifully with academic secularism and can no longer endure being ostracized or the ridicule and the outright laughter laid upon it for believing in Biblical tenants. It has been told repeatedly that science has all the answers. It has lost sight of the fact that true Christianity is predicated on a historical fact, the life, words and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is satisfied to hear the voices of those who surmise, expostulate and devise constructs to explain everything that happened untold millions of years in the past.
They are overcome with the preponderance of information laid upon them without which they can't gain social acceptance or a passing grade. Going with the flow they have failed to see that making statements about what happened millions of years ago is not science, (Repeatable observable phenomena) but is speculation, or in terms I use all too often, it is prior philosophic postulation. In lay terms this is largely, guesswork.
It is not evolution alone that has sucked in the brains of an entire generation but it revolution as well. The sexual revolution said to have begun in the seventies has catapulted into a modern lifestyle that goes almost universally unchallenged. The hot pursuit of all that is hot has left a generation cold toward God.
The idea of chastity is archaic to today's youth and any mention of Biblical teachings of morality from abstinence to sexual deviance like homosexuality is an absurdity in the minds of our kids. A recent video that went viral almost out of the gate features the remarks of one Minnesota lawmaker proclaiming that gay is holy. Representative Steve Simon (D) said, "How many more gay people does God have to create before we ask ourselves whether or not God wants them around?" (CBN News May 5, 2011) It is hard to believe that a theology like this could even emerge in someone's mind, much less be touted as a reasonable viewpoint to be voiced by an elected official in the United States.
There is no need to quote even one single scriptural passage or verse to answer this amazing assertion. That God has made man is a scriptural foregone, but that he has made him to sin by defying his clear commands is somewhere between cuckoo and blasphemy. For the true theologian it adds new definition to the word, recalcitrant.
The idea that abortion is a choice but sexual preference is not, is a sure indicator that we are reaching new lows in our generational apostasy. But the idea that God is responsible for all this indicates that we may well be approaching rock bottom. Little wonder that the Bible concludes that the last generation approaches the place of no return and moves into the realm of moral hopelessness.
Casting Crowns seemed to allude to the young woman's search for hope which after all eludes her completely even as she stands in the very shadow of the church. Here is where we see that the church has failed its primary mission. It is not an exclusive mission for some churches and not for others but it is a universal command that Christ gave to every church. It is called the "great commission" and the entire church has been directed to carry it out.
The resurrected Savior stood before his disciples and seconds before he ascended to be with his Father he said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Mt 28: 19, 20)
In the Crown's song we see that the message of hope the girl was looking for was tucked away in the hearts of those in the church but no one revealed that hope or tried to explain it to her. The failure to carry out the great commission is costly. Our silence is the opposite of the commission and the antithesis of the teaching of the Apostle Peter who said, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." (1Peter 3: 15)
One of the saddest aspects of the last day's apostasy in the church is that many people are ashamed to admit their connection to Christ. They lean toward theistic evolution as a compromise or they soften the commands and the call to sanctified behaviors with the worn out phrase "but no one is perfect." If asked to explain their faith or how they came to be connected to Christ they are ashamed.
Apostasy is prophesied but it is not without remedy. It can only be remedied on a one on one basis. Each person who names Christ as his Lord must ask the question of themselves. But in this question the following words must be contemplated very carefully.
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8: 38)
The church must do much more than cast the shadow of its steeple upon this generation. It must continue in the great commission and proclaim the hope that is within us to every ear that will hear and receive it. God help us.
Author Resource:- http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight. Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.
><> August 4, 2011; Source - Christian Article Bank
Why Hell is Integral to the Gospel
By Greg Gilbert
For some, the horror of the Christian doctrine of hell—that it is a place of eternal, conscious torment where God's enemies are punished—has led them not just to avert their eyes and minds, but to deny it entirely. "Surely," they say, "hell is a fictional construct used to oppress people with fear; a God of love would never allow such a place to really exist." There's an emotional power to this argument, to be sure. No one, certainly no Christian, likes the idea of hell.
At the same time, this doctrine isn't just drapery on the side of the Christian worldview, something with no relevance to the structure of the faith itself. Nor is the doctrine of hell an embarrassing, unnecessary, primitive wart that we believe just because we're told we have to.
On the contrary, the doctrine and reality of hell actually throws the glory of the gospel into sharp relief for us. It helps us to understand just how great God really is, how sinfully wretched we really are, and how unutterably amazing it is that he would show us grace at all. Moreover, the reality of hell—if we don't push it out of our minds—will focus us, above all, on the task of proclaiming the gospel to those who are in danger of spending eternity there.
With that in mind, here are five biblical statements about hell which, taken as a whole, demonstrate why hell is integral to the gospel.
Why Hell Is Integral To The Gospel
1. Scripture teaches that there is a real place called hell. I won't belabor this point. Others have made this case with crystal clarity. Suffice it to say that medieval bishops didn't invent the doctrine of hell as a way to scare the serfs; they got it from the apostles. And the apostles didn't invent it to scare the pagans; they got it from Jesus... At the most basic level, therefore, if we claim to be Christians and to believe that the Bible is the word of God, we have to recognize that the Bible teaches the reality of hell. But there's more.
2. Hell shows us how heinous our sin really is. Have you ever heard someone make the argument that no human sin could possibly deserve eternal torment in hell? It's an interesting argument, one that reveals a lot about the human heart. Why is it that when people think about hell, they always conclude that God must be at fault and not themselves? You can see how the doctrine reveals our hearts: when we consider our own sin, our first inclination is always to minimize it, to protest that it's not that bad and that God is wrong to say it deserves punishment.
The reality of hell stands as a massive refutation of that self- justification. Non-Christians will always see the horrors of hell as an indictment of God, but as Christians who know God to be perfectly just and righteous, we must understand that the horrors of hell are actually an indictment of us. We may want to minimize our sin, or excuse it, or try to argue our consciences down. But the fact that God has declared that we deserve eternal torment for those sins should remind us that they are not small at all. They are enormously evil.
3. Hell shows us how immovably and unimpeachably just God really is. People have been tempted throughout history to think of God as a corrupt judge, one who sets aside the demands of justice simply because he likes the defendant. "We are all God's children," the argument goes. "How could God hand down such a horrible sentence on some of his children?" The answer to that question is simple: God is not a corrupt judge. He is an absolutely just and righteous one.
Over and over the Bible makes this point. When God reveals himself to Moses, he declares himself to be compassionate and loving, but he also says, "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished." The Psalms declare that "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne." What an amazing statement! If God is to continue being God, he cannot simply set justice aside and sweep sin under the rug. He must deal with it—decisively and with exacting justice. When God finally judges, not one sin will receive more punishment than it deserves...
The Bible tells us that on that day, when God sentences his enemies to hell, the whole universe will recognize and acknowledge that what he has decided is unimpeachably just and right. Isaiah 5 makes this point with bracing clarity:"Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opens its mouth without measure." It's a grotesque image, the grave widening its mouth to swallow the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And yet by this means, Isaiah declares, "The Lord of Hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness." Similarly, Romans 9:22 tells us that by the torments of hell, God will "show his wrath and make his power known," so that he might "make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy."
We may not understand it fully now, but one day hell itself will declare God's glory. It will—even in its horror—testify together with the psalmist, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne."
4. Hell shows us how horrific the cross really was, and how great God's grace really is. Romans 3 tells us that God put forth Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement "to demonstrate his justice." He did this "because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished."
Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? It was because that was the only way God could righteously not send every one of us to hell. Jesus had to take what was due to us, and that means he had to endure the equivalent of hell as he hung on the cross. That doesn't mean that Jesus actually went to hell. But it does mean that the nails and the thorns were only the beginning of Jesus' suffering. The true height of his suffering came when God poured out his wrath on Jesus. When the darkness fell, that wasn't just God covering the suffering of his Son, as some have said. That was the darkness of the curse, of God's wrath. It was the darkness of hell, and in that moment Jesus was enduring its full fury—the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
When you understand the cross in that light, you begin to understand better just how magnificent God's grace to you is, if you are a Christian. The mission of redemption that Jesus undertook involved a commitment to endure God's wrath in your place, to take the hell that you deserve. What an amazing display of love and mercy that is! Yet you will only see and understand this display of love clearly when you understand, accept, and shudder at the horror of hell.
5. Hell focuses our minds on the task of proclaiming the gospel. If hell is real, and if people are truly in danger of spending eternity there, then there is no more urgent and important task than doing precisely what Jesus told his apostles to do before he ascended to heaven—proclaim to the world the good news that forgiveness of sins is offered through Jesus Christ!
I think John Piper got it exactly right in a Gospel Coalition interview: "It's very hard to give up on the gospel if you believe there is hell, that after this life, there is an endless suffering for those who did not believe in the gospel." There are all kinds of good things that Christians can do—and in fact should do! But if hell is real, it is worth keeping in mind—no, it is imperative that we keep in mind— that the one thing that Christians can do that no one else in the world is ever going to do is to tell people how they can be forgiven of their sin, how they can avoid spending an eternity in hell.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the doctrine of hell is horrible. The doctrine is horrible because the reality is horrible. But that's not a reason to avert our eyes and ignore it, much less to reject it. There are those who think that, by rejecting or at least ignoring the doctrine in their preaching, they are making God more glorious and more loving. Far from it! What they are really doing is unwittingly stealing glory from the Savior Jesus Christ, as if what he saved us from was… well, not so bad after all. In fact, the horrific nature of what we have been saved from only intensifies the glory of what we have been saved to. Not only so, but as we see ever more clearly the horror of hell, we look with ever more love, ever more gratitude, and ever greater worship to the One who endured that hell for us and saved us.
><> July 21, 2011; Source - http://www.9marks.org/ejournal/why-hell-integral-gospel
False Prophecy Causes Hundreds to be Killed
By Jacob Prasch
As most of you are aware I am at this moment in North Vietnam helping the much persecuted Hmong people of the tribal mountain areas.
After listening to a translation of Camping's prediction 7,000 of these people (known in The West as Montagnards) gathered on a mountain praising God - their suffering at the hands of the Communist regime was about to end because Jesus was returning that day in May to establish a new kingdom.
The police and military police slaughtered many of them at gunpoint beheading two pastors. Others were arrested. I am told by Hmong pastors that so many were shot dead that they were buried in mass graves bulldozed over in an episode that I read about in Britain but did not understand the magnitude of until I got here. I am now trying to clean up the mess at the request of local Hmong leaders. I spoke to a secret convocation of Hmong pastors only yesterday who came to Hanoi, explaining to them about false prophets and false teachers.
Due to a combination of poverty, ignorance, and persecution these poor Christians don't understand much so they believed Camping's shortwave broadcast which is how most get their teaching in a certain village area with heavy persecution. Their families don't know if their missing loved ones are among the many shot dead, among those arrested and imprisoned, or among those from the 7,000 hiding in the jungle.
I am not the nicest guy in the world let alone the best Christian and I can't pretend to be. But anyone who had to deal with the confusion and devastation I am dealing with now due to Harold Camping would also blow their top. These people already suffering for their faith in Jesus had it bad enough. They are not like the undiscerning whackos in The West who should have known Camping was a crackpot and a proven false prophet & false teacher. This is a persecuted church that just had no means to know any different. This is why I get angry at those who deceive the Body of Christ and why I warn so much about false teachers and false prophets. It may be an extreme case but these people, some of them children, were shot dead. Of course we can blame Satan and the communists but their blood is on the hands of Harold Camping and his Family radio. Women without husbands, children without parents, husbands without wives - thank you Family Radio; thank you Harold Camping.
