But this story just struck me as about as close as you can get, and this being sponsored by the government of Georgia:

Fake Russian Invasion News Report

That sure seems like it qualifies without much interpretive license at all.

Just so we get some context, here is the Word:

 ³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Matthew 24:3-8 (NIV)

Consider all the signs listed above.  Think about the recent earthquakes.  Don’t forget at least a quarter of the world’s population is clinically hungry as you read this.  Just look at the news to see nations and kingdoms rising against each other.  War abounds.  Here we see the most well-defined “rumor of war” I can ever remember.  I’ll leave the false christs for another post, but if you look and listen with a discernment, you will see and hear them all around.

Is there really any question that the birth pains have begun?

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Peace!!

Paganism at the US Air Force Academy

Everybody is excited about religious freedom as long as it means catering to false religions.  Try to pray to the One True God, El Shaddai Elohim, Creator of Heaven and Earth in a public school and see how free you are to do that.  The Gospel of His Son is on the run in favor of false religion these days…all of which trace straight back to the same idolatry and Baal-worship that we see warned against in the Old Testament.  But the chaplain in the article acts like facilitating that is a good thing.  What a sad state of affairs.

For that matter, let’s just call it like it is.  The article mentions facilities for protestant and Catholic Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists.  As you might surmise, I’ve got something to say at every interval there. However, I believe I’ve tackled Islam elsewhere on this site and will again; let’s suffice it to say that there is no doubt it is a false religion for now.  The Jewish roots of Christianity are clear; the historical developments of Christianity and its organized practice and slide into idolatry have been covered here as well.    So has Buddhism for that matter, but that last one stands out to me as worthy of a little more discussion here.

You see, Buddhism, Paganism, and Wicca seem to be the religions-de-jour for all the hipsters running around.  Those disenchanted with the Christianity of their fathers seem to be flocking to these.  It is sad.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is undoubtedly very disappointed in the ritualistic charades that have been carried out in his name…I suspect that is the deepest, most offensive way to take His name in vain, by the way…charades that have spoiled the Gospel message from being presentable to so many.

What I mean by that is this: the Jesus I know and love is the coolest person who ever lived.  He is exactly what the seekers are looking for and they don’t realize it because a bunch of people in funny hats, robes and bad attitudes have made Him indistinguishable to them.   So instead of coming to Christ, who would completely satisfy the longing these people have, they instead are turned away to a bunch of post-New-Age, cooler-than-thou Theosophy and false religions that can not satisfy their spiritual needs and has turned them to idolatry.

What is even more confounding is that it is happening at all levels of society.  The Air Force Academy is not exactly the great bastion of hip thinking, but there you go, have a pagan religious facility all ye pagans and seekers there.  On the other side of life, we have a whole generation of musicians and artists that are leading many to Buddha when, again, it is the true Christ they seek.  And again, I think we should hold the religious establishment of organized denominational Christianity in large part responsible.  Our Lord Jesus Christ has not been presented well at all.  So we have people like Ray Wylie Hubbard singing spiritually themed music across Texas and leading folks to Buddha.  It is a shame.  He’s a great artist and a kind and sincere man, but one who ultimately is leading those who listen astray.   But then again, how many places of worship that profess Christ have made the “outlaw” feel welcome over the past sixty years?

We need more local churches like the Cowboy Way.  It is the first place I myself have found comfortable.  I was out there with many of these other folks, seeking for a place to call home.  Now, fortunately I had enough faith to know that paganism and witchcraft were the wrong direction.  But it is all too easy to mix a little peaceful sounding Eastern philosophy with a message of love and peace and then suddenly it becomes a little harder for the detached to discern.

