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Religion and Politics: The Fire Is On the Wire


waving flagBy:  Anne Reed, Posted: Thursday, April 30, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.afa.net/the-stand/the-culture-war/religion-and-politics-the-fire-is-on-the-wire/

Religion and Politics: The Fire Is On the Wire“…it is growing more and more evident that “sharing the gospel” and “getting involved in politics” are not just loosely intertwined, but soldered together.”

– Anne Reed

Several years ago, I began to grow weary of the common belief that Christians should not be involved in politics or take any interest in civil government. Many have fallen into this category of thinking because of a secular view of separation of church and state. David Barton of WallBuilders clearly dispels this myth.

To form their argument, many stress God’s sovereignty, clarifying that political leaders are in position because God Salt and Light 02ordained it. And, well, we should just submit and stay out of it. Some say that we should not be involved with politics because it’s corrupt. That is exactly the reason why we should be there…to take light into the darkness!  Maybe our government is so corrupt precisely because we have stayed out of it!  Maybe we have been very poor stewards of God’s blessings.  

Why would He be in control of every area of life and send us into every corner no matter how dark (prisons, human trafficking situations, sick-filled hospitals, dangerous neighborhoods, the sidewalks of abortion facilities, etc.) and yet not ordain His children to participate in the government He has put in place? And in America, that doesn’t necessarily mean we are required to serve in a political office to be involved. 

Was God not sovereign when the Constitution was written giving authority to the people? The Declaration of Independence clearly identifies God as the giver of our rights, and places the responsibility of government on the governed (that would be us):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness – that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to those ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying it’s foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.

Some believe we need to get off our “high horse” as President Obama recently put it. We absolutely need to humble ourselves, repent and pray! And, we must engage in the culture war that is essentially a fight (not of flesh and blood) to uphold God’s name in our nation. I know that as I’ve become more and more aware of the realities of our day, I’ve also become increasingly aware of my own part as I ignored or slothfully watched the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob painfully dishonored in countless ways. For this, I am ashamed.

When we turn from our old attitudes of indifference and complacency, evidence is seen through our obedience to God and His Word, regardless of what others may think of us or what names they may call us. That is not a pride thing – that is a faithful thing. 

And sometimes accusations and attacks come from inside the camp. Those are more painful. Even so, we should salt and light 04produce fruit that is worthy of repentance. He makes us salt and light – not a dim light or flavorless salt!  What use are those?  

When Jesus left key instructions for His disciples, He knew they would doubt what He was about to say:

When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:17-20 NASB)” 

Why do we doubt the authority of Christ? It feels safe when we sit in soft chairs in our comfortably heated and cooled sanctuaries to worship. We can easily sit there in a state of doubt. But to take ourselves into the places of uncertainty is altogether different. We may risk the loss of friends, comforts, and even safety. If we believe Jesus is who He says He is and that He really is with us, we will go and make disciples of all nations, including this one! That means we are to preach the whole gospel – a message that is increasingly offensive.

In light of many currents dragging away our freedoms, it is growing more and more evident that “sharing the gospel” and “getting involved in politics” are not just loosely intertwined, but soldered together. This has proven true by recent lawsuits forcing Christians to get involved in political and legal battles by simply holding true to their Godly convictions.

Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa in Oregon have been required to pay $135,000 to compensate a lesbian couple for emotional suffering after they declined to make a cake for their same-sex wedding.

First, let me say this: I’m planning a wedding currently. I ordered the cake just a few days ago. If the baker had told me she couldn’t bake the cake because she didn’t agree with heterosexual marriage, or for whatever reason, I would not have suffered emotionally. I’m not that fragile. I would have called another bakery – simple as that.

But aside from that, homosexual activists were not satisfied with the win or monetary gain unless it destroyed the Klein family financially. When a GoFundMe account was set up, 81% ($109,000) of their $135,000 fine was secured in less than eight hours. GoFundMe acquiesced to pressure and closed the account.

Although we are obviously not experiencing the degree of persecution that other nations endure (sometimes to death), the fire is on the wire (as in the featured photo). And we can no longer hide behind our fears and excuses. 

Will God give us a way out? Is it too late for us to return to Godly behavior in our nation?  Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan (NASB).” 

A Pew research poll conducted in September 2014 presents a somewhat hopeful picture. When asked whether churches and other houses of worship should express their views on day-to-day social and political issues, 49% said yes, and 48% said they should keep out of political matters. This is up from 2010, when 52% wanted churches to keep out of politics, while only 43% wanted churches to express their political views.

In reality, our true hope is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. His Kingdom cannot be destroyed. And we are told in Matthew 10:28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (NASB).” So, regardless, we win. But, I personally long to see a faithful Church stand true to God; that He may be glorified, worshipped and honored.

Samaritan’s Purse has set up a fund to help the Kleins and other Christians recover from religious persecution: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/christian-couple-faces-135000-fine/#donateBottom OARLogo Picture6

Will Christians be Fitted with Yellow Crosses?


waving flagPosted by avatar , on 25 April, 2015

stock-footage-metallic-cross-golden-abstract-loop-in-hdAmid the cross-country race to election 2016, the secular left’s utter disdain for both our Creator Christ and His faithful followers is fast approaching critical mass. Self-styled “progressives” – that is, America’s cultural Marxist agents of ruin – typically disguise their designs on despotism in the flowery and euphemistic language of “reproductive health,” “anti-discrimination” and “multiculturalism.”

We see this Orwellian newspeak at play right now in Washington, D.C., where congressional Republicans endeavor to prevent, if only timorously, two unconstitutional pieces of legislation from taking effect. The first, the District of Columbia’s so-called “Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act,” would force pro-life groups, including churches and para-church organizations, to hire pro-abortion zealots and other godless rabble-rousers with worldviews and socio-political agendas overtly hostile to the express mission of those churches and organizations. 

The second, the farcically mislabeled “Human Rights Amendment Act,” would jettison the longstanding “Armstrong Amendment,” which, as notes the Daily Signal, “was enacted by Congress in 1989 to exempt religious schools in D.C. from being forced into violating their beliefs about human sexuality by ‘promoting, encouraging, or condoning any homosexual act, lifestyle, orientation, or belief.’”

In other words, under this new legislation churches and religious schools will be forced, under penalty of law, to deny the Christian sexual ethic and, instead, promote, encourage and condone homosexual behavior and other pagan sexual immorality.

So much for “human rights.”Picture6

Still, while most on the left are careful to mask their totalitarian goals and anti-Christian animus by coating these cp 10poison pills in sugar sweet jargon, on occasion one of these God-denying goose-steppers will let down his guard, drop the euphemistic BS, and vomit forth that acidic bile, unfiltered “progressivism.”

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Tayler is one such goose-stepper. In an April 19 Salon.com screed headlined, “Marco Rubio’s deranged religion, Ted Cruz’s bizarre faith: Our would-be presidents are God-fearing clowns,” “freethinking” Jeffrey, a paragon of paganism, ably puts the “bigot” in anti-Christian bigotry.

In reference to the 2016 presidential candidates who call themselves Christian, Tayler bemoans that these “God-fearing clowns and faith-mongering nitwits [are] groveling before Evangelicals.” He further protests Christians’ “nattering on about their belief in the Almighty and their certainty that if we just looked, we could find answers to many of our ills in the Good Book.”

Right, it’s called the Gospel, Jeffrey. It’s the only hope that either you or any of us has.Liberalism a mental disorder 2

“There will almost certainly be no (declared) atheist or even agnostic among the candidates,” he persecution-persecuted-christianslaments. “This is scandalous, given the electorate’s gradual, relentless ditching of religion.”

Gradual? That’s a gaping understatement when one considers that even today over 80 percent of Americans identify as Christian with the vast majority of those who don’t nevertheless acknowledging the transcendent reality of a Creator God. Every man, woman and child understands through both general revelation and human reason that this unfathomably intricate, staggeringly fine-tuned universe didn’t create and fine-tune itself. It’s a tiny minority of angry, self-deluded materialists like Jeffrey Tayler who deny this self-evident truth. Scandalous? Hardly.

Continues Tayler: “With the dapper Florida Sen. Marco Rubio we move into the more disturbing category of Republicans we might charitably diagnose as ‘faith-deranged’ – in other words, as likely to do fine among the unwashed ‘crazies’ in the red-state primaries, but whose religious beliefs would (or should) render them unfit for civilized company anywhere else.”more evidence

Sound familiar? Such hubristic elitism is so 1939. It was similarly “faith-deranged,” stock-footage-metallic-cross-golden-abstract-loop-in-hd“unwashed crazies” in Germany who, at that time, were numerically branded “unfit for civilized company.” Shall we Christians be fitted with yellow crosses, Herr Tayler?

Our Darwinian disbeliever then distills the timeless Christian faith to “far-fetched fiction and foolish figments” before launching into a tirade against the left’s favorite candidate to hate, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, while, likewise, knifing twixt the shoulder blades, the richly diverse, 100 thousand-plus student body at Liberty University.

“Cruz pandered fulsomely to the faith-deranged by choosing to announce at Liberty University, that bastion of darkness located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Once administered by the late Jerry Falwell, Liberty promises a ‘World Class Christian education’ and boasts that it has been ‘training champions for Christ since 1971′ – grounds enough, in my view, to revoke the institution’s charter and subject it to immediate quarantine until sanity breaks out.”

Are you getting this? Tayler’s not joking about revoking Liberty’s accreditation and otherwise consigning all faithful CP 02Christians to a constructive encampment beyond the margins of functional society. That’s their end-game. That’s the way their boxcars roll.

Neither do our papist friends escape unscathed. Tayler smears the Catholic Church as a “fanatical homophobic cult,” while blaspheming his own Creator. He inquires in litmus of some obscure atheist candidate, “[I]f you are indeed an atheist, will you come out of the closet about it? Will you utter that vilest of stock phrases ‘God bless America!’ to close speeches, thereby lending undue credence to the nonsense notion that an invisible tyrant rules us from on high?”Picture7

“Atheists can dream,” he pines. “They can dream of a candidate (and future president) who will, one day, say ‘I do not believe in God. I do not believe in a hereafter.’”

And why not? Russia had its Stalin and China its Mao. Who needs an “invisible tyrant” when we can elect one at the ballot box?

Or didn’t we already do that.OARLogo Picture6

That’s What Christians Do Now!


waving flagBy:  Don Wildmon; Posted: Wednesday, April 22, 2015

 Don Wildmon Founder of AFA/AFR More Articles

“Where were the Christians? Why, they were in church. All these things are for someone else to deal with.”

– Don Wildmon

(The following first appeared in the August 1999 issue of the AFA Journal)Leftist determonation to destroy freedom of religion

That’s What Christians Do Now

Christian apathy in the face of cultural collapse

In 1973 the Supreme Court said it was OK to kill unborn babies. Since then, we have killed more than the entire population of Canada. And it continues. A woman’s choice? Half of those who have died in their mothers’ wombs have been women. They didn’t have a choice. It is called abortion.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

First it was in dingy, dirty theaters. Then, convenience stores. Then, grocery stores. Then on television. Now it is in the homes of millions via the Internet. It is called pornography.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

They called it no-fault. Why should we blame anyone when something so tragic happens. Haven’t they already suffered enough? Half of the marriages in American end this way. The children suffered. The family broken down. It is called divorce.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

At one time it was perversion. We kept it secret. We secured help and hope for those who practiced it. Now it is praised. We have parades celebrating it, and elected officials give it their blessing. Now it is endowed with special privileges and protected by special laws. Even some Christian leaders and denominations praise it. It is call homosexuality.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

It used to be an embarrassment. A shame. Now a third of all births are to mothers who aren’t married. Two-thirds of all African-American children are born into a home without a father. The state usually pays the tab. That is why we pay our taxes, so that government can take the place of parents. After all, government bureaucrats know much better how to raise children than parents do. It is called illegitimacy.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

At one time it was wrong. But then the state decided to legalize it, promote it and tax it. It has ripped apart families and destroyed lives. But just look at all the money the state has raised. No longer do we have to teach our children to study and work hard. Now we teach them they can get something for nothing. We spend millions encouraging people to join the fun and excitement. Just look at the big sums that people are winning. They will never have to work again! It is called gambling.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

Not long ago, Christians were the good guys. But now any positive image of Christians in movie or on TV is gone. We are depicted as the bad guys – greedy, narrow-minded hypocrites. The teacher can’t have a Bible on her desk, but can have Playboy. We don’t have Christmas and Easter holidays – just winter and spring break. We can’t pray in school, but we can use foul language. It’s called being tolerant.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!

Yes, all these things came to pass within 30 years. Where were the Christians? Why, they were in church. All these things are for someone else to deal with. Times have changed. Involvement has been replaced with apathy.

But don’t blame me. I didn’t do anything. I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now!OARLogo Picture6

‘They Are Satan’s Church’: Famed Pastor’s Tough Message for Christian Denominations Condoning Homosexuality


Famed pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, recently reacted to denominations that have taken more liberal approaches to gay marriage, among other issues, telling TheBlaze that “they have no allegiance to the Bible.” AMEN

Pastor John MacArthur (Grace to You)

MacArthur, author of “Being a Dad Who Leads,” said that these denominations — like Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which recently voted to allow same-sex nuptials — and their associated seminaries have been skirting scriptural tenets for decades. He patently described them as “false churches” that fail to teach biblical truths. “They have no allegiance to the Bible,” he said. “You go back to every one of those seminaries … for a century [they] have been deniers of biblical authority, they have no relationship to scripture, they are the apostate church, they are Satan’s church.”AMEN

And when asked whether Christianity on the whole is on the decline, MacArthur said that one must be careful when assessing the faith, as there are major differences between “true,” “cultural” and “institutional” Christianity.

  • MacArthur said that cultural Christianity in America dates back to the founding fathers who “knew you couldn’t compel people to goodness” unless there was belief in a higher power. The preacher said that this form of Christianity, which is in decline, isn’t necessarily connected to a church or institution, but that it sets values thatare embraced by people from various groups.
    • “Cultural Christianity … is dying at a warp speed … when you have an election when the platform is sin — in the last election for the the Democratic platform was pro killing children and pro homosexuality,” MacArthur said. “The young generation has bought into the corruption and lack of ethics morals by media entertainment [and] educators.”
  • In contrast, MacArthur said that institutional Christianity takes a more physical form, comprising faith systems and houses of worship that he believes are essentially in flux and ever-changing. “Institutional churches ebb and flow, denominations ebb and flow. They are made up of true believers and false believers — the genuine and the diluted,” he said. “There is a sense in which there’s always going to be an ebb and flow in the institutional church.”

Pastor John MacArthur (Image via John MacArthur/Facebook)

  • But “true” Christianity is a different institution entirely — one MacArthur carefully distinguished, as it is centered upon Jesus Christ and the church he believes God built. Unlike cultural Christianity, he said it will always be there and will not ebb or flow like institutional churches.Picture3

MacArthur went on to challenge pastors, churches and Christians to stand up and be bold and he cited Romans 1 in the Bible to describe what he believes is happening culturally in America. “Romans 1 describes exactly what is happening in America … it defines the wrath as God giving them over, giving them over, giving them over,” he said.

But the preacher noted that there is hope in God and that it’s still possible for Christians to stand up and help draw people to the Lord.

Find out more about MacArthur here.

OARLogo Picture6

The Problem with Sin


By:  Jim Shempert, Posted: Tuesday, April 14, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.afa.net/the-stand/bible/the-problem-with-sin/

 Jim Shempert One Million Dads Connect FollowMore Articles

“Your sin separates you from God. He is holy, and we are not.”

– Jim Shempert

Sin….the toughest three letter word in the English language.  The Greek word for sin revolves around an archery illustration.  It means to miss the mark.  You probably need a simple explanation since archery isn’t exactly in our forte anymore.  In archery, you aim for a target, usually the center of the target.  To succeed is to hit the target, to fail is to miss the mark.

So, what does archery have to do with life in 2015?  Well, in short, everything.  Every talking head, from every spectrum of life, tries to shout what the problems of this city/state/country/world are today.  Unfortunately, the talking heads never seem to address what the real problem boils down to.  In fairness to them, why would they?  No one likes to hear that something is wrong with them.  No one likes to be hedged into the thought that they are in opposition to God by their very nature.  No one wants to be called a “sinner.”

The objection is rampant in society today.  Americans especially, but all mankind has been and is being deceived that there is no such thing as sin.  “Don’t judge me, it’s my right to do….”

Americans are especially guilty of having a God complex.  We confuse political freedom with eternal freedom.  We lie to ourselves and say that the founding fathers of our nation would have agreed with what America has become.  We hide behind the premise of free will, while not acknowledging that God never intended for us to justify evil by using a free will excuse.  Americans need a newsflash.  Just because you have the freedom to do something, does not mean that you should.  Jesus was very clear about darkness and light:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.   Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.  (John 3:19-21)

Harsh?  Yep.  But the Author of Life spoke those words.  In my view, His words trump anyone else’s, no matter how sophisticated or forward thinking they are.  If that makes me backwards, a Neanderthal, a Bible-thumper, redneck, or whatever other word people like to call Christians now, I’ll wear that banner proudly.  My King bore much worse for me.

When I spoke to a trusted friend about this article focus, his response was, “I’m glad someone has that worked out.”  He said it in jest of course.  Sin is far too complex to understand, even after years at seminary.  While it is easy to look at abortion and say, “That’s sinful.  You shouldn’t do that” there are many factors that even someone as pro-life as I am has to look at as a Christian.  Pro-choice people will immediately pull the rape card out.  Rape is a terrible terrible thing.  Right there with murder.  In my mind though, one doesn’t justify the other.  I have a friend who once told a story about his daughter being raped. He drove to a state that he knew allowed abortion.  He thought at the time, that it was the best thing for his daughter.  He searched in the phone book for a clinic to perform the abortion.  Being from out of town, he didn’t know any of the places so he picked the first one he found.  By God’s Grace, it ended up being a pregnancy counseling center.  This man has served more than 40 years in the Army.  He is a tough dude.  When he tells this story, he always pulls out a picture of the little girl that he was once going to help his daughter abort.  His voice quivers, a tear comes to his eye, and he says, “I can’t imagine my life without her in it.”  AND THE PRO-LIFE CROWD GOES WILD!  But before pro-lifers like me have a parade, we need to accept our part in the story.  If you know of a situation like that, rape or not, where someone is struggling raising a child by themselves, for whatever reason, it is your duty to step in and help.   If you do not, you cannot call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.

The same can be said for drug and alcohol abuse.  Most addicts that I have ever talked to, (and I am an expert on the subject because I was an alcoholic before I came to Christ), all have something missing in their lives.  It’s easy for us to stand on the sidelines and shake our heads.  It’s more Christ-like to find that brother or sister that is struggling, throw our arms around them, and tell them that you love them,  that Christ loves them, and that He died for them so that they could have new life in Him.  Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.  Most of the time, an addict is just looking for someone to genuinely believe in.  Most people suffering from addiction have lost faith in everything else.  Christian, you possess a drug that gives an eternal High! Get out of those khakis and pews and reach out to someone!

Sin is all encompassing.  Not that all our sins are the same.  But they are all equal.  Let me say that again, whether you have sat in a pew since you have had breath, or accepted Christ the night before you were sent to prison, our sins are all equal.  Your sin separates you from God.  He is holy, and we are not.  Any time I feel puffed up about my righteousness, I always call up Isaiah 64:6 for a wakeup call.

But the good news about sin is this:  God made a way for you to be reconciled to Him:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.   All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:1-5)

God sees us in our sin.  We have proved time and again that we are incapable of being obedient to Him.  But because He loves us, He made the way through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The problem with sin is, it was defeated on the Cross of Cavalry.  Sin just doesn’t know it yet.  That’s our job, to tell the darkness, that the Light has come and destroyed it forever.

Picture6 waving flag

Former Terrorist Now a Christian Evangelist


By: Stacy Long, Posted: Tuesday, April 14, 2015

 Stacy Long Writer – AFA Journal

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.afa.net/the-stand/church/former-terrorist-now-a-christian-evangelist/

“Through his ministry, Exodus from Darkness, thousands of Muslims have “been led to the Lord.

– Stacy Long

Former terrorist testifies to violence of Islam, superiority of Christianity

“Many times I cried, ‘Allah, I want to kill Christians, I want to kill Jews.’ We planned a lot of things, evil things for the Christian world, cruel things for the Jewish world. … It is by the grace of God that I am here.” 

So begins the testimony of Daniel Shayesteh, formerly an Islamic terrorist and Iranian revolutionary; now a Christian evangelist.

“I was a famous boy,” Shayesteh recalls. “By the age of nine, I was able to do Islamic rituals and recite the Quran.” 

Picked out from the 12 children of his father’s two wives to do Islamic studies from his earliest years, Shayesteh’s fame carried him to a position of power among Islamic extremists. With two others he founded Hezbollah, in its earliest days as the revolutionary army in Iran. The army overthrew Mohammed Reza Shah, the king of Iran, in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and Shayesteh became a political leader helping to institute the rule of Sharia law.

It didn’t take long, however, for Shayesteh and other revolutionaries to become dissatisfied with Ayatollah Khomeini, the man they had brought into power to be the country’s “Supreme Leader.” After Shayesteh’s colleague, Abolhassan Beni Sadr, was elected president in 1980, tensions escalated, and in 1989 Khomeini used his influence with Hezbollah to form a military coup against the government with the intent of killing the president. President Sadr and others in his political camp were able to escape the country alive, but Shayesteh was not among them. He was captured and put in prison, which he describes as “a painful place, a place where you beg to die.” Even as he waited in a cell on death row, expecting to be executed, God providentially stepped in.

“By the grace of Jesus, I escaped,” he says. “Even though I didn’t know Him, He had a plan for me.” 

In an unbelievable and difficult escape, Shayesteh made it to Turkey, where he continued to seek a channel of influence. He enrolled in a university and obtained a doctorate in international management with a thesis on how religions, cultures, and philosophies impact the human attitude. Even as he formulated that thesis, the conclusions that forced themselves into his mind startled and unsettled him.

“I was amazed and shocked, in that comparative study of all religions and philosophies, to see that the values of Christianity are superior in every respect,” he explains.

However, it was evidence he refused to accept after all his training in radical Islam.

“I had been told for 32 years that Christianity was the worst religion in the world,” he says. “From a child I had always been taught that Islam is the winner, Islam is the best, without any deeper logic about it. Islam must dominate the world, and to ensure that, we must call people to follow Islam. If they do not listen, we must threaten and attack them through terrorism. That was my mindset. That is what all radical Muslims in the world think, and that’s why they are practicing terrorism.” 

It was not the last time that the Christian God would interfere with the course he had chosen for his life. When Shayesteh invested money with a business partner and the man snuck out of the country with his money, Shayesteh turned in desperation to the last place he would have willingly gone.

“The man was Muslim, but there were Christians that had been friends with him,” he says. “So I went to the church, only because I hoped to find a way to get my money back.” 

Church members welcomed him and offered to try to help track down the thief, so Shayesteh kept coming back, intent on keeping a close eye on the search for his missing money. Instead of his money, he found something he wasn’t looking for: the Christian God.

“I was amazed once again at what I was hearing from Christians,” he says. “For one, their definition of God was so different. He is personal and has created humans for relationship with Him. The Islamic god is aloof, and a relationship with him cannot exist at all.” 

