INTERESTING INFORMATION CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
CONFIRMING BIBLICAL TRUTH
SECTION II - SPECIAL ARTICLES/ BOOK REVIEWS
IN THIS SECTION:
· WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE? (WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS)
· WHAT’S IN A NAME?
· "BOB PIERCE - THIS ONE THING I DO" - A BOOKREVIEW/SUMMARY
· "THE HIDDEN CODES OF THE BIBLE" - A BOOK REVIEW/SUMMARY
· "SIGNS OF THE TIME” - A BOOK REVIEW/SUMMARY
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
INTERESTING INFORMATION 1/14/2026
Est. 1997
The following material is provided for information purposes only. Any conclusions or opinions formed should be based on the principles as outlined in Acts 17:11. The material is intended for use as a witnessing tool and to keep you informed so you will not be unaware (Luke 21:34) of what is happening according to Scripture’s
DE
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
Ezekiel 34:2 “Shepherd, feed the Flock
“In the Bible, the expression “living creature” contains the word sometimes used for the soul, but the word can also mean “Life,” “being,” “living thing,” or “person,” depending on the context.
The same phrase is use for man in Gen. 2:7, cattle and creeping things and beast of the earth: Three sweeping categories, like those of vs. 11, 20 make the point that God created all living things.”
- Footnote to Gen. 1:24 Nelson Study Bible, NKJV)
CHRISTIAN MUSIC VIDEO
“HOLY SPIRIT – YOU ARE WELCOME HERE”
https://youtu.be/BoZd7ZXh9yY
SUMMARY OF ARTICLES
· Timeless Truths about the incarnation of Christ – Part 2 of 3
· How Prophetic will Israel be in 2026?
· Live according to the Spirit
INTERESTING ARTICLES
7 TIMELESS TRUTHS ABOUT THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST – PART 2 OF 3
3. The incarnation unites God and man without confusing either
When God’s eternal purpose entered time, it did not do so as an idea, a symbol, or a temporary appearance. The incarnation is how God did more than draw near to the world; it is God’s full union with humanity in JesuAELs Christ.
This union is without parallel. In Christ, God does not cease to be God, and humanity is not absorbed into divinity. Jesus is not half God and half man, nor is He God merely appearing in human form. He is entirely God and fully man — two natures united in one person.
This distinction is not a matter of theological precision alone; it is essential to salvation itself. Only one who is truly God can reveal God perfectly, forgive sin authoritatively, and conquer death decisively. At the same time, only one who is truly human can obey God’s law perfectly in our stead and pay the penalty for our sins — death — in our place. Scripture holds both truths together without hesitation: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same” (Heb. 2:14). If Christ is less than God, He cannot save. If He is less than man, He cannot represent us.
Daniel Webster once expressed the proper posture toward this mystery. When asked whether he truly understood how Jesus could be both fully God and fully man at the same time, Webster replied that he did not. If he could fully comprehend Christ, he reasoned, Christ would be no greater than himself. It was precisely because Christ’s nature surpassed his understanding that Webster knew he needed Him. A savior who can be fully explained would be no savior at all.
In Jesus Christ, Heaven and earth are not merely reconciled; they are joined. He is the one mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5), the living union of divine holiness and human weakness. Because this union is real and enduring, redemption is not a temporary solution but an eternally secure one for all who believe.
4. The incarnation redefines the nature of true greatness
In the ancient world, the deification of rulers, heroes, or philosophers was almost always a movement upward. Powerful men were declared divine only after demonstrating dominance through conquest, political authority, military victory, or cultural influence. Egyptian pharaohs, Roman emperors, and mythic heroes like Hercules were exalted because they already stood above others. Deification functioned as political propaganda, reinforcing authority, legitimizing rules, and demanding submission.
The incarnation of Christ moves in the opposite direction entirely.
Christianity does not proclaim that an extraordinary man was elevated to divine status. It proclaims that the eternal Son of God descended into human weakness. The movement is not man rising to godhood, but God stooping into humanity. This reversal stands at the very heart of the Christian faith and redefines greatness at its most fundamental level.
Philippians 2:6–8 captures this with devastating clarity. It tells us that Christ did not seek equality with God, which He already possessed. Instead, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the Cross. Nothing like this exists in the religious imagination of the ancient world.
Where pagan deification glorified strength, the incarnation sanctifies weakness. Where emperors claimed divinity to rule, Christ laid aside His glory to serve. Where myths celebrated ascent, the gospel proclaims descent. Where others demanded sacrifice, Christ became the sacrifice.
The early Christians did not invent Christ’s divinity to exalt a fallen hero. They proclaimed it because they were confronted with a risen Lord who bore wounds, washed feet, and forgave His enemies. In every other case, deification served man’s ambition. In Christ alone, divinity serves man’s salvation.
5. The incarnation demonstrates how God displays His power
Human power is typically expressed through force, control, and the ability to compel outcomes. Authority is demonstrated by imposing one’s will, silencing opposition, and overcoming resistance. From empires to modern institutions, power is measured by how much one can dominate.
The incarnation reveals a radically different kind of power.
God does not enter the world wielding coercion. He does not overwhelm His enemies with spectacle or crush resistance through sheer might. Instead, He comes in weakness. He submits to the limits of human flesh, the vulnerability of infancy, and the constraints of ordinary life. From the beginning, the Incarnation declares that God’s power is not diminished by humility — it is displayed through it.
This pattern continues throughout Christ’s life. Jesus refuses to seize authority by force (Matt. 4:8–10; John 18:36). He resists the temptation to rule through domination. He silences storms, not armies (Mark 4:39); heals the sick, not political systems (Matt. 8:16–17); casts out demons, not rivals (Luke 4:40–41). Even when confronted with rejection, betrayal, and violence, He does not retaliate (Isa. 53:7; 1 Pet. 2:23). His power is exercised through truth, mercy, and sacrificial love (John 1:14; Matt. 12:20).
Nowhere is this more evident than at the Cross. What appears to be weakness is, in fact, a decisive act of divine power. Scripture declares that Christ was crucified in weakness yet lives by the power of God (2 Cor. 13:4). The incarnation leads not to a throne of force, but to a rugged Cross of self-sacrifice, and it is there — in a very unexpected place – that sin is vanquished, death is undone, and redemption is forever secured.
However, make no mistake — Scripture is equally clear that the one who came in meekness will return in glory, exercising judgment and authority over all. The incarnation shows not what God cannot do, but what astonishing ends He was willing to go to save us.
This reveals a truth that runs against every human instinct: God conquers not by crushing His enemies, but by bearing the weight and penalty of their own sin. He triumphs not by inflicting suffering, but by absorbing it.
This is precisely why the incarnation matters, not only for what we believe about God, but for how we understand power, authority, and faithfulness itself. For the God who comes in weakness is the God who will be revealed in glory, and whose purposes are never thwarted, only patiently fulfilled.
HOW PROPHETIC WILL ISRAEL BE IN 2026?
Koenig Eye View p Jan. 10, 2-26 -- Unless you live on a remote desert island with no communication with the outside world, one of the most controversial topics of 2025 has been Israel and all that revolves around it. The war in Gaza, the disputed territories, the Northern border with Lebanon, the attack on Iran, and of course the usual accusations of genocide, starvation, occupation, colonization and apartheid–all tropes to demonize Israel and global Jews.