Frankly, this has been a rough week for me. One of the worst I ever had. I am up to my eyeballs in muck trying to explain to tribal pastors how to explain to their people why their families were massacred needlessly and trying to advise them how to protect their flocks from such wolves in the future...
The anguish of the Hmong folk took my concentration off of my own problems... because their problems are so much greater after what they refer to as 'the mountain massacre' due to Harold Camping.
Please pray for these people and the work of Moriel Asia branch here among the Hmong. We are trying to get 5,000 outlawed Hmong Bibles printed or smuggled in via Laos.
Where does it end? These people are suffering terribly while Camping is still in business in Oakland, California - as usual telling more lies... Come Lord Jesus.
Special Note from the TCS Manager - Harold Camping suffered a stroke shortly after this false prediction and is currently recovering in a nursing home in California. His shortwave radio broadcast has now been replaced by another organization. It is unsure if Harold Camping will ever return to ministry. For a recent updated on his condition please read this article, Harold Camping Recovering from Stroke; Radio Show to be Replaced (Huffington Post).
About the Author - To learn more about this incidence in North Vietnam you can go to persecution.org or to learn more about this author go to Jacob's website - http://www.moriel.org/
><> July 14, 2011
Is Jesus a Created Being?
By Jeremiah Opusunju
Knowing that the view that Jesus is the spoken word of God en-fleshed has gained a lot of popularity in the church, it will be pertinent for every believer to address this question; if Jesus was the spoken word of God en-fleshed, at what point in time did God speak the word that created him?
John's testimony is that the Word was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-4); and it is also a fact that we can live with our thoughts, but not with our words. We can only live with the consequences of our words.
Since we can live with our thoughts, it is important to know that a thought can never be said to be a word until the lips have proclaimed it. As it is with humans, so it is with God. His thoughts which he could live with are differentiated from his words.
Speaking of his thoughts he said: "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil" (Jeremiah 29:11).
Concerning his words he said: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).
Even with God, a thought is not a word until it has gone out of his mouth. Therefore if Jesus was the spoken word of God en-fleshed, for him to have been with God in the beginning, then God must have spoken him into existence before the beginning.
John's testimony is that: 'the Word was in the beginning with God', 'the' as used by John is a definite article, which should mean that a particular word must have proceeded out of the mouth of God (and its product made manifest before the beginning), for that Word to have been with God in the beginning.
If this was the case, then Christ would have been created long before Mary's conception, thereby giving credence to those that argue that he was God's first creation.
However since Jesus referred to himself as the Almighty; the creator and upholder of all creations; the First and Last (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:8), one is then tempted to ask, did God create an equal to himself before the beginning?
Isaiah's testimonies made such thought baseless; for God said: "before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me"; and that he is: "God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me".
Speaking of creation, God did it alone of which he said: "I am the LORDthat stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself" (Isaiah 43:10; 44:24; 46: 9).
Therefore Jesus, by and for whom all things were created (Colossians 1:15-19), is the same person as the Most High God. No wonder John, speaking of the Word which was in the beginning with the Father, said 'the Word was God'.
However while on earth, clothed with corruptible flesh, he was made lower than the angels which he created, as such the Father was then greater than him ( Hebrews 2:9; Philippians 2:5-11; John 17:1-5).
It is also pertinent to note that the only throne attributed to the person of Jesus in heaven, is the throne of the Most High God. While on earth, Jesus said he was returning to where he came from, which is in the veil, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, on the throne of his Father (John 6: 62; Hebrews 6:19-20; 1:1-3; Revelation 3:21).
Therefore he had been in the veil (in the bosom of the Father) upon the throne of his Father; even before the world began (John 1:18; 17:5, 24) as God and all things were created by him and for him.
This was why God's first introduction of himself to humanity is: "In the beginning God (Elohim or many who are one) created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1 parenthesis added).
Since the act of creation was done by many who are one (Elohim), we can confidently conclude that Jesus Christ (who is one of the creators of the universe), was not, is not and never will be, a created or formed Being.
About the Author: Jeremiah Opusunju, a Nigerian and 44 years young; holds a BS and an MBA degree in social sciences. A devout Christian and a scholar of the scriptures and an anointed teacher of the gospel of Christ. He is married with two children.
><> July 7, 2011; Article Source: Faith Writers
In-Church, Out-of-Church, Future Church
By Andrew Strom
I have met and fellowshipped with many wonderful Christian people over the years - from all kinds of backgrounds. But I just need to comment on this "In-church/ Out-of-church" thing - because it keeps cropping up.
Let me be clear about this. I meet wonderful "In-church" people all the time that I absolutely love - and I meet lovely "Out-of-church" people too that I absolutely love. One of the biggest problems is that often these two groups do not understand each other at all. And neither do they necessarily see the need for a "future church" that is beyond anything that any of us are seeing - a church that is literally just like the Book of Acts. That is supposed to be our goal - but too often we are satisfied basically where we are.
CHALLENGES FOR the "IN-CHURCH"
Many of the Christians who are totally "in" the church system truly see the need for "change". They are not wanting to sit still. They see there has been a great "decline" in Christianity away from the old paths - and they are praying that God will move to restore and purify His Bride. I have met many godly, warm-hearted people like this who care passionately about God's kingdom and His true gospel. I usually get on very well with such ones because we share a common desire to see things "righted" - especially the gospel message that has become so diluted and lost.
I guess the biggest challenge that I see in these settings is that I believe God is about to move "outside the box" in such a drastic way that if we allow ourselves to be too attached to the current "system" or "way of church" - then we can easily get left behind. To get us back to true "Book of Acts" Christianity will take such a leap - and such change - that I wonder if we truly have it in us to go with Him where He wants to go. How "loosely" do we hold all these things - our buildings, our "meeting formats", our labels, titles and ways of doing things? When these things are shaken or challenged, it is sometimes surprising to discover what a hold they have on us - even if we think they don't. This is the biggest challenge that the "system"-type people face, I believe.
But our love of the true gospel and true "Bible" Christianity will take us a long way.
CHALLENGES FOR the "OUT-Of-CHURCH"
I have moved amongst many 'House-church' and "Out-of-church" type Christians (which are not the same thing) over the years. In fact I have been part of these circles myself at times. One of the biggest problems I have seen is that some of us really thought we had the major "answer" to the church's problems. Those of us in the 'House church' movement would think, "If only the church would get out of buildings and into houses and become more 'relational' - most of our problems would be solved!" We truly thought that simply by "changing boxes" we could get back the Book of Acts church! What we ended up with, of course, was simply the same people in a different "shell" - slightly more 'relational' - but hardly anything like the power and purity of the early Christians. We had changed the outward "form" but the POWER of Jesus Christ was still mostly lacking.
I can remember having arguments over "plurality of eldership", the precise "correct" way of taking the Lord's Supper, and all kinds of things. None of it seemed to make the slightest bit of difference. That is because the "outward" things and the 'form' of things are all "secondary". This is not where the power is. But it took such a long time to learn this lesson.
The "Out-of-church" people are even more radical. They often fellowship with almost no-one - and many of them will tell you that the organized church is the "whore of babylon", etc. A lot of them are lovely people with a real heart for people and for TRUTH. But some can be very judgmental and harsh. They will often "write off" church people as being totally bound by "religion". But I found many of us in that circle had our own "anti-religion" religion going on! We despised having "leaders" or "organized" things of any kind. We said we believed in the "5 fold" ministries but we couldn't stand to have any actual "leaders" - even godly ones. And we were secretly filled with PRIDE - because we could see everything that was wrong with the "system". Man - did I have a "humbling" coming when I got into this mindset! I was so "religiously" anti- religious. I was so filled with arrogance and looked down my nose at so many "system" people! I "judged" them just because they went to a "building" on Sunday! God forgive me.
Of course, none of this is the answer either. I had to repent. I had to RENOUNCE very deeply this harsh "anti-religion" religion that made me so proud and arrogant towards people. I found that many of them loved Jesus just as much as I did. And many of them prayed more and were kinder, more loving and more godly than I'd ever been. I had been kidding myself. When it boiled right down, we "out-of-church" types were no closer to the Book of Acts than many of the "system" people that we judged so harshly. We just knew more "stuff" (supposedly). But clearly it wasn't the stuff that mattered.
It was only when I deeply repented and RENOUNCED this whole prideful mindset that God gradually began to show me what was really important. And it was not the "outward" stuff - though of course there is some importance to structure, etc.
Each of these things (below) I believe will be a crucial part of the FUTURE CHURCH that God wants to bring about. You could literally write a book about each one - they are so important. It was these very things that meant the early church S HONE FORTH the GLORY OF JESUS every day. Here they are-
We must have-
(1) An APOSTOLIC gospel being preached with Apostolic-type anointing and authority. (Whenever this has happened down through history there has been real Revival). -SO CRUCIAL.
(2) The powerful moving of the HOLY SPIRIT - filling people, healing people, convicting people, transforming people.
(3) REAL LOVE and an emphasis on ministering to the POOR.
(-Just like the early church).
(3) REAL DISCIPLES who actually "forsake all" to follow Jesus.
(4) REAL PRAYER - in the Holy Spirit. -And lots of it!!
(5) THE WHOLE BODY MI NISTERING - Starting with the "5-fold" ministries - whose goal is to release the whole body into ministry.
(6) MIRACLES and HEALINGS. -These are a must!
Of course, we could go on and on. But let me just conclude by saying this:-
It doesn't matter if we are "In-church", Out-of-church, Over-churched or under-churched. If we don't have the above things (which the early church had in abundance) then we really don't have ANYTHING. It doesn't matter what we "know" or whether we meet in houses, barns, on the streets or in sun-porches. If we don't have these crucial things that the early church majored on, then we really have NOTHING that matters.
So I don't really care if you are "out" churched, "over" churched, "thru" churched or "half" churched. We need to pursue and pursue until we GET REAL CHRISTIANITY BACK!! And none of us have got it - so we had all better repent of our pride and start seeking that which is lost! A glorious Bride beckons. What price are we willing to pay to see her glory restored?
-Please comment on this article at the website below- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
God bless you all.
Andrew Strom.
><> June 30, 2011
Unforgiveness – A Cause of Major Bondage
By Rodney W. Francis
It has been said that the major cause of hindrances and bondages in the lives of Christians is that of unforgiveness. Every one of us will have experienced things in our lives, disagreements, criticisms, accusations (both true and false) against us. We cannot avoid these things happening. Even Jesus said that it was "impossible but that offences would come" (Luke 17:1). Offences are "stumbling blocks" which come against us ~ things said and done to us to put us down, or to try and subject us to someone else's will, etc. So, no matter how well we handle relationships, etc., we will all face negative things being thrown at us. Some will "attack" us if for no other reason but that they are jealous of us.
For the Christian we must accept that these things will happen in our lives.
The big issue is how we deal with them!