“Also, the Christian God is the fountain of every good thing,” he adds. “There is no essence of evil in Him. In every other religion, gods are not good because they are sheltering evil and Satan in some way. In Islam, the god is the creator of both good and evil, and such a god corrupts the world.” 

As his encounter with the Christian God continued, Shayesteh could no longer avoid the truth, and he no longer wanted to. He accepted Christ and discovered that he could have freedom from his past, from a god that instilled evil in the world, and from a religion that left him cut off from his Creator. He insists that others who are lost as he was, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, radical or placid, can find that same freedom only in the Christian God.

“The true God has one pure nature, and that pure nature always creates purity,” he explains. “So we can be united with God. In that relationship, sin, lawlessness, evil are annulled, and we are freed.” 

Now, whenever and wherever he can, Shayesteh speaks to university students, Christian groups, and politicians about the threat of Islam and the value of democracy and freedom.

“Muslim extremists, committed Muslims, want to change the culture of Western societies,” he warns. “Freedom and democracy come from Christian values, and Islam cannot promote or cherish democracy and freedom.” 

While Shayesteh cannot travel in most Muslim countries due to threats against him from Islamic extremists, he makes his teachings accessible to Muslims in the Middle East in their native languages. Through his ministry, Exodus from Darkness, thousands of Muslims have been led to the Lord. Especially with the state of current events in the Middle East, many Muslims are disillusioned with Islam and primed for the Gospel.

“Many people in Islamic countries, especially young Muslims, are exhausted and overwhelmed,” he says. “They are tired. They want to take shelter in a peaceful belief. But if you do not have peace with God, you will not be able to have peace with others, no matter how much you would love to. So, with Christianity, there is an open door for us to touch the hearts of millions of Muslims all over the world.” 

“If you really are challenged to have reason for your belief and investigate to see whether your belief is the perfect one, you will end up being a follower of Jesus Christ,” he concludes.

Learn more about Muslim beliefs and discover how you can begin witnessing to Muslims in the current April issue of the AFA Journal. Also, sign up for the AFA Journal now for a one-year free subscription and receive the upcoming June issue featuring the testimonies of Shayesteh and others who left Islam to come to Christ.

Shayesteh terrorist.jpg   Shayesteh the terrorist

Shayesteh now.JPG Shayesteh the Christian evangelist

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When Papa Mc Ran the Pews


 

By: Randall Murphree, AFA Journal Editor, Posted: Tuesday, April 7, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.afa.net/the-stand/church/when-papa-mc-ran-the-pews/

I don’t think there’s any debate that Western culture is living in blatant and proud rebellion against God and godly principles.

Papa Mc was “runnin’ the pews,” and this four-year-old was scared to death. Runnin’ the pews? Yep, that’s what I said. Papa Mc was caught up in the Holy Spirit at Cliff Springs Methodist Church revival. His big feet landed lightly only on the backs and seats of the pews as he raced from the back of the little church to the front and back again, lifting his arms and shouting all the way. I hovered horrified in the pew where he had left me. 

My granddaddy Thomas I. McWaters was my best buddy in those post WWII days. He and Mama Mc kept me company while Mom and Dad taught school. I didn’t know it was child care. I thought they wanted to hang out with me. Those were halcyon days. Revival with Papa Mc. Lunch at Mama Mc’s kitchen table. On warm days, Papa Mc sat in a straight chair leaned back against the outside wall, supervising my creative corncob construction of houses and forts, winding highways, and city streets. (No Legos in my time.) 

On the morning of the Cliff Springs revival, Papa Mc and I had walked a mile up the dusty road to attend morning revival services. I remember two things about that morning: his big hand holding mine as we walked and the performance he put on in the church. I don’t recall that we ever talked about it afterward. I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask him about it. 

Papa Mc died about a year later. I’m grateful I got to spend a lot of time with him during my childhood. Through the years, I was witness to more revival services in which men and women were filled with the Spirit in extraordinary ways, people spoke in tongues, and God moved in great ways. For me, they validated Papa Mc’s reckless worship that had frightened me as a child.  As I grew into adulthood, however, our little country churches grew more and more inclined toward restraint and “proper” decorum in worship. 

I wonder if today’s church needs a little dose of Papa Mc’s Holy Spirit. Clearly, the church in our nation needs spiritual CPR. No follower of Christ can look about in our chaotic, confused, and morally challenged culture and not recognize our desperate need for revival. I use that word – revival – in its literal sense. I’m not talking about evangelism, local church outreach, missions, or personally sharing our faith with others – though all of those are needful for a vibrant body of Christ. 

I’m talking about the church as a whole. The Western arm of the body of Christ needs to return to a walk with Jesus Christ that depends on Him, not our own devices and strategies. A walk that demonstrates humility, not pride. A walk that is others-centric, not self-centered. A walk that reveals godly love, not human lust. A walk that shows restraint, not selfish gratification. A walk that illustrates obedience to God, not obeisance to our own desires. 

The Bible is well seasoned throughout with stories of dramatic revival, both on the personal plain of individuals and on the corporate plain of God’s people. We’re well familiar with the Old Testament cycle that recurs through the generations. God’s people draw close to Him. They thrive and grow and prosper. They rebel and turn away from God. Their spiritual life takes a nosedive. They repent and turn back to God. He restores. They thrive. They rebel. They fall away. They repent. He restores. Thrive. Rebel. Fall away. Repent. Restored. 

I don’t think there’s any debate that Western culture is living in blatant and proud rebellion against God and godly principles. Unfortunately, the church too often reflects the culture rather than being a light to bring it back to God. Are we, too, living in rebellion against Him? 

God’s warnings to the seven churches in Revelation should melt our hearts and rattle our conscience. He described the church at Sardis this way: “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent” (Revelation 3:1-3, NASB). 

A number of key words in that passage pinpoint elements that either lead to or are inherent in revival:

  • your deeds — obedience to God’s commands

  • wake up — conviction of sin

  • strengthen — exercise of faith

  • remember – acknowledgement of God’s faithfulness

  • keep it  — faithfulness in daily life

  • repent — turning from sin 

No, it isn’t a packaged, perfect formula, but it does describe a path to revival for God’s people, one at a time and all together. 

Papa Mc, my parents, and my generation all grew up with William P. Mackay’s 1863 hymn “Revive Us Again.” Haven’t heard that one in my church in decades. The chorus uses both praise and pleading: “Hallelujah! Thine the glory. Revive us again.” 

Stephen Olford (1918-2004), pastor and Christian leader, once said, “It is my conviction that we are never going to have a revival until God has brought the church of Jesus Christ to the point of desperation.” 

Are we desperate yet? 

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)  Picture6

Self-Judgment


Thursday, December 18, 2014, Devotional by Dr. David Jeremiah of Turning Point Ministries

 ”For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” (1 Corinthians 11:31; NKJV)

”Regarding this next item, I’m not at all pleased. I am getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side instead of your best! First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other. I’m reluctant to believe it, but there it is. The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it.’ 

“And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship — you come together, and instead of eating the Lord’s Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can’t believe it! Don’t you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God’s church? Why would you actually shame God’s poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I’m not going to stand by and say nothing.’ 

“Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me.”’

“After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: “This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.”’ 

“What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.” 

“Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.”

“If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won’t have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.”

“So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord’s Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. If you’re so hungry that you can’t wait to be served, go home and get a sandwich. But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal — a love feast.’

“The other things you asked about, I’ll respond to in person when I make my next visit.” 

(1 Corinthians 11:17-34; from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

In an age of grace, it is possible to lose sight of the notion of judgment. At least five judgments apply to all Christians:

  1. the judgment by civil authorities for law-breaking (Romans 13:1-7);
  2. the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15);
  3. the judgment by church leaders on unrepentant members (1 Corinthians 5:1-5);
  4. self-judgmentthe responsibility of every Christian to judge his or her own sins (1 Corinthians 11:31);
  5. and the judgment of God upon unrepentant Christians in the form of discipline (1 Corinthians 11:30).

The judgment of highest priority is self-judgment, the confession of our sins, and turning from them, so as not to face judgment from other sources (1 John 1:9). It is this judgment that Paul exhorted the Corinthian Christians to make when he discovered they were dishonoring the Lord’s Table, or communion, in the church. Because they failed to judge themselves—repent of their carnality and disorder—God had visited the church with sickness and death (1 Corinthians 11:30).

Self-judgment, the examination of our life, should be a daily discipline based on the promise of God’s gracious forgiveness.

© 2014 Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah Picture6

A Great Easter Story Worth Repeating Every Year


Edith Easter (Happy Easter)

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas . She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.

One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns.  When he walked into that waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her. Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: “Hello, my name is Edith Burns.  Do you believe in Easter?” Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved.

Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying,”My name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?” Beverly said, “Why yes I do.” Edith said, “Well, what do you believe about Easter?” Beverly said, “Well, it’s all about egg hunts, going to church, and dressing up.”  Edith kept pressing her about the real meaning of Easter, and finally led her to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Phillips said, ” Beverly , don’t call Edith into the office quite yet. I believe there is another delivery taking place in the waiting room.

After being called back in the doctor’s office, Edith sat down and   when she took a look at the doctor she said, “Dr. Will, why are you so sad? Are you reading your Bible?  Are you praying?”

Dr. Phillips said gently, “Edith, I’m the doctor and you’re the patient” With a heavy heart he said, “Your lab report came back and it says you have cancer, and Edith, you’re not going to live very long.”

Edith said, “Why Will Phillips, shame on you. Why are you so sad? Do you think God makes mistakes?  You have just told me I’m going to see my precious Lord Jesus, my husband, and my friends. You have just told me that I am going to celebrate Easter forever, and here you are having difficulty giving me my ticket!” 

Dr. Phillips thought to himself, “What a magnificent woman this Edith Burns is!”

Edith continued coming to Dr. Phillips. Christmas came and the office was closed through January 3rd. On the day the office opened, Edith did not show up.  Later that afternoon, Edith called Dr. Phillips and said she would have to be moving her story to the hospital and said, “Will, I’m very near home, so would you make sure that they put women in here next to me in my room who need to know about Easter.”

Well, they did just that and women began to come in and share that room with Edith.  Many women were saved. Everybody on that floor from staff to patients were so excited about Edith, that they started calling her Edith Easter; that is everyone except Phyllis Cross, the head nurse.

Phyllis made it plain that she wanted nothing to do with Edith because she was a “religious nut”. She had been a nurse in an army hospital. She had seen it all and heard it all. She was the original G.I. Jane. She had been married three times, she was hard, cold, and did everything by the book.

One morning the two nurses who were to attend to Edith were sick. Edith had the flu and Phyllis Cross had to go in and give her a shot. When she walked in, Edith had a big smile on her face and said, “Phyllis, God loves you and I love you, and I have been praying for you.”

Phyllis Cross said, “Well, you can quit praying for me, it won’t work.. I’m not interested.”

Edith said, “Well, I will pray and I have asked God not to let me go home until you come into the family.”

Phyllis Cross said, “Then you will never die because that will never happen,” and curtly walked out of the room.

Every day Phyllis Cross would walk into the room and Edith would say, “God loves you Phyllis and I love you, and I’m praying for you.” One day Phyllis Cross said she was literally drawn to Edith’s room like a magnet would draw iron. She sat down on the bed and Edith said, “I’m so glad you have come, because God told me that today is your special day.”

Phyllis Cross said, “Edith, you have asked everybody here the question, “Do you believe in Easter but you have never asked me.”

Edith said, “Phyllis, I wanted to many times, but God told me to wait until you asked, and now that you have asked.” Edith Burns took her Bible and shared with Phyllis Cross the Easter Story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Edith said, “Phyllis, do you believe in Easter? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is alive and that He wants to live in your heart?”

Phyllis Cross said, “Oh I want to believe that with all of my heart, and I do want Jesus in my life.” Right there, Phyllis Cross prayed and invited Jesus Christ into her heart. For the first time Phyllis Cross did not walk out of a hospital room, she was carried out on the wings of angels.

Two days later, Phyllis Cross came in and Edith said, “Do you know what day it is?” Phyllis Cross said, “Why Edith, it’s Good Friday.”

Edith said, “Oh, no, for you every day is Easter.  Happy Easter Phyllis!”

Two days later, on Easter Sunday, Phyllis Cross came into work, did some of her duties and then went down to the flower shop and got some Easter lilies because she wanted to go up to see Edith and give her some Easter lilies and wish her a Happy Easter. When she walked into Edith’s room, Edith was in bed. That big black Bible was on her lap.  Her hands were in that Bible. There was a sweet smile on her face. When Phyllis Cross went to pick up Edith’s hand, she realized Edith was dead. Her left hand was on John 14: “In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Her right hand was on Revelation 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Phyllis Cross took one look at that dead body, and then lifted her face toward heaven, and with tears streaming down here cheeks, said, “Happy Easter, Edith – Happy Easter!”

Phyllis Cross left Edith’s body, walked out of the room, and over to a table where two student nurses were sitting. She said, “My name is Phyllis Cross. Do you believe in Easter?”

If you believe in Easter, ask everyone you meet today if they also believe in Easter. God works in wonderful ways, and to believe in his power is to truly be free. 

“Father, bless this person in whatever it is that You know he or she may be needing this day. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

Jill and My Greeting

The Real Story of Saint Patrick and Why We Remember Him


TURNING POINT WITH DR. DAVID JEREMIAH

David Jeremiah’s Website

Tuesday, March 17

“Patrick’s Troubles

Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:10

Recommended Reading Psalm 119:92-93

Today is the day that the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, is honored. A native of Britain, he was captured in the late fourth century A.D. by Irish pirates at age sixteen and enslaved for six years in Ireland. During that time he committed himself to Christianity. He escaped and returned to his family in Britain where, a few years later, he had a vision of the Irish calling him to return and minister to them.

Rather than resenting his years as a slave to the Irish, Patrick used the time as a shepherd to contemplate what it meant to know Christ, what it meant to know God’s forgiveness. He left Britain as an unconverted teenager but returned as a believer in Christ. Without those six years of suffering, who knows how different Patrick’s life might have been. And who knows how many Irish might never have heard the Gospel through Patrick’s ministry in Ireland in the fifth century? Times of trouble in life, be they brief or extended, require a change in perspective. Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” we must ask, “What is God doing in my life? What does He want me to learn in this situation?”

“Shall light troubles make you forget weighty mercies?” ~ John Flavel

 

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Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah Copyright © 2015 Turning Point for God. All rights reserved. Turning Point, P. O. Box 3838, San Diego, CA 92163

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Franklin Graham: Muslims kill Christians to copy Muhammad


 

Posted By author-imageCheryl Chumley On 03/11/2015

Article reblogged from WND: http://www.wnd.com

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/franklin-graham-muslims-kill-christians-to-copy-muhammad/

franklin_graham

The Rev. Franklin Graham said Muslims set Christians in their killing sights for one basic reason, and one basic reason alone: to “emulate” their leader, Muhammad, he said.

Muhammad was a man of war and he killed many people,” Graham said, during a recent “Fox & Friends” interview with host Tucker Carlson. “Jesus Christ came as a man of peace and as a follower of Christ I follow him and I want to emulate Him. But the followers of Islam are emulating the prophet Muhammad, and that’s what you’re seeing carried out.”

Graham also warned those of Christian faith and others not to be fooled by the teachings of Islam. “We have to be very careful and understand that Islam, the teachings of Islam, are militant,” he said, the Shoebat Foundation reported. “I’m talking about, when you read the Koran, when you read the Surra, it’s very militant.”

He went on to say that one of the reasons Christian persecution has risen in the Middle East is that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was killed. “When Iraq was invaded by our country – and I’m not saying this wsa right or wrong, I’m just saying it’s a fact – there was a large Christian minority. Saddam Hussein gave them quite a lot of freedom. But when that government fell and the new government came to power, the Islamists in the country, al-Qaida and others, began to attack and burn churches. We’ve seen that happen throughout Iraq and now it’s happening in Syria.” And that’s why, at least in part, “the Christian community is being slaughtered by the Muslims and they’re being forced to leave,” he said. But on a larger scale, the slaughter has been ongoing for centuries, Graham said.Christian Persecution

“There used to be large Christian and Jewish communities in Saudi Arabia,” he said, during the Fox interview. “But over the centuries, they have been exterminated by the Muslims. This isn’t something that has just happened with ISIS. This has been going on for centuries and has been going on in Egypt. When those Egyptian men [Coptic Christians] had their heads cut off, that’s not the first time. That’s been going on in Egypt for a long time.”

At the same time, Graham made clear that he still loves Muslims. “[I don’t] want the Muslims out there to think that I’m bashing them,” he said. “I’m not. I love Muslims and I want them to know what I know – that God loves them, that Jesus Christ died for their sins, that he rose from the grave, he can come into the heart and they can have that hope of heaven and that hope of eternal life.”

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BOLD: NFL Player’s Facebook Prayer About ISIS Persecution of Christians Goes VIRAL


Posted on March 2, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://clashdaily.com/2015/03/bold-nfl-players-facebook-prayer-about-isis-persecution-of-christians-goes-viral/

benBenjamin Watson, professional football player for the New Orleans Saints, posted this powerful and prophetic prayer on his Facebook page that is going viral:

The images keep flooding our timelines and news feeds. Men being burned alive or beheaded by masked assassins. Stories of families on the run, fleeing their homes while they are pillaged and burned. Their testimonies hold a familiar chord. “Convert, Pay or Die!”

The persecution of Christians is not a new concept. As early as the first century we read about the Spirit filled boldness of Christians like Stephen and Paul who proclaimed the gospel through beatings and imprisonment, torture and death. We remember Christ’s disciples, most of whom were killed just like their master. Roman emperors like Nero, executed Christians in the most ghastly ways, using them as torches to light the evening sky.

In spite of all this adversity, Christianity continued to spread because men and woman, empowered by the Holy Spirit stood strong in the face of certain death; some being delivered and others falling. As I sit here in a 21st century United States, I can’t help but wonder when we too will face martyrdom for our faith. On this very day nearly 50 countries have laws that restrict or outlaw Christianity, leading to the harassment, imprisonment and death of those who follow Christ. On this day, in countries like North Korea and China, Christians gather for church underground to avoid being arrested by police. On this day, in Nigeria thousands mourn the deaths of their loved ones killed by Boko Haram in their quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. On this day, in Cuba, Christian ministries continue to risk their freedom as the countries continues to feel the effects of Communist rule.

BUT, on this day, Jesus words in Luke still ring true,

“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8

I tremble with fear at the thought of facing such incredible atrocities for the sake of Christ. How could I stand firm, staring down the barrel of a gun, the life of my family in the balance? I shudder, thinking of that day. I feel so inadequate. Rest assured, fellow Americans, if it hasn’t already, our day WILL COME.

Jesus goes on, providing us comfort and hope for this day. He says,

“When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11,12

My only hope in such trying times is the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the X factor. He will give us the strength, words, and vision when our backs are against the wall. Jesus promised the believer many things. Eternal life, abundant life, peace, purpose and forgiveness to name a few. He also promises that they, like him, WILL be betrayed, hated and persecuted, even to death. (Luke 21:12-19)

The Internet has brought close what used to be foreign. Shocking, disturbing worldwide news is available in the palm of our hands. As we see these videos and images we must remember in prayer our brothers and sisters who are suffering for Christ. We must support them in any way we can for they are being witnesses to their oppressors.
Secondly, we must WAKE UP from our slumber, be on guard and stand firm. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Spiritual unity in the body will help us weather the coming storms. We must REMEMBER that as terrible as things are and will become, they are simply signs pointing to one thing; His Imminent Return.

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

Lord be with us.The Persecution has Begun

 Freedom with Prayer

Megachurch Pastor ‘Prayerfully’ Allows Practicing Homosexuals Into Leadership


Reported by avatarJennifer LeClaire, on 16 February, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://barbwire.com/2015/02/16/0655-megachurch-pastor-prayerfully-allows-practicing-homosexuals-leadership/#

Gracepoint-pastor-stan-mitchell

Is the Bible Belt coming unbuckled? Stan Mitchell, pastor of the GracePoint megachurch in Franklin Tennessee, has apparently taken his Bible belt off altogether. Mitchell told his congregation—a congregation that includes superstar singer-songwriter Carrie Underwood—that practicing homosexuals can be card-carrying members of his Bible-believing protestant church and can even hold their gay weddings in the sanctuary.  “Our position that these siblings of ours, other than heterosexual, … cannot have the full privileges of membership, but only partial membership, has changed,” Mitchell told the church.

“Full privileges are extended now to you with the same expectations of faithfulness, sobriety, holiness, wholeness, fidelity, godliness, skill and willingness. That is expected of all. Full membership means being able to serve in leadership and give all of your gifts and to receive all the sacraments; not only communion and baptism, but child dedication and marriage.” Evil is Good Love grown cold

Removing the Belt of Truth

Wait, what? Mitchell seems to completely misunderstand—or at least misinterpret—the Bible. Practicing homosexuals may indeed be faithful tithers and attenders, but one cannot reconcile homosexual lifestyles with holiness and godliness. As kind, generous and loving as some practicing gays may be, sexual sin defiles homosexuals the same as it does heterosexuals. 

With his announcement, Mitchell has removed his belt of truth (see Eph. 6:14), ignoring altogether Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:10 and other verses of Scripture in coming to his decision. He set down a key piece of spiritual armour in a culture war that is seeing antichrist spirits watering down the Word of God. 

The question here is this: How did Mitchell fall into this deception? What caused him to accept this strong delusion that counters the holy Scriptures? Mitchell is certainly not the first preacher—or denomination for that matter—to reject the Word of God on this topic. What happened?

A Divine Wind?

According to Mitchell’s own testimony, the Spirit of God moved on his heart several years ago, causing him to reconsider his stance on full inclusion for practicing homosexuals at his megachurch. He calls it a divine wind, but God does not speak with a forked tongue. “We were thrust, I believe, by a divine wind, into a prayerful, painful, invigorating, careful and hopeful conversation regarding sexual orientation and gender identity,” he said. “My soul has been stretched to the point that if I do not say what I say today, I cannot be here any longer. I have felt this way for many, many years.”

Clearly, Mitchell is in angst over this move, which I believe is the Spirit of God bringing conviction to his heart over his present unbiblical conclusion. Indeed, if the Spirit of God—or a “divine wind” as he called it—moved over his soul at all it was not to give practicing homosexuals church leadership positions or hold gay marriage ceremonies in his sanctuary. If the Spirit of God moved over him it was to pray against the deception he has now embraced.

Fear of Man Brings a Snare

So what happened? I don’t have all the answers but I believe it comes down to cowardice and compromise in the end. If we are willing to compromise God’s Word in any area, we open ourselves up to all manner of deception. Mitchell may be dealing with the fear of man, since he’s lost so many members while he wrestled with his revelation. The Bible says the fear of man brings a snare (see Prov. 29:25). He has certainly been snared.

Owen Strachan, assistant professor of Christian theology and Church history at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky, put it this way: “If you fear man, God will become small to you. The approval of fellow sinners will matter more to you than obeying God by the witness of his Word.” 

I agree with Strachan, who also points out that many professing evangelicals today have no appetite to honor the Lord. He rightly notes that these professing evangelicals recognize that the winds of culture are against them. “To the core of their being, they are afraid. Biblical Christians recognize, ultimately, that no person is our enemy. We have no Goliath to slay,” Strachan says. “We do have a spiritual force against which we fight, one who would undo us, who would stop our mouths, and who would have us strain ourselves to win the honor of man instead of the honor of God.”

