Christians will be fine this Christmas!

 

How God Heals Your Hidden Wounds

by Pastor Rick

As a pastor for many years, I’ve learned two truths about life. First, everyone has hidden wounds. Second, emotional scars can take much longer to heal than physical ones.

Chances are you know what I’m talking about.

Many of our hidden wounds are built on faulty information we believe about ourselves.

We have what I call “stinking thinking,” which means we don’t always think properly or come to correct conclusions. When you base your life on faulty data, you build a self-defeating lifestyle. You set yourself up for failure and pain. That’s why, in Romans 12:2, Paul tells us not to “copy the behavior and customs of this world” (NLT).

But I have good news for you if you’re struggling with the brokenness that comes from faulty thinking. Jesus Christ can heal those wounds. How does he do it? He shifts the foundation of your life to the truth of the Bible and that changes how you think.

Paul goes on in Romans 12:2 to describe this process: “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (NLT).

Here’s how you can heal those hidden wounds:

1. Ask God to heal your memories. Those open wounds in your heart hurt. God begins the healing process when we ask him to heal us.
2. Fill your mind with God’s Word. The more you fill your mind with Scripture, the more freedom you’ll have from the old, painful memories you’re playing over and over in your mind. Make Bible study a regular part of your life, both on your own and in a group with other believers. Listening to Daily Hope is also a great way to regularly hear God’s Word.
3. Trust the truth from God’s Word about yourself. Paul teaches us that “God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then and there then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love” (Ephesians 1:4 TLB). That’s how God sees you as soon as you trust in Christ. He takes everything you’ve ever done wrong—all the guilt, regrets, shame, and hurts—and erases it.

Don’t let painful lies from the past continue to wound you. Choose to believe what God says about you instead.

Then watch as God mends the wounds in your life.

I have a radical sexual idea–a kind of dream.

I have a radical sexual idea–a kind of dream.

Let’s re-re-define marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife–the unique form of relationship that is ordered to and would naturally be fulfilled by the coming to be and rearing of children together. Let’s regard the social role of marriage as uniting a man and woman as husband and wife to be father and mother to any children born of their union, thus conferring upon those children the inestimable blessing of being brought up in the committed love of the two people whose becoming one in an act of marital communion gave them the gift of life, and further providing those children with the benefit of both paternal and maternal examples, influences, and care.

Now here comes the really radical part. Let’s view sex as having its meaning and significance in expressing in the most intimate and profound way the conjugal love and commitment of the spouses. Let’s understand it as uniting them as one-flesh in a uniquely comprehensive sharing of life–a sharing at all levels of their being as human persons, the biological, the affective, the rational-volitional and spiritual. Let’s regard marital love and commitment as the very principle of sexual morality, the normative basis for distinguishing upright from unworthy sexual conduct. Let’s embrace a set of virtues that guard us against objectifying others (and indeed ourselves) and treating human beings (others or ourselves) as mere means of gratification.

Let’s respect each other’s inherent worth and human dignity by honoring each other in all aspects of our being, including its sexual dimension, and never treating sex as a way of asserting, expressing, or exercising power over others. Let’s not deceive ourselves into supposing that virtue in the sexual dimension of our lives is merely a matter of gaining consent from an object of our desires to use him or her to satisfy our lust. Let us not reduce ourselves to seducers or sirens.

Sex has become depersonalized in our culture and in cultures like ours–and the carnage of the sexual revolution that we now see all around us is the appalling testament to that fact. Let’s re-personalize it.

Muslim writer makes plain the desire to call people to activism while ignoring the real problem

Muslim writer makes plain the desire to call people to activism while ignoring the real problem

Her call? It’s time to choose: Stand up to hate or sink into division

Below are excerpts with responses to her declarations….

This is a watershed moment in our nation’s history as we struggle to overcome racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, etc. Normally, we Americans could expect our president, the leader of our nation, to be at the forefront of this struggle, lighting the way toward a brighter future for all Americans. Instead, our president has chosen to produce and amplify messages of hate, marginalization and division, tearing our nation apart.

First, she misrepresents the moment as compared to U.S. history. The watershed is the invasion of Muslims that refuse to become a part of the American Culture. Secondly, she lies about Trump as the cause. In his words and behavior, he is not.

We have all seen more than the usual level of prejudice over the past three years, targeting nearly every minority community. American Muslim families have borne the brunt of this bigotry for more than a decade.

Here, she admits a lot of her complaints pre-date Trump.

The effect on all minority communities has been huge increases in discrimination, hate crimes and the bullying of children. The negative effect on the future of our nation, our families and communities is hard to overestimate.

Again, a vacant declaration. No citations or supporting data.

So, what are we, as fair-minded Americans, to do? In circumstances like these, it’s up to each one of us to set examples with our own actions and help lead the way toward a better future, for our families, our communities and our nation. While those who spread hatred and division claim their right to free speech, we must choose to firmly grasp our own freedom of speech to turn back the tide of negativity that threatens to engulf us all.

I’ve listened to this woman and what she has written for a number of years. It is Free Speech that allows this. CAIR (she is one of their executive directors) has been declared to be exactly what she says is wrong. Speech keeps us free!

Every one of us, as fair-minded Americans, can use our freedom of speech to inspire our fellow Americans to be their best selves.

