Government Officials Blame Organized Groups of ‘Outsiders’ for Intentionally Inciting Violence to Further Division in America — BCNN1 – Black Christian News Network

A Chicago Police Department SUV is set on fire near State and Lake streets in the Loop on Saturday. Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

As protests over the death of George Floyd turned violent this weekend in Chicago and other U.S. cities, government officials have begun to blame organized groups they say are intentionally triggering the violence to create division in America.

In Chicago, officials had yet to cite specific groups for helping turn what had started as peaceful protests into full-blown riots on Saturday night. But on Sunday Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the violence “absolutely” was pre-planned.

She pointed to “the number of U-Haul trucks that magically showed up in front of stores” and caravans of cars helping to whisk looted merchandise away.

Asked specifically whether extremist groups were behind the violence, Lightfoot said the city is “working in partnership with the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the ATF, particularly their bomb and arson units” to determine that.

“It’s too soon in the course of this investigation for us to be able to say definitively,” the mayor said Sunday. “What I can say, there’s no question that some of the destruction that happened last night, particularly the arson, was absolutely organized and coordinated.”

Chicago Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) blamed outsiders for sparking the riots and looting that ensued.

“Despite hundreds of arrests, hundreds more violent criminals remain at large in Chicago, and unverified reports suggest more may be traveling here from other locations, with intent to continue the mayhem,” Hopkins said in a statement. “Of greatest concern is the arsonists who remain at large, as their acts are the most immediate threat to life, as well as property.

“While their plans and intentions for today [Sunday] — and especially tonight after sunset — are difficult to predict with specificity, we must assume they will attempt to engage in more destruction and violence …”

Click here to read more.

SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

via Government Officials Blame Organized Groups of ‘Outsiders’ for Intentionally Inciting Violence to Further Division in America — BCNN1 – Black Christian News Network

Bongino on violent riots: ‘This isn’t a protest anymore, this is a coup’ – WND

(FOX NEWS) — Former NYPD officer and Secret Service agent Dan Bongino reacted on Sunday to the violent riots that have erupted across the country in protest of the death of a black Minneapolis man in police custody, saying, “This isn’t a protest anymore, this is a coup.”

“This is an organized internal coup by a small group of agitators acting as a domestic terror group. That’s a fact,” Bongino, a Fox News contributor, said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday.

The violent protests across the country left at least three dead, dozens injured, hundreds arrested and buildings and businesses in charred ruins.

Read the full story ›

— Read on http://www.wnd.com/2020/05/bongino-violent-riots-isnt-protest-anymore-coup/

Racial Tension, Riots, and a River of Living Water — The Fight of Faith

The past several days have been heart-wrenching. Not only are we dealing with COVID-19 and the restrictions and fallout related to it, but we have also witnessed what is clearly the wrongful death of a man at the hands of police officers. To compound that, we have had six days of violent protest across the United States as many have turned to riots, vandalism, and theft. If we were not awake to the fact that we are living in a fallen world before this, we should be awake now.

If we spend too much time focused on the news or following social media feeds, we will soon be defeated and worn. If we spend too much time focused on this world without turning our eyes heavenward, we will quickly be hopeless because this world is unable to satisfy. The emptiness of this world is why scripture is continually calling us to turn our eyes away from the waves and turn them towards Jesus.

We see a perfect example of this when Jesus offers living water to the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter four. What is especially relevant about this passage is we see racial tension at work in these verses as well.

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he stopped to rest at the well in Samaria. The significance of this is that Jews and Samaritans, in general, did not like each other. Each group claimed the other group looked down on and mistreated them. The Samaritans were people who had married during Israel’s captivity, so the Jews did not believe they were genuinely Jewish. They were two or more ethnicities.

Adding to their racial differences, though the Samaritans believed in the God of Jacob, they merged their worship of him with pagan ideas. Some Bible scholars believe they worshiped him as a local deity who was only one among many. Due to these issues, the animosity between Jews and Samaritans went deep and cut both ways.

In walks Jesus, a Jew, and he engages the Samaritan woman in conversation by asking her for a drink of water from the well. Her response was to question why he was talking to her because Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Her question could have been honest, but most likely, her own prejudiced was starting to show. To put it in today’s vernacular, she could have been saying, “You Jews are usually too arrogant to talk to Samaritans. Take the hint; I am not interested in helping you.”

Jesus responds by saying, “If you knew who was speaking to you, you would have asked, and he would have given you living water.” What Jesus is doing, despite her disregard of him, is preparing to bless her. The first thing we need to notice about Jesus is that he does not play our culture’s race, gender, and class games. He simply treats this woman as a person made in the image of God regardless of society’s sins. The biggest problem is not this woman’s gender or race or even the mistreatment she has experienced at the hands of others; those are symptoms of a deeper issue. The real problem is her spiritual blindness, which becomes evident in her response to Jesus.

She says, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.” Her exaggerated focus on the physical exposes her inability to see spiritually. All she can think about is physical water. This is the state of many people today. You talk to them about God, and all they want to do is require evidence and the only evidence they will allow must use the scientific method. Their blindness, often willful, has so reduced their world to the physical that they cannot see past it, and they try to find all their satisfaction in it because, for them, it is all that exists.

This blindness, however, is not merely a problem for some people. We are all born with this blindness. Every believer alive today was once just as blind, but Jesus did for us what he is doing for the Samaritan woman in the passage. He restored our spiritual sight and offered us living water.

When all you can see is the physical world around you, you will do everything you can to find your hope in it, because you know of nothing else. As Jesus continues to speak to this woman gently, he brings to light the fact that she has had five husbands, and the man she is living with now is not her husband. Whether it was by death, divorce, or adultery, this woman had tried to find fulfillment in men, and she was left empty, and Jesus had exposed her sinfulness. He did not need to condemn her. He simply opened her eyes, and she saw it. When we focus only on the things of this world, ultimately, all we will find is disappointment that will leave us weary and worn. In our attempts to address our weary souls without looking to Jesus, we will walk deeper and deeper into sin.

Despite the woman’s sin, because of the sacrifice Jesus knew he was going to make on the cross, he knew her sins could be washed clean, and she, a sinner, could be in a right relationship with the holy God. In light of the atonement he would make, He offers her living water and says, “Whoever drinks of this water will never be thirsty again, and the water he gives will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The water he is speaking of is ultimately the Holy Spirit who opens our blind eyes, points us to Jesus and the cross, makes our spiritually dead hearts beat again, and causes us to rejoice in our God of mercy. He took our sinful hearts and made us whole, he calls us his children, and his banner over us is love. Instead of the wrath we deserve, we find forgiveness and peace in his presence, and this river of living water is eternal. It will never run dry.

I am not sure where you are right now spiritually, but if you have spent too much time focused on the things of this world, I am sure 2020 has left you discouraged and broken. Even we as believers can experience this when we take our eyes off Jesus and focus on our surroundings. This is what we see happening to Peter when he was walking on water, and he began to sink. The more we focus on the waves, the further we will descend until we find this world overwhelming us. Our society at large is undoubtedly sinking right now. This spiritual blindness so permeates our culture that it is attacking itself trying to find its happiness and hope in a world that cannot deliver.

