THE INTERESTING
INFORMATION CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
CONFIRMING BIBLICAL
TRUTH
10/19/2022
SECTION 1 – INTERESTTING
INFORMATION WEEKLY ARTILCLES
SECTION 2 –
SUMMARIES/BOOK REVIEWS/SPECIAL ARTICLES/CHRISTIAN LINKS
Blue Letter Bible: http://www.blueletterbible.org/
INTERESTING
INFORMATION MINISTRY
10/19/2022
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
600 LEVITES REHEARSE WORSHIP SONGS FOR
THE THIRD TEMPLE ON TEMPLE MOUNT STEPS
URL
- AN ORTHODOX JEW TALKING ABOUT THE RAPTURE?
CHRISTIAN MUSIC VIDEO
ALL MY WAYS ARE KNOWN TO YOU
CityAlight
THOUGHT FOR
THE WEEK – “Prayer can heal; prayer can comfort; prayer
can save lost souls. By the power of
prayer, we are allowed to enter into the beauty of
holiness. That oneness with God the
Father. Take time to pray!” – Anonymous
INTERESTING ARTICLES
SUMMARY
·
When
Souls enter the eternal forest
·
Could
the Psalm 83 war against the Jews be happening now?
·
Let
the World call us fools-so long as God calls us Faithful
·
Warning-
Your government may think you’re a terrorist
·
GOD
CENTERED PRAYER
INTERESTING
ARTICLES
WHEN
SOULS ENTER THE ETERNAL FOREST
The Christian Post –
Oct. 11, 2022 -- Six people were killed recently when their car crashed into a
tree in Lincoln, Nebraska. The friends were on their way home around 2:00 a.m.
when the tragic collision occurred. The victims ranged in age from 21 to 26.
These six souls have entered the eternal forest where they will
now spend eternity. They had no way of knowing what was about to happen when
they entered the vehicle that night. People instantly leave Earth when they die
and enter the eternal forest in a split second. And there are only two
destinations beyond the grave: Heaven and Hell.
Few people expect to die in their 20s, and certainly not in such
a horrific manner. Each of us is a living soul residing within our earthly body.
When our body dies, our soul is ushered immediately by angels to the place
where we will spend eternity. The sooner you accept the fact that your soul is
immortal, the better.
The first two human beings God created had a historic collision
with a tree. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree in
the middle of the Garden of Eden, it was a catastrophic crash with worldwide
consequences (Genesis 3:1-7). It ignited a fire that continues to burn
today.
Billy Joel wrote the song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” And
yet each one of us is culpable for the fire that rages today. “Sin entered the
world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way
death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). You and I are just as guilty of sin as Adam
and Eve, and sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 3:23).
The eternal forest contains not only Heaven, but also Hell,
which is a cordoned-off section of the forest engulfed in flames. Hell was not
originally created for man, but rather for fallen angels. Jesus spoke about
“the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
Those suffering the agony of Hell cannot cross over to the joy
and pleasure of Heaven, and vice versa. Abraham described the separation this
way: “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who
want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us”
(Luke 16:26).
No reputable historian denies the fact that Jesus of Nazareth
lived on Earth and was crucified on a cross 2,000 years ago. Just as Tiberius
was the second Roman emperor, Jesus too is a historical figure who lived during
that same time period in the first century.
As you investigate the claims of Christ, don’t
overlook the tree upon which Jesus was crucified. If you come to understand and
believe why Christ’s crucifixion occurred, you will be on the verge of having
your sins forgiven. You see, “Christ died for sins once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
The most important tree in the history of the world is the cross
where Jesus died to pay for our sins. Without this tree, we would all be going
to Hell. Each one of us is a sinner who deserves God’s wrath and punishment.
Do you see the eternal forest through the trees? The prophet
Daniel saw this forest when he wrote, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of
the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting
contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
The Apostle John also understood the reality of the eternal
forest: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the
Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).
Cell phones and the Internet do not exist in the eternal forest.
Social media will be a thing of the past. All things will be made new for those
who enter Heaven (Revelation 21:1-7).
We would have no clue about the eternal forest unless God had
revealed it to us in Holy Scripture. You can either take God at His Word and
trust Christ to save your soul, or you can live as though everything God has
told us in Scripture about Heaven and Hell is false.
