Are faith healings real or phony?

Are faith healings real or phony?

Exposed: The Trappings And Snares of ‘ME Christianity’

 
Image credit: shutterstock.com
Reblogged from www.westernjournalism.com

They are all signs of self-absorbed immaturity (most prominently in the spiritual sense); and for the most part, I’ve been guilty of them all. When we take our eye off the ball, we are most assuredly setting ourselves up for a major fall.
For the Christian, Jesus is our light and our guide. He is revealed in the living word of God.

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The Bible contains blessed instruction and spiritual nourishment for the thirsting, passionate disciple of God. It is when we stray in our application and obedience that we grow complacent, proud, frustrated, irritable, overwhelmed, depressed, and ultimately unfaithful.

The Good News of the Bible is not about us; rather, it is for us. We must rightfully be inclined to share and serve others (starting with those in our very household). We cannot maintain ourselves as the center of our universe. The Lord must be magnified. He is our comfort, our refuge, and our focus.
We needn’t be annihilated, but we’d better find our strength and our wisdom in the living word. When we don’t, it’s bound to all go terribly wrong. Here are just a few examples of how so. (If you see yourself in any of these profiles, acknowledge it, and flee from the ‘Christian ME.’)

The Paralyzed Christian – Those who are so wrapped up in their sins and offenses that they cannot even bring themselves to the throne of grace and see the loving, merciful arms of the Savior who is ready and willing to fill hearts and carry burdens. They reside within the pale of spiritual law and carnal despair and cannot find the place of forgiveness. It lies outside themselves. It is where they must dwell.

The Legalistic Christian – These are the sin sniffers, the rule-makers and the finger-pointers. They are quick to cast the first stone. They are the Pharisees. They hide their own fragile insecurities behind an air of superiority. Jesus is their carnal shield and their license to wound, but He will never be their Savior.

The Mystical Christian – They are those who speak of lofty experience. They await the spirit to move them. They are waiting on a sign. They are on deck, but they never arrive; nor do they accept their own obligation and responsibility. They are so busy letting go, handing over the reigns, and waiting on the Lord for a directive that they’ve rendered themselves unfruitful. They have buried their talents and hidden their light under a bushel. They’re sitting in the sanctuary waiting for the call, but they’ve yet to take any faithful risks. They are not owning their faith, nor are they living it out. They are using God as a crutch because standing firm in living faith and obedience while confronting the tough circumstance would require too much devotion and accountability. It would require them to take what they know (and so undeservingly received) and take on the world. They are cowards for Christ. It’s easier to sit back and just let God do it. The inconvenient reality for them is that He already has, and now He expects them to go out and live it. They are to share the Good Word and glorify God for the redemption (and tragically, the condemnation) of sinners everywhere.

The Working Christian – They have a miraculous story to tell and live the rest of their lives living up to that one radical conversion experience. Their home is the workhouse. They are ultimately their own slave and their own master. Every sin is a bitter disappointment, while every act of faith is a greater confirmation. Life is a series of catastrophic missteps and fulfilled expectations; but in the end, they are merely going it alone. Their insecurities are woefully misplaced. Tragically, they dwell in a prison of their own design.

The Barely Christian – They are the Christian musician, the Christian publisher, the Christian builder, and the Christian plumber. Christ is their calling card and their marketing ploy. He is their key selling point. They are corporate and political Christians. They worship social justice, holy wars, and golden rules. They are pragmatic and peace-loving religious humanists. Their Christianity comes at no cost. It’s merely a no sacrifice required form of spirituality that they are living. Christianity is their cover. They are cultural Christians; but tragically instead of transforming the culture to Christ, they embrace all that the world has to offer them. They are globally conformed and compromised. They’re merely peddling a secular agenda. They market and sell Christianity – a cheap imitation thereof. They are Christian out of convenience; yet they are hardly so. They are shallow professors. They are mere pretenders tainting the faith. In the worst case, Christianity is the flag they wave to trigger, expand, and ignite a military industrial complex. Ultimately, their masks will come off; in fact, their true identity is already showing. In the end, they got nothing.

The Narcissistic Christian – They are the date setters. They’ve uncovered hidden revelation and have broken from the faithful denomination. They refuse to be taught; yet they hold the key to unlocked mysteries. They have the inside track. Those who’ve come before lack the illumination they bring. They are the Harold Campings, the Ellen G. Whites, and the Benny Hinns. They hold the faithful insight. They are anointed and self-appointed. The power of healing lies in their spiritually-gifted, supernaturally-charged hands. They are the religious charlatans. They have been designated by God to deliver a timely message. They have Jesus on speed dial. The current day reveals a hidden truth, and they’ve been sent by God to decode it. We are no longer wandering in the dark, but will they?

And so the traps and snares abound for those who forget where true life is found!
Again, we must flee such ME’s……..you know where to go!
Peace and loving service is to be had in the revealed word of God, the fellowship of believers, humble prayer, confession of sin, and participation in the holy sacraments of faith (i.e. the Lord’s Supper). May we be restored and sanctified by the living Word, and may the world be our mission field.
* My Thanks to Dr. Phillip Cary for the faithful insight and inspiration

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Donna Wasson: “Got Peace?”

