There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
A loving God who has no wrath is no God. He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved Him out of stone. —R.C. Sproul
Netanyahu And Obama On Collision Course 6 Years In The Making
The age-old battle of good versus evil continues
“Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:” Daniel 2:20,21 (KJV)
We believe that both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and American President Barack Hussein Obama were placed into the offices they hold by the will of Almighty God. Netanyahu as God’s man at the helm of Israel to steer her through troublous times, and Obama as the leader of the United States working from within to tear it down in a traitorous of betrayal. 2 very different men, both chosen by God, but for two very different reasons.
On Monday in Washington, DC, their two paths will cross in what promises to be an epic showdown. Obama is furious that Netanyahu has the audacity to confront him on Iran’s nuclear program, so look for all sorts of nasty little tricks up his sleeve.
For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies.
The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests.
Netanyahu is bound for Washington for an address to Congress on Tuesday aimed squarely at derailing Obama’s cherished bid for a diplomatic deal with Tehran. At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry and other international negotiators will be in Switzerland for talks with the Iranians, trying for a framework agreement before a late March deadline.
In between are Israel’s elections March 17, which have heightened the political overtones of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington.
The prime minister is speaking to Congress at the request of Republicans. His visit was coordinated without the Obama administration’s knowledge, deepening tensions between two leaders who have never shown much affection for each other. source
Obama Administration Says That Right-Wing Extremists Are The Real Terror Threat
Despite the fact that 99% of all terrorist attacks since 9/11 have been perpetrated by Muslims, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have once again issued a statement that they view the threat of domestic terrorists to be equal to, or even greater than the threat of an Islamic attack in this country.
They’re focused on domestic terror threats from “right-wing sovereign citizen extremists” who view all government as the enemy, and refuse to recognize local and national authority. There have been 24 violent sovereign citizen related attacks across America since 2010. That’s a slow afternoon for ISIS.
When the DHS was initially organized, one of its early reports caused an uproar from millions of Americans. The agency named who they considered to be the most serious threats to national security: Conservatives, right-to-lifers, Evangelical Christians, 2nd Amendment adherents, Constitutionalists, as well as those who viewed the power of the Federal government as a threat to freedom. Nary a word about Muslims!
Anyone who is awake can see that the Globalists are actively dismantling the government of the United States so their totalitarian New World Order, headed by the Beast/Antichrist, can rise. They know they must subdue the American people because we won’t give up our freedoms without a fight, but every time they pull a false-flag attack to persuade us to give up our weapons, it backfires. Much to their consternation, we stubbornly run out and buy more guns and ammo.
Knowing this, the U.S. Army is preparing for what seems to be an inevitable showdown with the American people. In February 2014, Infowars.com reported that a 300 acre ‘fake city’ was built in Virginia, complete with a sports stadium, school, underground subway, bank, churches and road signs written in English, designed to train troops for future combat scenarios.
This complex, which cost $96 million dollars and took two years to complete, was supposedly built to prepare troops to occupy foreign cities and train for house-to-house combat. In 2013, former Navy SEAL Ben Smith warned that the Obama administration asked top military commanders if they would be comfortable with disarming U.S. citizens, a litmus test that included firing on fellow Americans. Those who refused were forced out, resulting in the most prolific purge of top military officers from every branch of service in this nation’s history.
A 2012 academic study about the future use of the military as a peacekeeping force within the United States depicted a shocking scenario in which the U.S. Army is used to restore order to a town that had been seized by Tea Party ‘insurrectionists. source
This study dovetails with a leaked U.S. Army manual that reveals plans for the military to carry out “Civil Disturbance Operations” in which troops would be used domestically to quell riots, confiscate firearms and even kill Americans during mass civil unrest. source
And, to round off the plans the wonderful luciferian elite have for us pesky, freedom-loving Americans, the manual also describes how prisoners will be processed and ‘re-educated’ in the numerous FEMA camps, scattered all over the country. source
Of course, all of this is in direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, passed in 1878, which limits the power of the Federal government in using military personnel to enforce state law. But then again, the Occupant of the White House has a phone and a pen, so what do silly laws matter?
Speaking of which, The Washington Examiner reported today that the Occupant is planning to use that pen of his to ban one of the most-used AR-15 bullets used by sportsmen and target shooters. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is proposing a ban on 5.56 M885 bullets by classifying them as ‘armor-piercing’ ammunition, despite absolutely no evidence this is true. Of course, this is nothing more than an attempt by this increasingly tyrannical administration to impose yet another backdoor method of gun control.
The government has spent the last few years hoarding untold billions—yes, that’s ‘billions’ with a ‘B’—of bullets, causing shortages for police forces and the general public, as well as driving the price of ammunition through the roof. I think it would be wise for any gun lovers out there start buying up all the rounds you can get your hands on. It appears you may need it to defend your family and your freedoms one of these days. God help us.
Markell: Betrayal the Likes of Neville Chamberlain
“I do believe Barack Obama and probably [senior advisor] Valerie Jarrett are entering into a phase of negotiations never seen since the days of [British Prime Minister Neville] Chamberlain in World War II entering into an arrangement with our archenemy,” she laments. “Every Iranian missile has two destinations written on it: Israel and America.”
The ministry leader finds it unfortunate that many of the American Jews in attendance at AIPAC will swallow the administration’s agenda – hook, line, and sinker.
What are the prophetic implications of the events in Europe, Israel, DC, and Iran? We cannot be certain because only God knows the exact way things will unfold. There is certainty in scripture and when we look at what the Bible says about Iran we can know that we are nearing the end times. Ezekiel 38 gives us the panorama of a large coalition of peoples coming down upon Israel from the north to invade Israel. Ultimately, Russia will be on the move against the land of Israel but it will be accompanied by other nations including Persia (Iran). These invaders will be coming against a land of unwalled villages and people who are dwelling securely.
But millions of Americans, and others around the world will be grateful: to the nation of Israel, to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and to Speaker Boehner and the lawmakers of both parties who will welcome him.
They’ll be grateful because they are hungry to hear the truth spoken at the highest levels of international discourse –thankful that at least one leader (there may be others; Canada’s Stephen Harper comes to mind) is willing to speak the truth on the world stage when the spirit of hatred and murder is on the loose, radiating from the Middle East to every continent.
Franklin Graham: Muslims Have Infiltrated Washington, D.C.
“One of the problems we have in the West is our governments, especially in Washington, have been infiltrated by Muslims who are advising the White House,” Graham tells O’Reilly.
A plethora of global-change events should come as no surprise to students of the Bible. Last-day theology is a major theme throughout the poetic books, major- and minor- prophets, Pauline- and general- epistles, and gospels, not to mention the book of Revelation. Signs of the times are likened to birth pangs—ever increasing in intensity and earmarked by political-economic upheavals, armed conflicts, racial unrest, drug abuse, natural calamities, consensus, and totalitarian world order enforced in the bogus name of peace, but destined instead to mass destruction.
Obama Blatantly Deceiving The American People About Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
Obama is neither delusional or incompetent, his continued acts of deception when it comes to Iran are willful and planned.
Barack Obama wants us all to simmer down about Iran. He wants Senator Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat, and the donors he represents to butt out of the sanctions debate. He wants Republicans to quit crying wolf about Iran’s nuclear weapons program. He wants the media to stop hyping terror threats. He wants the American people in the dark about the secret correspondence he’s had for years with Iran’s supreme leader. He wants John Boehner to be mindful of protocol. And most of all, he wants Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop questioning his accommodationist approach to Tehran.
With the breezy confidence that is his trademark, the president has repeatedly delivered a reassuring message on Iran to the country and the world: Trust me.
With respect, Mr. President: No.
From the earliest moments of his first term, Obama sought to convince the country that threats from our erstwhile enemies were overblown. He forged an approach to jihadist attacks and rogue regimes meant to be a stark contrast from that of his predecessor. He ended the war on terror, quietly sought rapprochement with radical Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Taliban, and ostentatiously undertook a more conciliatory approach to terror-sponsoring regimes like Syria and Iran.
Notwithstanding periodic drone strikes on bad guys, Obama has demonstrated repeatedly that his instinct is to ignore, dismiss, or downplay threats to the United States and its interests and allies. The record over six years is a long list of mistaken judgments, awkward euphemisms, and false assurances.
FBI Admits That ISIS Is Active In All 50 States In America Right Now
One day after Egypt and Israel expressed their alarm at Obama, for including high ranking members of the Muslim Brotherhood in his “War on Terror” event, the director of our FBI declares that ISIS is now operating in all 50 states.
“FBI Director James Comey told the National Association of Attorneys General that ISIS is a “chaotic spider web” that avidly uses social media to radicalize people across the United States.
“We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states,” said Comey, adding, “This isn’t a New York phenomenon or a Washington phenomenon. This is all 50 states and in ways that are very hard to see.” [1] – source
This IS alarming, but should we be at all surprised? The POTUS has close ties and very good friends in the Muslim Brotherhood organization. These terrorists come to the White House on a regular basis. At one event recently, the press was banned!
Obama’s dearest friend, Mohamed Morsi, sits in a prison cell in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is outlawed in Egypt!! As they say — what is wrong with this picture?
The FBI Director Comey:
“Those people exist in every state. I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state. Until a few weeks ago there was 49 states. Alaska had none which I couldn’t quite figure out. But Alaska has now joined the group so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states,” Comey said.
“ISIL in particular is putting out a siren song with their slick propaganda through social media,” the FBI Director added.
In describing the jihadist group’s message, Comey said, “Troubled soul, come to the caliphate, you will live a life of glory, these are the apocalyptic end times, you will find a life of meaning here, fighting for our so-called caliphate. And if you can’t come, kill somebody where you are.”
The FBI director noted that the message “resonates with troubled souls, people seeking meaning in some horribly misguided way.”
But he still will NOT say Islamic Terrorist. As long as the narrative reads that we are not in a war with Islam, we are DONE.
Jan talks to Dr. Robert Jeffress for two segments about radical Islam, end-times, and current events in light of the Bible. We carry his new book, “Countdown to the Apocalypse: Why ISIS and Ebola are Only the Beginning.” Find ite here. With everything falling apart, Dr. Jeffress reminds us to be salt and light. Then Jan Markell gives a short commentary about the importance of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress March 3. Obama continues to turn on old allies and befriend terrorists. We use the mobile app found at http://www.oneplace.com.
Atlanta’s Former Fire Chief Sues The City, Says He Was Fired Because of Religious Beliefs
“Cochran, who is an evangelical Christian, was terminated in January after a city investigation pertaining to his self-published book, “Who Told You That You Were Naked,” a Bible study-style text that covers a range of his personal religious beliefs.”
Workers in protective suits and masks wait to enter the emergency operation center at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, November 12, 2011. DAVID GUTTENFELDER/POOL/REUTERS
A new report from Newsweek might explain the Mass Animal Deaths happening to much Ocean Life in various locations around the World! According to reports Tepco announced it had detected elevated levels of radiation in rainwater pooling on the roof of a plant building back in May, but had failed to disclose the finding until now, according to NBC News. The radioactive water had likely leaked into the sea through a gutter when it rained, Tepco announced. Tepco has been “aware since last spring” that the rainwater pooling in one corner of the roof contained 23,000 becquerels per liter of radioactive material cesium 137, which is more than 10 times more radioactive than samples of water taken from other parts of the roof, Reuters reports. FULL REPORT
Reuters/Reuters – The Chicago skyline is seen above a partially frozen Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, January 5, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young
Things just got a lot more chilly for Chicago after after they drew closer to a fiscal free fall on Friday with a rating downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service that could trigger the immediate termination of four interest-rate swap agreements, costing the city about $58 million and raising the prospect of more broken swaps contracts. The downgrade to Baa2, just two steps above junk, and a warning the rating could fall further still, means the third-biggest U.S. city could face even higher costs in the future if banks choose to terminate other interest-rate hedges against fluctuations in interest rates. All told, Chicago holds swaps contracts covering $2.67 billion in debt, according to a disclosure late last year. FULL REPORT
“You have your own identification code and you’re sending that to something else which you have to grant access to, so there’s no one else that can sort of follow you on your ID, so to say. It’s you who decides who gets access to that ID,” Mesterton said.
Would you Microchip your hand to make it more convenient to open doors and operate machines and equipment? Would you put a chip under your skin in the name of “Convenience”? Well that’s what’s happening in Stockholm At the newly opened Epicenter office complex in central Stockholm. Office workers have been opening doors and operating the photocopier with a chip implanted in their hands. Now if you have any knowledge of the Word of God you will immediately think of a verse mentioned in the Book of Revelation Chapter 13!
Revelation 13:16-17 – He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Now you may say “Wait a minute, This isn’t the Mark of the Beast mentioned in that verse”! No, It may not be the Mark of the Beast but I would say it’s safe to say that this technology is paving the way for humanity to embrace this system when it is introduced by the Antichrist and the False Prophet in the future! The radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip is made from Pyrex glass and contains an antenna and microchip, with no need for batteries. Instead of using identification cards and pass codes, all the staff at companies based in the Swedish tech business incubator Epicentre are using microchips implanted into their hands to get into and around the workplace. According to this report All each member of the staff has to do is wave their hand in front of a sensor and the door opens. Speaking of “Open Doors” I believe this story is a perfect example of how the “Door” will be “Opened” in the future to openly accept something placed in the Forehead and / or the Forehand! – Source
Did you ever believe the day would come where a “Church” would actually vote on whether or not to “Change the definition of Marriage“? Well welcome to 2015! According to a report from Christian News Network the Regional presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are voting on whether to ratify a vote taken by the General Assembly and regional delegates last year to change the definition of marriage in its law book and to allow ministers to perform same-sex “marriages” in states where the practice is legal. Not only is it shocking that we are actually voting on such apostasy but the majority in this particular topic voted in favor of this abomination! As previously reported, last June, the General Assembly of PCUSA, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, voted 76-24 to allow licensed ministered to officiate such ceremonies. Delegates within the denomination also approved a proposal to change language in the PCUSA Book of Order to redefine marriage from being a union between “a man and woman” to rather only “two persons.” FULL REPORT
While America is busy throwing Israel under the bus and laying the welcome mat down for Iran, a massive naval and air defense war games was just conducted by Tehran by successfully test-firing a “new strategic weapon,” which the country says will play an important role in the future battle against the US. The test was performed on the final day of the Great Prophet 9 exercises, which above other activities included a simulated attack on an American aircraft carrier. So let’s summarize this real quick! While America is busy stabbing the back of Israel, Iran is carrying out War Games simulating the destruction of America! Anything wrong with this picture to you? FULL STORY
In a recent interview with Reverend Franklin Graham on the Feb. 26 edition of The O’Reilly Factor , Graham was asked whether Western countries can unite to defeat Islamic radicals, Rev. Franklin Graham said one of the major problems is that Western governments have “been infiltrated by Muslims,” and in the United States in particular Muslims “are advising the White House.” They “are part of the problem,” said Rev. Graham. “And we see this also in Western Europe. They have gotten into the halls of power and they are an influence.” “We need God’s help,” he said. “This is a huge crisis. This isn’t something small. This is huge.” said Graham. – FULL STORY
Scientists are sounding the alarm that Humanity could be headed for another “Ice Age” A new report is indicating that for the 6th day in a row, solar activity remains very low. No sunspots are flaring, and the sun’s X-ray output has flatlined” says spaceweather.com Scientists say that if the solar flatlining continues it may be an indication we are about to enter into a mini ice-age. “The main driver of all weather and climate, the entity which occupies 99.86% of all of the mass in our solar system, the great ball of fire in the sky – has gone quiet again during what is likely to be the weakest sunspot cycle in more than a century,”“Not since cycle 14 peaked in February 1906 has there been a solar cycle with fewer sunspots. We are currently more than six years into Solar Cycle 24 and today the sun is virtually spotless despite the fact that we are still in what is considered to be its solar maximum phase.” Jesusindicated that there would be “Signs in the Sun” – LUKE 21, Prior to his Coming! Full Report
Jesus told us in Luke Chapter Twenty One that there would be “Signs in the Heavens” Prior to his return and that there would be Signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars! A report from Daily Mail is reporting a story that defines that warning. According to a report an unusual comet that is unlike anything seen before by scientists is expected to become visible from Earth in the coming weeks. Nasa and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, also called SOHO, spotted the comet as it skimmed past the sun. This comet is not thought to belong to any known family of comets and scientists have been left baffled as to how it survived its close encounter with the sun. Most comets that come that close do not survive the trip, according to solar scientists who study images beamed back by SOHO. FULL STORY
Where would you go if there was economic collapse, a massive natural disaster, cyber attack or widespread pandemic? Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that there would be millions of people looking for food, clean water and other essential resources? The cities will be plagued with violence and supply shortages. Government officials will, as Homeland Security has previously admitted, not be able to provide any meaningful support. The masses will be left to fend for themselves. So where would there be any Safe Havens? FULL REPORT
Iran is at it again with their threats to America! the latest comes as A Senior Iranian Cleric with close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Friday that “we will raise the flag of Islam over the White House” in response to the killing of Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guards operatives on the Golan Heights last month. The cleric, Ali Shirazi, made the remarks to the official Revolutionary Guards web site. His comments were reported by the Saudi-owned news network Al Arabiya. FULL REPORT
‘Love Not Limited?’: Three Thailand Men ‘Marry’ Each Other, Photos Go Viral
(CN) — Photos of three Thailand men who recently “married” each other have gone viral, garnering societal support for the concept of same-sex “throuples” worldwide, but also generating remarks from Christians about the confirmation of the slippery slope that has long been predicted.
The men, who have only been identified as Joke, Belle and Art Thani, reportedly participated in a traditional water-pouring ceremony on Feb. 15 and had photographs taken of their union. However, the act was more of a symbolic gesture as neither homosexuality or polygamy are legal in Thailand.
Alabama Governor at Odds with Own Pastor’s Sermon Opposing ‘Gay Marriage’ Ruling
(CN) — A recent sermon delivered by the pastor of Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley reveals that Bentley’s recent decision to follow a federal court ruling striking down the state’s Sanctity of Marriage Act as being unconstitutional is at odds with his church’s teachings on obeying God rather than men.“Here’s what I said to our governor yesterday,” Gil McKee, pastor of First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa, told the congregation on Feb. 8. “‘Governor, I don’t care if all 49 states go for this same-sex marriage business, let’s be different in the state of Alabama. Let’s do what we know is the right thing to do. If you’ll just step up and lead out in this thing, if you’ll give the word to our chief justice to call all our probate judges … and say, ‘Don’t you issue one single license until the federal government does their thing and until we decide whether we’re going to follow that or not; don’t issue one of them,’ I’m telling you the people of this state would rally behind that.”
Archaeologists May Have Uncovered Ruins of Important Old Testament City
(CN) — Archaeologists are increasingly confident that they have discovered the remains of Libnah—an ancient city in Israel that is mentioned multiple times in the Bible.Since 2009, researchers have studied the remains of an ancient village at a dig site named Tel Burna, located 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem. The area was once a strategic border region between ancient Israel to the east and the Philistines to the west.
‘Hasten to Heaven’: Islamist Video Calls for Attack on Mall of America, Other Western Malls
(CN) — Officials with the Mall of America are taking extra security precautions after an Islamic terror group considered to be an affiliate of al Qaeda released a video calling for attacks on malls in the Western world.Al-Shabaab released the video online on Saturday, citing three specific malls in the footage: the Oxford Street shopping strip in London, England, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
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ARTICLES I LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB: (Click title to go to full article)
Political Bullying and Intimidation Over Evolution – “The topic of evolution, especially regarding how politicians have responded when asked if they believe in evolution or not, has been in the news lately. The very liberal Huffington Post published an article on the topic stating the following…”
Beware the “Gospel In A Bottle” – “It is beautiful. It is captivating. It boasts an inspiring, powerful message presented in the most stirring of words – language more than capable of making eyes weep and chins quiver with emotion.”
