THE INTERESTING
INFORMATION CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
CONFIRMING
BIBLICAL TRUTH
February 19,
2020
SECTION 1 – INTERESTTING
INFORMATION WEEKLY ARTILCLES
SECTION 2 – SUMMARIES/BOOK
REVIEWS/SPECIAL ARTICLES/CHRISTIAN LINKS
SECTION
III – CONTACT
INTERESTING INFORMATION 2/19/2020
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.CC
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URL – I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT?
URL - NANCY PELOSI LEAVES
OUT CHRISTIANS WHEN NAMING PERSECUTED RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: – Hardening of the heart is more serious than
hardening of the arteries – Our
Daily Bread
INTERESTING ARTICLES SUMMARY
·
3 ways to prepare for
the dark days ahead
·
Is there really only
one God for everyone”
·
“Watered-down Gospel in
U.S, is major concern
·
Super Bowl halftime
show panned as “Softcore Porn’”
·
The eye of the Octopus
·
WHAT HARDENS A HEART?
INTERESTING ARTICLES SUMMARY
3 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR THE DARK DAYS
AHEAD
In watching
many believers, they don't seem to be ready for what is coming.
Weekend News
Today – Jul. 22, 2015 -- Now please understand, I am not a doom and gloom guy
by any means. But I do recognize turbulence seems to be increasing in
these days. Resistance to the Kingdom of God is intensifying, and it will not
be long before being a Christian in our culture will be heavily opposed.
So what do we do to prepare for what's
ahead?
The answers
are actually quite simple, because it involves facing 3 things that many people
today are not dealing with. You can ignore them for so long, but eventually you
have to face them.
In preparing
for what's ahead, you need to be equipped to stand confidently while many are
crumbling under darkness, stress, discouragement, isolation and hopelessness.
Dealing with these 3 areas will best prepare you to be a vessel of hope in the
worst of times:
1.
Face
your fears instead of avoiding them or justifying them. The Bible teaches that in the last
days, men's hearts will fail because of fear (Luke 21:26.) The
intensity of the times will wipe people out, because they do not carry a realm
of peace within from God that overcomes storms.
Most people
are giving into their fears and setting their life decisions around their
fears. This needs to change, because it is not going to get any easier.
It's time right
now to stop justifying our fears as a part of our personality, a valid concern
and just the way we are. We need to renounce and turn from our fears and
towards a love relationship with Father God, so that we can walk in a
greater boldness; taking risks where we once jumped to the easiest road
with least resistance. This means facing our relational fears and the fears we
have of financial loss and even loss of comfort.
2.
Quit
being so easily offended and forgive daily. Our culture is training us to avoid offending someone at
all costs; causing everyone to tiptoe around relationships, and no real change
takes place. No one is being real with each other because offense drives the
world of relationships today. Once offense comes in, bitter roots rise up
to defile.
No
relationship is going to go to a deeper level if one or both of the people
involved are easily offended. Communication will get off track, motives will be
misunderstood and division will take over. If we can have a heart that is
"un-offendable" then we can have solid relationships and get the job
done for the Kingdom of God. In the days ahead, we will have very little time
to entertain offense in relationships. In fact, churches that play to everyone's
offense will crumble, for they will play into people pleasing and lose the
ability to release the pure Word of the Lord with power.
3.
Learn
to love people like you have never loved them before. Jesus also said that in the last days
the love of many will grow cold. A clear mark of the last days is actually
relational breakdown–where people will not be able to have effective
relationships and become very easily prone to hardness of the heart. Passionate
love will wane as brothers and sisters do not know how to love one another with
a forbearing love that endures.
I believe God
is calling the church to walk in a higher level of love than it ever has. This
has nothing to do with watering any message down, but loving people with an
intensity that demonstrates the goodness of God. We never have to water down
truth or compromise core values of the Kingdom of God.
The world
would tell us that the only way to love is to agree with everything and accept
everything people do. That's not love, for the love of God comes with an invitation
for relationship, despite the sin that is present. As love is received, the
character and nature of God comes to transform us into the image He created us
to be. The more we are able to carry His love for people, the greater
atmosphere we will carry for a transformative culture. His goodness leads us to
repent.
The only
solution to the pain and bondage going on in the world is the love of God,
flowing through human beings who are willing to love people at a greater level
than they did before. We must be willing to love those who don't love us back.
