What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
All the great religious leaders of history have one thing in common: they are dead. Only one man has risen from a grave never again to taste death. Jesus Christ died, was buried, remained in the grave for 3 days, then was raised to life again.
Jesus is unique. He is the only one proven to be the Son of God because God validated His Kingship and accepted His payment for our sins all with one incredible stroke: He raised Jesus from the dead!
Paul opens his letter to the Romans with this evidence about who Jesus is:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 1:1-4
Because Jesus Christ is very much alive, five things are true right now that wouldn’t be true if He were just another dead religious leader like Confucius, Mohammed or Buddha.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive…Prayers are answered, We can talk to Jesus 24/7
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The wanton destruction of Ukrainian lives and property by Russian troops is indeed morally wrong and must be condemned. However, Putin’s fears that Russia will be grievously harmed by the destruction of moral and religious values that are the bedrock of civilization are certainly justified. America has a serious problem that Russia doesn’t want. The Blaze News for March 8, 2022, announced: “Biden requests $2.6 billion from Congress to fund global gender equity programs.” Do we have $2.6 billion to spend for a fabricated cause when the threat of World War III is hanging over our head like Damocles’ sword? And the madness continues. U.S. troops are being brought back from their posts to be schooled in sensitivity training and the proper use of pronouns for those who have transitioned. Putin looks at stuff like this and he is horrified. So are many Americans! We should all be horrified. This is madness.
Vladimir Putin wants to leave a noble legacy. This desire may have been strengthened by the fact that he may be suffering from cancer. Putin has been seen with Dr. Yevgeny Selivanov, who specializes in thyroid cancer. If he is leaving this world, Putin first wants to do something noble to earn God’s love so his sins will be forgiven; second, he identifies faithfulness to God with faithfulness to Russia. He sees patriotism and godly behavior as a faithful “Russian Orthodox Christian” as part of the same package. This is a warning to conservative Christians in America. We love America and know that it is more than a place; it is also an idea. But we must never equate love for God, with love for our America. We should never feel that God has let us down if, in the next presidential election, a God-hating, America-hating candidate wins! It could happen. Despite the low scores Joe Biden is getting in the polls, America may have come so far in the wrong direction that a large number of Americans may still vote for a Joe Biden kind of a leader. I see Donald Trump as having accomplished much good despite the continual media thrashing he received, but let’s not make him a patron saint. I believe that there will be worldwide revival, but I do not believe that it will be centered in America.
Now is the time to heed Romans 12:1–2. It is the will of God to have the Spirit of God use the Word of God to make the children of God more like the Son of God.
Lukeon?Port Elizabeth 6000, Eastern Cape South Africa
Dec 29?476 Blogs?6,956 Comments
#2015
May God grant you a peaceful happy healthy and prosperous 2024.
Keep well dear lady.
Thank you Lukeon for your New Years wishes.
I also like to start wishing you good health as that is the most important when you have that you are rich.
All what is best are my wishes for you my friend...................
Last week, I went to the grocery store with my wife. While I was there, I noticed that many products were missing from the store shelves. In fact, many of the shelves were just empty.
Why are the store shelves in America empty? Well, there are several reasons. First, consumers in this COVID crazy world are buying and hoarding products. People purchase extra items just in case there is another quarantine. Second, stores are dealing with a shortage of employees. We live in a country where people do not want to work. So, there is nobody to stock the shelves. Third, U.S. ports are backed up with ships wanting to unload their cargo. A shortage of truckers to move the goods has caused delays in unloading cargo ships. And there seems to be no end in sight.
Could empty grocery store shelves eventually lead to a famine in the United States? I don’t know. I do know that today we are seeing a famine growing all around this planet. We are told by the United Nations daily that a food famine is here, and it is growing. We are told that in just a short time we will need to be producing 50 percent more food than the world is currently producing.
Throughout history, famines have come and gone. Sometimes they are quite severe and encompass large areas of the globe. Other times they are not so far reaching, affecting only a small segment of our population. For the most part, the United States has been able to escape famines. We are a land of plenty. So much so that our country has always been very involved in sending supplies to areas where there is human suffering due to a famine or some other catastrophe.
Sure, today we are seeing a decline of availability of some food products and rising prices are beginning to put a strain on our pocketbooks. Gasoline prices more than doubled last year. The cost of living is high and going up. Still, most Americans will go to bed with full bellies tonight. We are not suffering from a famine in this country.
However, I believe there is a famine coming. Empty store shelves and high prices pale in comparison to the famine coming upon this land which was spoken of by Amos.
In Amos 8:11–12, we read, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.”
The people of Amos’ time knew about famines. They had been through a few. They knew what it was like to live through a drought and watch one crop after another fail and die. They understood the suffering that famine brings when people starve to death. But the prophet Amos declared that there was a worse famine than a famine of food.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). For you to grow spiritually, you must feast on the words of the Bible. Every kind of life requires nutrients—including your spirit. God gave you a Bible. God gave you men who have the gift of preaching and teaching. But are you listening?
A famine for the Word of God is coming upon our land and in fact is in partly already here. People as a whole—that is worldwide—are no longer interested in hearing the Word of God. We live in a world where people run to and fro seeking what they are not able to find. Because they have rejected God’s Word for so long, people are not able to recognize the truth any longer even if that is what they desire. We are reaping what we have sown.
The mainstream media is a huge platform which the enemy uses to further his agenda of lies. If Christians were more vocal, we could also use this platform to spread the truth of God’s message of salvation. But that isn’t the case, is it? Christians have become so passive that the world has it easy when it comes to walking all over us—especially those in the mainstream media.
In Revelation 3, the Lord addresses the Laodicean church—the church at the end of the age. Jesus stands on the outside and knocks; whoever will open the door will receive unto them our Lord Jesus. The problem with the Laodicean church is they believe they already have everything they need. Guess what? They don’t have the most important part—Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus was standing on the outside knocking; He was not in the church.
The famine of God’s Word is a choice people have made to reject it, to completely turn from the truth and embrace the lie of secularism. Even many Christians have embraced this lie. According to research done by the Barna Group, only seven percent of born-again believers have a biblical worldview. The rest have turned from the truth of the Bible. That means 93 percent of professing Christians have no desire to hear the truth.
What Amos is speaking of in referring to a famine of God’s Word is that people will no longer “hear” the Word of God. Whether consciously or unconsciously they will seek after it in the end times, but they won’t find it. They didn’t want to “hear” it for so long that it will no longer be available to them. A “God famine,” so to speak, brought about by a lack of pursuit of His Word.
Many pastors are either going through this famine or are steeped in it. Because so many have turned away from God’s Word, they are no longer able to preach the truth. People not wanting to hear the truth have convinced their pastors of what they want to hear. Pastors wanting to please their congregations preach what their congregations want to hear. Both are turning away from what God wants them to be teaching and to be taught so that sooner or later God just takes the Word away from them all together. We know for a fact this end-time scenario is happening before our very eyes.
If we seek God, God tells us that we will find Him. On the other hand, if we despise God and remain in this attitude for very long, it will be increasingly more difficult to “hear” His word, let alone receive it unto ourselves. This is an attitude in which many are in today; they are completely unaware of where they are headed. Of course, we know they are headed for Hell.
If we as born-again believers will confront these people with the truth of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit has a better than even chance to convict them of their foolishness and turn them toward God and the Holy Bible before it’s too late. We must plant the seeds of His Word to stave off this famine coming in our land. God will do the rest.
You can learn more about the prophet Amos and his message of famine in James Collins’ new book The 12 available now from Beacon Street Press.
In Part I of this series I shared some of the basic ideas about preterism, and why the view that prophecy has already been fulfilled doesn’t stand up under close scrutiny. In Part II, I want to look closely at some of the scriptures to which preterists appeal. Do they support preterism? I don’t believe so. Let the reader be the judge.
Revelation 1:7—God’s Judgment on Israel in AD 70?
“Behold, he cometh with clouds,” Revelation 1:7 says, “and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” “Every eye” and “all kindreds” sound like a big group of people worldwide. The word “kindreds” is a translation of phule, meaning “tribes.” Preterists would say it is a reference to the twelve tribes, but in this text there is no reference to the “twelve tribes.” Rather it is “all tribes.” The same term is used in Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 11:9 and 13:7. It’s a very broad word that defies limitation to Israel, and even the ancient Roman Empire.
Preterists see the reference to “clouds” as a clincher for their case. They say it is a reference to the Divine “Cloud Rider,” a designation for God who has come in judgment upon nations in the historical past. Isaiah 19:1 reads, “Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.” Preterists argue that this happened when the Assyrian king Esarhaddon conquered Egypt in 671 BC and was God’s instrument of judgment upon Egyptian idolatry, as Rome was God’s instrument of judgment on Israel in AD 70.