By STLloyd May 23, 2015 Donna Wasson Jesus peace Rapture Ready

Donna Wasson and I have never met (yet), but we’ve corresponded a few times on each other’s Rapture-Ready contributions, and found we have some things in common.  I call “Dee-Dubya” my brain-twin sister because so often she expresses just so precisely what I’m feeling.  I think most of her fans feel that way.  We have nursing in common, and both have sons we named Benjamin, and we’re about the same age. 

I think that the Lord is doing us a favor in letting us glimpse what is coming over the horizon, and in sending frustrations and obstacles into our way for the express purpose of wringing every last drop of love for this world out of our hearts.  Our Great Physician knows what is in our best interest, and Nurse Donna’s prescription is exactly right.  Prayer and time with Him and in His Word are the medicine we cannot afford to do without in the days left.   

Donna’s articles are on The Article Factory, Faith Writers, E-zine, and lot of other sites, she contributes weekly to RR, and I am one of her biggest fans!  When I saw this one, it was like she wrote straight from my own heart.  So I just wanted to share this one with you all.  –S.T. Lloyd 

♠

Got Peace?

By Donna Wasson

---

So tell me, is the chaos getting to you yet? Are you feeling hard pressed from all sides by the rising threats you see and hear in the news? Do you sense the spiritual atmosphere around you crackling with an exponential increase of evil? Can you feel your blood pressure rising? Are you suffering from an increase in headaches or sleeplessness? Do you carry a sense of foreboding; that doom and death is just around the corner, waiting to pounce on you and your family?

If you have no idea what I’m talking about and you’re mindlessly bouncing through each day, under the impression you have the world by the tail on a downhill drag and everything is going your way, well skippy-dee-do-dah for you. You’re completely hopeless and unconscious. At least you’ll die happy. 

The rest of us find ourselves being squeezed by increasing pain and distress. In some ways, that’s a good sign! It means we’re very, very close to the end of this Age of Grace. Almighty God is about to manifest Himself in a most impressive show of power to the inhabitants of this world. Although we who are the Bride of Christ are under great pressure at the moment, we’re not alone. The planet and critters are in distress just as we are.

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Romans 8:19-22 (KJV)

Poor creation. We really made a mess of everything, didn’t we! God put this perfect planet and everything on it under the dominion of Adam and when he and Eve chose to sin, the earth and all the animals on it were cursed as well. How sad for them. They were completely innocent, yet were swept up in the results of stupid humans introducing death into their existence. 

 

I don’t know about you, but I need a vacation. Not just a few days at the beach or some theme park; no, a REAL vacation where I can put down all of my responsibilities, burdens and concerns and just rest. I need to retreat into a place that is cool and quiet and beautiful, where I can sit in silence and be refreshed. 

I’m bone weary mentally, emotionally and physically. Some days I feel about 92 years old, barely able or willing to get out of bed to face another day filled with the endless drudgery of life. I’m tired of hearing the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘ISIS’ every other minute. I’m tired of reading of the outrageous Machiavellian machinations of the luciferians running our government in their rabid quest to destroy this country and the American people. 

I fight the despair brought on by the constant overload of information from smart phones, TV, radio and on-line communications and news feeds. Sometimes I have to ponder whether ignorance really would be bliss, but I have a responsibility from God to shout out warnings of what I see coming on the not-too-distant horizon.

I say despair because I see my beloved homeland wallowing in filth, corruption, lies and evil and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I’m stuck between wanting to fight what I know is a losing battle, and accepting what’s happening is God’s will, which is moving us closer to home. 

Yes, you can throw in a bag, load the kids in the car and take off for parts unknown, but you’ll still have to return home to the same ‘ol pressures and uncertain future. You might feel a little respite but it won’t really help much. The Bride is tired, and I’m positive our Groom is well aware of that fact.

There’s a sense of battle fatigue with many who are just plain fed up, weary of all the threats, cruelty, disappointments and lies we face every single day. But there’s no place to run…or is there?

Until we get home to heaven where we’ll rest forever, the Lord offers to be our Shepherd; to lead us into a lovely sun-lit valley that is quiet and safe. He wants us to lie down in the lush grass, drink in safety at the cool, clean streams of the River of Life and catch our breath while He watches over us. But how do we get there? How do we tap into that level of serenity amidst the chaos that is spinning around us?

Two words: prayer closet. Unless we discipline ourselves to literally shut ourselves away to spend time alone with the Lord every day, we will not make it. We’re living in the most treacherous times in world history. No other generation has ever faced the constant threat of war, disease, terror attacks, economic failure, FEMA camps, government tyranny, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts, tornadoes, food/water shortages, and even possible asteroid strikes. 

ALL of these things are either happening now, or will happen shortly as Bible prophecy continues to play out. There’s nowhere to run, folks. Nowhere to hide. No shelter to be found, except in the arms of our Heavenly Father.

Spending time alone with Him, pouring out our sorrows, concerns, needs and fears is precisely what He wants us to do. He loves and adores us and remembers that we are just dust with a very limited understanding of His ways and thoughts. Not only is He in sovereign control of every event that’s happening on this earth, He knows each one of us, down to the number of hairs on our head!