So, if you agree with her you are fair-minded. If not, sorry, you must not be fair! She completely ignores the foundation of our country that is clearly spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. The love for and the commitment to those principles and truths called out is what makes us uniquely Americans!

Our voices, amplified through media and other platforms, can help inspire millions of fair-minded fellow Americans to do their part to build inclusive communities, to find solutions to the challenges of the future. We all have talents, abilities, ideas and networks that we can and must use to start repairing the damage that has been done to the fabric of our nation. It can’t wait until next month or next year. Each of us can start by visiting a mosque, a synagogue or a church of a different denomination so that we can truly get to know one another. Then, we can inspire our fellow Americans to also do the same by talking to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, and by using social media to reach beyond those circles.

One’s religion or any other factor really comes into play in her world view. It is not simply thoughts, it is behavior. When one or more people kill large numbers of innocents, we judge the behavior. If those responsible, claim a particular allegiance, we judge that as well. 

This country is our home, and it is one of the most beautiful, and beautifully diverse, places in God’s amazing creation. I truly believe that if we can all work together and raise our voices for good, we can help make it the best it can be.

Again, she ignores the harsh reality of what is going on in our nation and others. Muslims are arriving and not assimilating into the American Culture.  They demand Sharia Law and want our Nation to bend to Islamic belief. Going to a Mosque or another person’s place of worship will not change that. How can we be one nation if we have those that come in (some say invade) to our countries and refuse to assimilate?

CAIR may be what they are accused of being. That is not my purpose here. I have read the Koran and know the Bible. I can find no way these two beliefs can co-exist; for one is diametrically opposed to the other in all ways.

Karen Dabdoub is executive director of the Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, America’s largest American Muslim civil rights organization wrote the above article.

Evolutions Misguided Children

THE PITCH FOR NOAH’S ARK

Evolutions misguided children

Many geologists claim that Noah could not possibly have built the ark in the manner described in Genesis. They argue that pitch could not have been used to cover the ark and make it waterproof. Pitch, they claim, is derived from oil or coal, and if coal did not form until during the time of Noah’s Flood, he could not possibly have covered the ark with pitch.

For those who are not geologists, pitch is a black glue-like substance left behind when coal tar is heated or distilled. It belongs to the same family of substances as asphalt or bitumen. Today, it is largely produced by heating coal. Most modern geologists know of no other source for it. But coal tar and petroleum are not the only source for pitch. Anyone who takes the time to consult a reasonable dictionary of geology will find that pitch can be extracted by distilling or heating wood. In fact, prior to the rise of the petroleum and coal industries, this was exactly how pitch was made.

For at least one thousand years, the pitch-making industry in Europe flourished. It was the pitch from this industry which assisted in the construction of those great wooden sailing ships which figured so prominently in European history. Pitch making was a skilled trade, and many European surnames bear testimony to that fact today. In Polish, the word for pitch or tar is ‘smola’. Any Polish telephone directory displays names such as Smola, Smolander, Smolen, Smolenski and Smolarz. These surnames simply mean ‘the man who makes pitch’.

Does the left really hate Christianity?

Does the left really hate Christianity? The nation's biggest problem and a  fresh solution