This is a frustrating post because there seems to be no resolution.  On a human level, I think it is a little bit easier to resolve.  Ray, if you manage to come across this, stop by our church in Alvarado when you’re in the area sometime and I suspect you’ll feel welcome there.  I can’t think of anyone I’ve met in the Texas music scene that wouldn’t fit right in at our church.  And that really goes for anyone searching for truth and a loving place to worship God and meet the Lord.  This part seems easy, because I myself have now seen a solution.  By the way, I am very grateful for that because it was not that long ago that I did not have the comfort of a church home.  But I don’t know what to say about this at a societal level where our military and government and media and the general consensus of our society is “religious tolerance means compromise and that is a good thing.”  How can a Bible-believing minister of the Gospel sleep at night after helping install a pagan worship center?  I just don’t get it and I only see two things to do about it: pray for our country and try to spread the truth of the Gospel to one soul at a time.

So please join with me in prayer for the lost direction our nation is on, and if you are anywhere near Johnson County and looking for the truth, stop by the Cowboy Way and find a bunch of loving folks who know the Lord Jesus Christ and reflect Him a lot better than any bunch of folks I’ve seen!

Peace to you all.

I was reading a passage in the book of Joel last night as part of a bit of study on the end-times.  I might have been led there by a show I was watching where Revelation was being discussed.  Anyway, these words jumped off of the page:

 ⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
“I am strong!”

 Joel 3:9-10 (NIV)

The Spirit of Anti-Christ

The words “beat your plowshares into swords” immediately leaped off the page.  The picture above is of the sculpture outside the UN entitled “Swords Into Plowshares” and if you follow the link to the wikipedia page you’ll find that the name was taken from two passages where the phrase is used, those being Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3.  We find that this catch-phrase of the United Nations is in fact biblical.  So what’s the problem?  As is typical when the enemy uses scripture against us, the problem is context.

You see, Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 are both describing events during the Lord’s earthly reign, the period referred to as the Millennial Kingdom, or the thousand years when Christ will rule on the Earth before the final judgments and the descent of New Jerusalem to Earth.   Joel 3 is describing events during the period commonly referred to as the Tribulation, or the period before the end-time wars immediately preceding the Lord’s return.

This is not a case of theological nit-picking.  The use of “swords into plowshares” as a slogan and symbol of the United Nations is asserting that man, banding together in global cooperation, can turn implements of war into implements of peace.  That is not the way it can nor will happen.   Let’s look at the first passage of Isaiah 2:

  ¹ This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

² In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

³ Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁴ He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

⁵ Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Isaiah 2:1-5 (NIV)

This gives the context as I’ve mentioned above…the rule of the Lord on earth has been established.  “He will judge” and “let us walk in the light of the LORD” gives us the clues as to what is wrong with the popular use of the phrase “swords into plowshares”.  IT IS THE LORD GOD WHO IS ENCOURAGING THE PEOPLE TO TURN FROM WAR TO PEACE.  Man can not do this on his own, and certainly not through a secular, humanist organization and coalition of nations.  In fact, in Joel chapter 3 we find that man will do the exact opposite!  Let’s look at Joel in more detail:

⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
“I am strong!”

¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD!

¹² “Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
to judge all the nations on every side.

¹³ Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision.

¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.

¹⁶ The LORD will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the sky will tremble.
But the LORD will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Joel 3:9-16 (NIV)

Look carefully…the Lord is calling the nations to judgment here.  This is before “Armageddon”…the reference “plowshares into swords” is used to describe the mass preparation for war in the last days…which all developed member nations of the UN are doing!  Notice the similarities between Joel’s prophecy and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in response to the question regarding the signs of the end of the age:

²⁰“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. ²²For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. ²³How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. ²⁴They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  ²⁵“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

 Luke 21:20-28 (NIV)

Again, the Lord is describing events before the end-times conflicts, not after.  So is Joel.  Isaiah and Micah were describing the events after the Lord has returned to put an end to those conflicts.  Only He can do that; we can not.