He’s well aware of our individual circumstances and has promised to meet our every need. He’ll  give you comfort in these days, as well as a supernatural sense of peace and tranquility that will stand out like a sore thumb to your friends and neighbors when all hell breaks loose around you.

Jesus Himself promised “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 (KJV)

When you spend time in His presence this peace, HIS peace, will infuse your heart and mind. It won’t matter what’s happening on the news or who is blowing up whom. It won’t matter that natural disasters are exploding all over the earth. Terror attacks, even in this country, will not shake your faith that your Heavenly Daddy has you in the palm of His hand. You’ll be able to face the last seconds of this age with grace and dignity. You’ll even be able to sleep peacefully, knowing angels are watching over you and your family.

The Holy Spirit will open your eyes to discern the difference between truth and lies. He will give you wisdom to know what you need to do and when to do it. You absolutely MUST have this guidance in the days to come! Don’t be like those who ignore the Lord, yet call on His name when some horror hits, expecting Him to come make it all better.

You know what I’m talking about. When disaster strikes you hear people yelling “Oh my God! Oh Lord have mercy! Oh my God!” but they think nothing of blaspheming that same name in their everyday speech. I find it ironic no one ever calls out to allah or buddha or other gods. No, humans instinctively call out to YWHW because they know deep in their heart He’s the only true God capable of saving them. 

These are the days to shore up your strength in the Lord by spending time in His Word and His calming presence. Allow Him to quench your thirst for rest and tranquility. Repent of your sins every day. Just because we’re saved doesn’t mean we don’t still sin; He appreciates when we apologize for our behavior and words that offend Him. Pray to stay covered by blood of Jesus for protection from the enemy. Be obedient to His commandments to love Him first, and others as much as yourself. 

You can sense as well as I can that America is about to suffer judgment. Cuddle close to your Heavenly Father and stay under His wing. He does not punish the righteous with the wicked, but I’m quite sure we’ll see horrible events before we’re snatched home. When we face those things with peace and confidence in front of our friends and neighbors who are freaking out, they’ll run to us looking for answers. 

It’ll be the perfect opportunity to offer them hope; to gather the final harvest of souls before we’re all snatched home. Be ready to work in His fields. Don’t let Him come back and find you lazy and self-absorbed. He’s counting on you to help bring in the lost little sheeple. Prepare now. Spend time alone with Him every day and store up rest, peace and strength while things are relatively quiet.

Terrible events are going to hit the fan very soon and it’s gonna be uglier than you can imagine, but hang in there—it will all be worth it. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory with shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18 (KJV)

“For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.” Isaiah 64:4 (KJV)

Whoohoo! Come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Author: bensmomi99@gmail.com

Gary Stearman´s commentary on the Age of Grace

John Haller´s prophecy update

Via: servehiminwaiting.com

Why the gaps in prophecy?

Saturday, May 16th, 2015

• Featured
• Prophecy

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Scattered throughout the Scriptures are prophecies that contain references to both the first and second coming of the Lord in what appears to be a single thought. These dual reference prophecies could only be identified as such after the first coming had already taken place. That’s because they were written in such a way that it was impossible to tell beforehand that the Lord’s first coming would only partially fulfill them. Often the writers switch from the first coming to the second coming in the middle of a sentence without so much as a punctuation mark to alert the reader.


In this study I want to share some thoughts on why I believe God had them written this way. But first, here are a couple of examples of these dual reference prophecies so you can see for yourself how cleverly they were written.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace  (Isaiah 9:6).

When the Lord had Isaiah write this prophecy 750 years before the fact, no one could have known from reading it that when the Messiah came, He would only fulfill a portion of it. The child was born and the son was given, but the government has never been on His shoulders, and in Israel, to whom He was sent, He has never been called by the names Isaiah attributed to Him.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2)

This prophecy calls for a ruler of Israel to be born in Bethlehem but gives no indication that 2,000 years would pass between the ruler’s birth and His ascension to the throne of Israel. When the Parthian priests called Magi arrived in Jerusalem, they asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:2).

King Herod asked the Jewish leaders where the Messiah would be born, and they used this prophecy to confirm that He would be born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:4-6). The Magi hastened there believing they were going to anoint a boy king who would grow up to rule over Israel. For his part, Herod had all the young boys in Bethlehem killed in an unsuccessful effort to eliminate what He perceived to be an imminent threat to his rulership. But while the coming king was born, He has yet to take His place on the throne in Israel.

The Secret Revealed

30 years later, it was Jesus himself who revealed the fact that there was more to these prophecies than meets the eye. Standing in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry, he called for the scroll of Isaiah and read from what we know as Isaiah 61:1-2.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
Then He said He was the fulfillment of the Scripture He had just read. Comparing this to what Isaiah 61:1-2 actually says shows that He stopped before the end of verse 2, leaving out the phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God.”

Without the benefit of Luke 4:18-19, a reading of Isaiah 61:1-2 would lead us to the conclusion that the day of vengeance, what we now call end times judgments, would take place directly after the Lord had finished preaching the good news, freeing the prisoners, giving sight to the blind and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. By stopping where He did and saying He was its fulfillment, He indicated He hadn’t come to fulfill the part He hadn’t read. There would be a separation of time between the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of His vengeance.