What the world needs now more than anything is the living water that Christ offers, but we will only find it by being spiritually-minded and spending time with Jesus in his word and in prayer. As Christians, Christ is with us no matter what we face in this life. Sickness, racial injustice, and even riots cannot separate us from his love: even when injustice is directed toward us and at our front door.

The living water is a spring overflowing with joy, joy in the Lord. Joy in knowing he has forgiven us of our sins and healed us of our spiritual blindness. Joy in knowing no matter how bad this world may get, he will will not lose us and eventually return to set it all right. My question for you is, do you have this joy, or is your heart overwhelmed by the troubles of 2020? It is proper for us to have hearts filled with lament at times like these, but that lament can coexist in the full confidence in our great Savior.

How do we navigate these turbulent waters? How do we express our lament and reveal our hope? We cannot do it in our own strength, it is only through the Living Water himself, the Holy Spirit. If you are weak and unable to shine forth the light of your Savior, then turn to your eyes to him, he will restore your joy, and the joy of the Lord will be your strength. Did you catch that? The joy of the Lord will be your strength.

If there is anything Christians need now more than ever, it is strength. We need strength to be who Christ has called us to be, strength to be a city on a hill, strength to have hope during a pandemic and the resulting economic collapse, and power to model Christ’s example of the way past racial prejudice, violence, and anger. He broke down the racial wall when he broke down the wall between Jew and Gentile. In Christ, He destroys the artificial categories of class. All are one in Christ Jesus.

It is only in Christ that we will be able to love our enemies and return good for evil. It will only be in knowing our sinfulness and the grace we have received that we will be able to show mercy to those who mistreat us. As the world works to build higher and stronger walls of separation, Jesus has called us to break them down with the love of God, and there will be nothing easy about it. Others will mistreat us in the process, and as our scars begin to show, may the Spirit use them to draw people to the nail-scared hands, the only hands that can heal our world. We will only be able to live a life like that if we make sure our eyes are on Jesus, and we are drinking deeply of the living water.

-D.Eaton

via Racial Tension, Riots, and a River of Living Water — The Fight of Faith

It’s Past Time to Examine How Police Unions Protect Bad Cops — National Review

They hide the rotten apples under the guise of privacy protection.

via It’s Past Time to Examine How Police Unions Protect Bad Cops — National Review

Anger Games Night 5 – Sunday Night Riots – Open Discussion Thread… — The Last Refuge

The riots, arson, looting and related violence has spread from Minneapolis Minnesota to many urban areas around the nation. From ground reports it appears Antifa groups (aka White ISIS) have organized for chaos in Minneapolis and beyond.

Sunday night the mayhem has spread to more Democrat strongholds in Santa Monica (CA), Philadelphia (PA), Nashville (TN), Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), Washington DC, Houston (TX), New York City (NY), Los Angeles (CA), and other deep blue metropolitan areas. There are organized riots, anti-police violence and chaos organized by Antifa and elements within the Black Lives Matter groups.

Many people are calling for federal intervention; however, that type of confrontation is the intended goal of the social anarchy crowd. The leftist chaos is purposeful bait; let them exhaust themselves first and highlight inept democrat Mayors and Governors.

Politically speaking, the merging of Antifa (revolution communists) & Black Lives Matter (sub-text political Islam), has a purposeful agenda unknown to the standard brick thrower. Suburban white liberals, essentially modern affiliates of the former Bill Ayers Weather Underground, are the organizing entities. Most of the people on the street are oblivious.

Local authorities in/around the urban danger zones have the primary responsibility to maintain domestic tranquility. Federal intervention to replace local political ineptitude, and lack of desire to confront a crisis of their own creation, is short-sighted.

If local officials and/or state governors are not going to take action; factually they do not want to take action because they are fearful of backlash from their own tribe; then federal assistance doesn’t work. It is better for President Trump to watch from a distance and keep reminding the U.S. electorate how he supports, but will not replace, local officials.

The 2020 Anger Games were predictable.

“Gotta do it Joe”…

via Anger Games Night 5 – Sunday Night Riots – Open Discussion Thread… — The Last Refuge

Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner? — CultureWatch

Thoughts on ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’:

There plenty of maxims, sayings, and clichés that routinely flow from the lips of believers. Some are more or less faithful to biblical truth while some are much less so. The oft heard remark that we are to hate the sin while loving the sinner may fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

How should we assess this saying? We can start by taking any portions of truth from this that we can. And one obvious truth to be gleaned would be that most of us believers are not very good at loving sinners, or showing them the love of Christ. We tend to be more eager to condemn and rebuke them than seek to win them to Christ. That needs to change.

A related truism is that while we are often quick to point out and hate sin in others, we tend to be less hateful and concerned about our own sin. This also needs to change. So if this saying simply meant that we need to correct these two shortcomings, we could all agree.

But Scripture takes things further when it comes to sin and sinners and how they can be viewed. The truth is, we have various passages that speak of hate in a positive light. That is, sometimes we read about the reality or need of hating certain things or people, and such hate is not condemned.

Four years ago I penned a two-part article on this. In it I said that the Bible informs us of these four things:

-God hates certain things
-God hates certain people
-We are to hate certain things
-We are to hate certain people?

I offered numerous passages for each one of these headings: billmuehlenberg.com/2016/11/23/divine-love-hate-part-one/

I went on in part 2 of the article to look at how this plays itself out in our theology and our Christian lives: billmuehlenberg.com/2016/11/23/divine-love-hate-part-two/

The information presented there shows us that the saying is at best partly accurate and biblical. So please have a read of those two pieces for more detail on this. And we can look at other terms than just ‘hate.’ For example, we can examine a term like ‘enemies” as a biblical description of sinners. Consider just a few of them:

-Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
-Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

And it is not just unredeemed sinners that can be seen as enemies. God’s people in the Old Testament were sometimes also called God’s enemies. Consider these three texts:

-Lamentations 2:4-5 Like an enemy he has strung his bow;
his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;
he has poured out his wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion.
The Lord is like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
for Daughter Judah.

-Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord declares,
the Lord of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
and avenge myself on my foes.” (speaking of Jerusalem)

-Isaiah 63:10 Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.

Alec Motyer says this about that final passage: “Those who refuse his way become his enemies (1:24) and, in the present passage, he theirs. The truth that he hates the sin but loves the sinner needs balance and corrective of ‘enmity’ passages such as these. In the ultimate, sinner and sin cannot be facilely held apart.”

Let me offer another quote about the phrase under question. D. A. Carson says this in his excellent volume, How Long, O Lord?:

Why is it that we are comfortable with evangelical clichés about God “loving the sinner but hating the sin,” when within the first fifty psalms alone there are fourteen passages where God is explicitly said to hate the sinner, or to be angry with the sinner, or the like? I am not for a moment suggesting there is no truth at all in the cliché….