There Is Still Hope

The only saving grace here is that Mitchell remains double-minded about his decision, which means there is still hope for him to come to repentance.

“I am not sure I am right, but I am sure I sense the presence of God, and I know I’m doing my best,” he said. “And I believe before God Almighty to this we have been called, and here we stand.” 

I pray he turns from this skewed theology and repents publicly, which could give other pastors the courage to do the same. I also pray that professing evangelicals—whether they are in the pulpit or the pews—will stand and withstand the winds of culture that are raging against us. The days are growing darker. The Great Falling Away is underway. And the next great move of God is emerging even now. I want to stand on the right side of eternity on these issues. What about you?

Freedom with Prayer

I would regret dying and knowing I did not use God’s gifts


Posted by Hobo JohnJanuary 25, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://joeforamerica.com/2015/01/regret-dying-knowing-not-use-gods-gifts/

I am going to ramble around a bit so as to make a point or two. It is Sunday after all and God and Christ are what I found at the end of my journey on the streets. They were both there the entire time of course watching over me as I examined my childhood wounds and learned my lessons about how to use God’s gifts, love myself and others.

Our society makes no time for reflection, we all work too hard and too long and give ourselves little time to chew over mistakes so we often repeat the same ones in vein, hoping for a better out come.

The economy makes it difficult as well, most folks work more and more while receiving less and less. A lot of that has to do with the greed of the rich and clever, and makes my heart hurt. Lots of folks have no time to think about and work through wounds, they are too busy trying to provide for families. I hold them in my heart with every tenderness.

Those seven years without a job, without family or friends was lonely at times to be sure. But it also allowed me to sit with my grief and my fears and to mull them over without anyone interfering with my thinking process and telling me what I should be doing. I count them as a true blessing.

As I said while on the streets I re-familiarized myself with the Bible and Christ’s teachings. I became particularly fond Bible-in-hand-300x150of the Book of James so many nuggets of wisdom and things to ponder.

“For what is your life? It is but a mist that arises for a while and is gone.” James 4:14. The implications of this are extraordinary. The things in this life we hold dear including our own breathe and body, merely temporary and as short term as a mist. The idea is to hunt for something more substantial than even your own life; that could only mean your eternal self. the one beyond time.

It is also refreshing. The things I worry so much about, things as simple as saying something stupid or out of line, where my next meal is coming from, will I make my deadline at work? Well from the point of view of my eternal self these things are a vapor indeed. He is saying we should not work to impress others or even ourselves, but to impress our creator.

Christ said the kingdom of heaven is within and James confirms this calling God’s word implanted. James also says that with patience, and holding to Christ’s teaching we can become, “whole and complete lacking nothing.”

James also tells us “pure religion” has nothing to do with churches or doctrine but is, “to visit the orphan and the widow in their affliction, and to remain untouched by the world.” To me he is saying take care of those who are traumatized and in today’s world you do not have to look to far to find those folks.

“To remain untouched by the world,” that is another phrase that really made me search for some understanding. Well, what runs the world? In my mind it is fear and the things that arise from fear: greed, jealousy, anger, violence, wrath etc. Along with fearful things, lust, or desire is perhaps a kinder word, it also runs the world.

Generally our desire is for stuff we do not have and the stuff other people have. To be untouched by the world means to dwell in God’s joy and peace no matter what happens, no matter what you have or do not have.

After I was molested I lost trust in others to take care of me, I also lost trust in myself. Over time God has restored my faith in myself and I am busy chasing the eternal.

I am genuinely a happy person and still desire many things in this world, a jeep for one thing would be very nice indeed. Lust, jealousy, greed, anger, hate arise in me every day, but when they do I do my best to turn them over to God or I invite God in to heal them.

When it comes to family and friends, well knowing these people are temporary makes them become very precious indeed, far more precious than anything than I could own or have. To hold onto jealousy and hate is something I would regret. In other words it inspires me to be kinder and forgiving of everything.

It also makes me strive to become as good as I possibly can at the things I do. I would regret dying and knowing I did not use God’s gifts to their full potential to better this temporary world. Peace to you folks. I love you with everything that I have; that is my motto, my mantra and the truth of things.

About the Author; Hobo John

Hobo John here, I am a fifty year old man currently living in a small town in Idaho, this is also where I grew up. Like any Idaho boy I love the outdoors, and am a sports enthusiast. But I also love the arts and paint a little myself. In Proverbs it says, “A man’s pursuit is his kindness, ” and that is my only true mission in life. I like to write about just about anything; songs , children’s stories, politics, short stories, however, I have not attempted a novel yet. I also consider myself a bit of a philosopher, after seven years of living the homeless life I actually started to enjoy it. I started writing little phrases that I hope contain some wisdom. I call them Hobo Metaphysics. “Gentle beats the hell out of aggressive,” being one of my favorites. Peace to you folks, “I love you with everything that I have.” That is my motto and the truth of things.

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VIDEO: Practicing Muslim Challenges Former Muslim On Christian Beliefs


December 25, 2014 By

of the Original Posting Site: http://blessings.buzz/2014/12/25/video-practicing-muslim-challenges-former-muslim-on-christian-beliefs/

A Muslim from Pakistan asks Apologist Nabeel Qureshi questions about his faith in Jesus Christ.

Questions like, “How can God be finite and infinite at the same time?”

He also asks questions that Qureshi answers more substantively by using his knowledge of the Quran. Other questions are ones that many people have and Qureshi answers them beautifully.

Everyone can learn something from the respectful exchange found in this video.

Watch here:

vid03

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Noah’s Ark Found: Why Keep Us In The Dark?


Posted by Baron Von KowenhovenJanuary 2, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site:  http://joeforamerica.com/2015/01/noahs-ark-found-keep-us-dark/

Exhaustive, detailed information on discovery of The Ark

Has Noah’s Ark been found? Is it real? You won’t even see those headlines or questions in the mainstream anytime soon because it just doesn’t fit with their narrative:

In the Book of Genesis, God set about destroying a “corrupt” and “violent” world just as Noah was putting the finishing touches on The Ark – a massive wooden vessel to hold his family and two of “all living creatures, from all flesh.”

The Bible specifies that Noah’s Ark came to rest on “the mountains of Ararat” as the waters reseeded. The modern day location is in eastern Turkey – a volcanic mountain, having erupted several times since the Flood, the last major eruption being in 1840.

Since then, ancient Roman scholars, medieval travelers, contemporary explorers and Ottoman soldiers all claim to have spotted Noah’s Ark amid the region’s peaks — most recently in 2006, when a Colorado-based archaeologist claimed to have uncovered the ark, petrified within Iran’s Alborz mountain range along the Turkish border.

Why does the major media refuse to even look into this? Why not just refute it? Does the cover-up have something to do with confirming the Bible’s teachings? Methinks so..

The story of the flood is closely connected with the story of the creation, in which the ark plays a pivotal role.

Not exactly in line with evolution. The information would be better off not “discovered”. If Noah’s Ark really existed, we may have to adjust some of our other thinking and that may not be a real pleasant prospect for liberals in the press.

From Dan Eden at The Viewzone:

The Gilgamesh Epic (650 BC) gives Mt. Nisir as the landing place of the Ark. The local name for the town where the Ark was found is Nasar.

Theophilus of Antioch (115-185 AD) said the Ark could be seen in his day in the Arabian mountains. Later Church Fathers also mention the Ark as late as the mid 7th century. In the 13th century, Willam, a traveler, stated for the first time that Mt. Masis was the Ark location (present-day Mt. Ararat).

Ptolemy’s Geographia (1548) mentions the mountains of Armenia as the place of landing. So does the traveler Nicolas de Nicolay (1558).

Pilgrims to the site would gather bits and pieces of the petrified wood which would be used as charms to ward off evil. When they encountered the anchors, they had no doubt about their association with the Ark. They often carved one big cross to represent Noah and smaller crosses representing his family.

 

The huge anchors would have been suspended from the keel of the ship. This was a common practice among ancient mariners to stabilize a heavy ship and ensure that the bow is always facing the on-coming waves.

Members of a Hong Kong expedition conducted several missions to Mount Ararat since 2003 and shot footage of what appears to be a solid wooden wall, entombed within layers of glacial ice and volcanic rock. A gnarled beam runs suspended from one part of the cavern to another. There’s straw and bits of old rope on the ground; a structure is taking shape.

What is it? According to the explorers, it’s Noah’s Ark, literally frozen in time.

Army Captain Ilhan Durupinar, identified the final resting place of Noah’s Ark in a Turkish Air Force aerial photo taken during a NATO mapping mission in October 1959. Photographs of the site were published in Life magazine in 1960,

The shape looked like hull of a ship. One end was pointed as you would expect from bow and the opposite end was blunt like a stern. The distance from bow to stern was 515 feet, or exactly 300 Egyptian cubits. The average width was 50 cubits. These were the exact measurements mentioned in the Bible.noahs ark found

 

Geological mapping indicates that there is a fault right along the western edge of the boat-shape and other faults in the valley floor. It is thus significant that this boat-shape first came into view as a result of an earthquake in 1948, and then its relief compared to the surrounding terrain was enhanced as a result of a further earthquake in 1978.

Then there’s the history of the Ark in other forms, languages and passages handed down and across time. Many other cultures also told of a great flood and a ship being built. It is not a story unique to The Bible:

The flood has echoes in legends from Central America to South Asia, and it almost certainly predates Judeo-Christian times. Scholars believe it was most likely transmitted to the Israelites from Mesopotamia: in the far older Epic of Gilgamesh, we encounter Utnapishtim, a man chosen by the gods to live alone in a boat full of animals while the world around him ended in a deluge. Just like Noah, as the rains stopped he sent out both a dove and a raven to gauge whether the waters had receded.

A British scholar around a years ago found that a 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablet from what is now Iraq contains a story similar to the biblical account of Noah’s Ark.

The newly decoded cuneiform tells of a divinely sent flood and a sole survivor on an ark, who takes all the animals on board to preserve them. It even includes the famous phrase “two by two,” describing how the animals came onto the ark.

Skeptics say differences in the story prove it’s false, but anyone in law enforcement will tell you if the stories are the same, it’s for sure a lie. Different accounts of the same basic theme indicate truth. And yes there are multiple different Mesopotamian versions, and there are multiple different biblical versions of the story of Noah’s Ark.

They share a basic outline, and some central themes. But they each relate the story in their own way.

From The Viewzone:

Ground Penetrating Radar

The human eye needs to see reflected light to recognize an object. To visualize what remains below the earth, scientists use microwaves which can penetrate the ground and bounce back when they hit something solid. This technique is commonly used to locate oil and other minerals. Called Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), the apparatus us made from an antenna that transmits, then listens to receive the “echo” and prints the result on a piece of paper. The delay and strength of this echo tell the geologists how solid and at what depth the objects are under the earth.

The team of geologists didn’t scan the entire object. Instead, they marked out lines that crossed the object with yellow tape. Then they dragged the antenna (about the size of a lawnmower) over the lines and watched the output on the paper recorder. When they got a strong “hit” — meaning there was something solid underneath — they would record the position on the tape [above]. Later, when they made a map of the object, the tape and the location of the “hits” they realized that there was indeed a structure underneath the mud.

“This data does not represent natural geology. These are man made structures. These reflections are appearing too periodic… too periodic to be random in that type of natural pace.” – Ron Wyatt of SIR Imaging team

The radar cans revealed this structure [above] under the mud. The symmetry and logical placement of these objects shows that this is unmistakably a man made structure, most likely the Ark of Noah.

Artifacts Retrieved From The Ark

Using the GPR, Ron Wyatt discovered an open cavity on the starboard side. He used an improvised drill to make core sample inside this cavity and retrieved several very interesting objects. Below you can see the artifacts which were sent for laboratory analysis. On the left is the bore hole [see below], followed by what turned out to be petrified animal dung, then a petrified antler and lastly a piece of cat hair.

Perhaps the most significant find from the Ark itself is a piece of petrified wood. When this was first found it appeared to be a large beam. But upon closer examination it is actually three pieces of plank that have been laminated together with some kind of organic glue! This is the same technology used in modern plywood. Lamination makes the total strength of the wood much greater than the combined strength of the pieces. This suggests a knowledge of construction far beyond anything we knew existed in the ancient world.noahs ark found

Tests by Galbraith Labs in Knoxville, Tennessee, showed the sample to contain over 0.7% organic carbon, consistent with fossilized wood. The specimen was once living matter. Photo: http://www.viewzone.com/noahx.html

Examination reveals the glue oozed from the layers. The outside of the wood appears to have been coated with bitumen.

Even more surprising were laboratory analyses which not only revealed that the petrified wood contained carbon (proving it was once wood) but there were iron nails [above right] embedded in the wood!

We like to imagine that humanity evolved in a neat sequence of eras, each named after the technology that was discovered. We have the Stone Age (where man developed arrows and stone tools), the Bronze Age (where metals were combined and heated to make tools and household items) and lastly the Iron Age (where iron and steel objects were made by heating iron ore and adding other material — like charcoal — to strengthen it). The Iron Age is usually placed at 1200-1000 BC, yet we have iron nails being used in this extremely old construction

By WhatDidYouSay.org

By WhatDidYouSay.org

Christmas Stockings


Fireside Chats: Christmas Stockings
Saturday, December 13, 2014 Devotion by Dr. David Jeremiah of Turning Point Ministries
”So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury.”” (Mark 12:43; NKJV)
“Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Do only what is good. Love each other in a way that makes you feel close like brothers and sisters. And give each other more honor than you give yourself. As you serve the Lord, work hard and don’t be lazy. Be excited about serving him! Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. Share with God’s people who need help. Look for people who need help and welcome them into your homes.’
 
“Wish only good for those who treat you badly. Ask God to bless them, not curse them. When others are happy, you should be happy with them. And when others are sad, you should be sad too. Live together in peace with each other. Don’t be proud, but be willing to be friends with people who are not important to others. Don’t think of yourself as smarter than everyone else.’
 
“If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone. My friends, don’t try to punish anyone who does wrong to you. Wait for God to punish them with his anger. In the Scriptures the Lord says,
“I am the one who punishes;
I will pay people back.”Deuteronomy 32:35
20But you should do this:
“If you have enemies who are hungry,
give them something to eat.
If you have enemies who are thirsty,
give them something to drink.
In doing this you will make them feel ashamed” Proverbs 25:21-22
“Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.” (Romans 12:9-21: Easy to Read Version, American Bible Society)
A poor man, father of three beautiful daughters, had no money to provide for their marriages or their futures. Hearing this, Saint Nicholas secretly put a bag of gold in the daughters’ stockings, which were hanging by the fireplace to dry overnight. Upon rising, the family was overjoyed. Ever since, children have hung up stockings on Christmas Eve in hopes of a visit from Saint Nicholas.
That’s the closest we can come to the origin of Christmas stockings. Regardless of the origin of the practice, one thing is evident: Christmas stockings can only hold small gifts. Indeed, what would fit in a child’s stocking was the extent of the earliest Christmas gifts from parents to children. And therein is the lesson: It’s the little things that matter most at Christmas. Jesus Himself revealed the true meaning of value when He commended a widow in Jerusalem for putting two pennies into the Temple treasury.
As you plan your Christmas giving this year, keep “value” in mind. Gifts wrapped in Christmas love are the most valuable of all.
© 2014 Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah
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The United States of America, 2014


New WhatDidYouSay Logo

Adapted from Romans 1:18-32 through Chapter 2; Easy to Read Version, American Bible Society

“God is showing His anger from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that the American people do, permit and tolerate. Their evil lives hide the truth they have. This makes God angry because they have been shown what The Most High God really is like. Yes, God has made it clear to America.

There are things about God, Most High, that people cannot see—His eternal power and all that makes Him God. But, since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do.

Because of Adam and Eve’s sin (eating the forbidden fruit of “The Knowledge of Good and Evil”) The American People have always known the Living God, but The American People have not honored Him as God, and they did not thank Him. Their ideas are all useless. There is not one good thought left in their foolish minds.

They say they were wise, but they became fools. Instead of honoring the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, snakes, the environment, “political correctness”, celebrities, and meaningless philosophies. These American People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way;

  • They became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other.
  • They traded the truth of God for a lie.
  • They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen.

Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do;

  • Women stopped having natural sex with men and started having sex with other women.
  • In the same way, men stopped having natural sex with women and began wanting each other all the time. Men did shameful things with other men, and in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrongs.
  • People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God.

So God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking. And so they do what they should not do;

  • They are filled with every kind of sin, evil, greed, and hatred.
  • They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other.
  • They gossip and say evil things about each other.
  • They hate God.
  • They are rude, proud, and brag about themselves.
  • They invent ways of doing evil.
  • They don’t obey their parents,
  • they are foolish,
  • they don’t keep their promises,
  • and they show no kindness or mercy to others.
  • They know God’s righteousness says that anyone who lives like that should die.
  • They not only continue to do these things themselves, but they also encourage others who do them.”

So, The Evangelical Church in America, do you think that you can judge America’s people? You are wrong. You too are guilty of sin. You judge them, but you do the same things they do. So when you judge them, you are really condemning yourself. God judges all who do such things, and we know his judgment is right. And since you do the same things as the American People you judge, surely you understand that God will punish you too. How could you think you would be able to escape his judgment? God has been kind to you. He has been very patient, waiting for you to change. But you think nothing of his kindness. Maybe you don’t understand that God is kind to you so that you will decide to change your lives.

But you are so stubborn! You refuse to change. So you are making your own punishment greater and greater. You will be punished on the day when God will show his anger. On that day everyone will see how right God is to judge people. He will reward or punish everyone for what they have done. Some people live for God’s glory, for honor, and for life that cannot be destroyed. They live for those things by always continuing to do good. God will give eternal life to them. But others are selfish, simply religious, and refuse to follow truth. They follow evil. God will show his anger and punish them. He will give trouble and suffering to everyone who does evil—to the Evangelical Church in America first and also to those who are not followers. But he will give glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does good—to the Evangelical Church in America first and also to those who are not followers. God judges everyone the same. It doesn’t matter who they are.

People who have a genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and those who have never heard that such a relationship is necessary to receive Eternal Life are all the same when they sin. People who don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ will be lost. And, in the same way, those who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and are sinners will be judged by God. Hearing the Word does not make people right with God. They will be right before him only if they always do what the Word says.

Those who are not relationship Christians don’t have the Word of God in their hearts. But when they naturally do what the Word commands without even knowing the Word, then they are their own spiritual law. This is true even though they don’t know the written Word. They show that in their hearts they know what is right and wrong, the same as the Word of God commands, and their consciences agree. Sometimes their thoughts tell them that they have done wrong, and this makes them guilty. And sometimes their thoughts tell them that they have done right, and this makes them not guilty. This knowledge has been passed onto every human born in the earth since Adam and Eve.

All this will happen on the day when God will judge people’s secret thoughts through Jesus Christ. This is part of the Good News that the Evangelical Church in America is suppose to tell everyone.

What about you? You say you are a Christian. You trust in the Lord and proudly claim to a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what God wants you to do. And you know what is important, because you have learned the Word of God. You think you are a guide for people who don’t know the right way, a light for those who are in the dark. You think you can show foolish people what is right. And you think you are a teacher for those who are just beginning to learn. You have the Word of God, and so you think you know everything and have all truth. You teach others, so why don’t you teach yourself?

You tell them not to steal, but you yourself steal;

  • When you don’t tithe faithfully.
  • When you don’t pay your taxes through deceit.
  • When you don’t give your employer a full day’s work for a full day’s pay.
  • You give to your lusts and wants instead of to the work of the Church.
  • You spend recklessly on things, but you aren’t putting enough aside for your children

You say they must not commit adultery, but you yourself are guilty of that sin.

  • Remember Jesus taught to lust after a person of the opposite sex is the same as adultery?

You hate idols, but you steal them from their temples;

  • When you know more about your celebrity idols than the Word of God.
  • When you spend more time lusting after your idols rather than spending that time with your spouse, children and God the Father in prayer.

You are so proud that you have God’s Word, but you bring shame to God by breaking His Word.

As the Scriptures say, “People in other nations insult God because of your hypocritical witness.”

If you follow the Word of God, then your circumcised (sanctified, separated) life has meaning. But if you knowingly sin, then it is as if you were never circumcised (sanctified, separated). Those who are not Christians have not separated themselves to follow Jesus. But if they do what the Word says, it is as if they were separated to follow Him. You have the Word and sanctification, but you knowingly disobey God’s known Word. So those who are not sanctified in their spirits, but still obey the Word, will show that you are guilty.

You are not a true Christian if you are only a Christian in label only. True Christianity that is genuinely separated to follow Jesus is not only what you want people to see. A true Christian that has a genuine personal relationship with the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ is one who is a Christian inside-out. True sanctification is done in the heart. It is done by the Spirit, not by religious activity. And anyone who is sanctified in the heart by the Spirit gets praise from God, not from people.”

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FOR MY NAME’S SAKE: What True Disciples Can Expect


I have had the following message on my heart and mind for multiple years. I desire to be able to communicate the utterNew WhatDidYouSay Logo urgency of this message to the Body of Christ in America. I pray daily for our brother and sisters in Christ around the world who are living in unspeakable torment and persecution. I am troubled knowing that such persecution is building in America, and knowing the Church is NOT prepared. Please take to heart what you are about to read, and then get prepared.

Jerry Broussard of WhatDidYouSay.org


 

Written by John Kirkwood on November 13, 2014

URL of Original Posting Site: http://clashdaily.com/2014/11/names-sake-true-disciples-can-expect/

cp 11Jewish parents living in a hostile land will prepare their children from a very young age for the unfriendly treatment they are likely to endure. Our Christian brothers and sisters in places like Mosul and Egypt will do the same, but here in America we have never known nor often have we taught the cost of discipleship.

Our children simply aren’t prepared for the treatment that the world will afford the true disciple of Christ. Youth group is busy about pizza, scavenger hunts, and running around a circle and diving for a bean bag. Hardly a Spartan’s training for a future soldier of Christ. Upstairs, “adult” church is hardly better — pastors blowing sunshine in the thirsty ears of self-absorbed, illiterate Christians, anxious to learn the latest incantation that will bring God out of his genie bottle.

“I gave as an offering my all to Him who had won me and saved me. My property, my fame, my health, my very words… In considering all these things,” wrote Gregory of Nazianzus, “I preferred Christ. And the words of God were made sweet as honeycombs to me, and I cried after knowledge and lifted up my voice for wisdom. There was moreover the moderation of anger, the curbing of the tongue, the restraint of the eyes, the discipline of the belly, and the trampling under foot of the glory which clings to the earth.”

What a marked difference between the sentiment of Gregory and the “Eat the cookie, buy the shoes,” “Every day is a Friday,” and “Your best life now,” freeology of the modern church. One is occupied with a Savior and magnificent grace, the other with what Schaeffer called, “Personal Peace and Affluency.”

Soothsayers con sheeple into believing a new gospel: that Christ died to set you free from obesity, complacency, mediocrity, and insolvency. That indeed “Jesus Saves,” — saves you from loneliness, alienation, beer bellies, and remaining “broke, broke.” That which the Apostle called dung and less than loss in order to win Christ is now proffered by tele-charlatans who with feigned words make merchandise of us.