There are several other dual reference prophecies that we who already know about the first coming can identify. Perhaps the most obvious is Daniel 9:24-27, the 70 weeks prophecy, where if you didn’t already know that 2,000 years have passed since the fulfillment of the first 69 weeks of the prophecy (Daniel 9:24-26) without any fulfillment of the 70^th week portion (Daniel 9:27) you wouldn’t be able to tell just by reading it, because there’s not even a hint of a gap between them in the text.

Why Didn’t You Say So?

But our purpose is not to identify all these prophecies. The question we want to answer is why did God hide this dual reference aspect of Messianic prophecy so completely that it could only be discovered after the fact? Knowing the end from the beginning, He knew that Jesus was only going to partially fulfill the prophecies that spoke of His coming, so why didn’t He have the prophets present them that way?

Some say He did it to provide “hidden” clues to the Church that He always knew about our time and place in history without alerting Israel to the fact ahead of time.
But as a result of some of my recent studies, I’ve concluded that God had these prophecies written in this particular way to show Israel that they could have been fulfilled just the way they were written. For generations, Israel had been reading and interpreting them to mean that the Messiah would come once and when He did He would fulfill all the prophecies written about Him. In fact it would have been impossible for them to interpret them any other way.

In the time leading up to the first coming, Israel believed when the Messiah came he would vanquish their enemies and restore their kingdom, because that’s what these prophecies said He would do. In fact, even after spending three years with Jesus, the disciples still asked Him if the time had come for Him to restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). This tells us in all His time with them Jesus never mentioned an extended period of time during which Israel would be set aside while His attention would be focused on the Gentiles.
By the way, I think His uncharacteristically vague response to their question is a hint that restoring the Kingdom to Israel at that time was still a possibility. They had just presented Him with a perfect opportunity to lay everything out clearly to better prepare them for the years ahead. But instead, He left them hanging. “It’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). To me that indicates the offer of the Kingdom to Israel was still open.

They didn’t know for certain that Israel was being set aside in favor of the Gentiles until 20 years later when James told them (Acts 15:13-18) and even then they didn’t know for how long. James only said that when the Lord had taken (carried away) a people for Himself from among the Gentiles He would turn back to Israel again. In other words, He would resume His focus on Israel after the rapture of the Church.

It Could Have Happened Just That Way

The dual reference prophecies were written in a way that would have made the total fulfillment possible at the time of the first coming. Had Israel accepted Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and let Him die for them, the six objectives laid out by the angel in Daniel 9:24 could have been met within the prescribed 490 year period.
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy City to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy (place) (Daniel 9:24).

Sitting upon His heavenly throne, God decreed that six things would be accomplished for Daniel’s people (Israel) and Daniel’s Holy City (Jerusalem) during a specified period of 490 years.
We should be aware that in Hebrew these things read a little differently.  Literally, God had determined to;
1.  restrict or restrain the transgression (also translated rebellion)
2.  seal up their sins (as if putting them away in a sealed container)
3.  make atonement (restitution) for their iniquity
4. bring them into a state of everlasting righteousness
5. seal up (same word as #2) vision and prophecy
6. anoint (consecrate) the most Holy place (sanctuary)

In plain language, God would put an end to their rebellion against Him, put away their sins and pay the penalties they had accrued, bring the people into a state of perpetual righteousness, fulfill the remaining prophecies, and anoint the Temple. This was to be accomplished through their Messiah (Jesus) because no one else could do it.  Had they accepted Him as their savior their rebellion against God would have ended. Their sins would have all been forgiven, and the full penalty paid for them. They would have entered into a state of eternal righteousness, all their prophecies would have been fulfilled and the rebuilt temple would have been consecrated. It should be noted here that although it appears to have been accepted by Him, God never dwelt in the 2nd Temple, nor was the ark of the covenant and its mercy seat ever present therein.

Make no mistake about it.  Jesus had to die so these 6 promises could come true.  No one else in Heaven or on Earth could accomplish this.  We can only imagine how different things would have been if they had accepted Him as their Messiah and let Him die for their sins so He could bring them into everlasting righteousness with His resurrection.

The Sign Of The Prophet Jonah

And even though the religious leaders had fought Jesus tooth and nail throughout His ministry, He gave them one more chance by offering the clearest and most convincing sign possible. He promised that when they put Him to death He would come back to life three days later (Matt. 12:38-40). Since they wouldn’t know if He fulfilled this promise until after the fact, He determined to wait for them to recognize that He had. I believe this is why He stayed around for 40 days after the resurrection.

Even though there were over 500 witnesses who could attest to having seen him after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6), there’s no indication that any official inquiry was undertaken to confirm that He had fulfilled His promise to return from the dead. Finally He left, but only until they admit their guilt (Hosea 5:15). As soon as they do He will forgive them (Joel 3:21) and restore their kingdom as He always intended to do.

In the mean time the Church was born into the gaps in these prophecies. Not as an alternative fulfillment like the replacement theologians would have you believe, but as a parallel track. When time stopped for Israel, it began for the Church, and when it ends for the Church it will begin again for Israel.
This is what the Lord says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 31:37) You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah 05-16-15.

The Pentecost prophecy

Change Your Religious Beliefs or Else

The New Totalitarians

By: Eric Metaxas|Published: May 11, 2015 8:00 AM

If you think the era of totalitarianism is over, you haven’t been paying attention to the headlines.