In an age when madness is the new normal – like when the president says global warming and not radical Islam is our real enemy, and when the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is a career criminal and everyone knows it but supports her anyway, and when men who think they're women are now actively recruited into our military – one hidden factor underlies all this ever-metastasizing insanity. And that would be the left's war on Christianity. That's right, Christianity. You know, the religion of Columbus, the Pilgrims, the American colonists and Founding Fathers, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the religion of virtually every signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, of the abolitionists and of Martin Luther King Jr., and of the vast majority of soldiers who have ever fought and bled and died to preserve Americans' freedom. Yeah, that one. The truth is that in today's America, Christianity is increasingly regarded with utter contempt by today's elite class, including virtually the entirety of academia, the news media, the entertainment industry, our government and our courts. To these, Christianity – which for centuries served as the moral, cultural and legal foundation for the most successful nation in history – is a sort of outdated, ignorant, superstitious, anti-science worldview at best. At worst, it is considered a dangerously deluded, bigoted, hateful, Taliban-like totalitarian cult bent on imposing an unconstitutional theocracy on America.  Lastly, the left is in fear of Christianity. Why? Christianity is a mortal dichotomy with the non-Christian belief system. It strips the left of their ability to "hide" behind the myths, their humanist beliefs and behaviors; an amoral system that goes against the teachings of God and Christ. Do I overstate the case? Consider that just a few years ago, overt attacks on the religious freedom of Christians in America – like prohibiting schoolchildren from singing "Silent Night" at Christmastime or jailing a county clerk for conscientiously refusing to sign off on a same-sex marriage license – seemed few and far between. Though troubling, such cases were infrequent enough that we optimistically hoped they were aberrations, regrettable overreaches by some overzealous activist judge. Alas, today that illusion has been shattered by daily episodes of outright persecution of Christians with the full force of law, all because they were sincerely living their faith in exactly the same way Washington, Lincoln, the founders, the soldiers, our parents and grandparents did. It's no exaggeration to say that, on close examination, just about every crazy, perverse, suicidal trend you can identify in today's America – and for that matter, in Europe, currently reeling under the onslaught of a full-blown Islamic invasion – can be traced directly to the abandonment of the Western world's founding religion and moral values in response to the left's decades-long war on Christianity. So, now that we've acknowledged the problem – the real problem, underlying the vast majority of our other national problems – what can we do about it? "Outside a Christian event, and watched closely by police, was a mob of angry 'LGBT protesters.' A young woman who claimed to be with the press was present at the banquet. It was quickly discovered that she was actually with the mob outside and had somehow managed to sneak in." Rather than kick her out, Matt recalls, event organizers allowed her to stay, as long as she put away her video camera. Then something unexpected happened: This young woman, who identified as a lesbian, sat at a table with some of the most loving and godly women I know. They showed her the love of Christ. ... After I gave my remarks, this young lady – we'll call her Marie to protect her from being hanged for high treason by the 'equality' crowd – rushed over to me with tears in her eyes. "They lied!" she exclaimed of the protest organizers outside. "You don't hate us. You don't hate me. You really do care. And you're funny!" she added of some of the humor I typically, though not always successfully, weave into my writing and speaking. "I'll admit it," she continued, "What you said was hard to hear. But they lied to me. You don't hate anyone." A number of us then prayed for this priceless daughter of God the Father. She stayed around and visited with us until well after the event ended. Outside the event, Matt recalls, they "were greeted with scowls and profanity-laden taunts."  "What are you doing with them!" demanded one of the protesters of our new friend. To even my surprise, she ignored them, reached over and gave me a big hug. She saw that we loved her. She saw that Christ, in us, loved her. He died for our sins, her sins, and for the sins of each of her fellow protesters. Learning that "her friends, her ride home, had abandoned her," one of the ladies with whom "Marie" had been seated at the banquet "drove her home that night, continuing to minister to her along the way and for some time thereafter." This, by the way, is exactly how Norma McCorvey – better known as "Jane Roe," the abortion-legalization plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case – crossed over from the side of death to the side of life, where she has happily lived and labored ever since: It was the genuine love and caring of the pro-life demonstrators she personally encountered that changed her, introducing her to something she desperately needed, indeed had needed all her life – the love of God. The point is, Matt is a happy warrior who exhibits both the strength and sweetness of a real Christian, as well as the knowledge of a lawyer. And all of this is very present in the strong final section of "Hating Jesus" on how to fight the good fight. Much more than a checklist of things to do, it evokes and encourages the spirit necessary for fighting this war – the spirit of a joyous Christian fighter willing to stand up for his faith even if sacrifice is required. Indeed, as the apostles knew and testified, there's a mysterious joy in standing up for the Kingdom of Heaven – even if it means enduring persecution – which goes far beyond the ability of words to describe. Just read "Hating Jesus" by Matt Barber. I promise you'll be glad you did.

Dear fellow Christian and Patriot

Dear fellow Christian and Patriot,

Our nation is reeling. I turn on the news and see Bruce Jenner being celebrated for wearing a dress. Women on Instagram exploiting their bodies for fame. The music industry is selling sex, drug use and explicit language to our children. I see riots in our streets, as men throw rocks at police and vandalize public property. Protesters stomping on and burning Old Glory. I see "race" issues getting worse instead of better. Our kids on college campuses being brainwashed by liberal ideology and thinking socialism would make America better. We have watched millions of babies get aborted each year, gay marriage legalized across this nation, and now bathrooms are no longer separated by sex? Where does it end?

Maybe you feel like it's hopeless to save our nation. In 70 AD, Rome came and sacked Jerusalem. They burned everything to the ground, just as it was foretold by the prophets. But yet a remnant remained.

Today in America, there are still millions and millions of Bible-believing Christians throughout our nation. The homosexual population? Less than 3%. Transgender? Less than .3%!
Too many Christians dismiss political activism when this is the most powerful action Christians can take. God is with you, who can prevail against you?

Why are we scared? We are the MANY, they are the FEW. We need to take back our streets, take back our cities and take back our nation for the Glory of God!

Men and women, I call on you to get on your knees before a Holy and Just God to cry out for your country. God has given us the King that we begged for. We have reaped what we have sowed.

But it's not too late. It may feel like it is, but I assure you, Christian citizen, it is NOT!

We need to visibly show the nation that we are here and we are not going away quietly.

The malice of Lucifer joining FOX

The malice of Lucifer is such that he has always wanted to be not only known, but worshiped as God is worshiped, by angels and men. He even tempted Our Lord to worship him!

     Our words and efforts should echo the response of Christ Himself: "Be gone, Satan: the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him alone shalt thou serve!" (Matt. 4:10)

     Now, see how Fox TV seems to plan to help Lucifer appeal to weak modern humanity in their scheduled series "Lucifer" for January, 2016.

• Fox's online "About The Show" presents the devil as "charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome."
• In the show - Lucifer refers to God like this: "Hey, he's my father, not yours. I can say whatever I want about the guy. I quit Hell because I was sick and tired of playing a part in Dad's plan. I believe in free will, not the tyranny of all his predestination hoo-ha."
• Lucifer continues: "Thank you! But I've been doing a fair amount of thinking. Do you think I'm the devil because I'm inherently evil or simply because dear ol' Dad decided I was? Is this a classic case of labeling? What do you think?"
• The film is quite demonic in its subtlety. In a nightclub, clips show plenty of gyrating, scantily clad dancers, sexual innuendos, glorify a party lifestyle, and portray Lucifer as a fun loving young man while God and his angel Amenadiel are no fun at all and don't relate to modern man.