Preterists have a certain creative flair for novel ideas that are not immediately apparent, but I think they have missed some essentials from the text of the Bible. In Isaiah 19, the Lord is pictured as riding ON the clouds, whereas in Revelation 1:7, the Lord comes WITH clouds. In this Scripture we see a textual parallel with Daniel 7:13: “… and, behold, one like the Son of man came WITH the clouds of heaven.” Verse 14 bristles with kingdom glory and says “his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Dare we even limit God’s dominion to the Roman world?
Matthew 24:14: Witness to Everyone in Jerusalem, and Then the End?
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world (oikumene) for a witness unto all nations (ethnos); and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). Supposedly, “the end” in this verse is the end of the Jewish sacrificial system that occurred with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. The Gospel witness “in all the world” means “all the Roman world.”
Oikumene does have a range of meanings. Luke 2:1 tells us that “there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world (oikumene) should be taxed.” Obviously, this decree did not affect all the people on planet Earth. But oikumene is used in Acts 17:31 in the phrase God “will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” This does not mean God will only judge the Roman world of antiquity. The same words can have different meanings, as in the phrase “let the dead bury their dead” (Luke 9:60). Context and meaning helps the reader decide.
Peterists, however, like to give a word the meaning that best suits their system rather than considering context and meaning. This is a real problem with preterism. It’s a case of the tail wagging the dog. For example, Romans 1:8 states: “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (kosmos). “World,” of course, means the Roman world. However, in a different context the same word “kosmos” cannot be limited to the Roman world. “
Big Words in Bible Prophecy
Matthew 24:21 speaks about the horrors of the Great Tribulation. Verse 22 says, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh (sarx) be saved.” Does this mean “no flesh in Jerusalem”? I doubt it. Sarx is a big word: “Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight”(Rom. 3:20). Does this mean that “no flesh in Jerusalem will be justified by keeping the law, but everyone else will”? First Corinthians 1:29 is similar: “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” Does this mean that no one living in Jerusalem in AD 70 should glory in God’s presence but everyone else should?
“This generation”—Which One?
In Matthew 24:15-21, the Lord Jesus speaks about great trouble for Israel. Jesus speaks about great tribulation and suffering exceeding anything that has been or will ever be (vs. 21). The Lord is revealing how bad things will really get. But He doesn’t stop with that. “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (vs. 22).
Preterists believe that in AD 70 God was acting in judgment against Israel. But there is much more taught in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24. Satan’s future attempt to completely destroy God’s ancient covenant people will fail. Luke 21:24 reads: “…and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, UNTIL the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” The Lord is revealing three things of great importance: (1) Jerusalem’s fall is of a limited duration. It is not final, nor is it complete. (2) There is a period of time when Gentiles will overrun the city and rule over the city and its population. (3) There will be a later time when this situation will be reversed.
In Luke 21:25-26, Jesus talks about celestial and cosmic disruptions that are completely unsettling. Verses 27-28 states: “And THEN shall they SEE [it is visible, not invisible] the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And WHEN these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your REDEMPTION draweth nigh.” Notice it’s “redemption” not destruction and doom.
Verses 27 and 28 remind us of the rapidity with which all of these signs occur. This explains Matthew 24:34: “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” The generation that sees the signs signaling the return of the Lord will endure through it all to see the Lord. When the signs appear, prophetic events will proceed very quickly. There is a stated nearness of the signs to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4–5 and the Olivet Discourse
In 1 Thessalonians 4:15 the Apostle states: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord.” “Lord” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are several Scriptures in which Paul uses the phrase found above to indicate words and thoughts spoken by Jesus (1 Cor. 7:10-11, 25; 9:14; 11:23-25). We have good reason to believe this is what happened in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11. In other words, the words and thoughts of Jesus in Matthew 24 and other parallel passages appear in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5.
Matt. 24:31: “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” 1 Thess. 4:16-17: “…with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”
Matt. 24:36: “But [peri de] of that day and hour knoweth no man…” 1 Thess. 5:1-2: “But [peri de] of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you…”
Matt. 24:39: “And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” 1 Thess. 5:3: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them…and they shall not escape.”
There is still much unfulfilled prophecy revealed in the Bible. The Bible is indeed “profitable” in all things, including its prophetic teachings. It is God’s Divinely revealed truth about the end times. I pray that the material in this presentation may encourage the saints and be used in alarming and winning the lost, “for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:3).
Good to see you back..............
First comes good health, if you have good health you are rich.
May your love for our Lord Jesus increase and may your love for others show you care. Passing on love is contecious.
May this coming year be good to you and your famelies.....Happy 2024............jenny
Larry Spargimino.............November 17, 2021
“…
but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon” (Rev.9:11)
In the past tyrannical governments have not only banned religious messages, but also novels, poems and short stories, along with paintings and other visual art forms that were deemed “anti-government.”
On May 10, 1933 university students in 34 university towns across Germany burned over 25,000 books. The works of Jewish authors like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud went up in flames, alongside works of black-listed American authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller. As the ravenous flames lit up the night sky, 40,000 students and adults gave the Nazi salute. This marked the intellectual impoverishment and decline of a great nation and a great people who had contributed immensely to humanity. Is the current wave of censorship against medical and scientific experts who oppose the vaccines a harbinger of the rise of The Antichrist?
Meet The Bully and His Slick Protégé
The Biden vaccine mandate brought grief to freedom-loving Americans by forcing them to make a tragic choice: take a vaccine that a growing number of medical experts condemn, or face: (1) loss of employment, (2) a dishonorable discharge from the military, (3) get rejected for an organ transplant that you need to stay alive, (4) experience a thousand other things that evil minds have planned for resisters.
The Epoch Times (10/7/21) reports that a Colorado hospital has rejected a woman for a kidney transplant after she refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Leilani Lutali received a letter on September 28 informing her that the transplant team at the University of Colorado Hospital decided to designate her “inactive” on the waiting list for transplants.
Neither Lutali, nor her donor, Jaimee Fougner are willing to be vaccinated. Fougner said, “Here I am, willing to be a direct donor to her. It does not affect any other patient on the transplant list. How can I sit here and allow them to murder my friend when I’ve got a perfectly good kidney and can save her life?”
The current censorship in America is a startling reminder of the power of Big Tech over our lives. Censorship affects the news people hear and see, the education their kids receive, and censorship determines the outcome elections. Voters form their opinions of candidates based on what is fed them through the media. Media distortions and lies are currently destroying America far more effectively than any invasion by a hostile nation. President Biden and his heavy-handed leadership will stop at nothing until America is a wasteland of boarded-up businesses and teenagers in need of psychiatric care.
The Real Dr. Fauci
After delivering a lecture via livestream at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Dr. Fauci was asked a question: “How should we approach the value of individual freedom within the context of this global pandemic?” It’s significant how Fauci responded. First, he criticized Fox News and other conservative media outlets. Then he slammed the idea of individual freedom, framing vaccination as one’s highest moral responsibility toward our neighbor. Then Fauci revealed what he really thinks: “I think each of us, particularly in the context of a pandemic that’s killing millions of people, you have got to look at it and say, ‘There comes a time when you do have to give up what you consider your individual right of making your own decision for the greater good of society’” (theblaze.com)
What’s the bottom line in Fauci’s statement? Because we have a pandemic “that is killing millions of people.” Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff under the Obama Administration, gave Fauci’s dirty little secret away when Emanuel said, “Never pass up a good crisis. It’s your opportunity to do what you could not normally do.”
Without a pandemic that’s killing millions of people no on will be willing to surrender their individual liberties. This is why there is the current censorship of materials that disagrees with Dr. Fauci. We can’t have people contradicting the claim that millions more will die. The testimony of credentialed medical experts who support Life-saving meds such as HCQ and Ivermectin must be censored.
Censorship of Materials That Have Anti-Vax Content
On September 29, 2021 Drudge Report blazed the words, “YOUTUBE BANS ALL ‘ANTI-VAX CONTENT.’” This is censorship. The current crisis that the world is experiencing is not about the virus. It is about control.
Is Dr. Fauci’s guiding principle “do no harm” or is it just the opposite? This is not ridiculous question. Why is the testimony of so many medical experts who are warning us about the vaccines, being censored, trampled and being ignored? Why are people being taken off a transplant list for not wanting to take a shot that could very well have harmful effects?
Dr. Peter McCullough, who has had many peer-reviewed publications published in top-tier medical journals, warns that the world is “in the middle of a major biological catastrophe.” At an address he gave at the annual fundraiser of the non-profit Michigan for Vaccine Choice, McCullough charged that fraudulent public health officials are pushing experimental “gene-transfer” COVID-19 vaccines that produce the “loaded weapon” of a toxic spike protein.