So, I hope you see that once again satan has twisted the use of scripture and led men to believe in themselves instead of the Lord God.  We should not be putting our hope in the United Nations or any of its member governments.  Rather, we must put our faith in and only in the Lord Jesus Christ.   Don’t fall for any business that says otherwise, it is a lie from the pits of hell.  The United Nations is not the savior of the world, Jesus is.  Most likely, the UN will have led to the cooperation of nations aligning against Jerusalem.  At best we could hope it will be inert, but that is not wishful thinking it is a delusion.  When scripture is turned 180 degrees like it has been here, it is typically not a mistake.  Rather it is blasphemy.  Asserting that a coalition of men can encourage the nations to turn swords into plowshares when clearly it is the Spirit of the Lord that will do that AFTER His return is nothing short of men trying to do the work of God which is exactly the spirit of antichrist.

Let them with eyes to see, see, and those with ears to hear, hear.  Man can no more affect peace than a bottle of soda pop can teach the world to sing.  Don’t be decieved.

May you find true peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

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4. Used to illustrate the three-dimensional work of art in question, to discuss the artistic genre or technique of the work of art, or to discuss the artist or the school to which the artist belongs.
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I noticed that exact phrase first in the caption here.  I look forward to reading this new book.

The church overall needs the revival that is described there.   Too many people “believe” but then doubt gifts of the Spirit, miracles, and all aspects of the supernatural walk.

I heard a couple of things in support of this same thing on television over the past week or so, too.  One was someone, I think Creflo Dollar but I’m not 100% sure, saying that what is needed is not theology or to know about God, what is needed is to know God.  We need a personal relationship with God, not course of study about Him like He is theoretical.

Another broadcast along the same theme was a Joyce Meyers show the past day or two.  In it she described her early walk in faith.  She described an event that followed her praying specifically for twelve new dish rags and a skillet.  A couple of days later an acquaintance came to her door and said “I hope I don’t sound like a complete idiot but I was praying this morning and I think God told me to bring you twelve new dish rags.”  Joyce followed with an immediate “wow, He’s alive” to express the surprise both of them had displayed when they figured out what had happened.

And that, of course, was her point.  They were surprised and they should not have been.  We worship the One True Living God.  He is not a text-book God, he is not a theoretical God, or a historical God, or a past God, or an inanimate God, He is the One True Living God!!!  So, of course He hears our exact prayers and of course He is more than capable of communicating an exact message to another of His children!  Why are we always so surprised?

Pastor Dan and I had a conversation over this very topic this afternoon.  Why are we always so surprised?  It is a lack of faith.  If we were living in abundant faith, we would be seeing and expecting to see supernatural events like this every day.  We all should be and we all will be, when we stop practicing theoretical Christianity and start practicing the real thing!  I was reminded of all this yet again when I revisited the photo page linked above.  I’ll be looking forward to reading the book, and in the meantime, it has already sent a strong message: NO MORE THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY!

Glory to God!

And if I’m honest, as is my goal here and in life, I must admit I am warming up a bit with these couple of paragraphs because it is early and my hands are not quite ready to type full speed, and my mind is warming up, too.  And, I’ve noticed that the links to these posts containing scripture quotes seem to get shifted inexplicably in Facebook, so I’m seeing if a little more text before the quote helps that cause.  I believe this is the first mention of Facebook here, and a good time to say “thank you” to all of you who are checking out this site from there.  Welcome and I hope something that is said here blesses you in some way.

Let’s look at a bit of scripture, and then it is time for a little story.  This is one a lot of folks will recognize.

Do Not Worry

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

I usually don’t include the section heading, but I did here since that is what made me think to maybe title this post the same.  Now I know a lot of you have probably heard this scripture quoted before.  It is popular among the Word of Faith and prosperity preachers, and it is also quoted a lot as part of building up those answering a call…not to mention a good uplifting word to all in need to remember that the Lord will take care of them.

And that is what we have here.  It is not a dramatic story of wealth or some amazing turnaround in life or a huge blessing from out of nowhere.  Instead, it is just a little blessing from out of nowhere.  But it still had the Lord’s hand all over it and it serves as a good reminder that He is true to His word…

What you see to the left is our backyard.  With the recent rains, it had become quite soaked. There was a lot of mud as a result and it wasn’t drying out.  This made letting the dogs out…or really back in…a lot more trouble than it should be, particularly on clear, dry, sunny days.  So without bringing in fill dirt, leveling the yard and planting new sod, Jennifer suggested we get some hay to help in the interim.

