Friday, September 25, 2009
The Enemies of Israel are the Enemies of God
The bible is about the promises God made to Abraham and his children, the Jewish people, and within this story salvation is made available to the gentiles as branches are grafted into the spiritual tree of Israel.
Physically, Judah had been stripped of it’s branches as predicted Jer 11:16 The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken. V17 The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal. Only a stump would remain. Isa 6:13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." This all happened.
Israel would be abandoned from the time of Jesus came until the time he comes. Mic 5:3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until (G5704 also means during, while) the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. V4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
From the time of Jesus to the present, simple belief that Jesus can and will save you allowed the owner of the orchard to add the believer to his tree, and to be transformed by his Holy Spirit. Believe Jn 1:12, 3:16, 5:24, 6:29, 7:38, 12:36, 13:20, 16:8-9, 17:3, Mk 16:16; Lk 8:12; Acts 16:30-31; Rom 10:9-10; Rom 10:13; Gal 3:22; Eph 1:13; 2Thes 1:10 1Tim 1:16; Heb10:39, 1Jn 4:15; 1Jo 5:4-5, 10-11.
God told Israel that disobedience would lead to being dispersed throughout the world: Deut 28:62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. V63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. V64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.
The tree of Judah was cut down physically, but a shoot was to come up Isa 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. V2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear (H3374 also means reverence) of the LORD.
I have a fruit tree that died because of drought, but a sapling came up from its roots and is taking the place of what is dried up and dead. In the same way, Israel had a sapling spring forth in fulfillment of prophecy in the person of Jesus. Among the natural branches on the resulting tree, the wild (gentile) branches may be grafted in. Rom 11:17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, V18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
The physical promises to Abraham are not rendered invalid, the physical tree of Israel was promised to be restored, and those who try to spiritualize this away should open their eyes, for what God said would happen in clear language has indeed happened without ambiguity. Je 30:3 The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess,' says the LORD."
Je 32:37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. V11 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. V12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. V13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.
Ezek 11:16 Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. V17 Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.'
Ezek 36:8 'But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. V9 I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, V10 and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
Isa 14:1 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Aliens will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
These prophesies are being fulfilled before our eyes.
The time of Judah’s destitution has come to an end, but is not complete. Two wars in Europe left the USA, by default, as the most powerful of nations; coincidentally, just in time to act as the guardian of Israel, as a tool of God in fulfilling his word; Isa 66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. V10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.
The power of the US appears to have no other relevance to what God is doing other than to facilitate Israel’s rebirth; therefore, when the US no longer serves this purpose, I believe the blessing of God’s favor will be removed.
In the finale of Israel’s story, the nations of the world attack Israel, and apparently, no one stands up for her. That means the US abandons her. I hate this, and my feet are plowing furrows in the ground in resistance to this abandonment.
The US politicians who heap praise on the glory and goodness of this country, and then disregard, or disrespect Israel, and negate this nation’s duty to God as Israel’s defender; these politicians are all in the same category. I can only view them as standing in opposition to the sure promises of God to restore Jacob’s children to their rightful place, so I have no kind words for them. God forbid that anyone should find themselves in opposition to God. If our nation were a car, the politicians who wont stand up for Israel are parking it on a railroad track in front of an oncoming train.
The USA has fought wars that have held back the tide of forces that would have crushed God’s newborn nation. The people who spew venom on US foreign policies are blind to God’s hand working behind the scenes.
Now we see attitudes changing in Washington, and this has implications that pertain to the whole world. Those who hate Israel, and by extension, the will of the Almighty, will soon be turned loose. The vehemence against God’s nation pours out like a river, and the people of the world are swept up in the propaganda they spread. They will soon act, seeking to destroy her.
Ezek 38:8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. V9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land. V10 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. V11 You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people--all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.
During the interim, this verse seems to describes the present situation; Zech 12:2 I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. V3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.
Those who come against Israel will no longer rail against her, and be her accusers. God will make it clear that those who speak against Israel are fools for not believing his copious predictions of Israel’s restoration. Who can belong to Christ and stand in opposition to his will, this is oxymoronic. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of God. They will come to an ignominious end.
Joe 3:1 In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,V2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.