Conditional Faithfulness – “The Bible continually discusses God’s faithfulness and the need for us to have complete faith in Him. But what exactly does the Bible say about the faith we are to have in God? And what about God’s faithfulness? Does His faithfulness extend to all people? All believers unconditionally? Or is God’s faithfulness conditional at times based on our behaviors?”
Announcement: We’ll be Blogging through Shepherd’s Conference 2015 Inerrancy Summit Next Week! – “We’re trying to wrap our blog series on the Christian worldview, film and Comics soon because next week all three bloggers from Veritas Domain would reunite at The Shepherd’s Conference. This year’s theme is on Inerrancy and is the biggest ever. They have called it The Inerrancy Summit and have brought many different speakers that normally don’t come out but they are for this occasion such as Kevin DeYoung and Carl Trueman.”
The Word-less “Church” – “Many American churches are in a mess. Theologically they are indifferent, confused, or dangerously wrong. Liturgically they are the captives of superficial fads. Morally they live lives indistinguishable from the world. They often have a lot of people, money, and activities. But are they really churches, or have they degenerated into peculiar clubs?”
SERMON:
John MacArthur – The Grim Reality of the last days
Albert Mohler Blog: “The Table of the Nations, the Tower of Babel, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb: Part 2”
In this new blog essay, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. reproduces the second half of this year’s convocation address on the Table of Nations and racial reconciliation. Mohler writes:
“Sin explains confusion and difficulty in communication. Sin explains hatred and animosity, racism and ethnocentricity. Seen in the light of the gospel, racial and ethnic differences are not accidental. They reflect the perfect plan of a perfect God. And they are not overcome by the gospel — they are glorified by the gospel. The community of the New Covenant looks like this people preparing for this second table, the table of the Lamb. The New Covenant community lives not by avoiding diversity of ethnicities, but by embracing and celebrating it. The New Covenant community lives looking forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb when men and women from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation will gather around the table of the king.”
“Every formula is in “greater than” format. For example, the formula Good News > Bad News, based on Phil. 4:8, is saying make an effort to increase your intake of good news and reduce your intake of bad news in order to produce more of God’s peace in your lives.”
“As the attacks have accelerated in recent weeks, leaders from various Christian denominations in Nigeria have called on their Christian brothers and sisters in the West, along with all people of goodwill, to speak out against the mounting violence in their country.”
“In today’s 24/7 world, Sabbath-keeping is countercultural; it doesn’t just happen by default. If you long to lay down your heavy burdens, you’ll need to be more intentional about your time the other six days of the week.”
The Obama administration’s refusal to recognize the existential nature of the threat posed by Islamic fanaticism does not make that threat less real. Given their apocalyptic vision, if al Qaeda’s rapidly metastasizing franchises obtain weapons of mass destruction they will use them. ISIS computer specialists demonstrated remarkable information age capabilities in their 22-minute Internet presentation culminating in the live immolation of Jordanian Air Force Lt. Moaz al Kasasbeh. The nature of cyber warfare is that savvy hackers can wreak catastrophic damage. This existential threat is real. Given the fanatical commitment driving this threat, efforts to “decimate and contain” will fail.
Is President Obama a Christian? It Depends What You Mean By ‘Christian’
How do we tell the difference? Evangelicals would want to hear more from the professing Christian. How does he believe one enters into a vital relationship with God? What does he believe about the nature of sin? What does he believe Jesus accomplished on the cross? What role does the authority of Scripture play in his life? Does the person evidence the fruit of the Holy Spirit that accords with genuine repentance?
That the Islamic State holds the imminent fulfillment of prophecy as a matter of dogma at least tells us the mettle of our opponent. It is ready to cheer its own near-obliteration, and to remain confident, even when surrounded, that it will receive divine succor if it stays true to the Prophetic model. Ideological tools may convince some potential converts that the group’s message is false, and military tools can limit its horrors. But for an organization as impervious to persuasion as the Islamic State, few measures short of these will matter, and the war may be a long one, even if it doesn’t last until the end of time.
Kay Coles James Inspires Future Generations of Leaders
With her return to Holly Knoll a half century later, she restored the site and founded the Gloucester Institute to mentor another generation of minority leaders. “I think God placed it in my heart to restore the property and the vision. My husband and I formed the nonprofit, and have dedicated our lives to restoring, not only the bricks and mortar, but also the vision as a gathering place for racial reconciliation where we can deal with the important issues of the day; a place where politics are left aside, and we come together as people who want to find solutions.”
Ministry to the Military International Planting PCA Churches Near Military Bases
Under the leadership of retired US Army Chaplain, TE Doug Hudson, The Presbytery of Southeast Alabama has developed and supports the Ministry to the Military International (MMI), with churches in Germany, Okinawa, and one under development in England. There is also a staff pastor in the Charleston, SC area, site of several military installations.
Job is correct in starting his prayer with fervent complaint but ending with a declaration of faith. In later scripture, the Psalmist is legendary for beginning his prayers with despair but ending them in doxology and rededication. Then later, on the cross, Jesus begins his supplication with loud cries and tears, but notice how he ends by declaring, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
Read your community’s history. Even if no one has written a full history, many communities have published at least a brief record of their story. Learning that story will not only help you understand the history better, but it will also show others your interest in being a genuine part of the community.
There are six churches known as the Old Oriental Orthodoxy (or Non-Chalcedonian Churches): Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrea, Malankara (Indian), and Armenian. These six churches have a completely different hierarchy and are not in communion with the rest of Eastern Orthodoxy (under the Patriarch of Constantinople) or with Rome (under the Bishop of Rome). These churches have been called monophysite, but they reject the label, saying they too deny Eutychianism. They prefer to be called miaphysites because they want to emphasize the one (mia) nature, without rejecting the doctrine of the two natures of Christ.
Which is why I hope that these murderers are judged completely and exhaustively for their sin, and that their guilt is cast upon Christ on the cross. My hope is that through repentance and faith, the old men in black outfits who drew those knives would die to themselves and that new men would emerge to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. My hope is that the ISIS movement would dwindle and evaporate as the gospel does its work. That is my first hope. Another apostle, The Apostle Paul, persecutor of the church embodies that hope.
It wasn’t until I came across Philippians 2 one night that I understood what God was trying to show me. His Son, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” God wants us to be like his Son. And his Son, even though he had access to all the power in the universe, humbled himself. Even though he is Master, he took on the form of a servant.
Anything – even presumably good things – can become an idol if they take priority and precedence over God himself. And this happens all the time: Christians will go utterly overboard on some cause or activist agenda item, while ignoring basic biblical concerns.
We certainly can get that with the whole area of climate alarmism. Not only has so much of this become a religious crusade for so many, but often it is not even based on real science, but on emotion, fear, political correctness, and media and activist agendas being pushed. Yet one Christian after another seems to be falling for this.
Thus we now hear about “climate justice”! And various religious groups are turning all this into a full-blown action item. For decades the radical environmentalists have sought to make this into a new religious movement. Now we have religious folks chipping in.
As we have seen, ridicule and mockery of the religious are key components of the New Atheist Movement. According to John Loftus, “It’s not just the so-called “new atheists” like Richatheist mord Dawkins, Bill Maher, and PZ Myers who advocate ridicule. I do too (see below). So does Richard Carrier, as does Stephen Law.” The ridicule not only come from the writings of the New Atheists, but they also engage in such tactics with their memes and their YouTube videos.
Who Wrote the Bible?Jeffrey Kranz. Humanly speaking, of course. This infographic would be a lot simpler if we were asking about the divine author of each book. There were some surprises in here, even for us. Jeremiah’s got the longest book? Who knew? And…Heman is in the Bible? (Also, be sure to see Kranz’s breakdown of the Bible’s biggest contributors here.)
Articles of the Week
Persecution in the Church Has Never Been Worse, Jesse Carey. When watching the news and hearing of atrocities around the world, it’s easy to wonder if things are getting worse in the world. In broad terms, that’s tough to measure. But in terms of overt persecution, as it turns out, 2014 was one of the worst years ever. Carey interviews Open Doors USA director Kristin Wright about persecution among Christians around the world…and what the American church can do in response.
Fifteen Reasons Our Churches Are Less Evangelistic Today, Thom Rainer.It may not be surprising for many people to learn that contemporary churches share their faith much less than a generation ago. So what gives? Rainer has conducted an “unscientific Twitter poll” to see if he can identify any contributing factors. He got responses for four days, and did us the favor of compiling everything. Here are the top fifteen answers.
Women, Stop Submitting to Men, Russell Moore. “Those of us who hold to so-called ‘traditional gender roles’ are often assumed to believe that women should submit to men. This isn’t true. Indeed, a primary problem in our culture and in our churches isn’t that women aren’t submissive enough to men—but instead that they are far too submissive.”
Three Relationship Rules, Ed Welch. These aren’t the top three rules for a marriage relationship. That list would have more obvious rules like asking for forgiveness or praying together. No, this is a more nuanced list, a snapshot of “micro-applications” of the gospel. It’s an unexpected collection, but an enlightening one. Some of these might make for good “relationship plumblines.”
Doubt and Obedience
“We don’t merit righteousness before our Father by our obedience, and the Lord’s grace is so vast that He regularly blesses us in spite of our disobedience. Still, perhaps we would see more blessing and experience less doubt if we were to serve Him more faithfully.”
Modern culture fosters discontentment and all the miseries and heartaches that go along with it. But that doesn’t mean we’re out of luck in finding contentment.
More Highly Than You Ought [Article] – The Bible tells us to think of ourselves with sober judgement, but here are 4 reasons why we think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Read the Article
Romance With Jesus [Wednesday’s Word] – Theology, morality, politics, ministry and charity shouldn’t motivate your faith. Romance should. Read the Devotional
Romantically Pulling Weeds [Free Download] – Download this free PDF and discover the 6 most common weeds that suck the life from your marriage. Download The PDF
Lessons From Corinth [Sermon Series] – What can we learn from historical churches in the Bible? Here are four sermons examining the Corinthian believers. Listen to the Sermons
5 Simple Strategies for Better Communication
by Philip Nation
Communication is a key component to leadership. If you are communicating, then you are leading in some way. Here are five principles that you can begin using immediately to help you communicate, and thus lead, better.
Do I Want My Wife to be a Proverbs 31 Woman? Sorta
by Stephen Altrogge
Husbands, listen up: if you are using Proverbs 31 as a diagnostic godliness checklist for your wife, you are misusing the passage and hurting your wife.
What if your family spent 7 1/2 minutes every day sitting down together at the kitchen table and offering instruction, guidance, encouragement? Here’s how you can make it work.
This might surprise you, but one of the most dangerous times for a pastor are the hours following his Sunday sermon. During that time, evaluation can be tough, but these 4 steps will help.
The Bible continually discusses God’s faithfulness and the need for us to have complete faith in Him. But what exactly does the Bible say about the faith we are to have in God? And what about God’s faithfulness? Does His faithfulness extend to all people? All believers unconditionally? Or is God’s faithfulness conditional at times […]
How do you, and how do we, share the truth about what’s been happening in the modern church in a way that glorifies God? It’s a fine line we all need to walk every day. Today we’re going to talk about the discernment landscape out there, and share our philosophy about why we contend […]
Children may be born with parents of the same sex following a breakthrough which scientists believe paves the way for “two dad” families. Researchers from Cambridge University and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science say they have shown for the first time that human egg and sperm cells can be made from stem cells in the […]
“Who doesn’t want their life to be better?” That’s a question Pastor Andy Stanley asked recently. And his answers are very telling. When we compare some of Andy Stanley’s teachings lately to Scripture, we’re seeing some many discrepancies. We encourage you to do the comparative work for yourself (as the Bereans did), listening carefully to […]
Why do so many evangelicals appear to be chasing hollow and deceptive philosophies, practically begging to be taken captive? Have they fallen prey to slick marketing campaigns, packaged, big-box sermonettes and feel-good pep-talks that have replaced timeless, eternal, doctrinal truths? Thankfully no; there is still a remnant hanging on tight to the Word of God […]
Today on Stand Up For The Truth we are asking for your thoughts and Scripture verses as we look at a topic many Christians struggle with: How does one discern God’s will, and then follow it? We’re going to share Part 1 and Part 2 of an excellent series by one of our authors, Marsha […]
In Finding God’s Will Is No Deep Dark Secret Part 1 I asked the following questions: Is it possible for a Christian to know God’s will and not have to agonize over it? Should a Christian (a) make a decision without first spending hours in prayer, asking God to reveal His will? (b) avoid making […]
Monday, join us for a discussion on Common Core with Dr. Duke Pesta. FreedomProject Education has just released a brand new Common Core video (launching Monday, February 23), to kickoff its new look for http://www.fpeusa.org. Here is a clip from Common Core 101: a 5-Minute Breakdown With Dr. Duke Pesta: Dave Drake is the director […]
Remember when you could actually own a home in America? The answer is: No, you do not. Even if you think that something like true home ownership was recently or is presently allowed here in “the land of the free” and the home of the NSA, you are simply wrong. As with most of the […]
Andy Stanley has been raising eyebrows lately with his newest sermon series, Brand: New. Considering what emerged from his pulpit a couple of years ago (see here for his “microcosm of the church” and here for his views on Adam and Eve), I’m totally unsurprised by what he’s saying now. Here is one and then another article by Philip Lee detailing his concerns with Stanley’s latest teachings.
And off we go. There may be updates, as usual, up to noon TX time.
The murder of the 21 Egyptian Copts provoked a lot of heat, and debatable light, as to whether they should be classed as “Christians.” Kevin DeYoung gives helpful historical and doctrinal framing. I’ve always appreciated how Kevin writes and speaks. The article includes some very nice turns of phrase, such as “It’s unclear whether Nestorius was actually a Nestorian.” Then, later, “it’s unclear how much of Eutychianism came from Eutyches.” History is hard.
There is much interesting and informative push-back in the meta, and (as I think is customary), zero response thus far from Kevin. One of the respondents is a poor soul who self-identifies as a “coptic orthodox christian” [sic]. He does, I think, a great deal of damage to his own case, aggressively crusading against truths we all hold dear and essential and for practices we rightly condemn.
But my personal fondness for DeYoung was increased by a particular phrase. My family (particularly my dear and only daughter) has had to wrestle with, and tease me for, my tendency to phrase things negatively. “Are you not going to finish that?” So imagine my joy in Kevin’s wording here: “For my part, I’m unwilling to say the non-acceptance of Chalcedon is no big deal.” Kevin, you are my brother.
I wonder if The Gospel Coalition has blocked Wilson? They have to feel torn about him. He’s a celebrity and witty… but has edges and little patience with pretentious frippery.
This Wednesday’s text in Psalm 3 will take me into the arena of the imprecatory prayers in the psalms. Some recent thoughts on that were offered at Reformation 21, and by Barry York.
The living breathing fog machine that is Rob Bell has rhetorically attempted to ennoble his amorous pursuit of the present age by framing homosexuality and its specifics as a cure for “loneliness” and a species of “love.” Anyone who opposes, we’re told, is overfond of 2000-year-old letters. Michael J. Krugerresponds, winning the internet for the day by quoting from the movie Tombstone.
Also, as to the appeal to “love” you might remind yourself of this. As to his sneering denigration of God’s word, this.
Everyone who attended Sufficient Fire is ready to answer this sad, unintended confession of ineptitude from Anne Graham Lotz:
Deuced thing about “the slippery slope fallacy” is how individuals keep providing illustrations of its non-fallaciousness. Like John Walton.
This fellow has been one of my most effective (if unwitting) salesmen so far:
TGC Spotlight highlights TGC articles from earlier in the week, previews articles coming next week, and links to items around the web that you might have missed.
These are notes based on an essay by Peter Kreeft, author of Socrates Meets Marx: The Father of Philosophy Meets the Father of Communism (St. Augustine’s Press, 2012).
H. Richard Neibuhr’s Christ and Culture is one of the most significant theological and missiological works of the 20th century, offering a memorable categorization of the ways Christians have related to culture throughout history.
Serving Christ gets hard. Harder than we expected. Harder than we can endure, even for one more day. We are tempted to think, “No way can this turn out well. My life – the only one I have – is going to end up on the junk pile.
Dear heavenly Father, in view of the increase of kidnappings and human trafficking, the proliferation of pornography and the spirit of jihad, I find myself growing angrier and angrier.
Coming Next Week at TGC
When You Are No Longer a Pastor’s Wife | Anonymous
The wife of a fired pastor asks the question ‘How do I respond?’
4 Reasons to Beware the Goodness Gospel | Christine Hoover
Christine Hoover warns against approaches to Christianity that amount to works righteousness and do not rest in the hope of Christ’s righteousness.
8 Reasons We Need the Puritans | Jeff Robinson
Jeff Robinson extols the virtues of the Puritans, their theology and ethics, and argues that we need to study them in the church today.
Heading Home: A New Heaven and a New Earth. Speakers include Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, John Piper, Mark Dever, Voddie Baucham, Philip G. Ryken, Ligon Duncan, and many others.
President Obama on Thursday called on nations around the world to expand human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful dialogue as they struggle to combat a spate of terrorism that has recently struck places as far afield as Australia, Canada and Europe.
The number of words we can’t use without offending is ever growing, and if the supporters of the right-to-die movement have their way, it will stretch yet again to include the word “suicide.” At least when that suicide is the result of a dying patient taking a lethal dose of drugs to avoid impending mental and physical anguish.
The UK has passed a bill that allows for genetic engineering of children through nuclear transfer technology and germ-line modification. Young women will be needed to supply their eggs. But egg donation—or more accurately, egg selling—is risky business.
Here’s how it worked: McCarthy’s church offered funds as collateral so she could qualify for a loan through the Virginia United Methodist Credit Union. McCarthy agreed to repay the loan at an annualized interest rate of about 6 percent – meaning monthly payments of $25 for about 2 1/2 years, drawn right out of her bank account.
“The Americans,” along with the History Channel’s “Vikings,” has done something that almost nothing else in pop culture dares to attempt: It depicts Christianity as a seismic force, something capable of producing profound transformation in both individuals and society.
Slightly more than half of Utah residents say they attend religious services every week, more than any other state in the union. Residents in the four Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas are the next most likely to be frequent church attendees, with 45% to 47% reporting weekly attendance. At the other end of the spectrum is Vermont, where 17% of residents say they attend religious services every week.
Usually bitter adversaries, Koch Industries and the Center for American Progress have found at least one thing they can agree on: The nation’s criminal justice system is broken.
It’s not normal these days for a teen to live with their married mom and dad. Fifty-four percent of U.S. teens 15-to-17-years-old do not live in a home with their married mother and father, according to the Fifth Annual Index of Family Belonging and Rejection released this month by the Family Research Council.
For some people, scientific research on the subject of same-sex parenting is irrelevant. A new volume is meant for those who still approach the topic of parenting and sexuality with open minds.
Measles killed 82,100 children under age 5 in 2013, ranking the disease at No. 7 on the list of the top causes of child death, according to recent statistics from the Global Burden of Disease study published in the Lancet.
Assyrian Christians in the Nineveh Plain in Iraq, with the help of a group of Americans, are building a fighting machine to stand toe-to-toe with the Islamic State group to preserve their homeland, their history and their heritage.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 90 men, women and children were seized in a series of dawn raids near the town of Tal Tamr.
It is morally indefensible for Catholic institutions to recognize and incentivize same-sex marriages by extending marriage benefits to employees who declare themselves legally married to a person of the same sex.