We have to move from just loving people who agree with us to loving people even
when their lives are filled with struggle and junk that make us want to get
away or even reject them.
Our ability to
love people, truly as Christ demonstrated, needs an upgrade. For as they hated
Him, the world will hate us. But may we carry a love that is so tangible and
potent, that our very identity as Christians would be marked with it.
IS THERE REALLY
ONLY ONE GOD FOR EVERYONE?
Charisma News – Feb. 16, 2020 -- When sharing the gospel with
Hindus or New Agers, often, the anticipated response will be, "There is
only one God! We are all worshipping the same God.
Strangely, the first half of that statement can be true, or it
can be false—depending on the belief system held by the person who says it.
What does a Hindu mean by the statement, "There is only one
God"?
Most Hindus believe that ultimate reality is Brahman, an
omnipresent, impersonal life-force that permeates the universe. Out of this
cosmic oversoul, millions of individual, personal gods and goddesses manifest,
but they all trace their existence to one impersonal source. This is an
all-inclusive view.
What does a Sikh mean by "There is only one God"?
Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, taught that the god of the
Hindus and the god of the Muslims are one and the same. Names, personalities
and myths may be different, but behind it all is one and the same god. This is
an all-inclusive view.
What does a Muslim mean by "There is only one God"?
Muslims believe that there is no other god but Allah, that Allah
is absolutely one and that assigning divinity to anything or anyone else is a
heretical sin called shirk. Therefore, the triune nature of the one
God, as revealed in the Bible, is firmly rejected. This is an exclusive view.
What does a Christian mean by "There is only one God"?
Only in Christianity do we find the correct triune revelation of
the Godhead: one God comprised of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It
is impossible to blend this revelation with any other interpretation of the
divine nature. This is an exclusive view.
So, is the name we use for God important? Absolutely, because the name used
for God is identified with the doctrinal base and character of the one being
referenced.
Isn't It enough for a person to just worship God, however He is
conceived? No,
because "true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and
truth" (John 4:23b). But what does that mean? Much more than most people
think.
‘WATERED-DOWN' GOSPEL IN U.S. IS MAJOR CONCERN
Christian
Headline News – Feb. 8, 2020 -- The prevalence of a “watered-down” gospel and
the culture’s shift to a secular age are the leading concerns among Protestant
pastors about the Christian church in the United States, according to a new Barna survey.
Barna
surveyed 547 U.S. Protestant pastors and asked them which issues they believed
were a major concern facing the U.S. Christian church.
Seven issues
topped 50 percent: Watered-down gospel teachings, 72 percent; culture’s shift
to a secular age, 66 percent; poor discipleship models, 63 percent; addressing
complex social issues with biblical integrity, 58 percent; prosperity gospel
teachings, 56 percent; reaching a younger audience, 56 percent and political
polarization in the country, 51 percent.
Three issues
topped 40 percent but failed to reach 50 percent: Negative perceptions of the
church, 46 percent; the diminished influence of churches in the community, 45
percent and church leader burnout/exhaustion, 40 percent.
Few of those
issues, though, were mentioned as a major problem when pastors were asked – in
a separate question – to list their major concerns for their own church. On
that list, only two issues topped 50 percent, with a total of nine reaching at
least 20 percent: Reaching a younger audience, 51 percent; declining or
inconsistent outreach and evangelism, 50 percent; declining or inconsistent
volunteering, 36 percent; stagnating spiritual growth, 34 percent; declining
attendance, 33 percent; biblical illiteracy, 29 percent; declining or
unpredictable giving patterns, 28 percent; lack of leadership training and
development, 23 percent and not reflecting the demographic of the community, 21
percent.
SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW PANNED AS
'SOFTCORE PORN,' 'HORRIBLE EMBARRASSMENT' (Excerpt)
The Christian
Post – Feb. 3, 2020 -- The Super Bowl halftime show is being planned for its
explicit content.
Super Bowl
LIV, which was held in Miami this year, featured Latin pop artists Shakira and
Jennifer Lopez. Featuring several of their most well-known songs from over the
years, the artists danced with lots of hip-shaking and were at points barely
clothed around stripper poles.
