End Times Truth: Avoiding Deception

 Nathan Jones - http://www.lamblion.us/2013/01/end-times-truth-avoiding-deception.html

 Reblogged from Prophecy Update

How do we avoid deception in these last days?

This question was put to me recently by Doug Harris from Britain's apologetics television program "Simply the Truth." In this first episode of Doug's new show "End Times Truth," he sought along with me and other guests to define what the Last Days are and how we should live in them. The following is an excerpt of that program.

The Last Days Interview

Doug Harris: First Timothy 4:1 warns the believer to pay attention so as not to be deceived by deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. It becomes very obvious if people pay attention to these things that sooner or later they will want to communicate with these evil spirts and will want to draw closer to that which is deceitful - the doctrine of demons.

Just how can we test out what is truly from God and what is taught by demons when things are spoken of concerning the End Times. How can we begin to test these things out? What can we do to insure that we are not led astray?

The answer is clear - we certainly need to bring everything back that we've heard to the Word of God. If what's being said is clearly found within the Word of God, then there is absolutely no problem with that end times teaching.

If, however, what you've learned is not found within the Word of God, but it's also not denied by the Word of God, well we might not be able to be so sure. We end up holding those teachings up and conclude they're probably true, but debatable.

Stand strong on the belief that anything that is not clearly taught within Scripture, or is clearly denied by Scripture, means we cannot build our future upon it. We need to be discerning. The Bible advises us to be diligently seeking. I hope that's something we always do from the Scriptures and with others.

However, even at this point we are not left helpless, because 1 Timothy 4 goes on to give the antidote to avoiding deception and the accepting of wrong teachings. The answer is that we are to be nourished by the words of faith and of sound doctrine. Just how vital is that today? How should we be living in these days?

Nathan, what do you have to say? In 1 Timothy 4:6, we get in the King James this phrase about being "nourished." I'm very interested in that phrase. Just how are we to be nourished in these last days? When I think of nourishment, I'm reminded that nourishment always gives you strength. Nourishment always gives you the ability to do things. We as believers in Christ are going to face difficult days. We are in fact even now facing difficult days, knowing that we are going to face even more difficult days to come. How do we get nourished and be able to face them?

Nathan Jones: The Apostle Peter gave us a great description of what being nourished looks like. Second Peter 3 is an entire chapter dedicated to talking about living in the "last days" or "latter days." Peter gives us ten points that we can follow to be nourished and to exist wholly in these last very difficult days.

1. Peter tells us to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the commands given by our Lord and Savior through the Apostles. We should remember the words of Jesus. Remember the words of the Apostles. In other words, read your Bible!

2. Understand that in the last days scoffers will come. Peter was telling us that in the last day people would declare that Jesus isn't coming back. They'll claim such a belief is nonsense and not to believe in it. They'll scoff at the Bible. They'll scoff at God even existing. And, they'll scoff at primarily the Creation story. In other words, Peter is prophesying the advent of the teaching of Evolution.

3. Peter warns us not to forget God's promise that He'll return. We are to abide in His salvation and model His patience. That Jesus is so patiently waiting for everybody who is supposed to in this age come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and get saved demonstrates God's amazing love.

4. Peter reminds us to live holy and godly lives. While we are here on this earth, as Christians we are to live holy and godly lives while we wait for Christ's return.

5. Look forward to the day of God. Look forward to the time when we live with God up in Heaven with dwell with Him forever. That's really something to look forward to! And, it will give you hope and perspective.

6. Speed the Lord's coming, Peter says. In other words, get the Gospel out. Share the Good News with people so they may hear the Word of God and get saved. Time is short, so be active in evangelism.

7. Look forward to the New Heaven and New Earth, which is the home of the Righteous. We are here in this world only temporarily. This here is a temporary home. Our real home, though, is the New Jerusalem. That's Heaven! Heaven will come down to earth one day so that God will dwell with redeemed Man. Such knowledge gives us believers great hope and something to look forward to.

8. Peter says we are to be found spotless and blameless and at peace with God. Again, live those holy and spotless lives, but strive to live at peace with one another. Christians are an ornery bunch, but we need to practice peace with one another now, for we'll be spending eternity with each other later.