Even so, after all caveats have been entered, the distance between our perception of where the problem lies and the perceptions of the biblical writers is one of the most sobering considerations for those who take the Bible seriously. It is one more indication that we have given ourselves to thinking great thoughts about human beings and small thoughts about God.

Indeed, one wonders how far we can go in making an airtight separation between the sinner and his sin. I have written about this before. For example, a person who habitually lies we call a liar. A person who steals a lot is a thief. A person who rapes people is a rapist. A person who regular hates others is a hater. A person who murders others we call a murderer.

A person who likes sexual relations with children we call a paedophile. A person who is addicted to illicit drugs we call a drug addict. A person who is addicted to porn we call a porn addict. So there certainly is some sort of connection between what a person does on a regular basis and who they are.

That is why we read in a passage like 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 that “neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Biblical Christians of course recognise that sin is much more than mere outward actions alone. Sin also has to do with inward attitudes and desires. Thus Jesus could call someone who hates, a murderer, and someone who lusts after others, an adulterer. Sin involves the entire person. Indeed, we can go further and say that it is not so much the case that we are sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners.

Sin goes deep into our very person. That is why we need outside help to get right with God. We cannot save ourselves. Sin is too deeply ingrained in who we are. All this is not to say that that sinners cannot be wonderfully transformed in Christ and set free from sinful and addictive behaviours. They can indeed – praise God.

Nothing Greater, Nothing Better: Theological Essays on the Love of Godby Array

But even here we must exercise caution. That is, a forgiven, born-again Christian still needs to keep working on inner sinful desires and attitudes. Let me give two obvious examples of this. If a person who was jailed for numerous cases of fiddling with the books and stealing money from his white collar job gets saved, it would not be very wise to make that new Christian the church treasurer – at least not immediately.

If a person has had a long criminal record of the sexual abuse of children, and then becomes a Christian, it would be sensible not to put him in charge of the children’s Sunday School ministry – at least not right away. One would want to make sure he is growing in real sanctification in that area.

Let me offer a helpful quote about all this. In a collection of essays edited by Kevin Vanhoozer – Nothing Greater, Nothing Better: Theological Essays on the Love of God – Tony Lane has a chapter called “The Wrath of God as an Aspect of the Love of God.” He writes:

Where does this leave the modern cliché that “God hates the sin but loves the sinner”? Like most clichés it is a half-truth. There are two ways in which it could be taken. The first, which is undoubtedly the way that most people take it in the modern liberal West, is as a comment about the wrath of God. God’s displeasure is against sin but not against the sinner. Apart from the fact that this reverses the emphasis of the New Testament, there are problems with it. As William Temple observes, “that is a shallow psychology which regards the sin as something merely separate from the sinner, which he can lay aside like a suit of clothes. My sin is the wrong direction of my will; and my will is just myself as far as I am active. If God hates the sin, what He hates is not an accretion attached to my real self; it is myself, as that self now exists.” It is incoherent to say that God is displeased with child molestation but feels no displeasure toward child molesters. In what sense, then, is the cliché true? It is to be understood not as limiting the objects of God’s displeasure to sinful actions but as affirming God’s grace. God loves sinners, not in the sense that he does not hate them along with their sin, but in the sense that he seeks their salvation in Christ. While his attitude to sinners as sinners is antagonism and wrath, his good will toward them actively seeks their conversion and forgiveness.

But does the Bible ever talk of God actually hating people? Mostly it speaks of God hating evil deeds (e.g., Deut. 12:31; Prov. 6:16-19; Isa. 61:8; Amos 6:8; Rev. 2:6), but there are seven passages that speak of his hatred for people. First, there is the repeated statement that God loved Jacob but hated Esau (Mal. 1:2-3; Rom. 9:13). We should beware of reading too much into this given the question of the extent to which it is individuals or nations that are in mind, and the question of whether “hate” here is to be understood as in the injunction to hate one’s own relatives and one’s own life (Luke 14:26; cf. Matt. 10:37). Second, it is thrice stated that God hates evildoers (Psalm 5:5; 11:5; Prov. 6:16-19). Finally, God twice states that he hates Israel (Jer. 12:8; Hos. 9:15). Clearly these last affirmations do not preclude God’s love for Israel, as is proclaimed especially by Hosea. Perhaps we would remain closest to the emphasis of the Bible if we spoke of God’s hatred of sin and his wrath against sinners, though we cannot exclude talk of God’s wrath against sin or his hatred of sinners. A new slogan might be “God hates the sin and is angry with the sinner”.

I close on a positive note: it is terrific that God by his grace can transform lost sinners. Praise him for redeeming and transforming the lives of murderers and rapists and thieves and haters and liars. God is certainly in the change business.

via Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner? — CultureWatch

May 31 Do It While You Can

 

Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
(1 Samuel 20:18)

Since my father died, I’ve wept many times over the questions I wish I could have asked him and for the grandchildren he’s never met. He left us so quickly; he left without saying good-bye. I sometimes envy those whose parents are still alive. My own children are now married and gone, but I still feel the need to call them at times and just say, “I love you and I’m proud of you!” I think that’s important!

The ultimate absentee parent is one who is dead. There are no arguments to be had and no issues to be resolved. If you can fill the empty seat in your life, do it while there’s still time. If your parents are gone, reach out to your children; overcome every obstacle and love them. When the prodigal son finally came home, he wasn’t greeted with scorn or, “I told you so.” He may have been a failure to everyone else, but not to his dad! His father’s arms reached out to hold him, because he knew that when he touched his son, he was touching himself. So long as we’re still alive, we’ll disappoint each other. It’s part of being human. But if God’s love can’t overcome our disappointments, then we’re sure to die lonely.

 

Don’t let that happen to you!^[1]

 

^[1] Gass, B. (1998). A Fresh Word For Today : 365 Insights For Daily Living (p. 151). Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos Publishers.

May 31 Life-Changing Moments With God

 

Your name shall … be called … Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.

My Lord God, in his strength Jacob struggled with You. Yes he struggled with Your Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from You. Abraham did not waver at Your promise through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving You glory.

I will have faith in You. For assuredly, Jesus taught, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore Jesus says to me, whatever things I ask when I pray, if I believe that I will receive them, I will have them. If I can believe, all things are possible to me who believes. I am blessed for I believe; there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told me from You, Lord.

Lord, increase my faith.

Yes, Lord, increase my faith so that I may see You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly.

Genesis 32:28; Hosea 12:3–4; Romans 4:20; Mark 11:22–24; Mark 9:23; Luke 1:45; Luke 17:5^[1]

 

^[1] Jeremiah, D. (2007). Life-Changing Moments With God (p. 166). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

May—31 The Poor Man’s Evening Portion

 

So Moses the servant of the Lord died.—Deut. 34:5.