Modern Churchianity proclaims, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and dine,” reducing Bonhoeffer’s maxim on discipleship into nothing more than a Pampered Chef invitation. Is this the major contributing factor in the Barna research that has found 7 out of 10 evangelical children forsaking the faith after their first semester of college?

So, what do we tell our children to prepare them for the way?

As a Pastor I’m often asked, especially by young people, how to discern the will of God for their lives. Here’s part of my answer: God’s will is for you to be hated among men, to be seen as vile, a reproach, to be lied about, to be abused in every conceivable manner socially, emotionally, financially, and possibly even physically. And then God’s will for you is to not return the hatred, the lies, and the vitriol, but to lead with his heart, to offer an open hand, and if you must – to be willing to part with your head.

Does that fit into your Jesus-as-a-fortune-cookie relationship? Did you learn that in Sunday school or AWANA?

How do we prepare our children for the way and raise the next generation of faith heroes? Tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Let them ponder the words of the Apostles and those of Christ. Don’t avoid what was forewarned to be the world’s reaction to Godly men. And at the same time instill in them that we have this glorious privilege of bringing pleasure to God through it all.

George Shultz, Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State, was famous for inviting Ambassadors who had just been appointed into his office before they deployed to their assignment and saying, “Show me where your country is on that globe?” Most would find it an insulting exercise in geography and roll their eyes. Only when the globe stopped and their index finger landed on Japan, Zaire, or Brazil did they find out it was actually a lesson in Duty, Honor, Country.

To their utter amazement, Shultz would frown, announce that their answer was wrong, and spin the globe until his index finger rested on these United States.

No, young man, this is your country,” and then he would exhort them to never forget that a U.S. Ambassador is the eyes, the ears, the hands, the feet, the very voice of our nation on foreign soil. While you may be an Ambassador to Japan, Zaire, or Brazil, you represent the United States of America. Never forget it!

We are Heaven’s ambassadors on loan to planet earth. We have a higher priority but that shouldn’t lead to less involvement or less interest in our natural citizenship. On the contrary, the Grace of God and the privilege to serve the King of Kings where we are is the highest service imaginable. But let us not take lightly how the world will react.

Do you think the American Ambassador to Germany, Japan, and Italy was showered with admiration and affection just prior to the break out of hostilities? No, the faithful Christian will be treated as Leonidas treated the Persian Ambassadors, after all, “This is Sparta!”

Speaking to a few dozen young Christian boys and girls who had just graduated the eighth grade, I assigned each child a descriptive from a list of Bible verses that describe discipleship. I shared with them the warnings from Jesus and his Apostles that describe what the faithful would go through, how they’d be perceived, and what they would suffer; and then I asked them to remember the one word that I had assigned to them. At the end of the lesson, I asked them to stand and shout their particular word or phrase.

It sounded like this:

Accused!
Mocked!
Forsaken!
Mournful!
Weak!
Foolish!
Troubled!
Weeping!
Full of Sorrow!
Perplexed!
Base!
A Spectacle!
Reviled!
Defamed!
A Reproach!
Separated!
Despised!
Hungry!
Thirsty!
Naked!
Destitute!
Cast Down!
Cast Out!
Filth!
Off-scouring!
Suffering Evil!
Hated!
Afflicted!
Persecuted!
Imprisoned!
Tormented!
Beaten!
Scourged!
Tortured!
Marked for Death!
Condemned!
Stoned!
Sawn Asunder!
Beheaded!
Killed!

cp 12Til this very day, some of them tell me that they still remember their word. The truth is, as you see it play out around the globe, the faithful disciple will fulfill many of those words. Remember, God’s Honor Roll and Satan’s Radar are the same list. You won’t be on one without being on the other.

As Benjamin Franklin said, As to the abuses I meet with, I number them among my honors. One cannot behave so as to obtain the esteem of the wise and the good without drawing on oneself at the same time the envy and malice of the foolish and wicked, and the latter is testimony of the former. The best men have always had their share of this treatment, and the more of it in proportion to their different and greater degree of merit. A man, therefore, has some reason to be ashamed of himself when he meets with none of it.

*Discipleship Verses (partial list): (Isaiah 5:20); (Matt. 5:4,10); (Matt. 10:14,22); (Matt. 24:9); (Matthew 26:5,6); (Matt. 27:12); (Mark 13:9,13); (Mark 14:50); (Luke 6:21,22); (Luke 21:17); (Luke 23:10); (Acts 7:58); (Acts 17:32); (Acts 22:19); (Acts 26:12); (1st Corinthians 1:27,28); (1st Corinthians 4:9-13); (2nd Corinthians 4:8,9); (2nd Corinthians 11:25); (Philippians 1:29); (Heb. 11:35-38); (James 5:6); (1st Peter 4:4); (2nd Peter 2:2,10); (Jude 8) ; (Rev. 20:4)

Image: http://godandpoliticsuk.org/2014/01/08/how-much-aid-did-the-uk-government-give-to-countries-where-christians-are-persecuted-in-2013/

 

By WhatDidYouSay.org

By WhatDidYouSay.org

 

 

Rev. Billy Graham: ‘America is Just as Wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah Ever Were’


Obamacare

By Michael W. Chapman ~~~ October 16, 2014

graham

Rev. Billy Graham. (AP)

Reverend Billy Graham, arguably the most well-known and respected evangelical preacher of the last 50 years, said in a recently published commentary that America was “founded by men who believed in prayer and that prayer can turn “the tide of history,” adding that while “America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah” and deserves “the judgment of God,” this judgment can be lessened through prayer.

“Even though America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah ever were, and as deserving of the judgment of God, God would spare us if we were earnestly praying, with hearts that had been cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ,” said Rev. Graham in his commentary for Decision magazine, published by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

“The problems of the world will never be settled unless our national leaders go to God in prayer,” he said. “If only they would discover the power and wisdom that there is in reliance upon God, we could soon see the solution to the grave problems that face the world!”

Graham is 95 and reportedly often bedridden at his home in Montreat, N.C. His commentary in the October issue of Decision, under the headline “Turning the Tide of History,” was reprinted from a sermon he delivered Jan. 7, 1962 on the Hour of Decision radio program.

 

graham

AP Photo

Reverend Graham’s comments start off in saying, “Our nation was founded by men who believed in prayer,” and notes that Benjamin Franklin, in addressing the 1787 Constitutional Convention, said that “God governs in the affairs of men.”

“Today the world is being carried on a rushing torrent of history that is sweeping out of control,” said Rev. Graham.  “There is but one power available to redeem the course of events, and that is the power of prayer by God-fearing, Christ-believing people.”

He continued, “One of the reasons the United Nations has become so ineffective in handling world situations is that there is no prayer, no recognition of God. Unless the leaders of nations turn to God in prayer, their best plans will fail, just as did the plans of those who built the tower of Babel.”

Rev. Graham then noted numerous instances from the Bible where people “turned the tide of history by prayer.”  For example, he notes,

  • Elisha prayed and a young man was raised from the dead;
  • Jesus prayed and Lazarus rose from the dead;
  • the thief on the cross next to Jesus prayed and Jesus told him he would go to paradise that day;
  • John Wesley prayed and religious fervor grew in England,
  • and the same happened with Johnathan Edwards in Northampton.
graham

Rev. Billy Graham, left, and one of his sons, Rev. Franklin Graham. (AP)

“I tell you, history could be altered and changed again if people went to their knees in believing prayer,” said Rev. Graham.

Rev. Billy Graham, whose wife Ruth died in 2007, has five children and 19 grandchildren. He has been listed as one of the most admired men by Gallup almost every year since 1955. Over the decades, his evangelical Christian message was heard, in person, on radio, and through television, by an estimated 2.2 billion people. Rev. Graham is often referred to as “America’s pastor.”

By WhatDidYouSay.org

By WhatDidYouSay.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why is There a War on Christians World Wide?


New WhatDidYouSay LogoMore than any other time in history have I heard more comments about what appears to be a “War on Christians”? The persecution of Christians has been going on since Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God, making intercession for His people.

In recent years, especially since Imperial President Obama has been in office, that persecution has grown exponentially in America. The press won’t touch it, because they are too busy promoting the State Religion of Humanism, and Islam.

Below is a devotional published today by Dr. David Jeremiah of Turning Point Ministries, San Diego, CA. As soon as I read it, I realized I knew the answer all along, but until the Holy Spirit opened my understanding, I didn’t see the connection. Jesus explained what is going on during the last Passover He spent on this earth. Knowing He was about to be sacrificed, He took the time to answer His disciples questions about the end of time. I’ve published the devotional in whole, the emphases is mine. – Jerry

 

Biblical Boldness

 Friday, September 03, 2014 Devotional by Dr. David Jeremiah

 “Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these Bible 02things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”’ 

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”’

“Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.’

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:1-14; NIV)

In The Global War on Christians, John L. Allen Jr. calls persecution against Christians “the most dramatic religion story of the early twenty-first century, yet one that most people in the West have little idea is even happeningChristians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet.”(1)  Allen goes on to catalogue blood-chilling stories of believers being oppressed, imprisoned, vilified, and slain around the world each day.

And yet the Church is growing. Reports from Latin America, Asia, and Africa tell of incredible numbers coming to Christ. Even in the West, there are signs of revival and a resurgence of evangelism as Millennials search for an alternative to the emptiness of secularism.

In His sermon on the Signs of the Times, Jesus said, You will be hated by all nations for My name’s sakeAnd this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world” (Matthew 24:9, 14). The persecution of Christians has never been worse, but the proclamation of Christ has never been greater—just as Jesus predicted. It’s time for biblical boldness. 

”The world today may have big problems, but what would it have been like had not hundreds of thousands of Christians given their lives sacrificially… to meet its physical and spiritual needs?” – Patrick Johnstone, in The Future of the Global Church 

(1) John L. Allen Jr., The Global War on Christians (New York: Crown, 2013), introduction. 

© 2014 Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah

Prayer For America


 

New WhatDidYouSay Logo

Based upon the conditions of our nation, the chaos of our government, the rise of Islamic State, and the deliberate misinformation spewed by the Leftist/Marxist/Socialist/Extreme-Liberal/Democrats, I desired to pray this prayer based on the prayer Ezra prayed (Ezra 9:6-15; ERV) when he saw the conditions of Jerusalem.

Heavenly Father, ABBA, in Jesus mighty Name, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to look at you. I am ashamed because our sins as a nation are higher than our heads. Our guilt has reached all the way up to the heavens. We have been guilty of many sins from the days of our founders until now. We sinned, as a result our nation is being punished. Islamic terrorist have, and are, attacking us and are killing our people. They are costing our wealth as a nation because of the war they declared against America and made us make bad decisions about leadership that has made the conditions of our nation worse, and we have been shamed in the eyes of the nations around us. It is the same even today. But , You have been kind to us. You have allowed us to escape the total cruelty our enemy has intended.’

“Lord, You gave us new life and relief from our slavery when You decided to create this great nation for Yourself for the spreading of the Gospel worldwide. Yes, we were slaves to religious bigotry, but You would not let us be slaves forever. You were kind to us. You made the kings of the world be kind to us. Now Your America is being ruined, yet You can give us new life so that we can rebuild Your America and repair it like new. God, You helped us build America. We call on you now to protect America and give us victory over all that want to do us harm, bankrupt us, destroy us from within, and all other efforts to devastate Your intended plans for this once great nation.’

“Now, ABBA Father, what can we say to You? We have stopped obeying You again. You used Your servants, our Founding Fathers, brave patriots who knew You personally, pastors, teachers of Your Word, and righteous statesman to give us the freedoms, Constitutional Law, the structure of our government, and laws to keeps us safe, free and prosperous. You said, ‘The land you are living within, and own, is a ruined land. It has been ruined by evil things the people living here have done. They have done very bad things in every place in this land. They have made this land dirty with their sins. You have not obeyed My commands so that you can be strong in the world, and enjoy the good things of America, so that you can keep this land and give it to our children.’

“What has happened to us is our own fault. We have done evil things, and we have much guilt. We are without excuse or defense. ABBA Father, our God, have punished us much less than we should have been. We have done many terrible sins, and made excuses, instead of repenting. We’ve tried to explain away our sinful desires, even blaming You for putting them inside us. We killed Your children, while calling them something less than human. We’ve kept the poor poorer, the dependant more dependant, wasted Your resources, and deliberately turned away from You to worship the earth, created a god called nature, worshipped the flesh by seeking to gratify our filthy desires, and then claimed You created us that way. We lied as leaders in order to win elections that only satisfy those that agree with us, yet spurn everyone else that disagrees with us, even calling for their destruction. We called evil good by promoting Islam, and called good bad by seeking to destroy Your Church. Our sins are too numerous to list.’

 “ Lord, ABBA Father, You are good, and You still have let most of us live. Yes, we are guilty, and because of our guilt, not one of us should be allowed to stand in front of You. However, because of Jesus sacrifice and Your raising Him from the grave and raised Him up to sit at Your right side, making intercession for us, we come to You seeking Your forgiveness and plead with You to forgive our sins and heal our land.’

 “Thank You, ABBA Father for hearing our prayer. Thank You for sending REVIVAL. Thank You for healing our land. In Jesus mighty Name, Amen.”

 

The Key to Sustainable Freedom


Obamacare

Read more at http://stevedeace.com/news/key-sustainable-freedom/#fh6m6UF4zsP6J7w5.99

by David Lane on September 21, 2014

“Tendencies, which had found no political room to unfold themselves in other lands, wrought here without restraint…. Every theological flag on biblevagabond and peddler may drive here his bungling trade, without passport or license, and sell his false ware at pleasure. What is to come of such confusion is not now to be seen.” Philip Schaff, The Principle of Protestantism, 1844

The Founders’ Christian worldview dominated early American education and society. They battled where competition was fiercest — education, City Hall, business and politics — laying the foundation of America on the bedrock of Jesus Christ. Righteousness exalts a nation, and individuals alike.

The Founders rejected the Greek model of education, which focused on the mind, content and intellect. They adopted the Hebrew model of education emphasizing character, righteousness and virtue, that which distinguishes a nation and its citizens. The Founders accepted that without a moral component, education is of little value to those with “shoddy moral character, prone to wickedness and simple nastiness, and devoid of good sense and moral compunctions.”

Christians established America not secularists –  embedding religious and political thought in its underpinning, predestining Good people who don't standAmerica for moral and political greatness;

“We do hereby Dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains.”

By wisdom found only in God and His Word, a biblically literate people established and produced an exceptional America. Knowing the Bible was merely the beginning of elementary education. The Bible was the key to long-term sustainable freedom as the If a nation is not guided by Godfixed point by which to judge and order society.

“There never has been a period of history, in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying at its foundation.”  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, 1829.

One that can command his temper and rule his spirit is superior to him that storms a fortified city;

  • “A wise man went up against the city of warriors and brought down its strong fortifications.”
  • In God’s unchanging order wisdom is better than strength, and better than weapons.

Until America restores the authority of the Bible in public education and the Town If the WickedSquare, our freedom hangs in the balance.

Righteousness not only brings strength, but boldness;

“A wicked person flees when no one is chasing him, but righteous people are as bold as lions.”

Horace Greeley observed in the mid 19th Century — editor of “the most influential newspaper in the country”;When the wicked

“It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”

How do we get out of this mess?

My guess is that God in His omniscience has in training His men and His women “for such a time as this”, because, in reality, only Jesus brings transformation. Government is the problem, not the solution.

Those God intends to use at critical periods in history are often, “…located in queer and unexpected places. Joseph in prison, the descendants of Abraham laboring in the brick-kilns of Egypt, Daniel in the lions’ den, Jonah in the great fish’s belly, Paul clinging to a spar in the sea.”

Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers illustrates this principle: Cartoonist Gary Varvel: Phil Robertson and intolerance

Now, it was not a coincidence that Joseph ended up in this man’s home. Unbeknownst to Joseph, the Lord had sent him to Potiphar’s house to prepare him for the important task which lay ahead, that of serving as the second highest official in the land of Egypt. But in order for this to happen, Joseph first had to learn the language, culture, business, and politics of Egypt.”

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disturbed within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” Psalm 42:5

David Lane is the founder of the American Renewal Project, whose mission is encourage American pastors to rediscover their “black-robed regiment” roots before liberty is lost for good.  http://www.blackrobereg.org/

By WhatDidYouSay.org

By WhatDidYouSay.org

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‘Oorah!’: The Viral Video of Marines Singing a Popular Christian Worship Song You Just Have to See


Obamacare

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/18/hurrah-the-viral-video-of-marines-singing-a-popular-christian-worship-song-you-just-have-to-see/

There’s a feel-good video going viral that shows Marines at Camp Pendleton exuberantly singing “Days of Elijah,” an upbeat Christian worship song about hope and redemption.

The men, who wave their hands in unison sporadically and shout, “Oorah!” as they sing the praise and worship song, were apparently gathered over the weekend for a Christian service at the California military installation.

A description of the video, which was first posted to Facebook Sunday by a woman named Merrie Pardee Baldwin, reads, “Participatory worship. I love how excited the men get to sing this song & the camaraderie.”

Baldwin posted the video again Monday on the Facebook page for the Caruso Memorial Chapel at Camp Pendleton, giving a little more information about the clip’s origins.

“This is one of my favorite things about coming each month for the Faith Warrior service,” she wrote. “I love to see the camaraderie & how participatory worship is. They bless me MUCH more than they know.”

Watch the video below:marines

Faith Warrior services, which unfold Sundays at 7 p.m., are listed on a religious services document published on the Camp Pendleton website.

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The Devil is Laughing


Obamacare

Read more at http://joeforamerica.com/2014/09/devil-laughing/

Posted by on Sep 17, 2014

The devil does not announce himself.

You may think that Satan is some guy with horns, a pointed tail, filed down teeth and one of those jazzy black beards, but that’s just man’s version of Satan. When he’s around, it’s a little more subtle than that.

The Bible says Satan is the great deceiver and if that’s the case, my guess is he doesn’t have any desire to reveal himself directly to you, because if he did – the whole concept of temptation would be a whole lot easier to reject.

When you’re about to take that extra drink before you go home, if a scary red dude with the pitch fork showed up wielding a waitresses tray, a big smile and a long island ice tea – you’d probably call a cab and get the H.E. Double-hockey-sticks out of there.

Same with television, movies or any other number of mediums where Satan, dressed up in popular culture shows up to fool you into thinking everything is fine. It’s not. He’s there, laughing at his deception.

kimI’m not trying to pick on anyone or call them evil or Satanic, but let’s be honest: Why are you watching The Kardashians? Am I saying they are bad people? No, but does whatever network putting that out, deal in the marketing of idle hands? Yes.

Step back and take a look around you: Are there a bunch of devils running around stabbing people in the ass and throwing fire at them? That would be too easy to identify and involve far less controversy.

Already people are getting mad at me for bringing up The Kardashians, believe me – but I’m trying to make a point here: Kim Kardashian is simply a beautiful girl, who no one can figure out what she does and why everyone is interested in her… Okay, there’s that, but you know what I’m saying.

Why would you sit and watch her and her family while everything around us swirls down the toilet? The devil is laughing, my friends and that’s because you can’t see him and what he’s doing all around us. It’s everywhere.

In the past few weeks, I’ve watched the NFL strain, wiggle, lie and twist themselves into legal pretzels trying to keep various players on the field, despite them engaging in violence against their wives, girlfriends and even their children. All these millionaires would rather win a game, blame the victims and go home to sleep on beds of money – rather than identifying what to me is obvious:

We’re going to watch the NFL en masse and the devil is right there – teaching everyone how punching a woman’s lights out or beating a four-year-dana-carvey-snlold bloody with a tree branch is perfectly okay, as long as we win on Sunday. It’s bad, and it’s – as Dana Carvey used to say – SATAN?

Again, I’m not trying to pick on individuals or call them names, but when society doesn’t recognize these things as an accumulation of sick, sad and evil we’re on the road to destruction. It’s a great deception and we are falling for it.

There was a story on JoeForAmerica this week about video games which involved the opportunity to sexually assault young girls – physically – as part of the “fun.” It’s bad enough when the best-selling games are just a matter of how many people you can slaughter in the most creative ways, but now this?

girls2I’m no prude, but have you been to a junior high school lately? Half the little girls (that’s right – 12, 13-years-old is a little girl) dress like hookers. They’re wearing hooker uniforms and it’s embarrassing. I’m a man and no man can pretend he doesn’t see a woman with her breasts hanging out and her pants down past her hip bones.

I don’t want to see young girls in a sexual light, but they’ve been taught this is the way to get attention.

You going to tell me those girls did not learn all this from TV, movies and other pop culture mediums which seek to sexualize children? It’s been going on for the past 25 years and now we’re watching the results. It’s not a red guy with a pointy beard and a trident but he’s there. Laughing.

These folks responsible for perpetuating it wouldn’t let their own kids engage in the behavior they foist on the rest of us – but they’ll take the

By WhatDidYouSay.org

By WhatDidYouSay.org

money and that’s Satan in line at the bank. Laughing.

Smart phones and online connectivity have made it possible for kids and adults to disconnect from the world and live in a virtual one – which has a different set of rules: You can engage in idol gossip, phony and empty relationships, operate anonymously and interact with far less responsibility than in the past.

I’m not blaming the machines or technology. I’m blaming evil. Evil that fools you into believing you have 1,874 Friends, evil that says it’s okay to flirt with the guy in Indiana who showers you with compliments, or the evil that tempts your daughter to email a naked photo of herself to some boy she’s enamored with.

It’s reflected in our leadership as well. When was the last time a politician was actually penalized for lying? It’s a way of life for them to deceive and wiggle out of what they said or did. Lying is part and parcel of how our President operates and the evil runs downhill, folks.

Until we recognize the devil – out of uniform – we’re rolling downhill.

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AMERICA’S PASTORS AND DERELICTION OF DUTY


 

Obamacare

 http://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave384.htm

By Coach Dave Daubenmire
August 28, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

Allow me to begin by saying, if the shoe fits…wear it.

Now please don’t email me about how wrong I am for pointing out the obvious; the glaringly obvious even. Please don’t tell me how harsh I am, or how your pastor is a great man of God, or how your church is the best thing since sliced bread. If you attend a church with a real pastor, you are truly one of the lucky ones. But the odds are, your pastor isn’t all that great. He has just convinced you that he is.

I get around. I visit a lot of churches. I know of that which I speak. When I leave a service, it is not unusual for me to look at my wife and ask her how the people can sit in that place week after week and listen to the bilge.

Oh yeah, your pastor is a good one just like your congressman is a good one. Everyone hates congress, but they love their congressman. Nearly 90% of them get re-elected. It’s that Democrat congressman that’s the bad one. Your guy is a good conservative.

Compared to what? Compared to whom?

  • If your congressman is so good, why is our nation in such a mess?

  • If your pastor is so good, why is America in such a mess?

People love to blame the politicians. I blame the pastors. Recent studies show 90% are derelict in their duty.

Politicians ride the wave that culture creates. The church used to be the tide upon which the politicians surfed. Politicians want to get elected. They ride whatever wave is breaking. The pulpits have gone soft. There is no “God wave” to trouble the waters of political correctness.