9. We need to be on guard so that we may not be carried away by the error of lawless men. During the Last Days, one of the main signs that Jesus gave is that we would know His soon return is coming due to the proliferation of false prophets and false teachers. That's why Peter warns the Christian to be on our guard and be prepared for battling doctrinal error. To be able to do that, we need to know our Bible so that we can refute the false doctrines that are being taught.

10. The last nourishment Peter gives us is the directive to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in the grace of God and become more Christlike.

That there is the ten "nourishments" Peter gives.

Doug Harris: Brilliant, brilliant info! Two points came out to me there. It's sort of like you almost were talking about both a looking back and looking forward. We are to look back to what God has said in His Word; never forgetting what He said, never forgetting what's written down, and never forgetting what's there. But, also, wherever we are, we're to be looking forward to what is yet to come. As Paul had said, this difficult time that I am going through now is nothing compared to what glory is to come. So, Peter is giving us two directions to pay attention to: looking back and looking forward. That's very important.

Nathan Jones: Amen! As difficult as the world is now for Christians to live in and growing worse every day with the massacres in Nigeria, the concentration camps for Christians in North Korea, and the loss of our freedoms in the Western world; it's going to get worse. Conditions are going to get worse because evil hates God. Evil hates the thought that we represent God and so wants to destroy our belief in Christ. But, Jesus says that even as bad as it is now and how tough our last days' time period is, it's nothing compared to the last of the last days, which is the coming Tribulation.

Doug Harris: Wonderful words! I hope all believers understand the need to be nourished by the Bible's words of faith and sound doctrine.

 In the third part of this interview on End Times Truth, we will discuss what worldly fables lead us away from the truth of Jesus Christ.

I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I’m an American, I’m a Southerner, I’m a mom of 2 kids, and I’m just about fed up….

Posted on January 16, 2013 by shekinah419

Reblogged from  servehiminthewaiting.wordpress.com

$542 Million in taxpayer funding to murder innocent babies in their FIRST sancutary, the mother’s womb in 2012.

$500 Million in taxpayer funding, illegally allocated by an illegal alien in the White House to illegally violate the Constitutional rights of American citizens, shamelessly exploiting and politicising the tragic deaths of six adults and 20 six-year-olds  in their “second sanctuary” to further their agenda on the completely false and fabricated premise (pretense) that even a single one of Obama’s illegal ”23 measures” would have changed the outcome of the Sandy Hook Massacre even one iota.  (Joe and Barry’s laughable “pity faces” notwithstanding)

Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin!
Woe to them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!

I was at Wal Mart today.  Trust me, they are still planning to restock the ammo shelves, which are all but bare at the moment.  This president is picking a fight.  He is baiting the freedom-loving patriots who know exactly what he is trying to do.

I don’t generally try to sway opinions here and I won’t start now.  You can’t fix stupid. I post things that I don’t necesarrily agree about, just for the purpose of informing readers about what is being said, so we can all come to our own conclusions about the general mood of the populace.  The conspiracy theories surrounding Sandy Hook are pretty “out there”, as you saw in a recent post that claimed actors were playing the part of grieving families, etc.  Do I believe that our government is capable of pulling off something like that?  Of course not!  My point in posting such articles is that there is a conspiracy, yes, but it’s not the government.   It is a satanic conspiracy, and because we have become a nation that doesn’t know our God, doesn’t want to know God, and in fact defiantly refuse to follow God, we are now a nation that has fallen victim to satan’s varying and abundant deceptions and delusions which are individually customized to cater to the worst fears of any given person who is of an unregenerate mind.

It seems clear to me we are heading for a showdown.  Somewhere, someone wants to see all of this chaos come to a head, reach it’s boiling point.