Emphasizing the importance of safety in medicine, McCullough said it’s “beyond astonishing” that “there has been an injection of a substance into half of Americans’ bodies and there’s yet to be a report to America on safety.” He pointed out that was not the case in 1976 when the government shut down the Swine Flu vaccination campaign after the emergence of 25 deaths and 550 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. The debate over whether or not they were caused by the vaccine didn’t matter. What mattered was the unexplained deaths that occurred after vaccination. McCullough told his audience, “If you feel tension right now and you feel some emotional distress, and if you feel as if things aren’t going right…I think your perceptions are correct.”
McCullough accused Biden’s top coronavirus adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, of “committing fraud” by declaring there is “no evidence” to support the effectiveness of Ivermectin in treating COVID-19. “Ivermectin is supported by over 60 studies, over 30 clinical trials,” McCullough said. It may be the truth but Baylor University Medical Center fired McCullough in February. Texas A&M College of Medicine, Texas Christian University and University of North Texas Health And Science Center School of Medicine have cut ties with him, accusing him of spreading misinformation. (WND, 10/7/21).
In the continuing struggle between truth and falsehood, truth is persistent and rises from many quarters. The globalcovidsummit.org reports that “Yale epidemiologist Harvey Risch continues to express dismay over the way hyrdroxychloroquine has been maligned for political reasons by a pliant media establishment.” COVID-19 can be successfully treated.
While more than 10,000 physicians and medical scientists have signed the “Rome Declaration” in protest, many of these individuals have experienced “career threats, character assassination, censorship of scientific papers and research, social media accounts blocked, online search results manipulated, clinical trials and patient observations banned, and their professional history and accomplishments minimized in both academic and mainstream media.” We must not ignore the fact that Dr. Robert Malone, architect of the mRNA vaccine participated in the “Rome Declaration” (globalcovidsummit.org).
This is just the beginning of the final epic struggle between good and evil. Jesus was very much to the point when he said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
In the introduction to his book, Hitler’s Cross, Erwin Lutzer says he wanted to study how Hitler had captured the Christian church:
“I knew that 95 percent of the people in Germany were either Protestant or Catholic. Now I wanted to know why the Christians in Germany did not condemn Hitler with one single unified and courageous voice. I wondered why millions willingly took Hitler’s Hakenkreuz (hooked or broken cross) and superimposed on it the cross of our crucified Redeemer. Only later would I understand the extent to which this confusion of crosses beguiledthe German church and invited the judgment of God” (p. 12).
At the end of the age it is vital that true Christ-followers stand for truth in the power of God. Yes, God inhabits the praises of His people (Ps. 22:3), and the words of the prophet Jeremiah are still true: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer. 29:11).
Many are wondering if God has rightly abandoned America. Are we being justly abandoned by God because of our sins? Is the fact that America has been plagued with a variety of problems which seem to have no solution the result of God’s activity? Are we under a futility curse?
God has given warnings about nations that flagrantly disregard His standards, especially a nation that has been richly favored by God, such as Israel. One of the penalties: Futility. “And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. … And your strength shall be spent in vain …” (Lev. 26:17, 20).
We need to assess contemporary events in the light of Scripture. Romans 15:4 says: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning …” God’s revelations to Israel can be instructive in helping God’s people understand our world today. This should not be surprising. Second Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all Scripture is inspired by God, and is “profitable.”
George Washington’s Prophecy and President Biden
Following the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, Jonathan Cahn gave a prophetic warning for Biden and America. Cahn began is 13-minute, on-camera video released on social media with the warning George Washington gave during his very first presidential address to the nation:
“The propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right that heaven itself has ordained.” Indeed, how true. Thanks to a sleepy president and “woke” generals, the Taliban is now the fifth most technically-equipped military in the world. They are armed with U.S. equipment that should have been destroyed before we abandoned Afghanistan to unspeakable misery.
Biden’s performance has been disappointing (I am being nice).
America is now facing a loss of inalienable rights, runaway inflation, a wide-open southern border, shutting down a U.S. gas pipeline, forced vaccine mandates that can’t be medically justified, a crusade for “transgender rights,” not to mention the latest disaster in Afghanistan. Will our allies ever trust us again?
They shouldn’t with Biden as commander-in-chief. Little Taiwan is left shivering in the cold. The Chinese communist behemoth to the west knows that it can trample Taiwan without any resistance from America, other than a presidential frown for good show.
In his prophetic warning, Cahn mentioned the slaughter of the unborn, and then gave a warning to Biden that even made me shudder: “To you, Mr. President, and all who have joined you in this agenda … heed this warning. This day will pass. The applause of men will fade. This administration will inevitably be over. The world will pass away, but you will stand before God and give account. For it is written in His Word that we will each stand before God and give account.”
Dr. Michael Brown, messianic scholar, social commentator, and revivalist, is always soft-spoken and non-abrasive, but even he wrote: “The story of almost 20 years of American involvement in Afghanistan has ended in unmitigated disaster. In fact, it would be difficult to imagine a worst-case scenario than the present one (“Ask Dr. Brown,” 8/17/21).
How can we ever forget the images of people hoping to escape the country, swarming the runway, and some clinging to departing aircraft during takeoff—sometimes with such disastrous results that their bodies were seen falling from the sky as they evidently could no longer hang on as the plane ascended.
Former president Donald Trump said Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan is the “single most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.” President Biden, on the other hand, claims it was a great success. Do you believe Donald Trump or Joe Biden?
The Disgrace of Godlessness
Biblical futility curses bring shame and disgrace. “And I will break the pride of your power” … (Lev. 26:19). A report in The Epoch Times, titled “Beijing Continues to Capitalize on U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan for Propaganda Campaign,” brings this out. The Taliban takeover provides fresh inspiration for Islamic radicals worldwide while at the same time providing a safe zone for terror cells that can launch attacks on Europe and America.
A recent sermon, titled “War on Islam,” and preached recently by Canadian imam Younus Kathrada at the Muslim Youth of Victoria Center sounds a note of victory: “Look at all the money spent by Jews and Christians to destroy Islam. Look at what the West tried to do for 20 years in Afghanistan. And now what has happened? Islam has overcome! Islam will overcome! As for the Jews and Christians, they are not our friends. We must stand with our brothers in Afghanistan and support Sharia Law! We say, Allahu Akbar!” Indeed, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: But sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34).
The Covid Crisis
Suppose you have a loved one who was hospitalized two weeks ago with COVID. His condition has been getting progressively worse. Soon he will be put on a ventilator. It doesn’t look good. You know of two people who were put on a ventilator and they expired. You tell the doctor that you know there is an alternative treatment that a group of doctors claim really works. It’s called hydroxychloroquine, or HCQ. The doctor cuts you off before you can say another word. “It doesn’t work. It has bad side effects,” he snaps back at you. “But doctor,” you plead, “my loved one is getting worse and you are not helping him. Please, doctor, give HCQ a try.” The doctor shakes his head and walks out.
Question: Would you be angry at the doctor? Even if there is only a one-in-ten chance that an alternate treatment would work, shouldn’t the doctor give it a try? What’s the doctor afraid of? The person might actually recover and the medical bureaucracy might get angry?
The death rate from COVID is soaring. Hospitals can’t handle the increased number of patients. It’s a disaster. Cities and states going into lockdowns. Businesses are closing. Families are suffering. Marriages are coming apart at the seams. Does somebody somewhere want this to happen? Could that be possible?
America’s Frontline Doctors are a group of physicians who believe that the COVID crisis is being mishandled. They are a small number of courageous physicians in the U.S. and around the world who put their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor on the line.
Dr. Stella Immanuel, MD, who owns Rehoboth Medical Center in Houston, has treated 7,000 patients. Only eight died. In his book, God and Cancel Culture: Stand Strong Before It’s Too Late, Steve Strang said that Immanuel found an article from several years ago that proved that hydroxychloroquine is a potent inhibitor of SARS-COVID. She calls HCQ a “cure.” “I can’t understand why they want Americans to die when there’s a cure,” Immanuel writes. She is from Africa and notes that when visitors come to sub-Sahara Africa they are advised to take antimalarial drugs, which is what HCQ is. “If you notice, most countries that are malaria-endemic that are taking those quine drugs, their COVID deaths are not that high,” commented Dr. Immanuel.