2 Chron 714 RevivalChurches have become impotent because the pulpits have turned soft. Everyone wants to model Joel Osteen and Rick Warren. Those dudes aren’t pastors, they’re book merchants. Congregations around this country have traded the Bible for the “self-help, purpose-driven, best-life-now” doctrine of demons currently flooding our churches. The people in the pew can no longer recognize the truth for themselves. They need a shepherd to lead them to truth.

Jesus told us that He is the Good Shepherd and that His Word is the guide. Warren and Osteen are blind guides, and America has fallen into the ditch.

Here is Litmus Test 101 for your church. This is merely the first qualifying factor. If you don’t answer yes to this question, then you can bet that yours is a church that I am referring to. Here’s the question:

Is carrying the Bible to church and actually opening it a requirement at the church where you attend? Some of the more progressive churches are kind enough to put the words on the big screen for you, saving you the embarrassment of having to find Malachi on your own.

Politicians get elected by saying what the people want to hear. Pastors build churches by teaching what the people want to hear. There’s no difference. Politicians and pastors both tend to be man-pleasers.

The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their own power; and the people love to have it soJeremiah 5:31.

The current administration was placed into power with the vote of 40 million Christians. They conveniently called it “faith based support.” Coming out of the DarknessObama is pro-homosexual, pro-abortion, pro-big government, pro-lying and pro-Islam. How could Christians possibly support such anti-Biblical positions? Who is teaching them this crap? Who indeed…

Our pastors are traitorous, both to their Lord and to their nation. There is simply no nice way of saying it. When a football team plays poorly, they fire the coach. When churches start to fail, they change playbooks.

Traitor—one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty.

There are a lot of reasons why pastors act the way they act, but no amount of rationalization can justify their dereliction of duty. In the end, they will answer to the Lord, not to the Government. Their corporate identity and their denominational affiliation will not be much of a defense as they stand before the Lord.

If you haven’t already done so, please take the time to read Pastor Chuck Baldwin’s recent commentary regarding George Barna’s survey that reveals the fact that 90% of America’s pastors are purposefully keeping the people in the dark. (And this one that just came out today). They are concerned with hurting the growth of “their church” by talking about “controversial” issues.

Who was it that classified marriage, abortion, un-holy wars, tyrannical government, government thievery, unrighteous taxation, dishonest courts, drug legalization, deviant sexual behavior, indoctrination of children, and public filth as ”controversial” issues? The church used to be the “wave machine” on all of these issues, but alas: The salt has lost his savor.

Although I’m sure you’re familiar with them, I believe that the words of Charles Finney are worth repeating:

“If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible.”

Martin Luther declared:

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

Flight and disgrace are the fruits of abandonment. Abandonment is treason. Those who commit treason are traitorous. If Barna is correct, can any ankor-vine-coming-down-into-darknessother term be more appropriately applied to America’s churches where 90% of the pulpits are filled by traitorous, cowardly men? It is not the politicians who are to blame. It is the pastors…the pulpits. Stop giving them your money. That is all they understand. Find a mission worth supporting and direct your giving there.

We are a nation adrift…meandering down the river of history…rudderless…devoid of propulsion… drifting wherever the current might take us. There is a waterfall ahead. Who’s steering the ship? Is your family willing to blindly follow the captain over the cliff?

Related Articles:

1 – Pastors And Churches Violating First Commandment
2 –
The Government’s Religion

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WARNING TO PASTORS: A Greater Level of Responsibility

 http://clashdaily.com/2014/09/warning-pastors-greater-level-responsibility/

Posted on September 5, 2014

by Dave Daubenmire

Okay, I have no one to blame but myself. I should have seen it coming.

This is the last time I am going to write about church leadership for a while. At least that is my plan. But I feel an urgency to awaken the shepherds.Men Love Darkness 01 God will hold them accountable. I’m sorry if my words hurt their feelings.

Last week I wrote about how the pastors of America are derelict in their duty. If you haven’t had the time to read it, I suggest you take the time to do so. It might make this commentary seem a little more coherent.

My inbox filled up, as I suspected it would. But what was surprising was that many of the comments were “atta boys.” Lots of folks are beginning to see the big picture.

America is in a mess, and even those who listen to Limbaugh are starting to figure it out. I call them “low-information listeners.” They are the ones who actually think Rush is having an impact on America. They don’t realize that he is merely a pressure valve who makes the listeners think everything is going to be fine once we can fill all of Congress and the White House with “conservatives.” Just like the pastors, Rush confuses talking with doing.

How long has he been on the air? I believe that it’s right around 25 years now. Have things gotten better or worse since he has been giving us “advice”? Things get worse, yet his listeners feel better. Give me his time slot for three hours a day and folks would be brandishing pitchforks by now. Just saying…

But, as I forewarned myself before I started typing my former commentary, the pastors don’t take criticism very well. “You wouldn’t write such harsh stuff if you had any idea how hard it was to ‘build a church’”, they tell me. Therein lies part of the problem. God never called anyone to “build a church”. He called us to build a Kingdom. HIS Kingdom! HIS church? He said HE would build that.

“Pastoring is hard”, they tell me. “You’ve never been one”, they tell me. “People won’t listen”, they tell me. “Your criticism of the pastors is only hurting the body”, they tell me.

Good thing Jesus isn’t around, I tell them. He called the church leadership all kinds of unflattering names, I tell them. Jesus said it would be better to be thrown in a river with a rock around one’s neck than to continue to mislead the flock, I tell them. Jesus taught that no one can serve two masters, I tell them. Trying to please men is like having your foot caught in a trap, I tell them. Pastoring would be so much easier if you told the people the truth, I tell them. At least you would sleep better at night, I tell them. I sure do. And I often snore.

“What would you have us do?” one particularly whiny leader wrote me. “Man up!” I wrote back. Start preparing your people for what is coming down the road. You think folks are ticked at you now, just wait until they find out that you have been feeding them Pablum while the wolf was marching towards their door. Do your job!

“Do what job?” he asked. “[T]he perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Eph. 4:12. Most Christians have no works to show for all of their faith. No one has shown them what to do.”

Oh, they all can preach up a storm: I am sure of that. As if preaching was actually making a difference. I compare it to pre-game speeches in the locker room. Shakespeare said they were “full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” No pre-game speech ever won a football game and no Sunday morning sermon will do the job either. The pre-game speech and the Sunday sermon both only last until some snot-snorting linebacker smacks you in the face.

The Muslim leadership is actively preparing their men for war. They are currently slaughtering Christians around the globe. Now they are warning us that the “religion of peace” is heading our way. Pastor “What, Me Worry?” has no strategy for how to deal with these monsters. They teach men to love their enemies more than they love their own families.

The world’s economy is teetering on the edge of the abyss. We are but one calamity away from a devastating financial collapse, yet not a word is spoken about “prepping” for the hard times that lie ahead. Instead, they offer Financial Peace University classes with Dave Ramsey. They say peace, peace, when there is no peace…and the people remain clueless. Who will warn them if the pastor won’t?

Our government is lying to us. We recently found out that the CDC has been lying for years about vaccinations and autism. What else have they been lying to us about? Chemtrails and weather manipulation? Abortion and the breast cancer link? 9/11? Common Core and how good it is for education? The public schools are a hell-hole and not one pastor in a hundred dares speak against them. Pastoring is hard alright.

  • Our liberties are being stolen right out from under us in the name of security.

  • Illegal immigrants receive for free what hard-working pew-sitters work hard to provide for them.

  • Food prices are manipulated,

  • inflation is about to go nuclear,

  • our oceans are dying from Fukushima and the Gulf oil spill,

  • California has been in drought for 6 years and is running out of water,

  • Christianity is being criminalized,

  • and 2.5% of the American populace is controlling the sexual agenda.

“Hey have you guys seen the movie Left Behind? It’s awesome!! We’re gonna show it next Sunday night at service!!”

Here is where the buck stops, my friend, and there is no denying it: Christianity has become “good for nothing” (Words of Jesus) because the “salt men-loved-darkness-HooRay-paintinghas lost His savor.” There is a total disconnect in most churches between what is being talked about from the pulpit and what is actually going on in the world. The ignoring of “politics” in the name of “religion” is exactly the mind-set the enemy has tried to impress upon church-goers….and he’s succeeding.

As I heard a friend say the other day, the world has become so churchy and the church has become so worldly it is hard to tell the two apart. Or, as I like to put it, the world has become the salt of the church.

But I don’t want to fix the blame on anyone; I want to help turn this ship around. But if the church who is supposed to be the salt of the earth has lost its impact in the world, who’s to blame for that?

When football teams fail, they fire the coach. When churches stop being effective, they try a new program. If a coach trains players, who do pastors train? Do coaches talk to their players about playing the game or do they take them out on the field and train them HOW to play the game?

  • By the hundreds, Christians are being slaughtered around the world.

  • Whole congregations are being lined up and beheaded.

  • When ISIS comes to beat in the door at your church,

  • or the militant homosexual lobby shows up demanding marriage, they know they will have nothing to fear. The congregation will be busy watching the Super Bowl, listening to Dave Ramsey, or studying The Purpose Driven Life.

God will hold leadership to a higher standard. I see it coming. I just felt it was my duty to warn them.

 

NEW RESEARCH: PASTORS DELIBERATELY KEEPING FLOCK IN THE DARK

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin817.htm
By Chuck Baldwin
August 7, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

George Barna is the foremost researcher of modern Christianity in the country. He recently spoke about a two-year research project studying why cp 11modern-day pastors and churches are so silent regarding political issues. The result of his research only confirms what I have been trying to tell people for years. But there was one thing his research uncovered that did somewhat surprise me. OneNewsNow.com covered the story:

“On Thursday, George Barna–research expert and founder of The Barna Group–shared with American Family Radio’s ‘Today’s Issues’ about new information he’s compiling at American Culture and Faith Institute over the last two years, gauging where theologically conservative pastors are at politically.

“‘What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?–and the numbers drop…to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.’

“When researchers ask those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in the political process, Barna said ‘it’s almost nothing.’

“‘So the thing that struck me has been that when we talk about the separation of church and state, it’s that churches have separated themselves from the activities of the state–and that’s to the detriment of the state and its people,’ stated the researcher.”

That 90% of America’s pastors are not addressing any of the salient issues affecting Christian people’s political or societal lives should surprise no one–especially the readers of this column. It has been decades since even a sizeable minority of pastors have bothered to educate and inform their congregations as to the Biblical principles relating to America’s political, cultural, and societal lives. But the part of the research that did somewhat surprise me was this statement by Barna:

“What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?–and the numbers drop…to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.”

Did you get that? Ninety-percent of America’s pastors say they KNOW that the Bible speaks to all of these issues, but they are deliberately determined to NOT teach these Biblical principles. That is an amazing admission!

It would have been one thing if the pastors had said that these political issues were not relevant to scripture, and, therefore, they didn’t feel called to address them. But the pastors are admitting that, yes, they KNOW that the scriptures DO relate to our current political issues, but they are deliberately choosing to NOT teach those scriptural principles. Holy heads-in-the-sand, Batman!

I confess: this statistic caught me off-guard. So, we can forever dismiss ignorance as justification for pastors remaining silent.

Now, all of the church members out there who have been forgiving of their ministers for not speaking out on the issues by saying things like, “He CP 01really doesn’t understand what’s going on,” need to reevaluate their leniency–if they are intellectually honest, that is–and if they truly care about the future of their country.

Church member, admit it: that pastor of yours who refuses to speak out on the issues KNOWS the Bible speaks to these issues, and he is DELIBERATELY refusing to teach those Biblical principles to you and your family.

So, we are not dealing with IGNORANT pastors; we are dealing with DELIBERATELY DISOBEDIENT pastors. They are PURPOSELY CHOOSING to remain silent. Will that make any difference to the Christians in the pews who say they want their pastor to take a stand but are willing to overlook his “ignorance?” Probably not. But, at least, we now know what the real issue is, don’t we?

The report goes on: “Why the disconnect? According to Barna, the answer is simple. He suggests asking pastors how someone would know if their church is ‘successful’–which he did.”

“‘There are five factors that the vast majority of pastors turn to [when asked that question],’ he explained. ‘Attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and square footage.’”

There you have it: pastors are more concerned about being “successful” than they are being truthful. They believe if they tell their congregations the truth, their churches will not be “successful.” And it is so refreshing to see Barna directly ask pastors what “success” means to them. So, now we know (as if we didn’t know before; but, at least now there is definitive research to back it up). The vast majority of pastors believe church success lies in:

Attendance
Giving (money)
Number of programs
Number of staff
Square footage (of facilities)

Shazam! Where did pastors come up with this definition of “success?” You know where: from men such as Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, cp 12et al.

The megachurch phenomenon of the last several decades transformed how pastors think and behave. Pastors read the “successful church” books and publications; they attend the “successful church” conferences; they watch the “successful church” videos, etc. They, then, try to mimic the tactics and strategies they have been taught. And if there is one constant theme promulgated by the likes of Osteen, Warren, and Hybels, it is pastors must avoid controversy like the plague. Again, one must realize that the goal is NOT being faithful to Biblical principles; the goal is building a “successful” church as noted above.

It is time for Christians to acknowledge that these ministers are not pastors; they are CEOs. They are not Bible teachers; they are performers. They are not shepherds; they are hirelings. It is also time for Christians to be honest with themselves: do they want a pastor who desires to be faithful to the scriptures, or do they want a pastor who is simply trying to be “successful?” BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF, CHRISTIAN FRIEND.

Barna’s research blows the “ignorance” excuse out of the water. Again, it is not ignorance; it is deliberate disobedience.

Barna goes on to say, “Now all of those things [the five points of success listed above] are good measures, except for one tiny fact: Jesus didn’t die for any of them.” Wow! You nailed it, George!

See the report: Barna: Many Pastors Wary Of Raising ‘Controversy’

Where do you find anything in the New Testament that measures a pastor’s success;

  • by the number of people attending his church?

  • Or by how large his offerings are?

  • Or by how many programs his church has?

  • Or by how many staff members he has?

  • Or by how large his facilities are?

In fact, the early New Testament church didn’t even own property or buildings.

When the Apostle Paul listed his ministerial pedigree, here is what it looked like (II Cor. 11):

Stripes above measure
In prisons frequently
In deaths often
Beaten with rods
Stoned
Perils
Weariness
*Painfulness
Hunger and thirst
Cold and nakedness

I don’t see attendance, offerings, programs, staff, or square footage in that list at all, do you?

When Paul wrote his own epitaph, it read, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7). He didn’t say, “I had a large congregation, we had big offerings, we had a lot of programs, I had a large staff, and we had large facilities.”

In the world of Osteen, Warren, and Hybels (and 90% of America’s pastors), the Apostle Paul’s ministry must have been a dismal failure. And how many church pulpit committees would even consider the pastoral résumé such as the Apostle Paul wrote above?

Please understand this: America’s malaise is directly due to the deliberate disobedience of America’s pastors–and the willingness of the Christians in the pews to tolerate the disobedience of their pastor. Nothing more! Nothing less!

Oh, and get this: according to the survey conducted by Barna, guess what the number one reason is why pastors choose to be “successful” and not “controversial?” You guessed it: fear of the IRS 501c3 tax-exempt status. Who would have thought it? (Yes, that question is deliberately facetious.)

The release of this research by George Barna could not have come at a more opportune time. I announced just last week that we have officially launched the Liberty Church Project, whereby we will be helping people around the country to establish non-501c3 churches. I invite folks (pastors or laymen) who are serious about starting new non-501c3 churches–or helping to resurrect patriot pulpits within existing churches–to fill out our online application. We already have several groups that we intend to help and are looking for others. If you are someone who is serious about such an endeavor, and seeks our assistance, please fill out the online application here on: Liberty Church Project

And, in case you missed it, here is my column announcing the launch of the Liberty Church Project: We Are Launching

I want to commend George Barna for his research. I suspect that the vast majority of pastors and churches will ignore it, but, at least Christian Persecutionnow we know the painful truth of the matter: by in large, pastors are deliberately choosing to not teach Biblical truth to their congregations for the selfish goal of being “successful.” But as we come to grips with this reality, we must also acknowledge that pastors are simply (and shamelessly) putting their fingers to the wind and finding that the people in the pews are more interested in their churches being “successful” than faithful to the teaching of Holy Scripture. As Barna noted, it is the churches, themselves, that have chosen to separate from the political affairs of their country.

In the end, it always comes down to We the People, doesn’t it? If you want a church where the pastor is willing to teach the Biblical principles that relate to our everyday lives–including our political lives–you might have to vote with your feet and go find one. That is, if that kind of thing is truly important to you.

© 2014 Chuck Baldwin – All Rights Reserved

Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck’s complete bio here.

E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com

Website: ChuckBaldwinLive.com

An Open Letter to the False Church


Complete Message

Read more at http://barbwire.com/2014/08/23/open-letter-false-church/#I3A8BfrpbjExiWHb.99

Posted by Matt Barber

on 23 August, 2014 at 19:00

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” – 2 Timothy 4:3

Dear false prophets, false teachers and Christian apostates of every stripe:

Men Love Darkness 02
Jerry Broussard of WhatDidYouSay.org

We’ve all heard this phrase: “You know who you are!” It’s an expression typically levied in the context of some corrective admonition, intended for some person or persons, busy about some misbehavior. While sent via certified mail, this is one of those rare open letters to whom the preponderance of intended recipients have, somehow, managed to convince themselves, and one another, that they’re not even home. Most of you decidedly do not know who you are. You’re living on Deception Lane.

Indeed, this letter, for many who read it, will be marked “return to sender.” Such is the nature of deception. Those who labor beneath it have become so accustomed to its crushing weight that they’ve lost all sense of it. It is my humble hope and simple prayer that, if this is you, upon reading this letter the Holy Spirit might, instead, plant a seed of revelation in your soul and water it with His word of life and truth, so that, for you, it might blossom to repentance and right-standing with God the Father.

To be sure, the guidepost for that which makes up the false church is not rooted in my opinion. I’m a fallen sinner, saved by grace and worthy, by my own merit, of nothing more than the lake of fire. The guidepost for that which constitutes the false church is the Word of God.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. … For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for ‘people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.’ If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud’” (2 Peter 2:1-3, 18-22).

Let’s define the terms:

Men Love Darkness 01
Jerry Broussard of WhatDidYouSay.org

The church: The body of Christ – those regenerate, sanctified Christ followers who have sincerely called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe, Creator, soul saver and and sole savior of mankind, and have been forgiven, redeemed and saved by grace. The church recognizes God’s holy word as infallible, unchanging and eternal. The terms “orthodox,” “conservative,” “fundamentalist” or “Religious Right” are sometimes used pejoratively by those outside the church (and at times from within) in an effort to undermine the church and water down the word of God. The church is hated by the world because the world first hated Christ and, as such, must suffer persecution.

The false church: The body of self-identified Christians who may, or may not, have begun the process of sanctification through belief upon and acceptance of Christ. The false church either rejects the infallibility of scripture outright, or seeks to rationalize and radically “reform,” revise or reinterpret scripture to justify sin. False-church apostates are Olympic caliber mental and exegetical gymnasts who systemically call good that which the word of God calls evil. They imagine many paths to God and hold that the Holy-Spirit-inspired men used of God to record the Holy Scriptures were, truth be told, rather uninspired after all. Thus, our apostate friends attempt to satisfy their spiritual hunger with Christianity à la carte, taking that which is palatable and leaving behind those bitter morsels given to curb the carnal appetites. The false church is loved by the world and can be summed by its central doctrine, coined long ago by its founding father, which is this: “Did God really say?”

With my apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, if you believe that “many paths lead to God” and that Jesus was joking when he said, in no uncertain terms, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” then you might be an apostate (see John 14:6).

If you have marched with, frequented or otherwise support Planned Parenthood – if you believe that there is any biblical justification whatsoever for one person to dismember alive another person in her mother’s womb, a most murderous, tortuous and excruciating end – then you might be an apostate.

men-loved-darkness-HooRay-painting
Jerry Broussard of WhatDidYouSay.org

If you demand a “free Palestine,” actually believe that Israel is intentionally targeting innocent Arab citizens in Gaza and elsewhere and, therefore, is guilty of genocidal “war crimes,” then you have aligned yourself with the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, a group indistinguishable from ISIS, a group that admits using its own women and children as human shields and actually does target innocent Israeli citizens with thousands of rockets and suicide bombs on a regular basis. If this is you then, as with Islam and the rest of the pagan world, you are an enemy to Israel and, as scripture warns, just might be an accursed apostate.

If you, as my good friend Dr. Michael Brown puts it, are among the growing numbers of those who engage “the fundamental error of ‘gay Christianity,’ namely, people interpreting the Bible through the lens of their sexuality rather than interpreting their sexuality through the lens of the Bible,” then you might, you just might, be an apostate.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.”

These are matters of eternal weightiness and consequence. For as it is written, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).

For those who hear God speak them, “Away from me” will be the most pure, righteous, just and all at once terrifying words ever breathed.

I pray you don’t hear them.

Article collective closing

Young Socrates – KOHD August 20, 2014


Complete Message

http://libertyalliance.com/2014/08/young-socrates-kohd-august-20-2014/

2014-08-20-Young-Socrates

Article collective closing

IMPORTANT REPORT AND CALL TO ACTION FOR ALL CONSERVATIVE FOLLOWERS OF WHATDIDYOUSAY.ORG


What Did You Say Logo

I just got this email from my dad. Please read and make sure all the conservative people you know read this and respond.

Thank You,

Jerry Broussard, WhatDidYouSay.org

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Dear Friends,

Just a few minutes ago I received the following text message on my phone from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). We then  spoke briefly on the phone and I assured him that we would share this urgent prayer need with all of our contacts. “We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food ​into​. ISIS has pushed back ​the ​Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it’s staff in Erbil.

Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!”     

For more information on what is happening in Northern Iraq:     

  1. ISIS Fighters Overrun Iraq’s Largest Christian Town Qaraqosh, Residents Flee: http://www.inquisitr.com/1397185/isis-captures-christian-town-qaraqosh/ 

  2. Email Prayer Bulletin from International Prayer Council (John Robb): http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=16adacb3-7f2c-4e13-9050-7f41c5cc359f&c=6aee6fd0-541e-11e3-ac86-d4ae529a824a&ch=6bb20df0-541e-11e3-ac9c-d4ae529a824a    

  3. Iraqi MP Breaks Down in Tears Pleading Parliament to Save Yazidis from Genocide: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/4406.htm     

Please pray sincerely for the deliverance of the people of Northern Iraq from the terrible advancement of ISIS and its extreme Islamic goals for mass conversion or death for Christians across this region. May I plead with you not to ignore this email. Do not forward it before you have prayed through it. Then send it to as many people as possible.  Send it to friends and Christians you may know. Send it to your prayer group. Send it to your pastor and phone him/her to pray on Sunday during the service – making a special time of prayer for this. We need to stand in the gap for our fellow Christians.Let us pray

‘Hand of God sent missile into sea’


Complete Message

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/hand-of-god-sent-missile-into-sea/#EHeXPTKVQYop6Uob.99

Iron Dome operator: ‘I witnessed this miracle with my own eyes’

Published: 3 days ago

SPIRITUAL WARFARE: Satan Destroys Us By Presenting The Bait And Hiding The Hook


http://clashdaily.com/2014/07/spiritual-warfare-satan-destroys-us-presenting-bait-hiding-hook/

Posted on July 24, 2014

Screen-Shot-2014-07-24-at-1_29_59-PM-300x180The following is from Thomas Brooks’ Puritan Classic, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices;

Satan’s first device to draw the soul into sin is, to present the bait—and hide the hook; to present the golden cup—and hide the poison; to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin—and to hide from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin. By this device he deceived our first parents, “And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die—for God does know, that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5). Your eyes shall he opened, and you shall be as gods! Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit. Oh—but he hides the hook—the shame, the wrath, and the loss that would certainly follow!

