ATTENTION, DANGER AHEAD!

Written and posted by Jean-Louis.

Going astray spiritually is as easy as not paying attention to the road sign on a freeway interchange, letting oneself get distracted and taking the wrong exit. I know from first hand experience because I did it and took a trip in the wrong direction that lasted 14 years.
 
We should be careful who we let write on the tablets of our hearts.

The Lord Jesus himself in the parable of the sower told his disciples: He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13: 9).
Then in Marc 4:24, talking about His light in us, Jesus warned his disciples: CONSIDER CAREFULLY WHAT you hear (Mk.4:24).

In Matthew´s parable, Jesus also talks about the fourth person who receives the seed, hearing and understanding. This is HOW TO HEAR with the understanding that comes from God and his word:

  My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom;  from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:1-6.

In Luke 8:18,  again talking about the light, Jesus calls his disciples to "consider carefully HOW YOU LISTEN". Then, he adds something that should cause us to look at our hearts and let us be examined by the searchlight of the Spirit in those words: "whoever doesn´t have, EVEN WHAT HE THINKS HE HAS will be taken away from him.

Could Jesus be talking about the light that one  thinks he has, maybe because somebody misled us into believing that they had the light and that if we followed them and their teachings then we would partake of their special spiritual knowledge and revelations. Their light and teachings would spread throughout the world and bring the rule of the Kingdom of God through great revivals and theocratic government? Great boasts are being made these days! Who wouldn´t want to be part of such spiritual effort. Conquering the world for Christ! 

Remember there is one who is the enemy of our souls who disguises himself as an angel of light. 

Here is what John 1: 6-9 says about Jesus and John the Baptist who was to bear witness to Jesus-Christ and whose ministry of preaching repentance and announcing the first coming of Christ our Lord and Savior.     
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all 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 gives light to every man coming into the world. 

If Jesus is the true light, then there is a false counterfeit light.

Have we been deceived or allowed ourselves to be deceived ? Is it possible that we live in denial even when the truth and the reality of when the false seeds, that have been sown, and the false lights have been allowed to grow within the church for more than a century are now bearing a rotten fruit and caused spiritual blindness but for everybody who has eyes to see and ears to hear? 

The Book has already been written. The Bible is the Word of God our only authority to judge everything we hear, see and experience, our reference. The Holy Spirit who breathed the words written by the writers of the Bible and who now indwells us believers will never contradict himself. 

In John 16:1 Jesus warned his disciples: "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. "

All this refers back to the teaching about the Holy Spirit in chapter 15 who is introduced to us as " the Counselor" who is to be with us forever, the Spirit of Truth. 

Later on, in John 18:37, Jesus acknowledging that he was King made this remarkable statement:" In fact for this reason I was born and for this I came into the world: to TESTIFY TO THE TRUTH. 
Everyone who is on the side of the truth listens to me." 

Well, Pilate was not interested in knowing what love is? He asked what is truth" in verse 38. 

Jesus could have talked about love in these terms further condemning Pilate: my Father loves me because I lay down my life .. of my own accord. This command I received from my Father. John 10:17-18.

Everybody talks about God is love and then come the lies of not including the whole counsel of God as we are commanded to do.

Truth and love go together to provide balance in our walk with Jesus and when we proclaim the Good News.

Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. Psalm 40:11 KJV
Instead, speaking the truth in love... Ephesians 4:15

Other examples of the essential balance found in God´s word: 
John 1:17 the law was given through, grace and truth came through Jesus-Christ.

The Lord Jesus himself who is our Savior, perfect Love in his essence and nature, the Way, the Truth, the Life is described in these terms in John 1:14: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Now this balance applied to worship:
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” NIV John 4:21-24

Truth is paramount and essential in these days of great delusion, deception and spiritual drought and death from thirst for the truth of the Word of  God. We simply cannot preach only love and grace at the detriment of truth because we want to be more gracious, compassionate, more generous, more merciful than he is. We have to represent Him faithfully as he has identified and revealed Himself to us throughout the pages of the Book He has given us. We have to speak the whole truth.

How easy and convenient to rob the words of Jesus of their power and lessen the impact on the heart! 

How many times have we heard the statement" you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"? Free from omitting the parts that we don´t like and keeping the ones that tickle our ears and send our heart palpitating, our head banging, our feet jumping and our bodies gyrating? ! No way!

Jesus was talking about keeping his teaching, thereby showing that they were true disciples, then the rest of the verse follows. 

A half truth is a lie in this case because it is used by people who misquote and distort the Word of God. I have even heard this verse used by New Agers, Western hindu cultists. Combined with this other verse in 2 Timothy 3:16:
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" and the perfect trap is set to deceive the person who is not born again or rooted, established and a regular reader of the Word with Holy Spirit discernment. Of course in quoting the Scripture out of context, they make a case for unqualified worship and service to any deity and any scripture since the verse mentions "God" and "All scripture", to them meaning Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or any in the smorgasbord of religions we are free to choose. 

In Amos 8: the Sovereign Lord declares: "the days are coming when I will send a famine through the land (Israel although I believe it applies to any individual and nation)....a famine OF HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD.   

If it is fireworks, supernatural manifestations, counterfeit signs and wonders, that you are looking for, searching the world over for the latest falling of gold dust, diamonds, fire moves of the spirit, kundalini Hindu yoga power impartation from an apostle or prophet practiced in some charismatic churches, then all you have to do is take your eyes of Jesus and the Bible and you will sure to find what you want.

But remember there is a price to pay at the end and also in this life. 

Is it not enough for us to be in the process of being made conformed to the image of Christ?

Here are the words of warning from Paul to the Corinthians:

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 2 Cor 11:3,4.

Finally, here is a scripture from Isaiah 50:10-11. that encapsulates what I have been writing. 

These are the words of the instructed, obedient servant our Lord Jesus-Christ through the lips and the pen of the prophet: a clear contrast between 2 groups, those who fear the Lord, obey His word, trust in His name and rely on Him and the other group who trust and walk in their own false lights, their own "strange fires" so to speak and the ones who spark movements for other people to follow. 