Looking forward to 2026, one is to wonder if the focus will
remain on Israel. Truly, there is no reason why it will not, and, in fact, all
seems to indicate that Israel will be even more of a focal point in the coming
year. The real question is: Will it be a focal point or a thorn in the flesh?
This all depends on your worldview. There are three major elements comprising
Israel 2026: The land, the people and the Messiah.
The Land of Israel: Occupiers! Colonizers! Apartheid! We have heard
it all for decades now, and it continues to infect the story, slowly but
exponentially, changing the truth into a lie and turning Israeli Jews into
perpetrators, with a convergence never seen before. We are accused of having
stolen Palestinian land. The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1920 San Remo
Conference and the 1947 UN vote for British Mandate Palestine (read
"Israel") seem to prove the opposite, and that is even before we
crack open our Bible.
God gave Abraham and his descendants a promise of a future that includes a specific
piece of land known back then as the Land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-3.) That
promise was ratified into a covenant in Genesis 15:18-21, giving the Jewish
people–and the Jewish people ONLY–a piece of land that has been disputed since
1948 at the very least. Disputed it is, occupied it is not, because the Jews
are the rightful owners, biblically by God's decree and historically as well.
God took the time to explain to the children of Israel that what He had given them geographically had strict boundaries (even though they have been fluctuating greatly over the last 77 years.) Deuteronomy 2:5 and 2:17-19 shows us that God will not allow for subjective land grabs for the Jewish people. This is the opposite of the teaching of Islam always seeking a global Caliphate. Israel's land boundaries are historical and biblical, while Islam's land expansion is normative and expected. Incidentally, in many ways, modern Israel is identical to biblical Israel.
Additionally, God has decreed that He is the ultimate owner of that land (Psalm 24:1-2; Leviticus 25:23.) So, ultimately, the Jewish people are the rightful users of the land but God remains the owner. That land incidentally, as described in Genesis 15, is much larger than the New Jersey size of today. It will be fulfilled during the Millennial Kingdom of Messiah and be the size of Texas...Twice! No giving of land for peace, as in Gaza in 2005, will ever work, and God's boundaries are as sure as His character. This is explained in the Land Covenant that God made with the Jewish people as an amplification of the Abrahamic Covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1-29, 30:1-10.)
The People of Israel: Who are the real Jews anyways? Listening to the world, the Jews of today are not the real Jews, which makes it easy to push the argument that they have stolen Palestinian land. We are told that they are possibly descendants of a somewhat obscure people group that got settled in Eastern Europe in the 6th Century AD and is now all gone; The Khazars. The story says that King Bulan of Khazaria converted to Judaism and some (or all) of his kingdom followed after him, creating the group we know today as the Ashkenazi Jews. While King Bulan might have converted to Judaism, genetics and DNA have since proven that all Jews trace back to the original Judean Jews. Did Hitler murder 6,000.000 of the wrong people during the Holocaust? Of course he did not!
To be Jewish, one has to be a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jaco through one of the twelve tribes (sons of Jacob.) Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains it in his manuscript, "Jews, Gentiles and Christians" as he states:" Biblically speaking, the Jewish people are a nation. Today we are a scattered nation but we are, nevertheless, a nation. We are a nation because we are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The implication of this definition is that no matter what a Jew does, he can never become a non-Jew; no matter what the individual Jew may believe or disbelieve, he remains a Jew.... If a Jew chooses to believe that Yeshua is his Messiah, he, too, remains a Jew. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can change the fact that he is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!"
The biblical basis for defining Jewishness is found in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12:1-3, then developed in two other passages, Genesis 13:15-16, and 15:4-5, further confirmed through Isaac in Genesis 26:2-5, and reconfirmed through Jacob in Genesis 28:13-15. Fruchtenbaum explains, "From the Abrahamic Covenant a simple definition of Jewishness can be deduced. It lies in the repeated statement that a nation will come through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and thus defines Israelis, this nationality is not confined to the State of Israel alone; it includes all the Jewish people no matter where they are. It is a nationality based on descent.
It gets a bit more complicated once you introduce the word "Palestine" to the mix. Almost 1900 years ago the Romans changed the name of Israel to Syria Palestina to further humiliate the Jews who had been crushed during the Bar Kochba revolt (AD 132-136). The name stuck and became the common word to describe Israel. Until the arrival of Yasir Arafat on the scene, the word "Palestine" was only used from a geographical perspective. There were Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs living together in the land of Palestine (Eretz Yisrael). Arafat changed the meaning and created a displaced people fighting for self-determination and the return to their "ancestral land" of Palestine. None of it is historically traceable or biblically provable, but–to paraphrase Joseph Goebbels–if you tell a lie often enough and long enough, it eventually replaces the truth.
The Messiah of Israel: The most important investigation one can
make in 2026, is the one regarding the identity of the Messiah of Israel and
His ministry of redemption for all humanity. Is it a myth or can it be proven
beyond the shadow of a doubt? Using the Bible as the foundational textbook to
discover the Messiah, your reading and studying will take you on a journey like
no others. A multitude of prophecies about the Messiah can be found there. Many
already perfectly fulfilled, and many more to be fulfilled at His Second
Coming.
As we sift through the inerrant biblical account, which is replete with
prophecies about the coming redeemer, we quickly are able to paint a picture.
Just a handful of those hundreds of prophecies make Yeshua the ONLY VIABLE
candidate:
• From the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
• A prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
• A king from the line of David ( 1 Chronicles 17:10-14)
• A Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:1-7)
• Born in Bethlehem Ephrata (Micah 5:2)
• Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
• Die by crucifixion for the sins of Israel and the whole world (Isaiah
52:13-53:12)
Many will come in His name, and many will claim His office, but only Yeshua is worth the title, the ministry, and the obedience of Israel and the rest of the world.
So, 2026 might very well be the year when we need to spend time to properly understand and define the land and the people of Israel, in a world where everything gets turned upside-down or redefined by AI, political correctness and deceitful multiculturalism. It is my prayer that for many, it will also be the year to discover, embrace and follow the Jewish Messiah and Savior of the world, Yeshua HaMashiach before it is too late. The clock is ticking, the Rapture is truly imminent and we are one red heifer away from the final chapter to start. 2026 could turn out to be a prophetic year like we have never seen before.
LIVE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT
Do you ever find yourself thinking other Christians have learned a secret that you don’t know about living the Christian life? Perhaps it seems as if they’ve solved the mystery of rejoicing in suffering, forgiving the unforgivable, conquering sin, or showing love in ways you haven’t yet discovered.
What you are seeing in these believers is not a secret reserved only for those who have gained a certain level of enlightenment, but a life lived according to the Spirit. He’s the one who is producing this amazing fruit in those who are being led by Him rather than by their own fleshly desires and efforts.
Spirit-filled living is not reserved for a select few Christians. On the contrary, it’s available to every believer who yields his or her life to the leadership of God’s Spirit. As a member of the Trinity, He has all the power, wisdom, and love of almighty God. We can rely on Him to teach us truth (John 16:13), help us in our weakness (Rom. 8:26), intercede for us according to God’s will (Rom. 8:27), and give us victory over sin (Gal. 5:16).