How tough is it to create a racially diverse denomination? Consider a recent luncheon organized by the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
A Washington state florist who refused to provide flower arrangements for a gay wedding “because of [her] relationship with Jesus” violated the state’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Stutzman is the Washington florist who has been sued for living out her Christian beliefs. In 2013, a long-time friend and customer came to her flower shop and asked her to provide flowers for his gay wedding. Stutzman had known this man and had done business with him for about nine years. Nevertheless, she told him that she could not participate in his wedding “because of my relationship with Jesus.”
Samantha Elauf was apprehensive to interview for a sales job at retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in 2008 because the 17 year old wore a headscarf in accordance with her Muslim faith. But a friend of hers, who worked at the store, said he didn’t think it would be a problem as long as the headscarf wasn’t black because the store doesn’t sell black clothes.
This blog is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will keep people informed about current trends, current events, discussions and movements taking place within our church and culture.
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Hear Shocking Audio clips of Todd Friel Declaring the Catholic Inquisition Killed Only 3,000 People Over 600 Years. Why Do Evangelicals Help Rewrite Vatican History? | Worldview Weekend
What is Todd Friel Thinking? Topic: Hear shocking audio clips of Todd Friel declaring that the Catholic Inquisition killed only 3,000 people over 600 years. This is the same liberal line his friends at American Family Radio Network, which carries his program, were spouting a few days ago on the Facebook page of one of their radio hosts. Why would Todd Friel say something that is historically documented as being false? As we have discussed many times before, the Church of Rome… slaughtered 50 million Christians over 600 years and not 3,000 as Todd reports. Dr. David Plaisted documents the 50 million figure in his 84 page report that is online for free. Dr. Plaisted has many sources that document this figure of 50 million. Topic: Todd also says he is not defending this branch of Christianity that carried out the Inquisition. This sounded like Todd was saying that Catholicism was a branch of Christianity, which it is not.
Topic: Todd says that there were 150,000 trials during the inquisition but only 3,000 killed. These figures do not even pass the smell test and should reveal to Todd that his reporting is flawed. This would mean that the Church of Rome only convicted about 2% of those they put on trial for heresy and 98% they set free. Topic: Todd says that part of the Inquisition was being carried out by the Church of Rome against Catholics that were not practicing Catholicism correctly, and the Inquisition was more of an in-house event. Topic: Todd says the Inquisition was not a reign of terror per se. Tell that to the 50 million Christians killed that included people that were burned alive and buried alive. Todd might want to become less of a comedian and more of a researcher if he is going to cover such topics. Topic: Chris and Brannon discuss why these comments by Todd are very troubling. Topic: We take your calls.
(Part Two) Todd Friel Declares the Catholic Inquisition Killed Only 3,000 People Over 600 Years. Why Do Evangelicals Help Rewrite Vatican History? | Worldview Weekend
Guest: Justin Peters. Topic: A few people on Facebook wanted to know why it mattered if the Todd Friel was saying 3,000 people were killed in the 600 year inquisition versus the real number of 50 million. Today Brannon explains that it goes to the heart of the gospel and not allowing the Church of Rome to re-write history and thus portray itself as Christian and Christian friendly for their ecumenical agenda.
Topic: On the previous program Brannon did not play the clip of ho…w Todd started his discussion on the inquisition. Today you will hear that Todd starts his program and discussion on the Inquisition with a short clip from a Mel Brooks comedy skit on the Inquisition. If you Google the words of this comedy skit then do so at your own risk as it contains vulgar content. Is this appropriate? Is this how Christians or a serious and credible Christian broadcaster should set up a serious discussion of the Inquisition? Does Todd not know how or when it is or is not appropriate to be a comedian?
Topic: If Todd is so concerned about the Strange Fire facing evangelicalism from the Word of Faith and New Apostolic Reformation then why is he still on the air with American Family Radio that seems intent on continuing to promote and interview such NAR/WOF folks as Rick Joyner, Heidi Baker, Rod Parsley and others? Not to mention the AFA sponsored prayer rally in January of 2015 that featured as a keynote speaker Governor Jindal giving his testimony and describing himself as an evangelical Catholic. If Todd is really concerned about truth, ecumenicalism, and strange fire then we believe it is time for him to cut ties with AFR.
Topic: Justin Peters joins us to give his thoughts on the comments by Todd. Justin also joins us to discuss audio clips of Rick Joyner being interviewed by Sid Roth describing how he went to heaven, discussed sports with the Lord, and then went swimming with the Lord. It is interesting to note that Rick Joyner was recently interviewed by Tim Wildmon on American Family Radio Network. Topic: Sid Roth and Joyner talk about Catholic mystic monk Brother Lawrence in a positive light. This is nothing more than the promotion of mysticism. Justin explains why all of this is a real warning to true believers.
According to research conducted by University of California-Los Angeles, 27 percent of college freshmen no longer identify with a certain religion—the highest this trend has seen in 40 years.
According to the study conducted in 2014, among college freshman, 30 percent of men and 25.4 percent of women responded with “none” when asked a religious preference. This is an increase from a 1971 study that recorded 17.3 percent of men and 13.5 percent of women who responded with “none” as their selection.
[…]The same study also showed a profound increase in depression among college freshmen. There is an epidemic of “emotional health issues” within the same students, the study also found.
In speaking with Christians who left their faith in college, I have found that it’s…
And as he was setting out on his way, one individual ran up and knelt down before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do so that I will inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all that you have, and give the proceeds to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.” But he looked gloomy at the statement and went away sorrowful, because he had many possessions.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who possess wealth to enter into the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astounded at his words. But Jesus answered and said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” And they were very astounded, saying to one another, “And who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With human beings it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields on account of me and on account of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, together with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Reflection
The law says, You shall not commit adultery; but you may not even desire—kindling passion by curious and earnest looks. You shall not kill, says the law; but you are not even to return a blow. On the contrary, you are to offer yourself to the smiter. How much more ascetic is the gospel than the law! You shall not swear is the law; but you are not to swear at all, either a greater or a lesser oath, for an oath is the parent of perjury. You shall not join house to house, nor field to field, oppressing the poor; but you are to set aside willingly even your just possessions, and to be stripped for the poor, that without hindrance you may take up the cross and be enriched with the unseen riches.
—Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen
Response
What cares of this world have you elevated above following Jesus? Sometimes we prioritize even good things above our call to discipleship. Pray that your desire to follow Jesus would trump all of the good things in your life.[1]
[1] Van Noord, R., & Strong, J. (Eds.). (2014). 40 Days to the Cross: Reflections from Great Thinkers. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Because He’s the living God, He can hear. Because He’s a loving God, He will hear. —C.H. Spurgeon
Feb. 27, 2015
BLOOMBERG
U.S. regulators invoked broad powers to ensure that Web traffic for all users is treated equally, adopting net-neutrality rules that supporters say will preserve a wide-open Internet and that opponents vow to fight in court. The measure approved Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission prohibits companies such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. from blocking or slowing online traffic, or offering faster service in return for payment. It also brings wireless Internet service under the rules.
The nomination of Loretta Lynch to be U.S. attorney general was sent to the Senate floor over the concerns of some Republicans about her independence and support of President Barack Obama’s immigration policies.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will become the first U.S. governor to make a trade mission to Cuba on April 20, after President Obama’s decision to loosen restrictions on travel to the communist island nation.
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, confirmed for the first time that Iran was behind a cyber-attack against the Las Vegas Sands Corp. last year.
Senator Bob Corker emphasized his opposition to a proposal to audit Federal Reserve monetary policy while calling for more transparency on how it regulates banks. “I can’t imagine anything worse for the nation or for the free world than for Congress to get involved in monetary policy,” Corker, a Tennessee Republican who sits on the Banking Committee, said.
The economy in the U.S. expanded at a slower pace in the fourth quarter than previously reported, restrained by a smaller gain in stockpiles and widening trade gap, even as consumers continued to provide support. Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a 2.2 percent annualized rate, down from an initial estimate of 2.6 percent
President Obama’s administration has pledged to kill or capture the masked Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John,” who is pictured in videos beheading several hostages including Americans. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the U.S. has been “thinking about” and “working on” an effort to “hold accountable” the man, who was identified by the Washington Post Thursday as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old from London.
Three months after Saudi Arabia made clear it was going to let oil prices keep tumbling, the strategy is showing signs of working. U.S. drillers are idling rigs at a record pace, gutting investment plans and laying off thousands of workers. Those steps highlight how the Saudi-led OPEC decision on Nov. 27 to maintain output levels and protect its market share is having the desired effect — pushing prices down so far that they threaten to curb output in the U.S. and other non-OPEC countries.
AP Top Stories
Germany’s Parliament overwhelmingly approved the four-month extension of Greece’s financial bailout on Friday, despite unease over the new government in Athens.
A prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger known for speaking out against religious extremism was hacked to death as he walked through Bangladesh’s capital with his wife, police said Friday.
The health of a hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot held in a Russian jail has deteriorated significantly and she “could die within days,” a member of the Kremlin’s human rights council said on Friday.
More than 7,000 Virginians were involuntarily sterilized between 1924 and 1979 under the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act. Advocates for the surviving victims won a three-year fight when the Virginia General Assembly budgeted $400,000 to compensate them at the rate of $25,000 each. Nationwide, 65,000 Americans were sterilized in 33 states, including more than 20,000 in California alone. North Carolina approved payments of $50,000 for each victim in 2013.
Pictures of young Russian children posing with mock AK-47 rifles and other weapons at a kindergarten have provoked a storm of controversy, but some defended them as patriotic education.
Investigators said Thursday they have recovered 32,000 emails related to Lois Lerner, a former IRS official at the heart of the agency’s tea party scandal. But they don’t know how many of them are new.
Islamic State militants armed with sledgehammers and jackhammers have destroyed priceless ancient artefacts in Iraq’s city of Mosul, a video released by the jihadists Thursday shows.
BBC
A federal judge in Argentina dismissed accusations that President Cristina Fernandez had covered up alleged Iranian involvement in 1994 a bomb attack.
Ugandan police harassed and physically abused gay people in custody, including subjecting them to intrusive examinations, a rights report said.
Up to 40 Australian women have either taken part in terror attacks or support terrorist groups, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.
Iraqi minority groups are subject to a “systematic strategy” by IS to drive them out of the country, human rights groups warned.
A former aide of Osama Bin Laden has been found guilty of plotting the al-Qaeda bombing of US embassies in east Africa in 1998, killing 224 people.
WND
Islamic State militants have reportedly executed 15 Christians who have been captured in villages in northeastern Syria since Monday.
The Transportation Security Administration said it is unlikely to detect and unable to extinguish Thermite – a mixture of rust and aluminum powder – what an FBI report called “the greatest potential incendiary threat to aviation,” according to a classified document obtained by The Intercept. Yet despite that warning, sources said TSA is not adequately preparing to respond to the threat.
Daily Digest
February 27, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“Were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be, that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.” –James Madison, Federalist No. 55, 1788
There are only hours left until the clock strikes midnight and the Department of Homeland Security runs out of funding. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seemingly kissed up to the filibustering Democrat minority, passing a clean DHS funding bill that gives the department money to fund Barack Obama’s immigration executive actions, House Speaker John Boehner is not so compromising. When a reporter asked Thursday if Boehner would propose a clean DHS funding bill, he blew defiant kisses in reply. At the same press conference, Boehner said, “We passed a bill to fund the department six weeks ago. Six weeks ago! It’s time for the Senate to act. How many times do I have to say it?” So as a counteroffer, Boehner introduced a continuing resolution that would simply fund DHS for three weeks. While it buys the GOP more time, a defiant president waits at the end of the legislative process. Obama recently said if congressional Republicans “want to have a vote on whether what I’m doing is legal or not, they can have that vote. I will veto that vote.” Lawmakers, he says, don’t have the power to make laws.
As expected, the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved so-called net neutrality rules. Fox News reports, “[T]he rules, more broadly, would put the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the telephone by classifying it like a public utility, meaning providers like Comcast or Verizon would have to act in the ‘public interest’ when providing [an Internet] connection to your home or phone. Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai, who delivered some of the most scathing criticism of the plan Thursday, warned the policy represents a ‘monumental shift’ to ‘government control of the Internet.'” Pai also criticized FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for his secrecy and the length of the “332-page Internet regulation plan.” According to FCC counsel Gigi Sohn, however, only eight of those pages contain actual regulation — the rest is supporting documentation. Clearly this is not a black-and-white subject, and the jury is still out on whether the FCC’s ruling will do more good than harm, but that’s mostly because it doesn’t go to the crux of the problem, which is lack of competition. The FCC’s action won’t create more of it. Indeed, it’s not at all clear it will usher in a neutral net. What is clear, however, is that the greatest invention since Gutenberg’s printing press will now be regulated by a bureaucracy that still struggles to build a functioning website. More…
It’s CPAC time, baby! Yesterday, the Republican Party’s presidential hopefuls addressed the 10,000 grassroots conservatives gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference, hoping to drum up support in what The Wall Street Journal calls one of the most populated primary contests in recent history. After eight years of Barack Obama, the GOP needs to decide how the party will grow. Some highlights: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told the audience, “In America we celebrate our independence from the government, not our dependence on it.” Sen. Ted Cruz warned establishment Republicans are “cutting a deal” with the Left on Immigration. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal blasted the constitution-breaking president, saying, “It is time for our Republican leaders in Congress to grow a spine” to confront him. It’s all tough talk aimed at tickling the ears of the defenders of Liberty who live far-removed from the Beltway. But in the end, when the temporary tattoos wash away, the NRA rifle is raffled off and everybody goes home, what matters is how these politicians did or did not defend Liberty in the positions they now occupy. More…
In an op-ed for USA Today, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker responded indirectly to the grilling he received over Rudy Giuliani’s recent comments about Barack Obama’s patriotism. “Americans believe our nation is facing some substantial challenges,” Walker wrote. “Government spending is out of control. Terrorists seek to destroy our way of life. Our economic recovery has been slow. Our borders aren’t secure. The federal government has usurped powers that rightly belong to our states.” In other words, these issues are the serious ones. He concluded, “There has been much discussion about a media double standard where Republicans are covered differently than Democrats, asked to weigh in on issues the Democrats don’t face. As a result, when we refuse to take the media’s bait, we suffer. I felt it this week when I was asked to weigh in on what other people said and did and what others’ beliefs are. If you are looking for answers to those questions, ask those people. I will always choose to focus on what matters to the American people, not what matters to the media.” That approach is just one reason why Ronald Reagan was so successful.
Journalist Emily Miller’s journey to navigate the snarls of the District of Columbia’s gun laws began in 2011, when she inadvertently came face-to-face with a criminal while armed with only her cell phone. Her quest for a handgun in the nation’s most anti-gun city is nearing its conclusion as she was recently approved for a permit to carry in the city. But even after the Heller decision, the process is insurmountably high for citizens to exercise their right to bear arms because citizens have to demonstrate they have a reason (the Constitution evidently isn’t sufficient) to convince the police to okay their firearm permit. “I got the police reports from two different threats against me, as well as an FBI warning that a terror group is targeting journalists,” Miller wrote. “I turned in my application at the end of November. … I didn’t hear anything until early February. … Keep in mind, any American can apply for a D.C. gun permit. But so far, only 76 have done so. Thirty-one were denied. Five cancelled their own applications. And 16 were approved.” This is what the Second Amendment looks like under a mayor who declared she hates guns. While she swore to “protect the Constitution and what the courts say,” she promises to do the opposite: “I will do it in the most restrictive way as possible.”
Editor’s Note
The New York Times has the scoop of the month: “The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said this month that it planned to restrict the armor-piercing 5.56-millimeter ‘M855 green tip’ rifle bullet because of new handguns that use the ammunition and pose a greater threat to the police.”
Oh, wait. We covered that critical Second Amendment issue almost two weeks ago. The New York Times: All the news that’s fit to get around to eventually.
There are varying opinions about the threat the Islamic State poses in the Middle East and Europe, and apparently there is no consensus about the coinciding Islamic threat against U.S. domestic targets.
That confusion was on full display from the White House to Capitol Hill this week.
After three Islamists were arrested in New York for plotting to either join 20,000 other foreigners now among ISIL’s ranks, or turn their sites on domestic targets, FBI Director James Comey warned, “We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalization in all 50 states. … This isn’t a New York phenomenon or a Washington phenomenon, this is all 50 states. … [Radicalization prospects] exist in every state. I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state.”
That notwithstanding, after a very bloody year, John Kerry had this to say in congressional testimony: “Our citizens, our world today is actually, despite ISIL, despite the visible killings that you see and how horrific they are, we are actually living in a period of less daily threat to Americans and to people in the world. … We are actually living in a period of less daily threat to Americans and people in the world — less deaths, less violent deaths today — than through the last century.”
Kerry took a break from more important business like announcing the first-ever Special Envoy for the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Persons, to spin Obama’s blinding Islamophilia on the Islamic threat.
A day after Kerry’s testimony, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper demolished the Obama/Kerry’s assessment, and set the record straight: “When the final accounting is done, 2014 will have been the most lethal year for global terrorism in the 45 years such data has been compiled. … In my 50-plus years in the intelligence business, I don’t know of a time that has been more beset by challenges and crises around the world. I worry a lot about the safety and security of this country. … The homegrown a violent extremists continue to post the most likely threat to our homeland.”
Former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was already on record chastising Obama’s Islamic blind spot, also buried Kerry’s assessment: “Secretary Kerry is out of touch with reality. He clearly is not listening to the entire U.S. intelligence community. He is not reading any of the intelligence or other things that have been written over the last few weeks — months — years.”
It is abundantly clear that Obama’s assessment of ISIL as the “JV team,” and his assertion that concern about terrorism is the result of “media hype” and not actual threats, has no basis in reality.
National Journal’s left-of-center Ron Fournier admits, “What worries me is, I think we’re going to get hit. [Islamists are] going to hit us… The problem is these semantic gymnastics, this lack of clarity, the dithering … is going to make it hard for [Obama] to unite more than his base. … [Obama] is either spinning and looking week … or he’s not spinning and he is weak. That’s a devil’s choice.”
But Charles Krauthammer concludes, “I don’t actually think the president’s spinning it. I think he truly believes that this is a tranquil era. … I think he’s internally placid about all of this. … I think we really have a president who believes that stuff and it’s not spin and that, I think, is worse.”
Meanwhile, ISIL’s rampage continues apace. The terrorist group this week abducted at least 220, but some estimates say as many as 400, Christians. Fifteen have reportedly been killed. Following last week’s massacre of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, ISIL’s attacks on Christians and all nonbelievers are clearly accelerating. Obama just thinks they’re just angry about the Crusades.
As for the domestic terrorist threat, while the media refers to these deadly assaults as “lone wolf attacks” and a “homegrown Western threat,” these are dangerous mischaracterizations. All these actors, whether domestic or foreign, are part of an ideological Islamist web that is metastasizing globally.
Obama’s appeasement of Islamists has resulted in the bloodiest year of terrorism on record. And as Mark Alexander notes, “[R]egarding Obama’s attempt to pivot from the threat of a global Jihad caliphate to ‘climate change,’ I assure you that the real “global warming” threat we face today is an apocalyptic trigger on an evermore accessible fission weapon that can be detonated in an American urban center.”
Earlier this week the Census Bureau released more bad news for the current regime: The rate of homeownership has fallen to a 20-year low, continuing a slide that began at the apex of the housing market in 2004. Ten years ago, 69% of Americans owned homes, but that has fallen to 64.5% in 2014. As Joe Biden keeps telling us, Barack Obama’s economy is terrible: “The middle class is being killed.”