 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God.
¹¹ But now, all you who light fires
    and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
    and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
    You will lie down in torment. Isaiah 50:10-11 (New International Version)

If I were in these peoples´s shoes, I would pay attention to the warning and tremble at those words. Fortunately, in his mercy, the Lord has provided the way of repentance and restoration even to the worst sinner among us (Psalm 51) and Isaiah 66 which reads:

Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
² For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. KJV

Who is writing on the book of your life?

Jean-Louis

To learn more about false teachings in the church, click Here
For a personal testimony and prayer: click Here  and Here

"Stating heresy IS the heresy"

 Reblogged from Elizabeth Prata: the-end-time.blogspot.com

I put the title in quotes because I read that sentence this week on a blog somewhere. It is so true. (I wish I could remember who wrote that, because I'd give full credit!)

Today, even 'daring' to point out heresy makes me the heretic; I'd like to share a comment on a older essay that I received last night and my response. It is a conversation that is becoming all too common these days.

I had written a series about the modern-day Gnostics, people who claim to have ecstatic experiences with the Jesus of heaven in their bathroom, living room, bar, car, zoo or any other place, and ascribe to Him and/or the Spirit something that He would not say or do. However, many people are not only believing these experiences on its surface, with no scriptural checking, they seek after and find their own experiences. They claim the experiences are as good as or better than scripture. This is dangerous. Once satan unhitches you from checking these things against scripture, you're a sitting duck for his wiles. Remember, you're no match for satan, he is the craftiest creature in the Garden. (Genesis 3:1-2).

Here is what the commenter said:

the only falsehood idea i see is your own these people have a love for god that you people would not understand how dare you judge them for thier love of christ the fruit of what they are doing is bringing them to christ how dare you judge them like the pharisee did to jesus christ you are the ones that will be called to account for your actions against your fellow

See? It is heretical these days to say that any person's "experience" checked against scripture and coming up short, is in fact the heresy, not the other way around. Here is my reply:

Fervency does not equal salvation. Even the demons believe- and tremble (James 2:19). Actually, they are further along than the Gnostics, because with their alleged experiences of 'hanging out' with Jesus, they don't even tremble!
Simon the Magician SAID he loved God, even followed Philip for a long time, fooling even Philip, who had baptised Simon! (Acts 8:1-25)
I am NOT judging them like Jesus judged the Pharisees. Judgment to the eternal fire only belongs to Christ. However, I AM judging their doctrine, matching up what they say against the bible. That is something John definitely says to do-
"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”" ESV
The NLT says, "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.""
Your condemnation of me urges me to judge by appearances, but that is not biblical. So, how does one judge righteously? But comparing what they say and do to scripture. We can detect fruit, the fruit of the Gnostics is bad, coming from a bad tree. Just because someone says they love Jesus, does not mean they do.
Paul called many to account, so did Peter, John,etc. Failing to hold so-called believers to the holy standard is unloving.
Here is an essay written by Pastor Paul which speaks to the issue. He begins it this way:
" Evil Becoming More Evil "
"Wouldn't it be great if we could just throw open our arms and embrace anyone and everyone who claimed to be Christian. It should be like that but most of us know it isn't. So many people who claim to be Christian are stating their family tradition and not their personal relationship with Jesus. They haven't a clue what it is to live in the Spirit or to have anything to do with God except when they are in some kind of trouble. Even then the name of Jesus is used more as an exclamation than a plea for help. ... This is vital for us so we do not allow ourselves to be enticed away by those who claim Jesus but don't live Jesus. Paul warned Timothy:"
But evil people who pretend to be what they are not will become worse than ever, as they fool others and are fooled themselves. (2 Timothy 3:13)
------------------
Heed the warnings in the bible. Don't fall for the notion that stating heresy IS the heresy. Honor Jesus by being a Berean and looking into these things.

It is becoming such a problem, that John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Conrad Mbewe, RC Sproul, Steve Lawson, and Nathan Busenitz organized a second Master's Seminary conference to specifically address these exact issues. It is called "Strange Fire" because when someone accepts false experiences as real, or touts their own false experiences as from the Spirit when they are not from the Spirit, ti is akin to offering strange fire before the LORD.

I encourage you to go to the website and learn more about the conference, go here to find links all together in one place, or go here, where there is a thoroughly scriptural explanation as to why they plan to "Confront the Charismatic Movement."

Are YOU offering strange fire before the LORD?

Scoffers Abound

Scoffers Abound

By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org

April 19, 2013

Excuse me while I rant. I think Bible prophecy gets a bad rap.  I think that those of us who long for Jesus' return are marginalized in the church today. I even think there is a war on Bible prophecy starting in our seminaries. The carnage is played out in our churches that across-the-board stay away from the subject. The fact that the King is coming is seen as bad news to many because the event is shrouded in the world's bad news.

But my perplexity goes beyond this. As a ministry, we have asked ourselves just how we can get the under age 45 crowd out to our events. Todd Strandberg of Rapture Ready writes about this as well. He says, "Every time I go to a prophecy conference, I can't help but notice the sea of gray hair in the main meeting room. A few years back, at a conference in South Carolina, there wasn't a single person under age 50 -- and we had over 500 people in attendance."  

Strandberg concludes, "I'm very concerned about the state of leadership in the field of prophecy. I'm 47, and I am a spring chicken when compared to the ages of my peers."

So I threw the dilemma out to my radio listeners this past weekend.  I asked that if they were of the "younger generation," and loved the topic of eschatology (end-times), would you please send me a note? I cannot say that I am inundated! I've had less than a dozen replies thus far. Here are a few examples.

Nick is 27 and writes, "I'm very concerned with the young generation. We are moving into the 'end times' at such a rapid rate and this young generation is in a coma." Those are his words, not mine! I am certain that not every young person is in that condition. 