And that is what you see to in the picture.  There is hay covering the area where we were short of grass and it was getting muddy.  In fact we ended up with pretty much exactly the amount of hay we needed to cover this area.  I think it was a little less than a single bale.

The night before we spread this hay, we went to Tractor Supply to see if they had any.  They did not.  Apparently the wet weather has made bailing and hauling hay impossible so there is a shortage since people can’t get to the fields.  So we went on about our business and figured that it was a good idea whose time just wasn’t right.

The next morning was a Saturday.  We had to take Hannah to the school for band uniform fittings.  It was earlier than we usually get up and about on a Saturday, I think around 8:30AM.  So we are driving along and I notice what looked to be a bale of hay laying in the road.  Jenn did not see it.  I said “there was some hay back there, I think the Lord was trying to give it to us.”  We debated for a block or two whether we should get Hannah to her appointment or turn around.  Ultimately, we turned around, went back, and loaded the hay off the street and into the back of my little SUV. It took a couple of minutes, we drove off thanking the Lord, Hannah got to her fitting on time, and all was well.

It turns out that it was exactly enough to cover the area in the yard.  There are a lot of lessons here…even with a simple blessing, we had to debate it.  It took a step of faith.  That is the only requirement…faith.  Nothing else.  The Lord stands ready to bless us all if we simply follow His word and step out in faith.  Sometimes it is life-changing, sometimes it is just a little blessing.  We almost didn’t stop for this 0ne.  That makes me wonder how many big ones we haven’t stopped for!  It also makes me realize how true to His Word the Lord is…he will take care of everything if we’ll let Him.  The problem is not that the Lord lacks blessings for us, it is that we lack the faith to receive them.

I am starting to see this more and more, big and small.  And I am grateful for them all.

Peace!!!

The point here though is that I have recently come to realize that the “go green” movement is even more sinister than I originally believed. I thought at first that it was just another way to sell us another round of more expensive cars and appliances. My guard was up because of the melding of counter-culture tree-hugging and big business, but I hadn’t quite put my finger on all of it yet. Can’t say that I have now, either, but it is all becoming clearer and it is not a good sign.

Here is what promted me to write this morning:

Australia Shipping Alert Over Iceberg

If you read the article carefully, you’ll see several contradictions. First, the iceberg has gotten pretty far north without melting. You’d think if the earth was warming up so much, it would melt. Also, you’ll see a comment that an iceberg that large hadn’t been seen in the are since the 1800’s. If these icebergs are supposed to be breaking off Antarctica because of global warming as the last paragraph implies, you wouldn’t expect ones that large in the days before fossil fuels and fluorocarbons were so widely used.

And that reminded me of a segment on the Hal Lindsey Report this past weekend. You can view it at 10:35 in the video linked below (or watch the opening segment on Islam and terrorism, too…it is good but a different subject, I’ll save further comment for another post!). Anyway, Hal exposes the source of a lot of disinformation used to scare us all about global warming:

Hal Lindsey Report from 2009-12-04

I recommend watching the entire episode, and particularly both “Hacking the Hacks” (starting at 10:36) and “Climate Change Prophesied” (the next segment) which explain how the “go green” movement is based on lies and God’s truth on the matter, respectively. (Note also the brief discussion of mist and not rain before the flood…the same thing is pointed out in the “In The Beginning” book linked on the menu to the right!)

So, I think the point is made here. Let’s review: the “go green” movement is another lie that is out to manipulate our fears, spending patterns, and drive us toward a humanistic and pagan approach to life. Faith says the Lord God’s promise in Genesis is still good:

“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

Genesis 8:22 (NIV)

Although we should certainly be good stewards of the earthly home the Lord has given us, we should not think that we have the power to destroy or conversely to save the planet. It is blasphemy to think that. Have faith that the Lord has made our environment such that it will last until He returns, and don’t be decieved.

Peace to you all.