Unfortunately, the economic conditions that led to the dramatic increase in the decade from 1994 to 2004 can’t be duplicated today. What was once an era of steady, mainly full-time employment and ample economic growth has now stagnated to a point where those most likely to enter the housing market and become owners are saddled with part-time gigs and staggering student loan debt. Meanwhile, older generations have been struggling with issues of their own, as the equity they once possessed in their homes has long since been wiped out, leaving some unable to keep the dwellings they once owned.
After the housing bubble a decade ago led to the economic devastation of 2008, it would make sense to tighten the housing market and have banks ensure that borrowers are more qualified. But recent steps by Barack Obama’s Federal Housing Administration indicate the desire to return to the reckless practices that wrecked our economy in the first place.
Granted, a simple change in lending fees may not be all that significant, but further guidance in the direction of easing credit is likely. Greater demand for housing will bring prices back up, which in turn will reduce the number of homeowners who are “under water” with their mortgages. But since the federal government guarantees much of the mortgage industry, those who are just starting out will again be lured by easy mortgage money. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now have a lot of recent experience flipping homes from borrowers who defaulted.
In short, the seemingly laudable goal of encouraging homeownership could lead us down a path we already saw isn’t desirable. As the wise old financial guru Yogi Berra used to say, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969): “[The Founders] proclaimed to all the world the revolutionary doctrine of the divine rights of the common man. That doctrine has ever since been the heart of the American faith.”
Columnist Charles Krauthammer: “The news from the nuclear talks with Iran was already troubling. Iran was being granted the ‘right to enrich.’ … Then it got worse: News leaked Monday of the ‘sunset clause.’ President Obama had accepted the Iranian demand that any restrictions on its program be time-limited. … Meanwhile, Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missile program is subject to no restrictions at all. It’s not even part of these negotiations. Why is Iran building them? You don’t build ICBMs in order to deliver sticks of dynamite. Their only purpose is to carry nuclear warheads. Nor does Iran need an ICBM to hit Riyadh or Tel Aviv. Intercontinental missiles are for reaching, well, other continents. North America, for example. … Consider where we began: six U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding an end to Iranian enrichment. Consider what we are now offering: an interim arrangement ending with a sunset clause that allows the mullahs a robust, industrial-strength, internationally sanctioned nuclear program. Such a deal makes the Cuba normalization look good and the Ukrainian cease-fires positively brilliant. We are on the cusp of an epic capitulation. History will not be kind.”
Columnist David Harsanyi: “The Obama administration values a future relationship with Iran more than it values the historic relationship it has with Israel. … First, Americans were supposed to be outraged because Netanyahu engaged in a breach of protocol. Then we were supposed to be outraged because the speech would be given too close to the upcoming Israeli elections. … But if the Israeli elections … are so problematic, then the controversy should be centered on the behavior of the prime minister, not the substance of his argument. That’s not the case, is it? … [T]he problem isn’t protocol, Israeli elections, patriotism or partisanship. It’s the fact that Netanyahu is going to make a powerful argument against enabling Iran to become a nuclear power. Many Americans will hear it – or of it. Many Americans will agree. … Critics of Netanyahu act as if opposing Obama’s Iranian deal is tantamount to declaring war on Iran. In the long run, allowing Iran to become nuclear might well mean war. … Surely, hearing out the case of an ally that is persistently threatened by Holocaust-denying Iranian officials doesn’t need to come with this much angst from Democrats. But if it does, it’s worth asking why.”
Comedian Seth Meyers: “John Boehner said … Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL pipeline was a ‘national embarrassment.’ And then, out of habit, Joe Biden said, ‘Here!'”
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.
NATIONAL REVIEW — Two prominent House committee chairs are “deeply disappointed” in Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler for refusing to testify before Congress as “the future of the Internet is at stake.”… (more)
WASHINGTON EXAMINER — Liberal philanthropist George Soros and the Ford Foundation have lavished groups supporting the administration’s “net neutrality” agenda, donating $196 million and landing proponents on the White House staff, according to a new report…. (more)
THE HILL — This Thursday, Feb. 26, will be a fateful day for the future of the Internet. In the nearly 40 years that I have been involved in communications law and policy, including serving as the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) associate general counsel, this action, without a doubt, is one of the agency’s most misguided…. (more)
NEWSMAX — More than a third of Americans don’t think President Barack Obama loves America, a new survey shows. According to the Huffington Post/YouGov survey, 47 percent believe Obama loves his country, and 35 percent said he doesn’t. Seventeen percent weren’t sure…. (more)
NEWSMAX — Rep. Steve King told Newsmax Wednesday that he will not support any Senate-backed legislation to provide $39.7 billion to the Department of Homeland Security without defunding President Barack Obama’s immigration orders – – and he doesn’t mind shutting down the agency to stop the president’s executive overreach…. (more)
YAHOO NEWS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rebuffed criticism in Washington of his plans to speak in Congress, accusing world powers of forsaking a pledge to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons…. (more)
BOB UNRUH — A Washington-based think tank focused on national security has released a dossier on Muslim U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., charging his association with radical Islamic groups warrants his removal from the House Intelligence Committee…. (more)
WES VERNON, RA ANALYST — You are being robbed blind. If you’ve looked at your tax bill lately, that may not be a great shock to you. But the sheer genius by which American taxpayers are being ripped off, often with a wink from government, is nothing short of outrageous… (more)
PATRICK GARRY — The conservative opposition to Obamacare is well documented, as are the problems with the law and the unpopularity of it. With each passing day, the American public becomes increasingly aware of the costs and burdens of the Affordable Care Act…. (more)
THE HILL — A Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission wants to see changes that could narrow the scope of new net neutrality rules set for a vote on Thursday… (more)
WASHINGTON POST — In a few days, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on the government’s strict new net neutrality rules for Internet providers… (more)
WASHINGTON TIMES — The U.S. military is shedding so many troops and weapons it is only “marginally able” to defend the nation and falls short of the Obama administration’s national security strategy, according to a new report by The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday…. (more)
JEROME R. CORSI — As the Obama administration negotiates a controversial nuclear agreement with Iran, a dissident group is revealing evidence Tehran is operating a secret uranium-enrichment site northeast of the capital city…. (more)
WASHINGTON TIMES — The State Department has helped to relocate tens of thousands of refugees from the war-torn African nation of Somalia to Minnesota, where they can take advantage of some of America’s most generous welfare and charity programs…. (more)
AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM — The majority (52 percent) of Obamacare enrollees receiving an advance premium tax credit to purchase Obamacare insurance is facing the prospect of paying back $530 of that tax credit to the IRS, according to a new study from H&R Block. This clawback is reducing the refunds for these taxpayers by 17 percent this filing season…. (more)
BOB UNRUH — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Tuesday opened the throttle on his effort to torpedo President Obama’s nomination of Loretta Lynch to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, tweeting his opposition and writing in Politico that her “radical positions” are more than alarming…. (more)
WASHINGTON TIMES — President Obama on Tuesday sided firmly with environmentalists in vetoing a bill that would approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a move that sparked a bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill and deepened a rift between the administration and key Democratic allies in organized labor…. (more)
DAILY CALLER — Three days before the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on the most significant Internet regulations in history, two commissioners are asking Chairman Tom Wheeler to delay the vote and release his proposal to the public…. (more)
PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY — “It hit a nerve,” Rudy Giuliani observed about his widely reported insight that President Obama does not love America. Amid the uproar from the liberal media that anyone would dare question a liberal’s patriotism, the former mayor of New York City is not backing away from his candid comment, telling the New York Times that “I said exactly what I wanted to say. I conveyed exactly the message that I wanted to convey.”… (more)
NEWSMAX — President Barack Obama’s widely-criticized analysis of Christian history and Islamic extremism reflect the education he received outside the United States, Kansas Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp contends…. (more)
BREITBART — An Oregon Democrat believes that the fight for amnesty for illegal immigrants is the “civil rights battle” for millennials that will decide who controls the the country for the next three decades…. (more)
BOB UNRUH — A legal brief filed in a federal court in Texas warns that if the judge decides to reverse himself and allow President Obama’s amnesty program to move forward right away, it could cost U.S. taxpayers $144 billion…. (more)
INVESTORS.COM — France, Belgium and now even liberal Denmark regret letting in so many immigrants from Muslim countries. Their swelling Islamic communities have become breeding grounds for terrorists. So why is the U.S. opening the floodgates to foreign Muslims?… (more)
WORLDNETDAILY — The emerging U.S.-led deal that would allow Iran to enrich uranium at a limited rate, with the restrictions easing over time, poses a “great danger” to the Western world and Israel from a “messianic, apocalyptic” nation, Israel’s defense minister declared Monday…. (more)
Ireland’s prime minister Enda Kenny has now given his approval of same-sex marriage, urging voters to say “yes” on an upcoming referendum to redefine the institution, reports LifeSiteNews. During his address to the Fine Gael national conference, the prime minister said that approving the referendum would show the world that the once predominantly Catholic Ireland has now become a “fair, compassionate, and tolerant nation.” “I believe that this is the right thing to do. I, and the Fine Gael Party, strongly support a Yes vote,” Kenny said. Various Irish news outlets attributed Kenny’s sudden choice to go public with his endorsement from recent coming out statements made by Ireland’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar last month that he is homosexual. Varadkar’s coming out echoed previous statements made by former Irish government Minister for Equality Pat Carey, who said in an interview that he hoped his coming out would help encourage conservative and traditional voters to redefine marriage. FULL STORY
US Secretary of State John Kerry questioned Netanyahu’s stance on Iran by criticizing him for supporting the Iraq war. (Photo: Facebook)
John Kerry is at it again with his remarks against Netanyahu and Israel! This time In a new wave of criticism against Israel’s prime minister, US Secretary of State John Kerry attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judgment on Iran by implying that he publicly advocated for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Kerry’s comments were made Wednesday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting in an attempt to discredit and delegitimize Netanyahu’s evaluation of the Iranian threat. “The prime minister was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq,” Kerry stated. He went on to add that Netanyahu “may have a judgment that just may not be correct here.” In 2002, Netanyahu warned a Congressional committee about the dangers of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. His comments were made as a private citizen and not a governmental figure. Conveniently, Kerry failed to mention in his testimony on Wednesday that he voted, as a then senator, in favor of the US invasion of Iraq on October 11, 2002. FULL REPORT
Tensions between China and America aren’t getting any better, especially after a new report that China is developing significant space warfare capabilities that threaten U.S. strategic satellite systems, this comes from a report from the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command told Congress on Thursday. He went on to say “We’ve seen very disturbing trends in space, particularly from nation states like China, as well as Russia, who have been public about their counter space endeavors and ambitions,” Counter Space is the military term for space warfare capabilities and weapons. China conducted a test of a missile-fired anti-satellite kill vehicle as recently as last summer, Haney told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. –Source and Full Story
What the heck is going on in Siberia that is so mysterious that even the scientists are too nervous to continue studying? Last summer news of a bizarre occurrence surfaced that no one could explain. Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive crater appeared in one of the planet’s most inhospitable lands. Early estimates said the crater, nestled in a land called “the ends of the Earth” where temperatures can sink far below zero, yawned nearly 30 metres in diameter. Later we discovered that the Siberian crater wasn’t alone. There were two more, ratcheting up the tension in a drama that hit its climax as a probable explanation surfaced. Climate change had thawed the permafrost, which had caused methane trapped inside the icy ground to explode. “Gas pressure increased until it was high enough to push away the overlaying layers in a powerful injection, forming the crater,” one German scientist said at the time. FULL STORY
An alarming report coming out of Britain may wake you up to just how much Islamic influence has gripped the UK! According to a new report London has set its sights on becoming the world center for the Islamic finance industry according to the UK’s foreign office minister for Middle East. Speaking at The Telegraph’s Middle East Congress on Wednesday, Tobias Ellwood, under secretary of state at the Foreign Office, said the capital had ambitions to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as a global hub for Islamic finance. FULL REPORT
2 Timothy 3:1 – But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come
The bible warns us that violence would increase as we come closer to the return of the Lord and According to a new report Terrorist attacks have been the worst seen in over 45 Years! “When the final counting is done, 2014 will have been the most lethal year for global terrorism in the 45 years such data has been compiled,” DNI Director James Clapper told Congress, adding that about half of all attacks took place in three states: Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Last year from January to September, around 13,000 terror attacks were carried out, resulting in 31,000 fatalities By contrast, in 2013, 22,000 people were killed in terrorist violence in over 11,500 attacks, Clapper disclosed during a wide-ranging world threat briefing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. FULL REPORT
ISIS operatives could be your neighbor next door, the guy selling jewelry in the Mall, a waiter at your favorite restaurant or the guy who sold kitchenware and repaired mobile phones? In fact that is the case according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. where Abror Habibov, 30, operated kiosks at malls along the East Coast and Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, worked at kiosks in Savannah, Ga.; Philadelphia and Chesapeake, Va. Abdurasul Juraboev, 24, a Uzbekistan native and legal permanent U.S. resident, worked at the Gyro King restaurant in Brooklyn. Until their arrests Wednesday in connection with an alleged failed attempt to join ISIS in Syria, Saidakhmetov and Juraboev appeared to live the mundane lives of ordinary Brooklyn immigrants. They also appeared careless in planning their alleged plot. One man, for instance, showed up at U.S. Homeland Security offices to apply for a travel document, authorities said. They sometimes communicated online because they believed it would be harder for authorities to trace. FULL REPORT
Luke 17:28 – Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Are you ready to see “Same Sex Throuples”? Photos of three Thailand men who recently ‘married’ each other have gone viral, garnering societal support for the concept of same-sex “throuples” worldwide, but also generating remarks from Christians about the confirmation of the slippery slope that has long been predicted. The 3 men identified as Joke, Belle and Art Thani, reportedly participated in a traditional water-pouring ceremony on Feb. 15 and had photographs taken of their union. However, the act was more of a symbolic gesture as neither homosexuality or polygamy are legal in Thailand. As I have said before the Spirit of Sodom is alive and well and is spreading across the World! As we approach closer to the Return of the Lord the world will become darker and stranger more and more!
How would you feel about your Pastor promoting “Obamacare” from the Pulpit of your church? well according to a report, the Obama administration has created a little-known “toolkit” encouraging and guiding pastors to do just that and promote ObamaCare to their parishioners, complete with bulletin inserts and talking points to be used from the pulpit. The toolkit, discovered by The Weekly Standard’s Jeryl Bier, is part of the Obama administration’s efforts to partner with parishes and their communities as the the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is fully implemented. The toolkit includes sample bulletin inserts, talking points, and sample preacher scripts. The full title is the “Second Sunday & Faith Weekend of Action Toolkit.” FULL REPORT
In a matter of seconds, the timelapse video shows the sinkhole being completely flooded in a matter of seconds
Amazing footage has surfaced of a vast sinkhole in the backyard of a Darwin resident being flooded with about 100 million litres of water in a matter of seconds. The time lapse vision, which took place over about five hours during a cyclone last Friday, shows the sinkhole being completely engulfed . The owner of the Darwin River property where the sinkhole is situated said it is still standing after a week, reports NT News.Lance Hart, who named the sinkhole Lake WTF, said his family regularly mount a camera onto a tree to document changes from the rain. Between 4am and 9am, the crater was filled. ‘It’s like the whole thing filled up in around five hours,’ he told NT News. FULL STORY
The Utter Failure Of Evangelical Christian Groups Like ’21 Martyrs’ To Understand Islam
ISIS is Islam. They are not radical extremists. There is no such thing. Islam is neither a religion nor peaceful. It is a totalitarian ideology based on violence and control.
“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:10 (KJV)
Friday night I received an email from the founder of a self-described Christian event planning organization, who wrote, “Over the last 48 hours we have focused our creativity and resources on supporting an appropriate response to the 21 Egyptian Christian martyrs.” He goes on to explain that his team created a website, asked thousands of churches to have a “Moment of Silence” on Sunday, February 22, and is encouraging people to pray every morning during Lent at 7:03 a.m. for “solidarity.” source
This email highlights two enormous problems associated with self-described American Christians. First, either they are entirely ignorant or blatantly hypocritical or both, when it comes to which “crisis” to pray about, why, and when. Why ask now for prayer—because 21 Christians were killed on a video?
Why was there no “solidarity through prayer” movement initiated after:
The “n” genocide campaign that slaughtered Iraqi Christians to near extinction, sticking little children’s heads on posts,
The Gitmo terrorist working with the Taliban who Obama released illegally killed several hundred Pakistani children after making them watch their teacher burn alive,
Open Doors reported that, “the year 2014 has seen more global persecution of Christians than any other year in recent history,”
More than one million Syrian refugees, still suffering in camps have had their children stolen to sex traffickers or have sent them off for “early marriage,”
And—this list doesn’t even come close to listing what happened last year alone. In fact, Persecution.org recently drew attention to the fact that persecution of Christians is daily, and has been for decades.
If people want to pray after 21 martyrs were beheaded perhaps they should recognize that every single person, including many Christians, who twice voted a member of the Muslim Brotherhood into the White House have the blood of these Christians on their heads.
Which brings me to my second point: this email reveals that far too many Christians know nothing about Islam, who Barack Obama is, or what right action they should take in response.
Muslims who behead non-Muslims like ISIS, are following the Quran’s instructions and Muhammad’s example. Muhammad initiated beheading—by first beheading thousands of Jews after he stole their possessions and women and children. He beheaded them in the public square in Medina for everyone there to witness.
Islam literally means submission to Allah, as outlined in the Quran. Submission or death, are the only two choices for non-Muslims. Anyone who argues otherwise is lying or deceived.
To Clarify: Obama is a Muslim and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egyptian officials on numerous occasions attest to this truth; even its major newspaper confirmed this on its front page. Comprehensive, sourced information about the Muslim Brotherhood can be found here; but its motto is:
“Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu Akbar!”
The FBI, Homeland Security, and the U.S. military have revised and limited their “counter-terror” training, removing all language related to Muslims from their materials,
14 Muslim leaders, including several from Muslim Brotherhood front groups that have ties to Hamas were just in the White House,
(The State Department recently admitted that it lied about hosting a meeting at Georgetown University with members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Additionally, Khairat El-Shater, the number two man in the Muslim Brotherhood hierarchy—now in custody by the Egyptian military claims he has documents to prove that U.S. government officials bribed Muslim Brotherhood leaders.)
To Clarify: Obama has been working with funders in Qatar for the last decade: to advance Islam.
Obama created, funds, and used the U.S. military to train ISIS in Jordan and Qatar. Even one of ISIS’s leaders, Yousef al-Salafi in Pakistan, told reporters that, “the Obama Administration is funding ISIS.”
To Clarify: Obama is not fighting ISIS because our military trained them and our tax dollars continue to fund them.
This is why Obama refused to back Egypt’s bombing of ISIS in Libya after Christians were slaughtered, and why he rejected the Jordanian president’s request for aid. In the entire history of the United States our military has never ever not once left working artillery, weapons, and ammunition for the enemy’s use until Barack Obama.
From the 21 Martyrs website:
If people want to pray after 21 martyrs were beheaded perhaps they should recognize that every single person, including many Christians, who twice voted a member of the Muslim Brotherhood into the White House have the blood of these Christians on their heads.
This was well planned and began prior to when American operatives in 2004 smuggled Gaddafi’s weapons from Benghazi to Turkish mercenaries, who were then trained to overthrow Assad. Once the Syrian crisis spilled across the border, it was a matter of time for ISIS to become what it is now, and what it will become—because it will get worse.
Where and how do “praying Christians” think ISIS acquired their guns, trucks, and ammo? Or where do they think ISIS is using U.S. military weapons and brand new Toyota trucks?