It is very important to realize that once the offence has taken place, that we cannot change that. What we can change is our response to it, and how we allow it to affect us. The sooner we can take these matters to the Lord and leave them with Him ~ and at the same time practice forgiveness toward those who have offended us ~ the sooner we will be able to get on with our lives and continue to be fruitful in His service. But if we allow those criticisms to get into our emotions and cause us to re-act negatively and to start "bad mouthing" that person who has offended (and hurt) us, then it will quickly get into our spirit and lodge there. Once that happens, then we become the loser in the situation ~ even if the accusations are wrong! It is so important that we learn to keep short accounts with God and with people; otherwise we will start on a downward slippery slope that can cause us to finish up being hurt, angry, resentful, "bitter and twisted", carrying a wounded spirit in the process. None of us can afford to let that happen. Yet, in my travels in numbers of countries, I am finding wounded Christians that have to be set free...
It is sad, but true, that many who have a prophetic calling in God have been "put down" or prevented from functioning. This has caused many to be "shut down," be hurt and to go inwards, which does not allow them to pursue and fulfill their calling. Tragically, many Christian Leaders have been guilty of clamping down on those who are trying to exercise their Spiritual Gifts. Regardless of who caused the offence we all need to practice forgiveness. Let me emphasize strongly to you: carrying unforgiveness in your heart is not worth it! There is nothing good or justifiable in our carrying unforgiveness. If you have any unforgiveness in your heart and life right now, let me encourage you to make it a top priority to deal with it, and to get rid of it. Take it to JESUS ~ give it to Him, as He is the only One who can take it away from us. It is He that we are called to please; and our carrying unforgiveness does not please Him at all. In fact unforgiveness stops God from forgiving us of our many offences against Him (Matthew 6:14-15)! Right now, come before the Lord Jesus and give it all to Him.
><> June 16, 2011; Source: http://www.gospel.org.nz
The Christian Standard
By Andrew Tuttle
I have a problem.
I tend to hold people who claim to be Christian with a higher standard. Biblical or not this tends to only give way to frustration. I am not perfect though I try to lead my life in a way that would not make others pause if they were to hold me to a high standard.
I once went to a baseball game with a non-Christian friend. As many people do at ball games, Christians too, I had a beer. My friend commented to me in a questioning tone something like this, “A Christian having a beer, hmm.” I don’t remember how I reacted, though it was probably a little embarrassment and a quick smile. But this same friend, who had just judged me, was also one who once told me how much he appreciated my non-judgmental approach to Christianity.
I clearly erred there. Though Paul writes that what may not be right for some may be OK for others, if what we do causes another to stumble, then we have sinned. My friend had developed a Christian standard that he placed on me. I failed his standard.
Some time ago I received a letter of support asking for money so the sender could go on a missions trip. A few months prior to that this same young man became the first person I have ever known to drink himself into the hospital. I did not send money. Another person close to me has picked up a smoking habit. He also has been on several Christian mission trips and is planning another one. Though his smoking habit seems innocent enough (it started with cigars) after I told him he might want to think twice about what he’s doing (since he was violating his school’s lifestyle standards contract he signed) he went and bought a pipe. I may be wrong but my impression is he smokes cigars and his pipe regularly. It seems to be a trend his generation has picked up and which I am afraid he may now have an addiction to.
Regardless of the frequency of his smoking, following the crowd and yes smoking cigars and pipes on a regular basis does not match with my Christian standard and certainly not with a missionary. But I wonder now if I have done what my non-Christian friend did to me at the ball game. I don’t think it is wrong to have an occasional cigar if you indeed enjoy the smell and taste of fine tobacco. After all, 150 years ago smoking was very much acceptable. But my standards say if you regularly smoke then perhaps you need to check yourself, especially if you ask for money in order to go on a missions trip. Maybe my standards are too high or even wrong.
I have also worked with Christians. These are people who I apply a Christian standard to. Unfortunately they never live up to my set of Christian standards. A supervisor of mine, a Christian, was, how shall I put it, not exactly honest with me. In fact, I later learned after I left, there was also an element of deception.
Another Christian I have worked for questioned whether I wanted less hours because I was seemingly unavailable. (If I’m lucky I get five hours a week.) This came after months of my own frustration with her lack of response to my emails (hours sometimes a day or two after my initial email) and 36 hours after I had returned from being out of the country for a week, which she knew about. A month prior to that, she left on vacation for a week without telling me. (In case you’re wondering, I work out of my home.) A suggestion that we meet weekly or every other week to keep one another in the loop went unanswered.
Neither co-employee lived up to my set of Christian standards.
Romans 2:1 says “Therefore you have no excuses, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
This is a startling verse. I have not judged, at least I don’t think so, the aforementioned Christians on their faith. As a Christian who enjoys adult beverages, I do think it is unbecoming of a Christian to drink so much they end up in the hospital. Whether he is a Christian or not is not up to me. We all make mistakes. Hopefully he has learned from it. I also believe it is unbecoming of a Christian to pick up a smoking habit because everyone else is doing it, especially in light of all the studies that implicate smoking in numerous cancers and diseases. (What happened to that whole body is a temple thing?)
I have worked with non-Christians too. I hold them to a different standard. If they are righteous and moral in their business practices I give them all the credit in the world. At a previous job, I was laid off after being assured for months that my seat in the bus was secure. The lay off came a few weeks after I received the best performance review I had ever had at that place of business. If the man who pulled the trigger on my layoff, who had also assured me of my continuing employment, was a professing Christian, I can assure you my level of hurt and pain would be deeper than it was. The business was run so poorly, in fact, I was somewhat relieved to be given a severance.
Romans 14:13 says “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this – not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” Just as I allowed myself certain liberties at the ball game, it caused one man to stumble. My friend’s standard of Christian living, for me, did not meet his expectations.
1 Corinthians 5:13 says “But those who are outside God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” This is an oft-cited verse that seems to allow the Christian to judge other Christians. Clearly, the examples given above do not reflect evil at least in how we would interpret the definition of evil today. But they do reflect a stumbling block. Certainly, a non-Christian like my friend at the baseball game would have his doubts on Christians fortified if he were to learn I ended up in the hospital after a night of binge drinking or found out I was a frequent visitor to a hookah lounge. He would no doubt shake his head in disgust if he learned my business practices were no different, then say, all the other arrogant and deceptive CEOs he too has worked for. And, since I am writing this, they have all proven to be a stumbling block for me.
So, do my Christian standards set me up for failure or does it set the Christian, I have placed the standards on, up for failure?
><> June 2, 2011; Source: Faith Writers
Did Eve Have Sexual Relations With Satan?
By Kevin Probst
There exists a fascinating theory about Eve and her offspring referred to as the "bloodline" or "serpent seed" theory. The theory, in a nutshell, goes something like this: Eve was tempted by Satan to eat of the tree of knowledge. The forbidden knowledge was in regard to human sexuality. When Eve ate of the tree her "eyes were opened" and she shared her new knowledge of sex with Adam. After acquiring this knowledge Adam and Eve became sexually active and began to produce children.
The theory states that Satan appeared to Eve as an angel of light. Perhaps he was masquerading as Christ himself. Now that Eve had a carnal knowledge of sex she was easily seduced into having sexual relations with Satan. At this point proponents of this theory would inject the phenomenal modern discovery of "twinning". A woman can become pregnant with twins fathered by two separate men. In a very rare occurrence a woman can have sexual relations with a male and then three or four days later have a sexual experience with another male. The 'twins' within her womb are fathered by two separate men.
This phenomenon, applied to Eve would enable her to give birth to twins. Cain and Abel could have different fathers. Eve, seduced by the "angel of light", conceived Cain with Satan and then she had relations with Adam and conceived Abel. Those descendents of Cain have had to shoulder much of what has ever been wrong in our world.
Hitler embraced a theology that included the idea that the world had to be cleansed of the "serpent seed". There would be no Golden Age for mankind if these Satanic descendants were not eliminated. It seems Hitler arbitrarily assigned Jews and blacks as "serpent seed" and developed a system to eliminate masses of Jewish people in an attempt to 'purify' the Aryan race. Could this idea once again prime the pump of hatred in the final days by associating Christians or those who reject the mark of the beast with the "serpent seed" that must be eliminated?
The Bible clearly teaches that a person's relationship with God is determined by the spiritual state of a person, not their genealogy. Genesis 4:1 reveals that Cain was a result of a union between Adam and Eve and Satan had no part of it. "And Adam knew (had sexual relations with) Eve his wife; and she conceived (this was a result of their relations), and bare (gave birth to) Cain." 1 John 3:12 identifies Cain as being "of that wicked one (Satan)". Cain belonged to the 'wicked one', not because of his bloodline but because of his disobedience. His problem was spiritual, not genetic.
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Genesis 3:6) Satan wasn't tempting her with sex. The serpent wasn't offering himself as a temptation. Eve would fall into sin in the same manner Lucifer fell. She chose to reject the authority of God and attempted to be a god unto herself. It is still the common temptation of our modern age. Rather than submit to God men attempt to set themselves up to be their own god. Eve's temptation was for mental superiority, not sexual pleasure.
The "Serpent Seed" theory is a weak attempt to divert our attention from the real truth. If we could somehow connect our sin to genetics we might eliminate our personal accountability for sin. There is a strong movement in our culture today to blame sin on genetics. Jeremiah said that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (17:9) Paul wrote to the Romans, "…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." ( 3:23) Each and every man, regardless of his bloodline, needs to repent of his sin and receive the saving grace of God.
At best, the "Serpent Seed" theory has no scriptural proof, it is simply one of the wild imaginations of men's hearts. At worst, it is a twisting of the truth found in God's word. We must be very careful when treading these waters because God warns us in Revelation 22:18 "If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book…"
About the Author – to learn more about Kevin Probst you can visit his website at www. kpprobst.blogspot.com
><> May 12, 2011; Source: Faith Writers
What Happened to the Pentecostal Movement?
By Wayne Greulich
A number of people have decried the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement as being the doorway through which the current corruption has entered the modern church. There is an element of truth in this, but it is not entirely accurate.
I was born into a Pentecostal church 56 years ago, was raised there, was educated in one of their colleges, and pastored 3 of their churches. I think this gives me a degree of knowledge and familiarity with the movement and its history... I also had the privilege of meeting with and conversing with some of the Pentecostal pioneers while they were still alive. In addition, I have owned a number of Frank Bartleman’s books for years. This is not to put myself forward as an expert, but to let you know that what I say next is not said from a vacuum of ignorance, assumption, and speculation.
The Pentecostal movement was born out of the holiness movement. Many of those who were involved in its birth were people of holiness who had died to self, had picked up their crosses and were following Jesus Christ as He directed them by His Spirit and His Word. The multitudes of transformed lives, the miracles, and the persecution were very real. We can thank God for those pioneers who – under the move and hand of God – paved the way for a renewed freedom and move of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s Church. The problems which arose were not with the move of the Spirit or with many of those who sought the Lord and came into the Baptism and life of the Spirit. Mostly the problems arose – as they do today – from those who wanted to avoid the cross. These were people who wanted the blessings of life in the Spirit, but who did not want to die to sin, flesh, and themselves.