First, let me say this: I am not of the “bash-Obama-he’s-a-socialist-Muslim” variety.  I don’t know how much truth we have about his background or “religious” beliefs, but I don’t know that it matters too much.  There are plenty of wolves in ecumenical clothing of many varieties out there.  So what I am I talking about?  We’ll get to that in a second…

First, though, I want to point out a concept that was mentioned in another post.  It is the Hegelian dialectic…that label itself probably a misnomer, but nevertheless a concept quickly understood when viewed as follows:

Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

It breaks down as follows:

Thesis - an assertion, movement, position, etc.

Antithesis - an opposite reaction to the thesis; the alternate position

Synthesis - an acceptance of some compromise or conjunctive position

If you follow the link above it will explain this in more detail, give credit to others besides Hegel (explaining the misnomer) and if you follow the Hegel bio link, you’ll find an example of this concept as explanation of the result of the French Revolution.  That makes it sound like something positive.  That is what the enemy wants you to think.  I know this sounds a bit more philosophical than it should and probably doesn’t make a lot of sense yet.  Hold on, bear with me I’m hoping it will…

Think about homosexuality in America for a moment.  It has been raised in the last several presidential elections as a major platform issue…gay rights, and specifically gay marriage.  I must admit, for a couple of election cycles I thought it was simply a Republican ploy because I did not hear much about the issue between elections.  But then,we started hearing about it all the time, and suddenly it became a hate crime to speak out against homosexuality.  I am not talking about gay-bashing and beatings, yes that is wrong.  Rather, I am talking about a resulting politically correct mentality where calling out immorality is viewed as improper…our current socio-political climate.  How did this occur?  Check it out…

Thesis - gay marriage is undermining the moral fabric of America

Antithesis - gay rights is an inalienable right as with any other minority

Synthesis - widespread acceptance of gay”lifestyle” and moral deterioration

Gay rights has been gaining steam since the 1960’s.  But ten or twenty years ago, it was not woven into the social consciousness of the country.  Now it is.  Let’s look at another example: Islam…

Thesis - Islamic terrorists attack the United States

Antithesis - Islam is a “religion of peace”

Synthesis - “Muslim culture” and Islam at the forefront of 1st Amendment rights

Again, there have been Muslims in the United States for a long time.  But if you think back to twenty years ago, how much did you hear about Islam or how many Mosques did you see in America?  If you’re of the younger crowd, I’ll answer for you: not much and not many, respectively.  Once again, two seemingly disparate positions have been used to synthesize a new reality with Islam suddenly part of mainstream American culture where it was not there before.

There are many more examples.  I was actually using these two to illustrate this same principle to Jennifer on the way home from work this afternoon.  So, they were fresh on my mind when I figured I might ought to illustrate the concept before I applied it one last time here this evening.  Here it goes…

Almost forgot about Obama in the equation here, didn’t we?  No, I’m still not trying to prove he’s a Muslim.  Nor am I asserting that he is the antichrist.  But I think there is a spirit at work here that is leading us closer and closer to the final days.  Here is what I am talking about:

Conservative Praise for Nobel Speech

I have felt for some time that the Obama administration is somehow a critical piece of the political puzzle on the world stage leading closer to the end times.  I remember people expressing outrage when Obama was named the Nobel prize winner…people asking “what has he done,” etc.  But I figured it was part of the world-wide leadership business that he represents…which is exactly the type of reaction we’ll see towards the antichrist.  Obama has been called a savior, the world’s president, all kinds of nearly blasphemous things.  But we already knew all this.

So what I am I talking about here?  Notice the conservatives jumping on the bandwagon.  The Obama Doctrine and the Bush Doctrine are indistinguishable.  This does not sound like the same discussion that was being had a year or two ago during the campaign, does it?  Obama was positioned as a pacifist.  A far cry from what I read in the article above.

Thesis - Obama is a communist democratic socialist pacifist hater of America

Antithesis - Obama is a conservative realistic defender against evil

Synthesis - Obama is everybody’s leader

The same thing happened with the financial bailout, except in reverse.  It is happening with health care.