Barack Obama is guilty of treason for funding, harboring, aiding, and abetting America’s enemies as defined by the U.S. Constitution. He is also guilty of committing crimes against humanity as defined by the International Human Rights Court, including orchestrating genocide.
Praying at 7:03 every morning is not the answer to ISIS or genocide. Nor is suggesting solidarity among thousands of churches to pray for a few minutes on Sunday morning before congregants continue on with the rest of their day.
To Clarify: I do not devalue prayer; it is necessary for life.
It’s incredibly disconcerting to receive an email from someone who owns an apartment in Manhattan, hobnobs with people from the Hamptons to the Berkshires, Los Angeles, and London, who charges exorbitant rates for Christians to hear speakers they could otherwise hear for free elsewhere, that only confirms too many self-describing Christians are completely out of touch with reality.
What is needed today in the Christian community, from leaders, pastors, and ordinary citizens, is to name and fight evil. This requires courage to name and hold accountable everyone in our government guilty of treason. The government is God’s instrument for justice, to restrain evil and promote its citizen’s wellbeing. The American government is in shambles and has failed its people.
Every Christian should read the Quran to understand its perversity. Christians do not worship Allah, who is a revised version of Baal. Jesus is not a prophet who points to Allah. And unlike Muhammad, Jesus did not behead people.
Islam is evil because it enslaves people to a false ideology that promotes nothing but violence. Christians are commanded to rescue those trapped in bondage, to deliver the oppressed, the widows, orphans, and those traded like candy bars, who are completely defenseless.
By remaining silent or even justifying Obama in any way, instead of exposing his crimes, Christians actually condone ISIS. Obama has made known his support for Islam in his books and speeches. Yet, he and many in Congress remain unchallenged and freely commit grievous crimes against humanity.
If Christians claim to be committed to social justice (defending the poor, the widow, the orphan) then why are they astoundingly silent about an administration and congress that has, more than any other previously combined, created unspeakable suffering for widows, orphans, and the poor—in the name of Islam?
Prayer is definitely needed—to convict the arrogant, selfish, self-righteous, and ignorant that enable the travesty of ISIS. Prayer is also needed for those who have the courage to stand for what is right.
What is right is what Jesus screams about in Matthew 23. What is right is what God commands throughout the Bible specifically in Ezekiel 3 and 33.
Otherwise “celebrating” Lent or Easter only makes a mockery of Jesus Christ, provides a false witness to non-believers and creates a false sense of self worth for people to feel better about themselves when they pray every morning at 7:03 a.m.
Outrage As Homeland Security Sec’y Says His Main Job Is ‘Giving Voice To Muslims In America’
At the White House’s Summit on Extremism, Homeland Security Chief, Jeh Johnson said: “My job is to give voice to the plight of Muslims in this country.”
He stands firmly with his boss, Mr. Obama, on protecting the Muslim community.
ARE THESE GUYS SERIOUS??
Forgive me, but I’ve had just about enough of this political correctness, and protecting Muslims at every turn. Mr. Johnson goes on to say that in his travels, he hears from the Muslim community that they feel discriminated against.
REALLY?
Where are these same people, who need to be vocal in denouncing the terrorist acts of Muslims?? I’m sorry, but I must be missing coverage of this on the news. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.
“Homeland Insecurity: Now we know why the White House refused to provide reporters a list of participants attending its three-day “Summit on Countering Violent Extremism.” Some participants are extremists themselves.
Also, now we know why Obama’s summit seemed to defend Muslim extremists — rationalizing their violence as a reaction to “economic and political grievances” — not try to defeat them. Among other radical guests, President Obama invited Iraq-born Salam al-Marayati, who heads a Los Angeles-based Islamist group founded by two Muslim Brotherhood operatives, according to former federal terrorist prosecutor Andrew McCarthy.
Al-Marayati has a long record of defending terrorists and justifying violence against non-Muslims — an easy one for the White House to vet for extremism. He once proclaimed that “When Patrick Henry said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death,’ that statement epitomized jihad.” He’s also compared Muslim terrorists to “American freedom fighters hundreds of years ago (who) were also regarded as terrorists by the British.” [1] – source
Obama’s Threat To ‘Fundamentally Transform’ America Is Now Nearly Complete
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” — Barack Obama, October 30, 2008
Obama said in 2008 that he planned to “Fundamentally Transform America.” He has remained true to that promise. Those of us who love and cherish our country, did not see a need for transformation. I do not believe that anyone other than the radical left, knew that this president meant a complete transformation from top to bottom, and a change in foreign relations.
He began his destruction of our country, with the infamous “Apology Tour.” Of course he went to those who have a history of despising the U.S. — Arabic countries. His talk of Muslims, and how much they have contributed to society, was really our first clue as to Mr. Obama’s plans. He spoke outright lies about America, and that she was never a Christian country. He downplayed our exceptionalism, as if it was an evil thing.
WHO IS THIS MAN?
First, the reader must know that Obama is a creation of George Soros. Soros first presented his “Frankenstein” to the world at the DNC in 2004 as the keynote speaker. It seemed that overnight BHO became the talk of the town in Washington circles.
Soros groomed BHO to become the darling of the Left. A brilliant scheme, actually — he was black, handsome, well spoken and Communist. He got his start in Chicago as a community organizer (that’s always a Socialist program) then became a state Senator (propped up by the Chicago Democratic Socialist Party) and then on to Washington to wreak havoc, and so he has ever since.
Soros is a multibillionaire, whose favorite pastime is using his money to shake up countries, and bring them as far left as possible. I would say that Soros might be the most evil man who walks the planet right now — well, maybe in the top three. Even thought Soros himself is a billionaire, he HATES capitalism, and seeks to destroy it wherever he can.
DRUGS, SEX AND MURDER
Although Obama’s camp has attempted to silence those who know of his checkered past, the truth has a way of coming out. You can visit website after website where Obama’s cocaine habit and his being part of the gay community are well documented. Unfortunately, many of his former lovers have been murdered; many of them from his church, led by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
So, now you know some of the past of the one who resides at the White House as our leader. Is it any surprise that this man is now on a rampage to destroy America?
He has placed the MOST radical Islamists in positions all over our government. I recently wrote a piece on Mohamed Elibiary, who Obama put in a key position in our DHS. Elibiary was relieved of his duties there last September. There have been rumors of him leaking sensitive information, which is extremely troubling, since this man is a member and staunch supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Obama has had multiple meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood in the White House. The last meeting he arranged, the press was banned from attending. How are we allowing this to happen?? This is America — not Russia!
NO PLAN TO DESTROY ISIS
The rest of the country calls this Islamic killing machine “ISIS” but Obama and his minions call them ISIL. This is because of his hatred of Israel. The “L” stands for the Levant. It is a territory that includes Israel, which the terrorists plan to take, as they spread like cockroaches across the Middle East.
He has made it clear that there will be NO boots on the ground. I have read from credible sources that our so-called airstrikes against ISIS have been minimal, and when they do happen, they are hitting empty buildings.
IMPORTING MUSLIMS TO THE US
“Between 2010 and 2013, the Obama administration imported almost 300,000 new immigrants from Muslim nations — more immigrants than the U.S. let in from Central America and Mexico combined over that period… Many of the recent Muslim immigrants are from terrorist hot spots like Iraq, where the Islamic State operates. From 2010-2013, Obama ushered in 41,094 Iraqi nationals from there… House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul called the new policy “a federally sanctioned welcome party to potential terrorists.” [1] – source
INTENSE HATRED OF ISRAEL AND NETANYAHU
There has never been a president of the U.S. who has been as hateful, disrespectful and shown as much disdain for Israel and her leader like this president. He doesn’t even attempt to hide this hatred. My words here pale in comparison to God’s Holy Word:
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:3 (KJV)
The United States of America is now cursed by God because of this president.
THE END OF THE U.S.
If Obama is not removed from office for high treason and for aiding and abetting the enemies of the United States, then we can expect that our country will be taken over by Islamists, and what we see happening in the Middle East, WILL happen here.
Even countries in the region, including Egypt, are alarmed at the actions of Barack Obama. Elsisi of Egypt knows full well that BHO had a hand in the so-called “Arab Spring.” They know that Obama is close friends with Mohamed Morsi — the ousted and imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leader. There are even law suits in Egypt against our president!
GOD IS IN CONTROL
As much as I despise what I see happening in the U.S., because I believe that the Word of God is true, and that His prophecies will ALL be fulfilled, I realize that what is happening here must be part of the plan.
As Christians, we should still speak out against evil!
Sign Of Judgment? Total Solar Eclipse On March 20th Falls In The Middle Of The Four Blood Red Moons
The total solar eclipse on March 20th falls on Nisan 1, which is the first day of the first month of the Biblical calendar. According to Jewish tradition, a solar eclipse on Nisan 1 is a sign of judgment. And this has certainly been true in the past. For example, there was a solar eclipse on Nisan 1 in 70 AD. Later that year, the Romans attacked Jerusalem and completely destroyed the Temple. What makes all of this even more interesting is the fact that the solar eclipse on March 20th falls right in the middle of the blood moon tetrad, and it also happens to fall during the Shemitah year. If you are not a believer, you may be tempted to dismiss all of this as some sort of extremely bizarre coincidence. If you are a believer, you also might be skeptical. But by the end of this article, at least you will understand what so many people are talking about right now. (Read More…)
Not again! Meet Obama’s new controversial pastor
Rev. Jim Wallis, a member of President Obama’s “faith council” who is described as a spiritual adviser to the president, is a socialist activist who has championed communist causes and previously labeled the U.S. “the great captor and destroyer of human life.”
After bashing Netanyahu, top Obama aide Rice to address AIPAC
In a bid to ease soaring tensions with Israel over a potential Iran nuclear deal, the White House has decided against snubbing America’s leading pro-Israel lobby and will send President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and UN ambassador to address its annual policy conference.
Obama Threatens Immigration Officials Who Don’t Comply With Executive Amnesty
President Obama sent a strong message to illegal immigrants counting on the legality of his executive actions on immigration reform at a Wednesday town hall. He said that the Texas ruling against him was only temporary and that he would hold immigration officials accountable to his directives.
Feds to Ban Popular Ammo; NRA Rips Obama’s Anti-Gun Agenda
A federal proposal that would ban M855 AR-15 green tip ammo by revoking its “armor-piercing” exemption was revealed earlier this month, angering the National Rifle Association and conservatives across the board.
In a vote along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved what amounts to a government takeover of the Internet. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and his fellow Democrats, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, approved placing the Internet under Title II regulations. They will reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, and regulate Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like utility companies, or “common carriers,” rather than “information services” that remain outside the agency’s regulatory power.
White House Officials: Netanyahu Most Serious Threat to Iran Deal
Americans should prepare themselves for the most serious judgment on America since 9/11 . . .
Quoting senior US officials, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House’s hostility to Netanyahu is borne out by the fact that President Obama views Netanyahu as the most serious threat to his efforts to secure an agreement with the Iranians on their nuclear program.
Then it got worse: News leaked Monday of the elements of a “sunset clause.” President Obama had accepted the Iranian demand that any restrictions on its program be time-limited. After which, the mullahs can crank up their nuclear program at will and produce as much enriched uranium as they want.
Sanctions lifted. Restrictions gone. Nuclear development legitimized.
ISIS, Iran Are Agents of ‘Apocalyptic Islam’ Paving Way for ‘Islamic Messiah – Joel Rosenberg
“We are not simply facing a threat from radical Islam. At the core, we are actually facing something even worse,” Rosenberg told The Christian Post on Wednesday. “We face the threat of apocalyptic Islam. For the first time in human history, we now are faced with two nation-states whose leaders are driven by an end-of-the-world [theology].”
Rosenberg contends that Iran’s purpose for wanting to build up its nuclear arms program is so that it can one day destroy Israel and the United States in order to pave the path for the coming of the “Mahdi” (Islamic Messiah).
End Times Prophecy Is Unfolding Right Before Our Eyes
Do we really need the newspaper or online news websites any longer? As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and loving His holy Word, can we not just read Scripture to know the world news? This is one of many amazing things we get from the Word, and that is knowing what will happen before it happens!
SCRIPTURE
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
This blog is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will keep people informed about current trends, current events, discussions and movements taking place within our church and culture.
A headline link on this blog post doesn’t necessarily mean that there is agreement or approval with all the views and opinions expressed within the headline linked article. Caution is also warranted with regards to the advertisements and links that are embedded within the headline linked article.
ARTICLES I LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB: (Click title to go to full article)
Getting Specific With Sarah Young and Ann Voskamp – “It dawned on me this past week while listening to a sermon by Alistair Begg on the Second Commandment that both Sarah Young and Ann Voskamp trample on the Second Commandment in their books, Jesus Calling and One Thousand Gifts. Both books have been widely popular among women and the men of the church have been dreadfully absent in offering any correction or critique.”
Is the apostate church in our time the scarlet woman? – “When my dad died in 2010 I inherited my grandfather’s Bible. My grandfather was a remarkable man. He was born in 1877 and became a preacher of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the 1890’s in Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. My grandfather preached from this Bible well into the 1950’s. It is full of notes and his own cross-references. However, there is one thing in the bible that no one, apparently, knew was there. It is a letter written to him from one of his sisters, Lucy. It had to have been written to him either in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s since she died around that time. Below is a quote from it that I found especially fitting in light of the present condition of the visible church.”
Moore vs. Moore – “Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, of Ten Commandments fame, is back in the news this month after a US District Court Judge declared Alabama’s ban on Same Sex Marriage unconstitutional. Judge Moore believes the district court has no bearing on Alabama law and ordered the lower courts to not comply with the ruling.”
A Critique of Dr. Peter Enns’ Book The Bible Tells Me So – “What we know of Jesus Christ’s love and grace comes to us through the reliable testimony of God’s Word. That simple and beautiful biblical truth, summed up in the familiar phrase ‘The Bible tells me so’ from the hymn ‘Jesus Loves Me,’ introduces many children to the love of Jesus. This sweet refrain also reminds adults that God’s revelation to us in His Word is the foundation for faith and the ultimate source of truth. A new book capitalizing on the familiar song—The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Dr. Peter Enns—is a collection of compromises, written for the layman.”
Contending and Defending – “How do you, and how do we, share the truth about what’s been happening in the modern church in a way that glorifies God? It’s a fine line we all need to walk every day. Today we’re going to talk about the discernment landscape out there, and share our philosophy about why we contend for the faith, and why anyone would want to call themselves a watchman on the wall these days.”
SERMON:
Kevin DeYoung – Do Not Love the World — After Darkness, Light
VIDEOS:
You Shouldn’t Use Apologetics
Jesus is Enough (Sermon Jam)
“If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don’t get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism but deception.” – John Piper
A young man goes to Seminary bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Having sensed God’s call to the ministry, he’s not only excited about preparing for future service but also about growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He expects that the next 3-4 years are going to be some of the best in his life. Fast forward a semester or two, or three, and the eyes are dull and the tail is sagging and dragging.
Engaging the culture in this way demands great personal conviction. Like Jesus and the apostles, preaching the gospel in word and deed will both lead to you being favored as a helper, and hated as a meddler. It just depends on the issue. Everyone who labors in such work will encounter fear. Comfort and courage will only come from God who has promised that the we are blessed when persecuted, and the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.
Correctly Understanding Jesus’ Condemnation of the Pharisees
A common idea that people have is that a morally pure person who condemns the impure is self-righteous. To the contrary, such a person would have been made pure by God. If one is in fact impure, but condemns impurity in others, then that of course is hypocrisy, and indeed was what Jesus was condemning in the Gospels. But condemning impurity, even condemning impurity in others, is not necessarily Pharisaical or self-righteous.
If Everyone Consents, Why Not “50 Shades” or Incest?
As one professor of psychiatry recently wrote, consent is “a very thin and insufficient defense against sexual coercion and sexual abuse.” Why? Because people sometimes consent to things that they are not really comfortable with. Sometimes they even agree to do things that are harmful to them. Sometimes their consent isn’t always informed. There are a number of reasons that consent alone is an insufficient moral criterion, yet the sexual revolutionaries are claiming otherwise.
As I sat in the chair with various instruments in my mouth and unappealing sounds ringing in my ears, I closed my eyes and pictured being at home. I considered that soon this temporary discomfort would be over and I would be back at home, going about my day. In a similar way, afflictions teach us to long for our heavenly home. The longer we live and the more trials we endure, the greater our hope for our eternal dwelling. Losing faith in this world propels us to hope in the world to come. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 encourages us in the midst of suffering:
From this point of view, the struggles and uncertainty of this present age fizzle out. They don’t go away. But they seem as if one thing to do among many. No longer will they cause the worry monster to rear its head. They become less worrisome. “Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying?” (Matt 6:27). Not even one millimeter.
Truth and Idolatry: Call Theological Error What It Is
Theological innovation is the fruit of theological rebellion, not biblical Christianity. Or to put it more precisely, theological innovation grows directly from the theologically rebellious. False teaching does not float in abstraction. It always has a face; it always has a mouth. It flows out a defiant heart.
Openly Gay Athlete Speaks Out After School Calls Homosexuality A Sin
“The release of this statement makes me disappointed because I have never received anything but kind treatment from everyone at this school, and my sexual orientation is no secret. So it took me by surprise,” Varona told Outsports … Erskine is affiliated with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, a small Christian denomination based in the South.
But in our attempts to cope, are we turning the tables on the victim and blaming him or her to ease our own discomfort? What scriptures do we have to ignore to do this? Are we in denial? Are we minimizing, excusing, and over-spiritualizing the suffering? Does the victim matter as a person made in the image of God? Or are we dehumanizing the victim by seeing them as merely an example or a display of a theological ideal?
The Bible continually discusses God’s faithfulness and the need for us to have complete faith in Him. But what exactly does the Bible say about the faith we are to have in God? And what about God’s faithfulness? Does His faithfulness extend to all people? All believers unconditionally? Or is God’s faithfulness conditional at […]
It’s pretty easy to worry when choices confront us. Worry can cripple, wound, or otherwise prevent us from experiencing the joy of our salvation. And sometimes there are no clear answers in the murky world in which we all live.
In 1931, Montagu Norman, the head of the Bank of England, had to decide how to save the economy: would he drop the gold standard and adopt bill economy or keep the gold standard and risk running out of it? Both options were possible, but the stress got to him and Montagu had a nervous breakdown. While vacation, his office made the decision and killed the gold standard. While none of us will have the same responsibility, we can easily fall into the sways of anxiety and depression due to stress, to the crippling effect choices have on us.
Stress happens and there is no easy escape, but Christians have a unique way to deal with it, overcome it, and live a stable life. At the get-go I want to be clear, some worry is not sin. You need to worry about finances, family, health, and all the rest of life or else you would dive headlong into ruin. But much worry is sin, because it trips into anxiety, and anxiety crushes us into depression, and depression makes us the walking dead.
So what happens when you don’t know what to do and just want to do what is right, and how do you overcome much worry, anxiety, and depression due to this?
I’d like to suggest that you will overcome much worry by practicing righteousness–that you walk by the Spirit–and your answer will come and your worry will die. By doing before knowing, and by doing before feeling, you are freed up to live the happy life, and when you are happy, worrisome decisions seem so much less debilitating.
I have the privilege of hanging out with missionaries, men and women who have learned how to exegete their communities in order to proclaim the gospel in contextualized and relevant ways. I also hang out with local church leaders, though, who often know far too little about the communities they serve. Here are ten ways to “read” your community:
Do a demographic study. I doubt this option is surprising, but I’m amazed by the high percentage of church leaders who don’t know current data about the people in their ministry area. As a church consultant, I often quiz leaders based on our company’s demographic findings – and seldom have I met leaders who know their community well.