As early as 1907, Frank Bartleman wrote of his dismay over these types of people who infiltrated the Pentecostal movement. Many flocked to Pentecostal movements all over the continent seeking the blessings of the spirit, but not wanting holiness, confession of sin, brokenness before the Lord, and taking up of the cross. We have the same root problem with us today. The modern church is filled with selfish, sinful people who want God’s blessings, but who do not want to go the way of the cross.
The problem has been further compounded by those false preachers, prophets, and teachers who refuse to preach the cross and what it costs to be a follower of Christ. Instead today’s “Christian” heaps to himself preachers, teachers, and prophets who tickle his flesh and make it feel comfortable – those who have become experts at creating a brand of “Christianity” which seems to marry the flesh with the Spirit. This CANNOT be, however, since the flesh and the Spirit are enemies against each other. Scripture makes it clear that one must follow one or the other – God or mammon.
It is the shame of many Pentecostal/ Charismatic churches – although, not all (... the mistake of generalizing) – have abandoned the preaching of the cross, holiness, separation from the world, and the true full Gospel. Much of the modern church has abandoned the Christ of the Bible in favour of a “new and improved Christ” who has no cross, but only “love;” who has no holiness, but only “grace;” who has no justice, but only “blessings;” and who is not Judge, but merely a cosmic Santa Claus.
How we need those who will die to self, take up the cross, and be witnesses of the true Christ! How God longs for those who will live godly in Christ Jesus – in spite of the persecution! How we need those who choose to reject the world, who hate sin, who fear none but God; those who will do what He wants, speak what He says, and be molded into the image of Christ by the Word and the Spirit that Christ may have human representation of Himself to a lost and dying world. This is the Church of Jesus Christ
May God help us. Brothers and sisters, work while it is yet day, for the night is coming when no man can work. Labour faithfully with Him. Fear not what man thinks or what man can do unto you, but fear Him who is your Redeemer and your King.
To read more from this author to comment on this topic at the website below - http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
><> April 26, 2011
Nameless, Coffee-less Starbucks
By Peter Mallett
Wait! Before you fall out of your chair and start a letter writing campaign, Starbucks is still going to carry coffee; at least I think so. In recent news Starbucks unveiled a new logo which excluded the Starbucks name and the word coffee. This seems silly to me. It has been forty years since the company started selling coffee in Seattle’s Pike Peak marketplace. The mermaid (or siren) was an attempt to the catch the seafaring history of coffee and Seattle’s strong seaport roots. In that time they have gained coffee recognition around the world. Why take the name and coffee off the logo?
“It gives us the freedom and flexibility to think beyond coffee, but make no mistake we have been, we will continue to be, and we always will be the world’s leading purveyor of the highest quality of coffee” says, Howard Shultz, Starbucks CEO.
This still seems like odd doublespeak to me. We want flexibility/freedom to move beyond coffee, but we will remain a coffee industry leader. I don’t get it. I’m all for diversity, but why does that require distancing yourself from your name and the most recognized service you provide?
Although I don’t understand this move, I do see similarities with some of our “ideas” for Church. We are supposed to be about Christ, knowing Him, and making Him known. In our attempts to make our churches updated and ready for the 21st century we sound a little bit like Howard Shultz.
While it might be fine for a coffee company to think beyond coffee, as the Church of Christ, we are not supposed to think “beyond” Jesus. Everything we do must be to get others see Jesus Christ. We can use technology, we can take the Gospel to the streets, and we can print Bibles like never before. It is acceptable to slant the devotions and notes to show how the Bible, God’s word, is relevant to different walks of life, as long as we keep our center on Him.
However I am afraid in our trying to be more seeker friendly, less abrasive, or media savvy, we are removing Christ from the core. We cannot forget He is our purpose. The moment we move beyond Christ, and get someone to look at something else we have lost the battle. The Church pointing toward Christ, is like a jeweler showing of his prize diamond. It has many facets, it shines differently in varying light, yet he would never cease to call it a diamond. The great apostle Paul indeed said that he tried to be …all things to all people, but he never compromised Christ, his reason was …so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
We must keep Christ at the core of everything we do. He is our namesake. He is our only message. To move beyond Christ is sin.
Ref: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 NASB
About the Author – Peter Mallett is the president of the Tidewater Christian Writers Forum and has been a good friend to Tidewater Cross Section. If you would like to learn more about Peter or the Tidewater Christian Writers Forum, log on to his Face Book page or email him at pdmallett67@aol.com.
><> April 19, 2011
Competition: The heart of a man
By Jim Barringer
Orlando, as a city, thrives on tourists. I heard recently that Orlando and its surrounding areas (Disney World, etc) hosted 25 million tourists last year - which is about twelve tourists for every one person who actually lives here. What this means is that, during the summer when all the tourists come, it's basically impossible to walk without bumping into an out-of-towner. It also means that, during the winter when all the tourists are back at home, the businesses which thrive on tourists are, shall we say, a little bit slow.
Such is the case at my job, meaning that my co-workers and I spend a lot of time doing things that don't involve helping customers, being as there are no customers. On one particularly slow night, my friend Blake and I devised a game that involves throwing the miniature-golf balls into the barrel which holds them, a very simple but surprisingly difficult version of basketball. Each of us would shoot till we missed, and the high score won. We really went to town with it, playing mind games on each other, devising new tactics like wrapping the ball in electrical tape to make it easier to grip, and generally doing all the things that two guys do when they're both trying to win at a game.
Later, I was out doing something work-related when it occurred to me how interesting it was that, given a few minutes of down time, the first thing two guys think to do is make a game that involves competing against each other. I think competition gets a bad rap these days, which is a bummer because I think competition speaks to the heart of what it means to be a man.
Believe it or not, the Bible addresses this topic. Mark 9 tells the story of the disciples arguing amongst themselves about who was greatest. This is classic masculinity in action. Let's keep score and compete to see who wins. When people teach this story, they often teach it like the disciples were doing something wrong, like this desire to be first was a bad thing.
But it wasn't. Jesus doesn't scold them for wanting to be first. Instead, he sits them down and tells them how to actually do it! He says, "Whoever wants to be first among you must be the servant of all." He affirmed their desire to be first, their desire to compete for honors; he just told them they had been keeping score the wrong way. And that's it.
Like I said, competition does get a bad rap, because the gap from healthy competition to unhealthy is very narrow. When we call a person "competitive," what we usually mean is that they like to win and they get very bitter if they don't. The desire to be first place in some sport often goes hand in hand with the desire to cheat or to use performance-enhancing drugs to get there. Things like that cause people - usually women - to look at competition on the whole and say that it's a bad thing, that we should all just get along and be nice to each other so nobody has to lose.
Yet I would observe that those things are not actually the fault of competition at all. When a person cheats, his focus is not on the competition, but on the results. A "competitive" person does not like competing, most of the time; he likes winning - he is obsessed with the result. There might be great competition, but if he loses, he is still unhappy. That's the really interesting thing about the way Jesus addressed competition. According to his way of keeping score, you never really know where you are on the leaderboard. All you know is how you're doing at the competition itself - at being a servant to everyone. We'll find out the final score someday, but until then we can't know it, which keeps us from being obsessed with the results.
Believe it or not, Paul actually commands us to compete with one another. In Romans 12:10, he says, "Love with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor." Find out how your neighbor is doing at showing honor, and one-up him. Love more; love harder. Something tells me men get more excited about the possibility of outdoing each other than they would about simply showing honor without the idea of a competition. See, we tend to think that comparing ourselves to other people is inherently a bad thing, because many times it is, but many does not equal always. It can be a very good thing when comparing myself to my neighbor leads me to conclude that I'm not loving people as well as he is. As a man, that competition might just be what I need to spur me to the next level. Proverbs says that friends are supposed to have this effect on each other, just like iron sharpens iron.
Furthermore, the idea of a reward for one's work is very common throughout the Bible. Hebrews 11 observes, "Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." In Revelation 22, Jesus promises, "Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me." Rewards are a form of competition: some people will get the prize, and other people won't, and it all depends on how you live during your life. But the thing about God's prizes, which distinguishes them from earthly prizes, is that one person winning does not prevent the rest of us from winning. There are plenty of prizes to go around. If I compete with my friend to see who can outdo the other in showing honor, we both win. It's the healthiest kind of competition. It's all the intensity of competing, which men like, coupled with all the gentleness of "nobody loses," except for the people who don't try at all to win the prizes.
Polling company Rasmussen Reports has found that 56% of churchgoers are women. In other words, for every 2 men in church, there are 3 women. Why the disparity? What is it about the way the gospel is preached that appeals to women more than men, and why are all those other men choosing football and golf over church on Sunday mornings? I don't mean to suggest that churches are failing to reach men, because there are still a lot of Christian men in this country; nor do I even mean to suggest that all men enjoy and are motivated by a dynamic of competition. But Jesus himself affirmed his disciples when they expressed a desire to be first. He told them exactly how to do it. Shouldn't we conclude that even Jesus understood that some people simply get more excited when they have the ability to compete against other people? If we can introduce that dynamic back into faith somehow, won't we reach a lot of men who feel that Christianity is a good story but is lacking something?
Of course, the man in me wishes there was some way to actually watch my score go up, because that's what I like about sports and video games: I always know exactly how I'm doing at all times. Showing love is tougher. Do I have a 36%, or is it more like a 58.2%? Because I don't know the score, I just have to focus on the process: loving more, showing honor more, serving everyone. And I have to know that God is watching me, keeping my score, preparing my rewards for the day I take hold of them.
Until then I have to go beat Blake's high score in Barrelball.
About the Author - Jim Barringer is a 27-year-old writer, musician, and teacher serving at The Church of Life (.com) in Orlando, FL. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer and ExtantMagazine.com. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.
><>April 7, 2011; Source: Faith Writers
The Unemployment Depression & It’s Effects
By Andrew Strom & Yves Perriard
We have long stated that what America is experiencing is no mere "Recession" but rather a new "Depression". Officially the USA is supposed to be in a 'recovery' and yet unemployment remains at virtual "Depression" levels. My heart truly goes out to all those caught up in this. Truly an awful time to be out of work in America.
During the LBJ years the way the US Government measured unemployment was changed to make it seem "less bad". Thus they can announce that US unemployment is now "only" 9.6 %. But the ' REAL' unemployment rate (known as U6) is at 17 percent. (Over 20 percent in California). And according to the well-known economics site Shadowstats, if unemployment was counted like it was in the 1930's, it would stand today at 22 percent. And it has been this way for months - with no "recovery" in sight.
But let us leave these statistics and consider the "spiritual" aspect of what is happening in America today. Despite the heart- wrenching human cost of such a downturn, is there some way in which this crisis is actually doing spiritual "good" in America? Is it possible that it is bringing a turning away from the old idols of materialism and a real hunger towards the true things of God?
I was very interested to read the words of the Swiss preacher Yves Perriard who recently ministered to 18 different fellowships in 25 States of America. Here is what he wrote-
"A more HUMBLE and BROKEN SPIRIT.
Of the dozens of times I have been in the States in the last 20 years (totalizing more than 2-3 years when put together), I have never observed the present attitude that prevails in so many Americans. The forceful and almost arrogant attitude of self- confidence which used to say "just do it, we'll make it happen", has been replaced by a far more humble and broken spirit. Many believers start to realize that God's dream is not the same as the American Dream. Their government has failed them, their economy has not turned around, and the future looks very uncertain. Only God gives true hope.