But make no mistake about it, my friend. Your beliefs do not
change the reality of the only two destinations in the eternal forest. You can
bury your head in the sand if you like, but your life on Earth is going to end
when God decides to turn off the oxygen tank he has placed within your lungs.
And at that moment, you will immediately take a one-way trip to your final destination deep in the eternal forest.
Do you see the forest through the trees? Will you believe the
good news concerning what Jesus did on the tree of the cross for you and for
your salvation? None of us are told in advance when we will be taking our final
breath on Earth. But if you are trusting the risen Savior, you will rise up to Heaven to be with him when your time comes.
I hope the following prayer reflects the desire of your heart:
“Dear Lord, I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. But I
believe you died on the cross to pay for my sins. Wash me, Jesus, with your
precious blood. Make me your child today, tomorrow and
forever. And fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit to live for you every
day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
COULD
THE PSALM 83 WAR AGAINST THE JEWS BE HAPPENING NOW?
Koenig’s Int’l News –
Oct. 17, 2022 -- Psalm 83. The Psalm speaks of a war against Israel led by a
coalition of her worst enemies. People have interpreted this short Psalm as a
prophetic plea by Asaph to God for protection in a time of conflict. The war of
Psalm 83 has been placed before the Rapture or during the tribulation by
various respected Bible teachers. Psalm 83 speaks of a conflict, and it is
neither before the Rapture nor during the Tribulation, yet it is raging right
now. The Psalm 83 war is here, and it is not what you think!
Psalm 83 was
written by Asaph (Psalm 73-83), a contemporary of King David. It describes in
just 18 verses, a desperate plea to the Lord by Asaph to destroy the enemies of
Israel who wanted to wipe Israel off the map completely; they have
said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name
of Israel is remembered no more.” (v. 4). The list of ten enemy
nations is given later in the Psalm. Still, Asaph tells God that they
conspire against Your treasured ones (v. 3). These nations correspond
to ten modern nations that are peripheral neighbors surrounding the tiny sliver
of land that Israel currently is. The modern nations are Jordan (Edom, Moab,
and Ammon), Saudi Arabia (Ishmaelites), Egypt (Hagaraenes
and Amalek), Lebanon (Gebal and Tyre),
The Gaza Strip (Philistia), Iraq (Assyria) and Syria (Assyria).
When reviewing
history, several of these countries or people groups have gone after Israel,
some more than once and at different levels of intensity. However, as Asaph
claims, the ten countries have never formed a confederation to go after Israel.
So, this must be a future war as we get closer and closer to the final chapter
of recorded biblical history and are inching our way into the Tribulation. I
still firmly believe that the Rapture of the Saints–as a fulfillment of the
Feast of Trumpets–will occur before the Tribulation, but when is the Psalm
83 War supposed to take place?
Let’s
assume that these ten modern countries decided to team up against tiny Israel;
this poses an immediate problem since Egypt has been officially at peace with
Israel since 1979 when Anwar El Sadat and Menachem Begin signed the peace
treaty at the White House under President Jimmy Carter. Additionally, Jordan
has also been at peace with Israel since 1994, when King Hussein and Yitzhak
Rabin met again at the White House under President Bill Clinton. While not
every Egyptian and Jordanian might share the peaceful behavior of their
leaders, the peace treaties still hold.
Some Bible teachers
will look at Zechariah 12:3
Sticking to the text
and only looking at those ten nations, it would seem that the
best interpretation of that list would be that Asaph is crying out to the Lord
and the list of the ten enemies is a literary device to describe his despair.
These people groups pretty much surrounded Israel geographically. It might have
been the extent of Asaph’s knowledge of the world around him. It is akin to
someone going through a very difficult time, being hit from several different
angles simultaneously, and saying “the whole world is against me” as a
euphemism to describe that everywhere they look, trouble is coming. Asaph
possibly cried out to God about all the countries he knew that were conspiring
to destroy Israel. This does not eliminate the real threats against Israel that
are currently coming from some of those modern nations.
Yet, there is another
aspect of the Psalm 83 war that many people overlook as they are trying to
reconcile an attack from the various countries and place it properly on the
timeline. I would suggest that the war of Psalm 83 is already happening
from verses 3-5: They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have
said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel is remembered
no more.” For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make
a covenant.
The Psalm 83 war
is simply a war against the Jews. It is a war fought by Satan and his posse.