Remember this fact: George Bush and John Kerry were both Yale Bonesmen.  You really didn’t have that much variety in 2004.  Nor did you in 2008, you just got played with a little bit more game.

All the people in Washington DC look a lot more like each other than they do you or I, the common folk.  Don’t fall for a bunch of left/right, democrat/republican, capitalist/socialist, good/bad rhetoric.  They are all serving money first and power second.  They are using the Hegel dialectic to throw polar positions at you so you will land in the middle.  Even though they will make you feel good by calling you a centrist, moderate, middle-of-the-road American, what they are really doing is mixing enough evil with the good that the result is compromised. This is how apostasy enters the church, this is how the enemy controls the politic, it is how the hot water gets mixed with enough cold to make it lukewarm…

That is what I saw in the article above.  I’ve been wondering how they were going to reconcile the right-wing with Obama.  I must admit, I thought the peace prize was more for the rest of the world and they surprised me today as they managed to use it to synthesize the internal politics around him.

If any of this sounds like something other than the ramblings of a madman and scares you, read the Gospel page.

If you know the Lord, whether I sound crazy or not, keep your guard up.  There is a lot more one-world, everybody hold hands, go green, be tolerant of each other and let’s compromise our morals into one humanist pile coming and it is all a great big lie.

Our King is coming.
He will be riding a white horse not living in the white house.

Until then, peace to you all.

The real, non-violent, love your neighbor kind of peace that is.

Michael

There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

Luke 21:11 (NIV )

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

Luke 21:25 (NIV )

In reality, I think there is significant timing between these two verses such that the first one is the “early warning sign” and the second more signs once the events start to unfold. And as much as I’d like to tie this in to the beautiful song by my friend Vince Bell, I really don’t see a connection.  The good news is we don’t have to be too picky here because with the exception of pointing out verse 11, which is enough for me to say “watch for signs in the heavens” this is really just introductory rambling here.  And now for the real point of this post:

Mystery Blue Spiral Light Hovers Over Norway

Notice in the article there are enough reports and enough different pictures there is no skepticism.  And those are quite the bizarre light formations.  Not quite natural looking are they.  In fact they look a good bit supernatural to me.

Just like I would expect from a sign in the heavens.

In all fairness, the Russians have taken credit for it.  I’m not so sure that discredits this as a sign, however.

As always, if any of this disturbs you, please check out the Gospel link on the site header above.  If not, praise God and Amen, Come Lord Jesus!

Peace!!!

The definition of tolerance includes words like “recognize” and “respect” and therefore I disagree we should be that “tolerant”…we can recognize the human beings and respect them as children of God that need to be saved, but we should not recognize and respect false teachings.

Somewhere “peacefully reject and oppose” got twisted to “passively recognize and respect’.  While we are not supposed to violently oppose, we should be very vocal about the truth.

Religion…I would say false religion but that is actually a redundant term…all traces back to the Babylonian mysteries introduced by Nimrod.  That would be all religions, Islam included.  And yes, the majority of what is known as Christianity.

Here are a few articles that start to make the connections I’m talking about.  I do not endorse all the content on these particular sites, but think these articles make just as good a starting point as any to see what I am talking about:

What Is Mystery Babylon?

Babylonian Mystery Religion

The Wine of Babylon

Secret Societies

The Islam Connection

Uniting The Nations

To be fair, there is a certain amount of speculation, associative logic, and the like in the the articles above and in similar attempts to connect the dots.  A good point of reference on this is the following article by the author of a book that undoubtedly influenced, directly or indirectly, the thinking of some of the authors above:

The Two Babylons - A Case Study in Poor Methodology

And now that we’ve had point/counter-point, a nice article that provides a nice rational summary of what is hard to prove but inherently obvious:

Genesis 11 (An Article)

So, religious tolerance is supposedly a virtue that would have us recognize and respect other religions.  I don’t recognize or respect any religion.  I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  Faith, not religion.  The various religions are all reflections of one and the same false religion and I reject it.  Along with the rejection of religion, I reject the notion of tolerance.  I stand for loving witness to faith and not violent opposition to religion, but I reject it nonetheless.