Talk to public school officials and teachers. Few people in a community see the reality of life like teachers do. Some daily see the products of crippling poverty, broken homes, and poor choices. Others work with students whose successful families have little need for God. Let these teachers give you a glimpse into the lives around you.
Get to know local government officials. Even if you disagree politically with the leaders, develop friendships with them; you need to know these influencers in your community. They can be reservoirs of information about past community struggles, current needs, and future plans. Plus, they will likely need a pastor at some point in their own lives.
Intentionally spend one day per week in the community. Eat in the restaurants. Visit the local stores. Read in the library. Study at the coffee shop. Volunteer in the school system. Prayerwalk the downtown area. Get out of your office into the community, and what may sound like a wasted day can become pivotal in your ministry.
Talk with other church leaders. Church leaders often offer years of community experience and knowledge, but too many local church shepherds never get to know each other. Competition, distrust, and “lone ranger” mentalities keep us disconnected. Push against those tendencies, and invite a veteran pastor to lunch. Find out what obstacles other churches are facing in reaching your community.
Read your community’s history. Even if no one has written a full history, many communities have published at least a brief record of their story. Learning that story will not only help you understand the history better, but it will also show others your interest in being a genuine part of the community.
Ride with a police officer. Officers who have been in the community for some time will know the streets well. They may not use this language, but they know the sin strongholds in a region. Hang out with an officer for even one shift, and you may see more of your community than you have ever seen.
Interview people. Walk the streets, and interview people about the community’s needs. Question them about their own spiritual walk. Discover how they define “success.” Ask how churches might make a difference in the community. Just talk to people with intentionality – while you listen and learn.
Map your faith community. As a church leader, you should know the area where your church folks live. Using a paper map or a computerized process, map the homes of your regular attenders. See where God has already placed believers, and build on that foundation. Find the “holes” where your church has no testimony, and go there. Pray. Look for ministry opportunities. Extend your witness.
“Prayer-drive” the community. Begin to use your driving time to see the area with God’s eyes. Pray for Christian congregations that meet in buildings you pass. Watch for places of worship for other world faiths, and pray others will hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be alert for, and pray for, people caught in addictive bondages, abusive relationships, and sinful lifestyles. Watch and pray more intentionally as you drive, and your burden for your community will grow.
What other ways to “read” your community do you recommend?
Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary.You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter and Facebook.
Catching Up on A Pile Of Stuff on Today’s Dividing Line
Had a ton of articles in Evernote to catch up on, including a bunch the continued crusade of the LGBT revisionists to demand Christianity change its fundamental beliefs so that they can feel better, and the fundamental degradation of our culture in promoting human autonomy (hmm—isn’t that a theological issue too?). Then I moved on to some interactions with Roman Catholics, read a section on Mary in response to a Roman Catholic article, etc. Wide range of topics today to be sure!
Radio Interview with Cindy Hartline of Love For The truth Radio
The following text is part of the description from a recent Interview that I did with radio show host Cindy Hartline, of Philadelphia’s Love For The Truth Radio.
Is My Church Acting Like A Cult? Have some seemly “Bible believing Churches” become Cults? Many people have been hurt by these type of churches because of their cult-like operation and attitude…Read more
Some of the topics that Cindy and I discussed include:
Introduction to Cult-Evangelism
The Evangelizing of cultic belief systems
Hindrances of discerning and leaving cults
False gospels being taught
By way of illustration, we also discussed the tragic and ungodly merchandising of the body of Christ that is taking place through the endless sale of occult, mystical and heretical literature found in many so-called “Christian” bookstores.
I do hope that these audio links can be of help to you. We are certainly living at a time when earnestly contending for the Christian faith (Jude 3) is increasingly unpopular, and quote a few of the trusted discernment ministires are either compromising, or the Lord is graciously taking His Watchman home, one-by-one! Please pray for our ministry and the resources to carry on as there is much that goes on behind the scenes that greatly hinders us – and many others – from time-to-time.
This blog is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will keep people informed about current trends, current events, discussions and movements taking place within our church and culture.
A headline link on this blog post doesn’t necessarily mean that there is agreement or approval with all the views and opinions expressed within the headline linked article. Caution is also warranted with regards to the advertisements and links that are embedded within the headline linked article.
Last night, I discussed this subject in more detail at the closing dinner of the National Religious Broadcasters convention. Here are excerpts from those remarks. I also promised to post stunning research data on the End Times beliefs of Muslims from a 2012 Pew Research Center study. You will find those numbers below.
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THE THREAT OF “APOCALYPTIC ISLAM”
The threat we face is not simply from Radical Islam. Indeed, it not even primarily from Radical Islamic groups like Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and al Qaeda at this hour, as serious as these threats are.
The most serious threat we face in the Middle East and…
It’s hard to believe that Shepherds’ Conference is next week. For those of us who have the privilege of being around Grace Community Church all year round, it’s difficult to capture the sense of anticipation that’s been brewing over the last 15 months or so. It really is like Christmastime over here, and it’s such a privilege to witness that enthusiasm—from the leadership to the nearly 1200 volunteers (!) that will be serving the men who attend this historic event.
And historic it will be, as the 2015 Shepherds’ Conference is, more precisely, the Inerrancy Summit. Sixteen—count ‘em: sixteen—of the most trusted voices in evangelicalism will join Pastor John MacArthur for an unprecedented marathon of eighteen sessions of devotion to the inerrancy of Scripture. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. If you’re not able to join us next week, do make sure to watch by livestream. It’s an event you won’t want to miss.
In the spirit of next week, then, I wanted to post something today on the topic of inerrancy. Several months ago, I read the then-recently released Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy, intrigued to know what the other three views (i.e., besides inerrancy and errancy) would be. Turns out there really aren’t more than two views, but such is the nature of things.
I thought the book was really helpful in singling out key issues that need to be addressed today. As you might have expected, I most appreciated Al Mohler’s contribution, in which he presents and defends the church’s historic position on the inerrancy, infallibility, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture—i.e., the view most clearly articulated in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Today, I want to share some quotes and notes from that chapter, with the hope of priming the pump for next week’s Summit.
Some are just direct quotes from Mohler that are helpful and incisive. Others are my own thoughts as I spring-boarded from what I read. They’re broken down by the chapter headings and page numbers are provided. Quotes are indented, with any of my comments below, flush left.
The Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars from seven foreign governments during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, including one donation that violated its ethics agreement with the Obama administration, foundation officials disclosed Wednesday.
Most of the contributions were possible because of exceptions written into the foundation’s 2008 agreement, which included limits on foreign-government donations.
The agreement, reached before Clinton’s nomination amid concerns that countries could use foundation donations to gain favor with a Clinton-led State Department, allowed governments that had previously donated money to continue making contributions at similar levels.
The new disclosures, provided in response to questions from The Washington Post, make clear that the 2008 agreement did not prohibit foreign countries with interests before the U.S. government from giving money to the charity closely linked to…
I noted in a previous post that when I began blogging back 2005, one of the first blog duels I had was with a Unitarian heretic who was challenging the doctrine of inerrancy.
Come to find out the fellow had some friends who rushed to his side during our debate, I mean, dialog. I took a number of their challenges and responded to them in a couple of follow up posts for my blog.
I thought I would re-edit and remaster the material and combine them into this one post.
If God had so desired the Bible to be inerrant, there would be no flaws in the copies. Why would there be?
My detractor apparently does not understand the nature of the “errors” in question. He is making the assumption copyist errors have a detrimental impact on the message of Scripture. That they either cause God’s revelation to be clouded…
And they were bringing young children to him so that he could touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and said to them, “Let the young children come to me. Do not forbid them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a young child will never enter into it.” And after taking them into his arms, he blessed them, placing his hands on them.
Reflection
When our Lord blessed the little children, He was making His last journey to Jerusalem. It was thus a farewell blessing which He gave to the little ones. It reminds us that among His parting words to His disciples, before He was taken up, we find the tender charge, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15). The ruling passion was strong upon the great Shepherd of Israel, who “will gather the lambs in his arm[s], and he will carry them in his bosom” (Isa 40:11); and it was fitting that while He was making His farewell journey, He should bestow His gracious benediction upon the children.
Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ is not here among us in person; but we know where He is, and we know that He is clothed with all power in heaven and in earth to bless His people. Let us then draw near to Him this day. Let us seek His touch in the form of fellowship and ask the aid of His intercession.
—Charles H. Spurgeon
As a Little Child
Response
Jesus says we must welcome in the kingdom of God like a child. What areas of your life are marked by self-sufficiency? Is your posture like that of a child—totally relient on God and receptive to Him?[1]
[1] Van Noord, R., & Strong, J. (Eds.). (2014). 40 Days to the Cross: Reflections from Great Thinkers. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 NASB)
Over the last few months (or is it weeks or is it days?) it seems those “wolves in sheep’s clothing” we have been warning you about over last several years have become even more bold in their moves away from what we call doctrinally sound Christianity. Rob Bell has been the most dramatic with his teaming up with Oprah. He has accused any Christian who relies on Sacred Scripture…
In William Ames’ commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, he opens by quoting Psalm 4:6-8, which includes these words: “I will lay down and sleep in peace: because Thou alone, O Jehovah, wilt act so that I will dwell securely.” He says the Psalmist writes these words so that he may show that his highest good (summum bonum) is located in God’s favor towards him. Ames goes on to list five lessons we can learn from this text, and from the “comfort” theme of Q/A #1 of the Heidelberg Catechism. I’ve listed them below (without his comments on each lesson):
1) The highest good ought to be considered and sought above all other things in our entire life.
2) The highest good of people in this life cannot be obtained from [earthly] goods.
3) Our true and highest good consists in the union and communion we have…
A good man is ashamed to speak that which many people are not ashamed to act. —Matthew Henry
Feb. 26, 2015
BLOOMBERG
The Senate voted to advance a plan to finance the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a step toward sending the funding dispute to House Speaker John Boehner to resolve.
Marijuana is now effectively legal in the nation’s capital even though Congress tried to stop it. District of Columbia residents who are at least 21 years old are free to grow as many as six plants and possess as much as 2 ounces, as a measure approved by voters in November took effect Thursday.
“Rather than a ‘cyber-Armageddon’ scenario that debilitates the entire U.S. infrastructure, we envision something different,” James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a report on global threats. “We foresee an ongoing series of low-to-moderate level cyber-attacks from a variety of sources over time, which will impose cumulative costs on U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.”
President Obama said neither a judge’s ruling nor a standoff with Congress that threatens to shut down the Homeland Security Department would derail his plan to ease deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Google is making its largest bet yet on renewable energy, a $300 million investment to support at least 25,000 SolarCity rooftop power plants. Google is contributing to a SolarCity fund valued at $750 million, the largest ever created for residential solar, the San Mateo,
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits jumped by the most since December 2013 last week, a sign of uneven progress in the labor market. Jobless claims increased by 31,000 to 313,000 in the week ended Feb. 21 from a revised 282,000 the prior period.
While Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employees may get less compensation than in the past, many cashed in last year for a payday they’ve been awaiting since the depths of the financial crisis. Employees exercised options worth $2.03 billion in 2014. More than 96 percent of the contracts were granted as part of 2008 compensation. Last year marked the first time bankers were able to take advantage of those awards.
An overlooked drug bought by a biotech company for a mere $6.6 million a decade ago could become one of the biggest selling cancer treatments ever. Those high expectations have its maker, Pharmacyclics Inc., considering selling itself in a deal that could be worth as much as $18 billion.
Orders for durable goods rose 2.8 percent in January, for the first time in three months, showing manufacturing may be starting to stabilize as companies look beyond weaker global markets and cutbacks among energy producers.
AP Top Stories
The Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John”, who has been pictured in videos of the beheadings of hostages, is named as Mohammed Emwazi from London.
CA – Three men were arrested in the case of a woman who reported being held captive and sexually abused for almost two months, authorities said.
A US astronaut found water pooling in his helmet right after completing a six-plus hour spacewalk on Wednesday, raising new concerns about flaws with NASA’s spacesuits.
The Islamic State released a video showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, describing the relics as idols that must be removed.
At least 110 Australians have left to fight alongside militants in the Middle East and security officials said between 30 and 40 women were among them or were actively supporting the group in Australia.
China is building some “fairly amazing submarines” and now has more diesel- and nuclear-powered vessels than the United States, a top U.S. Navy admiral told U.S. lawmakers.
U.S. regulators are poised to impose the toughest rules yet on Internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks.
Women’s apparel retailer Chico’s said it would shut about 120 stores by 2017 and open fewer this year than last, two days after the Wall Street Journal reported that a private equity firm had dropped its attempt to buy the company.
BBC
US authorities arrested three foreign nationals living in New York who agents say tried to join the Islamic State in Syria.
MPs in Argentina approved a bill to replace the intelligence agency with a new service, following a row over the mysterious death of a prosecutor.
Loans from China to Latin America rose by 71% to $22bn in 2014, new figures from the China-Latin America Finance Database suggest.
A Sierra Leonean who worked with children orphaned by Ebola in the West African state died of the disease himself.
Afghan rescuers are searching for dozens of people believed to be trapped under snow after a series of avalanches that killed at least 187 people.
South Korea’s top court revoked a 60-year-old adultery law under which cheating spouses could be jailed, saying it is unconstitutional.
WND
Three men who lost the use of their hands have been given bionic replacements activated by brain signals, it emerged yesterday.
The City of Lake Worth, in Palm Beach County, has taken the position all churches are required to obtain a “business license” to conduct worship services. It is using city employees to covertly attend services and acquire evidence, including video, “for future court presentation.”
The government of Turkey was accused of contributing to the deaths of Syrian Christians attempting to flee massacres at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants.
The Odds Of A War Between Israel And Iran Just Went Way Up
Uh oh – Iran just got caught with both hands in the cookie jar. It turns out that even while Iran has been negotiating a “historic peace deal” with the western world, it has been secretly operating a huge underground nuclear enrichment site that it didn’t tell anyone about. But this is what the Iranians always do. They lie, lie and then lie some more. So how in the world can you make a deal with a government that absolutely refuses to tell the truth? These revelations about a secret underground nuclear facility just outside Tehran come at a time when it looked like the Obama administration was about to cave in and give Iran just about everything that it wanted. The “deal” that Obama was going to give them would have allowed the Iranians to keep all of the nuclear infrastructure that they have already constructed and would also give them permission to start building nuclear weapons in about a decade. It would be a monstrously bad deal for the western world, and the Iranians should have jumped at it. But now these new revelations could throw a wrench into those negotiations. But much more importantly, knowledge of this secret nuclear facility has got to be extremely alarming to the Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always said that Israel will never, ever allow Iran to construct a nuclear weapon. So what will happen if the Israelis determine that Iran is actually much closer to building a nuclear bomb that anyone originally suspected? The truth is that the odds of a war between Israel and Iran just went way up thanks to these revelations, and that is not good news for any of us. (Read More….)
Daily Digest
February 26, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“It is of definite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various part.” –George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
Let’s suppose there’s an enterprising Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent who doesn’t follow the “prioritized deportation” policies handed down by a lawmaking president, but instead, follows the letter of the law. MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart asked Barack Obama, “How do you ensure that ICE and Border Patrol won’t be deporting people like this. What are the consequences?” And Obama answered that agent would have trouble. “The bottom line is that if somebody’s working for ICE,” Obama said, “and there’s a policy, and they don’t follow the policy, there’s going to be consequences to it. So I can’t speak to a specific problem. What I can talk about is what’s true in the government generally. In the U.S. military, when you get an order, you’re expected to follow it.” In effect, Obama is saying his executive action on immigration — although unconstitutional and stayed by a federal judge — has the force of law and his authority as commander in chief behind it. Beware any lowly law enforcement official who doesn’t fall into line. More…
After weeks of impasse over blocking Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, the Senate finally moved. “The stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was broken Wednesday as the Senate voted 98-2 to proceed to legislation that would prevent a partial government shutdown,” The Hill reports. “Democrats agreed to support the DHS bill after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed to strip out provisions inserted by the House that would reverse President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The only votes against proceeding to the bill came from Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).” Now the legislation will move back to the House, where Republicans have steadfastly rejected doing anything less than blocking Obama. We appreciate the sentiment, but the battle has become House vs. Senate and Republican vs. Republican rather than the GOP Congress against Obama. That’s not going to win much.
The Obama administration says ISIL isn’t a domestic threat. All these terror attacks you hear about around the globe, they claim, are just demonstrations by “lone wolves” who can’t find jobs or something. And, hey, Obama’s economy is swell, so what’s the worry? Well, this, courtesy of NBC 4 New York: “Three Brooklyn men who allegedly plotted to travel to Syria to join ISIS and posted online messages about planting a bomb on Coney Island and shooting police officers were taken into custody during FBI and NYPD terror raids Wednesday. … The men, 24- and 30-year-old Uzbekistan citizens and a 19-year-old Kazakhstan citizen who all lived in Brooklyn, allegedly planned to return to New York to commit a domestic act of terror if they failed to join the group overseas, law enforcement officials said.” Does that sound like “lone-wolf terrorism”? Whether it’s an attack carried out by Islamists in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Syria, Iraq or Australia, the common denominator is a twisted ideology that calls for slaying the infidel in service to Jihadistan. And while aspiring terrorists in the U.S. have for the most part kept underground, they have found new inspiration in ISIL, which is indirectly recruiting through the power of propaganda. More…
Meanwhile, “Jihadi John” — one of ISIL’s notorious beheaders — has been unmasked.
We get it. The Obama administration really doesn’t like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Secretary of State John Kerry made that clear again Wednesday in testimony before Congress, saying we can’t trust Netanyahu because he supported invading Iraq. “The prime minister was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq under George W. Bush. We all know what happened with that decision,” Kerry lectured. Indeed, it was the impetus for his infamous “botched joke” about uneducated people getting “stuck in Iraq.” There’s also the small detail of Kerry having voted for the war. We know he was for it before it was against it, but come on, Mr. Secretary. Have a little self-awareness.
Joe Biden’s comments commemorating Black History Month careened right past the struggle for civil rights and mired into full-on socialism. On Monday, Creepy Ol’ Joe hosted a Black History Month event where he said, “A lot of wealthy white and black people aren’t bad, but they control 1% of the economy and this cannot stand. It’s not fair because the business experts are saying that concentration of wealth is stunting growth. So let’s do something that’s worthy of emancipation.” Biden continued, explaining Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: “What happened is not only did we move toward freeing black Americans but also the conscience of white Americans.” Per Biden’s usual rhetorical “style,” these comments are filled with muddled metaphors and thoughtless arguments. Is he saying “emancipating” the wealth belonging to the Scrooge McDucks of the nation would be good for their souls? If wealthy white and black people are the problem, how is this in any way connected to the civil rights struggle of the ’60s? Finally, why is he equating today’s dollars with enslaved, antebellum blacks? While nothing is officially announced, Biden may be starting his campaign for president — by signaling he’ll continue Barack Obama’s socialist engineering of America. More…
As kids break free of school for the weekend, the House is scheduled to vote Friday on the next iteration of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the 2001 legislation that replaced the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and exponentially expanded the reach of the federal government into the classroom.
Republicans introduced the Student Success Act (SSA), a bill aimed at scaling back Uncle Sam’s increasingly outsized role in the classroom. But two major groups that are in agreement more often than not — Heritage Action (affiliated with the Heritage Foundation) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) — have come down on opposite sides of this bill, with AEI backing it and Heritage not. As is often the case with legislation aimed at reining in a runaway government, the core issue comes down to whether the bill goes far enough in returning the federal government to its constitutionally authorized role in education. Incidentally, that role is “none.”