In the first century, Jesus was asked whether the Jewish people, who were under pagan, Roman occupation, should pay taxes to Caesar. The Lord, of course, said we are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s. But in 21^st century America, Caesar is angling for a better deal—and he’s getting it.
Our old friend Chuck Colson sounded the alarm several years ago when certain political figures on the Left—including former secretary of state Hillary Clinton—began downsizing the First Amendment’s guarantee of our God-given right to freedom of religion into a more manageable “freedom of worship.”

Chuck feared—rightly, it turns out—that opponents of religious liberty were seeking to keep religion within the four walls of our churches, synagogues, and mosques—as if religious belief were no more than a purely private opinion with no practical implications for the real world. In other words, “Feel free to worship, if you like, but keep your religiously informed opinions and actions to yourself.”


It’s a totalitarian impulse, and you can see it in the intensifying efforts to force faith groups to pay for abortions, to shut down Christian businesses that don’t want to participate in so-called “gay weddings,” and so on.

And the totalitarians are getting bolder about it. In Victoria, Australia, doctors are required by law to perform abortions when asked, or refer the patient to a colleague who will. In Canada, meanwhile, the Ontario and Saskatchewan Colleges of Doctors and Surgeons want physicians forced to perform euthanasia—which is now a fundamental national “right”—if no one else is available to do it.

And the totalitarians—being totalitarians—will brook no compromise. According to Canadian bioethicist Udo Schuklenk, “The very idea that we ought to countenance conscientious objection in any profession is objectionable.”

Really? And alas, this totalitarian streak is not confined to the Great White North. Mrs. Clinton, who once said that abortion can be “a sad, even tragic choice,” now asserts that a so-called “right to reproductive health care” trumps religious freedom. “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will,” she said at a recent meeting of the Women in the World Summit. “And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” Religious beliefs have to be changed?

Now Caesar seeks to regulate not just our actions, but our thoughts as well!
New York Times columnist and gay-rights advocate Frank Bruni thinks we need to change our religious beliefs about marriage, too—since, he says, interpreting the Bible is filled with subjectivity and uncertainty. Therefore believers shouldn’t take it too literally on matters of sexuality. “So our debate about religious freedom,” Bruni says, “should include a conversation about freeing religions and religious people from prejudices that they needn’t cling to and can indeed jettison, much as they’ve jettisoned other aspects of their faith’s history, rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity.”

How nice that Mr. Bruni and other sexual totalitarians stand ready to “free us” from our prejudices. What’s next, re-education camps? If you think I’m exaggerating the totalitarian threat, in the same newspaper, David Brooks writes, “If orthodox Christians are suddenly written out of polite society as modern-day Bull Connors, this would only halt progress, polarize the debate and lead to a bloody war of all against all.”

Lord have mercy.
In the coming weeks and months John Stonestreet and I will be talking a lot about the threats to our faith and to our standing in society—and how leading Christians are beginning to respond. So stay tuned.

J.D. Farag

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Psalm 49 - Ian White

Israel Frontline: from desolation to restoration

Jerusalem is Israel´s capital

Netanyahu: Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people alone

Islamic extremism threatens city and entire world, premier says at Jerusalem Day ceremony; President Rivlin says Jerusalem belongs to all of it citizens – Arabs and Jews.

By Barak Ravid | May 17, 2015 | 8:46 PM | 5

Netanyahu at Ammunition Hill, May 17, 2015. Photo by Emil Salman

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Jerusalem was always the capital of the Jewish people alone – and not of any other nation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday night during a Jerusalem Day address at Ammunition Hill.
"This is our home and here we will stay," the prime minister added.
That said, Netanyahu stressed that Israel ensures that Jerusalem will be an open and tolerant city.
"Only under Israeli rule is the freedom of worship in Jerusalem guaranteed for all religions," he said. "Believers pray at their holy sites, not despite our control over the city but because of it."
The prime minister described Jerusalem as a "touchstone that puts us to the test: To what extent are we willing to hold onto it and defend it?"

Netanyahu vowed that Israel will never come to terms with terror and will hunt down its proponents. "We will fight incitement, which stems from denial of our attachment to Jerusalem and our heritage."
"Who opposes our presence in Jerusalem?" the prime minister asked.  "Those who refuse to accept out right to live as a sovereign nation in our country. They regard us as a foreign weed that needs to be pulled out of this ground." 

In a more conciliatory speech, President Reuven Rivlin said that, while Jerusalem for him is both "Zion and Zionism," it doesn't belong only to its history.
"It belongs first and foremost to its people, to all its residents – secular, religious and Haredi; Arabs and Jews," Rivlin said. "In united Jerusalem there is a west and an east. It has no step-children."
"We must be honest with ourselves when we look at the massive gulf between the west of the city and the east," the president urged his audience. "We may have united the city, but we have barely begun the task of bringing about its economic and social unity.
"While western Jerusalem is achieving impressive progress and development, in the east we find neglect and despair." 

Clashes in Damascus Gate
Netanyahu and Rivlin's speeches were made as an annual 'flag march' made its way through the Old City, sparking clashes between Palestinians and police and between Jewish and Palestinian protesters.
The flag march, held by national-religious participants, passed through the Muslim quarter of the Old City after a petition by left-wing groups to change its route was rejected by the High Court of Justice.