Commenting on
his Facebook page Sunday, evangelist Franklin Graham noted that he did not expect
the world to act like the church, but the nation nevertheless should have the
decency to protect children during prime-time television.
"We see
that disappearing before our eyes. It was demonstrated tonight in the Pepsi
Super Bowl Halftime Show — with millions of children watching. This exhibition
was Pepsi showing young girls that sexual exploitation of women is okay. With
the exploitation of women on the rise worldwide, instead of lowering the
standard, we as a society should be raising it. I’m disappointed in Pepsi and
the NFL," Graham said.
March for Life
President Jeanne F. Mancini tweeted: "Ugh. We can’t have something that
little kids can watch? Embarrassing for everyone I’m with — looking away, etc.
Friends son got distracted by smart dad so he wouldn’t see it. We can do
better!"
Some connected
the performance to widespread social scourges and the grim reality of sex
trafficking that frequently occurs at major sporting events.
"We
wonder why the Super Bowl is a hotbed of sex trafficking...meanwhile we applaud
for literal pole dancing during the halftime show. Degrading women has tragic
cultural consequences," commented One American News Network host Liz
Wheeler.
Kristen Ruby,
a commentator and president of Ruby Media Group, concurred.
"You call
it dancing and entertainment. I call it what it is: softcore porn. Our society
is really crumbling," she tweeted Sunday night.
Writing in the
Washington Examiner Monday, Madeline Fry noted that children have likely viewed
things on social media that are much worse than the halftime show. "But in
a day and age when child sexual abuse is ravaging public schools, the Catholic
Church, Hollywood, and every institution in between, that’s no reason to
normalize hyper sexualization of content aimed at children," she said.
"It's
even worse that this is being passed off as a form of mainstream entertainment
that promotes female empowerment. It is the opposite of feminism to teach young
girls to look up to icons who act like strippers. That's not empowerment. It's
self-objectification."
THE EYE OF
AN OCTOPUS
Genesis
1:20 “And God
said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life,
and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
Creation Moments – Feb. 3, 2020 -- The
eye is a very complex organ. A vertebrate eye, such as that possessed by
humans, contains a number of separate parts, all of which have to work
together. It is easy, therefore, to show that an eye could not have evolved.
Our eyes contain a lens, which is transparent and convex, like the lens of a
camera. But, unlike the camera lens, the eye lens can have its focal length
altered by being stretched thinner, or squashed fatter, by tiny muscles. If the
lens had evolved without the muscles, it would have been useless. The lens
needs to focus light on to the retina, where the photo-receptors are found. The
retina would have been useless if it had evolved with no lens, and there would
be no evolutionary advantage to an organism with a lens, but no retina. And
none of these features are useful without a nerve to take the signals of these
images to the brain.
A further blow that the eye gives to
evolution is when we examine the eyes of cephalopods, like the octopus. The
eyes of these mollusks are pretty much the same as vertebrate eyes. Are we
expected to believe that they evolved separately to the same design?
Cephalopods are supposedly less evolved than humans. Yet their eyes seem to be
more advanced, as they do not possess the blind spot of the vertebrate eye.
None of these issues is difficult to
understand when we realize that these features were designed by God, just as He
said.
WHAT HARDENS A HEART?
The warning in
Hebrews 3 is a serious one. Anytime we ignore what God has said, it may be
evidence of a hardened heart. Although we usually think this condition applies
only to those who reject Christ, the reality is that believers can “be hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).
When the Lord
begins to convict us, we could rationalize our disobedience, thinking it’s not
that big a deal. Or we might be tempted to preoccupy ourselves with other
things to avoid facing the issue at all. Perhaps we’re unwilling to deal with
that sin because we’re afraid of the changes God is challenging us to make.
Therefore, we distract ourselves with other thoughts and activities, pushing
Him further and further from our mind in hopes of silencing His
conviction.
We may think
ignoring the Spirit in this way is not a serious issue, but it is rebellion
against God, which is the very core of sin. And rebellion often begins with a
refusal to relinquish control and trust the Lord. When we start catering to our
own preferences, it’s not long before we redefine what God has said in an
attempt to make ourselves feel better and quash the nagging sense of guilt.
The danger in
such behavior is that we lose sight of our “first love”—our actions testify
that we love our sin more than Christ (Revelation 2:4). The result is a heart that is
desensitized to the sin. By ignoring the Spirit’s warnings, we can become
acclimated to unrighteousness and adopt a sinful lifestyle. This is why we must
carefully guard and examine our hearts.