The Holy Spirit is a person whom we can know intimately and who continually works to transform us into Christ’s image (2 Corinthians 3:18). Like God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, the Spirit of God loves, comforts, guides, and protects us. He is a friend like no other and will reveal Himself to us through the Scriptures.
Considering all this, we should gladly acknowledge our obligation to live according to the Spirit and delight in submitting to His leadership.
In Touch Ministry
PRIOR ISSUE
INTERESTING INFORMATION 1/7/2026
Est. 1997
The following material is provided for information purposes only. Any conclusions or opinions formed should be based on the principles as outlined in Acts 17:11. The material is intended for use as a witnessing tool and to keep you informed so you will not be unaware (Luke 21:34) of what is happening according to Scripture’s
DE
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
Ezekiel 34:2 “Shepherd, feed the Flock
GENISIS - “THE BEGINNING OF CREATION – HEAVEN AND EARTH”
After God created Heaven and Earth, the Bible then confirms that Creation happened in Six, 24 hour days according to Gen. 1:14. God created light on the first Day to define Day (Light) from darkness (Night), as we know it today.
Since God spoke stars, Galaxies into existence on the 4th day according to Gen. 1:14-19, can He not create Earth in one day?
God has Blinded Mankind to the Truth of His Word. Only those in Christ know the Truth.
"Baby Bottle Christians”
https://www.heritagechurchmckinney.com/messages/Baby%20Bottle%20Christians.mp3Pastor Len McLaughlin, Heritage Church, McKinney, Tx
This is a wonderful Message. Don’t miss it, you will be blessed!
Pass it on to your Homebound Family and friends
“TRUTH IS”
Danny Gokey
https://youtu.be/ghOMfa5iL3o
INTERESTING ARTICLE SUMMARY
· Timeless Truths about the incarnation of Christ – Part 1 of 3
· Why Protestants and Catholics should revisit “Once Saved, Always Saved
· WHAT IS TEMPTATION?
INTERESTING ARTICLES
7 TIMELESS TRUTHS ABOUT THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST – PART 1 OF 3
Koenig’s Int’l News – Dsec. 27, 2025 -- Christmas is so familiar that it is easy to miss how utterly unlike every other religious claim it truly is. The story is renowned throughout the world: a child in a manger, angels, shepherds, and songs of peace. Yet beneath these familiar scenes lies a declaration so radical that it reshapes how we understand God, humanity, and salvation itself.
Christianity does not begin with human beings reaching upward toward the divine. It starts with God coming down — entering history, taking on human flesh, and making Himself known in a way no philosophy, no moral system, and no religious speculation ever could. In the incarnation of Christ, God does not merely speak; He demonstrates. He does not remain distant; He draws near. He does not reveal ideas about Himself; He reveals Himself.
The birth of Jesus Christ is not simply the opening chapter of His earthly life. It is foundational to the Christian faith. Everything we believe about who God is, how He rescues and redeems, and what He requires of us rests upon this astonishing truth: God has entered the human story.
To properly reflect on Christmas, then, is to move beyond sentiment and recover the wonder of it. The Incarnation reveals the heart of God, the nature of true greatness, and the sure hope of salvation anchored in time. The following seven timeless truths invite us to look again, carefully and reverently, at the mystery of how God robed Himself with humanity, and rediscover why this moment remains the most consequential event the world has ever known.
1. The incarnation is God’s final and full self-revelation
Human beings have always asked the same essential question: What is God like?
Creation shows us His power, conscience whispers of His moral law, and history records humanity’s countless attempts to imagine, define, and explain the divine. Yet Scripture is clear that none of these, on their own, can bring us to a true knowledge of God. The world does not know God through human wisdom alone. If God is to be known rightly, He must make Himself known (1 Cor. 1:21).
That is precisely what happens in the incarnation.
In the incarnation, God reveals Himself. We cannot, by searching, climb our way up to God. The more we attempt to comprehend Him through human intellect only, the more bewildered we become. In the birth of Christ, God does not send us a distant image of Himself; He becomes a human being. He comes to us Himself, stooping to our level so that finite minds might truly know what they need to know about the infinite.
Jesus Christ does not merely reflect God; He is God. In Him, God’s character is not described in abstractions but displayed in a real person’s life. His compassion toward the broken, His patience with the slow to believe, His severity toward hypocrisy, His tenderness toward the weak, and His willingness to suffer rather than condemn are not simply admirable virtues — they are a revelation of the very character of God Himself. Christ is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact imprint of His nature (Heb. 1:3). To see Christ is to encounter God as He truly is.
2.The incarnation was eternally intended, not simply born of circumstance
It is easy to assume that the incarnation came about because history reached a breaking point — that Christ entered the world only after human sin and suffering made divine intervention necessary. Read this way, Christmas can appear to be a response to circumstance, a gracious remedy applied once things had gone terribly wrong.
Scripture presents a far deeper and more comforting truth.
The coming of Christ was not God’s afterthought, nor was it simply born of historical circumstance. The Bible teaches that long before the world was ever made, God purposed to redeem a people through His Son. This does not mean that sin was insignificant or that evil was somehow excusable. The Fall was real, tragic, and devastating. Nor does it mean that God was the author of humanity’s great fall. Human rebellion mattered, and it mattered profoundly. Yet it did not take God by surprise, nor did it force His hand.
The New Testament speaks of Christ as foreknown before the foundation of the world and revealed in time for our sake (1 Pet. 1:20). This language reaches into eternity past — before Bethlehem and before the Garden of Eden — placing the incarnation within the eternal counsel of God. History provided the setting, but eternity supplied the purpose. The Incarnation did not arise merely because circumstances demanded it, but because divine love had already determined it.
That God would set His love upon sinners before they ever existed, and resolve, even then, to come for them Himself, is a wonder beyond human reckoning.
Christmas marks the moment when what was purposed in eternity entered time. The child in the manger stands as a living testimony that God’s grace was not improvised and redemption was not merely a reaction to human failure. What unfolded in history was the outworking of a design established before the world began. It united God and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.
The concept stretches the limits of human understanding. Yet it is true.
WHY PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS SHOULD REVISIT 'ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED'
The Christian Post – Dec, 27, 2025 -- Some Protestants promote the idea of “once saved, always saved,” while some Catholics think this theological concept is used to excuse unholy behavior on the part of professing Christians. Personally, I think Protestants and Catholics alike should revisit this particular subject and dig deep into Scripture to discover what the Bible actually teaches.
Unbelief and works righteousness are, of course, damning sins that prevent a person from receiving God's grace, forgiveness and salvation. While unbelief is man's default position, attempting to earn your way to Heaven is an impossibility. You see, “if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21)
And the Bible makes it abundantly clear that anyone who lives for sin rather than for the Savior is heading toward eternal punishment in Hell, even if they claim to be saved. The Apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the churches in Galatia: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction” (Galatians 6:7).
Paul added, “The one who sows to please the Sprit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8). Paul wanted every believer who was sincerely following Christ to be assured of his eternal salvation. After all, Paul was absolutely certain of his own salvation (see Philippians 1:21-24) and this assurance empowered his life of discipleship.