         Like St. Michael, make no compromises with evil.  PROTEST To FOX NOW


 We must not allow Fox TV or anyone to get our children used to Lucifer.

God and Man Made Global Warming

God and Man Made Global Warming

The Cultural Mandate

By Gary North

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:28).

Inescapably, the first chapter of Genesis involves us in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. God, as the creator of all things, must be honored by the entire creation as Lord over all (Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10). But honoring God as creator obviously requires a full acknowledgment of His law-order. Should any Christian deny his responsibility and position in God's plan of creation and history, he stands as a rebel.

There are at least three fundamental economic issues contained in Gen. 1:28: the calling, the question of natural law, and the concept of development.

The Calling

Adam was given tasks to perform in the garden even before Eve was provided as his helper (2:15, 19, 20). Man is therefore not to be defined apart from his calling before God. Even as God "labored" to create the universe, and "rested" the seventh day (obviously, He was not exhausted), so is man, as God's image-bearer, to labor and to rest. God, as self-contained and self-defined, can be defined apart from His creation, but man, as a created being who must serve God in all his affairs, is not self-existent and self-defined. Man is God's vice-regent on earth, a subordinate official, a worker who is to implement God's sovereign rule on earth and in time. Labor is not something added to man as an afterthought; only the curse on labor, as a result of man's rebellion, is a new factor (3:17-19).

Natural Law

Present-day ecological romantics, like Rousseau and nineteenth-century Romantics before them, long for a world which is free from the effects of man the destroyer. In this they are agreed with Christians, for, we assert that the whole creation groans to be delivered from "the bondage of corruption" (Romans 8:21). But Christians "are saved by hope" (Romans 8:24), a hope in God's redemption, not in hope of some return to a "natural" paradise. Man is indeed a destroyer, an ethical rebel who seeks release from God's created law-order. But "man the destroyer" is not the result of "man the controller"; he is the product of "man the ethical rebel." It is not man's dominion over the earth that is illegitimate, but rather man's attempt to dominate the earth apart from God's control over man. Yet the only foundation of man's claim of limited, derivative sovereignty is an acknowledgment of God's ultimate sovereignty. Captains who rebel against generals can expect their corporals to be insubordinate. Our polluted world is rebelling against our lawless, rebellious rulership, not against rulership as such.

The assumption of the ecological romantics is that nature is guided by its own autonomous laws. Man must conform to these hypothetically impersonal laws of nature. Man is therefore to be under nature, dominated by nature, the servant of nature. Nature--the creation--is sovereign in this scheme, not God's decree, a decree which involves personal responsibility of men before God to rule over His creation. This is why the call for a "return to the laws of nature" is ultimately secular and satanic. It is a denial of man's legitimate subordinate sovereignty and hence a denial of God's legitimate absolute sovereignty.

Development

The language of growth is an obscenity inside many ecological circles. If growth is seen as unlimited and costless, it is illegitimate, since the creation was clearly limited even before the fall of man. But this is not to argue that nature is static or was ever meant to be static. Nature as it existed on the fifth day of creation was incomplete; it was "good" as far as it went, but God was yet to add His vice-regent, man, to the order of creation. God created man to subdue nature, develop its full potentialities, and bring forth its fruits more abundantly. Adam was to dress the garden and name (classify) the animals. Such classification was no antiquarian exercise; it was presumably the first step in his overall task of dominion. Selective pruning of the garden and careful selective breeding of the animals were involved. Man is to be an ecologist, but one enforcing God's laws over nature, some of them revealed by God to men by special revelation (such as resting the land every seventh year).

The language of the status quo in nature is ridiculous. Neither man nor nature can escape God's historical decree. History is linear, not circular. The so-called "balance of nature" is not one of eternal repetition, but of development and change. The pruning, calculating dresser of the garden is basic to God's decree. Man is to direct the development of nature, not sit idly on the sidelines, letting it degenerate. Nature is not autonomous; without man it is incomplete. To deny development under man's rule is to affirm the laws of impersonal, autonomous evolution, the rule of "tooth and claw."

Ultimately, it is never a question of development or no development. It is a question of which kind of development. There is no escape from linear history. Either we affirm the cultural mandate, with godly men directing the creation as obedient servants of God, or else a hypothetically autonomous, godless nature controls man's development, thereby thwarting the historical decrees of God. Deny the cultural mandate and you will find yourself clinging to the cosmology of Charles Darwin.