There is an opening of the eyes of the mind to contemplation and joy—and there is an opening of the eyes of the body to shame and confusion. He promises them the former—but intends the latter, and so Satan cheats them—giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise, as he deals by thousands now-a-days.

Satan with ease pawns falsehoods upon us, by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool’s paradise. He promises the soul honor, pleasure,

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

profit—but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be. By a golden bait he labored to catch Christ (Matt. 4:8, 9). He shows him the beauty and the finery of a bewitching world, which doubtless would have taken many a carnal heart; but here the devil’s fire fell upon wet tinder, and therefore did not ignite. These tempting objects did not at all win upon his affections, nor dazzle his eyes, though many have eternally died of the ‘wound of the eye’, and fallen forever by this vile strumpet the world, who, by laying forth her two fair breasts of PROFIT and PLEASURE, has wounded their souls, and cast them down into utter perdition. She has, by the glistening of her pomp and preferment, slain millions; as the serpent Scytale, which, when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers, does, with her beautiful colors, dazzle and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away until she has stung them to death! Adversity has slain her thousand—but prosperity her ten thousand.

Remedy (1).

First, Keep at the greatest distance from sin, and from playing with the golden bait which Satan holds forth to catch you; for this you have (Romans 12:9), “Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.” When we meet with anything extremely evil and contrary to us, nature abhors it, and retires as far as it can from it. The Greek word that is there rendered “abhor,” is very significant; it signifies to hate it as hell itself, to hate it with horror.

Anselm used to say, “That if he should see the shame of sin on the one hand, and the pains of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one; he would rather be thrust into hell without sin; than to go into heaven with sin,” so great was his hatred and detestation of sin. It is our wisest and our safest course to stand at the farthest distance from sin; not to go near the house of the harlot—but to fly from all appearance of evil (Proverbs 5:8, 1 Thess. 5:22). The best course to prevent falling into the pit is to keep at the greatest distance from it; he who will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit, may find by woeful experience that it is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit. Joseph keeps at a distance from sin, and from playing with Satan’s golden baits, and stands. David draws near, and plays with the bait, and falls, and swallows bait and hook! David comes near the snare, and is taken in it, to the breaking of his bones, the wounding of his conscience, and the loss of fellowship with his God.

Sin is a plague, yes, the worst and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there who tremble at it–who keep at a distance from it! (1 Cor. 5:6)— “Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” As soon as one sin had seized upon Adam’s heart, all sin entered into his soul and infested it. How has Adam’s one sin spread over all mankind! (Romans 5:12)—”Therefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Ah, how does the father’s sin infect the child, the husband’s infect the wife, the master’s the servant! The sin that is in one man’s heart is able to infect a whole world, it is of such a spreading and infectious nature.

The story of the Italian, who first made his enemy deny God, and then stabbed him, and so at once murdered both body and soul, declares the unmixed malignity of sin; and oh! that what has been spoken upon this head may prevail with you, to stand at a distance from sin!

Remedy (2).

Consider that sin is but a bitter sweet. That seeming sweet that is in sin will quickly vanish; and lasting shame, sorrow, horror, and terror will come in the room thereof—”He enjoyed the taste of his wickedness, letting it melt under his tongue. He savored it, holding it long in his mouth. But suddenly, the food he has eaten turns sour within him, a poisonous venom in his stomach.” (Job 20:12-14). Forbidden profits and pleasures are most pleasing to vain men, who count madness mirth. Many long to be meddling with the murdering morsels of sin, which nourish not—but rend and consume the belly—and the soul that receives them. Many eat that on earth what they digest in hell. Sin’s murdering morsels will deceive those who devour them. Adam’s apple was a bitter sweet; Esau’s bowl of stew was a bitter sweet; the Israelites’ quails a bitter sweet; Jonathan’s honey a bitter sweet; and Adonijah’s dainties a bitter sweet. After the meal is ended, then comes the reckoning. Men must not think to dance and dine with the devil, and then to sup with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; to feed upon the poison of asps, and yet that the viper’s tongue should not slay them.

When the asp stings a man, it does first tickle him so as it makes him laugh, until the poison, little by little, gets to the heart, and then it pains him more than ever it delighted him. So does sin; it may please a little at first—but it will pain the soul at last; yes, if there were the least real delight in sin, there could be no consummate hell, where men shall most completely be tormented with their sin.

Remedy (3).

Solemnly to consider that sin will usher in the greatest and the saddest losses that can be upon our souls. It will usher in the loss of that divine favor which is better than life, and the loss of that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory, and the loss of that peace which passes understanding, and the loss of those divine influences by which the soul has been refreshed, quickened, raised, strengthened, and gladdened, and the loss of many outward desirable mercies, which otherwise the soul might have enjoyed.

Remedy (4).

Seriously to consider that sin is of a very deceitful and bewitching nature. Sin is from the greatest deceiver, it is a child of his own begetting, it is the ground of all the deceit in the world, and it is in its own nature exceeding deceitful. “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘today’, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Heb. 3:13. It will kiss the soul, and look enticing to the soul, and yet betray the soul forever. It will with Delilah smile upon us, that it may betray us into the hands of the devil, as she did Samson into the hands of the Philistines. Sin gives Satan a power over us, and an advantage to accuse us and to lay claim to us, as those who wear his badge; it is of a very bewitching nature; it bewitches the soul, where it is upon the throne, that the soul cannot leave it, though it perish eternally by it.

Sin so bewitches the soul, that it makes the soul call evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light; and a soulMen Love Darkness because they know thus bewitched with sin will stand it out to the death, at the sword’s point with God; let God strike and wound, and cut to the very bone, yet the bewitched soul cares not, fears not—but will still hold on in a course of wickedness, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, and Judas. Tell the bewitched soul that sin is a viper that will certainly kill when it is not killed, that sin often kills secretly, insensibly, eternally, yet the bewitched soul cannot, and will not, cease from sin.

When the physicians told Theotimus that except he did abstain from drunkenness and uncleanness he would lose his eyes; his heart was so bewitched to his sins, that he answered, “Then farewell, sweet light”; he had rather lose his eyes than leave his sin. So a man bewitched with sin had rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul— than part with his sin. Oh, therefore, forever take heed of playing with or nibbling at Satan’s golden baits!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Christian Pastor Attacked by Muslims Warns Israel


http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/07/21/Christian-Pastor-Attacked-By-Muslims-Warns-Israel?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+July+21%2C+2014&utm_campaign=20140721_m121417510_Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+July+21%2C+2014&utm_term=More

Always Faithful


Today’s Devotional by Dr. David Jeremiah

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

“And [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6; NKJV)    

Recommended Reading Romans 4:20-22;  “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” (NIV) 

Eagle with FlagThe Latin phrase Semper Fi—short for Semper Fidelis—is well known to United States Marines and their families. It means “always faithful” or “always loyal,” and has served as the motto of the Marine Corps since 1883. On the Marine Corps emblem, an eagle holds a ribbon in its mouth inscribed with Semper Fidelis. The words “always faithful” suggest there is never a time when a Marine will not be faithful to his or her duty to country.

The Marine Corps motto could well serve as a motto for the Christian life. The apostle Paul makes the point that “it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). And Christians are nothing if not stewards—of creation, of spiritual gifts, of the Gospel, of time, talent, and treasure, and of the grace of God. There is never a day when we are not expected to be faithful to God, never a day when we can allow fear of the future to replace faith in the God who knows the future. Abraham received amazing promises from God about the future, and Abraham was faithful—”he believed in the Lord.”

If you are a follower of Christ, let Semper Fidelis be your watchword today and every day: Always Faithful.

“When faithfulness is most difficult, it is most necessary.”

Anonymous

© 2014 Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah

VOTE 02

GOD’S WORD TO PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS: ‘I Will Curse Those Who Curse You’


National Day of Protest with dateAmerica the movie with hyperlink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2014/07/gods-word-persecuted-christians-will-curse-curse/#WzMCfrBR3xDQudRY.99

Written by Doug Giles on July 14, 2014

On December 7th, 1983, at twenty-one years of age, I became a Christian.  My conversion was similar to that of Saul of Taurus’ in that it was Screen Shot 2014-07-14 at 12.24.33 PM 1radical, dramatic and I didn’t come willingly.  No, I didn’t hear voices from heaven, I wasn’t on horseback, and no, I didn’t receive some apostolic anointing.  My point is that I sure as heck wasn’t on some spiritual quest looking for answers to life’s deepest questions when God collided with moi.

Rather, I was looking to get high, get laid and get by and that was it.  I didn’t want to be good, better my life, or follow Jesus.  I was a Judas Priest, Hell Bent For Leather-type who was one audition away from the lead role in Beavis and Butthead.  Yes, I was a Beavis.  But God had other plans for my life and dragged my sorry backside into his glorious kingdom on that fateful day, and I am forever grateful for that.

Being a hellion who’d never been to church until several months after I became a Christian, I wanted to share my new found faith and transformation with my unwashed buddies that I ran with and also with those whose lives I had greatly destroyed via me advocating they do the bad, oft times, criminal crap that I did. 

Several of my running buddies were converted to Christ via my testimony.  Several of them were stunned by my tale and several of them told me to ‘blank off’ and decided to deride my conversion and decry the gospel, Jesus, and the existence of God.

A couple of my ‘friends’ actually attempted to get me back to the dark side by sending hot chicks to seduce me and tried to

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

tempt me with some of the most potent skunkweed on the planet and some of the best Peruvian flake known to mankind.

Knowing my weakness towards the twain, I did what any weak believer would do and got the heck out of Dodge and away from those soul traps.  Of course, they called me a ‘pussy’  and mocked me as a ‘dumb-ass’ that was ‘missing the best partying years of my life.’

Once I started going to church, I would tell my older Christian bros about the brutal verbal dress down I was getting from guys and gals who weren’t too keen on me following Christ. My elder brethren would tell me that I was ‘Blessed when I got persecuted’ (Mt.5:10) for following the way of the Master.  They would tell me, ‘Let the morons mock, just stay your course and God’ll pay you back for your faithfulness to him amidst opposition’.  So, being the Texas Christian that I was, I cowboyed on not giving a crap about what folks thought as I sought to please God rather than men.

Fast-forward thirty-one years to 2014.

As a fifty-one year old Christian, who has had massive highs and deep abasing lows in the last three decades following cp 11God, I can tell you young squabs that are new in the faith, that God has blessed me indeed.

From the grace that sustains me, to the woman I married, to the amazing alpha daughters He’s given me, to a brilliant son-in-law, to making a living doing what I absolutely love, to world travel, to knowing some of the coolest and most powerful patriots on the planet; this former drug abusing redneck is stunned regarding how blessed he is. I cannot believe that for one second I could have cared what my naysaying ‘buddies’ thought about how I should live, versus living by God’s holy prescription, in light of what I know now.

What’s funny is, looking back in hindsight, when I was getting all the smack for following Christ, my ‘cool’ male and female friends looked like they were having a great time and I looked like some freak staying at home, reading my bible and going to studies while they were out lighting up the town.

Now, with the advent of Facebook, I have had several of these persecutors who tried to get me away from God ‘friend’ request me.  Some of them I let back into my life; others, eh … not so much.

What’s interesting, especially regarding the ones who gave me the most hell about how I was missing out on all of the fun cp 12by following God, is that for the last three decades, their lives have been utterly cursed.  I’m talking about one horrendous tragedy after the other, and some of these folks are doing the same stupid junk we used to do on weed and Lone Star back in high school.  Several of the smarmy God bashers are now dead, having died horrendous, godless, deaths.

Which brings me to this point, young Christian:  never give a flying flip what some person thinks about how you should live your life.  That’s between you and the word of God.  Stand your ground.  Walk alone if you have to.  Blow off the blowhards who crap on your convictions and your desire to reach higher and deeper and follow God fully.  God will bless you tremendously and will sort your enemies out, for sure.

Lastly, this warning goes out to those who ridicule and persecute those who have an unfeigned faith in Christ Jesus: I’d watch what you say and I’d think twice before mocking a sincere believer, because God has foresworn to curse those who curse his followers (Gen.12:3).  What I have seen via Facebook and through the grapevine is that God keeps his word and his paybacks are … well … you know what they say about paybacks.

book_cover_3D-678x1024

Get Doug Giles’ new book, Rise, Kill and Eat: A Theology of Hunting from Genesis to Revelation today!

Click here to get a signed copy

Click here to get an unsigned copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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An unshakable foundation for right living


The Bible is a source to which we can look and say with confidence, “This is right,” or “This is wrong.” Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

An unshakable foundation for right living

July 14

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

-II TIMOTHY 3:16

We are beginning a new millennium. Can you believe it? I remember as a boy wondering if I might live to see the turn of the century. The post-war fifties seemed to speed by, and then the turbulent sixties…but it was the 1970’s that ushered in the beginning of a revolution in America.

Was it economic? No. Political? No. Educational? No. It was a moral revolution where authority of every kind was questioned, undermined, and ultimately disregarded. And chaos has been the result.

Some of you may have read a book called “The Lord of the Flies”. It depicts an island of “lost boys,” some good and some bad, who set up their own form of rule. Any time they had a problem or dispute, they consulted a conch shell for wisdom. If they listened hard enough, the shell would tell them what was right. But one day in a fight the shell was shattered, and the boys’ source of authority was destroyed. Suddenly, anarchy set in. Might made right. There were no longer good boys and bad boys. Every boy on the island became a savage.  The conch shell is broken.

There is a cry today in families, churches, and the marketplace for moral authority. The Bible is a source to which we can look and say with confidence, “This is right,” or “This is wrong.” You and I need authority in our lives. And as we enter the twenty-first century, we need it more than ever. I believe the Bible—the Word of God—is that authority we need. It’s precepts give us a place to stand, and a foundation for right living that is unshakeable and true.

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Food for Thought


What Did You Say Logo

~DEATH~

WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to   Leave the examination room and said,   ‘Doctor, I am afraid to die.   Tell me what lies on the other side.’   Very quietly, the doctor said, ‘I don’t know..’   ‘You don’t know? You’re, a Christian man,   And don’t know what’s on the other side?’ 

The doctor was holding the handle of the door;   On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,   And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room   And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.   Turning to the patient, the doctor said,   ‘Did you notice my dog?   He’s never been in this room before.   He didn’t know what was inside.   He knew nothing except that his master was here,   And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.   I know little of what is on the other side of death,   But I do know one thing… 

I know my Master is there and that is enough.’  

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

 

GODLY REBEL: School Tells Christian Not To Mention God At Graduation, Watch What He Does


http://clashdaily.com/2014/06/godly-rebel-school-tells-christian-mention-god-graduation-watch/#6bmhPVwf3XIfkdWE.99

This young man, Brooks Hamby, was the salutatorian for his High School’s graduating class. When he submitted his speech to the school for approval, they told him that he would not be able to mention God. This is what he says in his speech:

grad

“In coming before you today, I presented three drafts of my speech, all of them denied on account of my desire to share with you my personal thoughts and inspiration to you: my Christian faith,” Hamby said. “In life, you will be told, ‘No.’ In life you will be told to do things that you have no desire to do. In life, you will be asked to do things that violate your conscience and desire to do what is right.”

VOTE 02

Will You Pray for Meriam Ibrahim?


http://www.lifenews.com/2014/06/12/will-you-pray-for-meriam-ibrahim/

by Eric Metaxas | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 6/12/14 6:10 PM

A Sudanese Christian mother has been sentenced to death for apostasy. And yes, there is something you can do about it.

Imagine you’re a woman in Sudan. Your Muslim father abandoned the family home when you were young. Your Christian mother raised you. Eventually you married a Christian man and gave birth to a boy. Then, two years later, while you were pregnant with your second child, you get thrown into prison. A Muslim judge convicts you of apostasy—or, leaving Islam, which carries a death sentence—and adultery—for marrying a Christian. You also face a punishment of 100 lashes on the adultery conviction.

This is the nightmare of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag.

meriam14According to Open Doors, on May 15 the judge told her, “We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death.” Amazingly, Meriam boldly replied, “I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy.”

Meriam was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time, and caring for a 20-month-old son, Martin, inside the prison. Since then, Meriam has given birth to a girl in the prison’s hospital wing—so she is now caring for two children under age 2. Her husband, Daniel Wani, has been able to visit his family but has been unable to get Meriam and their children freed. Because Meriam is a new mother, Sudan’s “justice system,” has granted her a two-year reprieve.

SIGN THE PETITION! Save Meriam Ibrahim, Don’t Hang her to Death for Her Faith

You’ll be encouraged to know that Rich Cizik of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good is part of an interfaith group urging the ambassador from Sudan to use all legal avenues to overturn Meriam’s death sentence. Rich says, “This will take time, legal effort, and prayer, yet [it] is surely not beyond the scope of either Sudanese justice or God’s intervention.”

Though Meriam’s case hasn’t garnered the international attention of the missing girls in Nigeria, people are beginning to take notice.

Amnesty International’s Sudan researcher says, “The fact that a woman has been sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is appalling and abhorrent.” Yet, according to the Pew Research Center, Sudan is one of ten countries in the world that outlaws apostasy, and one of five countries that criminalizes blasphemy.

Sudan has more problems than just its Islamic legal code. The nation of 45 million people—mostly Arab Muslims in the north and black Christians in the south—has lurched from one crisis to another. On-again, off-again civil war has killed more than 1.5 million people in the last three decades.

Most of this injustice, damningly, has gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. So let’s do more than launch a Twitter campaign. Let’s urge our government to demand Meriam’s release. More importantly, let us pray that the Lord will redeem Meriam’s nightmare for good.

We can ask not only that Meriam and her children would be reunited with Daniel, but that the light of Christ would penetrate the darkness of militant Islam—in Sudan, northern Nigeria, and all across the world.

That means praying for Christians living under extremely difficult, unjust circumstances, as well as the missionaries called to share the good news of Jesus. And we should take heart in the growing number of reports that say more and more Muslims are embracing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

So let’s stand with Meriam in prayer. Perhaps take her on as a special prayer concern in your church or small group. And please come to BreakPoint.org and click on this commentary, where we’ll link you to organizations that advocate for persecuted Christians.

LifeNews Note:  Eric Metaxas is best known for two biographies: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery about William Wilberforce. He also wrote books and videos for VeggieTales.

BIBLICAL BRAWL: Jesus Christ V. Kirsten Powers on Gay Marriage


BIBLICAL BRAWL: Jesus Christ V. Kirsten Powers on Gay Marriage

By / 6 June 2014

Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 10.01.44 AM

Dear Kirsten Powers-

This “Jesus” whom you say you love and serve said the following about what constitutes a marriage in His eyes. Check it out…

“Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

– Matthew 19:1-6

Please note that:

1. God made them male and female, not male and male.  Just an FYI.  Also, he didn’t give his take on marriage an expiration date. Y’know, like the 21st century.  Just another FYI.

2.  It is this ‘male-female’ thingy that according to Jesus (for what that’s worth) is what, and I quote, “God has joined together”.  God joins together male and female.  Again, and I’ll say it real sloooow, Jesus said, “God joins together male and female.”  I know it’s not trendy but that’s what old stick-in-the-mud Jesus had to say.

So, in light of the aforementioned, tell me more about homosexual marriages and Jesus possibly being cool with a re-invention of this biblical maxim. I’m all ears.

Cheers,
Doug Giles

“Add me to that salutation. The utter arrogance of any person to think they can reinvent God and His righteousness and holiness. How arrogant to even think that any human can override God’s explicit Word on the subject of homosexuality and marriage. How arrogant for any person to tell God what is acceptable and what He has to conform to. Did any of these dimwits create anything? Here, let’s let God ask them some questions. Here goes:

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?  Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 1when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

“Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up [God’s] dominion over the earth?

“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?

“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn? Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth? They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended. Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his ropes? I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat. He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear a driver’s shout. He ranges the hills for his pasture and searches for any green thing.

“Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night? Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he till the valleys behind you? Will you rely on him for his great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to him? Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork. She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them. She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain, for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense. Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

“Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high? He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is his stronghold. From there he seeks out his food; his eyes detect it from afar. His young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there is he.

“The LORD said to Job: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” (Job 38:2-40:2; NIV)

War on ChristiansVOTE 02

Capturing America’s Heart: A Third Awakening?


http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/May/Casting-a-Gospel-Net-Across-the-Nations-Heart/

By Paul Strand

Sunday, May 25, 2014

sparkWASHINGTON — Some religious leaders say America is facing a spiritually dark time.

“At the root of America’s problem, we really have a spiritual cancer that’s been eating away at our nation,” Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, told CBN News.

Retired Gen. Jerry Boykin used to fight America’s physical enemies overseas. He’s now working with the Family Research Council fighting spiritual foes.

Boykin said without a Third Great Awakening, forces like those that took down mighty empires of the past will also bring down the United States.

“We’re going to wind up exactly like these other great empires, which only lasted on an average about 200 years,” he said. “We’re going to completely self-destruct. And you see the beginnings of that now.”

***This Fourth of July, a two-week celebration called Celebrate America is being planned in the nation’s capital designed to bring hope back to our country. For more information click here.

South Africa-born revivalist Rodney Howard-Browne pastors The River at Tampa Bay, a mega-church in Tampa, Florida.

“In the 1700s, there was a Great Awakening. In the 1800s, there was another. And we have to have one now. It’s that critical,” he told CBN News.

Bishop Jackson ticked off some of the sins he says are plaguing the land.

“We’ve got sex-trafficking,” he said. “We’ve got abortion. We’ve got the resurgence of racism. We’ve got hatred that is abounding.”

Howard-Browne pointed to the epidemics of abortion and illegal drug use in the nation.

“Three-thousand babies aborted every single day in this country. We have over 300 million people; we use over 70 percent of the world’s drugs,” he said.

God’s Not Finished Yet

But Howard-Browne sees a special grace on America.

“Knowing what I know, we should be gone a long time ago,” he said. “But it’s the believer in this land and the hand of God that’s still on America. And God’s not finished with this land. So it’s time for the Church to rise up.”

Those past awakenings led to national transformation.

“Both resulted in extraordinary things happening,” Boykin said.

The first in the mid-1700s was a unifying factor for the colonies as it spread throughout them. It awakened in Christians a hunger to live in a land that reflected the God of liberty portrayed in the Bible.

“Ultimately, it brought the American Revolution as the pastors and the people within the Church began to seek a new nation that would give them the kinds of freedoms that they believed were biblical,” Boykin stated.

The next awakening in the early 1800s was marked by mass salvations. And as Americans became free in Christ, many could no longer abide the lack of freedom for the nation’s slaves.

“In that Second Great Awakening, it brought about the Civil War as the conscience of America was raised to a level that would no longer tolerate slavery,” Boykin explained.

The Power of Believers

Gen. Boykin believes the power to save the United States is not in politicians, but in its believers.

“Me plus the Holy Spirit: that’s a majority,” he said.

Bishop Jackson agreed.