Repentant Christians should not be forced to continually live under the fear of committing a “mortal sin,” thereby losing their salvation. This unbiblical idea plagues Catholicism, as I addressed in a CP op-ed: “Rather than trying to nail down specific instances of individual sins that are said to immediately drive the Holy Spirit out of your soul and instantly remove you from a ‘state of grace,’ the vast majority of Christian theologians over the centuries have followed St. Paul's approach and St. Peter's method of addressing the wicked intentions and consistently bad behavior of unconverted people.”
The New Testament focuses on a person's current attitude. If someone is trusting in Christ's sacrifice on the cross for salvation rather than his good works, and turning away from sin to live for Jesus, he is in God's family. Followers of Christ are saved today and saved forever.
On the other hand, if a professing believer claims to be saved while planning to pursue sinful pleasures, he must be warned that Scripture does not support the idea of “once saved, always saved,” for unrepentant sinners. Regardless of past or present professions of faith, persistently impenitent individuals are spiritually dead as evidenced by their lack of repentance and wicked lifestyle.
Paul wrote, “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 5:5-6).
Paul also wrote, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
God's Word places sinful labels on unrepentant and unconverted souls, but the Bible describes everyone who is “in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 3:28) much differently. We are referred to as: “Disciples,” “believers,” “saints,” “Christians,” and “children of God,” while spiritually immature believers are “infants in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1). Every believer is of course imperfect, and yet thankfully, our Heavenly Father does not kick us to the curb when we mess up.
Karl Keating wrote on catholic.com: “It is a mortal sin to miss Mass knowingly, but not if one has a sufficient reason, such as illness or the incapacity to get to a church.” While deliberately skipping a weekly worship service with your church family is certainly detrimental to your spiritual health, doing so will not remove the Holy Spirit from a believer's soul, despite it being labeled a “mortal sin” by Catholic officials.
When a professing Christian appears to “lose his salvation,” a debate sometimes ensues regarding whether or not he was ever saved in the first place. But the more important issue, in my opinion, is how the Bible addresses contrite sinners, as compared to unrepentant sinners.
The Holy Spirit comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. Those who are troubled by their sins and sincerely sorry for disobeying the Lord need to be comforted with the good news of God's forgiveness and the Lord's free gift of salvation, (see 1 John 1:9; John 3:16; 1 John 5:11-13) while those who are comfortable sinning need to be afflicted by the Holy Spirit with a conviction of sin, alerted to God's wrath against sin, and commanded to repent.
Jesus warned people, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3). Jesus never offered the forgiveness of sins and the gift of salvation to someone who was determined to continue sinning. But Christ gave this wonderful promise concerning true believers: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).
Repentant believers in Jesus experience the assurance of their salvation by relying upon the finished work of Christ on the cross. If that describes you, my friend, be assured that you are saved today and saved forever.
WHAT IS TEMPTATION?
Temptation is an enticement to take a God-given desire beyond God-given boundaries.
Related Scripture
Matthew 26:39-41, 2 Corinthians 11:3, Psalms 145-150, Matthew 26:39-41
Everyone experiences temptation. No matter how mature in the faith you are or how long you’ve followed Christ, you have been tempted. Sometimes this seems like a faint whisper in your mind, and other times, an unbearable shout. You know what temptation feels like. But if someone asked, could you define the term?
In and of itself, temptation is not a sin; it is simply an enticement to take a God-given desire beyond God-given boundaries. Sin occurs when we give in to that allurement. Many people, however, refuse to believe temptation could be even remotely related to a desire God intended for us to experience.
But think about it: In what ways are you most often tempted? In the area of material possessions? Companionship? Food? These are all things that God planned as blessings for His people. The problem comes when we take those drives beyond the healthy limits that the Creator has set for our life.
One of the Enemy’s top strategies is to distort a holy desire. Whenever you face temptation, ask the Lord to remind you where this urge came from in the first place. Then pray for the strength not to be deceived or “led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
In Touch Ministry
SECTION II - SPECIAL ARTICLES/ BOOK REVIEWS
IN THIS SECTION:
· WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE? (WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS)
· WHAT’S IN A NAME?
· "BOB PIERCE - THIS ONE THING I DO" - A BOOKREVIEW/SUMMARY
· "THE HIDDEN CODES OF THE BIBLE" - A BOOK REVIEW/SUMMARY
· "SIGNS OF THE TIME” - A BOOK REVIEW/SUMMARY
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DIE?
By D.E. Davis
For Christians, we are told in Scripture in 2Cr 5:8 that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. For those who turn away from God, we are told that they are eternally separated from God and go to a place called Hell. Rev 14:11 says that the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.
The question that everyone ponders is: What really happens after we die? Do we just lay dormant until the Lord takes us to be with him or until judgement is handed out at the Great White Throne as called out in Rev. 20:11? Are we conscience? Do we feel, touch, think, recognize loved ones, know what is happening around us? All questions that we have ask ourselves, no doubt, at some time in our life.
My own personal review of the Scriptures has led me to believe that after we die, even though our body may be dead and buried, our Spirit is alive and fully conscience. Chuck Missler likens this state of conscienceness to the software that runs the Computer; once the hardware goes, the software remains intact and available for further applications.
There are two illustrations in the Bible that makes it clear as to what happens after death, when we're in the spirit.
The first one is illustrated in the Luke account of Lazarus and the rich man in Chapter 16. After death, Lazarus, a man of God, is escorted into Abraham’s Bosom, a holding compartment in Hell for the Believers prior to the Cross. The non-believing rich man was "buried" and went into a separate compartment in Hell (Hades), apart from Abraham’s Bosom, where he was in Torment according to Scripture. Both were in a Spirit state; yet by the account, they could see each other and speak to each other.
The second account is in Revelation, where John is taken (in the Spirit) to Heaven to see those things that shall come to pass prior to the return of Jesus Christ to the Earth, or Second Coming (not the Rapture).
I had to conclude from the study, based on the following Scripture, that all of the senses we have here on earth will be with us throughout eternity, even unto death.
· THE ABILITY TO LOOK/SEE - Luke 16:23;Rev. 1:12;4:1,4; 5:1,2; 6:1,2,8,9; 7:1,2; 8:2; 9:1,17; 10:1,5; 13:1,2,3;14:1,6; 15:1,2; 16:13; 17:3,6; 18:1; 19:11,17,19; 20:1,4,11,12; 21:1,2,22; 22:8
· THE ABILITY TO HEAR - Rev. 1:10; 4:1; 5:11; 6:1,3,5,6,7; 7:4; 9:13,16; 10:4,8; 12:10; 14:2,13; 16:1,5,7; 18:4; 19:1,6; 21: 3; 22:8
· THE ABILITY TO BEHOLD ( to obtain knowledge of: understand: perceive) - Rev. 5:6,11; 6:5,8,12; 7:9; 8:13; 13:11
· THE ABILITY TO REASON - Luke 16:30
· THE ABILITY TO CRY (even though there will be no more crying in Heaven) - Rev. 5:4,5; Luke 16:24
· THE ABILITY TO SPEAK - Rev. 5:13; 10:9; 21:6,15; Luke 16:24, 29,30,31
· THE ABILITY TO FEEL/TOUCH - Luke 16:23, 24,25
· THE ABILITY TO REMEMBER - Luke 16:25
· THE ABILITY TO WONDER - Rev. 17:6
· THE ABILITY TO WRITE - Rev. 1:11; 10:4; 19:9
· THE ABILITY TO QUESTION - Rev. 7:13
· THE ABILITY TO TAKE (THE BOOK/ROD) - Rev. 10:8,9,10
· THE ABILITY TO FALL (ON KNEES) - Rev. 19:10; 22:8
· THE ABILITY TO STAND - Rev. 13:1
· THE ABILITY TO WORSHIP - Rev. 19:10; 22:8
· THE ABILITY TO PERFORM TASKS - Rev. 11:1
God has promised in 1 Thess 4:16 and 1 Cor. 15:52,53 that one day, we shall be reunited with Him in body and will be transformed and conformed to Him - in the twinkling of an eye. We are also told in Scripture that we shall see Him face to face- see the Lamb that was slain for you and me. We know by His Word, that we will Praise Him, Worship Him and Rule with Him.