My soul! close the month in contemplating the death of this highly-favoured servant of the Lord; and mark in him the sure event of all flesh—“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” What a blessed account hath the Holy Ghost given of this man! “There arose not a prophet (we are told) like unto Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face.” But, as if to draw an everlasting line of distinction between him and his Master, between the highest prophet and the Lord God of the prophets, the Holy Ghost was pleased, by the ministry of his servant the apostle, to state the vast distinction: “Moses verily was faithful (saith he) in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house are we.” (Heb. 3:5, 6.) Indeed, all the great and distinguishing events in the life of Moses became more or less brilliant, as they set forth in their typical representations, the person, work, or offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was Moses the Lord’s minister to bring the people out of Egypt; and what was this but a representation of the Lord Jesus, bringing his people out of the Egypt of sin, death, and hell? If Moses led the people through the Red Sea, and opened a path through the mighty waters; what was this but a type of the ever-blessed Jesus, bringing his redeemed through the red sea of his blood, and opening a new and living way into the presence of God? If Moses kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood through faith, what was the great object his faith looked at, but Christ our passover, and the blood of his sacrifice? Did he bring the people through the wilderness; and is not Jesus bringing all his people through? Did he feed them with manna, and give them water from the rock; and what did the manna prefigure but Jesus, the bread of life; and what was the rock but Christ, the water of life, in all ages of the Church, to his people? In short, every thing momentous in the Church’s history, wherein Moses ministered to the people, pointed, both in law and in sacrifice, to Jesus the Lamb of God, and his one all-sufficient sacrifice for the salvation of his redeemed. And even the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, over and above the event of death, common to all, had this peculiar signification annexed to it, that, as the great lawgiver to the people, it set forth the inefficacy of the law to bring into Canaan; this could only be accomplished by Christ, who “is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.” Farewell, Moses! thou servant of the Lord! Thou, when thou hadst served thy generation, wast gathered to thy fathers, and like all the patriarchs, didst see corruption; but Jesus saw no corruption—he ever liveth, and is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,” Hail, thou glorious Mediator of “a better covenant established upon better promises!” Be thou the Alpha and Omega of thy word, thine ordinances, thy sanctuary, thy servants! To thee all ministered; from thee all come; in thee all centered; and to thine everlasting praise all terminate, in bringing glory to Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, through Jesus Christ. Amen.^[1]

 

^[1] Hawker, R. (1845). The Poor Man’s Evening Portion (A New Edition, pp. 167–168). Philadelphia: Thomas Wardle.

10 Key Bible Verses on Salvation | Crossway

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

New Life in Christ

Because of Christ, believers are granted salvation from sin and the promise of eternal life. What hope we have in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus! Be encouraged by reading the following Scriptures with commentary from the ESV Study Bible.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Those who give themselves to sin will die both physically and eternally, whereas Christians are assured of eternal life. Wages implies that the punishment for sin is what one has earned and what one deserves. Free gift is the opposite of something one deserves, which fits Paul’s earlier emphasis on justification by grace alone, through faith alone (trusting in Christ for justification; see Rom. 1:17; Rom. 3:21–4:25).

Philippians 2:12–13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The Philippians have obeyed (cf. Christ’s obedience, Phil. 2:8) in the past and should continue to do so as they work out their salvation with fear and trembling. They cannot be content with past glories but need to demonstrate their faith day by day as they nurture their relationship with God. But while God’s justice is a cause for sober living (“fear and trembling”), it is not as though Paul wants the Philippians to be anxious that they can never be good enough to merit God’s favor. Rather, it is God’s love and enabling grace that will see them through: it is God who works in you. They can rejoice in God’s empowering presence even as they work hard at living responsible Christian lives. While Philippians 2:12 may seem to suggest salvation by works, it is clear that Paul rejects any such teaching (cf. Phil 3:2–11). In Philippians 2:12 Paul means “salvation” in terms of progressively coming to experience all of the aspects and blessings of salvation. The Philippians’ continued obedience is an inherent part of “working out” their salvation in this sense. But as Philippians 2:13 demonstrates, these works are the result of God’s work within his people. both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Even the desire (“to will”) to do what is good comes from God; but he also works in the believer to generate actual choices of the good, so that the desires result in actions.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus as the one way to the Father fulfills the Old Testament symbols and teachings that show the exclusiveness of God’s claim, such as the curtain (Ex. 26:33) barring access to God’s presence from all except the Levitical high priest (Lev. 16), the rejection of human inventions as means to approach God (Lev. 10:2), and the choice of Aaron alone to represent Israel before God in his sanctuary (Num. 17:5). Jesus is the only “way” to God (Acts 4:12), and he alone can provide access to God. Jesus as the truth fulfills the teaching of the Old Testament (John 1:17) and reveals the true God (cf. John 1:14, 17; John 5:33; John 18:37; also John 8:40, 45–46; John 14:9). Jesus alone is the life who fulfills the Old Testament promises of “life” given by God (John 11:25–26), having life in himself (John 1:4; John 5:26), and he is thus able to confer eternal life to all those who believe in him (e.g., John 3:16). This is another “I am” saying that makes a claim to deity.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Paul explains why he is so eager to preach the gospel everywhere: the gospel is the saving power of God, in which the righteousness of God is revealed.

Because of their lack of size, fame, or honor in the Roman corridors of power and influence, Christians might be tempted to be ashamed of the Christian message. But Paul says it is nothing to be ashamed of, for it is in fact a message coming with the power of God that brings people to salvation. “Jew” first indicates the priority of the Jews in salvation history and their election as God’s people. The role of the Jews is a major issue in Romans, as seen especially in the discussion in Romans chs. 9–11. Greek is not limited here to people from Greece but refers to all Gentiles.

John 1:12–13

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

“Receive him” implies not merely intellectual agreement with some facts about Jesus but also welcoming and submitting to him in a personal relationship. “Believed in” (Gk. pisteuō eis) implies personal trust. “His name” refers to all that is true about him, and therefore the totality of his person. “Born, not of blood . . . , but of God” makes clear that neither physical birth nor ethnic descent nor human effort can make people children of God, but only God’s supernatural work (John 8:41–47; cf. John 3:16). This extends the possibility of becoming God’s children to Gentiles and not just Jews (John 11:51–52; cf. John 10:16). See also John 3:3–8. “To all . . . who believed . . . he gave the right” indicates that saving faith precedes becoming members of God’s family through adoption as his children.

Ephesians 1:13–14

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

“Sealed” can mean either that the Holy Spirit protects and preserves Christians until they reach their inheritance (see Eph. 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:22; 1 Pet. 1:5; Rev. 7:2–3) or that he “certifies” the authenticity of their acceptance by God as being genuine—they bear the “royal seal” (see John 3:33; Acts 10:44, 47). The first interpretation seems best here, though both ideas are biblically true.