In Touch
Ministry
THE GRACE THAT WE STAND IN IS MORE THAN WE DESERVE
PRIOR ISSUE
INTERESTING INFORMATION 2/12/2020
CC
DOUBLE CLICK
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URL - PALESTINIANS HAVE BEEN THEIR OWN
WORST ENEMY
THOUGHT
FOR THE WEEK: – There's
something inherently phony about saying that you're praying for (someone) while you're working 24/7 to
destroy (them)" - Pastor Robert Jeffress - James 3:10 “From the same mouth come blessing and
cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”
INTERESTING ARTICLES SUMMARY
· God using Trump to defend Faith in the U.S.
· If not now, When?
· Pelosi tears up President’s speech: Three Biblical responses
· Female flogging force unveiled in Indonesia to punish
violations of Sharia Law
· The morality of a Tiger
· IMMATURE FAITH
INTERESTING ARTICLES SUMMARY
GOD USING TRUMP TO DEFEND FAITH IN THE
US
Newsmax – Feb/
6, 2020 -- God is using President Donald Trump "without question" to
defend faith in the United States, Family Research Council President and pastor
Tony Perkins said Thursday before the president's speech at the National Prayer
Breakfast.
"He is
the man for this time," Perkins told Fox News' "Fox and
Friends." "When you look at the hostility toward faith and what
happened in the last administration, you couldn't have a typical Republican
come and just say oh, this is bad. We're going to stop it."
Instead, what
Trump is doing, "and what makes the left so mad" is that he is
"dismantling the infrastructure that they have used to advance an
anti-faith, big-government agenda, and they are not going to be able to jump
back into the driver's seat and take off again."
It will take
"decades" for the left to rebuilt that anti-faith campaign if Trump
"continues to be able to advance the agenda that he gave to the American
people," Perkins added.
Perkins also
lauded the president for his State of the Union address.
"Faith
was really at the center of the speech," said Perkins. "It's been the
center of his administration."
It is also
"extremely important" to many Americans that Trump has appointed
several conservative judges to the bench, as they understand that the
foundation for the United States as a great nation involves the "values
that come from faith, from the Christian faith in particular."
And as the
United States calls on other nations to stop the persecution of people of
faith, it's important that it leads the way "by allowing people to live
their lives according to their faith and that's what this administration is
doing.
Dan. 2:21 “And he changeth
the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and
knowledge to them that know understanding:”
IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
Tommy Waller Report – Feb. 7, 2020 -- First
of all, I would like to thank President Trump for the many good things he has
done for Israel. For decades, we have seen many Presidents, both Democrat and Republican,
who, after being given the opportunity, did not have the courage to confirm the
right of the Jewish people to live in the Land promised to them by God.
President Trump was the first U.S. President to acknowledge the right of Jews
to live in east Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. It is scripturally,
morally, and ethically right to allow the Jewish people to return to their
biblical heritage.
It is with
great respect that I make this appeal.
I, like most
Christian Zionists, was both excited as well as apprehensive at the thought of
a peace plan coming from this administration. The staff at HaYovel
and our families gathered in a small meeting room here on the Mount of Blessing
to listen to the plan. Through HaYovel, thousands of
volunteers have had the privilege of working alongside farmers in Judea and
Samaria, farmers who were inspired by the biblical prophets to plant vineyards
on this Land. The plan, we knew, would have an impact on the people and
the Land we have grown to love over the last 15 years of service.
Since the UN
vote to reestablish Israel’s existence in 1947, there has been only one
consistent solution offered – two states for two peoples – Israelis and
Palestinians living side by side. As we heard, the term “Palestinian State”
spoken by the President - our hearts broke.
Almost
immediately, we heard the celebration from the mouths of Jewish as well as
Christian leaders. Many of them were invited by the President to witness the unveiling
of the plan. For those of us who’ve invested our whole lives to see God’s Name
hallowed in this Land, we sat for the most part - silent. For us, within
minutes, the dreams of the prophets had been reduced to Jewish enclaves
surrounded by those who desperately want to see Israel and the Jewish people
destroyed.
Not one of us
felt like celebrating. Why?
