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Saturday, 21 December 2013
THE LATEST PERSECUTION NEWS BY THE EXCELLENT BARNABAS FUND.
Friday, 20 December 2013
"THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS, PLUS MID EAST PEACE AND WAR" BY THE ALWAYS IMPRESSIVE TERRY JAMES.
The United States stands upon the brink of entering uncharted territory in many areas of national movement into the future. Economy is one such area. America’s Out of control momentum–generated by credit and market crises since the 2008 elections– pushes the nation toward a destiny the experts talk about but seem unable to comprehend, much less predict.
Uncertainty about petroleum and the end game for that critical commodity has for the moment left the forefront of national and international crises. But, don’t be lulled into thinking we’ve heard the last of extremely troubling energy prices that are tied up to that finite resource. America, the most dependent of all national oil-dependent entities, is but a Middle East crisis away from suffering problems even greater than the oil crisis of a few years ago.
Both matters are, of course, inextricably tied to one another. The petroleum crisis, mixed in with the monetary/credit fiscal affairs of all nations, means unprecedented global solutions are forthcoming–are already on their way, as a matter of fact. The resolution, or at least rational ways of dealing with this new global paradigm upon the brink of which America stands, almost certainly revolves around whether there is war or peace in the Middle East.
According to recent statistics, with America’s Gross National Product (GNP) down and consumer spending moving downward because of loss of confidence in job security and other economic realities or perceived realities, the nation seems to be in perpetual recession. European economic experts in some quarters say that some parts of Europe are definitely in deep recession. Business and consumers alike are looking to what the future holds with regard to projected economic circumstances and financial instrumentalities that might be employed to bring forth brighter prospects. When the gurus of global economics look at potential Mid-East turmoil, one thing stands out: There must be peace in the region for the world’s economy to get better, and stay better.
Monday, 16 December 2013
BRIAN GEMMELL CONFERENCES FOR 2014 AT SOME OF THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR HOTELS. WELL WORTH A SHORT RETREAT.
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Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Monday, 9 December 2013
THREE STORIES DEMONSTRATING GEN 12:3 (AMENDED VERSION).
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Three stories Demonstrating
Genesis 12:3After receiving a few emails to let me know that the three stories in my last email were not accurate I am sending out this apology. The truth is I didn't do any research on the second and third stories, which have proven to be inaccurate. The scripture from Genesis 12:3 is still most accurate, but the stories presented were not. I am including the more accurate information here.
At the bottom of the page there is a link that will allow you to unsubscribe if you desire. Sorry for the misinformation, this isn't the first time I have done this kind of thing. Please accept my apology.The stories were Translated from Russianby Chaim ZehaviFirst StoryAt the beginning of WWII, when the truth about the fate of the Jewish people was discovered, and when there were still ways to save them, a few hundred rich Jews bought a ship in order to get their families on board and escape to America. But they needed visas, so they approached the American Ambassador in London. It was not difficult for him, but he utterly refused. The Jews, in order to save their families, went without the visas. When the Ambassador found out about it, he contacted Washington, advising them that a ship with illegal immigrants is approaching America. The Jews managed to overcome the horrors of war and reach America, but were not permitted into America. These unlucky people were ordered to turn around and return to burning Europe. and all burnt in the camps. When the tragedy was revealed, the Rabbi of London came to the American Ambassador and said: "Your deeds do not befit not only your post, but you are not fit to be called 'a human'. And now, since you caused hundreds of people's death, YOU AND ALL YOUR DESCENDANTS generations down from now on will be cursed!"The name of the American Ambassador was KENNEDY.Even though the history of the American ambassador Kennedy was not the greatest. The above story is most likely attributed to the ship the MS St. Louis. Which had nothing to do with Kennedy.Second StoryAgain, WWII. Lithuania. The Japanese Ambassador, who was a compassionate and noble person, disagreed with the Nazi crimes, and was concerned with the future of the European Jewry. He used his status and provided them with visas to Japan. From Japan they immigrated to America. Thus he saved the lives of thousands of Jews. When the Germans found out they demanded that the Ambassador will be removed. The Japanese, allies of the Nazis, followed the request. But he still had 2 weeks until his return, and he used these 2 weeks, and worked around the clock, days and nights, and recruited people to help him issue more visas. The lives of many more Jews were saved this way. This was a very dangerous act, deserving of admiration. Prior to his leaving a mission of Jews from the Vilna Synagogue came to thank him. "What you have done for the Jewish People will never be forgotten, and we will pray to God to bless you and your descendants." This wonderful person returned to Japan, and miraculously all his punishment was that he was fired and lost his pension. In order to help his family he started a small workshop.