One thing in the study that I found extremely fascinating was the difference in treatment between Lazarus and the non-believing rich man. Scripture says that Lazarus was escorted to Heaven by an Angel, but there is no indication in Scripture about how the rich man arrived at Hell. Could it be that God had a specific purpose why He chose not to tell us in Scripture?
Finally, knowing that others may have varying interpretations of these Scriptures, I strongly urge you to review the Scriptures yourselves to determine what you find as the truth according to God’s Word.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
For those who wish you had some other name because you don't like the name you were given, you had better think twice. It is most likely that the name your parents picked out for you was not their choice but God's choice. Let’ s face it, the word of the Lord is true. That's why in Eph. 1:4, God proclaimed that He had chosen us from before the very beginning of the world.
If you follow the Genealogy of Adam in Genesis, Chapter 5 (*) you will receive an insight into what importance God put in names - It's an exciting message:
Genealogy Meaning
Adam Man
Seth Appointed
Enosh Mortal
Kenan Sorrow
Mahalalel The blessed God
Jared Shall come down
Enoch Teaching
Methuselah His Death shall bring
Lamech The Despairing
Noah Rest, Comfort
Now let us look at God’s Plan for Redemption:
"Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest."
Let us now look at the Genealogy of Abraham (*):
Genealogy Meaning
Abraham Predestination
Isaac Called
Jacob Justified
Joseph Glorified
(*) Source: Chuck Missler’s Briefing package: “A Walk Thru the Bible”
WELL YOU SAY! BUT THAT WAS ALL OLD TESTAMENT AND WOULDN'T BE APPLICABLE FOR TODAY - WOULD IT?
Well, let us see.................. As a Christian, did God not choose you by name at the same time he chose Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph - before the very foundation of the world? If God had a purpose for their name, would you expect anything less for your name since He chose you at the same time?
As a Christian, You ought to thank God daily that you, by your given name, was written in the Lamb's book of life before the very foundation of the world and that you will be a partaker in all the promises of Rev 21:27.
Within the last couple of years, researchers have found many startling discoveries through the use of super computers, specifically, hidden codes that God supernaturally placed within the Hebrew text of the Bible. Over 2000 years ago, the names of historical and current leader’s names were placed in the Bible. Such names as Adolph Hitler, Eichmann, Arafat, Peres, Rabin, Rabin's murderer Amir, Ben-Zion Netanyahu, Saddan Hussein, George Bush, Schwarzkoph, Peter Arnet (CNN), Timithy McVeigh, Bill Clinton.
Do you think that God would limit His calling out to just those who had a highly visible historical impact on this world? There is no doubt that He had a purpose in doing this, if nothing else, just to get your attention that He is the Creator; that He alone knows the beginning from the end.
It is my firm belief that as we advance further with our computer technology and peel back the layers of the Hebrew text of the scriptures, we will make many more startling and exciting discoveries. One being that God has written each and every one of our names in His Word.
HERE IS WHAT GOD SAID: Isaiah 66:22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain."
BOOK REVIEW by D. E. Davis (September 1997)
BOB PIERCE -"THIS ONE THING I DO"
By Franklin Graham with Jeanette Lockerbie
It is amazing the worlds that open up to an individual, once the Power of the Holy Spirit comes upon him. Just three years ago, where once I was blind to Missions, to all the inspired men and women God has called to service and the multitude of people all over the world who have been saved, new worlds are ever opening to me to see how awesome the power of God is in our Christian lives.
Such was the power and strength of faith Bob Pierce had in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is difficult for me to even attempt to assess where God has put Bob along with other past great men of the faith, but from what I read about his life with Christ, he certainly had his eyes focused on Jesus! I personally feel inadequate and humbled to even put in words, my thoughts about this man. Bob was a man Blessed by God. I feel sad that I never had an opportunity to know him, but look forward to meeting him one day in heaven.
If ever there was a verse of scripture that represented Bob Pierce, it had to be the title of this book as taken from Philippians 3:13,14 ".......this one thing I do,....I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ."
Bob was raised in Los Angeles and at the age of 12, gave his life to Christ and was baptized in the Nazarene Church. "God simply called me to give my heart to Jesus, and I followed Him." He died in 1978 of leukemia but lived his life for Christ in between in between those dates as if Christ was coming tomorrow and he still had to witness to the whole world before dawn broke. Throughout his career, he dedicated his life mainly to Missions and over the years was responsible for founding such World re-noun programs as "World Vision", an organization dedicated to meeting the emergency needs in crisis areas such as Korea after the Korean war. During that time of need, he established a Korean Orphanage, serving over 30 thousand Korean war orphans. Bob was also responsible for starting the World re-noun Korean Orphan's Choir. As an outgrowth of "World Vision" he founded "World Medical Mission" which covered all emergency medical needs in countries all over the world which had no medical facilities. He was also founder of "Samaritan's Purse" and organization dedicated to funding World emergency need, no matter where they were. These organizations are still meeting the needs of those in crisis today.
If his work through these organizations was not enough, he became a United Nations War Correspondent during World War II; was Co-founder for "Youth for Christ"; and became a Motion Picture producer/Radio program host, author and a lecturer, but first and last, he always considered himself an evangelist! Even though Bob knew that he was "extraordinarily gifted by God, he was never impressed with himself - he considered himself just an earthly vessel, available at all times for the exclusive use of the Lord".
In his own words, he had "many flaws, failings but had abundant faith in God who lives and cares about people."
If I had to pick four areas of the Christian life that I feel truly represented Bob Pierce, they would be 1) Unwavering Faith, 2) Compassion for others, 3) Obedience to God and 4) Commitment to accomplish the Will of God in his life.
From the Beginning, Bob knew his calling was for Missions to the Asian Countries. His first mission led him through Hawaii to Hong Kong and eventually to China. Getting to China was his first big test of faith - he had no money, even for the first leg to Hawaii. Bob held the opinion that God knows ones needs already and if He has called you to a task, He will provide and enable you - just move out! He did just that and went to the L.A. airport that day without any money in his pocket. His faith paid off as God provided the funding for each leg of his trip just at the moment he needed it. This was the norm rather than the exception throughout his career as an evangelist. What ever it was, where ever it was, if God called, Bob would act no matter what the circumstance......he knew that God would always provide.....and He did!