According to AEI, SSA offers several “fixes” to NCLB, including eliminating or consolidating 65 programs, promoting school choice by allowing Title I funds to follow low-income children to the district or charter school parents choose, repealing adequate yearly progress (AYP, which, as we’ve previously noted, has done more harm than good), eliminating the “highly qualified teacher” mandates, and preventing the federal government from pressing states to adopt Common Core or other national academic standards.
Heritage, however, holds that some of the bill’s claims are misleading. For example, according to Heritage, those 65 programs are not eliminated but only consolidated, and the consolidation does not mean spending is reduced. Similarly, while AYP disappears, the requirement that states develop state-level accountability structures does not; instead, SSA “direct[s] the state to establish a single uniform assessment, limiting the ability of local schools to determine their own curriculum.” And while Title I funds can follow the child to district and charter schools, they may not be used for private schools.
Further, Heritage notes of the SSA, “The suggestion that Congress needs a 616-page bill to reduce the federal education imprint is implausible.” Siding with those who believe SSA doesn’t go far enough, Heritage supports the A-PLUS (Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success) option, referring to an amendment offered by Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) that “enables states the flexibility to completely opt out [of federal education programs] and dictate how to best utilize federal education funding.”
AEI is less than convinced by A-PLUS, however. Max Eden and Michael Q. McShane explain that the actual wording of the amendment may encourage, not curb, federal involvement as A-PLUS opt-out requests could require the subjective approval of the secretary of education. Barack Obama’s current secretary, Arne Duncan, isn’t exactly someone conservatives should trust.
If the committee vote is any indication, the Student Success Act will pass the House on party lines and head to the Senate. Already, Obama threatened to veto the bill. He claims it “abdicates the historic federal role in elementary and secondary education of ensuring the educational progress of all of America’s students.”
Obama must have studied Common Core history. Yes, the federal government has a history of interfering in education, but a “historic role” doesn’t mean it’s a constitutional one. In truth, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was first passed only in 1965, and the Department of Education didn’t become a Cabinet-level agency until 1980. Shockingly (ahem), all this “historic” involvement has failed to yield the stellar results promised.
Perhaps America’s Founders were actually onto something when they didn’t delegate to Congress the power to regulate education and, by the Tenth Amendment, reserved it to the states and the people. Of course, when Washington runs the classroom, this is a “historic” fact many students will never hear — and that suits politicians just fine.
American philosopher Robert M. Hutchins (1899-1977): “Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.”
Columnist Jeff Jacoby: “When one in three Americans is unsure of Obama’s religious affiliation, why should the governor of Wisconsin be expected to weigh in on the matter? Why should any public figure be quizzed about an officeholder’s spiritual beliefs? It is to [Scott] Walker’s credit that he wouldn’t venture a judgment on something he doesn’t know enough about. ‘I’ve actually never talked about it,’ he responded when the [Washington] Post pressed him to confirm Obama’s Christian identity. ‘I’ve never asked him that.’ Perhaps he should have reminded the reporters that in this country, the theological views of political leaders carry no constitutional weight. ‘No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office,’ the Framers specified in Article VI. Candidates for president need not be Christian, and it is not the business of any presidential hopeful to gauge the religious credentials of the current White House incumbent. Nor is it the business of journalists to try to goad them into doing so.”
Columnist Larry Elder: “When actress Patricia Arquette won an Oscar, she pled for ‘wage equality’ for women…. Arquette’s plea comes after the Sony Pictures cyber attack. Publicly disclosed private emails shows that then co-studio chief Amy Pascal paid Jennifer Lawrence less money than her not-as-popular male co-stars in ‘American Hustle’ — and this was after Lawrence starred in the blockbuster ‘Hunger Games.’ When asked why, Ms. Pascal was blunt: ‘Here’s the problem: I run a business. People want to work for less money, I’ll pay them less money. I don’t call them up and say, “Can I give you some more?” Because that’s not what you do when you run a business. The truth is, what women have to do is not work for less money. They have to walk away. People shouldn’t be so grateful for jobs. … People should know what they’re worth.’ Pascal, like Patricia Arquette, is also a contributor to the ‘pay equity’ Democratic Party. For his second term, President Obama wants to combat ‘income inequality.’ To get started, he won’t even have to leave the White House.”
Comedian Argus Hamilton: “The National Institute on Drug Abuse warned against legalization of marijuana after the latest study on pot’s effect on young people. The study discovered that the use of marijuana by teenagers may seriously affect their judgment once they become adults. It’s based on a study of President Obama.”
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.
Joel Rosenberg speaks at the National Religious Broadcasters’ International Media Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, February 24, 2015.
New York Times Best Selling Author and Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg is sounding the Alarm about “Apocalyptic Islam” that is paving the way for Bible Prophecy to be fulfilled! Speaking in a discussion on Islam at the National Religious Broadcasters’ International Christian Media Convention on Tuesday, he explained that the biggest threat facing the Western world is not the rise of radical Islam, but rather the rise of “apocalyptic Islam.” Raising the concern in the West of the rise of two nation-states — Iran and the Islamic State — with leaders promoting an “apocalyptic” brand of Islam focused on the “annihilation” of the United States and Israel. “We are not simply facing a threat from radical Islam. At the core, we are actually facing something even worse,” Rosenberg told The Christian Post on Wednesday. “We face the threat of apocalyptic Islam. For the first time in human history, we now are faced with two nation-states whose leaders are driven by an end-of-the-world [theology].” Joel Rosenberg stress that Iran’s purpose for wanting to build up its nuclear arms program is so that it can one day destroy Israel and the United States in order to pave the path for the coming of the “Mahdi” (Islamic Messiah). FULL STORY
Are you looking out for the kingdom or your own personal gain? (Lightstock/Dollar photo club)
Article By JOSEPH MATTERA – Ever since the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity divided in the 11th century, some of the greatest fears of the once united Christendom has been realized—fragmentation and division. Even in the 16th century when Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation, there was the hope that there would only be a few major expressions of the body of Christ—never in their wildest dreams did the reformers envision all the denominations and now various branches and networks of Christianity that have evolved—which has given opportunity for a spirit of lawlessness, independence and empire building among some insecure but gifted leaders. Whether all these expressions are of God or not is not the purpose of this article. However, the following will show us some signs revealing when the motivation to build a church, ministry or network is akin to when the human race attempted to build their own empire-epitomized by the “Tower of Babel” which God judged and scattered across the whole earth. (Gen. 11:1-18) FULL ARTICLE
Homeschoolers and Christians are in the Crosshairs once again as Richard Dawkins—the world famous atheist biologist who previously said religion harms children more than “mild pedophilia“—went full-blown fascist when he declared the state should have the right to regulate religious education. In an interviewwith The Irish Times, the professor lamented that parents currently have too much freedom over their children’s education and should have it significantly rolled back by government. FULL STORY
Flagrant of dead fish in the Guanabara Bay (Photo: Ricardo Moraes / Reuters)
Mass Fish Deaths seem to be increasing around the World and now Brazil falls Victim as a mass of dead fish were found floating in Guanabara Bay, According to the State of the Environment (INEA), technicians found the presence of dead yellowtail in Fundão Canal. Water samples were collected and the results should be out in seven days. –SOURCE
France is the next victim of seeing Mass Fish deaths as Thousands of dead fish were found in the Rhone-Rhine Canal. Officials took samples as there is no foam, no traces of oil on the surface and yet it probably has a pollution. Already carried levies on Tuesday by teams of Green Brigades of the General Council of the Upper Rhine are being analyzed at the Veterinary Laboratory to determine the cause of this carnage. It would perhaps “pesticides dumped into the canal or pollution from a battery” explained the specialist. The police opened an investigation. –SOURCE
The Book of Daniel mentioned that one of the signs of the “End Times” would be an “Increase of Knowledge”, and the following report is a great example of such. The world’s first full-body transplant – in which someone’s head would be sewn onto a donor body – could take place in just two years, according to a controversial surgeon. Sergio Canavero, of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy, believes the technique could save the lives of people riddled with cancer or whose nerves and muscles have wasted away, the New Scientist magazine reported. The operation was carried out on a monkey with a limited degree of success in 1970. The surgeons then did not join the spinal cord so the animal could not move and it lived only nine days until the head was rejected by the body’s immune system. However Mr Canavero said: “I think we are now at a point when the technical aspects are all feasible. FULL REPORT
Weather Manipulation has been discussed in the past and many insist it is being carried out regularly thru HAARP and now scientists are planning to use drones to carry it out, a practice that was long described as being nothing more than a “conspiracy theory,” despite a treaty signed by the U.S. in 1977 prohibiting the tactic from being used militarily. A team of meteorologists with Nevada’s Desert Research Institute in Reno are creating a “first-of-its-kind drone to take the seeding process high in the sky,” according to a recent report by CBS San Francisco. The drones are expected to carry out “cloud seeding,” a practice that can reportedly generate 10 percent more rain during a storm, a controversial operation that some say is toxic to humans and wildlife. FULL REPORT
Disturbing reports are coming out of Japan regarding the continued leaking of radiation from Fukushima. The West Coast continues to report Animal deaths such as Sea Lions and other Ocean life as Cleanup crews trying to mitigate Japan’s never-ending radiation crisis at Fukushima ran into more problems recently after sensors monitoring a drainage gutter detected a huge spike in radiation levels from wastewater pouring into the Pacific Ocean. Radiation levels were up to 70 times, or 7,000 percent, higher than normal, prompting an immediate shutdown of the drainage instrument. The first readings came around 10 a.m. local time on February 22, setting off alarms not once but twice as radiation levels spiked to extremely high levels. FULL REPORT
Genesis 1:27-28 – So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Once again Humanity is playing with fire by trying to manipulate the order of creation and the moral family value system that God Almighty has put in place from the creation of the World! The United Kingdom has officially become the first country in the world to approve the creation of what has been called “three parent babies”—a move that has has generated applause as an important health advancement while others have expressed concern about the ethical aspects of the practice. The practice involves in vitro fertilization (IVF), during which genetic material from the mother’s fertilized egg is transferred to the fertilized egg of a healthy donor that has had its nuclear DNA removed. FULL REPORT
The Prospects of War between Iran and Israel have been greatly elevated after a new report revealed, that while most of the World believed that Iran has been negotiating a “historic peace deal” with the western world, it has instead been secretly operating a huge underground nuclear enrichment site that it didn’t tell anyone about. These revelations about a secret underground nuclear facility just outside Tehran come at a time when it looked like the Obama administration was about to cave in and give Iran just about everything that it wanted. The “deal” that Obama was going to give them would have allowed the Iranians to keep all of the nuclear infrastructure that they have already constructed and would also give them permission to start building nuclear weapons in about a decade. Now the question is, Will Israel wait or strike? FULL REPORT
Netanyahu Says Obama And West Have ‘Given Up’ On A Non-Nuclear Iran
Israeli Prime Minister exposes Obama’s agenda for what it truly is
“Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.” Psalm 129:5 (KJV)
Benjamin Netanyahu spoke some serious truth today when he said that Obama and his administration has given up on their promise to keep the nation of Iran non-nuclear. That is 100%, dead on truth. But if Netanyahu had the liberty, I am sure he would of gone further by saying that Obama never had any intention of a non-nuclear Iran. That would be 100% truth as well.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rebuffed criticism in Washington of his plans to speak in Congress, accusing world powers of forsaking a pledge to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“I respect the White House and the President of the United States but on such a fateful matter, that can determine whether or not we survive, I must do everything to prevent such a great danger for Israel,” Netanyahu said in a speech.
He said world powers had pledged to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, adding that “from the agreement coming together it appears they have given up on this commitment“.
Pamela Geller Exposes America’s Dirty Secret: 22 Islamic Terror Training Camps On US Soil
The U.S. has at least 22 Islamist Terror training camps, hiding in plain sight. These camps are operated by the Pakistan-based group Jamaat al-Fuqra and its main US front group, Muslims of the Americas.
The reason that Pamela Geller, of Atlas Shrugs fame, gives for these camps being left alone to grow is that the group Jamaal al-Fuqra is not listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. government, and they are reluctant to interfere.
You’ve heard of “No-Go Zones?” Well, these camps are those zones. This is sharia law in action. Are you shocked? Honestly, I’m numb at this point.
Most of these camp sites can be found on the following map:
“Prisons have become recruitment and training centers for future jihadists. It is an escalating crisis that is taking a toll, as Americans are murdered by those who convert to Islam in prison.
The rising influence of Islam in our prisons is due to a disproportionately high number of Muslims who are incarcerated, skyrocketing conversion rates, powerful Muslim gangs, the proliferation of Muslim chaplains, an uninformed prison power structure, and the outside influence of Islamic terror organizations.
Oh, and the fact that the FBI isn’t allowed to say “Islam,” “jihad,” or target the very people who are trying to kill us as part of America’s dangerous ride on the Dhimmi bandwagon.
Muslim incarceration rate
Muslims comprise 15% of the prison population. This number far exceeds the percentage of Muslims in the general population. It is eighteen times greater, to be exact. Put another way, there are about 2.4 million Muslims in the United States and 350,000 of them are in jail. That means more than 12%* of Muslims in America are incarcerated.
Conversion rates
Reports on the number of prisoners who convert to Islam vary and are framed in different ways. Some sources estimate 40,000 prisoners per year convert. Others put the numbers closer to 135,000 per year. Some posit that 80% of inmates who “find faith while in prison convert to Islam.”
One thing is for sure: The majority of those who convert to Islam in prison are black, with as many as one in three black prisoners converting. (The number of Hispanic prisoners converting to Islam is also on the rise.)” [1] – source
Geller, who has been tracking these camps since 2007, also says:
“Probably they haven’t been raided because Jamaat al-Fuqra is not listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. government and because there is a great reluctance among government and law enforcement agencies across the board, no matter who is president, to appear to be anti-Muslim.These compounds say they’re peaceful Muslim communities, and the government wants to give the impression that such things can exist in the U.S. without any trouble.
A 1991 raid after a foiled MOA Toronto bomb plot caused a compound 70 miles south of Dallas to be raided. Federal officials found loose ammunition and books on counter-terrorism techniques and weaponry.”
According to WorldNetDaily, “A 2007 FBI record states that members of the group have been involved in at least 10 murders, one disappearance, three firebombings, one attempted firebombing, two explosive bombings, and one attempted bombing.”
So there you have it, my fellow Americans. Looks like we are sitting ducks, unless something is done about this. It may very well come down to the American people stepping in to save our country — unless it is just too late.
U.S. Military Declining From Superpower To Regional Power, No Longer Able To Fight Two Simultaneous Conflicts
The U.S. military is shedding so many troops and weapons it is only “marginally able” to defend the nation and falls short of the Obama administration’s national security strategy, according to a new report. “The U.S. military itself is aging. It’s shrinking in size,” said Dakota Wood, a Heritage analyst. “And it’s quickly becoming problematic in terms of being able to address more than one major conflict.” …………. Click here for full story
Saudis ‘Would Let Israeli Jets Use Their Air Space To Attack Iran’
Saudi Arabia is prepared to let Israeli fighter jets use its airspace if it proves necessary to attack Iran’s nuclear program, an Israeli TV station reported Tuesday, highlighting growing ties in the shadow of Tehran’s nuclear drive ………. Click here for full story
LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM? Housing for 15 Alternative Sexualities Is OK, but Men-Only Fraternities Are Not, Wesleyan University Says
Campus housing specifically for 15 alternative sexualities, including sadomasochists, is acceptable, but fraternities that just allow men are not, at Wesleyan University……….. Click here for full story
Secret Facility Reveals Deception Of Iranian Nuclear Accord
As the Obama administration negotiates a controversial nuclear agreement with Iran, a dissident group is revealing evidence Tehran is operating a secret uranium-enrichment site northeast of the capital city……….. Click here for full story
Utah Highest In Church Attendance, Vermont The Lowest – Poll
A new poll revealed that residents of the state of Utah had the highest church attendance in the United States in 2014 ……… Click here for full story
One-Third of Audience for Christian Books, Radio, TV, and Movies Is Unchurched
LifeWay/NRB study examines whether Christian media is used for discipleship or evangelism.
Is Christian media a better tool for discipleship or evangelism? A new study released at the 2015 NRB convention examines just who exactly engages with Christian books, radio, TV, and movies. (Moon, Christianity Today)
This blog is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will keep people informed about current trends, current events, discussions and movements taking place within our church and culture.
A headline link on this blog post doesn’t necessarily mean that there is agreement or approval with all the views and opinions expressed within the headline linked article. Caution is also warranted with regards to the advertisements and links that are embedded within the headline linked article.
ARTICLES I LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB: (Click title to go to full article)
Two Father Babies Could Become A Reality – “Researchers from Cambridge University and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science say they have shown for the first time that human egg and sperm cells can be made from stem cells in the skin of two adults. It raises the possibility a baby could be ‘manufactured’ in a dish, The Sunday Times reported.”
Believe and You’ll Be Saved – “Paul and Silas went to Philippi to preach the gospel. Luke, the author of Acts (and also of the gospel of the same name), was among the missionary brethren that accompanied them. One of the first persons they converted was a woman named Lydia who was then baptized along with her whole household. Some scholars believe it was in Lydia’s home that the Philippian church began. When Paul wrote Philippians, that letter would have been read aloud to the gathering of believers meeting in Lydia’s house.”
Preparing Your Heart for Worship – “It is very important that we take time to prepare our hearts to worship God before we set foot in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. God made this clear amid the awesome circumstances of the giving of the law in Exodus 19. God called the people to prepare to come into His presence, or near His presence, but not actually onto the mountain where He would speak to Moses. ‘Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.’”
When I Glory in My Shame – “There is nothing my dog won’t do for food. There is no command she won’t obey when we are looking, and no rule she won’t break when we are looking away, if only she can get a bit of food in her belly. I guess it is hard to fault her since, as a Lab, every gene in her body drives her to gorge herself. It’s like Paul was writing about her and her breed when he said,’ Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things’ (Philippians 3:19). Food is her idol, her god, the thing that will motivate her to do anything or everything.”
SERMON:
John MacArthur – Is Roman Catholicism a False Gospel?
VIDEOS:
The Great Commission: We are all called to equal passion.
Calvinists are Not Christians?
“If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don’t get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism but deception.” – John Piper
Dumb Maxim: “You can’t take it with you.” The Christian’s works “follow” him (see Revelation 14:13). I came into this world with nothing, and I will leave it with my hand in the hand of Jesus. Die in your sins, and you die alone. Please don’t let that happen. See http://www.needGod.com Source
Making it Easy for the Minister to Take it Easy on You
Scripture tells us that a true friend wounds out of love. And on top of all this, if we must choose, we are more interested in pleasing our Heavenly Father than keeping the peace with you. Therefore beloved brothers and sisters, we will come with the rod of God’s Word if necessary, but we would rather walk through life with you with a spirit of gentleness. Why don’t you become teachable and make it easy of us to take it easy on you.
Though God has not promised to act in the same miraculous manner today as He did in the days of old, we can expect Him to move in our behalf. We don’t merit righteousness before our Father by our obedience, and the Lord’s grace is so vast that He regularly blesses us in spite of our disobedience. Still, perhaps we would see more blessing and experience less doubt if we were to serve Him more faithfully.
A Pattern Among Fallen Pastors – Lessons for Us All
Who knows you? I mean who really knows you? Who not only has permission, but is currently acting upon the permission to ask you penetrating questions? Are you answering those questions honestly or are you hiding details and painting up your sin to guard your image? Do not hide from God’s gracious aid of loving relationships.
Churches will have to make some hard choices. Tax-exempt status may be removed unless a church pledges not to preach “hate” – and expect to be monitored for compliance as well as see issues upon which the church cannot preach expand to abortion, creation, the exclusivity of Christ as Savior, and so on. After all, these are “hateful” messages in a godless new America.