Ezek 39:21 I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. V22 From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God.
Isa 29:6 the LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire. V7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel (Jerusalem), that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—
Isa 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause. V9 Edom's (aria South of the Dead Sea) streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!
Zep 3:8 Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them-- all my fierce anger. The whole world(H776 eretz land) will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.
Zech 14:2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. V3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. V4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS- NO HEP C!!
A while back I told that a family member thought they may have Hepatitis C.
Well I want to thank you all for your prayers!! I just got the call. No Hep C!!! It was a false positive!
Praise God!
Monday, September 21, 2009
9/11 town hall to re-air Mon, Sept 21
* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
NRB NETWORK WILL RE-AIR 9/11 TOWN HALL MEETING MONDAY NIGHT, SEPTEMBER 21 AT 8pm & MIDNIGHT EASTERN
* Joshua Fund expands efforts to care for the poor and needy in Israel
By Joel C. Rosenberg
(WASHINGTON, D.C., September 21, 2009) -- The following is a press release issued Monday by the NRB Network:
Viewers who missed the National Town Hall webcast featuring Joel C. Rosenberg and Lt.-General (ret.) Jerry Boykin have another opportunity to tune in.
On Monday, September 21st, NRB Network will broadcast the event at 8 pm ET and again at midnight. [Direct TV -- channel 378]
The webcast, which aired live on four television and 750 radio outlets from Calvary Chapel Philadelphia on September 11th, also attracted some 616 church congregations across the country who logged on to watch the discussion about the threat of radical Islam and the church's response.
Rosenberg, a New York Times best-selling author with multiple titles to his credit, previewed his new documentary called Inside the Revolution: How the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson & Jesus Are Battling to Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World. The film was released the day of the event by Tyndale House Publishers.
Lt.-Gen. Boykin, former deputy undersecretary of defense intelligence and founding member of Delta Force, joined Rosenberg in a Q&A session. Other speakers included Tom Doyle, author of two books on Israel and the Middle East and revivalist Hormoz Shariat. Termed the "Billy Graham of Iran", Shariat is a former Shia Muslim who became a Christian after the Iranian Revolution. Today he has a satellite ministry seen by over 7 million Iranians every weeknight.
Viewers will not want to miss this important and informative program on Monday, September 21st at 8 pm and 12 am ET on NRB Network.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Racism, Airing an Explosive Issue
Racism is such a sensitive issue that most people seem to go the long way around the barn to avoid it. This accusation, by former president Carter, that objections to President Obama’s policies are fundamentally racially motivated, pricked a few holes in my own private can of worms, so I thought I’d air it out a bit.
First off, I find President Carter’s assertion to be outrageous, inflammatory and irresponsible. He continues to add to the pile of reasons why I just don’t like the man. A supposedly bible reading man who is anti Jewish is an oxymoron, and testifies to a complete bastardization of the word of God. All that aside, I want to know: President Carter, how did you come to this conclusion? Did you take a poll? Or are you doing what I think we all do, look into ourselves to imagine how others may feel? Did you find latent racism lurking therein; some ingrained remnant of some early cultural childhood influences and presume this is how all ‘white people are’?
Sometimes I like to approach a subject somewhat autobiographically since our personal experiences are so fundamental in forming our perspectives. I don’t often find many people exposing themselves in this fashion, but I always like it when they do; only in these rare instances do I gain any understanding of the how and why of people’s thinking processes.
For those of us who are not psychic, the best we can do is contemplate how we feel in order to imagine how some one else feels. When I look into myself, I don’t find a basis for presuming racism is a monster hiding under a façade of politeness. This is not to say that I don’t find some racial ambivalence. It is, in fact, this ambivalence that forms my basis in my attempts at understanding the attitudes of African Americans etc. who demonstrate their own ambivalences to white people.
I often wonder if African Americans define themselves as ‘black’ among themselves as they appear to do in mixed society. I’m just wondering because I’ve never heard a ‘white’ person refer to themselves as a ‘white’ person. I think it’s usually a non issue, and from my perspective, the fact that African Americans have brought up the subject to me, has been an impediment to being able to simply accept them as an individual.