Bob had a compassion for the spiritually and physically suffering of the world. "He was the friend of the little people, the forgotten, the hurting, the maimed, the unheard and the unsung". Bob's theme was "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God". It was Bob's personal belief that "wherever you find men and women who really love Jesus Christ, you find the compassion of Christ spilling out of them to meet human need." Over the years World Vision, Samaritan's Purse and other organizations like them; one in particular, Mission Aviation Fellowship Pilots (MAF), who flew Missionaries around the world in crisis situations, helped so many helpless and needy men, women and children. They knew first hand the healing power of God.
Bob dared it all to be obedient to the Lord's call. Once he had in focus the mission that God wanted him to accomplish, he followed in Faith to bring the unsaved to Christ. It was his opinion that " If you are an ambassador, act like one!"- no matter where you are. Bob would bring to memory how other great men of Faith were obedient even in the face of death. During World War II, a young South Korean Pastor, Mr. Im was mistaken for a North Korean Communist and imprisoned. During his internment, he would go around camp singing "Jesus Loves Me" and other Christian songs. He not only uplifted and inspired other fellow Christian prisoners to come together, he brought many more to Christ. Together he and another prisoner, Chaplain Voelkel, established a Bible Study where over 6,000 prisoners finished a six month Bible Study. Six Hundred (600) of those finishing the Bible Study became pastors and came back to Korea to preach the Gospel. In another instance, he related how a Korean school teacher was put to death in front of his students because of his faith and obedience to the Lord.
To be an ambassador for the Lord "is one of the greatest things that could ever have happened to anyone - to let God put a fish hook into you so deep that there is no way of ever getting off the hook."
"Bob did one thing all of his life, and that was to lead people to the foot of the Cross where they would put their faith in a risen Lord Jesus Christ. He lived every minute completely amazed that God could use him. No matter how much he was able to do in how many places, it was never enough." This was the kind of commitment Bob made to Jesus; "to commit yourself, give yourself away to God irrevocably, forever. Say to Him, go ahead and burn me up. Spend me. Eat me up. Use me for you Glory." And that's exactly what he did.
Being a man of God was not always easy for Bob and he paid a high price. In one measure or another he had to forsake his wife, his family, his Mother and Father, his brothers and sisters and other worldly possessions to follow Jesus. He not only lost his health, he lost his Daughter, Sharon, to death.
Committing your life to Christ in a Godless society is never easy; many times you feel like you may be the only one putting your life, your self image, your social acceptance on the line. As Bob came to realize, ". Someone has to go and pay that humiliating price of literally letting your ego be stomped on- not just pushed in and suppressed, but laid out there for people to stomp on. We need to do this by the grace of God with love and patience: sow the seed on rocky soil, nurture it, and maybe never be applauded."
Committing your life to Christ really comes down to this; What really matters
to you in Life?
On his death bed in the City of Hope, Bob left us this one message - "I don't care what you have attempted. What you have succeeded at, or what has been your work in Christ's name while you are here on earth - only one thing matters when you have reached the last step before you go to stand before Christ:
- Did you tell men and women who Jesus is?
- Did you bring them to some comprehension of His redeeming love?
- Did you make it plain to them that He alone can pay their way to heaven throughout His atoning death on the cross?"
Such was the life of a man of God, Bob Pierce.
HIDDEN CODES OF THE BIBLE
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ACT 17:11 - Exhorts you to daily review the scriptures to see if what is being said is true
References: Grant R. Jeffrey - "The Signature of God"- RECOMMENDED READING
Other reading: "The Hebrew Factor" by Yacov Rambsel
Prepared by D. E. Davis
Daniel 12: 4 - "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
Here is undeniable proof, the third in the series, that every word, every letter and every punctuation in Bible text was put their by the inspiration of God. It gives new meaning to the words "increase knowledge". It's just one of the many signs, and without a doubt, the most exciting revelation that God said he would reveal to man in the "end time". As you will see, God has put his signature throughout the Bible, has revealed History before it ever happened, all through hidden codes that were supernaturally placed into text which was written over 2,000 years ago; which could only be found with today's computer technological advances. The codes are found in what scholars call "Equidistant Letter Sequences" or ESL. That is, each sequential letter in an encoded word or phrase was found the same distance apart numerically; The exact interval designed by God.
Actually, the discovery of hidden codes in scripture dates back to before WWI and it was not until 1988 that the use of computers were able to detect a significant amount of coding in scripture. Since then, the research that Grant Jeffrey and others have done has just exploded and new discoveries are happening every day.
Here is a summary of what has been found and outlined in Grant's book, referenced above. It is my understanding that he is in the process of writing another book to tell what he has found subsequent to "The Signature of God".
Luke 21:15 - " For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay (refute) nor resist."
Proverbs 25:2 - "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."
THE SIGNATURE OF GOD
What follows is what most of the human race would find hard to believe. It unfathomable to think that the Hebrew Bible, containing 304,805 Hebrew letters, written by 40 individuals could contain hidden messages that if one letter was taken out of the text, one word was removed, the hidden message could not be revealed......yet the message has been sustained for over 2,000 years and has been revealed to man just as Jesus said it would be. Jesus has actually placed His name and other messages about Himself into text which proves he is the creator of all; King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
GOD'S SIGNATURE
God has personally signed scriptures throughout the Old and New Testaments in various ways. For example in the Old Testament, he has encoded his name, Jesus, in the following scripture:
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM ANCIENT TIMES UNTIL TODAY
God has also encoded unbelievable detail about many of the things we read about and which touch our lives daily. For example, he outlines:
PLACES AND THINGS
· Gen. 2: 4-10 - The key word "Eden" was spelled out sixteen (16) times in the span of 379 Hebrew letters. The letters were all equidistant from each other.
· Gen. 2 - In this chapter which deals with the garden of Eden, scientists found encoded in the Hebrew text, Twenty-five (25) names of trees that were in the
Garden of Eden.
· Gen. 1:1 - Starting with the first appearance of the Hebrew letter "Tav", the word "Torah" was found every 50th letter.
· Ex. 1: 1 - Again, starting with the first appearance of the letter "Tav" and counting every 50th letter, the word "Torah" was spelled. Num./Deut. - In the book of Numbers the word "Torah" was found spelled backwards every 50th letter. In the book of Deuteronomy, "Torah" was found again spelled backwards, but this time every forty-ninth (49) letter.
NAMES AND EVENTS
· Holocaust
· Deut. 10: 17-22 - Beginning with the second to last appearance of the Hebrew letter "bet" in this passage, they found every Thirteenth (13) letter, the phrase "b'yam marah Auschwitz" which means "in the bitter sea of Auschwitz." Also encoded in this passage were the names of the other Nazi Concentration camp, "Belsen".
· Deut. 33:21 - Beginning with the letter (resh) that appeared in the Hebrew word "Yisreal," and counting every twenty-second (22) letter from the left to right they found the phrase "re'tzach alm" discribing the Holocaust, which when translated, means "a people cry murder, slaughter."
· Adolph Hitler
· Deut. 10: 17-22 - The word "Hitler" spelled out in Hebrew was found every twenty-second (22) letter.