God pours out his Holy Spirit on all of his children to guarantee (or to provide a “down payment” on) their share in his eternal kingdom because he applies to them all God’s powerful working in redemption. “until we acquire possession of it.” This phrase can also be rendered “until God redeems his possession.” In that case it means that, like the Levites in the Old Testament, believers are the Lord’s specially treasured possession (see Num. 3:12, 45; Num. 8:14; Josh. 14:3–4; 18:7).

John 3:3–6

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

This discussion of the need for spiritual rebirth further develops the earlier reference to the “children of God” who are “born of God” (John 1:12–13; cf. John 8:39–58; John 11:51–52). The phrase “born of water and the Spirit” in John 3:5 refers to spiritual birth, which cleanses from sin and brings spiritual transformation and renewal. Water here does not refer to the water of physical birth, nor is it likely that it refers to baptism. The background is probably Ezekiel 36:25–27, where God promises, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. . . . And I will give you a new heart. . . . And I will put my Spirit within you.” For further discussion of being born again, see 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18. The kingdom of God, a major topic in the other Gospels, is mentioned in John only in 3:3, 5 (see the reference to Jesus’ kingdom in John 18:36).

John 3:16–18

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Here is the most famous summary of the gospel in the entire Bible. “For” connects to v. 15 and explains what happened to make it possible that someone can “have eternal life” (John 3:15), that is, through believing in Christ. God so loved the world was an astounding statement in that context because the Old Testament and other Jewish writings had spoken only of God’s love for his people Israel. God’s love for “the world” made it possible for “whoever” (John 3:15) believes in Christ, not Jews alone, to have eternal life. God’s love for the world was not mere sentiment but led to a specific action: he gave his only Son, which John elsewhere explains as sending him to earth as a man (John 3:17) to suffer and die and thereby to bear the penalty for sins. The purpose of giving his Son was to make God’s great gift of eternal life available to anyone—to whoever believes in him, that is, whoever personally trusts in him. “Not perish” means not perish in eternal judgment, in contrast to having eternal life, the life of abundant joy and immeasurable blessing in the presence of God forever. Those who “believe in” Christ have that “eternal life” and already experience its blessings in this present time, not yet fully, but in some significant measure.

Those who do not believe and trust in Christ have neither a positive nor a neutral standing before God. They stand condemned already before God for their sins because they have not trusted God’s solution for guilt, the only Son of God. This verse also refutes the assertion that a sincere person following any religion can have eternal life with God (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:13–17; 1 Tim. 2:5–6; regarding Old Testament believers who looked forward to Christ, see John 8:56; Rom. 4:1–24; Heb. 11:13, 26).

Titus 2:11–14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Christians should live this way because (“for”) the grace of God that saves also instructs its recipients to live in a new way. One cannot truly claim to be a recipient of saving grace without also being a pupil of “training grace.” This change in lifestyle is rooted in the atonement (Titus 2:14) and the expectation of Christ’s return (Titus 2:13).

“Bringing salvation” for all people is sometimes misunderstood as meaning that all people will be saved. However, such a reading is not necessary here and flatly contradicts other Scripture. It means, rather, that salvation has been offered to all people (including all ethnic groups), not just to some.

Saving grace teaches its recipients to say no to sin and yes to godliness. In the present age stresses that this godliness is to be lived out in the here and now. It also sets up the reference to the future return of Christ (Titus 2:13). Certainty about the future enables constancy in the present.

The Greek for waiting (prosdechomai) often carries a connotation of eagerness. Eagerly expecting the return of Christ is the way grace trains Christians to renounce sin and live in a godly way (see Titus 2:11–12). Setting one’s mind on the truth of Christ’s return impels a person to holiness (see 1 John 3:2–3). Our blessed hope means Christ’s second coming, which Paul calls the appearing of . . . our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. It may seem unclear whether Paul refers here to two persons of the Godhead (God the Father and Jesus Christ) or whether he describes Jesus as God and Savior. The Greek grammar, however, is well reflected in this translation and indicates that Jesus is being identified as “our great God and Savior” (cf. John 1:1; 20:28; etc.).

Paul anchors his call for godliness in the fact that one purpose of Jesus’ death was to make his people holy. To forsake godliness is to despise the sacrifice of Christ. Paul roots this in the Old Testament with the phrase to redeem us from all lawlessness, which in Greek closely resembles the Septuagint of Ps. 130:8. A people for his own possession translates an unusual phrase (Gk. laon periousion) with intentional echoes from the Old Testament (see esp. Ex. 19:5; Mal. 3:17). It has the sense of “prized, treasured possession.” These people are to be zealous for good works, so again redemption is tied specifically to living in a godly manner. There is no room for claiming to be redeemed while providing no evidence of practical transformation (see James 2:14–26).

1 Thessalonians 5:9–10

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

“For” connects this verse with either 1 Thess. 5:6–8 in general or the specific exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 to put on the helmet of hope. Paul restates what he said in 1 Thessalonians 5:4: the Thessalonians have nothing to worry about, because they are destined not for wrath but for salvation at the second coming.

“Awake” alludes to the concern of the living Christians regarding their destiny on the day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11), while “asleep” alludes to the destiny of deceased Christians (1 Thess. 4:13–18). live. At the second coming, Christians will experience a new quality of life in the company of Christ.

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Source: 10 Key Bible Verses on Salvation

Attorney General Barr: Antifa Rioters Will Be Treated as Domestic Terrorists — The Gateway Pundit

Following President Trump’s statement the federal government would be designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist group, Attorney General William Barr issued a statement Sunday afternoon saying that Antifa and other groups participating in the rioting marring the George Floyd protests would be treated as domestic terrorists. Barr also said with regard to lax state and local governments, “It is time to stop watching the violence and to confront and stop it.”

Attorney General Barr made a statement to the media Saturday about the riots, screen image.

Statement via the Justice Department:

Attorney General William P. Barr’s Statement on Riots and Domestic Terrorism

Attorney General William P. Barr has issued the following statement:

“With the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful and legitimate protests have been hijacked by violent radical elements. Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate, violent, and extremist agenda.

It is time to stop watching the violence and to confront and stop it. The continued violence and destruction of property endangers the lives and livelihoods of others, and interferes with the rights of peaceful protestors, as well as all other citizens.

It also undercuts the urgent work that needs to be done – through constructive engagement between affected communities and law enforcement leaders – to address legitimate grievances. Preventing reconciliation and driving us apart is the goal of these radical groups, and we cannot let them succeed.

It is the responsibility of state and local leaders to ensure that adequate law enforcement resources, including the National Guard where necessary, are deployed on the streets to reestablish law and order. We saw this finally happen in Minneapolis last night, and it worked.

Federal law enforcement actions will be directed at apprehending and charging the violent radical agitators who have hijacked peaceful protest and are engaged in violations of federal law.

To identify criminal organizers and instigators, and to coordinate federal resources with our state and local partners, federal law enforcement is using our existing network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF).

The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.”

President Trump’s tweets on Antifa posted Sunday morning:

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Congratulations to our National Guard for the great job they did immediately upon arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last night. The ANTIFA led anarchists, among others, were shut down quickly. Should have been done by Mayor on first night and there would have been no trouble!