The thing about these lawless leaders is that they are so thoroughly convinced that the average American has the IQ of a coconut.  They believe their understanding is superior to the rest of the country.   This is why they honestly think it’s fine to have a set of rules the average Joe must live by, and these restrictions don’t apply to themselves.  Such as Obama’s girls (and celebrity’s kids) being protected by armed guards in their own schools, but in order to protect the kids in the “Sandy Hooks” of the nation, we’re going to take all the rest of the guns away from you lower life forms ”for your own good”.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again.  The fellow who quietly strives to go about his life, doing his work with his own two hands and the sweat of his brow, minding his business, taking care of his family, level-headed, not prone to be baited easily, who loves  his family, loves his country and probably goes to church, you know, the ”pushover” types, these are still the majority of our nation.  The loud-mouth radicals on TV and in D.C. and Hollywood don’t represent the heart and soul of this nation.  I dare say even most of the immigrants here are not here looking to rob and defraud legal citizens of their ”birthright”.  They just came here for a better life like our own ancesters did.  The guys behind Obama have made the mistake of falling for their own lies.  I even dare to say that anyone smart enough and determined enough to “sneak” into this country is a lot smarter than these liberals give them credit for.  Sure a certain percentage are Mexican drug lords and terrorists, but the other 75% probably didn’t come in hopes of helping to bring Lady Liberty to her knees and destroy all that is good about this nation.

The Obamaites really do not know who they are messing with.  Obama wants civil war.  He’s going to keep on, and keep on, ”pusing the buttons” of those meek and easy-going folk who for the most part, just stay out of the tussles, and leave all that debating and wrangling and wheeler-dealering to that small percentage of ”elites” who actually believe their “station” makes them better and more important than others, and when they have had enough, Obama and his ilk, will not know what hit ’em. That’s not a threat.  It’s just fair warning. I believe there are white, black, Asian, hispanic, muslim, Jew, gay and straight religious and athiest people who will stand shoulder to shoulder and defend this nation against a common enemy, should it come to that.   White folk need to stop believing that all the black citizens are dupes for the Democratic party.  That is ridiculous!  Black folks need to stop believing  that all the white folks want to bring back slavery. That also is ridiculous.  Everybody needs to stop believing that every Hispanic person is here illegally and even if they are, it doesn’t mean they are here to steal from you.

And another thing!  The nations preachers might be falling down on the job, but there is still a remnant of folks in this country who stand on the Word and it matters not at all how small that remnant is.  If God be for us, who can be against us? The God of Abraham, Creator  of all things, will keep giving these arrogant lawbreakers latittude to a certain point.  He will allow the “evil king” to reign and to humble those who have gotten “above their raising”.  But for those who love Him?  For those who obey and live for Him?  He will protect His own.  He will remind the arrogant Who is in charge.

People want to know, “will America fall?”  Christian, no one wants to see that happen, but listen to me; IT DOESN”T MATTER what it “looks like” right now.  OUR GOD is still ON HIS THRONE, and our citizenship is not in America nor any other Earthly place, but the Bride shall be with her Groom, the two shall be ONE, and whither HE goest, she shalt go! For the People who do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits!  There is nothing to fear.  We have many promises that we can ”take to the bank”.  I don’t know about you, but I am pretty tired of all those folk who act as if our God sits around nervously wringing His hands, fretting over the evildoers of this world, lest the devil get the upper hand.  I’m here to tell you there is no power on Earth, in the heavenlies, nor under the Earth which can even come close to the POWER of our God, the Great I AM.  Christ our Messiah is the Lion of Judah and when He ROARS, there will be no doubt in the jungle, as to Who is KING!

If you have been washed in the blood, if your sins have been forgiven, and you have been born again, you are safe.  You are not only “saved” but you are safe.  Now, present tense!  Forget this bunch that are telling you that only certain “sanctified” ones will go to heaven in the rapture, and those who say any part of the true church must go through the rapture to be “purified”.  What, pray tell me, is it about Christ’s perfect and undefiled blood that is insufficient to purify you? What sin is beyond the scope of its cleansing power?  What effort on your own part can “make up for this supposed insufficiency of Christ’s blood?  If His sacrifice was not enough, there is no hope at all.