MANY HAVE ENTERED a time of SPIRITUAL DESERT and ISOLATION.
I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed for believers who have lost everything (job, house, confidence in the future) and have gone through a very dry time of wondering what God is doing with them. The biblical concept that we sometimes have to lose most of our securities in order to find God has become very real to many American Christians. Many of you reading this e-mail are now going through a spiritual desert and isolation in which your only hope is God. This is a strong reality that is radically shaping the very foundations of the Church." [- Yves Perriard].
Unless you are in Greece, Spain or Ireland, it is very hard to comprehend what the USA is going through right now. And as their unemployment benefits expire, it looks set to grow even worse. Yet it does, in some strange way, seem to be turning people's hearts back to God. Dare we hope for Revival in the wake of such a great Recession? Only time will tell.
I would love to hear comments from readers in the USA about the "spiritual" changes they are sensing in the wake of this crisis. Please post your comments at the following site- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
God bless you all.
Andrew Strom.
><> March 31
Disasters & the Words of Jesus
By Andrew Strom
When there seems to be one major catastrophe after another striking the nations of the world, people often ask, "Is this the Judgment of God?" Or just "natural" events? Or perhaps some combination of the two? How are Christians to view these things?
One of the most important insights into these questions was given by Jesus Himself in Luke 13. He said: "Those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish." (v 4-5).
So if we apply these words to Christchurch, for instance, it is obvious that the people who died were not being "judged" for being "greater sinners" than other people in New Zealand. In fact, I dare- say that Christchurch was no more or less 'sinful' than any major city in the country. It was a terrible tragedy that occurred, and it should shake us all up. But they did not die because of their "greater sins". And clearly we are to have great compassion on everyone caught up in this terrible event.
The one area that I believe God IS speaking very strongly about in both the Christchurch earthquakes is the shaking of the CHURCH. In fact, the Church was the focus of my entire article a couple of weeks ago on this awful disaster. Some people thought it was about the city of Christchurch. My sincere apologies if you thought that. My focus was the CHURCH - not the city - and the sad inadequacy of the Christian response after the first quake - which did have consequences, I believe.
I am convinced that we have now entered the hour when "Judgment begins at the house of God". When we see the only major city that is called " Christchurch" in the Western world being hit by two massive earthquakes - and many of the buildings most damaged are church buildings - you have to ask the obvious questions. Is God speaking to the church in no uncertain terms about the "Shaking" that is now beginning in Christendom? Are we about to see this 'Shaking' grow much worse, even to the taking down of many major ministries and voices in the church? -I have to believe so.
It seems to me that the world has recently "turned a corner" where these kinds of catastrophes are suddenly much more common all around the world. Economic and political turmoil are likewise in the ascendant. Surely we have to conclude that these are some of the "birth pangs" described by Jesus - which are set to grow much worse before the end.
The HUMANISTIC RESPONSE
One of the things we need to watch out for as these things grow worse, is immersing ourselves too much in the "humanistic" viewpoint of the mass media. You will notice that now during these tragedies, the media is right there in people's faces, bringing as much of the trauma and grief of every tragic story home to the viewer in as lurid a way as they can. You can watch for hours as tragic stories play out one after the other in front of your eyes. But none of it is from God's point of view. It is all from the viewpoint of man - in fact, "secular human" man. This is something to be careful of.
God looks at things from an "eternal" point of view. To Him the greatest disaster is for man to die in an unsaved state - totally unprepared for Judgment and eternity. God is even willing for there to be great shaking and turmoil in the earth, if it causes men to seek Him and find eternal salvation. There is none of this in "man's" media. It is just a total "human" trajedy and they have no interest in eternity at all.
As the very end approaches and the earth enters the actual Judgments found in the Book of Revelation, we see that this "humanistic" viewpoint comes even more to the fore. Instead of repenting as all these judgments and disasters are hitting the earth, it seems as though people will be literally shaking their fist at God, saying, "How dare you send such things upon us? How dare you be so destructive and demand that we repent?"
If all we consider is the "human" tragedy, then we can easily get caught in the same trap. We forget that the biggest disaster in the Universe is to die unsaved and unprepared for Eternity. That is the worst possible thing. We cannot immerse ourselves in "humanistic" media to the point that we only think of disasters in "human" terms. There are wider issues here - and we must make sure to take on God's point of view - not the view of "humanistic" man.
But to be sure, we must "weep with those who weep". When we see tragedies, like Jesus we must not close our hearts to the broken and the hurting. Jesus wept and so must we. Let us always keep Eternity's viewpoint uppermost, however.
Again, I send love and tears to our dear friends in Christchurch - and everyone else caught in recent disasters around the globe. As I have said, Christchurch to me was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, and we have lovely friends there that are very dear to us. May God be with you all at this devastating time.
God bless you all,
Andrew Strom.
About the Author – To read more from this author or to comment on this article go to
http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
Special Note from your TCS Site Manager: Please pray daily for those in Christ Church and Japan too. If you plan to give money for relief efforts, please make sure you give it to a reputable ministry or organization.
><> March 17, 2011
Passionate Devotion or Passing Distraction
By Eddie Hubbart
Over the past few days, I’ve found myself reminiscing about a time in my life where someone displayed what I call a passionate devotion to me. Years ago, I was introduced to a young lady visiting my Bible Study class by a friend. It seemed from the first moment that we met something was special. It seemed as if every little word that I spoke although mundane sounding to me was as if it was her very life. To be around me was like the air she breathed. I enjoyed this feeling, but unfortunately, I didn’t recognize much of this at the time. She went to another church and disappeared from my life.
God started speaking to me in relation to Him. Do I hang on every Word Jesus speaks to me? Do I cling to Him for my very life and breath? Certainly at first I did, but often as a more mature Christian I wonder. I must admit to Him at times I have not. Sometimes He is little more than a passing distraction in my life.
I liken it to the practice of my favorite hobby. I build models, and I will often devote much of my time, energy, sweat, and so forth to finishing a project. Once it’s done, I may admire it for a while as I proudly place it on the shelf. For a short time, I marvel at it each time I pass. Eventually it becomes just like the other hundreds on the shelf. I may look at a certain one from time to time, but they never catch my attention for long. Shelves grow dusty and my attention shifts to the next project and the next and so on.
How often do we as Christians do the same? Shifting our attention from one thing to the next, barely paying attention to the One we call our Savior and Lord. We know God loves us. He sent Jesus to die for us on the cross and He loves us enough to pursue us. Just as I was mostly unaware of a young lady’s affections, we sometimes turn a deaf ear as Christ sings His love song over us. My hope is that we recognize our need for Him. He will willingly take us back if we ask. No matter how far we think we have gone, if we turn back to Him, we will find He is right there waiting for us with open arms. So, let us each examine our own lives and determine where we stand. Let us each make Him our passionate devotion, not just a passing distraction.
><> March 4, 2011
The Evangelical Establishment
By Patrick McIntyre
During the last 100 years, when Evangelical Christianity was waging war for converts, certain questionable practices were overlooked. But we're no longer the "kook fringe." We ARE the establishment. The frenzy of wartime mentality, characterized by wild claims of battle successes that never were, must be replaced with reasonable, honest results. And it's time to take thought for the wounded. For every truly saved American, (the Holy Spirit lives in them) there are at least 6 more that have said a "salvation prayer" and think they're saved as the result.
Many of these gave up on God and are now the cynical, "I tried that before" sinners that call people who go to church hypocrites. These are the most vocal haters of true Christianity. Their hatred is fueled by a dream that proved to be in their case, only a nightmare...
Tares In The Churches
If less than 10% of Americans are saved, (the Holy Spirit lives in them) then over half the people who go to church on Sunday are horribly deceived. Every poll, every statistical analysis, every internal and external church study shows what every evangelist and pastor knows: The majority of people who go to church in America are the moral equivalent of heathen.
Bill Bright, who should know (...see Blinded By The Bright) said, "...many who call themselves Christians are not really Biblical Christians at all. Although they may be religious people who attend church regularly, they have never experienced the new birth and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
Dr. Rod Bell, president of the Fundamentalist Baptist Fellowship of America, believes 50% of people that go to church are lost.
Evangelist Luis Palau said of the 80% of Americans who claim to be Christian, "few live any differently from pagans or atheists, as though God has no claim on their lives."
Dr. James Dobson admitted that, "The majority of Americans are dabbling in religious expression that has no substance."
A.W. Tozer said "probably less than one out of ten evangelicals knows anything experientially about the new birth."
While church leaders all acknowledge the problem, most think evangelical Christians live like heathen because of a "lack of sanctification." Instead of trying to get them saved so they'll be changed by the Holy Spirit , we try to get them to act like Christians. After 100 years, winds of doctrine have effectively buried the Bible teaching of holistic salvation. Forensic or legal salvation has been exalted above experiential salvation to the point where the landmarks of power over sin and the workings of the Holy Spirit are buried like treasure, waiting to be exposed.
The Evangelical church is at the same point the Catholic Church was when Luther brought reformation. Like that reformation, this reformation will require a return to a Biblical understanding of holistic salvation. We need to stop putting a "salvation prayer" Band-Aid on cancer and telling people they're healed. Like Luther, we have to return to a Biblical understanding of saving faith. Like Luther, we need to acknowledge that, "he who has been made righteous does works of righteousness."
Just as Luther unmasked the deceptive practice of indulgences, we must unmask the deceptive practice of leading people in a formula "salvation prayer." "When the penny drops, a soul is released from Purgatory" was almost as harmful as, "when you sincerely repeat this prayer, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life." The first practice gave sinners the confidence that their friends and relatives could buy their way out of Purgatory. The second statement offers the sinner no-fault insurance from Hell.
Most people who attend Evangelical churches ignore the "small print" and go right to the bottom line: Because they said a salvation prayer, God doesn't see their sin...they're covered by the blood of Christ. So they can go on sinning without the fear of God. In fact, most are taught there's nothing they can do that will disqualify their free ticket to heaven. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" Rom 6:1 Yes, says modern evangelism. "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" James 2:20 No, says modern evangelism. Faith without works is normal for most American Evangelical Christians.
There is no longer a need for showing forth the fruits of repentance, (Mattew 7:18 ) or making your election sure. (1 Peter 1:10) A youth pastor I know told a group of mostly lost teens, if they committed suicide, they'd still go to heaven. What kind of distorted theology would cause a minister to say such a thing to a group of teens most of which had no evidence of being saved? This is the result of the scandal of modern evangelism. We have become arrogant with the Scriptures,."... in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." -2 Peter 3:16. "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" -Rom 6:2-3.
No Evangelical evangelist or pastor before 1900 would have looked at the condition of people who go to church today and concluded their carnality was the result of "lack of sanctification." They would accurately conclude that the vast majority were never saved. The next question they would ask is, "why do they think they're saved?" The answer is the scandal of modern evangelism.
Revival Or Irrelevance
The Evangelical establishment has a choice to make. Either recognize that churches are full of heathen, and try to make them into saints, or become as irrelevant as most European churches. Either return to God's way - complete transformation of the individual by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, or continue throwing precious resources into worldly social reforms, becoming just another welfare program...