  

Mike is 34 and writes, "You asked on your program today for young people to let you know if end-time prophecy is an issue. End-time prophecy is not AN issue, it is THE issue. You can look at it as I do as the blessed hope or you can look at it as frightening."  

     

Ashley writes, "I am completely enthralled about learning about end times and how events in our world are carrying us closer to the return of our King. It thrills me!! Most of my (young) friends know nothing about it and have little desire to learn. They say it scares them. Personally though, I am filled with hope that we could be caught up with Jesus and not have to taste death. I can't wait to meet Jesus face to face!"

   

Russ, who is 32, writes, "It is surprising to me that there are so many people I have tried to talk to about prophecy who have brushed me off by saying that they consider it 'doomsday talk.' It is difficult to get anyone to even talk about it. Even my own family doesn't want to hear about it and this includes all ages."

   

Jenni writes, "I am 37 and want you to know that we ARE out here! I also thought I'd let you know that my 14 year old daughter is also just as interested in both the Rapture and end-time prophecy, and has become quite a missionary for Christ! One of our other favorite sites is Rapture Ready. Thanks for having Terry James on."  

    

Leah made my day by writing, "I see a real remnant among the church here in our military community who are actively searching Bible prophecy and discussing end-time things. We belong to a Bible study and I have personally had many conversations with some of the 30+ folks that attend, mostly the other young moms, and am surprised at how many of us really are feeling the urgency in the air. Many of us have taken our kids out of public school and are homeschooling in order to get our kids grounded in God's Word so that they can take a stand in their faith, whatever comes. Your broadcast has helped us to ask important questions about our times and what our stance should be. THANK YOU! Take heart, the next generation does, indeed, have a remnant that is awake, listening and watching for Christ's return. God Bless!"

 

These few replies out of a potential audience of millions, tells me there is a problem. I am told that younger people want to "live out their life." This world is not our home and I thought we didn't WANT it to be our home. This is the home of the Antichrist and everything evil. If I am off base here, I am hoping folks will tell me so!   

Another e-mail emphasizes how terrified young mothers are concerning our times. They simply interpret all current/prophetic events as doom and gloom. Their world and their families must not be touched. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. A sanitized world!   

Then there are the mockers. Grant writes to me saying,
"An early 30's pastor friend of mine I brought to your conference 2 years ago openly scoffed at what was said and argued against a lot of it when I tried to show him the realities of what is happening in this world today. I don't have a lot of people to discuss these topics with." 

 Eschatology spells out the devil's demise and thus he is putting up a war against it. So the world asks -- and scoffs, "Where is the promise of His coming?" just as the Bible predicted in II Peter 3:4. Don't bother me with this info. Don't depress me with it. Don't enlighten me with it. Don't bore me with it!  

God has asked us to be His ambassadors in this depraved world. He asks us to stand for truth; to be light in the dark; to be salt in a world that is decaying. He asks us to distribute hope.  

  

When you review all the road signs of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was giving us some warnings, not to scare us, but to prepare us. A loving God keeps us informed on the days prior to the era of Antichrist. The warning is not to give in or to give up, but to endure.

Whether anybody gets excited about it or not, Jesus is coming again and soon. Whether those who are excited about that are young, middle age, or old, is irrelevant. His coming will be right on time. Then the final days will play out exactly as the Bible outlines. It's a sure thing that those days will be frightful.

Let's prepare ourselves for perilous times. We're in them. The signs of the times are screaming at us! As a headline reads that I posted to our Web site headlines early today, "The Rapidity With Which the World Is Descending Into Chaos Is Amazing."  

That is why God's end-time promises are so important and why it is tragic that they are now marginalized.   

Revival of the Hebrew Language: Systematic Approach

 Reblogged from Dr. David R. Reagan - http://www.lamblion.us/2013/04/revival-of-hebrew-language-systematic.html

Eliezer Ben Yehuda was very systematic in the way that he went about reviving the Hebrew language as a spoken language.

His first step was: Hebrew at home.

Ben Yehuda began to tell all of his friends and associates that they would never revive the language unless they committed to speak only Biblical Hebrew at home. And, I'll tell you, he was a radical about this. He gave strict instructions to his wife that they were to only speak Biblical Hebrew.

In 1882, shortly after they arrived in Jerusalem, their first child was born, a son, who was name Ben-Avi. Ben Yehuda said this his son was going to be the first true modern Hebrew speaking person. He said, "We are not going to allow anybody in his presence for 12 years unless they can speak Biblical Hebrew." Well, nobody spoke Biblical Hebrew, except for a small group of people. So, the young boy had no playmates. If they had somebody over, he would take his son and put him in an isolated room because he was afraid the people might speak Russian or some other language, and he didn't want the boy to hear anything but Biblical Hebrew.

Ben Yehuda was so obsessed that later when he had two daughters he would not let them marry until their suitors could pass an exam in Biblical Hebrew. Needless to say, neither one got married until they were in their 30's. So, this was a man who was really determined in what he was doing in his first step that Hebrew only was to be spoken in the home.

His second step was: Hebrew in the schools.

Ben Yehuda thought the only way he could really revive this language was to get the young people to speak it. So, he went to all the Jewish schools in Jerusalem and he tried to talk the headmasters into introducing Biblical Hebrew. One of the problems with that idea was that most of the teachers were willing to teach it, but they didn't have any written materials for the kids. So, Ben Yehuda began to develop a small group of followers whom he would teach how to teach Hebrew, like he did himself. These teachers began to spread out in the schools of Jerusalem to teach the young people the Hebrew words.

I'll just pause here and say that when Ben Yehuda was reviving this language, he had to invent many, many words. Over 2,000 years there were many concepts, many ideas, and many inventions that there were just no Hebrew words for. Being a purist, Ben Yehuda wouldn't take a word like television or radio and just transliterate it. It had to be a pure Hebrew word with a pure Hebrew root. So, he and his followers would often argue hours over a particular word as he would create word after word after word.

So, the first was Hebrew in the home. Second was Hebrew in the schools.