His name was Mitsubishi.
Chiune Sugihara helped six thousand Jews leave the country. He didn't have anything to do with the Mitsubishi company, which was founded in 1870 and isn't named after a person.Chiune Sugihara is the actual man involved click here to read his story
Third StoryIn the center of the city of Kiev there's a statue in memory of the all-powerful leader of the Ukraine, Bogdan Khmelnitsky. He is sitting on the back of a beautiful horse, his right hand holding a sword and pointing up, towards the sky. he is the epitome of Ukraine's independence. Khmelnitsky is the pride of the Ukrainians, and all visitors are impressed by the beauty of the statue of the great leader. But not many know that Khmelnitsky was a beastly anti-Semite. On his conscience many pogroms against the Jews, burning down of towns and villages, and the blood of many innocent Jews. How many future-geniuses, who could have been great achievers, were lost to the world. His ruthless thugs had no mercy for women or children. These are historical facts. A lot sorrow brought the accursed Khmelnitsky to the land of Ukraine. But in one town, the pogrom was especially horrible. Khmelnitsky and his thugs, drunken on Jewish blood, robbed and destroyed all the homes of the Jews. The boys and the girls were taken to the Synagogue and were all burnt without mercy. All that was left of this town was its name, and not one living Jew. But centuries later the punishment came!The name of this town is Chernobyl.
And in the exact place that the Synagogue used to be, was the Nuclear Plant #4 of the infamous power plant known in the tragedy that occurred in this town.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant wasn't built in the city of Chernobyl, it was built nine miles away near the town of Pripyat.The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, formerly known as the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station, is a nuclear power plant consisting of four nuclear reactors, located eleven miles (eighteen kilometers) northwest of the city of Chernobyl. Construction of the plant began in 1970, in conjunction with the construction of Pripyat. Reactors 1 through 4 were commissioned in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1983 respectively, with each reactor capable of producing 1000 megawats of electricity. story here
If you have made it this far I want to close with this article, which I posted back in 2005. It is an obvious picture of the results of what happens when a nation comes against Israel and God's people. History is filled with this kind of information one man documented in detail in a book titled Eye to Eye short video here. And also in July 2005 the Lord gave me a word of warning you can see it here.
Saturday, 7 December 2013
BLESS THE JEWS AND BE BLESSED - CURSE THE JEWS AND BE CURSED!!
Three stories Demonstrating Genesis 12:3
The stories were Translated from Russian by Chaim Zehavi
First Story
At the beginning of WWII, when the truth about the fate of the Jewish people was discovered, and when there were still ways to save them, a few hundred rich Jews bought a ship in order to get their families on board and escape to America. But they needed visas, so they approached the American Ambassador in London. It was not difficult for him, but he utterly refused. The Jews, in order to save their families, went without the visas. When the Ambassador found out about it, he contacted Washington, advising them that a ship with illegal immigrants is approaching America. The Jews managed to overcome the horrors of war and reach America, but were not permitted into America. These unlucky people were ordered to turn around and return to burning Europe. and all burnt in the camps. When the tragedy was revealed, the Rabbi of London came to the American Ambassador and said: "Your deeds do not befit not only your post, but you are not fit to be called 'a human'. And now, since you caused hundreds of people's death, YOU AND ALL YOUR DESCENDANTS generations down from now on will be cursed!"
The name of the American Ambassador was KENNEDY.
Joseph Kennedy and the Jews
by Edward Renehan, Jr.
Arriving at London in early 1938, newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy took up quickly with another transplanted American. Viscountess Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor assured Kennedy early in their friendship that he should not be put off by her pronounced and proud anti-Catholicism.
"I'm glad you are smart enough not to take my [views] personally," she wrote. Astor pointed out that she had a number of Roman Catholic friends - G.K. Chesterton among them - with whom she shared, if nothing else, a profound hatred for the Jewish race. Joe Kennedy, in turn, had always detested Jews generally, although he claimed several as friends individually. Indeed, Kennedy seems to have tolerated the occasional Jew in the same way Astor tolerated the occasional Catholic.