The last few days have seen a concerted effort by rabbis, police commanders and organizers of the march to persuade participants to abstain from violence, which characterized such events in previous years. Hundreds of policemen are expected to secure the march, while leftist activists from an organization called “Jerusalem Won’t Tolerate Racism” are planning a demonstration opposing the march of flags.
Palestinian demonstrators are confronted by Israeli police during the 'flag march' in Jerusalem's Old City, May 17, 2015. (AFP)
 
Dozens of Palestinians threw rocks at policemen, injuring two officers. One of the officers sustained head injuries. Earlier, police stopped a brawl between Jews and Palestinians and arrested one Palestinian.
In the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Sharet, ultra-Orthodox children threw rocks at firemen. In Silwan, firemen were also pelted with rocks, and Border Police arrested a 17-year-old Palestinian. Border Police also arrested a Palestinian man suspected of throwing rocks in Isawiya in north Jerusalem.
A few hundred left-wing activists are protesting the march at Safra Square, near city hall, yelling slogans such as "Jerusalem will not be silent, outlaw racism."
The new Public Security Minister Yariv Levin said in Jerusalem that he was briefed by the precinct commander and that so far he has seen "an orderly and reinforced deployment on all fronts."

IS 'hides fighters among refugees'

  Reblogged from www.news.com.au May 17, 2015 12:58PM

Islamic State is exploiting the Mediterranean refugee crisis by smuggling fighters into Europe. Source: AAP

 

ISLAMIC State is exploiting the Mediterranean refugee crisis by smuggling fighters into Europe, an investigation has found. 

THE extremist group is working with human trafficking gangs to transport its members into the west by hiding them among refugees on boats, intelligence analysts said.
Sources claim IS is also capitalising on the emergency in the region to fund its terrorist activities by taxing people smugglers. Abdul Basit Haroun, an adviser to the intelligence service of the Libyan government, said he had spoken to boat owners who operate in IS-controlled areas who told him the group takes a 50 per cent cut of their income. The proceeds can run to tens of thousands of US dollars per vessel.

He told BBC 5 live Investigates: "They use the boats for their people who they want to send to Europe as the European police don't know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee or not. "They sit down separately, they come alone and in the boat they are not scared at all. They are for IS - 100 per cent." The investigation also uncovered separate claims that two Egyptian brothers travelled from the Libyan city of Sirte to Europe in March after they were told by human traffickers that IS offered easier, safer and cheaper journeys to the West. They revealed how IS offers people wishing to migrate the chance to stay and fight in Libya. If they insist on leaving for Europe, all migrants are given one week of religious education, which they are told is to safeguard them against Europe's temptations. 

Earlier this year, European border agency Frontex warned it is possible that foreign fighters are using "irregular migration routes". Frontex warned in its annual risk analysis that with record numbers of migrants crossing the border illegally, resources are devoted to their immediate care "rather than screening and obtaining information on their basic characteristics such as nationality". 

Another report published earlier this week raised concerns about the involvement of IS in the human trafficking trade. The analysis, produced by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, said the lucrative coastal migrant trade in Libya "dwarfs any existing trafficking and smuggling businesses in the region, and has particularly strengthened groups with a terrorist agenda, including the Islamic State". 

This week Scotland Yard revealed that more than 700 British extremists are now known to have travelled to Syria, with a "significant proportion" making the journey to join IS.

The Hal Lindsey Report | Hal Lindsey

The Hal Lindsey Report | Hal Lindsey

Syria slowly sinking Titanic - Avi Lipkin

Syria: Slowly Sinking Titanic by Avi Lipkin

Gary mentioned this article in a recent commentary. Click the link below to watch!https://youtu.be/CjpVMyl4yGY

Syria: Slowly Sinking Titanic by Avi Lipkin

With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, the British and

French colonial agenda called for the carving up of the former

Turkish Empire and the creation of a number of Arab states

that would be either under British or French colonial control.

The French would get Syria with Lebanon torn away to create

the new Christian state of Lebanon, while the British

got Iraq, and the Palestine Mandate which was later carved up

into Trans-Jordan and given over to the Hashemites while the 

remaining third became the British Mandate of Palestine.

Whereas Trans-Jordan and the Arab population of Palestine

were virtually exclusively Sunni Moslems, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon

had diverse ethnic populations which were in various ways in 

conflict with each other.

Scant attention was paid to drawing logical borders, and instead,

a ruler was used on the map of the Middle East to create countries

such as Syria and Iraq which no longer exist today as they did 

before the onset of the so-called "Arab Spring" in February of 2011.

Both the French and British colonial powers used the principle of

divide and conquer proferring power to the minority Alawites in

Syria as well as the Arab Sunnis in Iraq.  The Alawites represented

a mere 10% of the population in Syria while the Arab Sunnis in

Iraq represented a mere 20% of the entire population of Iraq.

In the West and Israel, governments are created based on a majority

coalition or consensus. But in the Middle East, the British and French

decided to create pacts with minority groups that would remain totally

dependent and reliant on the colonial powers and totally ruthless with

the other ethnic groups. Power sharing and democracy were never

an option. 