Many faithful
followers of the President have said “The Deal of the Century” is wonderful,
amazing, even brilliant. The one reason for this excitement we’ve heard over
and over is that “The Palestinians would never accept it, so why do we need to
worry?”
Really? We are
excited about a plan because we know the Arabs will not accept it? And then
what would we do if they did accept it? Do they even need to accept it before
it will be implemented?
The other
point I have also heard is that President Trump is masterfully trying to expose
the Palestinians so he can, at some point, make a better case for Israel's
sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria.
Expose the
Palestinians?
At what point
in the history of this conflict have the Palestinians NOT been exposed? How
many Jews will have to be murdered? How often and how loudly do they need to
declare their intent to see the Jews annihilated before the world recognizes
the danger? How many Palestinians are receiving money awarded by the PA to
those who murder Jews? How many more Jews will be murdered in order to collect
this reward?
Continue
reading at: https://www.israelheartlandreport.com/news/if-not-now
when?mc_cid=99459aadee&mc_eid=1663054ce7
Article by Jim
Dennison
Koenig’s Int’l
News – Feb. 5, 2020
-- My purpose in responding today is emphatically not to advance a
partisan agenda. I would offer the same response to last night’s divisiveness
if the president were a Democrat and the House Speaker a Republican.
In such a
bitterly divided culture, my purpose today is to consider biblical ways to deal
with disagreements as a nation and as individuals.
First, we must
honor the position even if we disagree with the person.
Peter
instructed us: “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,
whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to
punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13-14). Paul agreed: “Let every person be
subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from
God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1).
Note that the
emperor to whom they referred was Nero, one of the most despotic tyrants in
Roman history.
In light of
God’s word, it was wrong for Republican Congressman Joe Wilson to cry out “You
lie!” when President Obama was delivering a joint address to Congress in 2009.
(The congressman soon apologized, and the president accepted his apology.) It
was also wrong for Speaker Pelosi to rip up President Trump’s speech.
Congressman
Wilson and Speaker Pelosi obviously disagreed with the presidents whose
speeches they protested. But Scripture teaches us to honor the position, even
if we disagree with the person.
Second, God’s
word calls us to go to those with whom we disagree.
Jesus was
clear: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between
you and him alone” (Matthew 18:15). Conversely, our Lord also taught us:
“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your
brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and
go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).
Whether
someone sins against us or we sin against them, we are to go to them. We are
not permitted to speak about them before we speak to them. When we discuss
public figures, we must avoid slander (Psalm 101:5; James 4:11) and gossip (Proverbs 20:19; 1 Timothy 5:13), only saying about them what we would
say to them.
These
commitments break the cycle of retribution and initiate the process of healing.
If the person will not respond to our initiative, we will know that we have
done what we can.
Our third
principle may be the hardest: “Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45).
“Love”
translates agape, the unconditional commitment to put the other person
first. We demonstrate this commitment when we pray for “those who persecute
you”—the Greek syntax is translated literally, “for them as they are
persecuting you.”
You know that you love your enemies when
you pray for God’s best for them regardless of how they treat you. Such forgiveness obeys God’s word and
will (Mark 11:25) and models his grace to a graceless
culture. Imagine a culture living by biblical forgiveness
Discussion of
the divisiveness on display during last night’s State of the Union is likely to
continue for days. In response, let’s model Christian behavior for a
post-Christian culture. Let’s choose to honor the position of those with whom
we disagree. Let’s refuse to slander them, speaking to them rather than about
them. And let’s pray for God’s best for them as we share the forgiveness we
have received.
Imagine the
difference in our country if everyone followed these biblical principles. Now
let’s model the behavior we ask others to exhibit.
FEMALE FLOGGING FORCE UNVEILED IN
INDONESIA TO PUBLICLY PUNISH WOMEN WHO VIOLATE SHARIA LAW
Fox News -
Jan. 28, 2020 - A female flogging unit
has been introduced in Indonesia’s Aceh province to dole out public
whippings against women found violating the region’s Sharia law.
One of eight
new female Sharia officers delivered her first punishment to an unmarried woman
who was found in a hotel room with a man who was not family, AFP reported Tuesday. The victim’s behavior
is considered a morality crime in Aceh, where violators often face public
whipping with a rattan cane.