As fiercely anti-Communist as they were anti-Semitic, Kennedy and Astor looked upon Adolf Hitler as a welcome solution to both of these "world problems" (Nancy's phrase). No member of the so-called "Cliveden Set" (the informal cabal of appeasers who met frequently at Nancy Astor's palatial home) seemed much concerned with the dilemma faced by Jews under the Reich. Astor wrote Kennedy that Hitler would have to do more than just "give a rough time" to "the killers of Christ" before she'd be in favor of launching "Armageddon to save them. The wheel of history swings round as the Lord would have it. Who are we to stand in the way of the future?" Kennedy replied that he expected the "Jew media" in the United States to become a problem, that "Jewish pundits in New York and Los Angeles" were already making noises contrived to "set a match to the fuse of the world."
During May of 1938, Kennedy engaged in extensive discussions with the new German Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Herbert von Dirksen. In the midst of these conversations (held without approval from the U.S. State Department), Kennedy advised von Dirksen that President Roosevelt was the victim of "Jewish influence" and was poorly informed as to the philosophy, ambitions and ideals of Hitler's regime. (The Nazi ambassador subsequently told his bosses that Kennedy was "Germany's best friend" in London.)
Columnists back in the states condemned Kennedy's fraternizing. Kennedy later claimed that 75% of the attacks made on him during his Ambassadorship emanated from "a number of Jewish publishers and writers. ... Some of them in their zeal did not hesitate to resort to slander and falsehood to achieve their aims." He told his eldest son, Joe Jr., that he disliked having to put up with "Jewish columnists" who criticized him with no good reason.
Like his father, Joe Jr. admired Adolf Hitler. Young Joe had come away impressed by Nazi rhetoric after traveling in Germany as a student in 1934. Writing at the time, Joe applauded Hitler's insight in realizing the German people's "need of a common enemy, someone of whom to make the goat. Someone, by whose riddance the Germans would feel they had cast out the cause of their predicament. It was excellent psychology, and it was too bad that it had to be done to the Jews. The dislike of the Jews, however, was well-founded. They were at the heads of all big business, in law etc. It is all to their credit for them to get so far, but their methods had been quite unscrupulous ... the lawyers and prominent judges were Jews, and if you had a case against a Jew, you were nearly always sure to lose it. ... As far as the brutality is concerned, it must have been necessary to use some ...."
Brutality was in the eye of the beholder. Writing to Charles Lindbergh shortly after Kristallnacht in November of 1938, Joe Kennedy Sr. seemed more concerned about the political ramifications stemming from high-profile, riotous anti-Semitism than he was about the actual violence done to the Jews. "... Isn't there some way," he asked, "to persuade [the Nazis] it is on a situation like this that the whole program of saving western civilization might hinge? It is more and more difficult for those seeking peaceful solutions to advocate any plan when the papers are filled with such horror." Clearly, Kennedy's chief concern about Kristallnacht was that it might serve to harden anti-fascist sentiment at home in the United States.
Like his friend Charles Coughlin (an anti-Semitic broadcaster and Roman Catholic priest), Kennedy always remained convinced of what he believed to be the Jews' corrupt, malignant, and profound influence in American culture and politics. "The Democratic [party] policy of the United States is a Jewish production," Kennedy told a British reporter near the end of 1939, adding confidently that Roosevelt would "fall" in 1940.
But it wasn't Roosevelt who fell. Kennedy resigned his ambassadorship just weeks after FDR's overwhelming triumph at the polls. He then retreated to his home in Florida: a bitter, resentful man nurturing religious and racial bigotries that put him out-of-step with his country, and out-of-touch with history.
Second Story
Again, WWII. Lithuania. The Japanese Ambassador, who was a compassionate and noble person, disagreed with the Nazi crimes, and was concerned with the future of the European Jewry. He used his status and provided them with visas to Japan. From Japan they immigrated to America. Thus he saved the lives of thousands of Jews. When the Germans found out they demanded that the Ambassador will be removed. The Japanese, allies of the Nazis, followed the request. But he still had 2 weeks until his return, and he used these 2 weeks, and worked around the clock, days and nights, and recruited people to help him issue more visas. The lives of many more Jews were saved this way. This was a very dangerous act, deserving of admiration. Prior to his leaving a mission of Jews from the Vilna Synagogue came to thank him. "What you have done for the Jewish People will never be forgotten, and we will pray to God to bless you and your descendants." This wonderful person returned to Japan, and miraculously all his punishment was that he was fired and lost his pension. In order to help his family he started a small workshop.