The third step he took was: to establish a newspaper.

Begun in 1884, this newspaper was Ben Yehuda's way of getting Hebrew out to adults. By establishing a newspaper, he had to become the editor of the newspaper. It was a daily newspaper about news in Palestine as it was called in that time, and news of the world. In the process, he was constantly having to create new words, resulting in constantly publishing new vocabularies of words and testing words out on people. So, the newspaper was the way that Ben Yehuda began to get the adults to read Biblical Hebrew as it was being modernized.

So, we have Hebrew in the home. Hebrew in the schools. And, Hebrew in the newspaper for the adults.

His fourth step was: to compile a dictionary of the Hebrew language.

The dictionary this was really what Ben Yehuda spent most of his life writing. He would travel to England and he would travel to any place where someone found a lost Hebrew word. He was just obsessed with these words. He put together an incredible dictionary of some 17 volumes entitled, Ancient and Modern Hebrew.

By the time Ben Yehuda had died, he had not completed the dictionary. He only had 17 of what I think came to 20-odd some volumes. But, his second wife was able to complete that incredible dictionary. His first wife had died actually of TB.

The fifth step in reviving the language was: the creation of a language council.

Ben Yehuda created a language council in 1890. He put together a group of friends who had been studying with him and working with him, and they became the official council to determine issues of grammar, punctuation, new words, which words would actually would be adopted and used, etcetera.

I was doing some research on his systematic approach, and I just can't begin to imagine all the words that he had to create. We mainly think of scientific words for new inventions, but that wasn't always the case. For example, there were no words in Biblical Hebrew for doll, ice cream, jelly, omelet, handkerchief, towel, bicycle, and hundreds more of just daily words of that nature. Or, for example, there were no words for newspaper, editor, telegram, subscriber, soldier, and fashion. On and on it went. All of these words had to be created. And again, being a purist, Ben Yehuda wanted to create these new words from Biblical Hebrew root words, so it was a major effort.

Seeing Results

Within a biblical generation of 40 years, from 1881 to 1921, Ben Yehuda and his friends were able to revive the Hebrew language from the dead as a truly spoken language. They were so successful that in 1922 Biblical Hebrew was adopted as one of the official languages of Palestine. At that time, the British were in charge of the land and they declared three languages to be the official languages of this land: Biblical Hebrew, English, and Arabic. One month later, after that declaration in November of 1922, Ben Yehuda died at that age of 64.

Some language experts in Hebrew and language experts in general have argued in recent years that Hebrew never was really a dead language that people stopped using. Even at the time of Ben Yehuda, they estimate that 50% of the men could read Biblical Hebrew due to going to the synagogue and reading the Scriptures. Probably 20% of them could have read a book written in Hebrew, but they didn't speak it, and they couldn't speak it because there weren't enough words to be used in speaking it. One expert on language put it this way, he said, "Before Ben Yehuda, Jews could speak Hebrew. After him, they did." And that's true, for Eliezer Ben Yehuda is the one who revived Biblical Hebrew as a spoken language.

Here is a fact that was found in his diary before Ben Yehuda died. In fact, it was published in his newspaper in 1908. Here's what he wrote about himself, "For everything there is needed only one wise, clever, and active man with the initiative to devote all of his energies to it, and the matter will progress all obstacles in the way notwithstanding. In every new event, every step, even the smallest in the path of progress, it is necessary that there be one pioneer who will lead the way without leaving any possibility of turning back."

For the revival of the Hebrew language, that pioneer was Eliezer Ben Yehuda.

Purposeful Burial

Dr. Reagan: The life story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda is truly a remarkable one. And that remarkable story is contained in the book, Tongue of the Prophets, by Robert St. John.

When I went recently to Jerusalem, I found the grave of Ben Yehuda while I was exploring the thousands of Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives. It is the most ornate grave on the side of the mountain, surrounded by a high ironwork fence. What a blessing it was for me to put a stone of remembrance on his tomb!

Like all Orthodox Jews, Ben Yehuda desired to be buried on the Mount of Olives, because Orthodox Jews believe that when the Messiah comes He will come first to the Mount of Olives. The Orthodox therefore believe that those who are buried on the Mount of Olives will be the first to be resurrected.

That belief, of course, is very biblical, because Zechariah 14 says that when Jesus returns He will return to the Mount of Olives, and that when His feet touch the mountain it will split in two. Jesus will then speak a supernatural word that will destroy all the forces of the Antichrist and He will begin His reign over all the earth as the King of King and Lord of lords.

So, the Orthodox Jews are correct in their expectation that the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives. What is going to surprise them is His identity, for the Messiah is going to have nail prints in His hands.

In the fourth segment of this series that marvels at the revival of Biblical Hebrew coming back from the dead, we'll explore some of the other end times prophecies related to Israel that have been fulfilled, particularly the reclamation of the land.

Big Bang Didn't Need God, Stephen Hawking Says

Rod Pyle, SPACE.com Contributor

Date: 17 April 2013 Time: 01:34 PM ET

inShare15

PASADENA, Calif. — Our universe didn't need any divine help to burst into being, famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking told a packed house here at the California Institute of Technology Tuesday night (April 16).

Many people had begun queuing up for free tickets to Hawking's 8:00 p.m lecture, titled "The Origin of the Universe," 12 hours earlier. By 6:00 p.m. local time, the line was about a quarter-mile long.
A second auditorium and a Jumbotron-equipped lawn, which itself was jammed with an estimated 1,000 viewers, were needed to handle the overflow crowd. At least one person was observed offering $1,000 for a ticket, with no success. [Big Bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps]

Stephen Hawking began the event by reciting an African creation myth, and rapidly moved on to big questions such as, Why are we here?

He noted that many people still seek a divine solution to counter the theories of curious physicists, and at one point, he quipped, “What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions?”

After outlining the historical theological debate about how the universe was created, Hawking gave a quick review of more scientific cosmological explanations, including Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold’s steady-state theory. This idea hypothesizes that there is no beginning and no end and that galaxies continue to form from spontaneously created matter.