· Deut. 33:16 - Beginning with the first appearance of the Hebrew letter "mem" and every two hundred and forty-sixth (246) letter from left to right you find that the coded letters spelled out the phrase, "Melek Natzim," which translates as the "king of the Nazis."
· Eichmann
· Deut. 32:52 - Beginning with the appearance of the first letter (aleph) and counting from left to right every six hundred and seventy (670) letters, the name "Aik'man" is spelled, which is the Hebrew form of the name "Eichmann."
· Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
· "Sadat occurred together with the name of the leader of the Moslem Brotherhood assassinating team that killed him.......it contained the year of his assassination, 1981, and the words "president," "gunfire," "shot'" and 'Murder".
· Desert Storm
· Beginning in Gen. 1:7 and continuing through the rest of Genesis, Grant Jeffrey indicated at the Prophesy Conference in Irvine,Ca. on 27 Sept. 1996 that they had recently found information in hidden code in scripture relating to Desert Storm. I believe more details will be available in Grant's next book.
· The French Revolution
· Gen. 39,41 - "Another passage in the Book of Genesis revealed a cluster of encoded words that deals with the French Revolution. The following words are clustered ogether" "Mapecha HaSarfatit" which spells "the French Revolution" in Hebrew, "Louis," the name of the French king, and the word "Beit (house of Bourbon,") his royal dynasty. In the same cluster were the following words: "Hamarseilles" (the name of the French anthem) and the word "Bastillia" (the infamous French prison for political prisoners........"
OTHER HISTORICAL INFORMATION
· Word pairs - "In their initial experiment, .......the scientists arbitrarily chose three hundred (300) Hebrew word-pairs that were logically related in meaning, such as hammer and anvil, or tree and leaf, or man and woman." ".....the researchers were astonished to find that every single word-pair had been located in Genesis in close proximity to each other."
· King David's Ancestors
· Gen. 28 - " Every one of the five Hebrew names of these ancestor of King
David (Pharez, Zerah, Boaz, Obed, Jesse) were found encoded at forty-nine (49) letter intervals, hidden within the text of Genesis 38".
· Famous Jewish Rabbi - "The Jewish people celebrate the memory of their famous sages by commemorating their date of death. Incredibly, the computer program found every single one of the sixty-six names of these famous rabbis embedded in the text of Genesis paired at significantly close proximity with their actual date of birth or their date of death."
IS THE HEBREW BIBLE UNIQUE TO GOD' S INSPIRED EMBEDDED CODES?
Grant points out that "The researchers attempted to reproduce these results by running the computer program on other religious Hebrew texts outside the Bible, including the Samaritan Pentateuch. .......the researchers could not detect word pairs in the Samaritan Pentateuch or any other Hebrew text outside the Bible. In fact, an exhaustive analysis reveals that no other Hebrew text outside the Old testament contains these mysterious codes, not even the Hebrew apocryphal books written during the four hundred years before the birth of Christ"
A WORD OF CAUTION
"No one can search the Torah using these codes to foretell future events. The reason is that it is impossible to extract the encoded information unless you already know what the future facts are." "The prophet Isaiah warned against false prophets and declared that only God can Prophesy future events accurately
(Isa. 46: 9,10).
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"Computer tapes are now available so that anyone with a computer can personally verify the existence of these codes beneath the text of the Scriptures.
As Christians, we can stand firm in the word and shout for joy. God has given us "the words and the wisdom that none of our adversaries will be able to refute or contradict", no matter how much they try!
PRAISE THE LORD!
SIGNS OF THE TIME
References: Grant R. Jeffrey - "The Signature of God"- RECOMMENDED READING
Prepared by D. E. Davis
June 10, 1997
Prelude
How do we know that Jesus is the one true God when there are so many religions, cultures and cults that claim that they serve the one true god? How about Buddha, Allah?
Scripture says that God alone knows the beginning from the end. The way that God establishes His authority is through Biblical Prophesy. There are over 500 prophesies that were prophesied over 2,000 years ago that have all come to pass. There are still some Old Testament that have yet have to be fulfilled (Daniel Ezekiel), but there has never been an event prophesied that has not come to pass in it’s time. 100% accuracy tells us that the God of the Bible is the only true God. No one else in the history of the world, living or dead, can make this claim.
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In Matthew 24:3, just before Jesus' ascension into heaven, the disciples of Jesus ask Him what would be the sign of His second coming. Over the centuries various groups have attempted to guess when Christ would return to the earth to claim His inheritance as promised throughout scripture. As we know, no one has been right yet!. God clearly states in Matthew 24:36 that no man, not even the angels, know the day or the time when Christ will return. Only God the Father knows.
This summary is clearly not another attempt to forecast this event. This summary does, however, attempt to provide an awareness of what is happening around you so that you will not be caught unaware. (Ref. Luke 21:34 and Matthew. 24:42).
ACT 17:11- Exhorts you to daily review the scriptures to see if what is being said is true.
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----------------------THE SIGNS OF THE TIME-------------------
Grant Jeffrey has done a wonderful job of providing critical information about events that are happening in this generation that all Christians need to know; Events that were prophesied over 2,500 years ago. Approximately 90% of the material contained herein was extracted and summarized from Grant's book. I highly recommend reading this book as it contains so much more that you will want to know.
THE REBIRTH OF ISRAEL
The rebirth of Israel was prophesied in several scriptures throughout the Bible. Isaiah 66: 8 predicted that Israel would be born again in "one" day. Ezekiel 4:3-6 and Levitcus 26:18 foretold the exact number of days that it would take Israel to re-establish themselves as a nation in the last days. ( The exact calculation can be found in Grant Jeffrey's book referenced above). On May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed their independence of the reborn state of Israel.....The exact day that was predicted over twenty-five (25) centuries ago.......No other ancient nation ever ceased to exist for a period of centuries and then returned to take its place on the stage of world history."
PRESENT ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
In Psalms 83:2-8, God inspired King David to predict that upon Israel's rebirth as a nation it would be immediately surrounded by their enemies. The modern names of those nations named in scripture include Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria....the nations that have now joined the Palestinians in their attempt to destroy Israel.
In Gen. 12: 3, God has promised to punish those nations that come against Israel. "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
RESTORATION OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
When Israel was captured by Nebuchadnezzar in approx. 562 B.C., Israel was no longer allowed to speak the Hebrew language, but had to learn the language of the Chaldeans. The Lord predicted, however, through Zephaniah 3:9, that he would restore a pure language to Israel so that they may "serve him with one consent". It was in the early part of this Century that the Hebrew language was revived from the dead language. Today, Hebrew is a living language to over 5 million Israelis.
THE FERTILITY OF ISRAEL
In Isaiah 27:6; 35:7 and Joel 2:23, the Lord prophesied through these prophets that the deserted, unproductive, barren land of Israel would once again become productive in the last days and that Israel would experience tremendous increases of rain. Ever since Israel has returned to the land, they have flourished in the land and now supply over 90 percent of the citrus fruit consumed in Europe. Rainfall has increased by more than "10 percent every decade for the last century and Israel has planted in excess of two hundred (200) million trees and transformed the complete environment of the Promised Land." According to the United Nations, Israel is now "the most agriculturally efficient land on earth."