His name was Mitsubishi.
Third Story
In the center of the city of Kiev there's a statue in memory of the all-powerful leader of the Ukraine, Bogdan Khmelnitsky. He is sitting on the back of a beautiful horse, his right hand holding a sword and pointing up, towards the sky. he is the epitome of Ukraine's independence. Khmelnitsky is the pride of the Ukrainians, and all visitors are impressed by the beauty of the statue of the great leader. But not many know that Khmelnitsky was a beastly anti-Semite. On his conscience many pogroms against the Jews, burning down of towns and villages, and the blood of many innocent Jews. How many future-geniuses, who could have been great achievers, were lost to the world. His ruthless thugs had no mercy for women or children. These are historical facts. A lot sorrow brought the accursed Khmelnitsky to the land of Ukraine. But in one town, the pogrom was especially horrible. Khmelnitsky and his thugs, drunken on Jewish blood, robbed and destroyed all the homes of the Jews. The boys and the girls were taken to the Synagogue and were all burnt without mercy. All that was left of this town was its name, and not one living Jew. But centuries later the punishment came!
The name of this town is Chernobyl.
And in the exact place that the Synagogue used to be, was the Nuclear Plant #4 of the infamous power plant known in the tragedy that occurred in this town.
BEST EMAIL OF THE YEAR. FUNNY, BUT SADLY VERY TRUE!
BEST E-MAIL OF THE YEAR
After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:
"Let me see if I've got this right.
You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behaviour, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages and instill in them a love for learning.
You want me to check their rucksacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.
You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a chequebook, and apply for a job.
You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behaviour, and ensure that they all pass their final exams.
You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.
You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for Working Tax Credit.
You want me to do all this, and then you tell me......
I CAN'T PRAY or wear a little cross or say "Happy Christmas" because someone might take offence? "
After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:
"Let me see if I've got this right.
You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behaviour, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages and instill in them a love for learning.
You want me to check their rucksacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.
You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a chequebook, and apply for a job.
You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behaviour, and ensure that they all pass their final exams.
You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.
You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for Working Tax Credit.
You want me to do all this, and then you tell me......
I CAN'T PRAY or wear a little cross or say "Happy Christmas" because someone might take offence? "
Friday, 6 December 2013
"GREATER GRACE". THE STORY OF STEVE McQUEEN, HIS CAREER, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY HIS DRAMATIC CHRISTIAN CONVERSION AT THE END OF HIS LIFE!!
Greater Grace: A Story of God, Redemption, and Steve McQueen! They said he could act with the back of his head. No dialogue or frills required—his mere presence loomed larger than life in every shot. Put him next to some of the finest actors in the business, and he would undercut every one of them simply by being in the frame. His piercingly distinctive blue eyes were set in a rough-hewn, unconventionally handsome face that rarely betrayed strong emotion. His smallest physical gesture was precisely calculated and gracefully executed. You couldn’t best him, you couldn’t buy him, you couldn’t touch him. He was the King of Cool. He was Steve McQueen.
He was the definition of a self-made man, working his way up from a horrific childhood of neglect, paternal abuse and a tough life on the streets to the gold-plated life of a Hollywood icon. He once said that he often had nightmares of everything he had gained being suddenly taken away from him. A man of many paradoxes, he was both humble and defiant, stingy and generous, gentle and violent, self-assured and insecure. Perhaps it was director Norman Jewison (Fiddler On the Roof) who summed him up best: “He was a loner, and he was troubled, and he was looking for a father.”
Everyone had a Steve McQueen story. His superior officers in the Marines could have told you how he spent 41 days in the brig for resisting arrest when caught AWOL. The young men at the Boys’ Republic where Steve had spent some of his teenage years could tell you how he regularly came back and visited the school after becoming famous, personally responding to every boy’s letters and financially supporting the school until his death. Magnificent Seven co-star Yul Brynner could tell you how McQueen stole scene after scene by deliberately throwing in extra, distracting bits of business. Bruce Lee could have told you about a hair-raising ride in Steve’s Porsche that had Lee cowering in the foot-well (and threatening to kill Steve when they stopped, causing a fearful McQueen to hit the gas again and refuse to slow down until Lee promised not to hurt him).