Each battle is an act of antisemitism coming from the enemy, subcontracting his
age-old hatred of God’s chosen people. Asaph pleads with God to stop Israel’s
enemies, and he also understands that hatred for Israel equates to contempt for
the God of Israel. But Asaph trusts God, who defeated antisemitism in the past,
to defeat it again and again (vv.9-12). The Psalm 83 war is going on right
now, full speed ahead and on a global scale. Jewish people are increasingly
feeling in danger for their lives.
The bottom line is
that those who hate God want to hurt those He loves. It is often more
successful to hurt someone’s loved ones than that very person. In the case of
God, it is a bit different because He is God, but He clearly calls the Jewish
people “the apple of my eye” (Zechariah 2:8
The war against the
Jews is a real war but it is also a spiritual battle, all Christians should be
enlisted to fight that battle against the enemy of Israel. Pray, educate
yourself and others about my people and speak up whenever you can to expose the
enemy’s lies. We are on God’s side, and it is well overdue for all Christians
to form a coalition of truth and conspire against Satan.
LET
THE WORLD CALL US FOOLS — SO LONG AS GOD CALLS US FAITHFUL (Excerpt)
The Christian Post -Oct.
17, 2022 -- I met Chuck Sereika a little over a year
ago. I was introduced to him last year while watching the documentary “9/11:
One Day in America” in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the attacks on
our homeland. If you watch the sixth episode of the show, you can meet Chuck,
too.
He’s
a gripping character. You feel immediately drawn into his life — not that there
was much to it. In an honest confession Chuck admits that, at that time in his
life, he was down and out. He was using drugs and drinking hard. On the morning
of 9/11, he had slept in and slept through the attack. When he woke up, turned
on the news, and heard that the towers had been hit and fallen, he says it didn’t even really bother him. He was disconnected and
disaffected — checked out and numb. No one would mistake him for a hero.
But then a phone call from his sister prompted him into action.
Chuck had prior training as a paramedic, so he decided to go down to the site
and help. He says that he planned to go down to a triage tent and maybe use his
training to bandage a few people, just so he could tell his sister that he had
helped some.
And yet, he recounts, he ended up at the pile of debris itself
and found himself walking out onto it to help look for survivors. Hours later,
Chuck was working with Dave Karnes, a retired Marine, helping rescue people
trapped under the rubble. He wound up deep down inside a 50-foot-deep hole in
the debris that was full of smoke and fire, putting an IV in one of the few
survivors pulled from the wreckage. He did this at great risk to his own life
and totally against what he originally planned to do or even cared about.
Looking back on it, and sounding like he has since been
converted, Chuck said: “I give myself no credit for any part of that rescue.
God uses the weak to confound the wise. God uses the low, the low people of the
world, to confound the wise. There is no way that I could ever turn around and
say that it was me. I had no desire, no will, no strength, no training, no
power to have accomplished what the Lord used me to do that night.”
He’s right. God does use the weak to confound the wise. God does use
a message that sounds foolish to the world, but it is actually
the most powerful thing in the world.
And we need to remember this as Christians. Not only that we are
weak, but God is strong, although the world sees us as weak and foolish.
Chuck was paraphrasing 1 Corinthians
1:27-29: “But God chose
the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of
the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the
despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are,
so that no one may boast before him.”
Just a few verses earlier, Paul writes this: “For the message of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).
Weak and foolish. That’s how the cross
sounds to the world. That’s how Christianity looks to
the world. That’s what the world thinks of Christians.
Of you.
By the wisdom and reckoning of this world, as followers of the
cross of Christ, we are on a fool’s errand with a foolish message. This is
something we must wrestle with, sit with, and take in, deep down into our core.
We must embrace this reality. Make peace with it.
Let us welcome being weak and foolish messengers with a
seemingly weak and foolish message because we do so in the service of the
all-wise and all-powerful God.
If you follow Christ, the world will call you a fool.
But God will call you faithful. Let me say that again: If we follow Christ, the
world will call us fools. But God will call us faithful. And it’s
God’s opinion that counts in the end.
And in the end, the so-called “foolishness” and “weakness” of
God will prove wiser and stronger than the world.
Paul makes this point through contrast: Even the apparent
foolishness of God, which isn’t really foolishness at
all, is wiser than the world’s wisdom. Even the apparent weakness of God, a
crucified King hanging on a cross, is stronger than human strength. It’s as if Paul is saying: The best of human wisdom and
strength can’t even stand up against God on His off days — not that God has off
days, of course, but it’s a powerful point.