Hawking said this theory and several other ideas don't hold up, citing recent observations by space telescopes and other instruments.

After giving a  brief historical background on relativistic physics and cosmology, Hawking discussed the idea of a repeating Big Bang. He noted that in the 1980s, he and physicist Roger Penrose proved the universe could not “bounce” when it contracted, as had been theorized.

Therefore, time began at the moment of singularity, and this has likely occurred only once, Hawking said. The age of the universe — now believed to be about 13.8 billion years — fits that model, as the number and maturity of observed galaxies seem to fit in the general scheme.

In another observation of modern religion, Hawking noted that in the 1980s, around the time he released a paper discussing the moment the universe was born, Pope John Paul II admonished the scientific establishment against studying the moment of creation, as it was holy.
“I was glad not to be thrown into an inquisition,” Hawking joked.

He closed by outlining "M-theory," which is based partly on ideas put forward years ago by another famed physicist, Caltech’s Richard Feynman. Hawking sees that theory as the only big idea that really explains what he has observed.

M-theory posits that multiple universes are created out of nothing, Hawking explained, with many possible histories and many possible states of existence. In only a few of these states would life be possible, and in fewer still could something like humanity exist. Hawking mentioned that he felt fortunate to be living in this state of existence.

Hawking closed the event with a familiar plea for continued exploration of the cosmos: “We must continue to go into space for the future of humanity,” he said, adding, “I don’t think we will survive another thousand years without escaping our fragile planet.”

Hawking has been battling the debilitating neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disase, for 50 years.

The physicist has been spending a month or so at Caltech, as he does each year, sequestered with colleagues, such as fellow theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, to discuss many great mysteries of the cosmos.

Jews remove Jewess Pamela Geller from Synagogue

Jews remove Jewess Pamela Geller from Synagogue

Dave Hunt: The Last Effective Apologists

Reblogged from www.raptureready.com
 
The Christian world lost a true giant of the faith with the passing of Dave Hunt. He was the founder of Berean Call, a ministry that was formed for the simple purpose of encouraging spiritual discernment among Christians. Dave exhorted believers to get back into the Word of God instead of being “carried about by every wind of doctrine.” 

Dave wrote a host of books that sold over 4 million copies. They include: The Cult Explosion, The God Makers, The New Spirituality, The Seduction of Christianity, Global Peace and the Rise of Antichrist, Occult Invasion, A Cup of Trembling, In Defense of the Faith, An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith , and, Countdown to the Second Coming. 
 
As an apologist, he specialized in warning the church against Eastern religion, psychological and selfish philosophies, ecumenism, and other unbiblical teachings. He is best known for The Seduction of Christianity, which exposes false teachings in the church and dares to identify the names of the ones behind the deception. 

What I remember the most about the 1985 release of Seduction of Christianity was how it scared all the groups it targeted. The Word of Faith folks acted like cockroaches when someone shines a bright light on them. People like Kenneth Copeland, Frederick Price, Charles Capps, and Robert Tilton were all put on the defensive by Hunt exposing the details of their financial schemes and the "we are a god" teaching that dominated the prosperity movement.

Most of these men went into the damage-control mode because they feared that Hunt's book could destroy their ministries. They said Dave misquoted them or took their words out of context. A group of them even came to meet with Hunt to explain their views.

Another example of the one-time power that apologists had came after Benny Hinn published the book, Good Morning, Holy Spirit. After the book became a huge hit in 1990, men like Dave Hunt pointed out numerous examples where Hinn's writers conflicted with the Bible. Nowhere in Scripture does it teach the possibility of Jesus Christ sinning, but this is what Hinn taught. 

After Hinn was exposed, he totally recanted the book, removing all references to it from his ministry catalog. He also went on several Christian programs to ask forgiveness. Hinn's repentant heart didn't last long. A few years later, he did a 180 and reinstated his book on his resume. In 2004, Good Morning, Holy Spirit was expanded and republished. 

Dave Hunt was not the last of the apologists. We still have men like John MacArthur, William Lane Craig, Lee Strobel, and Josh McDowell who contend for the faith. Since Rapture Ready has an extensive library of "defending the faith" articles, it qualifies as an apologetic site. What makes Hunt's passing noteworthy is that he was the last person who was effective on a national scale in this field. Today, ‘apologetics’ has become a dirty word. Few Christian leaders want to be the bad guys. They would rather make friends with the enemies so they won't lose out on financial opportunities that come with these alliances. 

Terry and I heard the news of Dave's death while we were at the Tulsa prophecy conference. During one of the breaks, they ran a presentation that Dave gave in 1995, and the general reaction was that there is no one who preaches like that today. This is a true statement, but our problems have gone beyond the lack of good leaders. If we had a time machine that could go back and grab a young and vibrant Dave Hunt, we would still be at a disadvantage. Unless you have a church that cares about the values of sound doctrine, it wouldn't matter if we had John the Baptist. 

We are so far into apostasy, I don't think the enemies of Dave Hunt even care to dance on his grave. They won the battle of supremacy years ago. The lack of watchmen is probably their greatest threat. One possible reason God has been calling so many of His key saints home lately is because we are about to transform from a time of warning to a time of judgment. 

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). 

“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11).
--Todd

Why Does God Allow Tragedy and Suffering?

Reblogged from www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012

Christian author and apologist Lee Strobel.

The following message was delivered on July 22 by Christian author and apologist Lee Strobel, just days after the deadly theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Lee has graciously given us permission to post it here on Bible Gateway.

It was the worst mass shooting in American history – 70 people shot by a gunman, 12 of them killed, while they were watching the midnight showing of a new movie just 21 miles from where we’re sitting. There are no words to describe the anguish being felt by those who are suffering today; our heart and prayers have – and will – go out to them. There are so many tragic stories, so much pain. And many people are asking the question, “Why? Why did God allow this?”