He was known to say that he lived for himself and answered to no one. Asked once if he believed in God, the actor brazenly replied, “I believe in me. God will be number one as long as I’m number one.” That philosophy informed much of his life. All the money, cars, alcohol, drugs and women that a man could ever want were at his fingertips, and it was only a matter of time before he became addicted in every way. Professional successes only inflated his ego. Wild experimentation with substance abuse drove him to the edge of mental stability. Though he tried to be a good father to the son and daughter of his first wife, his addictions, serial womanizing, jealousy and violence burned through two marriages.
By the late 1970s, his star was fading. The washed-up, aging characters he portrayed reflected where he himself was in his life and career. He felt empty and unsatisfied. He began turning down huge offers and retreating into his own private shell. He was also developing health problems with his lungs. Doctors told him he should move, so in the spring of 1979, he left Malibu for the small, quiet town of Santa Paula, where he ultimately married his third wife Barbara Minty. For a period of time, they lived in an airport hangar which he had filled with his entire motorcycle collection. He bought a yellow Stearman bi-plane and learned to fly it, quickly mastering the craft as he had mastered motor racing before.
The pilot who taught him was a man in his early 60s by the name of Sammy Mason. Self-described as cranky and difficult to get along with, he became fast friends with McQueen. As they shared long hours in the air, talking together about the meaning of life, Steve sensed that there was something different about him. The more time they spent together, the more he wanted to know what Mason’s secret was. One day he asked him outright. Mason sat down with the aging actor and explained what, or rather who, had made the difference in his life. The answer, he said, was Jesus Christ.
McQueen was intrigued. He had so much respect for Mason and his family that he began regularly attending Ventura Missionary Church with them. The pastor was Leonard Dewitt. DeWitt later recalled that the famous icon had sat quietly in the balcony without even introducing himself for several months. When he finally requested a meeting with the pastor, he began firing off questions about life and faith, one after another. After a couple of hours, he leaned back and said, “Well, that about covers it for me.” Dewitt said, “Steve, I just have one question for you.” McQueen flashed his signature grin. “You want to know if I’ve become a born-again Christian,” he preempted. Then “still smiling, but very serious,” he told DeWitt that one morning when the pastor had given the invitation, he felt convicted by the Spirit and came forward. “When you invited people to pray with you to receive Christ, I prayed. So yes, I’m a born-again Christian.”
Everybody around him could tell that he was changed. In Sammy Mason’s words, it was “dramatic.” He said, “I doubt that I have ever seen a man flourish with more spiritual reality in such a short time.” Another close Christian friend, John Daly, said that the star’s conversion had stunned him. But when Steve talked about his new-found faith, there was no denying the seriousness of his commitment. In Daly’s words, “I think I had more faith that my saw and hammer would have gotten converted before Steve, but I was hearing it from the horse’s mouth. I was blown away.” Under the discipleship of Mason and DeWitt, McQueen could often be found praying or poring over his Bible. Around that time, he heard Kris Kristofferson’s “Why Me, Lord” and embraced the lyrics as his own testimony. He also shared his testimony with friend and former personal assistant Mario Iscovich, who a decade earlier had been forced to stand by and watch as the actor “lost himself” down the “dark, ugly road” of his sin. As Iscovich puts it, McQueen “felt he had hurt a lot of people” but had finally “made peace with God.”
Shortly afterwards, McQueen traveled to Chicago to shoot his last film, The Hunter. Although his health was continuing to deteriorate, he was actively reaching out to various people in need. (He had always been generous, especially to kids, but now it sprang from a desire to serve God instead of trying to “cancel out” wrongdoings only Christ crucified could pay for.) One of the film’s extras was a feisty 15-year-old girl named Karen Wilson, who had no money to attend school and was working to provide for her family and dying mother. Immediately after visiting the family’s squalorous ghetto home, McQueen asked if he and Barbara could take the girl back to California with them and send her to school there. Eventually the mother agreed, and the couple went on to become Karen’s legal guardians. Her mother succumbed to cancer almost a year later. Today, Karen is happily married with a family of her own.
Also on the set of The Hunter, he gave his last interview to a highschool student named Richard Kraus, who had initially been turned away by McQueen’s stuntman and told that he never gave interviews. The stubborn teen wouldn’t take no for an answer and found a way to approach the legend himself, who readily agreed. Both the interview and the whole story in Kraus’s own words can be found here.