WARNING- YOUR
GOVERNMENT MAY THINK YOU'RE A TERRORIST
Jesus said, "Let your answer be simply 'yes' or 'no.' Any
other answer is rooted in evil" (Matt. 5:37).
Charisma News – Mar. 12, 2022 -- Clarity and
agreement are principles of the kingdom of God. We, as ambassadors, should be
influencing our nation in such a way that clarifies and agrees with government
and legislation, for obscure laws are enforced obscurely. Doesn't it seem that
our national leadership has not been operating under these principles in recent
years? Day by day, we see vague instructions and unjustifiable orders being
used to silence a dissenting opposition.
We see this, case and
point, from a bulletin that the Department of Homeland Security recently posted.
DHS has released a National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin stating,
"The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by
several factors, including an online environment filled with false or
misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis-, dis-,
and mal-information (MDM)." They describe this MDM as "Widespread
online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding
unsubstantiated widespread election fraud and COVID-19. Grievances associated
with these themes inspired violent extremist attacks during 2021." They
then list two other forms of misinformation that lead to a direct call to
foreign and domestic violence.
The way this bulletin is worded may seem
subtle to those who haven't paid any attention to our
country's direction, but the obscurity is speaking loud and clear. The priority
of certain government agencies is to villainize any voices that question our
elections' validity or the decisions they make concerning COVID-19. However,
some of these decisions about COVID-19 were the same actions that raised
eyebrows concerning the election. What is the point of having elections if the
system isn't held accountable by the very people who
vote? And how can voters hold elections accountable if the electors deem
opposing voters as people whose information promotes violent extremism?
DHS is referring to recent instances like the
Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy where Darrell Brooks drove an SUV through a
parade, killing and injuring adults and children. The
majority of the media blamed it on the SUV. Or when Malik Faisal Akram held four hostages in a Texas synagogue at gunpoint.
The media tried to brush over the fact that he was a Muslim extremist and was
referred to a British program designed to prevent and counter-extremism. It
seems this bulletin is suggesting that events like these are taking place
because concerned citizens believe that the 2020 election was rigged.
What greater power do we have to protect
ourselves from tyranny than the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment,
and who gets to decide what information is legal or not? If we don't have free speech, are we not just like China and
Russia? Would we become like the Minority Report film where
agents predict that a crime will take place before it ever does and arrest the
person who hasn't decided to commit a crime yet? Or
will you be charged because you said something that was a harmless concern, and
someone else took that information and violently attacked a politician over it?
We must voice our concerns when we see the
government making rules and statements that are not explicitly targeting actual
crime, especially the church. If we allow them to encroach upon our rights to
free speech, it won't be long before your pastor is
taken away in handcuffs during the middle of your service.
Cancel culture, which has seamlessly made its
way into the highest places of our government, would love to deem you a
terrorist for not complying with COVID mandates. Italy has already had a case
where a judge took away custody rights from parents who wouldn't
let a hospital give their small child a blood transfusion with vaccinated
blood.
This bulletin list how DHS plans to counter
these "misleading narratives," which includes creating a dedicated
domestic terrorism branch that will "produce the sound, timely
intelligence needed to counter [your] related threats."
GOD-CENTERED
PRAYER
When fear strikes,
choose to focus on our almighty and faithful God instead of the situation.
Once, when someone once asked if I’d ever heard myself pray, I decided to record my voice as
I prayed about a matter of deep concern. After listening to the recording, I
realized it was filled with negative descriptions of how bad the situation was
and how discouraged I felt. My focus was all wrong.
On encountering a fearful situation, Jehoshaphat
chose a different approach: God-centered prayer. Instead of coming to the Lord
with a “woe is me” attitude, Jehoshaphat began by focusing on God’s power and
sovereignty (2 Chron. 20:6), His past faithfulness to Judah (2 Chron. 20:7-8),
and His promise to hear and deliver His people (2 Chron. 20:9). Only after
strengthening his faith through these reminders of God’s adequacy did the king
make his petitions (2 Chron. 20:10-12).
In prayer, we can choose to magnify either the
Lord or our difficulty. Are you concentrating on the faithfulness of almighty
God or your overwhelming problem and negative feelings? Let’s
keep our eyes on Him and wait with complete confidence until we see the great
things He’ll do for His glory and our good.