THE UNWALLED CITY
Ezekiel 38:11 speaks of the future invasion of Gog and Magog (Russia) saying "And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of un-walled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates". Grant explains that "even army bases and Israel's settlements in the West Bank and Gaza have no walls today.........How could Ezekiel have known twenty-five centuries ago that the development of modern weapons such as bombs, airplanes and missiles, would have made walls and gates irrelevant for defensive purposes in the last days. In the ancient past even small villages as well as cities depended on walls for defense against invading armies."
PLANS FOR REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
Revelations 11:1, 2 foretells of Israel rebuilding the Temple in the last days. There is much controversy between the Israelis and the Muslim's because the Dome of the Rock (Al-Aqsa Mosque) it is believed, sits on the very spot where the Temple is suppose to be built. In recent years, however, aerial Infra-red photography shows that this may not be the case. Ezekiel 44:14-18, tell about the sacred vessels and linen robes that must be used in the Temple. "The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has already prepared over 75 of the objects, vessels, and linen garments required for future Temple service.......over 500 men from the tribe of Levi have already been trained to fulfill the duties of Temple worship and sacrifice."
Update:
Just recently in the Washington Post on May 28, 1997, it was reported that a 10 month old heifer named "Melody" is the first red heifer to be born in Israel in over 2,000 years. "In ancient times, the ashes of a red heifer were mixed with spring water to purify high priests before they entered the Temple."
THE REBUILDING OF BABYLON
We know that the old city of Babylon (now called Iraq) will be built again in the end times because Isaiah 13:6, 19 foretells of its destruction. In Isaiah 34:8-10 it is prophesied that the rebuilt City of Babylon will burn for ever.
"As unlikely as it seems, the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein has spent over one billion dollars rebuilding the ancient city of Babylon and intends that it will become the center of their future renewed Babylonian Empire. Interestingly, the whole city of Babylon was built over an underground lake of asphalt and oil."
THE ANOINTING OIL
The prophet Daniel prophesied in Dan. 9:24 that the when Jesus returns, that the most Holy of Holies will be anointed with the anointing oil. "One of the five ingredients, afars' mon, was thought lost forever, when the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 and the only two groves of afars'mon trees in existence were burned
to the ground. Incredibly, several years ago, archeologists in Israel found a clay flask buried near the Dead Sea caves filled with the ancient oil of anointing. Scientists confirmed that the oil is two thousand years old and is composed of the precise ingredients described in Exodus 30:25,26."
PESTILENCE/FAMINES/EARTHQUAKES
Matthew 24:7 prophesied that in the last days "For nation shall rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers (various) places." Grand Jeffrey writes regarding these matters:
· Pestilence - In 1991, the Central Intelligence Agency produced a report which "concluded that up to 75% of the population of Africa living in the area south of the Sahara Desert may become infected with AIDS over the next 12 years. This will mean the death by AIDS of over three hundred million people in Africa alone. In July 1991, the South African Medical Journal reported that a staggering 47% of black male and female blood donors tested positive for AIDS during 1989."
In Nov. 1996, the Associated Press reported that "Sexually transmitted diseases are diagnosed 12 million times a year in the United States - including a staggering 3 million cases among teen-agers".
· Famine - The United Nations today "claim that over thirty million in Africa are now at risk of dying from the most devastating famine in this century. The UN estimates that one billion people are in danger of starvation while another billion lack proper nutrition. North American food reserves (grain and corn) are at the lowest level in sixty years."
· Major killer earthquakes – “Major Killer earthquakes (7.2 or greater on the Richter scale) occurred only once per decade throughout history until our century. However, since A. D. 1900, the growth in major earthquakes has been relentless. From 1900 to 1949 it averaged three major quakes per decade. From 1949 the increase became awesome with 9 killer quakes in the 1950's; 13 in the 1960's; 56 in the 1970's and an amazing 74 major quakes in the 1980's. Finally, in the 1990's, at the present rate, we will experience 125 major killer quakes in this decade."
WORLD WIDE COMMUNICATION
In Revelation 11:9,10, it is prophesied that during the tribulation period, the antichrist will have the two witnesses that God sent killed and their bodies will lay in the street for three and a half days while the whole world watches.
Did not the whole world watch Desert Storm on CNN television? With all the technological advances in telecommunications, including the recent opening of the World Wide Net to our computer industry, any event happening in any part of the world can now be viewed while it is happening. The prophesy of the two witnesses could literally be fulfilled today. This could not have happened just 10 or 15 years ago.
INCREASED KNOWLEDGE AND TRAVEL
Daniel 12:4 prophesies how much knowledge and travel will increase in the end time. "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the Book, even to the time of the end: Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased."
Today, it is estimated that "Human knowledge is growing so quickly that it literally doubles every twenty-four months." With the discovery through the use of modern "Super" computers by Grant Jeffrey and other researchers of the hidden codes that God supernaturally designed into the original Hebrew text of the Torah describing not only the history of the world in advance, but also verifying his Authority through His personal signature throughout his scripture, we realize that God chose this generation to reveal this unique aspect about himself.
It is also amazing that in this century, we have gone from horses to cars, from cars to supersonic spacecraft; not only can we now travel the world in a matter of hours, but in the case of the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery, we can now travel at speeds in excess of eighteen thousand miles per hour.
REVIVAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Daniel 2:40-44 predicts that the old Roman Empire will be revived in the end times into a ten Nation alliance. We currently see the foundation being laid today through the European Economic Community. "In 1957, six (6) Countries signed the Treaty of Rome laying the foundation for the future United States of Europe.............Since then the Maastricht Treaty consolidated the fifteen (15) Nations of the European Union into the worlds first superstate." All it will take is the re-shuffling and/or the consolidation of Nations to bring this prophesy to a literal fulfillment.
ODDS THAT THESE PROPHECIES WERE FULFILLED BY CHANCE IN THIS GENERATION
"In the Bible there are several types of generations. One generation is defined as the length of life of the average person - seventy or eighty years. However, a generation of governing is usually defined as forty years,...........During the last two thousand years since the days of Christ, there were fifty such forty-year generations. Therefore, the odds are one chance in fifty that any one of these specific prophecies happened by chance in our generation rather than some other generation."
"The odds that more than one event happening in our life time are:
"Another way of looking at this is that the chance that the prophets of the Bible correctly guessed these prophecies is also one in 97,500 trillion............in other words, it is simply impossible that men alone could
have written the Bible without the supernatural assistance and inspiration of God."
Matthew 24:32-35 - "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
Luke 21:28 - "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
ANTI-CHRIST TO BE REVEALED
As of today, no one knows who the Anti-Christ is, but we do know what God has told us about him:
Many people try to spiritualize or say the events prophesied in the Bible are just symbolic. Any doubt about how God handles these prophetic events should have been erased on May 14,1948. God is literally fulfilling scriptural prophesy before our very eyes. Can we expect anything less for those few remaining prophesies for which He has promised the world; 1) the removal of the one who restrains the man of lawlessness/Sin (the rapture of the Church), 2) His second coming to take possession of His inheritance, 3) The millennial kingdom and 4) the new heaven and new earth.
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Ezekiel 33:6 - "But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand."
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