In December of that year, he was officially diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a fast-spreading and incurable form of cancer. The news was crushing because McQueen had expected God to use him in some great way now that he was converted. But he told Pastor DeWitt that he was able to endure it because at least he knew where he would spend eternity. Still, he was ready to try anything for the sake of his children—too ready, unfortunately. It led him down an almost year-long road of “unconventional” remedies where he was essentially taken advantage of by quack doctors (including a faith healer), all to no avail. We have a tape-recorded conversation from this time period where McQueen is talking about his illness, his faith, and the change in his life. “My body is broken,” he says, “but my spirit isn’t broken. My heart isn’t broken.” You can hear his voice crack when he shares dreams of “changing some people’s lives with what I know of the Lord, and what I have to offer with what’s happened to me.” He hoped to move to his wife’s ranch in Idaho and impact the community there. Sadly, he never got his wish.
One of the last people Steve talked to was none other than Billy Graham, whom the actor had long wanted to meet. DeWitt informed his contacts in the Graham organization that McQueen didn’t have much time left and wanted to see the evangelist if it could at all be arranged. Graham came right before McQueen was flown to a hospital for surgery to remove his tumors. Bed-ridden and on oxygen, McQueen was still, in Graham’s words, “a fighter.” Graham recalls, “Under that oxygen, he would talk. His eyes were just as bright, but he looked emaciated and old.” He poured out his life’s story to the evangelist, telling him about his friend Sammy Mason, telling him how God had made him a new man. McQueen had misplaced his Bible, so Graham personally inscribed his own Bible and gave it to the dying actor. He stayed by McQueen’s side and prayed with him until they reached the airport, then saw him off on the plane.
McQueen would not survive the operation. Four days after his meeting with Graham, he died of a heart attack with the evangelist’s Bible resting on his chest. It was opened to his favorite verse, that old, familiar promise so simple a child could grasp it, yet so profound the angels cannot comprehend it: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Today, he is still idolized and remembered for what he left behind in his films. But as remarkable as that legacy is, it will fade away like a forgotten dream at the dawning of eternity’s day. For when the grass has withered, and the young men have utterly fallen, and time like an ever-rolling stream has borne all its sons away, we shall be left with two wonders only: our own worthlessness and God’s redeeming love. May we all so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal.
I’ll close with a fitting song, a beautiful marriage of lyrics and music by Marc Cohn. This is called “Old Soldier.” I created this video to go with it.
Listen, old soldier, wherever you are
The hills or the valleys, come near or come far
They say youth is a treasure we waste when we’re young
So come down from the place where your medals are hung
You’re forever returning and learning to fight
And you feel just like an old soldier tonight…
The hills or the valleys, come near or come far
They say youth is a treasure we waste when we’re young
So come down from the place where your medals are hung
You’re forever returning and learning to fight
And you feel just like an old soldier tonight…
Monday, 2 December 2013
"THE PROPHECY CONUNDRUM" BY JACK KINSELLA FROM "THE OMEGA LETTER".