Stop settling for part of the story.  Stop edititing, cuttting and pasting the Word!  If one word of His Holy Scripture is corrupt then not one promise can be relied upon.  Don’t you SEE?
Our God is Able!  Our God is Mighty!  Our God is MERCIFUL, slow to anger, righteous!  Our God is perfectly JUST.  He is all-powerful, and HE WILL NOT BE MOCKED.  If you shun Him, you had better fear Him.  If you proport to represent Him, you better fear Him even more!  There is a Hell and your place there is reserved and waiting unless your name has been written in the Lamb’s book of Life.  There are not “many ways” to reach God.  You have NO business even saying His name if you don’t acknowledge Him as Master, and then you better reverence that Name.  One day you will acknowledge Him.  It may be in heaven, it may be from Hell, but you will bow and acknowledge God.  We are not “all God’s children”.  His own Word tells us that those who do not acknowledge Him as Lord, are children of the Devil.  And to the devil you will be sent.

And in the famous words of the illustrious Forrst Gump, “that’s all I’ve got to say about that”.

What is revival?

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Reblogged from Elizabeth Prata´s the-end-time.blogspot.com

Inside Christian culture, we often pray for something we call 'revival'. As with secular culture, revival means a kind of refreshing, a renewal. Hope, and new beginnings. For the Christian it means a time when we do not have a strong faith because we either actively sin or we know of sin in our family or our church and we let it slide. This clogs up our spiritual arteries. We may become sluggish, apathetic, taking the faith for granted and losing touch with our ability to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

One person in the bible that surely needed revival was Eli. A judge and priest for many years in the Temple, Eli had grown old, not just in age, but in spiritual age, too. Rather than being constantly renewed and refreshed by the Spirit through prayer, study, diligent service, and seeking God, Eli had simply grown lazy.

Worse, Eli's son's were ruffians of the worst sort- spiritual ruffians who were supposed to be priests but who were idolaters. They took the best temple offerings for themselves. They lay with women who served at the tabernacle. They blasphemed God. Eli knew all this and did nothing. (1 Sam 2:22, 2:29, 1 Samuel 3:13.)

We all know that sinning isn't good and will result in correction by God. Worse, though, sinning will close our ears to hearing him. I don't mean audibly, I mean feeling the prick of conscience, the warmth of prayer, the closeness of the Spirit. Soon enough, we don't care that we are sinning.

However it comes as a surprise to many that even if we are not sinning ourselves, if gross sin exists in our family or our church, and we fail to acknowledge it and take the biblical steps to correcting it, God corrects us too. Eli's sons were punished. They died. Eli was punished too, even though his sons were the immoral blasphemers. It is not just an Old Testament thing, either. Revelation 2:20 shows us that those who tolerate sin will be punished.

Anyway, when we tolerate sin our own ears become closed. Eli was unperceptive when the LORD was calling Samuel, his disciple, at the temple. (1 Samuel 3:8). Eli was in need of revival, long before the promised judgment came.

What happens when revival comes to a church or a nation? Let's look at Acts 2:37 and the reaction of the people who heard Peter's famous sermon at Pentecost-

"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”"

The phrase 'cut to the heart' means, pierce all the way down, i.e. deeply (thoroughly) pained; "emotionally pierced through"; psychologically pricked, emotionally stunned.

Let's look at the Gentiles at Nineveh. After Jonah preached to them at God's command, this was their reaction-

"The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes." (Johan 3:5-6).

Sitting in ashes, or flinging ashes over your head, was considered to be both mourning for the dead and a sign of national calamity. It was an outward expression of deep repentance and a sign to the LORD that they sought Him in humility. Fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes were outward signs that you wanted to be the lowest of the low before the Highest of the High.

How about a revival in non-biblical history? The famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" delivered at Enfield CT in 1741 brought about an awakening. The awakening was going on all over New England, but in that one church in Enfield the congregation sat unaffected. The pastor of that church invited Edwards to come preach. Edwards delivered the now-famous sermon in his typical style- which is read in a near monotone. Edwards believed that showmanship had no place in the pulpit and simply read or spoke his sermons plainly. The church went wild.

Eyewitness Stephen Williams, wrote in his diary, "We went over to Enfield where we met dear Mr. Edwards of Northampton who preached a most awakening sermon from these words, Deuteronomy 32:35, and before the sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying went out through ye whole House…. ‘What shall I do to be saved,’ ‘Oh, I am going to Hell,’ ‘Oh, what shall I do for Christ,’ and so forth. So yet ye minister was obliged to desist, ye shrieks and cry were piercing and amazing."