There is a song by Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) ‘Groove Thing’ that asks the question ‘What color is the soul’; it says ‘evening is the color of the soul’. I say the soul (spirit of man) has no color; that is how I see it.
This Idea was planted in my head by my very white dad and his ‘evil’ protestant church before my memory kicks in properly. The phrase: “you, or I, could have been born of any race, nationality or in any country.” Seems to have been common, and predates the civil rights movement. “The soul returns to he who gave it” Ec 12:7 has implications about our true nature not being that of a physical body; and this has not been lost on people who have understood God’s message over time, regardless of however many people have shamed the title ‘Christian’ through their excuses and warped eisegesis used to make a child of God appear to be something less, and to justify inequality. The aggressive domineering ones make history, and are more likely to be the wealthy ones who play king of the mountain, and survive to impose their will on every one else. Who remembers the meek of the earth that have been mindful of God’s interest in his human creation, and had a fear of offending him through self glorification?
At this point I’m going to wax autobiographical, as an example of experience that leads to certain racial attitudes, and the introspection that becomes a basis for attempting to understand others.
I remember few black people in my early days in Anchorage Alaska. One in particular I remember was a friend of my dad’s at his local carpenters union; I must have been around four at the time. I remember sitting up on a counter with my feet dangling while he and my dad talked, he said something to me, laughed, poked me in the belly and laughed some more. I liked him. I don’t think I was cognizant of some difference about him. No one ever said there was, so I didn’t notice.
My brother came home from school one day with a little Japanese girl. She was having fun on our old creaky swing set, and I think she became my first childhood crush. Nobody told me there was something different about her.
The one person that I saw my dad with most frequently was an Inuit guy who made paintings of mountains, fish, bear and such, on pieces of moose or caribou horn that my dad would slice up on his band saw, which would be sold to tourists. This man was wheelchair bound, and this was the difference I noticed about him, because nobody pointed out that there was a difference.
In Alaska, before statehood, people lived off the land more than they are permitted to today. My dad could only work half the year as a carpenter, so food came from hunting, and he had a fish wheel he built on some small river that he mechanically maintained, but was operated by local Intuits who gave him a share of the fish it captured. Nobody said anybody was different; everyone was just trying to put food on the table.
My mother got drawn into the teachings of Herbert Armstrong and decided that my dad’s church was of the devil. She had been married previously, so she believed that she was not married in the eyes of God. She left him, and we went to the lower 48, and thereafter, my brother and I learned that *all people of other faiths were an inferior subspecies*.
I was 9 by the time a custody battle resulted in around a year of living in foster homes. Down the street from one, a Mexican family moved in. there were a lot of kids; some my age. I was glad for new playmates. My brother and I went over to get to know them. Their mother was great and I though the kids were my friends.
Later, some of their family came for a visit. I met my ‘friends’ and their cousins after dark one evening. I had been coming home from another friend’s house. They were acting strange. They surrounded me in a big circle, laughing. They started slapping me and pushing me back and forth in the circle, taunting and calling me names. After having their fun, they finally left me wreathing on the ground in pain from punched to the stomach, gasping to breath. I guess some one had to teach me about racism.
I use this experience as a visual when I try to imagine why an African American would hate me because of my complexion. I understand that this may be how they had been treated by some white people; but you know, although I know of white racism, I’ve never seen it except on TV, that is, beyond a few racial slurs on a few rare occasions.
My experience with racism has been being verbally assaulted and threatened when I wondered into the wrong neighborhood of a city. People of color walked through my neighborhood and no one bothered them. I’ve been knocked unconscious and robbed by a group of black teenagers. I’ve had racial epithets hurled at me from people I didn’t know, and African American men on buses and in school brought up the subject of racism and insisted on explaining to me the sinful nature of the ‘white’ race, which paradoxically dissuaded me from seeing or treating them like ‘just a person’. This created in me a racial ambivalence, but my early indoctrination from an essentially white protestant church etc., was such that I could not return a racial slur against those pouring them out on me.