This has been a heart-rending summer for Colorado. First came the wildfires, which ravaged the houses of hundreds of our neighbors – and prompted many of them to ask the question, “Why?”
And those two tragic events are on top of the everyday pain and suffering being experienced in individual lives – maybe including yours. There’s illness, abuse, broken relationships, betrayal, sorrow, injuries, disappointment, heartache, crime and death. And perhaps you’ve been asking the question, “Why? Why me? Why now?”

That “why” question goes back thousands of years. It was asked in the Old Testament by Job and the writers of the Psalms, and it was especially relevant during the 20th century, where we witnessed two World Wars, the Holocaust, genocides in the Soviet Union and China, devastating famines in Africa, the killing fields of Cambodia, the emergence of AIDS, the genocide in Rwanda and the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. And the 21st Century didn’t start any better. There was 9/11 and now the Syrian slaughters, and on and on. Why all of this if there’s a loving and powerful God? Why do bad things happen to good people?

Several years ago, I commissioned a national survey and asked people what question they’d ask if they could only ask God one thing. The Number One response was: “Why is there suffering in the world?” Incidentally, I did find an interesting statistical quirk – people who are married were much more likely to want to know why there’s so much suffering. I’m just sayin’.

But if you’ve never asked why our world is infected with pain and suffering, you will when they strike you with full force or they come to a loved one. And Jesus said they are coming. Unlike some other religious leaders who wrote off pain and suffering as just being illusions, Jesus was honest. He told us the truth. He said in John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.” He didn’t say you might – he said it is going to happen.

But why? If you ask me point-blank, “Why did God allow the gunman to spray the Aurora movie theater with gunfire just two days ago?”, the only answer I can honestly give consists of four words – “I do not know.”

I cannot stand in the shoes of God and give a complete answer to that question. I don’t have God’s mind. I don’t see with God’s eyes. First Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”

So when you ask about specific individual events and want to know why this particular thing happened, we won’t get the full answer in this world. Someday we’ll see with clarity, but for now things are foggy. We can’t understand everything from our finite perspective. And frankly, the people suffering from the Aurora tragedy don’t need a big theological treatise right now; any intellectual response is going to seem trite and inadequate. What they desperately need now is the very real and comforting presence of Jesus Christ in their lives. And I’m so grateful that so many churches and ministries of this community are helping them experience that.

But for us, let’s focus on the big, overarching issue of why God generally allows suffering in our lives – your life and mine. Friends, this is important: even though we can’t understand everything about it, we can understand some things. Let me give you an analogy.

Once Leslie and I were driving from Chicago to Door County, Wisconsin, which is that thumb-shaped peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan. We were driving up the highway in the dark, when it started raining heavily and we hit dense fog. I could barely see the white stripe on the edge of the road. I couldn’t stop because I was afraid someone might come along and rear-end us. It was frightening!

But then a truck appeared in front of us and we could clearly see his taillights through the fog. He apparently had fog lamps in front, because he was traveling at a confident and deliberate pace, and I knew if we could just follow those taillights, we’d be headed in the right direction.

And the same is true in understanding why there is tragedy and suffering in our lives and in our world. We may not be able to make out all the peripheral details of why — they may be obscured from our view — but there are some key Biblical truths that can illuminate some points of light for us. And if we follow those lights, they will lead us in the right direction, toward some conclusions that I believe can help satisfy our hearts and souls.

What are those points of light? Let me go through five of them that I’ve personally found helpful whenever I’ve been prompted to ask the question, “Why?” The first point of light: God is not the creator of evil and suffering.

This answers the question you hear so often: “Why didn’t God merely create a world where tragedy and suffering didn’t exist?” The answer is: He did! Genesis 1:31 says: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”


But if God is not the author of tragedy or evil or death, where did they come from? Well, God has existed from eternity past as the Father, Son and Spirit, together in a relationship of perfect love. So love is the highest value in the universe. And when God decided to create human beings, he wanted us to experience love. But to give us the ability to love, God had to give us free will to decide whether to love or not to love. Why? Because love always involves a choice.

If we were programmed to say, “I love you,” it wouldn’t really be love. When my daughter was little, she had a doll with a string in the back, and when you pulled it the doll said, “I love you.” Did that doll love my daughter? Of course not. It was programmed to say those words. To really experience love, that doll would need to have been able to choose to love or not to love. Again – real love always involves a choice.

So in order for us to experience love, God bestowed on us free will. But unfortunately, we humans have abused our free will by rejecting God and walking away from Him. And that has resulted in the introduction of two kinds of evil into the world: moral evil and natural evil.

Moral evil is the immorality and pain and suffering and tragedy that come because we choose to be selfish, arrogant, uncaring, hateful and abusive. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

So much of the world’s suffering results from the sinful action or inaction of ourselves and others. For example, people look at a famine and wonder where God is, but the world produces enough food for each person to have 3,000 calories a day. It’s our own irresponsibility and self-centeredness that prevents people from getting fed.

In other words: look at your hand. You can choose to use that hand to hold a gun and shoot someone, or you can use it to feed hungry people. It’s your choice. But it’s unfair to shoot someone and then blame God for the existence of evil and suffering. Like that old cartoon said: “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.”

The second kind of evil is called natural evil. These are things like wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes that cause suffering for people. But these, too, are the indirect result of sin being allowed into the world. As one author explained: “When we humans told God to shove off, He partially honored our request. Nature began to revolt. The earth was cursed. Genetic breakdown and disease began. Pain and death became part of the human experience.”

The Bible says it’s because of sin that nature was corrupted and “thorns and thistles” entered the world. Romans 8:22 says, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” In other words, nature longs for redemption to come and for things to be set right. That’s the source of disorder and chaos.

Let’s make this crystal clear once more: God did not create evil and suffering. Now, it’s true that he did create the potential for evil to enter the world, because that was the only way to create the potential for genuine goodness and love. But it was human beings, in our free will, who brought that potential evil into reality.