Some of the knee-jerk reactions can be traced to what has been called “the Trump Derangement Syndrome.” On May 18, 2020, President Trump endorsed HCQ and said he was taking it. When Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted a Frontline doctors’ video, his Twitter account was restricted for sharing “content that may pose a risk to people’s health.” All videos of America’s Frontline Doctors were then stripped from Facebook and YouTube, and the organization’s website was taken down. While most doctors in America want only the best for their patients, it is time to stand up and say “Enough is enough!”
July 15, 2021
Where is the United States in Bible Prophecy? I am often asked this question. If you are a patriotic American like me, then it is only natural to speculate about the future of our nation. I grew up in a country where we stood up each morning in school and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. At little league ballgames, we proudly rose with reverence during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Before I could shave, I enlisted in the United States Army where I served for over twenty-eight years. During my time in the military, I deployed to combat on multiple occasions. I often held the hand of an American soldier as he took his last breath. As an Army chaplain, I officiated over four hundred military funerals. Over four hundred times in my life, I stood before a flag-draped coffin and offered words of comfort to a hurting, grieving family. If the Lord tarries, when I die, my casket will also be covered with an American flag. I love the United States.
However, the America that I grew up in is no more. We live in a time of decline in our culture. The problem is not simply that individual people are godless. It goes much deeper than that. Our leaders themselves are committed to godless policies and Christless activities. Murder, rape, pillage, and various other forms of utter dishonesty are practiced in the name of government today.
As the United States declines, I cannot help but remember the great nations that once were, and now amount to very little. There was the nation of Babylon, of which the prophet Daniel spoke to Nebuchadnezzar, and said, “Thou art this head of gold.” (Dan. 2:38). Where is Babylon today? Buried beneath the sands of Iraq. There was the Media-Persian empire, which conquered Babylon.
Where is it now? Gone. There was the Grecian-Macedonian empire, which grew under Alexander the Great. What happened to Alexander’s empire?
Very quickly, it dissipated and came apart.
What about the Romans? Rome ran the world, once upon a time. Nevertheless, all historians who write about ancient Rome talk about how decadence and gross immorality entered at the highest levels. Raving homosexuals ran the country until Rome was nibbled to death and finally conquered by the barbarians who surrounded it.
The Holy Roman Empire is gone. The Turks once ran the entire Middle East. What happened to France since Napoleon? And what about Spain? Spain was once a most significant nation. Now it is nearly irrelevant.
Britain, that empire which used to go around the world, is virtually gone. Even the United States of America should be looked upon with great concern by decent, culturally-oriented people. We are in a state of decline.
Many brilliant theologians believe the United States (and specifically New York City) is Babylon the Great as referred to in Revelation 17–18. Considering the wickedness described in those chapters and the current state of wickedness in our nation, I can see why scholars see a parallel between Babylon and America.
However, there is much debate as to whether this Babylon is New York City, Rome, or a literal rebuilt Babylon. For what it’s worth, I think that the Babylon of Revelation 17–18 refers to the demonic religious system of the False Prophet and the economic system of the Antichrist because her octopus-like arms reach far beyond any single city.
Certainly, the United States would be included as part of the Antichrist’s one-world “Babylonian” system. Nonetheless, I believe that Revelation 17–18 refer to a literal, rebuilt city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq. Six times in Revelation the Antichrist’s last-days capitol is called Babylon (Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21). While it is possible that Babylon is a code name for New York City, nothing in the text indicates that it is to be taken symbolically.
Another passage of Scripture that is often said to be a reference to the United States is Isaiah 18. This chapter describes a powerful nation whose land is divided by a great river. Since the United States is divided from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River, some believe the nation in Isaiah 18 must be the United States. However, Isaiah 18 fits into a longer section, chapters 18 through 20, that is one connected prophecy dealing with the ancient nations of Cush and Egypt. The river referred to is undoubtedly the Nile.
So, where is the United States in Bible prophecy? The answer is the Bible contains no specific prophetic mentions of America. Still, we are covered by general prophecies that relate to all nations, but beyond that, our end-time destiny is a matter of speculation. General prophecies that apply to the United States include those that predict all nations will be blessed through Israel (Gen. 18:18; 22:18), all nations will come against Israel over control of Jerusalem (Zech. 12:3), all nations will be judged (Isa. 34:2–3), and all nations will cease to exist except for Israel (Jer. 30:11; 46:28).
I believe that the United States is not mentioned in Bible prophecy for two reasons. First, America is no longer a superpower at the end of this age because of our moral and spiritual deterioration. Second, I believe the United States will be powerless after the Rapture. If the Rapture happened today, America would be devastated because, despite all our moral failings, the United States still has more Christians than any other nation in the world. When the Lord removes all believers in the Rapture, chaos will ensue in this country. America will be left too weak to be a player in the international end-time scene.
Nevertheless, I still believe there is hope for the United States in these last days. The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12). There is not a one of us who has not sung at some time or other, “God bless America, land that I love.” Yet, we have come to a place where America is at a crossroads; the choices that we make today will have so much to do with the days to come.
The decline of the United States will not be solved by some politician. The answer is not in the White House or the State House. The answer is in the church house and in your house. There must be a new heart, a new spiritual content, a new sense of purpose built into the life of our nation. We must have spiritual revival. If America is going to be great again, it will be because of a final revival before the Rapture. The only hope for a culture which finds itself in the midst of circumstances such as these is Jesus Christ.
Recently, Billy Crone spoke about revival. He said, “It starts with us. If you want the darkness to go away, shine the light. You go into a dark room, you want to get rid of it, how do you dispel the darkness? You go over to the wall and you what? Flip on the light. And it is time for the Christians to stop condoning the darkness. It’s time for us to get back to God’s truth, shine the light of His truth so that the darkness can be dispelled so revival can take place.”
Who knows? Maybe God will bless America again. Perhaps the United States’ last days can be our best days.
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. - Genesis 1:3 (NRSVUE)
I felt extremely grateful at the New Year’s Eve service in 2021. It indeed felt like a new beginning, a new hope against the odds of the past year. Yet after the service, I was in tears as I thought of all the things I didn’t have. I wanted so much for the new year, but I didn’t know how or where to start. I felt hopeless.
That night, I decided to pray again. I didn’t ask for anything. Instead, inspired by 1 Thessalonians 5:18, I gave thanks for all that I had, and I felt blessed by everything on my list. After this prayer of gratitude, I had Genesis 1:3 in my heart and a new understanding of the verse. In Genesis 1:1-2 it was the beginning, and it looked hopeless. In that bleak situation, God spoke light. With that light came hope, and God kept speaking, forming sky, seas, and land. What God wanted for the future, day after day, God spoke into being. Until it was all good, God spoke.
As believers, when faced with a hopeless situation, the first thing we can do is invite the Light into that situation. We can speak: “Thank you, Jesus.” He is the light of the world (see Jn. 8:12). With Christ’s light comes hope. My resolution this year is to speak light through all my days.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear God, help us to be grateful in all situations. Show us how to speak light and goodness into our lives and the lives of those around us. Amen.
Too start the New Year 2024..............
Receiving a word
Instead, several years ago I decided to adopt a new approach to the standard New Year’s resolution, one that involves walking and talking with my Savior every day. I find it an easy way to cover both the beginning and the end of the year in prayer.
Starting early in December, I ask God to press a word or phrase onto my heart that I can reflect upon and apply in my life in the coming year. I ask God to reveal His will for me. I ask where in my life He is asking me to grow, change, or step out in faith. Sometimes I hear the answer very quickly; other times, it takes the whole month of December praying and meditating on God’s Word for the answer to be clear to me. Often, a Scripture theme keeps coming up in my reading, pointing toward a possible word on which to focus.
After I’ve received this word or phrase, I spend the first two weeks of January in dedicated prayer, asking how God wants me to implement this word into my life in the months to come. Okay, God, the prayer usually starts, I have this word from You. Now what do You want me to do with it?
God desires only good, edifying, constructive things for our lives. But let’s face it, we are rarely successful in our own wisdom at identifying what is a good thing versus what will ultimately harm us or lead us to destruction. Matthew 7:7-8 tells us,
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
I can tell you with absolute certainty that all I have to do is ask, and the Word and Holy Spirit will challenge and convict me right where I need it most.
Then comes the hardest part of any new habit or resolution: actually doing the thing consistently.
A chance to let God work
I’ll admit I am not a morning person, and I struggle most days to wake up and have my quiet time with God before getting ready for the day. However, I always make sure to send up a quick prayer and ask God to give me an opportunity to put my word or phrase into action and to give me the courage and bravery to do it boldly. At the end of the day, when I usually have my daily time with the Lord, I reflect on my day and identify the opportunities that God put in my path to follow the Spirit’s prompting. I’d like to say I always recognize every opportunity and take advantage of them. But that’s rarely the case.