This is not necessarily saying much about my personal character, that’s not my point. Actually there are a number of points that can be drawn from this. The first of which is the notion that it took the civil rights movement to teach white people to respect people of color as equals. However much I respect the goals and accomplishments of that movement, the notion is pure bunk. There was a cancer in American society of a cultural and educational nature that the civil rights movement addressed, and I can only see it as the will of God, and I’m thankful that Christians who could understand the simple words of Gal 3:28 led this movement, in particular ML King; but these words have been understood by many long before. I should add that ‘all are one in Christ’ I take as implying that those who are not of Christ still belong to God since God isn’t through dealing with anybody, and he will take them to himself at such time as he chooses. Who, then, dares to offend God by forgetting to be thankful, and copping an attitude of superiority.
The second thing I take from my own experience is that racism is indeed an educational issue. This means that the poison was introduced at some point in time, and it was taught from generation to generation. Conversely, if no one teaches a child that there is some significant difference which is indicated by variations of complexion, this notion probably won’t occur to that child.
I think that most people know that the nation of Liberia was created by the US as a place for former slaves to go if they wished to return to the land of their forefathers. I don’t know if many know that those who returned built plantations like those they had known, and they enslaved the local inhabitants as they had been, as their labor force. This says a great deal about education. We do what we know, and of course, we’re likely to abuse as we’ve been abused.
The third thing I gather from my personal experience is that those who have suffered racism frequently generate the very thing they hate and stand apposed to. Being pre-judged is what prejudice means, and treating people like ‘the enemy race’ becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. This is understandable, but it is a fruit of paranoia. It may be difficult to resist, but presuming racism is an endemic, built in quality, is also making a rash and racist presumption. I wish adults could be like kids; put a bunch in a room and they innocently interact without concern of racial variations; and this wouldn’t change if adults didn’t teach them differently.
Now I want to say something to counter balance what I’ve said about my experience with race, and it’s about a certain 30 second moment. I was a church pariah as a kid and teenager, socially awkward and suffering from extreme depression/emotional disturbances. I left school at the beginning of the 8th grade due to a nervous breakdown. No one in OWCG (Original World Wide Church of God) gave me a second thought. I had no where to go, and no friends, so I just wondered around on the streets.
I must have been 15 or 16; there was a Black church that I some times would walk near. When the people arrived or were leaving, they behaved towards each other like family. I’d see some mother like woman holding her arms wide pulling kids into a big monster hug with men joyously greeting one another creating a wonderful din of social interactivity. Every one neatly dressed, boys all spiffy and the girls all like colorful spring flowers. They’d disappear inside their church and sing songs that made me tingle, but added to my sorrow because what they had was nothing like my church.
One day I was drawn closer, virtually up to the walk leading to the door, trying to hear the singing better. From some where a well dressed black man appeared behind me and said: “you know you can go in if you want.” I felt shocked and embarrassed so I quickly excused myself and left, but he did for me what no one from OWCG ever did. In fact, who could enter an OWCG service without going through a trial of examination and humbling, groveling to ‘authority’? There was nothing of the sort here. Although I was a stranger, one of what he might have thought of as a hostile race, this man invited me in.
Thirty seconds of kindness has had more power in forming my perception of the African race than all the abuse I’d experienced. I’m inclined to think that the hateful ones were just loud and stood out, and taking them as representative would be an error. People of African extraction are people whose colorless spirit just happens to dwell in a black body, what the apostle Paul called a tent 2Cor 5:1, 5:4. I think Jimmy Carter has made a mistake in his judgment of his own race, perhaps because he looks inside himself and sees what he expects exists in every one of similar complexion; but there’s no intrinsic reason to make this so, it’s certainly not an inherited trait. Caucasians also have a colorless spirit that just happens to temporarily dwell in a white tent; so Jimmy Carter, I reject your assertion.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Warped Values, Convoluted Compassion
The murder of Annie Le, a doctoral student at Yale university, is disturbing, but, unfortunately, predictable. This murder may not have been due to anger over 'animal abuse' but the motive is simmering, and there are those who would gladly slay man to save an animal. Presuming the motive of Annie's murder was an animal issue, I wonder if the murderer felt justified after this loathsome act, but I’m convinced that others would. Can you imagine people murdering someone and believing themselves to be righteous? When I imagine myself to be someone who has perpetrated what normally would be considered an unthinkable act, I some times scare myself with the reality of: “except for the grace of God” I could be that person.