Some people ask, “Couldn’t God have foreseen all of this?” And no doubt he did. But look at it this way: many of you are parents. Even before you had children, couldn’t you foresee that there was the very real possibility they may suffer disappointment or pain or heartache in life, or that they might even hurt you and walk away from you? Of course — but you still had kids. Why? Because you knew there was also the potential for tremendous joy and deep love and great meaning.

Now, the analogy is far from perfect, but think about God. He undoubtedly knew we’d rebel against Him, but He also knew many people would choose to follow Him and have a relationship with Him and spend eternity in heaven with Him — and it was all worth it for that, even though it would cost His own Son great pain and suffering to achieve their redemption.

So, first, it helps me to remember, as I ponder the mystery of pain and evil, that God did not create them. The second point of light is this: Though suffering isn’t good, God can use it to accomplish good. 

He does this by fulfilling His promise in Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Notice that the verse doesn’t say God causes evil and suffering, just that he promises to cause good to emerge. And notice that the verse doesn’t say we all will see immediately or even in this life how God has caused good to emerge from a bad circumstance. Remember, we only see things dimly in this world. And notice that God doesn’t make this promise to everyone. He makes the solemn pledge that he will take the bad circumstances that befall us and cause good to emerge if we’re committed to following Him.

The Old Testament gives us a great example in the story of Joseph, who went through terrible suffering, being sold into slavery by his brothers, unfairly accused of a crime and falsely imprisoned. Finally, after a dozen years, he was put in a role of great authority where he could save the lives of his family and many others.

This is what he said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” And if you’re committed to God, He promises that He can and will take whatever pain you’re experiencing and draw something good from it.

You might say, “No, he can’t in my circumstance. The harm was too great, the damage was too extreme, the depth of my suffering has been too much. No, in my case there’s no way God can cause any good to emerge.”

But if you doubt God’s promise, listen to what a wise man said to me when I was researching my book The Case for Faith: God took the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history of the universe — deicide, or the death of God on the cross — and turned it into the very best thing that has happened in history of universe: the opening up of heaven to all who follow Him. So if God can take the very worst circumstance imaginable and turn it into the very best situation possible, can he not take the negative circumstances of your life and create something good from them?

He can and He will. God can use our suffering to draw us to Himself, to mold and sharpen our character, to influence others for Him – He can draw something good from our pain in a myriad of ways…if we trust and follow Him.

Now, the third point of light: The day is coming when suffering will cease and God will judge evil.
A lot of times you’ll hear people say: “If God has the power to eradicate evil and suffering, then why doesn’t He do it?” And the answer is that because He hasn’t done it yet doesn’t mean He won’t do it. You know, I wrote my first novel last year. What if someone read only half of it and then slammed it down and said, “Well, Lee did a terrible job with that book. There are too many loose ends with the plot. He didn’t resolve all the issues with the characters.” I’d say, “Hey – you only read half the book!”

And the Bible says that the story of this world isn’t over yet. It says the day will come when sickness and pain will be eradicated and people will be held accountable for the evil they’ve committed. Justice will be served in a perfect way. That day will come, but not yet.

So what’s holding God up? One answer is that some of you may be. He’s actually delaying the consummation of history in anticipation that some of you will still put your trust in Him and spend eternity in heaven. He’s delaying everything out of His love for you. SecondPeter 3:9 says: “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”To me, that’s evidence of a loving God, that He would care that much for you.

Point of Light #4: Our suffering will pale in comparison to what God has in store for his followers.
I certainly don’t want to minimize pain and suffering, but it helps if we take a long-term perspective. Look at this verse, and remember they were written by the apostle Paul, who suffered through beatings and stonings and shipwrecks and imprisonments and rejection and hunger and thirst and homelessness and far more pain that most of us will ever have to endure. These are his words:
Second Corinthians 4:17: “For our light and momentary troubles” — wait a second: light and momentary troubles? Five different times his back was shredded when he was flogged 39 lashes with a whip; three times he was beaten to a bloody pulp by rods. But he says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Paul also wrote Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Think of it this way. Let’s say that on the first day of 2012, you had an awful, terrible day. You had an emergency root canal at the dentist and the ran out of pain-killers. You crashed your car and had no insurance. Your stock portfolio took a nosedive. Your spouse got sick. A friend betrayed you. From start to finish, it was like the title of that children’s book: Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

But then every other day of the year was just incredibly terrific. Your relationship with God is close and real and intimate. A friend wins the lottery and gives you $100 million. You get promoted at work to your dream job. Time magazine puts your photo on its cover as “The Person of the Year.” You have your first child and he’s healthy and strong. Your marriage is idyllic, your health is fabulous, you have a six-month vacation in Tahiti.

Then next New Year’s Day someone asks, “So, how was your 2012?” You’d say, “It was great; it was wonderful!” And they’d say, “But didn’t it start out bad? Didn’t you go through a lot of trouble that first day?”


You’d think back and say, “You’re right. That was a bad day, no denying it. It was difficult at the time. It was hard. It was painful. But when I look at the totality of the year, when I put everything in context, it’s been a great year. The 364 terrific days far outweigh the one bad day. That day just sort of fades away.”

And maybe that’s a good analogy for heaven. Listen to me – that is not to deny the reality of your pain in this life. It might be terrible. It might be chronic. My wife Leslie has a medical condition that puts her in pain every single day. Maybe you’re suffering from a physical ailment or heartache at this very moment. But in heaven, after 354,484,545 days of pure bliss — and with an infinite more to come — if someone asked, “So, how has your existence been?”, you’d instantly react by saying, “It has been absolutely wonderful! Words can’t describe the joy and the delight and the fulfillment!”
And if they said, “But didn’t you have a tough time before you got here,” you’d probably think back and say, “Well, yes, it’s true that those days were painful, I can’t deny that. They were difficult, they were bad. But when I put them into context, in light of all God’s outpouring of goodness to me, those bad days aren’t even worth comparing with the eternity of blessings and joy that I’m experiencing.”