Awakenings really begin with individuals: people who are converted and transformed,” he said.

Now, these spiritual leaders and their allies hope to bring revival power to so many Americans, it will spark a Third Great Awakening.

They’ll be holding 14 days and nights of mega-sized meetings and street evangelism in the nation’s capital as America celebrates its 238th birthday. They’re calling it Celebrate America.

“We’ve come to light the fires right in the belly of the beast, if you can put it that way,” Howard-Browne said.

He believes God sent him and his family from South Africa decades ago to help ignite national revival.

He said God told him, “‘There’s coming a revival of signs and wonders and the lost.’ And He said, ‘Go tell the Church to get ready for the coming revival.'”

These Washington-based events will be held in the first three weeks of July. By day, thousands of specially trained Christians will hit the streets of D.C. to evangelize and bring new converts to the Kingdom of God.

“We’re just really believing God to cast a Gospel net across the capital,” Howard-Browne stated.

Transformation Starts at the Top

If organizers get what they want, a country hungry for unity and leadership will see national political, business, and spiritual leaders humbling themselves as one before God.

“We’ll be coming together in the very hub of the nation and crying out to God for Him to transform us first and then transform our nation,” Jackson said.

Jackson, Howard-Browne, and Boykin believe that then revival could sweep America.

“If the fear of God would come back in the people, it would have a ripple effect throughout the land,” Howard-Browne said.

“The Holy Spirit is contagious,” Boykin said with a broad grin.

For this event in Washington D.C. to succeed, the organizers of Celebrate America say they need thousands of Christians who already have the fire of revival burning in their hearts to volunteer in Washington this July.

Howard-Browne said they could have a major impact serving as spiritual soldiers in this war for the nation’s heart.

Jackson pleaded, “I’m asking ‘We the People’ to come help us, if you love America, if you love the nation.”

biblicallaw-and-justiceBiblically Correct

The LightVOTE 02

WHAT THE DUCK: Phil Robertson Quotes The Bible Again About Homosexuals In Sermon, Daily Mail BBQ’s Him


http://clashdaily.com/2014/05/duck-phil-robertson-quotes-bible-homosexuals-sermon-daily-mail-bbqs/#9jdmbWDdTuAs4JVz.99

By / 22 May 2014

 phil

Here’s more proof that If you quote Jesus or Paul nowadays you’ll be called a hater by the gaystapo.  For example, look at how the Daily Mail condemns Phil’s Easter sermon given last month …

A startling video has emerged showing Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson unleashing another homophobic rant – just months after the TV show’s network suspended him for a similar tirade.

Robertson was filmed giving an Easter Sunday sermon at Whites Ferry Road Church in his hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana on April 20, according to the video on YouTube.

In the footage, the 68-year-old expresses his anger at the outcry over his December interview in GQ magazine, in which he likened homosexuality to bestiality and branded gay people sinners.

‘They were mad at me,’ he tells the congregation in the video. ‘You say, “why’d they get mad at you?” Cuz instead of acknowledging their sin, like you had better do, they railed against me for giving them the truth about their sins. Don’t deceive yourselves.’

Read more (if you want to hear the rant of those that want homosexuality normalized. If it is already “normal”, then why does it need to be “normalized’?): Daily Mail

VOTE 02

The only way to fix our broken society


Revival will replace relativism, and we will have hope once again.

The only way to fix our broken society

May 16

In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

-JUDGES 17:6

We have veered off course as a civilization, as a society, for two reasons: we have refused as a people to look to a transcendent, authoritative God for moral absolutes, and we have depended instead on our own depraved determination of what is right and wrong.

God said this same thing to the nation of Israel thousands of years ago: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

Think about it.

  • A hundred and thirty-five thousand students go to school with weapons every day in America.
  • Twenty-one percent of students say they do not go into restrooms in their schools because they are afraid of being molested or attacked.
  • Forty percent of teenage women in America will have been pregnant at least once by the time they are nineteen.
  • Suicide among teenagers has increased three hundred percent in the last thirty years.
  • One third of all teachers are contemplating retirement or career change next year because the conditions under which they must teach are so threatening.

Simply put, the evil of our day is so pervasive we cannot live without it touching us somehow, somewhere.

What is the answer? Men and women everywhere must look to God and say, “Yes. There are absolutes and immutable laws at work in this world. You have established them. And if we are going to live successfully, we must obey them.” When this happens, America will come to its collective senses. Revival will replace relativism, and we will have hope once again.

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Black pastors lead rally against persecution by Muslims


My Own Two CentsPlease join me in praying for these men of God and do what we can to support their efforts.

Jerry Broussard

 

 

 

 

 

Three Star Line

http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/black-pastors-lead-rally-against-persecution-by-muslims/#YU9Ih6kLechSUlIV.99

‘Following in the footsteps and spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King’

 

With persecution against Christians increasing in African nations and other places worldwide where Islam is advancing, an American pastor is calling black churches and others to join together to raise voices of opposition.

Stephen Broden of the Fair Park Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas is organizing a rally in his city next month under the banner of Americans Against the Persecution of Christians in Muslim Countries.

The coalition says it’s “committed to stopping the genocide of Christians in many Muslim countries.”

A march is scheduled to begin May 17 at 2 p.m. at City Hall Plaza in front of Dallas City Hall.

Among the speakers at the Dallas event are Rev. William Owens Jr., author and Jihad Watch founder Robert Spencer, author and Rescue Christians founder Walid Shoebat and counter-terrorism expert David Gaubatz, author of “Muslim Mafia,” published by WND Books.

But the coalition wants ministers of all denominations to join in mass protest marches in all major American cities to “break the politically-correct conspiracy of silence which has concealed this immense crime against humanity.”

>>>>>Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians” produces the evidence. It’s available at the WND Superstore<<<<<

Broden said the coalition is marching “in the footsteps and spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” deriving its core inspiration from his admonition to confront evil openly.

“Our lives begin to end on the day that we become silent about things that matter,” King said.

Broden said what matters is that more than 100,000 Christians are murdered every year for their faith, according to estimates substantiated by the Vatican and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.

In Africa, as WND has reported, the jihadist group Boko Haram continues to slaughter Christians in Nigeria in its effort to establish Islamic law. Sudan has been the scene of atrocities against Christians for decades. An estimated 1.5 million Christians have been killed in the genocidal campaigns carried out by Muslims from the north since 1984.

The international group Open Doors recently stated that nine out of the 10 countries cited for the worst Christian persecution are Muslim.

Atrocities against Christians by Islamic jihadists also have been carefully catalogued by Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, Human Rights Watch and many other respected humanitarian organizations.

The coalition seeks to “challenge the conscience of all Americans to oppose and defeat a murderous religious tyranny, to rally once more to the sacred principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which are the birthright of all men and women, and which must now be guaranteed to Christians in the Muslim world.”

Dire assessment

The coalition pointed out that the persecution of Christians has become so horrific in the Middle East that several ancient Christian sects are in danger of extermination.

The Copts are fleeing Egypt by the thousands as churches are being burned to the ground and women and children violated. In Syria, Malakite Christians in Syria are facing extinction amid a jihad by the rebel forces seeking to establish Islamic law in the country.

John Eibner of World Watch has a dire assessment.

“If things continue as they are in Syria, there will be no more Christians, or other minorities, in the near future,” he said.

HEY, CHRISTIAN: Are You An ‘Oak of Righteousness’ Or An Evangelical Tumbleweed?


http://clashdaily.com/2014/04/hey-christian-oak-righteousness-evangelical-tumbleweed/#7jsDmE6wy3RM45O7.99

By / 22 April 2014

oak

It’s the Christian’s responsibility to get settled in Christian doctrine.  God’s goal is to make His people hurricane-proof oaks of righteousness, not evangelical tumbleweeds that derail and turn into agnostics or atheists once they hit the first speed bump in their Christian experience.

The scriptures rebuke the superficial Christian who cannot give a reasonable answer for the gospel hope that he supposedly holds.  One of the reasons the Bible commands the believer to be doctrinally sound is that when an unbeliever tosses a tough question at him regarding his faith, he doesn’t duck and run to the Sit-On-The-Sidelines-of-Life Community Church to avoid the probing inquiry.

Yeah, the Bible doesn’t have too many chipper things to say about the flighty, easy breezy, summer squeezy, pseudo-saint who, like Reuben, is as theologically unstable as water.

Listen, all you quasi-Christians avoiding sound doctrine and the biblical worldview: if you’re not well-established in the great truths of Scripture, then your faith will be overturned by every wind of false doctrine, and you will stand intellectually naked before the obstreperous challenger.

Becoming mentally and spiritually equipped to defend the faith is not an option if you’re a believer in the Christ of the Bible.  According to the scripture, God commands, He doesn’t suggest, He doesn’t softly nudge – He demands that we grow up into sound-as-a-pound professors of the faith for which we stand.  Scripture uniformly challenges the fickle featherweight followers who are one day of this mind and the next day of another.  Or, who are of no mind at all.

To say that doctrine doesn’t matter is to say that God, who is the author of doctrine, doesn’t matter.  Doctrine is not boring or irrelevant.  You might be, but doctrine sure as heck isn’t. Sound biblical doctrine matters greatly.  Doctrine defines:

  • the principal purpose of man,
  • the role and rule of the scripture,
  • the character and nature of God,
  • the purpose of creation,
  • the fall of man,
  • Christ and the covenant of grace,
  • the application of redemption and
  • God’s view of death and the last day.

To those who are tired of being theologically lazy and who see the sin in being biblically uninformed or misinformed, here are six reasons why one should get with it, doctrinally:

  • You will honor God and the serious saints who have gone before you.

  • Your evangelism will step up a few notches – giving you an effective edge.

  • You will not be easily seduced by charlatans selling you bogus beliefs.

  • You will value truth over hype, and not be dazzled by the outward pretenses of the feigned religious-glitterati who would wow you with charisma, while feeding you crap.  Yes, you will not be looking for new truth but ancient, historic and eternal verities that have stood the test of time.

  • You will have at your disposal a blueprint for the good society.

  • Your solid knowledge will give you lion-like boldness in the face of antagonists.

In addition to personally digging into the Old & New Testament to mine the gold which is between their covers, snag the following three books:

They’ll help you shape up the grey matter and become a biblical champion of the faith.  There is no way we can please God, make the Church thrive, reach lost man and positively impact this planet if our beliefs are not grounded in the truth

Is China Set to Be the World’s Greatest Christian Nation?


http://lastresistance.com/5486/china-set-worlds-greatest-christian-nation/#zeMxk4Cs3i1g3STm.99

Posted By on Apr 21, 2014

Cathedral in China 

According to an article in the Telegraph, China is on schedule to comprise the globe’s largest population of Christians within fifteen years:

“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule. “It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change.” 

China’s Protestant community, which had just one million members in 1949, has already overtaken those of countries more commonly associated with an evangelical boom. . . . Prof Yang . . . believes that number will swell to around 160 million by 2025. That would likely put China ahead even of the United States, which had around 159 million Protestants in 2010 but whose congregations are in decline.

The article’s headline says that China will be the “world’s most Christian nation,” but that isn’t exactly true. China has a huge population, and even if China has more Christians than America does within fifteen years, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that the nation itself is more Christian. 150 million Christians is a serious majority in the United States. But it would account for only about ten percent of China’s massive population.

Nonetheless, the statistics are quite startling. While the United States is abandoning its Christian heritage and republican roots to dabble more deeply in secularism, socialism, and nanny government, China is shedding its atheist heritage and tyrannical roots to embrace Christianity and the free market. (Notice, I did not write “Republican.” If you don’t know the difference, you’re part of the problem.)

Gallery

HE IS RISEN INDEED


By Hos Stripes we are healed Christ-on-the-Cross Cruxifiction of Jesus God built a bridge to heaven Good Friday 02 Good Friday Greatest Pain He is not here He Is Risen I am coming soon I AM Jesu on the cross Jesus paid it all Jesus Praying Lifted Hands and The Cross Neither Height Resurrected Jesus the-rapture You are loved more You Are Loved

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON – “HE IS RISEN!”


Jesus paid it all
Signs of Easter
Today’s Devotional by Dr. David Jeremiah
“A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 16:4; NKJV)
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) (John 20:1-9; NIV)
America begins showing signs of Easter earlier and earlier every year. Plastic eggs for sale by the millions, chocolate eggs and bunny rabbits in every store, pastel colored Easter baskets and bundles of plastic green “grass” to fill them—the world’s signs of Easter can’t be missed. But today’s signs of Easter are a far cry from the signs that proved the reality of the very first Easter morning.
Jesus told His detractors who had asked Him for a miraculous sign that they would see only one sign—the sign of Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of a great fish before being rescued from death. On the third day after Jesus’ own death, He came out of the grave to give the world a sign it cannot deny. For a man to predict His own death and resurrection was something only God could do. The Gospel writers give us many proofs of His resurrection: sightings by witnesses, nail-scarred hands, a stone rolled away, and more. Truly, Jesus was—is!—alive.
As you prepare to celebrate Easter this Sunday, give thanks to God that your faith is not in vain—that Christ was raised for you (1 Corinthians 15:14).
“The Easter story ends not with a funeral but with a festival.”
John Blanchard
He Is Risen
© 2014 Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah

 

 

Passover Seder Haggadah


Haggadah Cover

INTRODUCTION

I was teaching a Bible Study in the home of our best friends, Gary and Carol Leach sometime during the late 1970’s. Someone asked me questions about Passover. I was a young man, new to ministry, and knew better than to try and fake some answer. These people were, and remain, very smart. I admitted my ignorance, and promised I would start researching it immediately.

In those days I was a sales representative for the SAVIN Corporation. We sold photocopy machines. My territory was the city of Encino. At that time Encino was growing very rapidly. As people from Beverly Hills and Brentwood needed addition office space, they found them over the hill in Encino. A vast percentage of the business district in Encino was built on both sides of Ventura Boulevard.

Additionally, Encino was at that time believed to be 90% Jewish, or more. The largest Jewish Synagogue was, and remains, in Encino, right on Ventura Boulevard,   Valley Beth Shalom. It also was a private preschool, grade school and high school.

I went into the school office and introduced myself explaining that I was a Christian conducting a Bible Study and wanted to learn about Passover. The lady I spoke with returned with a very distinguished man who introduced himself as the head of the school. Once inside his office I noticed that he had earned several theological doctorates. After explaining my quest, he excused himself and I heard him getting several of the staff to collect the materials.

While I was waiting, I noticed four books displayed prominently on his desk. They were the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You can imagine the questions that filled my head.

The doctor returned with an arm full of materials and the education began. He then instructed me to go to a particular store over on Victory Blvd. to acquire an authentic Seder Plate, and any think else I desired.

As I was about to leave, I asked about the four Gospels on his desk. He explained that they taught from them in the school, starting in the grade school, up through the high school. He explained that they believed Jesus to be a great prophet. I thanked him again for his time, his teaching me and the materials.

That started a 40 plus year study of Passover. I am still learning. I have taught on, and conducted Passover almost every year since. The most common reacting I hear from participants that Resurrection Sunday is now the most important time and the year to them, and that they have never taken the Lord’s Supper (Communion) the same again.

I have found many things to be unimpeachable truths in my life of study. It has made me realize how poor we are as modern day Christians because we have never stopped to understand the traditions of the Jewish people and how they give us greater understanding of our New Birth Covenant with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Risen Savior, through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Please take the time to set your heart to learn as you participate in this wonderful service. If your heart is open, the Holy Spirit will fill it will understanding that will change your life, draw you closer to Jesus, and fill you with knowledge that will make Resurrection Sunday the most important day of the year.

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”(Num 6:24-26; NIV)

 

THE SEDER TABLE

The following is the MINIMUM requirements to have a proper SEDER (Passover)
(Table: The following description is for ALL participating tables.)

  1. Fresh Spring Flowers as a centerpiece.
  2. One (or more) unlit candle(s). Have some matches next to the candle to light the candle at the beginning of the service. All the “Mother & the table” will light the candles together at the beginning of the service.
  3. A bowl of water, with a towel (or napkin), for the leader of each table to wash their hands during the early part of the service. Does not have to big a big bowl. Just enough to dip the hands, wash them, and dry them with the towel or napkin.
  4. 4) Four whole pieces of Matzo. Three of these will go into a large paper napkin (Elegant type napkins that can completely contain three pieces of Matzo). The one piece will be used in other aspects of the service.
  5. A plate, napkin, glass of water and a small spoon for each participant. Paper plates are fine.
  6. A small cup for each participant. We will be consuming four cups of grape juice during the service. These do not needto be large, but they do needto be larger than communion cups.
    1. Each table must have a large pitcher to refill the glasses with juice as the glasses will start out full, and will be replenished three times.
  7. A small bowl of salt water next to the Seder plate. Small enough to pass, large enough for every participant at the table to dip a small amount of parsley and then eat. Water needs to be salty water.

 

  1. THE SEDER PLATE: Located at the table leaders seat, instead of a regular plate. Shouldbe different from the rest of the plates at the table; decorative; large dinner plate. The elementsmust be (see diagram for placement of the elements);
    1. The Shank Bone: Preferably a large meatless beef . 1f not available, any large meatless soup bone.
    2. The Karpas: A clump of parsley. Should have enough for each person to have a piece to dip in the salt water. Should be in a small Dixie type cup (about the size of the cups you find at drinking fountains). This will be passed to each participant.
    3. Root of the Bitter Herb: A Horseradish root, or a quartered potato (peeled)
    4. The Bitter Herb: A small dish of ground horseradish. Needs to have enough horseradish for each person at the table to have a share (quarter of a teaspoon for each person). Should be in a small cup (Dixie cup will do. Drinking fountain style). This cup with the horseradish will be passed around the table.
  2. The Haroset: This is a mixture of fruits, nuts and other ingredients blended into a paste. It must be in a paste form and enough for each person at the table to approximately a quarter teaspoon each. Should be in a small bowl or cup because it will be passed around the table.
  3. The Haggadah: Each person at the table must have their own copy of the Haggadah because of the responsive readings.

 

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Seder Leaders Elements for the Passover Seder Service

OVERVIEW

“SEDER” is a Hebrew word that means “arrangement”, or “order”. It is also used to mean the entire Passover eve service. PESACH (Passover) in Hebrew means “to spread wings over” (See Ps 91). Jesus, in His lament over Jerusalem, used the term of gathering Israel under His wings as a hen gathers her chicks. God stands guard over His people today, just as He did on the first Passover Night. “HAGGADAH” is the book you are holding. In the Hebrew it means “the book, or the story”. At the Passover service, every participant has their own copy so they can follow along with the leader, and participate at the right moments. “PASCAL LAMB” is Hebrew referring to the sacrificed Passover Lamb

The Seder Table includes a number of objects, prescribed by the tradition, which symbolizes the spirit of the holiday. The table is usually set in a festive style because of what Passover represents (redemption), and because it is celebrated during the birth of spring when everything is fresh and new (just like redemption). Flowers and candles are main elements of this table.

A large platter is placed in front of the one conducting the Seder. This can be an ordinary platter, or a special Seder Plate. Upon the plate are placed the following objects;

  • A roasted shank bone – A memorial of the Pascal (Passover) Lamb.
  • Roasted Egg – In memory of the Freewill Offering of the feasts.
  • Bitter herbs – “MOROR” in Hebrew (usually horseradish roots) in remembrance of the bitterness of slavery.
  • Parsley or Lettuce – “KARPAS” in the Hebrew. This green vegetable represents the hyssop branch used to sprinkle the Pascal Lamb’s blood on the door posts, and across the top of the door.
  • A mixture of nuts and fruit – “CHAROSES” in the Hebrew. Represents the mortar with which the Hebrew slaves made into bricks, which were used to build Pharaoh’s cities.
  • There are four cups of wine at the leaders table. One by itself is for the Prophet Elijah.
  • ln a separate bowl there is salt water, or vinegar to symbolize the sweat and tears of the Hebrew slaves.
  • There is also a bowl of water and towel for the washing of the hands of the Seder Leader.
  • In a second plate there are three pieces of unleavened bread called “MATZAH” wrapped in a special napkin that has three compartments (called a “MATZAH TOSH” in Hebrew).
    • Matzos symbolize purity, and freedom, leaven represents the evil impulses of the heart and all sin. The eating of the Matzah is intended to recall the hurried departure of the Israelites that night in Egypt. When the Egyptian people drove them out, they didn’t have time to let their dough rise. So they had to eat it in haste. Jewish Rabbi’s have many explanations for this strange Matzah Tosh, but the real reason for it will be evident during the service to follow.

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Everyone at the table has a plate, and a glass for wine. These will be filled four times during the course of the service.

Traditionally the Seder is celebrated at home with family, and sometimes, close friends. Children are an important part of the Seder service and participate throughout. This is a service for all to remember the great redemption of God. For the Jewish people, it is a look forward to the coming of the Messiah.  As Christians who already know the Messiah, this service takes on even greater significance as we experience this service as it points directly to our Lord Jesus. Jesus is the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29 This, therefore, is a celebration of our redemption from the bondages of sin.

Everyone participates in the Seder service;

ALL Everyone reads aloud in unison.
Fathers Just the men read aloud in unison.
Mothers Just the women read aloud in unison.
Children Just the children read aloud in unison.
Leader Just the leader of the Seder.
Added Text The text that is in a different type style, represents what has been added to the Jewish Seder service to show us the New Testament fulfillment found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The following service is the same order the Jewish people use in their Passover Celebration. However, it has been altered to show how Jesus is the total fulfillment of the Passover. Keep that in mind as we proceed. Remember the Apostle Paul’s words; “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.2 Corinthians 3:12-18

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THE PASSOVER SEDER BEGINS THE LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES;


The woman of the house lights the candle(s) as the leader explains;

LEADER:  The Passover begins as the woman of the household kindles the festival lights and recites a traditional Jewish blessing;

MOTHERS:  Blessed are You our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us by your commandments, and has ordained that we kindle the Passover lights.

LEADER:  It is most fitting that a woman kindles the lights, for we are reminded of God’s promise that the Messiah, the light of the world, would come, not from the seed of man, but from the seed of a woman, and by the will of God. As the prophet Isaiah declared,

MOTHERS:   ‘A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel”.  Isaiah 7:14.

LEADER:  A light to lighten Gentiles,

MOTHERS:  …and the glory of God’s people, Israel.

ALL:  Amen.

LEADER: “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”John 8:12 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”John 9:5 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 

 

THE FIRST CUP: THE CUP OF SANCTIFICATION


LEADER:  The Passover has begun, and during the course of our Seder we wilt drink from our cups, and replenish them, a total of four times. (All raise the first cup)  The first cup is called the “KIDDIJSH” cup, or “THE CUP OF SANCTIFICATION”.

ALL:  With this cup, we commit our observance to the Lord, and pray for His blessing upon the rest of the service to follow.

FATHERS:  Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine.

ALL:   Amen.

LEADER:  It is concerning this first cup that Jesus our Messiah declared;

ALL:  “After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”Luke 22:17-18 All drink the first cup.

 

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WASHING OF THE HANDS


LEADER:  Ritual washings have been a part of Jewish life since God commanded Aaron to bathe his hands and feet before approaching the alter of the Lord. And so we customarily wash our hands at this time as a token of our desire to live lives of acceptable service to our Almighty God.