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11:03 AM – May 31, 2020

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Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Other Democrat run Cities and States should look at the total shutdown of Radical Left Anarchists in Minneapolis last night. The National Guard did a great job, and should be used in other States before it is too late!

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11:12 AM – May 31, 2020

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Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.

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11:23 AM – May 31, 2020

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Trump later retweeted Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton who praised Trump and Barr for focusing on Antifa, “Antifa has been engaging in terrorism and seditious conspiracy for years. But FBI and DOJ were too busy to care much, their leadership engaging in their own seditious conspiracy against the presidency @RealDonaldTrump. Glad to see that AG Barr is beginning to get back to basics.”

Tom Fitton

✔@TomFitton

Antifa has been engaging in terrorism and seditious conspiracy for years. But FBI and DOJ were too busy to care much, their leadership engaging in their own seditious conspiracy against the presidency @RealDonaldTrump. Glad to see that AG Barr is beginning to get back to basics.

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1:13 PM – May 31, 2020

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via Attorney General Barr: Antifa Rioters Will Be Treated as Domestic Terrorists — The Gateway Pundit

AG Bill Barr Releases Statement on Riots and Domestic Terrorism: “violence instigated by Antifa is domestic terrorism”…… — The Last Refuge

 

U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr releases the following statement today:

…”The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly”…

“With the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful and legitimate protests have been hijacked by violent radical elements. Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate, violent, and extremist agenda.

It is time to stop watching the violence and to confront and stop it. The continued violence and destruction of property endangers the lives and livelihoods of others, and interferes with the rights of peaceful protestors, as well as all other citizens.

It also undercuts the urgent work that needs to be done – through constructive engagement between affected communities and law enforcement leaders – to address legitimate grievances. Preventing reconciliation and driving us apart is the goal of these radical groups, and we cannot let them succeed.

It is the responsibility of state and local leaders to ensure that adequate law enforcement resources, including the National Guard where necessary, are deployed on the streets to reestablish law and order. We saw this finally happen in Minneapolis last night, and it worked.

Federal law enforcement actions will be directed at apprehending and charging the violent radical agitators who have hijacked peaceful protest and are engaged in violations of federal law.

To identify criminal organizers and instigators, and to coordinate federal resources with our state and local partners, federal law enforcement is using our existing network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF).

The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.” (link)

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a well known Antifa supporter.

via AG Bill Barr Releases Statement on Riots and Domestic Terrorism: “violence instigated by Antifa is domestic terrorism”…… — The Last Refuge

NAR infests South Africa

The Word Like Fire

One reason I like the Famine in the Land blog (and Facebook) is it keeps me informed of the false teachings and movements in Africa and elsewhere. The following article shows how the New Apostolic Reformation is seemingly rising to dominance in South Africa.

According to Rick Becker:

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has poisoned many of the influential leaders in the visible church in South Africa, and sadly, one of the most significant voices in South Africa’s leadership – Chief Justice Mogoeng. The Chief Justice hosted a virtual prayer meeting on Monday, 25 May, with nearly 1000 leaders from across the continent. Instead of the gospel featuring, the meeting revolved around the goals and methodologies of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) …Continue reading article…

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After another Christian loses faith, is convenience Christianity to blame? CT — TheWeeFlea.com

This weeks Christian Today article has apparently struck a cord….

After another Christian loses faith, is convenience Christianity to blame?

Christian rock band Hawk Nelson are seen in this photo, which was posted on the band’s Facebook page, as band member Daniel Biro responded to Jon Steingard’s announcement that he no longer believes in God.Facebook/Hawk Nelson

The young singer was excited. “This is the biggest gig we’ve ever done!” We were at a joint Christian event where 1,500 people were due to be present. I was one of the speakers – the other asked me this question: “You notice that they’ve sound checked everyone except those who are preaching the word – does that not tell you something?!”

It was my introduction to the world of Christian concerts, celebrities and cash. Another time a friend asked what they should do with the ‘star’ who was being flown over from the States for a Christian concert and wanted to be met at the airport with a limo, and have their drink of choice and flowers in the dressing room. “Tell them to stay where they are” was my not very helpful, but truthful response!

All of this came to mind this week when I heard that yet another Christian celebrity had renounced the faith. It is becoming a depressingly familiar story. Another one bites the dust. But why?

The responses tend to be largely the same as well. The apologists tell us that if only more apologetics had been done at an earlier age. The nice people tell us we are not to judge. Lots of pious platitudes and expressions of love echo round the echo chamber. Personally I find it all pretty tiring and depressing. I agree with most of what is said – although I find much of it to be cliched truisms – “He has left God, but God hasn’t left him.” For me there was nothing to be said and everything to be mourned.

Bowels Opened!

Then I read a sermon on Song of Solomon, published in 1639 in a book wonderfully entitled “Bowels Opened” – a collection of expository sermons by Rev. Richard Sibbes of Cambridge on the Song of Solomon. The title of course refers to the biblical (and anatomically correct) view that the heart of the affections was felt more in our guts than our heart! But just after I heard that Jon Steingard of the Christian band Hawk Nelson had renounced his faith, I read sermon 5 in this book and came across this astonishing passage which I now share with you (slightly abridged into modern English):

“If we should ask, what is the reason there are so many that apostasize, fall away, grow profane, and are so unfruitful under the gospel, notwithstanding that they continue to hear as much as they do? The answer is, their souls were never founded and bottomed upon this, that the word of God and divine truth, have been felt by experience to be the voice of Christ…….they were never persuaded from inbred arguments , that the voice of Christ is the word of God. Others who were strictly brought up are now profane, because they were never convinced by the power and majesty of the truth in itself; and then in the end they despair notwithstanding all the promises, because they were never convinced of the truth of them. They cannot say Amen to all the promises. But the church can say confidentially , upon sound experience, “it is the voice of my beloved.”

Sibbes reminds us that this falling away is nothing new. In 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul writes: “Demas having loved this world has forsaken me.” I’ve noticed some common threads in all of the recent ‘I no longer believe’ testimonies. All of them come under the heading of what I would call ‘convenience Christianity’.

Cultural Christians

They grew up in Christian homes. As Steingard stated he had “the word ‘Christian’ in front of most of the things in my life”. They live in a Christian environment, listen to Christian music, have Christian friends, watch Christian TV, eat Christian food (Chick-Fil-A?!), and generally swim in a culture which claims the name of Christ. It is more convenient to be a ‘Christian’ in that culture than not – especially if it offers you a career.

Celebrity Christians

Often people who grow up in a Christian environment adopt the faith for cultural reasons. But when faced with other perspectives, people, pleasures and pressures – they give it up. Because the root of the matter is not in them, when the first storm or temptation comes up, the ‘faith’ they had collapses like a house built on sand.