You want to know the best part, though? I may have missed an opportunity to put my word or phrase into action, but God never makes me feel guilty about it. He might convict me, but there is no sense of shame or failure, only forgiveness and an opportunity to try again tomorrow.
These are some of the words the Lord has given me in recent years. What’s my word for 2024? This year is a bit unique. I felt so strongly a sense of the word “release” and had been meditating on that in my quiet time with God for about a week. Then, a few days ago I had a moment where God metaphorically smacked me upside the head and said, No, beloved, release is only part of what I’m asking of you. What I need you to have is joy. So, here’s to a joy-filled 2024 and a year spent growing in my understanding and exemplification of joy!
What about you? Are you willing to ask God what word or phrase He might challenge you with next year? And then are you willing to accept the challenge? This is no magic formula for growth with God, but in an increasingly scattered, frantic, digitized and isolated culture, any chance to slow down and focus on God’s voice is a good one.
And that’s one New Year’s resolution I’ve found worth keeping.
Copyright 2023 Jessika Schmit. All rights reserved.
PUBLISHED ON DECEMBER 26, 2023
Have you been thinking of ways to strengthen your relationship with God as you believe in the benefits of walking with Him?
Have you struggled to stay in the Word, attend church regularly, and feel your faith slipping?
We often have seasons where it seems impossible to get close to God, from getting up in the middle of the night with little ones to pressures at work and home. Your tank is on E by the time it comes to say your prayers.
You try to pray, but you either fall asleep or get distracted by everything you still need to do.
The thing about busyness is that it’s the Enemy’s way to keep you off balance and away from your power source: God. The busier you are, the easier you are to lead into temptation and sin. But not 2024, Satan!
We declare this new year that we will make time for God, walk in the good works he has prepared, trample evil, and shine light into the darkness in Jesus’ Name.
Let’s go!
HOW CAN I MAKE MY CONNECTION WITH GOD STRONGER?
You’ve heard it said before: it’s not enough to go to church on Sunday. The reason you’ve heard it is because it’s true.
Imagine you only saw your sweetheart once a week? Only saw them for one hour and only spoke with them then.
How quickly would your relationship fizzle out, and how long before you stopped, that person took a backburner to everything else in your life?
That’s what we do to God.
Growing closer to Him takes intentionality and purpose.
One day at a time, one week at a time, you slowly build your connection with Him, and here’s how.
1.Spend Time in Prayer. Jesus prayed constantly. In the gospels, we see Him isolate himself from his disciples to pray repeatedly. Prayer is how we talk with our Father, and in the pauses of our thoughts, we hear Him talk back.
Prayer shouldn’t be a rehearsed bedtime prayer but an honest conversation with Him who created you and knows all your ways. Whether you are angry, lost, or heartbroken, there is nothing you can say to Him that will shock him.
So talk with your Father. In the car, while you wash the dishes or feed your babies. Talk to Him often, and as you surrender to him in humility and fear, you’ll be amazed at how he moves in your life.
2.Read Your Bible. Reading your Bible is essential to being a believer, and one that must be developed. If you follow Christ, the Word “is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,Read Your Bible correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It’s also the way God reveals himself to us daily.
Luckily, apps for that! If you like checking off lists, the YouVersion Bible App has hundreds of devotionals, studies, and plans for you to make reading your Bible a daily habit. If you’ve been in the Word a while, try the Blue Letter Bible app, which gives you the original Aramaic and Greek text used in the Bible and commentaries to add a whole new level to the Word of God.
3.Get into Community With Other Believers. Life is not meant to be done alone. In the beginning, God was in community with the Son and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26), and as his children, we were built to do the same. We are called to love one another (John 13:34) and to be kind and tenderhearted with another (Galatians 6:9-10) because life is hard! And the battle of the flesh can easily be lost when we are alone. That’s why the Bible tells us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friends (Proverbs 27:17), and when it comes to strengthening your walk with Christ, the ones holding you accountable, are those in your community.
4.Worship Daily. Worship is a loaded word. In the New Testament, five different words are translated from Greek as worship in various forms. But worship is not just singing songs and lifting your hands on Sunday; it’s a posture of the heart bent toward God. And that bending can sometimes take work and effort for many of us. If that is a struggle for you, leave it at the feet of the Cross. We cannot accomplish certain things in our flesh, but God faithfully answers our prayers if they are according to His will. And what more could a Father want than to soften the hearts of His children so they can grow closer to Him?
5.Serve Others. Often in our walk as Christians, we become consumers and not participants in the church- but we are called to be the hands and feet of Christ, doing unto others as we would want them
to do unto us (Matthew 7:12). By serving others, we are imitating the work of Jesus, following His commands and loving our neighbor and in our obedience we grow closer to God. There are always ways you can serve, either in your local church or in organizations all over your city, so pick one and start loving people.
HOW DO I REBUILD MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
Sometimes, we feel like we have gone too far off track and don’t deserve God’s help or love, which keeps us from returning to God.
But the Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God. “Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Rebuild Your Relationship With God
So, in your journey to rebuild your relationship with Him, start with repentance. Turn back from the things that have kept you away, and make a conscious effort to make time for God a priority.
One step at a time, one day at a time.
By putting prayer before you, reading your Bible, bending your heart toward him, and serving others, you will soon begin to hear His voice, and your hunger for Him will grow.
It’s never too late to seek a relationship with the Most High; He’s waiting for you; get started today.
The Twenty-third Psalm as a Messianic Prophecy...James Collins...August 3, 2021
The Twenty-third Psalm is one of the most familiar, famous, and loved passages in the entire Bible. There is no greater picture of the relationship that God has with His people than the picture in the Twenty-third Psalm—the picture of the shepherd and his sheep. Psalm 23 has comforted many heavy hearts, dried many tears, bandaged many wounds, given courage to the living, and comforted the dying. It is the most famous of all the psalms. Even nonbelievers are familiar with David’s masterpiece.
However, most people are unaware of the prophetic significance of the Twenty-third Psalm. Psalm 23 is set in the middle of three messianic psalms that prophesy the coming work of the Messiah. Psalm 22 presents the Messiah as the Savior. Psalm 23 presents the Messiah as the Shepherd. Psalm 24 presents the Messiah as Sovereign. The focus of Psalm 22 is the cross. The focus of Psalm 23 is the crook. The focus of Psalm 24 is the crown.
The Cross
Psalm 22 has come to be known as the “Psalm of the Cross.” It is an amazing prophecy. One thousand years before Jesus went to the cross of Calvary, David described in graphic detail the crucifixion as if he, himself, hung on the cross. The Twenty-second Psalm opens with, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Do those words sound familiar? They are the same words that Jesus cried from the cross. In Matthew 27:46, we read, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” When Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself so that those sins could be judged and justified through His sacrifice, God in His holiness had to turn away. God gathered every sin that had ever been committed or would be committed by man and placed it upon His Son. Jesus died and He took away sin, by the sacrifice of Himself.
In Psalm 22, David described Roman crucifixion hundreds of years before the Romans even came on the scene. In the days when Jewish executions were accomplished by stoning, David described the sufferings of the cross. He described the people beneath the cross gathered to laugh at Jesus: “All they that see me laugh me to scorn” (Psalm 22:7). He described the profuse perspiration caused by intense suffering: “I am poured out like water.” He described His bones as being “out of joint.” He described the action of the effects of the crucifixion on the heart: “my heart is like wax; it is melted” (Psalm 22:14). He described Christ’s exhaustion: “My strength is dried up.” He described the Lord’s extreme thirst: “my tongue cleaveth to my jaws” (Psalm 22:15). He described Jesus being nailed to the cross: “they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16). He described the shame as the crowd gawked at the Messiah’s unclothed body… I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me (Psalm 22:17). He described the soldiers gambling:
“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psalm 22:18). David wrote these descriptions a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus.
Jesus said in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” When the Lord said those words, He spoke of His coming substitutionary death on the cross. This is the picture of Jesus in the Twenty-second Psalm. He is the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep.
The Crook
Psalm 23 is the “Shepherd’s Psalm.” It is a beautiful picture of the Shepherd who cares for His flock, leads us through the meadow, feeds us in green pastures, comforts us with His staff (crook), and quenches our thirst beside still waters. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need not fear because our Shepherd is there.
The Crown
Psalm 24 is also known as the “Psalm of the King of Glory” and it describes the coronation of the Messiah. The final verses of this psalm describe the triumphant return of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 24:9–10, we read, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” The Twenty-fourth Psalm foreshadows the establishment of the Millennial Reign of Christ when Jesus will return and enter Jerusalem as the “King of Glory.” It is a prophetic psalm that will ultimately be fulfilled when Jesus Christ returns to earth in power and in great glory.