Why am I rambling on about all of this?  There is a more than one reason.  First, if you are following a religion you do not have the faith of which I am called to witness and I am therefore compelled to point that out.  Secondly, just as the world’s religions have a common origin, they have a common ending.  They will and are rapidly coming full circle and represent yet another sign of the end times upon us, yet again one world religion that we are supposed to tolerate.

This article describes pretty well where this tolerance is leading us:

The Earth Charter and United Religions Initiative

Notice Mikael Gorbachev is one of the individuals drafting the document.  Interesting, eh?

By the way, I do endorse the vast majority of the content on the Born-Again-Christian-Info site where the last article is hosted and encourage you to browse that site.

Back to the point at hand.  Tolerance is not a virtue.  It is a lie that is leading the deceived to the wrong side of the eqution described here:

The Book of Revelation

You may be thinking “I thought Christian tolerance was one of the principal virtues” and my point with this article is that is exactly what the enemy wants you to think.  Check out the scripture linked in these lists and please let me know if you find one that says we are to recognize and respect false religion:

Lists of New Testament Virtues and Sins

In the meantime, don’t be snared into thinking that your faith in Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ, ties in any way to the lies being preached and practiced by the various flavors of the same false religion.

If this confuses you, read the Gospel page here, start reading your bible, pray and find a fellowship of bible believers…preferably non-denominational or at least relatively independent baptists or the like…to meet with.

If you find funny hats, rituals, candles, incense, beads, robes, statuary and/or other idols, turn around, run, and try again.

But, suddenly, the NLT has become my primary reading text.  Here’s why: it is the closest translation I’ve found thought-for-thought to what is clear and understandable. Here’s how this came about.  I noticed that the translation on the overheads at church didn’t match my NIV.  Nor did they match the English Standard Version (ESV) I found on the chair nearby, nor any translation I could find that morning.  So, I took note of a couple of words and looked at Hastings for the same translation.  Here is the passage I used:

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the ^(A)satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ³Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

New International Version (NIV)

² He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. ³ So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.

Amplified (AMP)

²Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, the governors, the judges and chief stargazers, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and lawyers, and all the chief officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had [caused to be] set up.

³Then the satraps, the deputies, the governors, the judges and chief stargazers, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and lawyers, and all the chief officials of the provinces were gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

King James Version (KJV)

²Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

³Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

New Living Translation

² Then he sent messages to the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up. ³ So all these officials^[a] came and stood before the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Footnotes:

1. Daniel 3:3 Aramaic the high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials.

Now, I realize that this is a bit of a setup…not many people really know what a prefect is, although that rings a little bit of a bell, and nobody knows what a satrap is…or really was.  That is the point.  Word-for-word, we get an English translation of an official title that is meaningless to most.  Notice how the NLT is translated into words that mean something to just about everyone.  Even clearer than the NIV in this case.  Ironically, the KJV is also very understandable here, but there are many instances where the more archaic language does not help clarity.  I’ll be the first to admit it often sounds majestic and rings nicely in the mind for that reason, particularly when in context of the Lord God.  But for reading and understanding the majority of the text, I fall into the thought-for-thought camp.  And the NLT trumps the NIV for rendering a clear thought-for-thought translation into modern English without paraphrasing.

So, I bought one and tried it out.  It was a little gift bible and the margin was very narrow.  So, it was not good for reading at home, but did work fine for taking to church.  That I did, and the following week I was able to read along with the slides very easily in the same translation.  That was the final test, and I decided to get a better version so I could read at home.

The next day I went back to the store.  I bought a slimline large print bible with burgundy and tan stripe leather-like cover.  I couldn’t find the same on Amazon, but did find one that I would have enjoyed buying…didn’t see this color combination in the store here.  Anyway, you can it out in the featured product box to the right.

Regardless of where you get the book, I highly recommend checking out the New Living Translation for day-to-day bible study and reading!

Peace!!!