Hanukkah holds hidden secrets to end-time prophecy

Hanukkah holds hidden secrets to end-time prophecy Eight-day festival began Sunday at sundown

Most Christians think of Hanukkah as "that nice little Jewish holiday," but they miss the deeper meaning, says best-selling author and Messianic Jewish Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. They picture Jewish families spinning dreidels, lighting menorahs and eating fried potato pancakes. But there's more to this eight-day holiday, which begins at sundown Sunday. "It actually holds a big, prophetic end-time revelation," Cahn said. "It's a heavy holiday." And it keeps getting heavier as time progresses and biblical prophecies about the end times inch closer to being fulfilled. "If anything, over the course of the last year, America and much of the West has moved closer to the scenario foreshadowed in the days of the Maccabees" and the Hanukkah end-time events, said Cahn. He believes Hanukkah presents a preview of the end times events, the spirit that will envelop the world, and the strategies for Christian endurance more than any other biblical holiday. "It foreshadows the Antichrist, the abomination that causes desolation, the calling of evil good and good evil, the removing of God from the public square, the banning of God's Word, sexual immorality, and the persecution of God's people," he told WND. "It also reveals the strategy that end-time believers need to know that might overcome all these things. "We are fast approaching a day when believers can be thrown in jail and the majority of Americans applaud it," he continued. "It is all the more crucial that we be prepared, vigilant, wise, and prepared that we might live victoriously for such a time as this." Jesus celebrated Hanukkah as described in John 10:22-23, when He "walked in the temple in Solomon's porch" during the "Feast of Dedication." A revolutionary act The word Hanukkah means "dedication" and revolves around a historic and improbable revolution, Cahn explains in his documentary film, "The Hanukkah EndTime Mystery." The holiday celebrates the story of the Maccabean revolt against Greek oppression in the period between the Old and New Testaments. This revolt was predicted by Daniel more than 300 years before it occurred, and the miraculous success of that revolution was still being celebrated during the time of Jesus' earthly ministry. If it had not been successful, the Jewish religion and culture would have been wiped out, and the Messiah could not have been born into a devout Jewish family as predicted by the Old Testament prophets. Daniel 12 speaks of a period when "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, and at that time your people shall be delivered. … But you Daniel close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end." "How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?" Daniel asks. The angel answers saying his prophecies would be sealed until the end of the age, but when the time comes, "the wise will understand." Cahn believes Hanukkah and the Maccabees are best understood in light of prophecies by Daniel and the apostle John in Revelation. "You could not know salvation. You could not have Christmas (the birth of Christ). You would not have the New Testament, without Hanukkah," he said. The Syrian Greek dictator, Antiochus Epiphanes, was hell bent on destroying Jewish culture and faith. Without the revolt, without Hanukkah, there would have been no Virgin Mary, no Joseph, to hear and humbly obey the voice of God. Daniel prophesied about Antiochus Epiphanes or "God manifest" arising from the north and invading the Holy Land. Much like the Islamic State has declared war on Jews and Christians today, Antiochus set out to erase every trace, every memory that could lead anyone to the one true God or the history of his people. Families circumcised their sons secretly. They observed Sabbath secretly. To be caught meant certain death. "And he comes into the temple with a mission to defile it, slaughters a pig, sets up an idol in the temple, and launches an all-out war on the Bible," Cahn said. The Jews had a choice. Offer sacrifices to the idols or die. In today's Western culture, the preferred god is no longer Zeus. It's secularism. Every teaching is tolerated, even blessed by the state, except one. The world's major religions are taught to children in public schools as being equal. Cahn sees the seeds of Christian persecution already planted in America, and likely to grow in the coming years. Christians, he said, will find answers on how to deal with persecution in the Hanukkah story. Cahn believes Daniel's prophecies carry a dual meaning for the period of Antiochus in 167 B.C. and the period when the antichrist will arise in the end times. "It looks like Antiochus is going to wipe out the faith of (the one true) God in the world and it looked like it would be the end of this biblical faith," Cahn said. "If he had succeeded, you would not have the New Testament. God had other plans, though." Foreshadow of Antichrist Christians in the last days will be overcomers, like the Maccabees, Cahn believes. In fact, the Hanukkah story contains a blueprint for how to prevail against the overwhelming odds of the world and its anti-Christ system. "You have God's people but then you have apostasy breaking out all around them. You see evil overtaking the land, you see a new morality that seeks to eradicate faith in God," Cahn said. "It's imposed but also many are going along with it freely. Antiochus makes this law that everyone is to abandon their faith. He proclaims himself god. Man proclaiming himself God; He is a foreshadow of the Antichrist." Just as Revelation speaks of a temple in Jerusalem being defiled, so there is an idol set up in the temple in the Hanukkah story. In each story, a man proclaims himself as god, sitting in the holy place. All the people of Antiochus' empire were to become one people culturally, mixed into one multicultural cesspool of paganism. This can be seen today with the migration of peoples from one region of the world to another, with Muslims flooding into once-Christian Europe and America. Politicians like Barack Obama and Angela Merkel invite them and preach that everyone should be "welcoming" of an antagonistic culture. The policies of Obama and Merkel are encouraged by the United Nations and financed by atheist billionaires like George Soros. The God of the Bible in the Maccabees' time would be replaced with Zeus. Today, he is replaced with Allah or the god of the secular state and humanism. "The gentiles immediately said OK and even some in Israel said 'yes we must go along with this.' Not the Maccabees," Cahn said. Likewise, in Revelation, the Antichrist begins to oppress the saints of God and tries to change the set times and laws. "We are living in such times," Cahn said. "Believers, if you are a true believer, you're going to be a thorn in the side of the world. We are already witnessing it. There is a spirit of Antichrist in the world."

Why Ben Carson is Right…..on Qur'an and the Constitution

Why Ben Carson is Right…..