In Touch Ministry
PRIOR ISSUE
INTERESTING
INFORMATION MINISTRY
10/12/2022
https://www.wnd.com/2022/10/spiritual-no-mans-land/
URL – HOW DID ONE BIBLICAL CITY BECOME “A HAUNT OF JACKALS”?
CHRISTIAN MUSIC VIDEO
IF JESUS COMES TOMORROW
Old Country Gospel Songs
THOUGHT FOR
THE WEEK – “What you worship determines what you become” - OUR DAILY
BREAD
INTERESTING ARTICLES
SUMMARY
·
What
if you were wrong about God?
·
Does
God accept the worship of all religions?
·
11
signs you may be a functional Atheist
·
Has
the red heifer been found, and if so, what’s next?
·
DOING
WORK GOD’S WAY
INTERESTING
ARTICLES
WHAT
IF YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT GOD?
The Christian Post –
Oct. 7, 2022 -- When was the last time you were wrong about something that
really mattered? You had been convinced you were right, only to find out later
that you were dead wrong.
If you could go back
in time, what changes would you make? Would you do it the same way and believe
the same things, even though your firm belief turned out to be false, and your
behavior created havoc in your life? I suspect you would do things differently
and believe things differently, based on what you now know to be true.
After all, hindsight is 20/20,
right?
“If only…” These words are felt intensely by multitudes of
people. You are not the only person to have regrets. And you are not the only
one to have beliefs that you found credible when you were younger, before you
knew any better. “If only I had done it differently. If only I had believed
then what I now know to be true.”
I wish there was a way I could convince you my friend that your
soul is immortal. Perhaps you already know it. Every single person who has
lived and died has come to know for a fact that their soul is immortal. They
know it from experience. They know it because they are living in it at this
very moment.
I wish there was a way I could convince you of this fact before
it is too late. It becomes too late when people can only look back on their
life and wish they had believed things differently and done things differently.
“If only I had accepted God’s offer when I was invited to place my faith in the
goodness, grace and love of my Creator.” I wish there was a way I could
help you see into the future, and realize that death is only the
beginning.
I wish there was a way we could rescue people in Hell today and
help them escape their eternal sentence. I know that God wanted them to repent
of their sins and trust him and follow him during their few brief years on
Earth. But for whatever reason, they lived according to their misguided
assumptions without any awareness of what they lacked. I wish they could go
back in time and place their faith in the Messiah. Sadly, there is no going
back.
But here is something we can do. We can reach out to our family
members and friends and neighbors today with the love of Christ. We can invite
them to place their faith in Jesus while there is still time to be saved. The
day is coming when each one of them will take that journey from this world into
the next realm. Your soul leaves your body at death and is instantly
transported either to Hades (Hell) or to Heaven. There is no layover in
Cleveland or Shanghai or any other location on planet Earth. And the false
notion of purgatory is only mythical. In reality, there
are no second chances after death.
If there was a webcam in Heaven and a webcam in Hades that you
could access online today, you would know exactly why believers are so concerned
for the souls of unbelievers. And you would suddenly realize why “God
wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins, and God wants
you to know it because God wants you in Heaven forever. (John 3:16)
How often do you get things wrong? Is it possible that you are
wrong about Christ and about eternity? Or are you the only one who never gets
things wrong? And are you the only one who will never regret your decision to
reject Jesus and His offer of everlasting life in Heaven?
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will
live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never
die.” And then he asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
The same question is being presented to you today. Do you
believe this? Do you believe Jesus can raise your body from the grave and bring
you to Heaven? Will you trust Christ to do it, or will you leave this world one
day in unbelief?
Eternity is a long time to be wrong, whether you currently
realize it or not. I wish there was a way I could convince you to trust
Christ as your Savior. But I suppose only God can pull off that miracle. (John 3:1-21)
There are only two trains that bring souls into eternity. Jesus
said so in Matthew 7:13-14, as well as many other places. Will you look into your future
to see where the train you are on is heading? And if it is not heading to
Heaven, then it is heading to Hell. God wants to keep you out of that horrible
place. And he wants you to spend eternity with him and all of
his children in the beauty and ecstasy of Heaven.
Have you ever been wrong about anything? What if you are wrong
about the Lord and about the immortality of your soul? If you have been wrong
about Jesus up until now, what do you plan to do about it while there is still
time to embrace God’s love for you in Christ? Will you renounce your sins as
you confess them to Jesus and are saved, or refuse to believe in the Messiah
and remain lost in your sins? The clock is ticking. Your decision is needed.