Discerning what the truth is never seems to end. More confounding arguments follow the next, seemingly ad infinitum. Watching people get drawn into belief systems, and accepting certain ideas, as fundamental facts, that I’ve examined and tested from every conceivable angle, premise and presumed revelation, is often heart wrenching.
The more people learn, the more divergent peoples views stray from what the bible presents to us as true. This is so, even with consideration of the issues that are not agreed upon, since in rational minds, the bible usually has a grounding influence.
The wildly different perspectives we encounter are possible when there is no solid foundation, that is, an immovable point of reference on which to build a context in which to understand the cosmos and all contained therein.
It is becoming more and more common for people to drift into the perspective of Hindus. That is, starting from considering ones self to be a good person, an empathetic person and an intelligent person who doesn’t accept ‘nonsense’ like the revealed God of the bible; from a premise to a conclusion that leads to another which eventually arrives at the revelation that 'a field mouse has as much right to live as a human being'.
Rejecting the idea that God has a special purpose for mankind leads many to the conclusion that it is the arrogance of man to place themselves above a lab rat so that saving the life of perhaps thousands of children would not justify the sacrifice of said rat or rats.
I don’t know if the death of Yale student Annie Le, allegedly by Raymond Clark, was indeed prompted by anger towards the ‘injustice of lab rat abuse’, but I know well, that there are people who feel righteous in their disdain for humanity, and would feel less inhibition to killing a human being than killing an animal.
The idea that humanity is the enemy of Gaia (mother earth) is wide spread The Pagan Roots of Environmentalism. Even from a secular evolutionary perspective that is ostensibly science, humanity is often viewed by some as a viral infestation that is destructive therefore it is justified to eliminate at least some portion of the earths “contagion.” We now have people in the power centers of government with such views. Cass Sunstein: Regulating America to Death: Elis Washington
When I think about killing and eating animals, I sometimes experience some nausea, but I believe everything in our reality is a message from God, a mechanism of education. So why did God institute the killing and eating of animals? It’s interesting that everything in the bible eventually leads to Jesus, and I believe this is so in the creation itself.
Being created male and female communicates roles on a higher plane. Without our families, we’d have no concept of such relationships; we’d not have a framework for understanding the roles of a father, so we’d have no paradigm by which to have some understanding of what God is to his children. Without children, we’d have no basis for seeing how God views us.
Children starting out completely helpless are an anomaly in nature, so I’m of the opinion that this too is done purposely to communicate an aspect of God’s parental relationship. How can parents love their children after what these children put them through? How can God love mankind after the things we do? The answer is the same. Parents go through nights of lost sleep tending to crying, hungry, colicky, uncomfortable babies; they must constantly be changing wet diaper (nappies for you British), and that other kind that might tend to prompt a gag reflex; and of course tantrums and endless messes; but it’s a rare parent that ceases to love a child. Isn’t that what God does? He loves his children in spite of the sin, seeing who we will be, not what we may be at the moment.
Eventually babies mature and quit pooping their pants; which brings up a point. When this maturity comes, no law needs to be imposed that “thou shalt not poop thy pants,” because people don’t want to, perish the thought. How disgusting.
So why did God institute eating animals? I’m convinced that God has two bibles, one a written set of letters to humanity, the other is reality; the creation he placed us within. The written bible teaches us about God and leads us to Jesus, and the bible that is the creation can do the same.
Perhaps the American Indians were on the right track. After killing an animal, they would thank the animal’s spirit for its sacrifice so that they could live. Thinking of this in context of the analogy of animal sacrifices, representing ‘he who would sacrifice himself for us’, I’m inclined to believe that the lesson of the need for sacrifice is built into the human quest for survival. This too speaks about Jesus. Hunter gatherer societies could not have secured enough protein to survive without the hunting. Even if some can be entirely vegetarian now, their family line was still maintained by an animal sacrifice at some point. Just one link in the chain being broken would have resulted in our non existence; our physical life did require the sacrifice of life. And eternal life required the sacrifice of Jesus.