In all three cases I described for you, Nineveh, Pentecost, and Enfield CT, revival broke out. Notice that the people who were revived were first pierced, cut to the quick, and cried out.

Revival always begins with tears.

Revival begins with lamentation.

Revival begins with grief.

THAT is revival.

Unless you, your nation, your church, whatever, has sat low and cried out in agony over the sins you've performed against the Lord, you are not in revival. The congregation at Enfield CT were flinging themselves down the aisle, leaping out of the pews in fearful agony of the spirit, crying out from where they lay.

The effects of revival are joy, works, buoyancy. Williams describes what happened after church in Enfield CT on the day Johnathan Edwards preached 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' ,

"After some time of waiting the Congregation were still, so yet a prayer was made by Mr. W. and after that we descended from the pulpit and discoursed with the people, some in one place and some in another, and amazing and astonishing ye power of God was seen, and several souls were hopefully wrought upon that night, and oh ye cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenances."

"It is estimated that 10 percent of New England was converted during this time. Imagine today 28 million converted in 2 years. Picture every church in your town doubling or tripling in the next 2 years, and you have some grasp of the enormity of what happened" (Source)

Charles Spurgeon wrote of revival:
"When revival comes to a people who are in the state thus briefly described, it simply brings them to the condition in which they ought always to have been; it quickens them, gives them new life, stirs the coals of the expiring fire, and puts heavenly breath into the languid lungs."

Spurgeon issued a caution, however: "If revival is confined to living men we may further notice that it must result from the proclamation and the receiving of living truth. ... Intense excitement may produce a revival of the animal, but how can it operate upon the spiritual, for the spiritual demands other food than that which stews in the fleshpots of mere carnal enthusiasm."

He is saying do not mistake enthusiasm for revival. You might think, how can we tell them apart? Easy. If there were no tears, there is no revival. The tears and lamentation mean that the person truly glimpsed their sin in the face of a Holy God, and their resulting spiritual suffering could not be contained inwardly.

Acts 3:19 gives us the progression of revival: "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;"

1. Repent of your sins
2. Return to the Lord's ways
3. You will be forgiven
4. Revival will come... and then
5. Joy in His presence

In today's Christianity, when the reverse of that progression happens people say it is revival. People toss around the word revival whenever a group of people get outwardly excited but inwardly they are unchanged. I've written of Angus Buchan in South Africa and the throngs who dance and jump and praise the Lord at his Charismatic signs and wonders healing 'revivals.' That's not revival.

I've written about the Passion 2013 conference where thousands of young people jump and dance and praise the Lord as a result of the emotionally manipulative entertainment and non-proclamation of the living truth by Charismatic speakers. That's not revival, either.

If you want to see what revival is, look to the bible. Nineveh and Pentecost are two examples. Look at Job:

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6).

Only hearing the word but not letting it into your heart let Job continue on in his pride. When he truly spiritually saw the LORD, he hated himself. THAT'S revival.

After the grief, comes the joy. Spurgeon ends this way:

When Christians are revived they live more consistently, they make their homes more holy and more happy, and this leads the ungodly to envy them, and to enquire after their secret. Sinners by God's grace long to be like such cheerful happy saints; their mouths water to feast with them upon their hidden manna, and this is another blessing, for it leads men to seek the Savior. If an ungodly man steps into a congregation where all the saints are revived he does not go to sleep under the sermon. The minister will not let him do that, for the hearer perceives that the preacher feels what he is preaching, and has a right to be heard. This is a clear gain, for now the man listens with deep emotion; and above all, the Holy Spirit's power, which the preacher has received in answer to prayer comes upon the hearer's mind; he is convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, and Christians who are on the watch around him hasten to tell him of the Savior, and point him to the redeeming blood, so that though the revival, strictly speaking, is with the people of God, yet the result of it no man can limit.

Amen to that.