5 Reasons The Qur’an Can Never “Coexist” With The Constitution… Ever

In case you were wondering about that “peaceful religion” thing… or why having Sharia courts here in the US is a bad idea, we’re here to help. Despite what bumper stickers tell you, The Qur’an stands in direct opposition to the Constitution. The two can never co-exist.

See? Simple.

Sharia law doesn’t work here because we already have our own rules for living – and they’ve worked out pretty well for us the last 200+ years. They work so well in fact, America stands as a world superpower – despite our flaws and sometimes petty infighting, there are quite a few reasons why the US remains the beacon of hope for the world… while Middle Eastern countries living under Sharia keep, uhm, beheading people, abusing women and live in an overall squalor that only Islam seems to be able to so consistently produce.

So here’s your list. Top 5 reasons the Qur’an stands in direct opposition to the Constitution:

1.  It disallows free speech. First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law… abridging freedom of speech.” Qur’an: “Allah likes not the uttering of unseemly speech in public, except on the part of one who is being wronged…” (4:49) And, free speech expressed in the form of cartoons of Muhammad is a very, very bad idea. Unless you want to… you know.

2.  Women are to be second-class citizens. Nineteenth Amendment: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Not only do many Sharia adhering countries not allow women to vote, they also don’t allow them to drive, or be educated, or hold government offices. War on women, maybe? To quote the Qur’an: “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.“  (Sura 2:282). If you’ve got a strong stomach, check out this lengthy list of anti-woman verses from the Qur’an. Muhammad wasn’t too kind to the ladies…

3.  The Qur’an allows for violence against ones fellow man, if he’s not a Muslim. The preamble of the US Constitution makes it kinda clear what we’re going for in this country: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty…”  Domestic tranquility.  Common defense. General welfare. Contrast that with the Qur’an: “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” (8:12)  Yikes.

4.  Slavery’s cool.  Especially if it involves women.  Thirteenth Amendment of the Constititution: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Interestingly, the Qur’an actually devotes more verses to ensuring Muslim men know they can keep women as sex slaves (4) than it does to telling them to pray five times a day (0).  “O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those (slaves) whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee.”  (33:50)

5.  Freedom of religion. According to the US Constitution’s First Amendment, Americans are guaranteed, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” It can probably go without saying, considering the hundreds of Christians who’ve been brutally murdered by ISIS due to their faith in Christ, but the Qur’an doesn’t make quite the same allowances.  “slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.” (9:5) In fact, the Quran contains 109 passages that call Muslims to war against those who choose any other faith. Does that sound like a loving God or maybe, could it be…

Stop Grieving for the Present....

Stop Grieving for the Present....

by Glynda Linkous

My people wait for My justice, for My judgments on the nations. You long for your

(real) home and that is right.

My judgments will not be pleasant to see, but your understanding of what is taking 

place will help you in this. These things must be, for scripture must be fulfilled. The 

time of the end is at hand.

You do well to prepare for the lost who will seek Me in this time for they will be many,

and My people must be ready to receive them, to relay the gospel to them, to 

embrace them in My love.

Be about My business in the earth as you await the end, My children.

The rise of the Islamic State was horrifying, unexpected, shocking. And perhaps predicted by the Bible itself.

Revelation's 6th trumpet about to sound?
Carl Gallups riveting readers as events align with prophecy

The rise of the Islamic State was horrifying, unexpected, shocking.

And perhaps predicted by the Bible itself.

Christians around the country are noticing contemporary events are lining up with prophecy, especially the terrifying warning of a great war to come. Author Carl Gallups says Christians need to face the possibility that the "trumpet days" of Revelation already are here, and the sixth trumpet may be about to sound.

Gallups details his views in "Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation." Even a brief introduction to his work reveals startling correlations between Bible prophecy and contemporary reality.

Gallups notes: "The sixth trumpet vision (found in Revelation 9:13-21) speaks of a great war, bigger than anything the world has seen to date. The prophecy declares that this war will take place in the area of the Euphrates River – in the veritable heart of the Middle East. Bible students sometimes refer to the war of the sixth trumpet vision as The Coming World War III.

"This 'coincidence' is simply too large to ignore. The Euphrates River begins in the mountains of northern Turkey and runs down through Syria, then through Iraq and into the Persian Gulf. This entire area just happens to be the current hotbed of the geopolitical focus of the world and the main stomping grounds of ISIS. These particular nations along the Euphrates, and the ones that surround them, are all major players in today's terror climate and Middle East upheaval."

He said, "Added to the prophetic mix is the fact that the sixth trumpet vision speaks of the vastly spiritual nature of this particular war (four angels being bound at the Euphrates River for this day and hour). Many cannot help but think of the Islamic, Israeli, and Christian connections to the brewing disaster scenario in the Middle East at this very moment."

Not surprisingly, Christian leaders and eschatological experts find Gallups' work invaluable.

But Gallups sees his role as straightforward. He is simply presenting the evidence as he sees it.

"I want to spiritually and physically prepare the church for the possibility of some tough times ahead," he said.

If the current state of the Middle East is any indication, they may have already begun.

Will Christendom Fall?

Will Christendom Fall?

I've studied and written about the outright war between Christendom and Muslim.  I've advocated that Christendom (all religions that follow the Abrahamic God and Jesus Christ) cannot coexist with the Muslim belief system.  Further Muhammad's God is not our God.  The laws of Muhammad and memorialized in the Koran are antithetical to our Bible.