About the Author – To read more Patrick McIntire’s book 'The Evangelical Establishment' can be found at http://www.christianebooks.com/. Please comment on this article at the following website- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
><> February 17, 2011
Muslim Conquest of Britain
By Paul Williams
 |
A study by the Centre for Migration Policy Research at Swansea University shows that thousands of Britons are converting to Islam every year – with more women becoming Muslims than men.
The research suggests that the numbers converting to the religion has doubled by 2010 from the 60,669 converts in 2001. The average age of the Muslim converts is 27.5...
A detailed study by Swansea University for inter-faith think-tank Faith Matters, suggests that despite an often negative portrayal of Islam in the media, more people are adopting the religion each year.
Kevin Brice, the director of the study, says that 56% of converts to Islam were white British, with 62% being female.
Presently, according to the London Times, the Islamic population of Great Britain exceeds 2.4 million.
The Daily Mail contends that more than 25% of the British Muslims visit a mosque at least once a week.
By contrast, Paul Richardson, Assistant Bishop of Newcastle, maintains that less than 1% of the 18 million Christians who belong to the Church of England attend Sunday services. “At this rate,” the Bishop speculates, “it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility.
“If decline continues,” the Bishop adds, “Christian Research has estimated that church closures will accelerate from their present rate of 30 a year to 200 a year as dwindling congregations make the cost of keeping them open too great.”
While 30 Anglican parishes close every year, seventy new mosques sprout up throughout the United Kingdom.
About the Author – To read more from this author, log on to www.thelastcrusade.org/. To comment on this article go to http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
<> February 10, 2011
The War is On For the Millennial Generation
By J. Lee Grady
I know the battle I faced as a teenager. Today’s younger generation faces something more challenging.
It wasn’t easy for a guy to find pornography when I was a teenager. I remember giving into the temptation to buy a Hustler magazine when I was in high school. Inside the drug store I paced back and forth near the magazine rack for at least half an hour. My palms were sweaty. My heart was racing. I finally walked to the front of the store, put the magazine face down on the counter and avoided eye contact with the clerk as I forked over the cash.
I grew bolder in my sin when I graduated from high school. When I turned 18, I went to downtown Atlanta to visit an “adult bookstore” (a strange label, really, since the men who frequented these seedy establishments did not act like mature adults). In 1976, anyone who wanted to see hard-core porn had to visit these awful places with garish signs and painted-over windows.
As I pulled into the tiny parking lot off of Ponce de Leon Avenue, the heart palpitations returned. I rushed inside the shop with my head down so no one would see me on the street. Then, when I saw the graphic images on the magazines that lined the wall, I almost fainted from a combination of adrenaline, fear, nausea and guilt. I bought a thin magazine that didn’t cost much and literally ran out of that place.
As I was leaving I caught a glimpse of a bumper sticker I had put on my car a few months earlier, in response to some decisions I had made in a Baptist youth meeting. It said: “THE DIFFERENCE IN ME IS JESUS.” Suddenly I felt even sicker to my stomach. I was already convicted of my sexual sin; now I realized I was a hypocrite. All I wanted to do was get out of there. Before the night was over, the magazine I bought was in the trash and I felt miserable.
A few days later, while I was mowing my yard on a hot July day, I began to think about a Bible verse I had heard in church many times. I didn’t know the reference, but I was able to paraphrase it in my mind. It said: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14, NASB).
I had never experienced a vision before, but at that moment I could see a fork in the road in front of me. I knew I was approaching a crossroads. I could either be a committed Christian, or I could choose a life of compromise. God was showing me that I needed to choose the narrow way before I took any more steps in the wrong direction. I was hit by a terrifying sense of the fear of God, but I also recognized this as His protective love. Within a few days I had surrendered my life to the lordship of Christ.
I shared this embarrassing story last week when I spoke to a group of students at a Christian college in north Georgia. I knew many of them were at a spiritual crossroads. I also knew that in today’s cybersex world, they don’t have to go to drug stores or adult bookstores to see porn. The voice that lured me to downtown Atlanta in 1976 has become more brazen and aggressive today, making porn available 24/7—on the Web, TV and even phones.
Young people today—the so-called Millennial Generation—are continually assaulted by temptations that kids didn’t face in the 1970s. The war for a generation is on—and it is intense. Families are in shambles. Many kids are fatherless. Media has entirely rewritten our moral values in a few short years. Casual sex is considered a normal pastime for 14-year-olds. And many teenagers today haven’t been exposed to the gospel, so chances are slim that they might remember a Bible verse from childhood or feel the sting of guilt like I did years ago.
That’s why I’m devoting time this month to prayer for a spiritual awakening to touch the younger generation. The devil has claimed today’s youth, but the same God who averted disaster in my life can do it in theirs. As you thank Jesus for the grace He’s shown you, please ask Him to extend it to the millions of Millennials who are following the crowd down the wrong road.
About the Author – J. Lee Grady is a well known author and former publisher of Charisma Magazine. He is now a contributing author and active blogger. You can read more from Lee Grady at http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/29961. If you would like to comment on this topic please go to the website below- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/.
<> February 3, 2011
(Special note from Andrew Strom: Dennis Cramer comes from the Prophetic/Apostolic camp, and for that reason I approach his ministry with caution. However, I certainly agree with these recent statements of his- )
"WORD FOR 2011"
By Dennis Cramer
What exactly is meant by the phrase “at will”?... “At will” means a believer makes a decision, on his own, to initiate or attempt to duplicate a particular sovereign, supernatural experience. The individual wants a particular supernatural experience to happen so badly, he will do anything, (within his power), to make it happen – to force it, to duplicate or copy it, whether or not it is God’s sovereign will. Rather, a believer should allow God to SOVEREIGNLY cause it to happen at His chosen time, as we see recorded in all similar bible examples.
When a believer unwisely exercises his (soulish) human will, outside of or in conflict with the sovereign will of God, (anything contrary to the written word of God, the Bible), he is producing a seemingly supernatural (source unclear) experience, from his own will or “at will”. This is the meaning of “at will.” “At will” is self-will, and self-will can be sinful, and can lead to all kinds of spiritual deception and questionable practices.
The question of supernatural sovereign experiences “at will”
Do I believe in third heaven experiences? Absolutely, I do. The Bible supports such sovereign experiences as in the example of Paul in II Cor.12. Do I believe in being physically transported? Absolutely, I do! By a sovereign act of God, Phillip was physically transported (Acts 8) from one location to another. So if it’s in the Bible I believe it! I believe it all! Amen!
However, there is a HUGE difference between God willing you to have a certain sovereign bible experience, (like Paul or Phillip) as opposed to you willing it, or trying to make it happen, to duplicate it through mere human effort or merely through the exercising of your human or soulish will, in other words, “at will.” These Bible experiences were 100% sovereign. They did not happen because these individuals willed them into existence or willed them to happen. God and God alone initiated them – He and He alone willed them. This is the very nature of a sovereign experience: God makes it happen when He wants, where he wants, and with whom He wants. Period! And they usually happened when the candidates or recipients least expected it. Why? Because these were sovereign events, not planned or initiated by man, but by God.
When discussing a sovereign experience there is a big difference between initiating versus cooperating. God INITIATES all sovereign experiences, the believer COOPERATES with them. Mix the two, crisscross them, and this can lead to some real doctrinal confusion and counter-productive measures.
It’s all about God’s sovereignty…
The critical issue with operating in the supernatural is: who is initiating what or who is “willing” what? Teaching believers that by following certain steps, teachings, formulas, and/or merely exercising their own human wills, they can duplicate any sovereign supernatural experience is dangerous and unscriptural.
One cannot go to heaven like Paul or be transported physically like Phillip simply because they want to, or because they feel like it, (at will). Teachings like this often cross over into dangerous methods and techniques that resemble new age, mysticism, spiritism or other occult manipulative practices. A believer cannot and must not force, manipulate, or otherwise attempt to reproduce a sovereign supernatural Bible experience by merely following a method, a series of steps, or worst of all “willing it” to happen.
Whether we are discussing being translated in the spirit or transported physically, or any supernatural sovereign experience we read about in the Bible, the critical difference between whether it is God or not is who “willed” it to happen: Was it you or was it God? If you willed it to happen, it ceases to be a sovereign, God ordained, supernatural, Bible experience, and you risk experiencing a counterfeit.
It Is Time To Dust Off Your Bible!...
There is now wide-spread acceptance of “marginal to heretical” doctrines. Just 25 years ago individuals would have been thrown out of the church if caught teaching these heresies. How did this happen? Simply, we have become biblically ignorant. We have not been diligent to feed on the unadulterated Word of God. We are at best malnourished and in some cases starving to death. Biblical ignorance is on the increase in the church, even to epidemic levels! Like any form of “lack” created by ignorance which can lead to sickness, only the proper “intake” or in these cases, only proper biblical education can remedy it.
“Warning: We live in an age of “anything goes” theology! The charismatic church is in big trouble!”...
There is a growing trend towards some really bad doctrine out there. And we, the church, must put a stop to it! If we don’t, no one else will! The church must begin to police herself against unorthodox (false) teaching and bizarre practices. You must reacquaint yourself with the scriptures and know your Bible.
“In 40 years of serving God, I have not heard so much bad doctrine preached from so-called ‘bible believing’ Christians – specifically charismatic Christians.”...
We must pray for a “Berean Revival” in the church – a revival which returns us all to our roots – our roots in the Word of God. In the Bible, the original Bereans were believers who “searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things be so”. There is a lot of doctrine currently in circulation in the charismatic church that is highly questionable – even heretical. Each believer must begin to “search the scriptures” for himself to discover whether what he is believing is biblical or not (Acts 17:11). Stop unequivocally trusting ministers and their pulpits to always and completely preach the truth – some do, some do not. You need to search and know the scriptures for yourself. If their teachings sound too good to be true – they very well may be! Know your bible... My prophetic word to all Pastors/ Teachers for 2011 is simple: “Preach the Word!” Know your bible.
Some examples of current doctrine circulating in the church: You must believe me that I am NOT making this stuff up!
DOCTRINES of CONCERN...
• THIRD HEAVEN EXPERIENCES At WILL...
• GOING TO HEAVEN AT WILL to GET YOUR GIFTS:... There is no biblical record of any believer having to go to heaven to get any gift. This is a totally unnecessary spiritual exercise. The three listings of gifts in Romans, I Cor., and Ephesians have all been in the church for over two thousand years. They are not in heaven, so why go there to get them? The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have each deposited Their respective gifts in the church here on earth. For 2000 years, Christians have been receiving here ON EARTH from this great deposit of gifts. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, ON EARTH, as it is in heaven.” Amen!
• CLOUD of WITNESSES / DEAD SAINTS: Teaches that Christians should expect the intervention of dead saints in our daily lives. This entire deception is based on a terribly irresponsible interpretation of a single obscure verse in Hebrews 12:1. We do not need dead saints intervening in our lives. We have Jesus as our Mediator, the ONLY mediator we need between God and man (I Tim.2:5) and He is not dead. He is alive! Necromancy, that is, communication with the dead, (any dead) is forbidden in scripture.
• TRAVELING in TIME AT WILL: I have been unable to find this in the bible. Let alone doing it “at will.”
• TRANSPORTING PHYSICALLY At WILL...