The Apostle Peter wrote to encourage faithful church leaders with these words, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). Here, Peter assured faithful ministers that they will be rewarded when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. The Great Shepherd of Hebrews 13 is now referred to as the “Chief Shepherd.” This is the picture of Jesus in the Twenty-fourth Psalm. He is the Chief Shepherd, who owns the sheep. When He comes, He will establish His throne. We who have served Him will rule and reign with Him for a thousand years.
Psalm 22 speaks of our past—of our sins being forgiven on the cross. Psalm 23 speaks of our present life on earth. Psalm 24 speaks of our future in the coming Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
Psalm 22 takes place on Mount Calvary in the past where they crucified the Lord. Psalm 24 takes place in the future on Mount Zion where He is coming back to rule and reign. Psalm 23 takes place in the present in this life in the valley in between the two mountains.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you live, right now, the Psalm 23 life. Today, your life may be filled with darkness. From one sheep to another, I want you to know that you can trust the Shepherd to get you through the valley.
The benediction which closes the New Testament letter to the Hebrews brings full circle the picture of the Shepherd.
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen
—Hebrews 13:20–21
The Shepherd is coming back soon. Are you in His flock?
Our world has a way of dulling what needs to be razor sharp—our ethical edge. God has called His people to holiness and sanctification. Writing to Christians scattered in Asia Minor, Peter says, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (1 Pet. 1:14–15).
Yet, the church, as a whole, seems to be falling far short of God’s call to holiness. Protestia.com examines a new Barna poll and concludes, “The Christian church is seriously messed up. A new poll … released by George Barna’s Cultural Research Center shows that professing Christians are developing more and more decidedly unchristian beliefs, demonstrating that many of these professing Christians are, in fact, un-professing pagans.”
Are we surprised? I doubt it. Like the man or woman who has been living a life of dissipation waiting for test results is not surprised when they come back positive. Christians have developed an anything–goes mindset when it comes to matters of faith, doctrine, morals, values and lifestyles. In other words, we’ve lost our ethical edge.
Does It Matter If a Christian Sins?
We must never diminish, neutralize, or downplay the grace of God. G-R-A-C-E is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. It is “unmerited favor,” a super-kind treatment that sinful humans don’t deserve and, even after they are saved, still don’t deserve. Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve—eternal life. However, hyper-grace teachers leave out the truth that it does matter if a Christian sins, especially for Christians who are leaders. Their sin demoralizes the Christian community and weakens our testimony. Not only that, but their sin causes the enemies of God to take courage and to be emboldened.
In 2 Samuel 12 Nathan told David a parable. David took it to heart and condemned the man in Nathan’s parable, but in doing that David condemned his own adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. Nathan said, “Thou art the man!” (vs. 7). The truth was crushing. “And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.” To his credit, David did not order the execution of Nathan for disrespect but admitted his sin. “And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die” (vss. 13–14).
David was the sweet psalmist of Israel, a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22), who had a serious lapse into carnality. Even for those who are not kings, a Christian’s behavior affects what people think of God and His teachings—“Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed” (1 Tim. 6:1). I am not trying to slip in some legalism here, or set myself up as a paragon of virtue (I’m not and need God’s grace every day—ask my wife!), but may we all realize the serious consequences to our sins, especially public ones.
Bad Days
Have you ever had a bad day? People define a bad day in different ways. “My car won’t start.” “I didn’t get that job promotion I thought I deserve.” “My girlfriend gave me back my engagement ring.” “The Internal Revenue Service wants to do an audit.” “My department head says our department is lagging in sales.” Sometimes things like that pile up. We can have a bad day, or even a bad week.
But what is a bad day for a Christian? It’s a day in which something happens—either through a wrong choice or quite unexpectedly—that weakens our commitment to walk with Jesus Christ in obedience and truth.[/size
We’ve met an old friend that we used to “party with,” and we celebrated like in the old days. Bad idea—and we are sorry. We looked at something we shouldn’t have—and we are sorry. We lost our temper and said something we should not have said. We could go on an on. Sometimes temptation comes suddenly, out of nowhere, with overwhelming force, like an F-5 tornado.
A bad day is like driving on an icy road. You start to lose control. What you do next is critical. Do you hit the brakes? Do you wrench the steering wheel in a sense of panic? All bad ideas. What you do initially determines the outcome—a bad wreck or just a little skid. Does Satan design and cause our bad days? That is debatable. But he is certainly able to use that bad day for his dark purposes.
Choices
Joe was a superintendent at a construction site where a concrete slab was to be poured. The specifications called for rebar to be placed every sixteen inches, but Joe was told to space them every twenty-four inches. Joe knew that the general contractor would pay the inspector to report that rebar was placed according to specifications, even though that was not the case What should Joe do? What would Joe do?
When should we decide to do right? Immediately, right now, if you haven’t made the choice to do right. As I often tell young people, the back seat of a car is no place to decide how you feel about personal purity. Make your choice to do right before the crisis comes. Choose to do right before you are tempted to do wrong. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego acknowledged that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, but even if He did not, they were resolved not to worship the image of gold (Dan. 3:16–18). This takes commitment and conviction. When the heat from the furnace becomes unbearable we might look for the water bucket of compromise.
Personal Accountability
Accountability is not a popular concept today. People like to think of themselves as “free spirits.” They don’t want to be accountable to anyone, and certainly NOT to God. So they rebel against traditional Christian standards. But are they really free spirits? Are they really tethered to no one? Not really. They form their own groups, their own cliques, which are governed by their own “progressive” standards.
They are now accountable to those standards and are accountable to those in their group. They have their own “morality”—certainly not biblical morality, but their own standards of morality. So, they are still accountable. No one escapes accountability. We need to be accountable to God and to His faithful servants.
Mark and Judy had been dating for two years and were planning to get married in the summer. They both loved each other deeply and had both committed themselves to purity. That’s not always easy, but intentional accountability can help.
During the Christmas break Mark, who was in college, flew back into a Texas Panhandle city. Judy would pick him up at the airport and they would make the three-hour drive back to their hometown in western Oklahoma.
The weather had turned ugly. Judy called Mark and said the weather man forecast a dangerous ice storm. Mark’s flight was the last one before they closed the Amarillo airport. He met Judy and they walked to the car, which was quickly getting iced over.
As they drove north, the road conditions quickly deteriorated. Should they stop and get rooms for the evening? A lot of people had the same idea. The hotels and motels were all full. They continued to drive and pulled into one that said “vacancy.” There was one room left—one room! They both loved Jesus and they both loved each other. Mark paid for the room. They went to the room. Mark was to sleep on the sofa and Judy on the bed.
Mutual accountability is not coercion. Both parties realize the need for accountability. It works and helps us to maintain high moral standards.
In seminary we were told not to moralize in our messages. I have deliberately trampled that advice. Careful Bible exposition is always appropriate and necessary. But the Scripture tells us, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).
In 1973, Dr. Karl Menninger shocked his psychologist colleagues by using the “S” word in the title of his best-seller Whatever Became of Sin? For the first time many of his readers were confronted with a concept that had all but disappeared from their profession.
In its May 25, 1987, cover story Time asked another probing question, “What Ever Happened to Ethics?” By then scandals were becoming an everyday news items. Since then the scandals have been erupting in Christian circles. High-profile Christian personalities have revealed, or been caught in, a variety of “indiscretions.” It is surely time to sharpen our ethical edge and to work daily to keep it sharp.
“… that the nations may tremble at thy presence!”...—Isaiah 64:2
The Second Article of the 1973 Humanist Manifesto revealed its position on the Christian faith with unabashed clarity: “Promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices. … There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.”
Since those words were written our country, and our world, have seen a steady erosion of biblical values. The election of Joe Biden as President of the United States—though some say, quite convincingly, by fraud—is a testimony to the lateness of the hour. Joe Biden has signed a record number of Executive Orders, a reflection of the Democrat Party’s intractable desire to remove all the moral advances of the Trump Administration. This statement in no way should be taken as indicating that I give wholehearted assent to everything that you can think of about Donald Trump’s personality and character, any more than I would give wholehearted assent to everything written in sacred Scripture about King David’s personality and character. Trump’s core values and platform, however, resonate with Christians.
God’s Consuming Presence And His Prophets
In every age, and at every time, God raises voices that speak out with moral clarity and a powerful anointing that challenges and addresses the moral freefall of the culture. In his 2017 book, God’s Prophetic Voices to America, Dr. David Reagan mentions several, such as David Wilkerson, Francis Schaeffer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Erwin Lutzer, and Jonathan Cahn, among others.