Hope from the Word

^{Abiding faith, hope and love   
Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 12/2012 http://thelightseed.blogspot.com}

1 John 2:24-29
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
²⁵ And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
²⁶ These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
²⁷ But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
²⁹ If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

1 John 3:1-3
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
² Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
³ And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

                          *******************************************************
This hope that he Bible talks about belongs only to those who have believed in Jesus-Christ as Lord and Savior. 
If you do not know the Lord Jesus, have not experienced his love, mercy and grace, I invite you, I plead with you now to make your peace with the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and receive his Salvation through His Son Jesus-Christ. 

We all know what the conditions of the world have been in 2012. You know your personal situation. Money won´t save you, politicians won´t save you, guns won´t save you, running and hiding somewhere else thinking you are out of danger won´t save you, belief in any religion, in your own human goodness and performing good works wont´save you, belief in reincarnation and acquiring good karma won´t save you. I am talking about your soul.  

When we die and nobody knows the hour, we all have to give an account about our lives. The Bible says: It is given for man to die once and then comes the judgment. 
The ones that have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to pay for the just punishment for their sins and put their trust in Jesus-Christ will live eternally in resurrected spiritual glorious bodies in the presence of God whom they love, worship and serve.

The others who have rejected the offer of salvation from a loving but just God available to all will be resurrected also but will suffer eternal separation from God and eternal conscious torment in hell in the presence of satan and his demons. They have brought upon themselves because of their own choice to rebel against their loving Creator who has demonstrated his love for his creation from the beginning of time.

From all we can see in the world today and from the Bible prophecies that have never failed concerning the near future, we can only expect the world in which we live to spin out of greater control if not for divine intervention. 

God has already intervened on your behalf 2000 years ago and provided the way to be reconciled with your Creator. 

If you feel hopeless in this dying world and want to know the way to be reconciled with God, this is what Jesus the Son of God said in the Gospel of John 3
  
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”
⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.^{[e] 14} Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[f] 15} that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”^[g]

 John 3:16 reads:
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

 ^{John 1-13}
 speaking about Jesus the Son of God, the Word of God, the Light of the world, the giver of life abundant and eternal,the Savior of mankind:

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

² The same was in the beginning with God.
³ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
⁹ That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 14:6;  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

I am praying for you who read this and are overburdened and feeling condemned by the weight of your sins without any hope of finding a way out of your predicament, whatever it is, that you would seriously and sincerely consider the above Scriptures and humbly ask the LORD God to help you, to come to your rescue, to reveal to you the truth of his Word and to let him transform your heart, your mind and give you an abundant life that satisfies in the now and the hereafter. 

Isaiah 57:15 reads: For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

What does it mean to have a contrite and humble spirit that pleases God so much that he wants to dwell in the heart of such person? To find out click HERE

For a more thorough explanation of the Gospel "the good news" of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life click HERE  and for how to be born again HERE      

Playing nerf ball with the devil

Monday, December 24, 2012 

Playing nerf ball with the devil

Reblogged from Elizabeth Prata´s  http://the-end-time.blogspot.com

I am old enough to remember when Nerf Ball was introduced to the world. Hasbro Toymakers had created a foam ball which soon was accompanied by a gun. When shot, Nerf guns emitted foam balls that hit a target but destroyed nothing. Millions of Huck Finns and Dennis the Menaces thanked Hasbro that no more windows and vases got broken. The foam ball would only bounce harmlessly off and nothing was destroyed inside the house or outside it.

It was 1970 and the Nerf ball was introduced as the "world's first official indoor ball". Marketing slogans promised that one can "Throw it indoors; you can't damage lamps or break windows. You can't hurt babies or old people." By the end of the first year a million had been sold.

Hold that thought, about the Nerf ball.

We are under spiritual attack. Every Christian is a potential target for satan and his legion of minions. Satan lobs his own fiery darts at us. (Ephesians 6:16). He hates God and so he hates God in us. So he attacks. We are in a battle and cannot let down our guard for one moment. We have to "be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour," as 1 Peter 5:8 warns.

One of the ways we engage in the war is that when we are sober and watchful we guard our thought life. The weapons in our war are not physical. We don't go forth with sword and shield like a gladiator and smite people.