And to delay your decision on such a critical matter is to nevertheless make a decision.
You can be wrong about many things my friend and still recover.
But this isn’t one of them. There are no do-overs
after you die. You see my friend, death truly is just
the beginning.
Why not call on the Lord today with these words: “Wash me,
Jesus, with your precious blood. Save my immortal soul, and turn me into one of
your followers. Amen."
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE VIEWED “23 MINUTES IN HELL” IN PREVIOUS ISSUE IF
YOU HAVE NOT ACCEPTED JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND!
DOES GOD ACCEPT THE
WORSHIP OF ALL RELIGIONS?
Christian Headline
News – Sept. 20, 2022 -- I make this point in response to a very disturbing
report on “The State of Theology” in America just released by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway
Research.
It notes that 43
percent of evangelicals agree that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not
God.” This percentage has risen thirteen points in just two years.
Correspondingly and tragically, 56 percent of American evangelicals also agree
that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam.” This percentage has risen fourteen points in two years.
Another study, this
one by George Barna and the Cultural Research Center
at Arizona Christian University, is even more disturbing: it reports that at least a third of senior pastors
in the United States believe a person can earn a place in heaven simply by
being a good person.
No wonder our culture
is continuing its slide into unbiblical immorality. The retired congressman and
my personal friend Frank Wolf is right: politics are
downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from the church.
If those who preach
sermons and those who hear them do not believe they urgently need a
transforming relationship with Jesus Christ, we should not be surprised when
their beliefs and their actions mirror those of our fallen society. The longer
we avoid the light, the more our eyes adjust to the dark.
11
Signs You MAY BE a Functional Atheist
Although the definition of an atheist is one that denies the
existence of God, in this article, I use the word to depict those identified as
Christians who live as though there is no God that they are accountable to.
Unfortunately, in my estimation, a
considerable percentage of Christians live as functional atheists.
The following are eleven signs that you may be
a functional atheist:
1. You make important decisions about your
career without consulting Scripture or praying. I can't tell you how
many Christians I know choose a career based on how much money they will make.
They do not consider how God internally wired them, how it would impact their
ability to mature as a believer in the context of a local church and how it
will affect their key relationships; when a person does this, they behave like
a functional atheist.
2.You choose a church solely on emotional
connections. As a pastor since
1984, I have seen more people leave a church because their friends left than
because they genuinely heard from God. Consequently, people are led by their
emotions more than by the Holy Spirit when it comes to this all-important
matter regarding their church family.
That being said, it is normal for a person to come to Christ and
attend a church because a friend invited them. However, once they mature in the
faith, God expects them to go from carnal reasoning to a spiritually informed
process regarding the choice of a church, among other things. A mature believer
will choose a church based on the will of God, where they are growing
spiritually and who God has placed in their life to be their spiritual parent
(1 Cor. 4:15).
3. You choose a mate solely on mutual
attraction. Based on my pastoral
observation, I have seen countless numbers of Christians marry a person merely
because of an emotional or physical attraction. Although God can work through
any marital situation, deciding this is no different than an atheist who will
also choose a mate merely on emotional and physical attraction (Rom. 8:28).
I believe God uses the way He has wired us
emotionally, physically and spiritually (I would never
counsel a person to marry a person they were not physically attracted to). At
the end of the day, God has a specific spouse that matches your calling and
destiny, which comes from being led by the Spirit and hearing from God. (To be
fair, I have seen many married couples come to Christ whom God brought together
even though they were not believers, but after they are saved, much more is
required regarding decision making.)
4.You have no consistent communion with
God. Any believer who does
not seek the Lord regularly, aiming to be in continual communion with Him, is
living like a functional atheist. Moses said to the Lord, "If your presence
doesn't go with us, then don't send us" (Ex. 33:15). Being in communion
with the Spirit and being led by Him continually is a staple of normal
Christianity (Rom. 8:14; Eph. 5:15-18). Believers who constantly fill their
lives with activities bereft of seeking Him, behave like functional atheists.
5.Scripture does not inform your
worldview. Every election season,
it amazes me the unbiblical policies and candidates some believers
support. Obviously, they are primarily informed by secular humanism, and don't understand how to integrate their personal faith with
public policy. Those who are not informed by Scripture regarding their world
and life view are functional atheists in this area.