But the trouble, as Steingard points out, is that for celebrity Christians they owe their celebrity and their income to being Christians. The young man who told me this was the biggest gig they had ever played would never in a month of Sundays have been able to play in front of 1,500 people in the secular world.

In the saddest part of his deconversion testimony Steingard declares, “I am stunned by the number of people in visible positions within Christian circles that feel the same way as I do. Like me, they fear losing everything if they’re open about it.”

In an ironic reversal of the teaching of Christ where people won’t follow Him because they fear they will lose everything, these celebrity Christians fear that they will lose everything if they give up their Christian position! Which is not to say that every celebrity Christian is fake – but more to ask what we have done in creating a Christian world that mimics the secular world and holds up some people as celebrities, and pays and honours them for being so?

Steingard admits that now his Christian career has faded he finds it much easier to give up his Christianity: “I’ve got a whole lot less to lose now. The band isn’t playing shows or making music at the moment, and we’ve all found other work and careers to focus on for the time being.”

This statement takes away from the whole ‘I’m being honest and this is a thing of integrity’. It is now more convenient for him to not be a Christian.

Cliched Christians

When I read his statement, it also struck me how cliched it was. Here was a Christian songwriter for many years saying that he was now renouncing his faith because of questions about evil, suffering and hell. Had he never considered these questions before? The minute I became a Christian, these questions challenged me and I hear them every day. But they drive me to Christ – not away from him. Christ is the answer to these questions. Renouncing Christ is no answer.

I looked over some earlier statements from Steingard and they were full of the kind of Christian jingoese that so many Christian songs perpetuate. It wouldn’t take a genius to set up a Christian songwriting machine which pours out the ‘buzz words’ which can make a ‘hit’ song. Of course there are excellent Christian songwriters but far too much of the ‘industry’ is a pale reflection of the secular pop music scene – giving us cliched and banal lyrics and uninspiring music.

Convenience Christianity leads to cliched Christianity where life is full of slogans and pep talks, clichés and emotions, but little reality.

Christless Christianity

And this is the saddest thing of all: convenience Christianity is a Christless Christianity. Now, some Christians say this is a harsh statement. But it’s only being fair to those who renounce their faith – because it takes them at their word. They now no longer believe in the Jesus of the Bible – because they say He doesn’t exist. So even if they believed before, they were believing in someone who didn’t exist. By definition they are calling themselves Christless because to them there is no Christ. You cannot have what doesn’t exist.

When I say Christless Christianity, I’m not agreeing with them that Christ does not exist. I’m simply stating that the Christianity they had before was Christless. They did not hear the Shepherd’s voice. They did not love Him. They did not give up everything to follow Him. At best, He was a mirage, a distant memory, a religious cliché and a convenient figure from history on which to hang your family, life and career. When He or His standards are no longer needed, He conveniently no longer exists.

This is not to deny that there are Christians who fall away – the Bible warns us about the danger of becoming such. But it is to warn us about the danger of pronouncing people as Christians too quickly and, even more so, putting young (in the faith) Christians into positions of leadership and influence before their faith has ever been tried and tested in the heat of spiritual battle. Because battle it is. We need to count the cost before we profess Christ.

Nor should we deny the possibility that genuine Christians can, in the old phrase, ‘backslide’. We can lose our first love and need to repent.

Sweater or Armour?

Steingard speaks of his faith as being like a sweater whose threads were gradually unpicked. It’s an apt metaphor for comfortable, convenient, cultural Christianity. The Bible uses a different metaphor. We are to put on armour – the armour of God. The chain mail of God that can never be gradually unpicked but which together with the Sword of the Spirit, the word of God, enables us to stand fast.

My hope and prayer for Jon Steingard is that if he ever was a genuine Christian, he would be restored to Christ, and if he never really knew Christ, he would come to know Him. All of us need to listen to the voice of our beloved – the good shepherd – or we too will wander like lost sheep. It’s time for some inconvenient and challenging Christianity.

Jesus’s Plea to Russell Brand – CT

The Apostate Free Church?

via After another Christian loses faith, is convenience Christianity to blame? CT — TheWeeFlea.com

Phone calls between Biden and Ukraine’s Poroshenko leaked;

05-31-2020 • https://www.naturalnews.com

Leaked phone calls between Joe Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko explicitly detail the quid-pro-quo arrangement to fire former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin – who Poroshenko admits did nothing wrong – in exchange for $1 billion in US loan guarantees (which Biden openly bragged about in January, 2018)

The calls were leaked by Ukrainian MP Andrii Derkach, who says the recordings of “voices similar to Poroshenko and Biden” were given to him by investigative journalists who claim Poroshenko made them.

Shokin was notably investigating Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that hired Biden’s son, Hunter, to sit on its board. Shokin had opened a case against Burisma’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, who granted Burisma permits to drill for oil and gas in Ukraine while he was Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources. In January, 2019, Shokin stated in a deposition that there were five criminal cases against Zlochevesky, including money laundering, corruption, illegal funds transfers, and profiteering through shell corporations while he was a sitting minister.

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550 doctors urge Mike Pence: It’s time for America to reopen | WND

More than 500 physicians have signed a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, the chief of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, requesting “that our country’s businesses and schools be allowed to reopen.”

The letter commissioned by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeonscondemns the “short-sighted government edicts to stop all non-emergency care that is unrelated to COVID-19.”

“Some patients now face inevitable death because the diagnosis and treatments were delayed too long. Too many of our patients have suffered far more from the psychological, physical, and economic effects of the shutdown of communities and businesses than the direct impact of COVID-19 itself,” the physicians write.

Along with 550 physicians in all 50 states, the letter was signed by nearly 100 non-physician medical professionals and nearly 200 citizens. AAPS said the nearly 900 signatures were collected in less than five days, and the signature page keeps growing.

San Antonio ophthalmologist Kristin Story Held said: “We were sharing a dialogue of these concerns with our Congressman Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21), who represents us at the national level, and felt called to share our boots-on-the-ground perspective with Vice President Pence and the COVID Task Force directly as well.

“As we began circulating the letter, physicians across the country, especially from New York, New Jersey, Michigan, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania asked us to send a copy to their governors too.”

The letter states: “The cumulative knowledge we now have of COVID-19 and the observed devastation of shutting down the economy gives us confidence to request that the American people be given the freedom to engage in commerce and community again immediately. Growing evidence indicates that the unprecedented policy of forcing healthy Americans to quarantine was not necessary to save lives but instead inflicted devastating harm on 10s of millions of people.”

Evidence indicates the lockdown is doing more harm than good, they write: “This virus is survivable by greater than 99% of those infected. For those under 60, the estimated infection fatality rate is 0.05%. On average, the infection fatality rate is 0.2%.”

The physicians conclude: “We cannot accept the current dysfunction in society as the ‘new normal.’ Our goal is to lead with hope and courage instead of fear and confusion. We want to help restore a renewed sense of purpose in our communities and allow people to pursue a livelihood and participate in music, sports, and art again. Our medical professionals are ready to serve this nation according to the time-honored Hippocratic Oath that calls us to serve with respect and compassion and, above all, to do no harm.”