Southern Baptists To Vote On NAMB Ministry Amendment
The SBC Executive Committee approved a recommendation to be presented to messengers in Columbus, Ohio, to enable NAMB to “provide specialized, defined and agreed upon assistance to the International Mission Board in assisting churches to plant churches for specific groups outside the United States and Canada.”
This past week, a high-profile White House meeting with the title “Countering Violent Extremism” went out of its way to avoid labeling acts of brutal violence by Al Qaeda, ISIS (the so-called Islamic State), and their allies as “Muslim” terrorism or describing their ideology as “Islamic” or “jihadist.”
The concern is wanting to stay away from any sense that the United States is at war with Islam itself, much less to lump the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims with vicious terrorist groups. But a growing number are saying that this is failing to look at the very real threat that is militant Islam.
They’re right.
To understand why, one must understand a few things about Islam itself. First, that there are five practices, or “pillars.”
This is the last of a four-part series on “everyday faith,” based on the instructions Paul gives in Titus 2:1–6. Gospel-centered folks are often allergic to “instructions,” so it’s important to keep in mind that Paul lays these out as our response to the gospel—not as a way to gain acceptance. “Because of what God has done for you,” Paul says, “your lives will look different.” Be sure to read part one (older men), part two (older women), and part three (younger women).
Paul has plenty to say to older men, older women, and younger women. But you’d be warranted in thinking that the younger men aren’t getting their fair share in Titus 2. All that Paul gives them is this: “Urge the younger men to be self-controlled.”
Be self-controlled. Not many words, but if you reflect on that simple command, it makes sense that Paul would leave it at that. If you had to identify the Achilles’ heel of most young men, it would be precisely that they are ruled by their desires. It might be a desire for sexual pleasure. It might be a lust for power. It might be a passion for success. So, as it turns out, Paul’s command may be simple, but it certainly isn’t easy.
If the young men in our churches would really learn to control their passions, God would do some mighty works. As D.L. Moody once said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with one man totally sold out to him.” It seems that far too many of the men in our churches are content to give God nominal allegiance while they throw their hearts and souls into other passions.
How do you, and how do we, share the truth about what’s been happening in the modern church in a way that glorifies God? It’s a fine line we all need to walk every day. Today we’re going to talk about the discernment landscape out there, and share our philosophy about why we contend for […]
Many people are silently suffering from depression. Their suffering is silent because for some reason they feel embarrassed to let others know that they are having times of despair. Why do they feel embarrassed to admit that they have depression? Let me suggest the following four possible reasons:
I am continually amazed at how so many Christians will simply run with whatever their favourite preacher or megachurch pastor runs with, instead of actually reading what the Word of God has to say on an issue. They will side with the whacky, weird and at times just plain false teachings of others instead of aligning themselves with what the Bible says.
I find this so often from various quarters. One of the more worrying examples of this comes from those gung-ho devotees of the various hyper grace teachers out there. They will defend to the death what their pastor or teacher or fav Christian leader says about this, while obviously clueless as to what the Bible in fact teaches on this.
I have lost count of the number of times I have actually been attacked by professing believers when I make the simple – and fully biblical – point that true saving faith is also an obedient faith. One cannot claim to be a believer in Christ if one fails to obey Christ.
Christ in other words must be both Savour and Lord. You can’t believe in him to get saved, and then ignore him or disobey him the rest of your Christian walk. It does not work that way. And of course I am not talking about sinless perfectionism here.obedience 3
I am not saying our obedience will ever be fully compete and perfect and consistent in this lifetime. But the aim of the true believer is to obey. When he disobeys, he agrees with God that it was wrong, repents, and moves on, seeking to please Him.
Who, Christians? Deliberately disobeying Jesus? Yep, sadly happens all the time. We have clear commands from Jesus which we routinely ignore or disregard, and we think we are somehow still being good disciples of his. Let me focus on just one area of deliberate disobedience.
Did Jesus command us to love God with our minds? Did Jesus talk about the need to be wise as serpents? Did Jesus say that often the children of this world are wiser than the children of light? The answer to all three questions is yes.
Back in 1982 R.C. Sproul argued that we “live in the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western Civilization.”
I have shared that quote often because it is so utterly and so tragically true. I continue to be overwhelmed at the out of control levels of biblical illiteracy amongst so many Christians. I continue to be staggered by the inability of so many Christians to engage in basic logic, basic reasoning, and basic thinking.
It is as if so many believers actually exalt in ignorance, in stupidity, in cluelessness. They seem to relish offering worldly wisdom instead of biblical wisdom They seem to be saturated with the precepts and beliefs of secular humanism instead of the biblical worldview.
Rob Bell, former pastor and now host of the “Rob Bell Show” on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN television network, is now maintaining that a church that doesn’t support same-sex marriage is “an irrelevant church.” Does Jesus agree?
What You Don’t Need to Forgive: 3 Times We Often Use the “Right” Tool for the “Wrong” Situation
Not everything that bothers or annoys us needs to be forgiven. Forgiveness is only for moral offenses. When we try to use forgiveness as the method to resolve relational irritants that are not moral in nature several bad things happen.
We establish our preferences as the moral standard for our spouse – pride.
We begin to feel as if we forgive more than we are forgiven – self-righteousness.
We gain an increasingly negative view of our spouse – judgmental.
Our marriage begins to be built around an elaborate number of rules – performance-based acceptance.
We begin to feel as if God were asking too much of us – God-fatigue.
“What else is there?” we might ask. In What Did You Expect? Paul Tripp offers three categories of relational strain which do not call for a response of forgiveness (p. 94; bold text only). After describing what goes in each category, we will look at what kind of grace-based, constructive response is called for in each situation.
If only we could go back in time and share some wisdom with our younger selves! One little girl wrote some advice to herself ten years in the future: you’ll hear it next, on BreakPoint.
Listen Now | Download
I know. There are many unhappy ministers in our local churches. Such is not a judgmental statement, but a statement of reality. Indeed, I count myself among those who have struggled with joy in ministry on more than one occasion.
As a staff, we were tired of the revolving door. We were working too hard to reach people only to lose them. So we worked to pinpoint the reasons we were were losing people. We discovered three dominant reasons. These three things are now on our radar. We constantly think about systems, communication, structure, and strategy for fixing these three issues.
Evangelism is a trust-fall into the power of God. Many say the don’t evangelize because they don’t know enough. Well, no one knows enough to bring on resurrection. Others say they don’t evangelize because they aren’t sure what to say at certain points. And others don’t evangelize because they are nervous.
[Fire Away! Podcast] Episode 025 – Real Christian Love For Homosexuals
Audio
Show Notes
Summary
On today’s show Landon discusses accepting an invitation to be a contributor to Pulpit & Pen, Protestant Christian’s fascination with Lent, a creepy article about Jesus wanting to spend time with us, and what real Christian love for homosexuals looks like.
(Click “Read More” for detailed show notes.)
[00:05:45] Topic 1: On Joining the Pulpit & Pen
I have accepted a gracious invitation to be the newest contributor over at Pulpit & Pen website.
I will continue to blog and podcast regularly here at Entreating Favor, but look for some of my work to post at P&P as well.
I pray they continue to be edifying to the Saints and convicting to sinners.
Sincerest thanks to you all for your ongoing support.
[00:11:20] Topic 2: Protestants and Lent
Landon reviews his first article for Pulpit & Pen.
[00:21:26] Topic 3: Creepy, Anti-Biblical Article by A Pastor
I was made aware of this post recently by a local pastor because so many people on my Facebook time had “liked” it.
Once you’ve heard this article, it should not surprise you that this was posted two days before Valentine’s Day.
One woman I shared the article with said, “You know, when I was a kid, preachers didn’t talk like lovesick teenage girls. They preached like men. Men, I tell you. Just throwing that out there.”
This theology is largely the result of an anti-doctrinal movement. A healthy dose of the doctrines of God would have blown this article out of the water before the second paragraph was read.
This sounds like something I heard Rick Warren say. He , actually, said that God likes it when you be you. I thought Jesus died and was raised on the third day so we, thru sanctification, can become more like Christ. I need to repent and believe on Jesus for salvation and rest on the finished work of the cross. Sounds like he’s trying to bring God down to our level.
The bottom line is that when your God is small then you are large. When you are large then everything is about you.
[00:57:46] Topic 4: Real Christian Love for Homosexuals
With homosexuality and transgenderism quickly becoming mainstream in America, Christians are growing increasingly confused about how to treat those folks.
Stand firm in the Truth, but do not forget that they are lost sinners just like you and I once were.
Founder of the site, writer, and host of the Fire Away! podcast. He is a Reformed Baptist that professes the Bible to be the infallible, inerrant, and thoroughly sufficient Word of God.
This blog is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will keep people informed about current trends, current events, discussions and movements taking place within our church and culture.
A headline link on this blog post doesn’t necessarily mean that there is agreement or approval with all the views and opinions expressed within the headline linked article. Caution is also warranted with regards to the advertisements and links that are embedded within the headline linked article.
Exactly two years ago, as the Roman Catholic Church was preparing to elect its current pope, the GTY blog published several articles from John MacArthur exposing the heresies of the Catholic Church. With the papal election dominating the news cycle and public conversation, we wanted to help our readers understand the true nature of the Catholic Church and its doctrinal distinctives.
As you might suspect, that series was met with plenty of resistance. Surprisingly, though, the majority of the criticism did not come from Catholic apologists, but from evangelicals. Many men and women who were sympathetic to the Catholic Church—including some with significant influence in evangelical circles—were critical of the firm biblical stance we took, wishing that we were more accommodating and conciliatory.
Of course, ecumenism is nothing new. Satan always works to mingle the truth with error, and the evangelistic co-belligerence of evangelicals and Catholics is just one example. But for some reason, this unlikely doctrinal mashup has been growing in popularity for the past two decades.
Evangelicals and Catholics Together?
One significant flashpoint was the development of the Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) document in 1994. That incongruous union was essentially an accord between Evangelicals and Catholics regarding their agreement on various social issues. But much of the twenty-five page document was more about affirming doctrinal similarities, not shared social goals.
In effect, it painted over several important doctrinal differences and blurred the distinctions of two very dissimilar views of justification—that is the doctrine of how a person is made right with God.
Perhaps worst of all, built into ECT was an agreement to halt evangelistic efforts between evangelicals and Catholics. Under the heading “We Witness Together,” it said, “In view of the large number of non-Christians in the world and the enormous challenge of our common evangelistic task, it is neither theologically legitimate nor a prudent use of resources for one Christian community to proselytize among active adherents of another Christian community.” In effect, signing ECT was agreeing to disagree on the true means of justification, but agreeing that either means was valid for salvation. What better way for Satan to cut off millions from the reach of the gospel?
In a landmark interview called “Irreconcilable Differences,” alongside Dr. R.C. Sproul and Dr. D. James Kennedy, John MacArthur explained the biblical problems with ECT this way:
To borrow the language of the apostle Paul, any attempt at self-righteousness, no matter how noble the effort, no matter how frequently the God vocabulary is used and the divine is brought into it, any attempt to self-righteousness Paul classifies as skubalon in Philippians 3. That word is about as vivid a word as he could possibly use. It can be translated rubbish, the most accurate translation is dung. . . . And what you’ve got is a whole system built on skubalon, and you can’t throw your arms around that system. You can’t embrace it and simply say, “Well, they talk about Jesus and they talk about God and they talk about faith and they talk about grace and we’ve got to embrace them. And if we don’t embrace them, we’re violating the unity of the body and we’re being ungracious to other disciples.” That is a frightening misrepresentation of the distinctiveness of justification by faith and faith alone.
When it comes to the means of justification, there is simply no way to biblically bridge the vast chasm between evangelical and Catholic teaching. In fact, from the Catholic perspective, such partnerships have damning consequences.
Nothing Has Changed Since Trent
In response to the Reformers’ relentless assault, Rome formed its own Counter-Reformation, hoping to regain the authoritative ground it had lost. One key facet of their response was the Council of Trent, convened by Pope Paul III from 1545 to 1563. Trent was an opportunity for Rome to clarify and codify its dogma, specifically regarding salvation and other doctrines that were under fire from the Reformers. In that regard, Trent stands as one of the most influential and important councils in the history of the Catholic Church.
In short, the Council of Trent pronounced damnation on every major aspect of soteriology that the Reformers taught. In particular, it denies justification by faith alone.
If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema. (Canon IX)
Anathema, according to Catholic theology, means the excommunication and exclusion of a sinner from the members of the faithful. Roman Catholic theology therefore pronounces a curse of excommunication and damnation on anyone who preaches or believes that you are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus.
Trent was certainly not framed by postmodern philosophers. They were explicitly clear in their rejection of the gospel that born-again Christians love and cherish:
If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema. (Canon XXIV)
Trent anathematized every core doctrine of the Reformers. And regardless of Rome’s current attempts to extend olive branches to the evangelical church, the doctrines established at Trent are still binding on all Catholics.
Setting Sanity Aside for the Sake of Unity
Roger Olson is one of many evangelical scholars who abandon reason and doctrinal lines of demarcation in support of unification between Catholics and evangelicals.
Olson’s postmodern doublespeak exposes the poor logic of his argument. On the one hand, he admits that the Council of Trent condemned the core Protestant doctrines of the Reformers as damnable heresies. [1] Roger E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform(Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1999) 444. He also admits that the teachings of the Council of Trent are still binding on all Catholics and to reject any of them is to renounce Catholicism and apostatize from their religion. [2]Ibid., 445.
But in complete disregard of his own assessment, Olson contends that the boundaries between Catholicism Protestantism are becoming “more elastic and flexible.” [3]Ibid., 598. He looks “forward to a day when Catholics and Protestants will enjoy full communion and fellowship.” [4]Ibid., 599. This is clear defiance against the law of non-contradiction. If rejecting the Council of Trent is an act of renouncing one’s Catholic faith, then it is impossible for Catholics and Protestants to “enjoy full communion.” Anathematizing your guests makes for an awkward “Kumbaya” around the ecumenical campfire. The only way Catholics and Protestants can come together is if one or the other—or both—renounce their faith.
Olson’s inconsistencies are not that surprising–he has a track record of leaning liberal on key theological issues. But far more vexing is the behavior of renowned Reformed theologian J.I. Packer. Packer has written some truly great works on Christian soteriology. His book Knowing God is rightly treasured by Bible-believing Christians all over the world. Packer has a tremendous grasp of the fundamental doctrines advanced by the Reformers—salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, on Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone. His shorter work, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, is a helpful and clear testimony that the doctrines of grace no way mitigate fervent evangelism.
In light of Packer’s sound and robustly Reformed theology, his signature on the ECT document is troublesome. The thought of him setting aside such precious and glorious biblical truths for the sake of a unity that undermines those very truths is scarcely believable.
Roger Olson and J.I. Packer are just two examples of influential theologians who should know better than anyone that, given Roman Catholic dogma, there is no way to reconcile Catholicism and Protestantism. And yet they join many others in an endeavor that undercuts the very saving gospel they proclaim.
Missing the Mission Field
We live in a time of enormous compromise, driven by the postmodern version of tolerance. Wavering on the fundamental soteriological differences between Catholicism and evangelicalism for the sake of superficial unity is foolishness.
Twenty years ago, John Macarthur warned the church about prizing ecumenical unity over doctrinal integrity. His words are just as poignant today:
In a time like this of tolerance, false teaching will always cry intolerance; it will always say you’re being divisive, you’re being unloving, you’re being ungracious because it can only survive when it doesn’t get scrutinized. And so it cries against any intolerance. It cries against any examination, any scrutiny, just “let’s embrace each other, let’s love each other, let’s put all that behind us.” False doctrine cries the loudest about unity. And listen carefully when you hear the cry for unity because it may be the cover of false doctrine encroaching. And if ever we should follow 1 Thessalonians 5 and examine everything carefully, it’s when somebody is crying “unity, love, and acceptance.” [5]Irreconcilable Differences: Catholics, Evangelicals, and the New Quest for Unity, Parts 1-3
The church must be bold and clear about exposing the heresies of the Catholic Church. We must protect the flock from the ecumenical overtures of Catholics who want to suggest that we all play for the same team.
Furthermore, it must be done out of a desire to reach the vast mission field being overlooked right on our doorstep. In fact, there is perhaps no mission field riper for spiritual harvest than the Catholic Church.
One cannot help but wonder how much confusion has been spread through the evangelical church by its leaders’ ecumenical capitulation. How many people who look up to J.I. Packer and others like him have aborted the thought of witnessing to Catholics because their theological mentors were willing to link arms with Rome as colaborers in the Great Commission? Woe unto us if we allow that to pour water on our zeal to win Catholics to Christ.
We are only a few days away from what is shaping up to be a historic Shepherd’s Conference. The reason being is that this year’s focus is on one most important issue: biblical inerrancy.
And with the conference on the horizon, there have been some good conversations surrounding the nature of Scripture. One in particular I was in recently involved the idea of having a reverence for Scripture. You may have seen one of the conference graphics which quotes John Calvin from his commentary on 2 Timothy 3:16: “We owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God, because it has proceeded from him alone.”
In response to that quote, an insightful friend asked, “If we owe Scripture reverence because it proceeded from God, would this imply that we owe the same reverence to creation, as it also proceeded from God”? (By reverence, we assume that Calvin means something like, “To revere or show deferential honor due to the nature of the thing.”) It’s a great question that needs answering, especially in our day.
Both the Bible and creation did proceed from a perfect and holy God. So, which do we hold higher, if any, and why?
While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out the coveted gold statues on Sunday night at its 87th annual awards show, 2014 Oscar winners were far from box office winners. Barna’s annual movie-going study reveals that the Best Picture nominees were among the least-attended of the 30 films included in the survey. Only 4% of Americans say they viewed the Best Picture winner, Birdman, and a dismal 2% say they saw the highly celebrated Whiplash. The exception, of course, was American Sniper, which ranked third in box office sales in 2014.
So, besides American Sniper, what did Americans watch?
(CN) — A recent sermon delivered by the pastor of Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley reveals that Bentley’s recent decision to follow a federal court ruling striking down the state’s Sanctity of Marriage Act as being unconstitutional is at odds with his church’s teachings on obeying God rather than men.“Here’s what I said to our governor yesterday,” Gil McKee, pastor of First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa, told the congregation on Feb. 8. “‘Governor, I don’t care if all 49 states go for this same-sex marriage business, let’s be different in the state of Alabama. Let’s do what we know is the right thing to do. If you’ll just step up and lead out in this thing, if you’ll give the word to our chief justice to call all our probate judges … and say, ‘Don’t you issue one single license until the federal government does their thing and until we decide whether we’re going to follow that or not; don’t issue one of them,’ I’m telling you the people of this state would rally behind that.”
(CN) — Archaeologists are increasingly confident that they have discovered the remains of Libnah—an ancient city in Israel that is mentioned multiple times in the Bible.Since 2009, researchers have studied the remains of an ancient village at a dig site named Tel Burna, located 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem. The area was once a strategic border region between ancient Israel to the east and the Philistines to the west.
(CN) — Officials with the Mall of America are taking extra security precautions after an Islamic terror group considered to be an affiliate of al Qaeda released a video calling for attacks on malls in the Western world.Al-Shabaab released the video online on Saturday, citing three specific malls in the footage: the Oxford Street shopping strip in London, England, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
(CN) — Photos of three Thailand men who recently “married” each other have gone viral, garnering societal support for the concept of same-sex “throuples” worldwide, but also generating remarks from Christians about the confirmation of the slippery slope that has long been predicted.
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