It’s like the story that British church leader Galvin Reid tells about meeting a young man who had fallen down a flight of stairs as a baby and shattered his back. He had been in and out of hospitals his whole life — and yet he made the astounding comment that he thinks God is fair. Reid asked him, “How old are you?” The boy said, “Seventeen.” Reid asked, “How many years have you spend in hospitals?” The boy said, “Thirteen years.” The pastor said with astonishment, “And you think that is fair?” And the boy replied: “Well, God has all eternity to make it up to me.”

And He will. God promises a time when there will be no more crying, no more tears, no more pain and suffering, when we will be reunited with God in perfect harmony, forever. Let the words of First Corinthians 2:9 soak into your soul: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” That’s absolutely breath-taking, isn’t it?

Finally, Point of Light #5: We decide whether to turn bitter or turn to God for peace and courage.
We’ve all seen examples of how the same suffering that causes one person to turn bitter, to reject God, to become hard and angry and sullen, can cause another person to turn to God, to become more gentle and more loving and more tender, willing to reach out to compassionately help other people who are in pain. Some who lose a child to a drunk driver turn inward in chronic rage and never-ending despair; another turns outward to help others by founding Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

As one philosopher said: “I believe all suffering is at least potential good, an opportunity for good. It’s up to our free choice to actualize that potential. Not all of us benefit from suffering and learn from it, because that’s up to us, it’s up to our free will.”
We make the choice to either run away from God or to run to Him. But what happens if we run to Him?

I started this talk with part of what Jesus said in John 16:33. Now let me give you the entire verse: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. But be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

In other words, He offers us the two very things we need when we’re hurting: peace to deal with our present and courage to deal with our future. How? Because he has conquered the world! Through His own suffering and death, He has deprived this world of its ultimate power over you. Suffering doesn’t have the last word anymore. Death doesn’t have the last word anymore. God has the last word!

So let me finish the story of Leslie and I driving through the fog in Wisconsin. We were following the taillights of that truck when the fog slowly began to lift, the rain began to let up and we entered a town with some lights – things were becoming clearer, we could see better, and as we rounded a curve, silhouetted against the night sky, guess what we saw? We saw the steeple of a church and the cross of Christ. After driving through the confusion of the fog for so long, that image struck me with poignancy I’ll never forget. Because it was through that cross that Jesus conquered the world for us.

As that wise man once said to me: God’s ultimate answer to suffering isn’t an explanation; it’s the incarnation. Suffering is a personal problem; it demands a personal response. And God isn’t some distant, detached, and disinterested deity; He entered into our world and personally experienced our pain. Jesus is there in the lowest places of our lives. Are you broken? He was broken, like bread, for us. Are you despised? He was despised and rejected of men. Do you cry out that you can’t take any more? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Did someone betray you? He was sold out. Are your most tender relationships broken? He loved and He was rejected. Did people turn from you? They hid their faces from Him as if He were a leper. Does He descend into all of our hells? Yes, He does. From the depths of a Nazi death camp, Corrie ten Boom wrote these words: “No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still.” Every tear we shed becomes his tear.

And then the wise man told me this: it’s not just that God knows and sympathizes with you in your troubles. After all, any close friend can do that. Any close friend can sit beside you and comfort you and empathize with you. No, Jesus is much closer than your closest friend. Because if you’ve put your trust in Him, then He is in you. And, therefore, your sufferings are His sufferings; your sorrow is His sorrow.

So when tragedy strikes, as it will; when suffering comes, as it will; when you’re wrestling with pain, as you will – and when you make the choice to run into His arms, here’s what you’re going to discover: you’ll find peace to deal with the present, you’ll find courage to deal with your future, and you’ll find the incredible promise of eternal life in heaven.

As I’ve been saying, all of us will go through pain and suffering. But let me end by going back to this specific tragedy that took place two days ago in Aurora. For all the things it leaves us confused about, one of the truths it clearly illustrates is that life is so fragile and short. These people were going to a movie! They had no clue that this might be their last moments in this world. Friends, in this sin-scarred world, we never know when death will come knocking. Often, we don’t get any warning when a heart attack strikes, or when a drunk driver crosses the centerline, or when a wildfire sweeps through a canyon, or when an airplane loses power. And so the question I’m compelled to ask you is this – “Are you ready?”

One of the first verses I memorized as a Christian is First John 5:13: “These things I’ve written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”
God doesn’t want you wondering. He doesn’t want you steeped in anxiety over whether you’re headed for heaven. His infallible, inerrant Word says you can know for sure.

Don’t rely on the fact that you come to church or you’ve gone through some sort of religious ritual in the past. The Bible is clear that we can be religious but not be in a relationship with God. Religious activities and affiliations never saved anyone. Salvation comes from knowing Christ personally and receiving His provision for YOUR sin and YOUR future. It comes from making him YOUR Savior, by asking Him to forgive YOUR every sin, and by asking Him to lead YOUR life.

But it doesn’t happen automatically. It doesn’t come by attending a great church, or being baptized, or taking communion, or hanging out with a bunch of Christians. It comes from deciding in your heart that you want to turn from your sin, to stop trusting in your own resources, and to accept the forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus purchased on the cross and is offering you as a free gift. THAT is how you gain God’s peace and confidence.

So settle it now! Resolve this today, at this moment, so that if tragedy were to strike, your eternity with God would be secure. I don’t know all the ways God is going to draw some good from this Aurora situation, but wouldn’t it be something if He were starting right now, with you personally, and using this message to bring you into His kingdom at this very moment? Let the pain of that tragedy open your heart to Christ. Let’s take what was intended for evil and watch God start creating something good from it.

Pray with me right now to receive Christ – so that you can know for sure that even if the very worst thing were to happen to you after you leave the auditorium today, it will immediately be followed by the very best thing of all.
Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the unique Son of God. I confess to You that I’m a sinner. In repentance and faith, I reach out right now and receive the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that You graciously purchased on the cross when You died as my substitute to pay for all of my sins. Please, Lord Jesus, lead my life – because from this moment on, I am Yours. I pray this in Your name.  Amen.