• OVER EMPHASIS on ANGELS: Yes, they are real. But an angelic visitation is a rare and precious event. Most Christians will never have an encounter with one. And it is extremely unlikely that a Christian will be visited by an archangel. Michael and Gabriel were given specific, significant, world changing tasks in the scriptures. It is likely that they have more important things to do than to drop by your house for a visit!
• GOING into TRANCES AT WILL...
• TRANCE DANCING: I have been unable to find this in the bible...
Seducing Spirits! (ITim.4:1-4) There has been loosed on the church for 2000 years a literal army of demons who sole task is to deceive the church! Unfortunately, these deceiving, seducing, spirits are enjoying some of their most successful efforts. Why? The average believer does not know his bible. The bible is absolute truth, forever settled in heaven. It is our sword of the Spirit – two edged and deadly. To be bible ignorant is to have no offensive weapon against our enemy Satan. Our ONLY defense against our enemy is a proven offense. And our proven offense against this hoard of demons is the written Word of God, the bible. Jesus wielded this same written word-sword against Satan in the wilderness with great results. So should you! I hear the church saying again, “DEVIL, IT IS WRITTEN!” It does not matter what you think, feel, sense, or even believe. It does not matter what experience you claim to have had, or how many trips to heaven you claim to have made, or how many angels you claim to know on a first name basis. The only thing that matters is what God said in His Word. Know your bible... - Dennis Cramer.
About the Author – For more from Dennis Cramer please log onto his webside at www.denniscramer.com/. -Please comment on Dennis's statements at our website below- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
<> January 26, 2011
The Four Phases of The Wilderness
By Yves Perriard
In this rather long article, I would like to show you that periods of nvoluntary isolation are usually divided into 4 stages. It can be helpful to precisely identify them, so that we have hope and perspective of what we should feel and do.
1) Stripping and breaking
We are typically led into desert times by surprise, or by... progressive shocks that get us deeper and deeper down into what seems like "the valley of the shadow of death". Positions, possessions or securities are usually lost in a way that we never expected, such that shame, anger and confusion are feelings which are not uncommon at this early stage. There can be various painful means that force us to enter desert times: a severe sickness... the loss of someone or a secure job, or even persecution...
One way that makes it particularly painful and confusing is after we did something righteous, we end up being treated unfairly. For instance we wanted to improve things within our church, our job or our family, and we end up being criticized, misunderstood or even rejected. Moses, for example, tried to do something for God and he got "rewarded" with the unfair treatment of being led into a long desert time. The same happened to Elijah after he spoke to Ahab, as well as Joseph when he shared his dream.
2) Struggling to find God and ourselves
The second phase determines whether we simply have a life crisis that will eventually pass, or we have entered a desert time.
The way to find out is through the following 3 signs:
1- The first one is that after spending enough time to forcefully change our situation, with every possible wisdom and discipline, we eventually realize that we are "stuck". Nothing has really changed, and we have absolutely no perspective of when it will ever finish. We have been put aside, isolated, most people cannot really relate to what is happening to us, and our professional situation is definitively not what we had chosen. Worse, we start to have this nagging feeling that God Himself had a plan to bring us into this dry and isolate place where no one will want to join us (isn't that what deserts are?). As it is written: "the Spirit led Jesus into the desert" (Matt. 4:1).
2- The second sign of a desert is that we are being tested in how we see ourselves. For instance, the three times that Jesus was tempted in the desert always had to do with his identity ("if you are truly the Son of God...."). The reason that we go through an identity crisis is that before we entered our desert time, our whole person was tied and shaped by an environment and responsibility; once those have been removed, we have a hard time to know who we are.
3- The third and most evident characteristic that we have entered a desert time is the confusing feeling that God is somehow silent. He does not seem to hear our prayers, and worse, we cannot really recognize His familiar voice. In the worst cases, some Christians start to even battle with the emotions of loneliness, depression and "spiritual cynicism" that are so very precisely described in the third chapter of Lamentations:
"I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. God has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me."
Of course, the primary reason that we cannot HEAR God is that we cannot SEE ourselves clearly. Since we do not know any more who we really are, we cannot hear God in the same way as before, such that He seems to be silent. In other words, because our identity is being changed, so is the way in which we perceive God. During that confusing period, many Christians are forced to ask themselves: "What has God really created me for? Who am I now that no one recognizes me any more for what I used to be?" In essence, we struggle with the following question: "Who am I now that I have no past and no future, and how much God means to me in all this?"
3) Finding genuine intimacy and peace with God
There comes a point when eventually our mourning and bitterness must cease. We can either keep on with the depressive feelings of the second phase, or we can cry out to God until we find enduring peace and real intimacy with Him. We cannot remove ourselves from the desert, but we can choose our attitude in it. This, in turn, determines how long we will stay in it. For instance, most Israelites were meant to go through a short time of wilderness after Egypt, but because they chose idolatry, bitterness and unbelief, their desert became a long process of 40 years and most of them never entered the Promised Land. Deserts are not meant to kill us spiritually, but to prepare us for a better stage in life. They cannot be shortened, but our attitude can make them longer.
This is when we must choose to seek God with a different attitude.
This is the kind of situation where we have absolutely no other choice. Either God is nowhere, or God is now here! We desperately need God, and a quick fix through Him will not do it. However long it may take, we must press on through surrender, prayer, worship, fasting or whatever "breakthrough" that works for us, until we finally start to perceive His voice and find real peace. Now, it is very important that if we are going to seek God, we seek him with the right motivations. Often, even unconsciously, we pursue Him for the following 2 wrong reasons:
1 - The first wrong motivation is to seek Him so that He gives us a precise plan of action of what to do for Him. The reason is that unconsciously we want to do something so at to redefine our lost identity. In itself there is nothing wrong to build our self-esteem through some activity, but there is a danger that we miss the whole point of the desert. During such times God wants us to slow down, take a lot of time in prayer and discover who we really are as we discover who He really is. At this point in our lives, our being matters more than all our doing. God wants to transform the way we see ourselves through Him. He does this by revealing all the prideful and egocentric motivations we had in our "former life", to show us that He does not see us through our jobs, our positions or even through all the people we loved. In the desert, God does not see us as "the prince of Egypt", as "the preferred son of Jacob", or as "the prophet of Israel". He sees us as we really are - sinners who do not need to prove ourselves to Him or to others.
At the same time, we are not just sinners, but dearly beloved children of His, who have a priceless value to Him. The more we understand this paradox of our identity, the deeper we are being transformed. It is precisely because in desert we have nothing to show for ourselves that we can understand our true value before God. It is a time when our self-esteem cannot be defined by our accomplishments, and therefore we must find it in our intimacy with God.
2 - The second wrong motivation we have in seeking God may be the fact that we seek more temporal and earthly answers than God Himself. Unconsciously, we seek Him to get back the job, the house, the mate, the ministry or the situation that we have lost. Now, there is nothing wrong with seeking such blessings, but there is always a danger that they become more important than God Himself. Idolatry is never a danger with bad things, but with good ones. We get so much blessed by God that we forget Him and become self-centered and self-deceived. Desert times are meant to bring us back to seek God just for Himself, beyond all that He can give us: the Giver is more important than all His gifts. When a human being has reached the point that God's presence matters more than all other blessings, pleasure and securities in this life, then such a person is truly blessed. This is why Christians who have endured long times of prison with God usually come out with an authority, a peace and a love that cannot be explained in human terms. This is why God allows even his best people to be thrown in prisons. From time to time the reset button of isolation-desert times needs to be pushed, so that we see life through the Giver rather than through His gifts.
The most obvious sign that we are "successfully" going through the third stage is the sense of peace and surrender that characterizes us. If we can genuinely say to God: "however long you want me to stay in that unchangeable situation, I trust you and praise you for this, because your presence matters more than anything else in my life", than peace will certainly rule in our hearts.
Another sign is that we become transparent and humble. We do not have any more to prove ourselves to anyone.
Another encouraging sign is the miraculous favor of God for our physical needs as we learn to supernaturally depend on God. For instance, Jesus was served by the angels and Elijah was fed by the ravens.
Directly related to this is the ability to walk in the supernatural.
Joseph became an expert at giving interpretation of dreams, Moses had his burning bush experience and miraculous signs, and Elijah was raising the dead and multiplying flour and oil.
4) Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and patiently exiting.
At the beginning of this final stage, God usually gives us some signs in advance that our situation will end, in order to encourage us. It can be a supernatural revelation, a dream or an intuition that shows us that things will take a different turn, or it can be through people or conditions that give us a clear confirmation of what is already in our hearts. Usually, if we have fully surrendered and not put false hopes in people or circumstances (as we used to do in the early stages of our desert times), then we can recognize God's voice for ourselves. It is very important in this final phase that we keep on with the same attitude of trust and peace that we had in the third stage, by not forcing out the final outcome. Often, when we see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can be tempted to speed up the final process, instead of having the patience to wait on God. He has the perfect timing, and sometimes this final stage of the whole process may take longer than we hoped.
The reason we do not have to speed up things is that desert times usually finish with dramatic turn-around: After 14 years the slave Joseph becomes prime minister overnight; after 40 years the long forgotten Moses suddenly comes back and within days two nations are completely shaken; after 3-4 years Elijah radically revolutionizes everything in one day at Mt Carmel; after 30 years, Jesus, who is not known before, ends up his desert and starts his ministry with a spectacular demonstration of miraculous power. God may keep us a long time in the waiting, but when He moves, it is fast and with power!
The way I described each sequence may not be as "extreme" for some of us, but they still include the following characteristics:
Summary of the 4 phases:
In the first phase, we are progressively or suddenly being removed from our secure environment and role.
This leads us in the second phase in which we experience some "dark night of the soul" as we struggle to find God and our real identity through Him.
The third phase begins by a desperate seeking of God until we finally find surrender, peace and genuine intimacy with God.
In the final stage, we receive early on encouraging signs that the whole process of isolation will eventually finish.
<> January 20, 2011; SOURCE: http://www.healingallnations.org/
Do You Know The History of the Christian Bible?
By Steven E Coffman
This is a brief history of the evolution of Bible and some of its various translations. The Christian Bible has the honor of being the first book every published in volume, and the most published book in history to this date. It has been written in almost every spoken language in the world today.
Like many ancient works, the oldest parts of the Bible were passed along orally before they were ever written down. Many devout Jewish people today believe that the full text of what Christians call "The Old Testament" Bible was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The Bible's earliest origin may always be a matter of faith, but it still remains a fact that after the Bible was first recorded, many different versions existed in several different languages. It was not until the first century B.C.E. (Before the Common Era, aka B.C.) that Jews settled on the canon of their scripture.
The oldest written parts of the Bible found were transcribed in three languages. What scholars call the Hebrew Bible (the same books Jews call the Tanakh or Written Torah, and Christians call the Old Testament) was first written in Hebrew with a few chapters of the books of Ezra and Daniel recorded in Aramaic. Hebrew had long been the language of the Jewish people, so their scriptures were passed down in Hebrew. Some of the books of the Hebrew Bible may have been written as far back as 1,400 B.C, although most of the text was probably written between 900 and 400 B.C.