These men of God come from a variety of backgrounds, but all traced our problems to rebellion against God and His order. Schaeffer wrote A Christian Manifesto, which was a direct response to the Communist Manifesto of 1848, the Humanist Manifesto I of 1933, and the Humanist Manifesto II of 1973—all of which made man the final arbiter of right and wrong, good and evil.
Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident who gave a rousing speech at Harvard in June of 1978, arrived on campus a hero, but outraged the intelligentsia because he was considered “an orthodox Christian ayatollah.” He chided the Western world, including America, for losing its courage in confronting evil and said our foreign policies were based on “weakness and cowardice.” And then he caustically added, “Should one point out that from ancient times, declining courage has been considered the beginning of the end?”
Five years later, in May of 1983, when he received the Templeton Prize, he gave an address titled “Godlessness: The First Step Toward the Gulag.” Solzhenitsyn reminisced about his childhood and said, “More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”
A Warning To America—Past and Present
In a 13-minute on-camera video released on social media, messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn shared a prophetic warning. He began his presentation by citing George Washington’s prophetic warning to America that he gave during his very first presidential address to the nation: “The propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right that heaven itself has ordained.”
Cahn reminded Americans that we have done what we were warned not to do , but still so many are confused about why the blessings of Heaven are being removed from our land, leaving us to face violence, division, and godless leadership. Cahn then addressed President Biden: “This day will pass. The applause of men will fade. This administration will inevitably be over.
The saints of God have always coveted God’s presence. David said, “in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11). Moses, for example, knew the necessity of the presence of God and said, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exod. 33:15). Sometimes the Lord’s presence is somewhat hidden. We may look for it and even strain for it. “And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). God made His presence known by a whisper—inaudible above the din and confusion of the times, but very real, nevertheless, for those who will listen carefully.
God’s presence will bring success in any endeavor. This is especially evident in the Great Commission. Jesus gave an encouraging promise to His disciples and said, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). The Commission was challenging. The disciples really did not know the full extent of the Great Commission. They did know the expanse of our Lord’s words to them. But in the first couple of centuries, when one’s view of the world was limited, and into the twenty-first century, when we can see Planet Earth from outer space, the words “I am with you alway” give comfort and strength.
When Jesus told His disciples about His continuing presence He did not promise that He would be with them in the same way that He was during His earthly ministry. Jesus said He was going away and that He would come again at some future time to “receive you unto myself” (John 14:3). In John 14:26, Jesus explained the Source of His disciples’ power in the present age: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
The Holy Spirit would bring power to God’s servants, and conviction to those who heard the Word of God. From a small and unassuming beginning, the people of God would bring the Good News to every part of the planet.
The Lord Jesus Christ, however, did not promise ease and safety during this age. We read of the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7) and of the challenges the Apostle Paul faced (2 Cor. 11:16–33). When Paul was in Troas he received an invitation from the Lord to go into Macedonia. In Acts 16:10 we read, “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” The Lord was present in the sense that the Lord blessed Paul’s witness to Lydia, as the Lord opened her heart (Acts 16:14).
An Awakening to Confront the Catechism of Revolution
We are living in a day of intense spiritual conflict fueled by a revolution against all that is good and holy. No one can deny that. The stakes are high. The enemy is dangerous, but as we have said at the opening of our broadcasts for almost nine decades, “God is still on the throne and prayer changes things.”
Prayer warriors do more than pray, however. They are the faithful remnant who willingly count the cost of faithfulness. Jesus did not die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous. During times of danger, uncertainty, and challenge the issue becomes one of God’s presence—His consuming presence. “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down…to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!” (Isa. 64:1–2). God has many names, yet here it is singular – “thy name.” The singular is intensive, the sum of the glorious attributes of Almigty God. Are you that faithful remnant whom God will use in these last days?
All resurrection promises in the Old Testament are centered in the coming of the Redeemer, the Savior, the Messiah. Without the coming of Christ, all those in the Old Testament who died in faith would have died in vain. Likewise, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, the hope of all Christians for eternal life would be in vain. Paul forthrightly declared the necessity of the literal resurrection of the body of Christ from the grave in 1 Corinthians 15:13–14: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”
Jesus Christ declared Himself to be the only hope of mankind in a literal resurrection. He said, as recorded in John 11:25–26: “… I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. …”
When Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, the nation of Israel was divided into three main groups: the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the lower class. The Sadducees were the upper class, composed mostly of the wealthy—the landowners and the richer merchants. The Sadducees were mostly agnostic in their belief toward God. Even some of the higher priests were included within the membership of this sect. The Sadducees’ heaven was here on earth, and they denied the existence of angels, a future life, and the resurrection. We read in Matthew 22:23: “The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection. …”
The second division of Israel according to theology was the Pharisees. The Pharisees were of the middle class. They were very patriotic and prided themselves on being keepers of the law and traditions of Israel. Being students of the Scriptures, they stoutly believed in the resurrection of the dead. Because they believed in the resurrection, some of the Pharisees became disciples of Jesus when He demonstrated His power over death in the raising of the dead. However, the majority of the Pharisees rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah, and it was their influence over the people that led to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
The lower class, which comprised the vast majority of Israel at that time, were too busy earning their daily bread to become involved in politics or religion. Most of them were honest, hard-working people, who did the best they could to provide for their families, honor the law, worship God, and go up to Jerusalem at least once a year at the time of Passover. It was from the lower class that Jesus won most of His disciples.
Because all the Old Testament teachings on resurrection looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, the miracles of Jesus in the raising of the dead and His teachings on this subject comprised an important part of His earthly ministry. His declaration that He was the resurrection and the life was followed by a visible demonstration to prove that He was the Redeemer who had come to raise the dead. After Jesus professed to Martha that He was the one who was sent by God to bring the dead back to life, we read the account of what happened next in John 11:41–46:
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
Lazarus had been dead for several days, and his body already was in the process of decaying. Yet Jesus restored the soul and the spirit to the body, and the dead man lived. Another account of Jesus raising the dead is recorded in Luke 8:49–56, where the Lord restored to life the dead body of Jairus’ daughter. However, these miracles in raising the dead were mere signs of Christ’s power over death, and not literal demonstrations of resurrection. Neither the daughter of Jairus nor Lazarus was raised in a glorified body. It is evident from Scripture that they lived out their normal life span, and then died a natural death. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:21–23: “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
Jesus Christ was the first to be raised in an incorruptible and immortal body. There will be no other person raised in a glorified body until Christ’s return. Many Christians are concerned about what happened in Matthew 27:50–54:
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
Jesus Christ was resurrected in a glorified body, but Matthew does not call the appearance of the saints in a body a resurrection. This probably was a localized miracle for the benefit of Israel, to again prove to the Jews that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the promised Messiah. Not all the saints arose—only some in the graveyard in the vicinity of Jerusalem. This miracle is recorded only in Matthew, indicating that it was a sign to the Jews, and it is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible. What happened to the bodies of the saints that arose after the resurrection of Jesus and appeared to many in Jerusalem is not known. It is not necessary that we do know. Inasmuch as Jesus Christ has the power to restore a dead, decaying body to life, He could have brought the bodies of the saints in the graveyard at Jerusalem back to life for five minutes, an hour, a day, or whatever length of time it was needed to prove that He had risen with the power of resurrection over all death. This particular incident was another miracle to show Israel that if the nation would receive Jesus as Messiah, all the saints would be resurrected, and the promised Kingdom would be brought in at that time.
It is usually interpreted that Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that the saved will be known in Heaven even as they are known on earth. But what identifies the individual? Is it outward physical appearance, or the personality? Is our physical appearance our identity, or do what we think, how we act, what we say, and our feelings and emotions identify us more? Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the inward man. The Scriptures say that the resurrection body will be a spiritual body—we will be known by our spiritual identity more than our physical appearance.
He arose again the third day to prove to man that there was a resurrection from the dead, and He said in John 14:19, “… because I live, ye shall live also.” He was seen of above five hundred witnesses. God raised Him up to prove to the world that He had offered a payment for sins, that through faith in Him men could be raised in a glorified body and stand before the Creator. It was the resurrection of Jesus Christ that inspired the greatest message to moral man ever written:
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
—1 Corinthians 15:54–58
Larry Spargimino...February 9, 2021
“Antipas … who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth” (Rev. 2:13).
Who could have predicted on January 1, 2020, that a tiny virus invisible to the human eye would change life for nearly every human on planet Earth and kill more than a million people? The virus was hard to contain and created confusion for epidemiologists from its uncanny persistence and mobility.
The political and economic debates over mandated masks, lockdowns, church closures and fines for churches that would not comply, raised the eyebrows of evangelicals, Catholics, Jews, and American patriots. It looked like the progressive Left had found an ally—a virus. Churches were forced to close down because they were “unessential,” while protests, riots and anti-Trump rallies were considered “constitutional.”