The gist of my study and writings is a bold and harsh reality: the followers of these two religions will not and cannot coexist.  That fact has been obscured by the followers of the false notion of "multiculturalism".  I won't go into again why it is a false idealism in this writing.

The answer the question in the title is "yes".  But it does not have to be.  The followers of Christ have become meek and silent.  The pulpits have gone quiet.  This is not Biblical nor is it what the Bible teaches. There are many scriptures to use in fighting an enemy, be it the Devil, a demon, or anything else. Here are but a few:

Old Testament

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them … you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give you peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.” Leviticus 26:3

“For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.” Deuteronomy 23:14

“… For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You … Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel … thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s … You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!” Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12-17

New Testament

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”Luke 10:19

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.” 2 Timothy 4:18

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31

Being right and just is not enough.  Satan has is at war with Christ no differently than he was 2000 years ago.  We cannot go quietly. We cannot be sheep lead to slaughter. Evil is alive and well and Christendom must come together, segregate ourselves from evil and prevail in the name of God and Jesus Christ.

Why do I write this impassioned plea? I get and see many articles and meme's circulating the internet. The intent is obviously heart felt.  However, they fall short. God has commanded us into action.  None of these are a call to action.  We must become Christian activist and persevere against evil in all its forms.

I would go further, to say that all of Christendom around the world should rise up for the Kingdom of God and slay the enemy and at least segregate ourselves from them.  They can live in peace, but not in our land and not in the land ordained by God to be free.

Left Has Fear and Hatred of Christianity!

Left Has Fear and Hatred of Christianity

The left's  "fear and hatred of Christianity"  and religion in general has driven America's culture wars for the past 30 years.

That is what people on the left just have the biggest struggle with. It's a giant enemy.

Christianity is a powerful enemy the left has no control over and will never be able to dominate, he said. It is "an enemy they will never be able to obliterate and they know it, but they nevertheless try."

The left has found a huge appreciation for Pope Francis because some of the things he says seem to line up with their thinking.

"So when the Vicar of Christ now and then comes out, utters some economic policy that makes them think he's one of them, they celebrate," Limbaugh said in an interview. "I think it's fascinating they desperately want the Pope to be one of them. … Then the Pope will come out the next day and makes it clear he's not one of their guys.

Leftists vacillate from love, hate, anger, reassessment, appreciation. It's a fascinating case study.

Liberals have done much the same with religious freedom laws. They loved the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) when it was signed by President Bill Clinton. But they didn't like Indiana's state RFRA, saying it targeted gay people.

A  story by David Weigel on Bloomberg Politics showing Democrats are on the "wrong side of public polling" on the issue, even among voters in their own party.

In other words, whatever happened in Indiana, it's not the majority position in this country. It's the minority position.

Polling indicates it. Weigel's trying to point it out to Democrats, "Hey, look, you don't own this issue. Most people agree with the pizzeria owner in Walkerton. Most people do not agree with us walking in there and trying to shut them down."

The reality is that the mainstream media, gay activists, civil rights activists, you name it, are trying to make it look like the vast majority of Americans agree that Indiana is a backward, racist, bigot, homophobic state, and they want them penalized. And Marist says it's not even close to being true. It's the exact opposite.

Attacks on Religious Freedom Underscore Why Protections Are Needed

Attacks on Religious Freedom Underscore Why Protections Are Needed

Indiana and Arkansas lawmakers headed back to the drawing boards recently to rewrite language for their states' respective Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA), due to heavy backlash from businesses and advocates of homosexuality.

The angry opposition to religious freedom is the exact reason every state needs legal protections for faith.

Every American, regardless of political or religious views, should be free to live and work according to their conscience without fear of punishment and backlash from the government. Regardless of what advocates of homosexual behavior say, our government was formed to be freedom's greatest protector, not its greatest threat.

I'm calling on the state's citizens to urge their governors to call for Religious freedom measures  by their state's lawmakers. 

Last Wednesday, in the wake of pressure, Arkansas' Hutchinson instead called for changes to Arkansas’ religious freedom bill. He signed the revised bill on Thursday. Similarly, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed his state’s revised bill on Thursday.
  
I have often shared case after case of Americans who were forced into making business decisions that were not in line with their faith convictions, such as bakers, florists and photographers who were pressured into providing services for same-sex weddings - or punished for not doing so - even though their convictions dictated otherwise.


Americans should never be asked to violate their convictions against homosexual behavior by endorsing it through their businesses. Our nation thrives only when we tolerate a diversity of opinions and not allow the government to punish citizens for their beliefs.

Indiana’s RFRA Act .... what are the real issues?

Indiana’s RFRA Act .... what is the real issue?

It should come as no surprise to us of the present age that religion plays a key role in political life. Recently the State of Indiana enacted its Religious Freedom Restoration Act that parallels Federal legislation and statutes of many other states of the Union. 

Unfortunately, some American citizens or interests are keen on exposing the so-called discrimination or potential discrimination that this kind of legislation may perpetrate against fellow citizens who are part of the sexual orientation and gender identity movement.