Aramaic is a Semitic language that was widely spoken from 600 to 200 B.C. in the near Middle East. It was one of the common languages of the region until the 13th century, when Arabic became more prominent. Many people today believe Jesus and his apostles spoke Aramaic. Aramaic was the spoken language in Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" that was subtitled in many languages.
The Christian New Testament was written in the common Greek of the Mediterranean area and parts of the Middle East at the time in the first century C.E. (Common Era, aka A.D.). This form of Greek is called Koine Greek. It developed from classical Greek, and spread by the conquests of Alexander the Great. As different people began to use the tongue, it evolved and changed into Koine Greek between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. This form many scholars think may have been the second language of Jesus and his apostles -- after all, the gospels of the New Testament portray that Jesus spoke with Pontius Pilate, who would have been more likely to understand Greek than Aramaic. The Books that one day became the New Testament was probably written mostly in Greek because it was the common language around the Mediterranean at the time of its inception.
The earliest extant list of the books of the NT, in exactly the number and order in which we presently have them, is written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his Festal letter number 39 of A.D. 367.
382 A.D. Pope Damasus I, in a letter, listed the New Testament books in their present number and order.
393 A.D. The Council of Hippo affirmed the Canon written by Bishop Athanasius.
397 A.D. The Council of Carthage reaffirmed the Canons of the Old and New Testaments. St. Jerome's translation, "The Latin Vulgate", is to this day, the official Bible of the Catholic Church. The Bibles which Catholics use today, have the same 46 books in the Old Testament as they have had since before the beginning of Christianity. The Vulgate was designed to be a definitive and officially promulgated translation of the Bible, improving upon several translations then in use. It was the first, and for many centuries the only, Christian Bible with an Old Testament translated directly from the Hebrew rather than from the Greek Septuagint.
Catholic Bibles have 73 books; 46 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New Testament. Protestant Bibles have 66 books with only 39 in the Old Testament. The books missing from Protestant Bibles are: Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Wisdom, Sirach, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and parts of Esther and Daniel. They are called the 'Deuterocanonicals' by Catholics and 'Apocrypha' by Protestants.
419 A.D. The Fourth Council of Carthage again reaffirmed the Canons as defined in previous councils.
1442 A.D. At the Council of Florence, the entire Church recognized the 27 books, though does not declare them unalterable. This council confirmed the Roman Catholic Canon of the Bible which Pope Damasus I had published a thousand years earlier.
The Council of Trent 1546-1565, which was the longest lasting Council in Church history. At the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church reaffirmed once and for all the full list of 27 books as traditionally accepted.
In the mid-15th century, when Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type, the Latin Vulgate edition of the Christian Bible was the first work he printed. On September 30, 1452, Johann Guttenberg's Bible was published becoming the first book to be published in volume, of which about 180 were printed. The pages of the books were not bound, and the date 1455 is documented on the spine by the binder for a copy bound in Paris.
In July of 1604 A.D. King James of England wrote to Bishop Bancroft that he had nominated 54 learned men (linguists and biblical scholars) to once again translate the Bible, (but only 47 actually took part) in what became know as The King James Version (KJV) and was published in 1611. Many Christian fundamentalists today feel that this version is on one and only true version of God's Holy Word.
Over the centuries it became increasingly difficult for some people to truly understand the (Old English) vernacular. Hence, a new translation was first made called The New King James Version (NKJV) that had 130 translators in this edition. The (NKJV) was published in three stages: New King James Bible, New Testament; 1979 New King James Bible, New Testament and Psalms; 1980 New King James Version of the Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; 1982.
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) was translated in 1971 by 58 scholars. The ( NASB) has sought to render grammar and terminology in contemporary English. Special attention has been given to the rendering of verb tenses to give the English reader a rendering as close as possible to the sense of the original Greek and Hebrew texts. In 1995, the text of the ( NASB) was updated for greater understanding and smoother reading.
Christians today continue to yearn for a better understanding of the Word, and a closer relationship with God, came The New International Version (NIV). More than 100 scholars from six English-speaking countries, as well as editors and English stylists, worked on the (NIV). The scholars represented more than 20 denominations. It took 10 years to complete the (NIV) translation. The process started in 1968 and finished in 1978. This does not include more than 10 years of planning before 1968. It has since become one of the more popular editions.
The New Century Version of the Bible is a revision of the International Children's Bible. The (ICB) is aimed at young readers and those with low reading skills/limited vocabulary in English. It is written at a 3rd grade level (from the introduction) and is both conservative and evangelical in tone. The New Testament was first published in 1978 and the Old Testament followed in 1986. The (ICB) was revised somewhat to be a bit more sophisticated (reading level grade 5) and was dubbed the New Century Version (NCV). This revised version was first published in 1991. Recently, the New Century Version text has been combined with notes containing advice on teenage issues to form "The Youth Bible", and was updated in 2007. The (NCV) is now available as a stand alone version.
For me, the word "BIBLE" stands for; Basic Instructions before Leaving Earth. I truly feel that everyone should read a copy it and gain from the insight and benefit of its words.
For More From the Author - Family-eStore will try to provide you with articles of interest to a Christian and patriotic way of life. The articles are written by Steven E Coffman (Owner) of Family-eStore.com (National Essay Contest) winner 1969. I am a person with strong Christian and patriotic beliefs. Tenacity, faith, and a belief in God, Country and Family are key components to success in life.
The Christian articles are only intended to bring you closer in your relationship to our Father in heaven.
I hope that you enjoy and are enlightened by them.
January 13, 2011; Source: Narrow is the Path
How Great is That Darkness
By Coach Dave Daubenmire
“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" -Matthew 6:23
Okay Lord, I’ll write it. But I really don’t understand why you give me these dirty jobs. Why haven’t you anointed me to write about the evil Democrats, or say, those God-haters who want to take Manger Scenes off of the courthouse steps? Why can’t I be like Ann Coulter and just expose liberals? Why do I always have to write things about folks who are supposed to be on my side? The liberals hate me enough…why do I have to keep poking “conservatives” in the eye?
It won’t be long before I won’t be welcome anywhere in Christian circles. But I promised you years ago that I would be faithful to write and speak what you put in my spirit. As President John Adams famously said, “Duty is ours. The results belong to God.”
So, I’ll lay it out there and trust you have a reason for putting the words in my heart.
Most Christians are not. Not really disciples of Jesus that is. As I go about my work, I have become more and more convinced of that truth. The American Experience is in trouble because those who claim to be followers of Jesus really don’t follow Him.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, they “go to church,” and most “believe in God,” but they are not followers of Jesus. They don’t even know what that means...to follow Jesus…even though they are “Christians.” In fact, I doubt whether the Apostle Paul, or any of the first-century believers, would even recognize the “religion” that we call “Christianity” today. Just wondering….was Jesus a “Christian?”
Jesus hated religion. It was the “religious” folks that He tried to free us from. “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
Read Mathew 23 to understand better what He had to say to “religious” leaders. He stated it better than I can.
Look. Christianity is not a religion, it is not “going to church”, it is not a set of rules and regulations after which you pattern your life, it is not a crutch for the weak, it is not an answer on the US Census, and it is not a home business designed to increase one’s earthly possessions.
Christianity is the life of Jesus living through you. It is an exchange of your life for His, a living out of His nature instead of yours, a “putting on” of the life of Jesus, not a process where you “accept” Him, or “receive” Him, or “come” to Him. It is a death process…a dying of you and your old nature…a transformation really…out of an old life to a new one. “Christ IN you, the hope of Glory.”
Most folks who identify as Christians claim to know Jesus as Savior. Very few know Him as Lord.
That’s why Christianity is so shallow in America. We love the “Savior” part of Jesus, but aren’t quite ready to bow to that “Lord” thingee. Most are interested in having “their Savior” bless their endeavors, but few are willing to “lay down their lives” for Him.
Everyone wants to “follow Jesus” until they find out where He is going…He is heading to a Cross…and He asks you to take up yours and follow Him. This flies in the face of popular Christianity and its “felt needs”…
The hearts of Americans are hard to pierce. Stephen called folks like us “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”
How did the religious folks receive Stephen and his honest rebuke? “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him…”
Here is what I am getting at. Most “Christians” are not open to the true Gospel because they already think they have it. They have learned to compartmentalize it, to compromise it, to hang it on the coat rack. But they have heard a different Gospel. They have been taught to follow Christianity, not Jesus.
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” -Jude
Do yourself a favor. Take the time to read the book of Acts. It is a record of the “Gospel” being lived out by those who were most familiar with the Savior. You will look long and hard, far and wide, to find anything even remotely resembling the modern-day Humanistic, self-serving, Jesus-wants-me-to-be-happy-and-rich-Gospel belching out of the pulpits today. Would they invite Paul, the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, to appear on TBN? Would Rick Warren and Joel Osteen allow him to stand in their pulpits? Can you picture him “dancing with the stars?”
Americans are following a “different” Gospel, which is "no Gospel at all."
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
Permit me to state it more succinctly so that there can be no misunderstanding of the point I am trying to make. Most church-goers are not followers of Jesus. They are merely members of a social club called “Christianity”. “Membership has its advantages….”
How do you heal someone who doesn’t know he is sick? How do you save someone who doesn’t think he is lost?
“If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness…”
Americanized Christianity has everything backwards. Somewhere along the line the life-denying-Gospel has morphed into a life-enhancement Gospel. Instead of us giving ourselves for the advancement of the Kingdom we have been fooled into believing that Jesus gave Himself so we could be masters of our own kingdom.
The idea of sacrifice and suffering is anathema to modern, Americanized Christianity. How else can you possibly explain the calloused attitude that most “Christians” have towards the “increase of His government and peace.”
Read Mathew 13. It is here that we read of the wheat and the tares which GROW UP TOGETHER. That’s right. When you go to “church” on Sunday it would behoove you to look around. Many of those sitting beside you are destined for the bon-fire. They look like Christians, the sing like Christians, and they speak the Christian “language”, but they are not children of the Lord.
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” -Mathew 7
Could it be that many are getting the wrong answer because they are being asked the wrong question? It is not “do you know Jesus”, but rather, “does Jesus know You?”
In recent polls eight-five per cent of all Americans self-identify as Christians, yet this nation has become a moral wasteland. “Christians” complain about others “shoving Christianity down our throats.” “Christians” declare that “religion” is a “private matter” while atheistic teachings swamp their children in “public schools.”
“Christians” have abortions and vote for “pro-abortion” candidates. “Christians” embrace homosexuality. “Christians” fail to keep their marriage vows. “Christians” ignore the precepts that Jesus taught.
How do you rescue someone who doesn’t think he needs rescued? How do you bring sight to one who thinks he sees? How do you bring knowledge to one who thinks he knows? How do you bring truth to one who doesn’t know he is deceived? How do you bring light to one who doesn’t know it is dark?
America is the most “Gospelized” nation in the world, but my dealings with Americanized “Christians” have convinced me that the greatest mission field in the world is inside the four walls of most American churches.
The darkness thinks it is light.
“And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
Most “Christians” don’t know enough about Jesus to tremble.
How great is that darkness…
About the Author – To read more from Coach Dave Daubenmire go to http://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave217.htm. Please comment on this topic at the following website- http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
@January 6, 2011
More "Men On The Mark" 2010...
Thank you so much for visiting TidewaterCrossSection.com!
.