The spring of 2020 still had its blossoms, but no one was smelling the roses. Some were angry, some were depressed. If America thought things couldn’t get any worse, however, May 25 saw another conflagration begin when 46-year-old George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned the African-American to the ground during an arrest. Derek Chauvin’s knee stayed on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for almost nine minutes, as onlookers and other officers milled around. Floyd was having trouble breathing and soon expired. Neighborhoods burned as Americans again shouted at one another over matters of racial injustice. Despite the growing violence there were those who wanted to defund the police. Patrol cars were torched and protesters carried signs stating “Good Cops Are Dead Cops.”
While the “progressive” Left grew in number, so did those who supported President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign. Trump’s plain-speaking was lauded as creating a tone of moral clarity for conservatives who were scandalized by America’s sharp turn to the Left and the growing support for “transgender rights” and the LGBTQ+ movement. America was more clearly polarized as President Trump’s strongly pro-life position and support for the Jewish State collided with the views of those who see abortion as “essential health care” and Israel as the oppressor of the Palestinian people. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California publicly tore up a copy of Trump’s State of the Union Address after he delivered it to a joint session of Congress, making Pelosi a goddess of virtue to some, and a foul spirit to others.
More Than What Meets the Eye
I cannot escape the fact that there is a manifestly spiritual dimension to the afflictions that have fallen upon our country. The madness is inexplicable unless we realize that malevolent spirits are piloting our nation into stormy waters.
How about the new politically correct prayer offered by Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) who offered the opening prayer for the 117th Congress. The prayer was offered in “the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma and ‘god’ known by many names by many different faiths.” And it concluded with “Amen and A-woman.”
House Democrats were even more PC and framed a rule that gendered terms, such as “father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law … will be removed.”
Many evangelicals have been caught up in the madness. Consider how they have changed the meaning of “justice.” The Bible supports “justice,” but not “social justice,” which involves “deconstructing traditional systems and structures deemed to be oppressive, and redistributing power and resources from oppressors to their victims in the pursuit of equality of outcome” (Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice, Scott D. Allen).
From the Lord’s words to the church at Pergamos (Rev. 2:12–17) we can see that the church there was in a hostile neighborhood. Jesus said, “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is” (vs. 13). The ancient city of Pergamos hosted Satan’s “throne,” the seat of his rule. The word “throne” was also used for a seat in a private residence where the owner of the house sat, and was comfortable in the company of his family and friends. Satan was obviously comfortable, and at home, in Pergamos.
Satan and his workers are territorial, hence the reference to Pergamos. Daniel 10:13 speaks of “the prince of the kingdom of Persia.” Verse 20 speaks of “the prince of Grecia.” In Mark 5:10, we read of the Gadarene demoniac. “And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.” When Satan and his cohorts find that conditions are favorable to their acceptance and activity, they move in and stay. It is in this way that they become territorial.
This leads me to ask a few questions. Is Satan at home in your city or town? Does he feel comfortable in your own home? Are conditions ripe in your sphere of authority where he finds his work easy because conditions are favorable for him to peddle his lies? Are you responsible for his success?
We Are Responsible For What We Tolerate
In verse 14 we see that the Lord Jesus Christ has a complaint against the church because of what they were tolerating. “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam.” Jesus’ complaint is that they have been tolerating a false teacher. The “doctrine of Balaam” is a reference to Balaam’s advice to King Balak of the Moabites (Num. 22–25). For King Balak, the Hebrews seemed invincible. God was on their side. No one could conquer them. Balak believed that waging war against the Israelites was futile. But Balaam suggested that the Hebrews could be beaten if they sinned and angered their God. So Balaam suggested that Balak tempt the Hebrew men with beautiful Moabite woman. Balaam taught Balak “to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication” (Rev. 2:14). The lesson is clear, and especially relevant in this time of encroaching evil and intense spiritual warfare: We must keep God on our side. He holds us responsible for what we tolerate.
During the Christmas holidays, I was driving and listening to Christian radio. A ministry was airing Christmas speeches by some of America’s presidents—Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, and Trump, and also the Apollo 8 transmission from space that gave a reading of Genesis 1. Each president gave a clear presentation of the Gospel. Truman called communism “godless.” Reagan spoke about how Christianity has brought peace and respect wherever it has been accepted. I realized that in just a few years our country has been hijacked by God-haters and historical revisionists. How could that happen? Because of what we have tolerated. We have tolerated socialist teachers in public schools. We have ignored the warnings that globalists are seeking to capture the hearts of our kids by turning them against America. I have been at Southwest Radio Church for 22 years. Even before that, on WHCB radio in the Tri-Cities of Tennessee I had sounded the warning repeatedly. And many other pastors and radio hosts had faithfully done the same thing. Now we are facing the downfall of the America we have always known. The lesson is shouting at us: “Be careful what you tolerate.”
A Faithful Remnant In Pergamos
However, there were some in Pergamos who continued to be faithful despite the circumstances. “I know thy works … and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr” (vs. 13).
Jesus doesn’t say, “Antipas was a faithful martyr,” but rather “Antipas was my faithful martyr.” Biblical Christianity drives all potential followers away except those who are ready to face death for the cause. Are we those who have been driven away by fear? Have we lost our courage? Are even those supposedly fundamental pastors who rail at the evils of modern America nothing more than gutless entertainers whose convictions are not really convictions at all? Are these pastors infatuated by post-modernity where comfort and ease are worshipped? Being ready to take up our cross is not just a suggestion or just a possible lifestyle choice for “super-Christians,” but the command and call of our Lord (Matt. 16:24–26).
There are many stories about Antipas from antiquity. Though they are not in canonic Scripture, they are ancient. One of the stories says Antipas was martyred because he was casting out so many demons the pagans were in a rage. At any rate, his name Antipas literally means “against all.” He took an uncompromising stand for truth in a time of compromise. May we follow his example.
The controversy over the November 3 presidential election will continue. One side or the other is going to feel disenfranchised. If your candidate ultimately comes out on top, there will be protests, violence, and riots.
There are some things, however, that will not change whoever is president. The intensity of spiritual warfare will not change, nor will the urgency of preaching the Gospel change. Day by day, we will get closer to the heralded time when the trumpet will sound. Obedient, Spirit-filled living is always in order. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21).
October 8, 2020
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5).
The American church is in desperate need of revival. As we approach the November 2020 presidential election, do we meet the conditions outlined in 2 Chronicles 7:14? Notice, I wrote, “the American church.” Revival is not for left-wing protesters, abortion doctors, and progressive candidates. Revival is for the church.
The problem I am addressing is the sad state of the church. Recent surveys are showing that professing Christians live like everyone else. Evidence of Christian spirituality, in many cases, is nonexistent. The church is marked by compromise with evil, cowardice, and an attitude that basically says, “Let’s wait around and see what happens.” Bad idea. Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, wrote: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Why are so many Christians refusing to take sides in moral and political issues? Why is it that only one in four Christians even vote? Deep-seated problems of the heart. How can we find out whether or not we are spiritually sick?
I want to suggest that we all need to do some serious self-examination. I am going to use an outline that A. W. Tozer called “Rules For Self-Discovery,” with some modification. The commentary is mine. There are seven. I am going to call them “Rules For Self-Examination.”
1. What Do I Want the Most?
Our cravings and desires tell us much about our spiritual condition. They are reflective of our natures. Birds want to fly, just as fish want to swim. Animals are governed by their physical needs. Look at a pasture and all the cattle have their heads down. They are not praying; they are eating.
Human beings have physical needs since we have bodies. We get tired. We get hungry. But certainly Christians are not just bodies. The Apostle Paul wrote about sanctification: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
We can all agree that there is a physical part to us, as well as a spiritual, immaterial part to us. As I’ve grown in the faith, I have become more aware of how the invisible affects the visible. We are physical beings created in the image of God.
If I had a portrait taken of me the day before I was saved, and one taken the day after, there would be no significant changes. My dog did not bark at me the day before I was saved, neither did he think I was a stranger the day after I was saved. But inwardly, I was very different.
Sometimes the spiritual dimension of our being is so powerful that I would have to conclude that we are not physical beings in search of a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings in search of a physical experience. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
What do real Christians want the most? To enjoy victory over sin and temptation; to pray for our loved ones and relatives to be saved before it is too late; to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit; to see and enjoy reconciliation with a spouse, a child, a co-worker. Every Christian wants to see people saved and profess their faith through the waters of baptism. We all have to ask, “Are these the things that I want?”
2. What Do I Think About the Most?
Philippians 4:8 makes it very plain: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”