Vol: 146 Issue: 29 - Friday, November 29, 2013
The Prophecy ConundrumNote: This Letter is even more luminous today than when it was written. Alf Cengia's "Iran - Now they're Talking! " reveals through the happenings in the Middle East further evidence that our faith is not in vain. Tick. Tock.In every generation of Christians since the time of the Apostles, there have been devout souls who have pored over the Scriptures, comparing the signs to the times and looking for evidence suggesting the imminent return of Christ.In most previous generations, they were either revered as sages or dismissed as harmless nut-cases. But in this generation, something is different. Students and teachers of Bible prophecy find themselves in great demand or shunned like lepers.Depending on how one receives the message, we are perceived as either hateful or hopeless, but we are certainly not harmless. In this generation, the first mental image most people have when they hear "Bible prophecy" is of a burning compound outside Waco.It doesn't matter that David Koresh was certifiably nuts or that he claimed to be Jesus Christ. To most people in this generation, "Bible prophecy" and "apocalyptic cult" are synonyms.I typed in Bible prophecy apocalypse as Google keywords and the most popular returns all referenced 2012 in some way.Very few actually had much to do with Bible prophecy, all of them had something to do with doomsday, and none of them offered much in the way of either understanding or hope.Since the 1960's 'evangelical' and 'apocalyptic' and 'conservative' have all sort of run together into an image that then-candidate Obama summed up (rather well, really) in his "bitter redneck" comment."And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."When you get right down to it, there isn't much about Bible prophecy that this generation should be eager to embrace. I feel for one of our younger members who lamented in one of our forums that we older folks at least knew what it felt like to have a future worth planning for.I feel it for my own children. I came to Christ in my early 20's. God called me almost immediately to be a watchman -- my kids grew up never expecting to grow up.My son Rick will be thirty-six in August. I can still hear him in my memory, his squeaky voice just beginning to crack, asking me if I thought the Lord would tarry long enough for him to learn to drive.\I've been expecting the Rapture to take place at any second now for almost my entire Christian life. Every new event seems to signal that 'this is IT!" but then it isn't. I get my hopes up, and then I realize that my reach has exceeded my grasp.I am not alone -- I am one of an entire generation of similarly disappointed Christians who keep listening for a trumpet that never sounds. This collective disappointment is reflected by a number of recent surveys that suggest Christianity in general, and evangelicalism in particular, are on the wane in the United States.Michael Spencer, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, paints a rather grim picture of where he sees American evangelical Christianity headed, not just in the United States, but the Western world.Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.This is perfect example of the "prophecy conundrum" -- that's pretty much the way the Bible predicted it, too."Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." (2 Thessalonians 2:3)Assessment:"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. " (2nd Timothy 4:3-4)"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew 24:12)"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2nd Peter 3:3-4)Prophecy is knowledge of future events -- and that has considerable weight. If you don't believe knowledge has weight, think back to some time when you were in deep trouble when you were a kid and you were waiting for a punishment you KNEW was coming.You already knew what you did. That was past. But punishment, although certain, was still future. Weighed heavily on your mind, didn't it? (Multiple puns intended to make the point)Knowledge has weight. And some knowledge is heavier than other knowledge.The end of the world is a fairly heavy subject.The knowledge imparted to students of Bible prophecy in this generation is almost crushingly heavy -- I believe that is the reason that the Lord promises a special crown to those who willingly shoulder its burden."Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." (2nd Timothy 4:8)Watching God work has another unexpected consequence. It tends cause us to see ourselves in the reflected light of His glory --and it isn't a pretty sight. Sometimes when that happens, it also manifests itself in one of our forums.There was an entry by a brother just the other day lamenting his spiritual condition before the Lord. He begins by confessing he is 'haunted' by the fact he isn't sure he is saved.Let me address that brother first, before returning to the wider issue at hand, since we all struggle with that issue at one time or another.If you can follow me around this mental circle. . . If I DIDN'T wonder if I was saved from time to time, THAT would be a reason to worry. I KNOW how far short of the glory of God I come. I know me in my innermost, darkest places.If I was God . . . well, let's just say that it is a good thing for ME that I'm not.So if I started to think that I was good enough to be saved, and that's why I wasn't wondering, then maybe I wouldn't be.Stay with me, here. This is one of those circular thoughts that, once you get it, slings you out the other side where the light is better.If you are wondering how can it be that you are saved, as unworthy and unfit as you are to be saved, then by those very doubts you qualify as one of God's redeemed."Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" When John Wesley penned the words to that hymn, he was haunted by his sin, too.When God works all around you, when you watch Him change the course of nations, set up and tear down rulers according to His Word, when you actually witness Him manipulating events to conform to His prophetic outline, it tends to remind you of who you ought to be before Him.There is another lesson taught by prophecy that is often overlooked -- not who you ought to be, but who you actually are before the Lord.He knew, down to the tiniest detail, what you would be thinking and doing as you committed the worst and most unforgivable thing you ever did in your entire life -- and He saved you anyway.You are the one that He loved so much that He paid the penalty for all yours sins on Calvary so you and He could be friends for eternity.You are the one He loved so much that He told you, in advance, what to look for in the last days, so you wouldn't be scared."Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God. Believe also in Me."There is a crown of righteousness laid up for you and me at the Bema Seat as a special reward for carrying the weight of what we know and being willing to share it while there is still time.I believe that Michael Spencer is right. The end of evangelicalism is close -- it's no more than a trumpet note away. We can see it. We can feel it. The weight of this sin-sick world is too heavy for us to bear for much longer.Which is why, praise the Lord, we won't have to. He's coming.
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