6. You casually speak negatively about
churches and spiritual leaders. The Bible teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). When a person casually speaks evil of other people,
especially Christian leaders and churches, it
demonstrates that they lack the fear of the Lord. The Lord hates discord among
His people (Prov. 6:19; Eph. 4:29-31). Slanderers and gossips in the church
live like functional atheists.
7. You determine how many children you will
have. One of God's original
commands was to bear fruit and multiply (which means to have children in Gen.
1:28). Biological children are a heritage from the Lord (Ps. 127:3-5). Having
children is one of our primary callings because we partner with God to expand
His eternal family. (Those who cannot have children or are called to be single
should focus on having spiritual children.) With something as important as
this, married couples should pray over Genesis 1:28 and ask God how many
children He wants them to have. Those who determine family planning without God
act like functional atheists.
8.You choose to divorce your spouse for
unbiblical reasons. I
have known spiritual leaders who glibly divorce their spouses merely because
they do not get along. Jesus did not make divorce that easy (Matt. 5:31-32 and
19:1-10). Those whose primary plumb line for divorce is happiness, break the
covenant with God and their spouse, and act like functional atheists. (Of
course, if a believer chooses to divorce their spouse, the other person in the
marriage is not responsible or in bondage, 1 Cor. 7:15.)
9. Your walk with God is based on blessing and
convenience. Those who only serve
God when it is convenient or require a minimal sacrifice live as functional
atheists.
10. You live independently of His body. Once we come to Christ, He places us in His
Body (1 Cor. 12:12-13). Conversely, lone rangers who continually church hop and
live without being in covenant or accountability with spiritual leadership live
as functional atheists. Through studying the New Testament, I have learned that
I cannot walk out my calling apart from a local church.
11. You make a geographical move without
hearing from God. I
am amazed at how many Christians I have known since my conversion in 1978 who
have moved away from the church God planted them in, only to waste years of
their life floundering in a stagnant spiritual state. Before a geographical
move impacts a life-giving church connection, I suggest you do the following:
make sure you have heard from God in conjunction with the independent witness
of other mature believers. Consult with your spiritual leaders. Make sure you
are not being driven merely by money or convenience. Make sure there is another
church in that new community that you have visited and sense a connection to.
Make sure you do not burn any bridges if you make a mistake and must
return—those who superficially make a huge geographical move act as a
functional atheist.
HAS THE RED HEIFER BEEN FOUND, AND IF
SO, WHAT’S NEXT?
Koenig’s
Int’l News – Sept. 20, 2022 -- To say that we are living in exciting times is
an understatement. World events are converging at such a high rate of speed
that it is hard to keep up. For Bible students like myself, it is both
exhilarating and concerning to see the whole planet moving towards a one-world
government so quickly. I have been a believer for 39 years and since then, I
have firmly believed in what the Bible says about the end times, the one-world government and a cashless society, but I always thought that
it wouldn’t be in my lifetime, and yet, here we are.
The
next event on God’s timetable is the Rapture of the believers from planet
earth. This is a “signless event”,
meaning that it doesn’t require anything before it takes place. I also believe
that after the Rapture, those left behind will go through increasingly perilous
times known as “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble”, or as
most of us know it, “The Great Tribulation”. This will be a period lasting
seven years before the triumphal return of Yeshua the
Messiah at the end of those seven years. This is when the Messianic or
millennial kingdom will finally be inaugurated.
Incredibly,
during the Great Tribulation, or more precisely at the midpoint, after 3.5
years, the Temple will be desecrated, but which Temple? Not counting the
wilderness Tabernacle after the Exodus, there are four Temples described in the
Bible. First, we read about Solomon’s Temple, which is the one that David
wanted to build, in (1 Kings chapters 5-9) and 2 Chronicles (chapters 2-7).
Then, after suffering some heavy damage at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, that
Temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel between 520-515 BCE and became known as
Herod’s Temple. Roman general Titus destroys the Herodian Temple in 70 CE.
Israel
currently doesn’t have a Temple in Jerusalem. Are
things about to change? The Bible speaks of a third and a fourth Temple or
Millennial Temple (Ezekiel 40-46). The third Temple is a project that has been
at the heart of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem for decades. A section of
religious Jews is convinced that they will be rebuilding their Temple and once
again resume the sacrificial system in Israel. Towards that end, they have
painstakingly recreated all the implements necessary for the resumption of
Temple life. Everything has been ready for a while now, even the priests from
the tribe of Levi (remember that the tribe of Levi is the only one that can be
identified since its identity was preserved in the name of its members such as
Levy and Cohen and other derivatives). But the proverbial buck stops here
because, to resume Temple duties, a red heifer is needed. It is important to
note that the third Temple, while simply called the third Temple by its Jewish
proponents, is also known by Yeshua’s followers as
the Tribulation Temple.