The Christians were granted a state in Lebanon, but by 1945, it

was common knowledge that the Christians were now a minority, 

and the Shiites and Sunnis fought over who would be preeminent.

Today the Christians are about 28% in Lebanon and the Shiites

about 40%.

The Ba'ath parties of Syria and Iraq followed the same Socialist/

Fascist type ideology but detested each other because in Syria, 

the Ba'ath Party was dominated by the Shiite/Alawites while in 

Iraq, it was dominated by the Sunnis.

No consideration was ever given to the "other" groups not in the

coalition with these minority totalitarian leaderships and so remained

restive and were suppressed with complete brutality.

The whole system began to unravel with the US overthrow of Saddam

Hussein in 2003 in Iraq.  For George W. Bush, democracy meant the 

will of the majority.  Well, the Shiites, a 60% majority overall in Iraq 

slaughtered for decades by Saddam were now the majority and so 

power was transferred to them in 2003 with the overthrow of Saddam.  

The first thing they did was to disarm Saddam Hussein's Baath Party 

membership and slaughter them, simply taking revenge for the hundreds 

of thousands of Shiites slaughtered  by Saddam and the Baath.

Today, ISIS, represents, among other things, a reorganized Sunni 

political, religious and military system to "protect" the Sunnis from the

Shiites but has also indulged in slaughtering those Sunnis who are

not fanatic Moslems. Today many Sunnis are rising up against ISIS

as well.

In Syria, the Sunnis, who are about 80% are divided as follows: about

30% support Bashar al-Assad's Shiite Alawite regime together with the 

Alawites who are about 10% as well as the Christians and Druze who 

are about 10%.  While the Sunni rebels are about 50% so 50-50 is

a prescription for a never-ending war.  

But the war will end in the favor of the Sunnis simply because the Sunnis 

have more volunteers coming from all over the world to join ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, Khorasan, as well as the Syrian Free Army which is secular.  

Simply put, the soldiers of Bashar al-Assad are being decimated and

cannot be replaced.  Hezbollah of Lebanon which has been helping Bashar

al-Assad is also bleeding profusely and so are the Iranian and Iraqi

Shiite volunteers coming to Syria to help Bashar.  

A good parallel is the defeat of the Nazis in Europe and Japanese in WWII.

Simply put, the US outproduced the Axis powers while the Red Army had

ten times as many soldiers as the Wehrmacht.  It was only a question of

time.

The old maps of Syria and Iraq no longer exist.  Now we are seeing cantons developing representing the Kurdish, Alawite, Shiite and Sunni populated areas with each group protecting its territory. 

Conclusion for Israel: Israel owes the British and French nothing regarding

the artificial borders of Sykes-Pikot Treaty of 1919. The borders of the 1947

UN Partition Plan no longer exist.  The June 5th, 1967 borders of Israel no

longer exist and are not sacrosanct. In light of the present Middle East 

realities, there is no justification for any further Israeli withdrawals. 

Israel's Fourth Term Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is completely right when he says that the conditions are not right to establish a Palestinian

State because all the borders in the Middle East today are fluid, with old

states disappearing and new cantons being created.

Turkey and Iran may also break up along sectarian lines and so we must

watch this as well.

Is This Sheba, Dedan and (the Merchants of) Tarsish’s Last Dance?

Reblogged from  bibleprophecyfortoday.com via servehiminthewaiting.com
Currently there are two factions engaged in an ongoing battle: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as well as the Houthi rebels backed by Iran in Yemen.
The military coalition currently fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and the military coalition fighting to stop Iran in Yemen BOTH are comprised of allied Arab and Western military forces that are collaborating together. The rather interesting tidbit here is that this coalition is exactly identical to what the Lord prophesied to Ezekiel as “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions…
 
Ezekiel 39:1-14––-And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled 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,  To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

The irony here is that when the Battle of Ezekiel 38-39 takes place, this same coalition actually questions the invasion and has no part in it. 
Genesis 10:7—And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

According to Genesis 10:7, Sheba and Dedan are the grandsons of Cush. But they are also the same names used of the grandsons of Abraham by his second wife Keturah. And they are the fathers of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is not necessarily from the lineage of Ishmael. They come from Sheba and Dedan who were the sons of Keturah, the 2nd wife of Abraham.
Genesis 25:1-3—Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
 
Haven’t you noticed recently that there seems to have been a sort of drift or separation between Saudi Arabia and the more fundamentalist Islamic countries? There are reports indicating that Saudi Arabia is very concerned about Isis making their way towards Saudi Arabia as well. 
The Saudi Kingdom is fed up with defending against ISIS raiding parties that routinely cross over the Iraqi border. In order to stave off these assaults, the Saudis have been building a gargantuan, 600-mile long border fence across the length of the country’s border with Iraq.

This fence is double layered with a concertina wire barrier in no man’s land. It is be equipped with underground movement sensors and fiber optic cables which are connected directly to authorities in Riyadh. On the Saudi side of the fence, 240 rapid response vehicles patrol the border along with helicopters that  support those manning the 38 communications towers and 32 military response stations strategically placed along the fence.