The officer,
wearing a cloth mask and a brown, full-body uniform, appeared to hesitate
before unleashing a burst of lashes on the woman’s back, according to the
report. Officers who deal the lashes wear the uniform to protect their
identities for security reasons.
"I think
she did a good job. Her technique was nice," Banda Aceh Sharia police
chief investigator Zakwan told AFP of the new
recruit.
Men and women
can face floggings for a range of offenses, including gambling, drinking
alcohol, homosexuality and extramarital sex.
Aceh is the
only region in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, to follow Islamic law, which calls for women to punish
female transgressors, the outlet reported.
Public
flogging is also used against men and women found guilty of gambling, extramarital
sex, and homosexuality, according to The Jakarta Post. The floggings can
include more than 100 lashes; the victims sometimes faint from the pain.
The
punishments have proven controversial, with human rights group Amnesty
International calling the canings “cruel, inhuman and degrading” public
spectacles, according to the outlet.
The Indonesian
government allowed Aceh province to implement Sharia, or Islamic law, in 2001
as part of limited self-rule to pacify clamor for independence.
Indonesia’s
president reportedly issued a call to cease public whippings. But a limited
autonomy deal made over a decade ago between Aceh and the central government
allows the province to follow the religious law.
Safriadi,
head of Banda Aceh's Sharia Implementation Unit, told AFP that the female
officers were trained in the correct technique to limit injuries and “have no
mercy for those who violate God's law.”
"We're
not aiming to hurt people by whipping them," he said. "The most
important thing is the shaming effect on violators and spectators so they don't
do it again."
THE MORALITY OF A TIGER
Genesis 1:25 “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and
cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it
was good.”
Creation Moments – Jan. 21, 2020 -- The author Gilbert Keith Chesterton
had some wise things to say on the subject of evolution. While he would not be
classed as a Bible-believing Christian or a young earth creationist, he
certainly spotted many of the flaws behind evolutionary theory, of which he was
highly critical. One of his more well-known anti-evolutionary quotes is to be
found in his book Orthodoxy, in which he wrote:
Darwinism can
be used to back up two mad moralities, but it cannot be used to back up a
single sane one. The kinship and competition of all living creatures can be
used as a reason for being insanely cruel or insanely sentimental; but not for
a healthy love of animals.
Chesterton
asked his readers to consider their reactions to a tiger. Evolution might lead
one to suppose that humans and tigers are close. We are both mammals. We are
both warm blooded. Therefore, we get over-sentimental about them, simply
admiring their beauty and ignoring their claws.
Another
evolutionary response, however, sees tigers as examples. They tear apart their
prey, so we, if we are to be as successful as tigers, may do likewise.
Chesterton labels both responses as “mad”. He said, “The essence of all
pantheism, evolutionism and modern cosmic religion is really in this
proposition: that Nature is our mother.” The biblical approach is to recognize
the tiger’s beauty, which comes from God, but not to imitate it because we are
created for better things.
IMMATURE FAITH
We all know
that the Christian walk begins with faith in Jesus for the salvation of our
soul. But faith is not a onetime act—it’s a lifelong path. And Hebrews 11:6 tells us why that journey is so
important: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
The faith of
new believers is immature and often restless because there isn’t yet a deep
understanding of the heavenly Father. Therefore, when trials come, the tendency
is to look at the problem rather than at God. But as we spend more time
studying His Word and growing in our knowledge of Him, our confidence in the
Lord begins to increase. The more we learn what pleases Him, the wiser our
prayers become.
Another way
faith matures is through trials. In today’s passage, Jesus’ disciples became
frightened in a storm and cried out to Him for help. We can relate to this
scenario—at one time or another, we all have found ourselves in a desperate
situation with no way to extricate ourselves. And the words Jesus spoke to His
disciples could probably be said to us as well: “Why are you afraid, you men of
little faith?” (Matt. 8:26).
We’d all like
a problem-free life, but that’s not possible. The silver lining is that trouble
can strengthen our faith in the Lord. It’s one thing to read about God’s
faithfulness in His Word, but we also need to experience it in our personal
life. Each time we’re able to trust the Lord during a trial, we know our faith
is genuine.
In Touch
Ministry
THE GRACE THAT WE STAND IN IS MORE THAN WE DESERVE
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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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."
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:
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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------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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