The
search for the red heifer has been going on for decades. The criteria for the
selection of the ultimate red heifer are quite specific. The reason why a red
heifer is needed is that Jewish people at the Temple must present themselves in
a state of ritual purity before they perform their duties. We get this from the
Passover celebration in the wilderness in Numbers 9:5-7
According
to Judaism, there isn’t one Jewish man alive who can
claim that level of purity and since the Temple no longer exists and the ashes
of the red heifer are gone, it cannot yet be attained. Ritual purification
continues to be mandatory for anyone within Judaism who has had contact with a
dead body. The 113th commandment of the 613 found in the Torah stipulates that
“the ashes of a red heifer are to be used in the process of ritual
purification.” Numbers 19:1-22
So,
the only way to be cleansed from impurity is to be washed with water mixed with
the ashes of a red heifer, but not any red heifer would do! The parah adumah or
“red cow” must be a young (less than three-years-old) red heifer with no
defect, on which no yoke was ever placed. Only nine red heifers were ever found
in the entire history of Israel, so it goes without saying that they are
extremely rare and valuable. Much mystery surrounds the reason for using the
ashes of a red heifer. Why ashes? Why a cow of a specific color? Why a
sacrifice outside the Temple compound? Why mixed with water? Jewish tradition
records that even the very wise king Solomon didn’t
understand it. The Red Heifer is also mentioned in the New Testament in Hebrews 9:13-14
Recently,
five spotless, young red heifers were flown to Israel from Texas. If they
continue to grow spotless, without defect and without even one black or white
hair, they will qualify for the special sacrifice and gathering of their ashes.
Time will tell, but these five are bringing a lot of hope to the Temple people
patiently awaiting the qualified candidate. So, what does this all mean to us?
If
indeed a kosher Red Heifer has been located and selected, this represents the
last piece of the puzzle for the next Temple. Since all the implements have
been recreated and the priests selected and trained, the Temple can be rebuilt,
and the Levitical team can be purified. This validates the veracity of the
Bible even further as if we needed more validation to believe that it is the
infallible, inerrant word of God!
Unfortunately,
if this is all happening in front of our eyes, and as great news as it may be
for us followers of Yeshua the Messiah, it also means
that the third Temple is ready to be rebuilt. This is the Temple that believers
know as the “Tribulation Temple”.
It is the very edifice that the coming antichrist will desecrate as he calls
himself god and forces people to worship him. This
means that the Tribulation is near and that great casualties will be seen in
the world.
Christians
can rejoice about the Red Heifer from a biblical standpoint, but from the
perspective of the eternal order, only those who have trusted Yeshua will be in God’s presence, and this is no reason to
rejoice when we think of all those around us who have not believed yet that Yeshua is the Messiah.
The
Red Heifer, if qualified, will bring us one step closer to the last moments of
the end times, which means that the Rapture is even closer than we think and
that the need to share the Good News is truly now more important than ever!
DOING GOD’S WORK GOD’S
WAY
In
538 B.C. the Israelites returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. However,
they encountered many adversaries who tried to prevent them from succeeding (Ezra
4:1-5). Discouragement set
in, and eventually they were forced to stop working. God told their leader,
Zerubbabel, how to proceed: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit”
(Zech. 4:6). We would be wise to follow that counsel.
Like
the Israelites, we may be under pressure and unsure how to keep going. When we
encounter obstacles, our tendency is to figure out the solution for ourselves,
but this attitude isn’t right. Having an independent
spirit may be prevalent and admired today, but it’s
not how the Bible tells us to live. Instead, we are to be characterized by
dependence on the Holy Spirit—giving up control and letting Him direct our
actions will result in doing God’s work His way. Our life won’t
be free of trouble, but we’ll experience many victories through the Lord.
When
we’re depending upon the Holy Spirit, here’s what
becomes evident: Without God, we would fail, and our constant companions would
be worry and distress. But with Him, we receive true wisdom and divine power.
Then, peace and joy accompany us—even amidst hardship (Gal.
5:22-23).
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."
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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