Powerful influences including elements of the media, the NCAA, and large corporations that publicly support the political, social, and cultural initiatives of this movement have been adding their objections to this new legislation which reflects what has been the law for some time in other jurisdictions. Could it be that there is something in the text of the Indiana law that is different? I do not think that is the real issue. The real issue resides in the text itself and what the text is supposed to protect, which I shall address in a moment.

The opponents of the new Indiana law are now pressuring the legislators and the governor, who supports the legislation, for clarifications. But are clarifications needed? This is where a careful examination and interpretation of the text are in order. After all, words and their meanings are important to the law as are the entire texts. In my discussion today, I am relying on Indiana Senate Bill No. 568 introduced on January 20 of this year and enacted this past week. The text is HERE:  Download SB0568.01.INTR.

The substance of the legislation is contained in Section 6 that provides that state action or the action of an individual based on state action cannot “substantially burden a person’s right to the exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a law or policy of general applicability.” The same section further provides that a burden to the right of religious free exercise may be lawful and trump the right of religious freedom if the burden is “essential to further a compelling governmental interest” and is “the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest.” This language essentially tracks Supreme Court jurisprudence, albeit at times confusing, on the nature of religious liberty.

The first five sections of the legislation contain the definitions applicable to the intent and purpose of the new law. I find two of the definitions crucial to meeting the general opposition to the state RFRA that opponents of the bill are voicing. Section 3 defines the phrase “the exercise of religion.” The definition can be fairly distilled as the practice or observance of a person’s [defined in Section 4] ability to act or to refuse to act in a manner that is substantially motivated by the person’s sincerely held religious belief. Inherent in this protected right is the defense of the person who is acting or refusing to act on the grounds of that person’s religion. This protected right does not impose on the non-believer or someone who adheres to some other faith. It protects the claimant who is exercising a Constitutional and now an Indiana statutory right. It does not interfere with the legal rights of others who may disagree with the religious tenets in issue.

To understand this point further, it is useful to look at the second important definition to which I alluded a moment ago, and this definition concerns the “compelling governmental interest” that can derogate the protected right of religious freedom under specified circumstances. A “compelling governmental interest” is defined as “a governmental interest of the highest magnitude that cannot otherwise be achieved without burdening the exercise of religion.” I have emphasized two passages with italics.

While the first italicized phrase might profit from a definition, I do not think that a definition essential to the protection of all legitimate interests at stake. The phrase “the highest magnitude” suggests a crucial legal, perhaps even constitutional, principle that is essential to the integrity and survival of the Republic, the State of Indiana, and the commonweal/common good.

Opponents to the legislation appear to ignore this element of the text when they argue that the Indiana law “could make it easier for religious conservatives [the legislation does not use the term “conservative” anywhere] to refuse service to gay couples.” What might these services be? The denial of some services to anyone might actually be a lawful act of discrimination rather than an unlawful act of discrimination.

For example, an innkeeper might discriminate against a would-be customer if the innkeeper refuses to serve alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated or underage. This refusal could be compelled not only by law but also by a person’s sincerely held religious belief that the intoxicated or underage person should not be served. Might the proprietor of a bed and breakfast refuse to accommodate a single person? Unless the single person is rowdy, a known fugitive from justice, travelling with an animal, etc., it would be difficult for the proprietor to refuse accommodation on the grounds of religious freedom as the law is designed to protect. But what if it is a couple of persons? Does it matter if they are of the same-sex or opposite-sex? Could the proprietor rely on the provisions of this law to deny accommodation to either couple and not trigger the compelling governmental interest standard of the highest magnitude? It would seem that the right of religious freedom (or conscience which is not directly addressed by the statute’s language) as enshrined by the law would protect the proprietor who knows that the opposite-sex-couple is not married. Why should the same-sex-couple be treated differently by forcing the proprietor to provide them with a room with a large bed? (Perhaps the circumstances would be different if this couple were Queequeg and Ismael from Melville’s Moby Dick, but I digress.) Is there a compelling governmental interest of the highest magnitude that is at stake? Would it matter if the proprietor of the business relying on the religious liberty protection operates a bakery and objects to an opposite-sex-couple who want a cake to celebrate their living together out of wedlock or a same-sex-couple who order a cake to celebrate their commitment or union under state law?

The point here is this: must a person seeking the protection of this law conform his, her, or its religious conscience and thereby sacrifice his, her, or its religious faith to the sin of someone who desires to have his, her, or its action declared a compelling governmental interest of the highest magnitude that cannot otherwise be achieved without burdening the religious person’s free exercise? It strikes me that, given the context of those objecting to this law, this is precisely the objective that they are seeking. They are pursuing the goal because they see no sin or sin is inconsequential; it is irrelevant to them that they are asking another person to cooperate and participate in their sin. This circumstance parallels what medical providers are now facing from their licensing authorities when they are forced to refer a patient to a medical provider who will provide the service they cannot provide due to their sincerely held religious belief or conscience.

As I keep going over the text of the new Indiana law and consider the objections raised by its opponents, I see strong parallels to what Henry VIII did in England from 1533-35. Both the king and the opponents of the Indiana law will not tolerate anyone who disagrees with their objective from escaping. All must conform to the goals of the law’s opponents, and sincerely held religious beliefs will be no defense. We know what happened during and after 1535 in England. Is this same thing really required under the rubric of a compelling governmental interest of the highest magnitude today? If so, then sin wins once again and virtue is at forfeit.