Source: 550 doctors urge Mike Pence: It’s time for America to reopen

Prominent Civil Rights Lawyer Slams ‘Democratic Silence’ On Floyd Riots

Since Floyd’s death 25th May, angry citizens in virtually every major city in America have taken to the streets to demand justice for Floyd, who died after now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.

Source: Prominent Civil Rights Lawyer Slams ‘Democratic Silence’ On Floyd Riots

All Of The World’s Money & Markets In One Visualization

In the current economic circumstances, there are some pretty large numbers being thrown around by both governments and the financial media.

The U.S. budget deficit this year, for example, is projected to hit $3.8 trillion, which would be more than double the previous record set during the financial crisis ($1.41 trillion in FY2009). Meanwhile, the Fed has announced “open-ended” asset-buying programs to support the economy, which will add even more to its current $7 trillion balance sheet.

Given the scale of these new numbers –  here’s how Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins relates them back to the more conventional numbers and figures that we may be more familiar with?

Introducing the $100 Billion Square

In the above data visualization, we even the playing field by using a common denominator to put the world’s money and markets all on the same scale and canvas.

Each black square on the chart is worth $100 billion, and is not a number to be trifled with:

In fact, the entire annual GDP of Cuba could fit in one square ($97 billion), and the Greek economy would be roughly two squares ($203 billion).

Alternatively, if you’re contrasting this unit to numbers found within Corporate America, there are useful comparisons there as well. For example, the annual revenues of Wells Fargo ($103.9 billion) would just exceed one square, while Facebook’s would squeeze in with room to spare ($70.7 billion).

Billions, Trillions, or Quadrillions?

Here’s our full list, which sums up all of the world’s money and markets, from the smallest to the biggest, along with sources used:

Derivatives top the list, estimated at $1 quadrillion or more in notional value according to a variety of unofficial sources.

However, it’s worth mentioning that because of their non-tangible nature, the value of financial derivatives are measured in two very different ways. Notional value represents the position or obligation of the contract (i.e. a call to buy 100 shares at the price of $50 per share), while gross market value measures the price of the derivative security itself (i.e. $1.00 per call option, multiplied by 100 shares).

It’s a subtle difference that manifests itself in a big way numerically.

Source: All Of The World’s Money & Markets In One Visualization

May 31 Don’t Ask, Do

 

Genesis 6:22

According to all that God commanded [Noah], so he did.

Noah did “according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22). Therein lies the key and secret to Noah’s faith. When God told him to do something, he did it. He was a man who took God at His word. We have no record of Noah disagreeing with God or debating His instructions. He believed his salvation depended on God’s wisdom and good plan, and he chose to receive it and implement it just as God explained it.

For us to be saved and move ahead as men and women of faith, we have to do the same thing. God needs to know that we are not going to debate or disagree with Him. His Word to us becomes our command. You and I will likely never be in Noah’s position—the only person on earth who will obey God. But we need to live like it anyway. If we do, God will remember us the same way He remembered His friend Noah (Genesis 8:1).^[1]

 

^[1] Jeremiah, D. (2002). Sanctuary: finding moments of refuge in the presence of God (p. 158). Nashville, TN: Integrity Publishers.

Antifa’s American insurgency | Spectator USA

We are witnessing glimmers of the full insurrection the far-left has been working toward for decades. The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was merely a pre-text for radicals to push their ambitious insurgency. In a matter of hours, after the video of Floyd began circulating the internet, militant antifa cells across the country mobilized to Minnesota to aid Black Lives Matter rioters. Law enforcement and even the state National Guard have struggled to respond in Minnesota.

Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta are just some of the other cities waking up and finding smoldering ruins where businesses once operated. Nearly 30 other cities experienced some form of mass protest or violent rioting. At least three people have been killed so far.

Antifa, the extreme anarchist-communist movement, has rioting down to an art. The first broken window is the blood in the water for looters to move in. When the looting is done, those carrying flammable chemicals start fires to finish the job. Footage recorded in Minneapolis and other cities show militants dressed in black bloc— the antifa uniform — wielding weapons like hammers or sticks to smash windows. You see their graffiti daubed on smashed up buildings: FTP means ‘Fuck the Police’; ACAB stands for ‘All Cops Are Bastards’; 1312 is the numerical code for ACAB.

Last night, rioters reached the gates of the White House, possibly the most secure location on Earth. There, they chipped away at the barriers piece-by-piece while law enforcement struggled to respond. One Secret Service officer reportedly had a brick thrown at his head. Footage recorded at the scene showed him blood-soaked. Police were eventually able to repel masked rioters by using pepper spray and tear gas. That worked, for now.

The militants uprising across the country want a revolution and they don’t care who or what has to be destroyed in the process. If their comrades die, they are elevated as martyrs in propaganda. Death is celebrated.

At its core, BLM is a revolutionary Marxist ideology. Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, BLM’s founders, are self-identified Marxists who make no secret of their worship of communist terrorists and fugitives, like Assata Shakur. They want the abolishment of law enforcement and capitalism. They want regime change and the end of the rule of law. Antifa has partnered with Black Lives Matter, for now, to help accelerate the break down of society.

The US is getting a small preview of the anarchy antifa has been agitating, training and preparing for. Ending law enforcement is a pre-condition for antifa and BLM’s success in monopolizing violence. Those who are harmed first are the weak and vulnerable, the people who cannot protect themselves. Small business owners in Minnesota pleaded for mercy, even putting up signs and messages in support of the rioters, but to no avail.

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The destruction of businesses we’re witnessing across the US is not mere opportunism by looters. It plays a critical role in antifa and BLM ideology. Their stated goal is to abolish capitalism. To do that, they have to make economic recovery impossible. Antifa sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to exploit an economically weakened America during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s Going Down, one of the most popular antifa blogs in North America, tweeted on Friday:

’10 years from now, people won’t look back and ask: “Why did it explode in 2020?” Massive unemployment while the rich rake in billions from tax-cuts + bailouts, the earth on the brink of collapse + police murdering people daily. Instead they’ll ask: “Why didn’t it happen sooner?”‘

Antifa are taking actions considered extreme even among their own ranks. On Thursday night in Portland, rioters surrounded a vehicle filled with passengers and shot at it, hitting one person inside. The driver was able to escape but the injured passenger had to go to hospital for treatment. In Oakland, two federal police officers guarding a government building were shot in an ambush drive-by. One was killed and the other has critical injuries. The following day in Seattle, masked antifa militants stole a rifle from a police vehicle before setting it ablaze.

Media, politicians, the public — all of us — have underestimated the training and capability of left-wing extremists, who are united in purpose. All the parts of rioting serve a purpose. Looting and fires destroy local economies. Riots can overwhelm the police and even the military. All of this leads to a destabilized state. America is brave and beautiful. She is not invincible.

Source: Antifa’s American insurgency