Most Muslims are divided into two major camps with many side issues. The two sides are Shiite, who are more fundamentalist and the Sunni, who are not as radical. The Saudi Arabians are Sunni and they control the holy sites of Mecca & Medina. There is Shi’ites are for the most part from Iran and anticipating the rise of the Mahdi.
Anyways, according to verse 13, they are merely questioning this invasion and not confronting it militarily. The question that needs to be asked is this: Is the House of Saud about to fall? And if that’s the case, now that the United States is openly endorsing a Palestinian state, is the U.S. about to fall? That being said…..

Now we are about to enter some touchy territory:
13 …and the merchants of Tarsish, with all the young lions thereof,…
Actually it’s the the word means to plant. As in planting villages. Let me explain. Hebraically speaking, it means the merchants of Tarsish planted villages somewhere in the world. In your Bible, the merchants of Tarsish are mentioned 24 times. Several of those passages connect them with ships. Thus, they are a seafaring people.
Psalm 72:10—The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
Psalm 72:10, refers to the kings of Tarsish and of the islands.
Ezekiel 27:12—Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
Ezekiel 27:12 refers to a multitude of riches that they have including silver, iron, tin and lead.

Kind of interesting that the name Brittania, from which Great Britain gets its name, means a land of tin, and it is an island beyond Tarsish. Now in the ancient world, Tarsish was thought of being at the tip of Spain. The area we know as Gibraltar.
Recent archaeological finds inspired the book, America, B.C., by Professor Barry Fell of Harvard University. With an estimated date of 700-600 B.C., the findings suggest that voyagers were probably not explorers but rather merchants trading with the New England Celts who, by that dates, were already well established fur trappers and very likely also mining precious metals from those sites where ancient workings have been discovered. If the findings of Professor Fell are accurate, large colonies of Celts had been brought by ship from Tarshish, Spain, to mine for ore and trap for furs and thus to establish trading posts deep within the American continent. They must surely be recognized as belonging to Ezekiel’s “merchants of Tarshish.”

Now the Book of Ezekiel was written around 500 B.C., during Babylonian captivity. 300 years prior to that we have evidence that there were people here in America. All the way in Iowa as well as all over in New England they have found inscriptions. These have now been deciphered. And guess what, there in glowing terms unmistakable, we have the name merchants of Tarsish, who were here in America.
Apparently as a seafaring people , they had planted themselves in “the islands far away from Europe.” And these people, may have been apparently as far away as the British Isles. They had a vast network of economy and shipping that was taking place hundreds of years before Jesus Christ walked the face of the earth. This means that when Ezekiel wrote this, he would have known about them!

This is not a new revelatory “prophecy point.” There is accurate evidence that can prove its authenticity. You can do the research yourself. But we have an even greater accurate and authentic proof and that is the Bible itself.
So then this reference to merchants of Tarsish could not only refer to the British Isles, but it may also allude to The Unites States of America! And if that is true, then all we are doing is the same thing that Saudi Arabia is doing, which is not intervening in this war.
Recently , it seems as if we have been doing a lot of work with Saudi Arabia, who apparently have been very friendly with us. Nonetheless, it seems as if even the U.S. is just questioning about this invasion and not doing anything about it. This seems to indicate that there will be no deliberate military action engaged by any of these nations in opposition to the coalition of Gog and Magog which will be led by Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Note that Ezekiel refers not just to Tarshish, but to “the merchants of Tarshish with all its young lions” (KJV). This phrase is a Hebrew idiom meaning nations that have come out of Tarshish. The young lions of Tarshish are a reference to the colonies that emerged from Britain and Europe – including the USA. Out of the Merchants of Tarshish came the colonial Empires. The most successful of these was Great Britain. The symbol of Great Britain is a lion. That symbol exists to this day and no other empire had more young lions than Great Britain. The present young lions are the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Commonwealth. These young lion nations that came out of the British Empire have generally been pro-Israel.

Therefore, ‘the young lions of Tarshish’ describes the USA in the last days joining in with her European and Saudi allies to lodge a formal protest against the Russian-Islamic aggressors.
My concern has always been that when the U.S., who currently seemed to be the only ally of Israel, ever decided to turn its back on Israel, watch out! Jerusalem will a trembling cup to ALL nations. ALL nations will gather to fight against Jerusalem.
I just mentioned in the previous post that our current administration has now given the long awaited “green light” to European governments to file a UN Security Council motion proclaiming an independent Palestinian state. Senior US officials reportedly collaborated with their French counterparts in Paris last week to sketch out the general outline of this motion. The United States has now joined 136 other nations who now are vouching for a Palestinian State.This will absolutely shatter U.S. relations with Israel and plunge the entire Middle East into chaos!

By the way, these  nations have a combined population of more than 5.5 billion people. And the Vatican has jumped in to endorse a Palestinian state as well. Whose left???

I believe it is very possible that the “Day of the LORD” is not too far off in the very near distant future. ( Here is a link to a previous post on the Day of the LORD:  http://bibleprophecyfortoday.com/2015/02/28/the-day-of-the-lord/
It is also very possible that if and when the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are weakened and or ready to be overtaken if not overtaken already, God forbid, then you will see the Magog invasion of Ezekiel 38-39 spring into action. 

If all of what I mentioned is indeed a reality then saints of God it’s just like that famous airline commercial: “pack your bags…..it’s on!”