In actuality WE are the weapon. If we remain vigilant and sober, stay in prayer, walk in His ways, and delve into the Word, we become sharp, internally. It is an internal thought-battle. We capture every thought---

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ", (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

The main weapon we use against satan is God's word (as a sword) and the main weapon satan uses against us is a twisted version of God's word (as fiery darts). If we are internally honed as God's weapon, when we speak of Him or share His word, being submitted to the indwelling Holy Spirit and being steadily regenerated in His image, then when we do speak Christ, the words are sharp.

The ultimate example of that, of course, is Jesus. Look what happened when He spoke:

"When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath." (Luke 4:30)

"But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant," (Matthew 21:15). The word 'indignant' here in Greek means 'to grieve much.'

"When the soldiers approached Jesus that night in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked if He was Jesus, Jesus answered "When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground." (John 18:6).

And there are many other examples from the life of Jesus to illustrate the point. After His ascension, His word was powerful in the mouths of His disciples. Think of the wrath of the crowd when Stephen preached to the Pharisees and was killed. The wrath of the crowd at Iconium when Paul was stoned. The word of God is a sword that riles up wrath in the unrepentant.

But! It is also a sharp sword that pierces strongholds!

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12).

"Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:29).

Since the Christian life is a metaphor of an internal and unseen war, and the word of God is a metaphor for a sword as our weapon in that war (Ephesians 6:17), then here is a picture illustrating that.

When the Word goes out from a finely honed, disciplined, thought-guarded Christian warrior, the word will pierce the strongest armor, the meanest heart, the loftiest stronghold!

GraceLife Pastor Phil Johnson said in his sermon "Wisdom Guards the Heart," to-
"control your thoughts. This is the whole point, and this is the area where the virtue of self-control is most important. This is the one area where your battle for self-control will be won or lost: your thought life. If you willingly and deliberately allow yourself to indulge in evil thoughts or wicked fantasies, what this verse says (Proverbs 4:23) is you’re filling the wellspring of your life with poison—and nothing is more self-destructive!"

Pastor Johnson continued, "One of the key verses in the New Testament is Mark 7:20-23, where Jesus said this, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man; for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.” Jesus said, “All these things come from within and defile the man.” He was answering people who had charged His disciples with eating with unwashed hands, and He was saying, you know, “It’s not what goes into you that defiles you, but what comes out of your heart.” You cannot entertain wicked thoughts without being utterly defiled by them. In fact, that is, is it not, the very principle our verse is teaching? “A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit,” Matthew 7:18, “A contaminated well is unhealthy.” So, it’s vital to guard your heart and keep it from every kind of defilement."

The more defiled you get, the less sharp the Word is from your mouth.

Just as the battle is internal, if you study up, guard up, pray up, and walk rightly, you will not be defiled. But if you're polluted inside, what comes out of you will be ineffectual for God. Though you think you are holding a wicked crossbow and aiming squarely at satan, all satan sees is this:

He sees a child holding a Nerf gun. He says "Oh really?" and laughs because what comes out of the Nerf gun will only bounce harmlessly off him and roll away. Due to your polluted thoughts and defiled heart, your weapon has gone from this:

To this:

Except you didn't realize how far you'd gone and how exposed you were when you waged into the battle. Guard your thought-life. Going from sharp word to harmless Nerf happens fast, my friends. Be vigilant, and repentant. Phil Johnson again,

"Scripture is full of this truth. God sees our hearts. If you would blush to have the secret thoughts of your heart made manifest for everyone in this room to see, you ought to tremble at the reality that God already sees those thoughts and knows them altogether. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Hebrews 12:14 adds this: “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” So, this is a vitally important matter. It underscores the desirability of guarding our hearts. An impure heart can ruin us for life and all eternity. There’s no advantage, frankly, to poisoning the wellspring of your heart. So, where do we go for a pure heart? I’ve already spoken of the utter impossibility of cleansing your own heart. What do we do with defiled hearts? Well, first and most obviously, we have to repent of the impurity..."

Repent. Guard. Resist. Flee. Because you don't want to play Nerf ball with the devil.