FATHERS:  Yet Jesus carried this notion of servant-hood one step further on that Passover night in the upper room. At this point of the last Passover Jesus spent with His disciples;  “…so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”   “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”  Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”   “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”  Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”  11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.  When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”.John 13:4-17 LEADER:  How graciously has He taught us the fullest meaning of servant-hood; Humility ALL:  The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.Matthew 23:11-12 Leader washes hands

 

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THE SEDER PLATE


LEADER:  Behold the Seder Plate and these traditional symbols.

ALL:  What do they mean, and of what do they speak?

LEADER:  The story of Passover is a story of our deliverance from bondage, and all the elements of the Passover meal are part of the portrait of redemption.

ALL:  What is the meaning of the “KARPAS”, or greens, and the salt water?

FATHERS:  The greens represent life, and the salt water represents the tears of life. Before we eat the greens, we dip them into the salt water, for truly

ALL:   A life redeemed is a life immersed in tears.

LEADER:  Let us eat the KARPAS. (Everyone dips a piece of the greens and dips it in the salt water and eats it) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>  ALL:  What is the meaning of the HAZERET, the root of the bitter herb? FATHERS:  This horseradish root reminds us that the root of life is often bitter, as it certainly was for the sons of Israel in the land of Egypt

ALL:  And what is the meaning of the “MAROR”, the biller herb itself?

FATHERS:  As we partake of the freshly ground horseradish, we are reminded afresh of how bitter life is without redemption.

LEADER:  Let us eat of the bitter herb. (All eat a small amount of horseradish between two small pieces of Matzah) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>  ALL:  What is the meaning of the “HAROSET:, and why is it sweet to the taste?

FATHERS:  The HAROSET is a reminder of the mortar with which the Israelites made bricks for Pharaoh.

ALL:  But why should such a sweet mixture represents such bitter toil?

FATHERS:  Even the bitterest labor is sweetened by the promise of redemption.

LEADER:  Let us eat the HAROSET. (All eat a small amount of HAROSET between two small pieces of Matzah) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>  ALL:  What is the meaning of the egg, the “HAGIGAH”? Why is it brown?

FATHERS:  HAGIGAH was the name given to the daily Temple sacrifices in ancient Jerusalem It is roasted to turn it brown, just as the daily offerings were burned with fire upon the altar of the Lord. The HAGIGAH is a token of grief to the Jewish people; Grief over the destruction of the Temple; and so before we eat it, we dip it into salt water – the tears of life.

LEADER:  Let us eat the HAGIGAH. (All dip a small piece of the egg into salt water and eat it)

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ALL:  What is the meaning of the “ZEROAH”, the shank bone of the lamb?

LEADER:  Passover is also known as the Feast of the Passover Lamb, and yet in Jewish homes throughout the world, lamb is not served at any Passover table. Instead, we have this ZEROAH to remind us of those first Passover lambs which were sacrificed on the night of redemption. As it is written;

ALL:  “In one house shall it be eaten. ..neither shall you break a bone of it.’ (Ex. 12:46)

FATHERS:   lt is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.

ALL:  But why do we no longer partake of the Paschal Lamb as in the days of old when the ancient Temple stood?

LEADER:  Simply because the Temple stands no more. The Passover sacrifice, as well as all sacrifices, could only be offered upon the altar in Jerusalem. Since the Temple’s destruction in 70 A.D., no sacrifices have been made, and no Iamb is found on the Passover table. .

ALL:  But without sacrifices, how can we atone for our sins? The law declares, “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Lev. 17:11) Does this mean that the atonement, and redemption, are no longer possible?

LEADER:  May it never be! Those of us who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, know that God has provided a sacrifice for our sins. That sacrifice for our sins is the PASSOVER LAMB WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINE OF THE WORLD. (John 1:29 & 36)

ALL:  The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.

LEADER:  Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Who offers redemption from death, and atonement for sins.

ALL:  Amen.

 

THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION


LEADER:  Rabbi Gamaliel said, “He who has not explained the three symbols of the Seder, has not fulfilled his duty; the Passover lamb, the bitter herb, and the unleavened bread.”

ALL:  We have heard of the Paschal Lamb, and we have eaten of the bitter herb, but what of the unleavened bread?

LEADER:  (The Leader holds up a piece of Matzah)  Behold the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat

ALL:  What is the meaning of the unleavened bread?

FATHERS:  Throughout the Bible, leaven is frequently employed as a symbol of sin. In Biblical times a small piece of bread from the previous loaf was used to ferment an entire portion of fresh dough. Thus the leavening of each batch of dough was related to the original loaf. It was the leaven that caused the dough to rise.

LEADER:  In the same way, we are related through the generations to the sin of our first forefather, Adam. As the leaven in bread causes the dough to rise, so the sin in our life causes us to rise in our own estimation; to be puffed up.

FATHERS:  On this night and for the seven days to follow, we eat nothing that contains any leaven. In this we demonstrate our desire to be cleansed of our sin, and to live lives devoted entirely to the Lord. It is written; “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.(Romans 12:3)     LEADER:  “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44) “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast-as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.”(1 Corinthians 5:6-8)Let us take this moment to search our hearts for any leaven that might be hindering our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now go before the Lord in prayer to repent of the leaven and then rejoice in His faithfulness to forgive us our sins and cleanse us for all unrighteousness.

 

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THE MATZAH TOSH


LEADER:  (Leader holds up the “MATZAH TOSH”) One of the most intriguing items on the Passover table is this pouch called a Matzah Tosh, which is a unity. Yet concealed within this unity are three pieces of unleavened bread – Matzah – and each piece is separated from the others by a piece of cloth.

ALL:  Though the matzos are concealed, yet we know that they are there.

(Leader removes the middle Matzah)

FATHERS:  But now the middle is removed from its place among the others and made visible to our eyes.

LEADER:  (Leader performs as the following is read) It is broken, and half is set aside while the other half is wrapped in a white napkin. ln a moment it  will be hidden from view.  This broken piece of Matzah has a special name: the “AFIKOMEN”. This is not a Hebrew word, but a Greek word, and it means, “That which comes after. “The origin and significance of the AFIKOMEN, and the MATZAH TOSH, are shadowed in mystery. We will explore this mystery as our celebration unfolds. But for now, guesses must give way to a game. We are going to hide the AFIKOMEN as you children close your eyes. If you find it, we have to buy it back from you, or the Passover cannot be concluded,

And remember …

ALL:  Great is the reward of he who finds the hidden AFIKOMEN.

LEADER:  (Leader hides the AFIKOMEN while the children hide their eyes)

 

THE FOUR QUESTIONS


LEADER:  The children are essential to the Passover celebration, for it is through this feast that they may learn of God’s redemptive nature. So at this time, the children participate together to learn the meaning of Passover by asking the traditional four questions.

CHILDREN:  Why is this night different from all other nights?

FATHERS:  Once we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord in His goodness, and mercy, redeemed us from that land with a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm.

ALL:  Had He not redeemed us, surely we, and our children, would still be enslaved.

CHILDREN:  On all other nights we eat either leavened or unleavened bread. On this night why do we eat only unleavened bread?

FATHERS:  We eat the unleavened bread to remember that the sons of Israel, in their haste to leave Egypt, had to take their bread with them while it was still flat.

CHILDREN:  On all other nights, we eat herbs of every kind. On this night why do we eat only bitter herbs?

FATHERS:  We eat the bitter herbs to remember how bitter it is to be enslaved.

CHILDREN:  On all other nights we do not dip the sop even once. On this night, why do we dip twice?

FATHERS:  By dipping, we remember that a life of bondage is bitter indeed, but that even the harshest bondage is sweetened by the promise of redemption.

CHILDREN:  On all other nights we eat our meals in any manner. Why is this night so special?

FATHERS:  This night is truly special. Once we were slaves, but now we are free. So we recline in order to appropriate the rest He has wrought for us.

LEADER:  “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.  So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'”   See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”   Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.  Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.   Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,  “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'” And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”   And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”  It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”    For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.  For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 3-4) LEADER:  By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage. In gratitude, let us worship our God and recount the story of Passover.

 

THE STORY OF PASSOVER  (Narrated by the Leader – Genesis 42- Exodus 12)

The Bible teaches that during a great famine in the land of Canaan, the sons of Israel journeyed to Egypt to purchase food. There they were reunited with their brother Joseph. Because of his influence, they were permitted to dwell in the fertile plains of Goshen.

At first the house of Israel numbered less than eighty souls. But in time their numbers swelled, their flocks increased, and they became a mighty people.

Then there arose a new Pharaoh, one who did not know Joseph. He beheld the might of Israel, and he feared that in time of war, the sons of Jacob might join themselves with Egypt’s foes.  Pharaoh decided to subdue the Israelites, and afflicted them with cruel labor. Taskmasters were placed over the Israelites to compel them to make bricks and to build Pharaoh’s great storage cities of Rameses and Pithom.

But despite their hardships, they continued to thrive just as God had promised. This caused Pharaoh even greater alarm, and he ordered the slaughter of Israel’s infant sons. By his command, every male child born to the Hebrews was to be cast into the Nile and drowned.

How sore were the afflictions of the Jewish people? In anguish they cried unto God of their fathers. God heard their cry, and remembered His covenant. God raised up a deliverer, a redeemer, the man Moses. He sent Moses to Pharaoh’s court to declare the commandment of the Lord, “Let My people go.”

But Pharaoh would not hearken to the Lord of Host. As a result, Moses pronounced God’s judgment on Pharaoh’s house, and on Pharaoh’s land. Plagues were poured out upon the Egyptians, upon their crops, and upon their flocks.

But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. He would not yield to the will of God. He would not let the house of Jacob depart.

Then the tenth plague fell upon the land; the death of Egypt’s first born. “And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment: l am the LORD.” (Ex:11:5:, Ex:12:12:)

But to protect the children of Israel, God commanded the head of each Jewish household to select a spotless lamb from the flock, have it live with them for three days, and then sacrifice it outside the front door, catching it’s blood in the basin (the depression in front of the door to catch rain water and keep the house from flooding). Then they were instructed to take a Hyssop branch, dip it in the blood of the lamb, and strike both sides of the door frame and the top of the door frame (forming a blood threshold through which the entire family had to pass). They were instructed not to leave their homes until morning.

ALL: “And the blood shall be to you a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt”.

LEADER:  “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord throughout your generations.”

ALL:  ‘You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.”

LEADER:  By the blood of the lamb was Israel spared.

ALL:  By the blood of the lamb was Jacob redeemed.

LEADER:  By the blood of the lamb was death made to pass over.

Passover, or in Hebrew, PESACH, that holiday which commemorates the night when death passed over the houses of Israel because of the blood, the blood of the lamb; the Passover Lamb. What a mighty act of redemption! What a beautiful picture of a greater redemption destined to come. For just as none of the bones of the first Passover Lamb were broken, so none of the Messiah’s bones were broken.

ALL:  Just as the blood of those first Passover lambs was applied in faith to the door posts Israel’s homes, so the blood of the Messiah must be applied in faith to the door posts of our hearts. Tonight we worship God, not only because the angel of death passed over the Jewish people’s homes,

LEADER:  but because all of us, whether Jewish or Gentile, may be redeemed from an even greater bondage through faith in the Messiah of Israel,

ALL:  The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.

LEADER:  Through Him we may pass over from death to life.

ALL:  AMEN!

 

THE TEN PLAGUES


LEADER:  Pharaoh defied the Lord and placed his will above the will of God. As a result, he brought destruction upon his house and land. How often do we, like Pharaoh, choose our desires over God’s direction? How often do we, like Pharaoh, bring harm upon ourselves and upon those closest to us? Because we share with Pharaoh the sin of disobedience, and because we regard all people as God’s creations, we do not rejoice over the destruction visited upon the Egyptians.

ALL:  For our sake they met with suffering and death. We mourn their loss and express our sorrow over their destruction.

LEADER:  Though we celebrate our liberation, our happiness is not complete as long as others remain bound to slavery and death.

(Leader raises cup and continues)

A full cup is a symbol of complete joy. Let us, therefore, diminish our cups as we recall the plagues which befell the Egyptians.

(Everyone empties a drop from his cup for each one of the ten plagues)

1. Blood

2. Frogs

3. Lice

4. Flies

5. Cattle disease

6. Boils

7. Hail

8. Locusts

9. Darkness .

10. Slaying of the first-born.

THE SECOND CUP: THE CUP OF PLAGUES


LEADER:  It is time to drink the second cup.  (All raise their cups.)

ALL:  Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Who created the fruit of the vine.  (All drink the second cup.)

LEADER:  (Leader’s prayer for GOD’s blessing over dinner).

THE PASSOVER MEAL

 

THE AFIKOMEN

The Leader now sends the children in search of the Afikomen. The child, who recovers it, returns it to the Leader, who gives the child a reward. LEADER:  The search of the Afikomen is certainly one of the most delightful moments of the Passover Seder. Yet, some mystery surrounds the significance of the Afikomen and the Matzah Tosh from which it has been drawn. We may justly ask,

ALL:  What is the meaning of the three Matzos and why is the middle Matzah broken, buried and then brought back.

LEADER:  To many, the question is a riddle yet to be resolved. For those who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, it need not be a riddle at all. Where can we find a clearer picture of our Messiah than in this tradition concerning the Afikomen which has been broken, buried and then brought back? Even the Matzah, a symbol of a sinless nature speaks of Jesus.  The Rabbis have set down some very special regulations concerning the appearance of Matzah. If it is to be found suitable for use in the Passover Seder, it first has to be stripped. ALLAs was Jesus after He was flogged. Isaiah said, “and with His stripes are we healed.”(Isaiah 53:5)

LEADER:  In the second place, it must be pierced. ALLAs was Jesus. The prophet Zechariah said, “They will look on me, the one they have pierced,..” ( Zechariah 12:10) LEADER:  Earlier, we called this the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.  And this is true. But it is also a symbol of the bread of life, which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world.  ALL:  “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”(John 6:35) LEADER:  Let all who are hungry come and eat.(The Matzah is lowered, and the cups are refilled) ALL:  Then what is the meaning of the Matzah Tosh, and why is the middle Matzah broken, buried, and then brought back?

FATHERS:  Some teach that the three matzos represent the unity of the three patriarchs of Israel;

  • Abraham,
  • Isaac
  • and Jacob

ALL:  Then why is the middle Matzah broken, buried and then brought back?

FATHERS:  Others say that the Matzos represent the unity of worship in ancient Israel;

  • the High Priests,
  • the Levites and
  • the people of Israel.

ALL:  Then why is the middle Matzah broken, buried and then brought back? FATHERS:  Still others teach that the matzos represent three crowns;

  • The Crown of Learning,
  • The Crown of Priesthood and
  • The Crown of Kingship.

ALL:  Then why is the middle Matzah broken, buried and then brought back?

LEADER:  There is yet one final explanation. An explanation suggested by the design of the Matzah Tosh itself. For the three parts of the Matzah Tosh form a unity. A TRI-UNITY. A mysterious three in one. Could it be that the TRI-UNITY of the Matzah Tosh bear witness to the TRI-UNITY of One God revealed in three persons;

  • God the Father,
  • God the Son and
  • God the Holy Spirit?

 

ALL:  Then why is the middle Matzah broken: buried and then brought back?

LEADER:  Because Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead, was broken, buried and then brought back.  It was at this time during the last Passover Seder Jesus had with His disciples, before His sacrifice, that Jesus said, “and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24) During Jesus time, the sacrificed lamb was supposed to be the last food eaten, of any kind of food, until morning. Jesus broke with tradition that night by this act of breaking and distributing the unleavened bread.  What Evangelical Churches refer to the “Lords Supper”, “The Lord’s Table”, or “Communion” is actually what Jesus did that last Passover Seder night by breaking the unleavened bread and distributed it to His disciples.  In fact, Jesus did NOT violate the Seder tradition. Lamb was the last things they ate that night. In John 6:48-58, Jesus is recorded as explaining this; “I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”

 

THE THIRD CUP: THE CUP OF REDEMPTION

LEADER:  It is now time for the third cup, the Cup of Redemption. The fruit of the vine at Passover is always red to remind us, the rabbis explain, of the precious blood of that ancient Passover lamb; the lamb that was sacrificed to redeem us from bondage to Pharaoh.

ALL:  In the same way, the blood of another Passover Lamb, the Messiah Jesus, was sacrificed to redeem us from bondage to sin and death. It was concerning this cup, “The Cup of Redemption”, the cup taken after dinner, which the Messiah Jesus said, “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.(Luke 22:20) LEADER:  At Passover, each person at the Seder receives a piece of the Afikomen, about the size of an olive. Then the morsel of Afikomen and the third cup of wine are taken together.  For those of us who know the Messiah, this serves as a remembrance of the body and blood of our Passover Lamb, Jesus the Christ, The Son of the Living God.


COMMUNION/THE LORD’S SUPPER


LEADER:  A warning from the Apostle Paul before we take the Afikomen and Cup of Redemption.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church, and also to all Christian believers, the following; “What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.  Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, and come to this meal in holy awe.  If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won’t have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later”.(1 Corinthians 11:26-32 from THE MESSAGE) Please search your heart right now. Make sure your attitude and your focus are correct. If, if needed, repent and accept Jesus forgiveness.

TAKING THE AFIKOMEN AND THE THIRD CUP, THE CUP OF REDEMPTION: “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.(1 Corinthians 11:23-26) A Time for reflection, prayer, praise and thanksgiving.

 

THE FOURTH CUP: THE CUP OF HALLEL

(The fourth cup is filled)

LEADER:  Now comes the Hallel, the recitation from Psalms 113 through 118. Let us recite psalms of worship at this time,  just as Jesus recited them every year as part of His Passover Seder observance. Praise ye the Lord.

ALL:  Praise, O ye servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.

LEADER:  Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

ALL:  From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord’s name is to be praised.

LEADER:  The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens.

ALL:  Who is like unto the Lord, our God, who dwells on high?

LEADER:  Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.

ALL:  For His mercy endures forever.

(All drink the fourth cup)

THE CUP OF ELIJAH:

LEADER:  The sharing of the Afikomen and the Cup of Redemption are precious moments in the Passover Seder.

Yet most of God’s beloved Chosen People, Israel, do not yet see how the Messiah, and His promise to redeem them, are portrayed in the breaking of this bread, and the drinking of this cup. As a result, they look ahead to the promise represented by a special cup set aside for the prophet Elijah. It is recorded by the Hebrew prophet Malachi that the coming of the Messiah will be preceded by the return of the prophet Elijah. “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”(Malachi 4:5-6)

Each year at Passover, a child goes to the door and opens it wide, hoping the prophet will accept the invitation, enter the home, and announce the coming of the Messiah. A cherished Jewish prayer is for the prophet Elijah to come soon, in our time, with the Messiah, the Son of God.

Yet we who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ already know that Elijah did return. In the book of Matthew Jesus is recorded as saying, “As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’  

I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He, who has ears, let him hear.(Matthew 11:7-15)

The prophet, the forerunner, has come. So did the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, during Passover more than 2,000 years ago.

 

 

THE HOPE:

LEADER:  As we partake of this Passover Seder, may our hearts be joined in gratitude to God for the coming Messiah,

for His death, resurrection and the promise of His soon return.

ALL:  Praise the Lord, all you nations; praise Him all you people. For His merciful kindness is great toward us; the truth of the Lord endures forever. Hallelujah!

LEADER:  It is traditional to conclude the Seder by singing, “Next Year in Jerusalem”. For generations this song has captured, in melody, the fervent hope of the Jewish people. A hope to be restored to the ancient land of Israel in the presence of the Messiah Himself.

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we too have a similar hope; The Hope of Jesus’ soon return. Let us read from the Revelation of John;

ALL:  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” ….

“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.”

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” 

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.(Revelation 21:1-5, Revelation 22:7, Revelation 22:12-16, Revelation 22:20)

 

Bloomberg: ‘I’ve Earned My Place in Heaven’


My Own Two CentsIf you are looking for an example of delusional people who have no idea Who God is, Who His Son, Our Savior is, or God’s expressed entrance requirements to enter His Heaven, you have found that example in this simple minded man, Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Jerry Broussard

Three Star Line

Image: Bloomberg: 'I've Earned My Place in Heaven'Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg admits he’s started feeling his own mortality – but insists that if there is a God, he is going straight to heaven.

The reason for his free pass from the big man upstairs is that he’s done enough on earth to deserve his place up there while fighting for gun control, smoking bans, and drink restrictions, as well as against fattening foods, according to The New York Times.

“I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed,” Bloomberg told the Times. “I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

(Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV)

Bloomberg, 72, started thinking about how long he has left in this world while preparing for his upcoming 50th college reunion, and was shocked to learn how many of his former classmates had been appearing in the “in memoriam” pages of his school newsletter.

During his tenure, Bloomberg became known for attempting to run a “nanny state” in New York due to his many initiatives to help get overweight New Yorkers in shape.

 Last year, he proposed legislation that would have encouraged city residents to forgo elevators and escalators and use the stairs. His get-fit measure followed his previous assault on smoking in public places and his battles against the consumption of oversize sodas, sodium, and trans fats.
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Challenging Question: Would You Do What Jesus Did?


http://clashdaily.com/2014/04/challenging-question-jesus/#iKW0EgM0VWsEX4R7.99

By / 15 April 2014

 
cutting-edge-past-present

As the Easter season approaches, it is time to reflect on our faith and stand in awe of the miracle that is Jesus Christ.

I am given to remember a song titled “Wonder of Wonders” by Charles B. Wycuff.

It was recorded by The Inspirations, one of my favorite gospel groups from Bryson City, NC.

This is the line I find most impressive in the beautiful hymn:

“The wonder of wonders, oh how could it be, that God became flesh and was given for me. The Almighty came down and walked among men. The wonder of wonders he died for my sin.”

Wonder

If you think on that line, God’s sacrifice is almost too much to imagine, and that is not even getting into His crucifixion.

He came down and walked among men. He left heaven to come and live here on earth with us.

When I hear that, I wonder how He saw the difference in this earth with its’ carnal ways. How difficult it would be, if we put ourselves in His shoes, would we be willing to do it?

Just as a most simplistic comparison, would you or I be willing to leave our comfortable, clean, well-appointed homes to live in squalor in a third world country for 33 years just because our father asked us to do it?

How much more did Jesus give up to come here, knowing how long He would be here and how horrifically He would die, yet still willing to do his Father’s will?

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered the city. He knew he would be killed in a very violent way within the week.

He was made flesh and felt all things as we do. He asked His Father to let it pass from him in prayer, yet ultimately accepted His fate with serenity.

If you only think of these examples of His exemplary life, disregarding all of the rest, you cannot help but marvel and praise.

The very least we can do is stand up for His name and His church in everything we do.
It is not something reserved for the Holy Week, but should be a lifestyle.

As you gather with your family and friends this Holy Season, remember to keep it holy.
Honor Him and thank God for His Son who did what we would shrink away from doing.

Image: Courtesy of: http://www.themindfulword.org/2014/contemplation-cutting-edge/

About the author: Candace Hardin

 Candace Hardin resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She fluent in Spanish and a student of Latin and history. She is a columnist on PolitiChicks.tv. and has a blog, kandisays.blogspot.com. Originally from North Carolina, her writing and beliefs have been heavily influenced by the Appalachian culture and tradition.

Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2014/04/challenging-question-jesus/#iKW0EgM0VWsEX4R7.99

 

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