Regardless if it was God’s intent for the consumption of animals to be a lesson reflecting the higher sacrifice of Jesus, it’s had that effect on me. I can’t imagine the implication not being considered by God, so I can’t imagine the lesson being unintended.
Those who hate mankind because of something God has instituted reflects a hostility for God as well. Some of the things God does or allows seem harsh from our vantage point. God has a higher purpose in everything he does, and I’m sure the understanding gained will eventually be worth the harshness, though for now there are things that are painful. God doesn’t stop the cause and effect relationship between error and horror, which often is errors fruit (Like killing a human being for ‘rat abuse’). How can God do otherwise since a time will come when the only knowledge of evil will be the present experience of mankind without God? I some times imagine God collecting videos of everything for future education.
For the time being, nature telling us of the seriousness of sin, and the need for sacrifice is consistent with the biblical message. It’s telling us about Jesus. Jesus is ‘the way the life and the truth’. He is our rock, the cornerstone of our understanding. Jesus is the reference point that will keep us from being lost in the house of smoke and mirrors that the wisdom of man, without God, generates.
When a human life is worth less than a few lab rats, the understanding of persons holding such beliefs is an affront to God and his purposes. I’m amazed by the aura of righteousness some such people have that I have encountered. They are truly good in their own eyes. They glare at the roast beef on the table with righteous indignation. They appeal to guilt. They try to fill you with shame, and characterize those without their value system as arrogant. They behave with the trappings of goodness, and words praising ‘love’ and describe themselves as “loving” and “full of compassion,” all the while despising God’s children, and rejecting God’s invitation to be his child too. No, the mice are a higher priority.
We need to be grounded in the word of God, and Jesus must be our personal cornerstone, our foundation. I watch in amazement as people slip and slide in the shifting sand of their own reasoning. We need to grab hold of the Rock and not be submerged into the dunes of the secular world’s confusion.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Speak up and be heard
During my life in the OWCG (original Worldwide Church of God) everything was filtered through the preconception of the USA as being the descendants of the Israelite tribe of Manasseh. All the punishments from God, which the bible directed toward Israel of old, were expounded upon as applying to us. The anger and coming wrath of God, for violating a covenant that could only apply if British Israelism is true, was claimed to be our destiny. I presume members in Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa etc. were also exposed to the disdainful words and attitudes that extinguished national pride and a sense of the common bonds of a family grown large.
The nations of Europe that also got included as tribes of Israel, in the Armstrong fantasy, no doubt had their OWCG congregations being fed all the rhetoric that would feed negative attitudes, fear and even self loathing. This is, in any case, my experience. Each nation has good and evil in its history. Unfortunately, no nation has anything that it did not take from some one else; this is the bitter reality of a world that inherited a state of having rejected God; if we focus on this alone, we become weak and indecisive, stymied by a cloud of shame. We are neutralized as workmen who stand up for the values we learn from the word of God, of morality and good stewardship; of caring for our families, a responsibility given by God as a service to him.
What a wonderful God who teaches us that to serve him, we should serve others rather than build him monuments, and impoverish ourselves to support some grand production of religious ritual. To love God, we must love our children.
In OWCG, we the children, suffered economically and the tirades of deprecation, mocking and sarcasm directed at our nations only fed cynicism and paranoia. Speaking of my own nation; people running the US, corporations, and institutes of education may often be corrupt, but the basic principles of the founding fathers of the US are excellent. The ministers of OWCG would only refer to the US system as “demon-ocracy;” and little, if any thanks, were given to those who fought and died, throughout the formative years of these basic principles in England, through the revolution, until the present, to provide a life free of domination by self serving tyrants. Can thanklessness be pleasing to God?
The sacrifice of others has allowed people from all over the world to come and live their lives as they see fit. Some have lived their lives in disregard of God. Some used their freedom to seek God. Those who sought God were held in greater contempt than those who did not by the OWCG; as if they were black hearted Baal worshippers offering their children, live, in the fires of pagan altars. I’m sure this same attitude was extent in what ever country OWCG had congregations.
Personally, I was not taught a proper respect for people who live honorable lives. I learned a passive acceptance that evil reigned, everything sucks, and “it’s only going to get worse.” We criticized and scoffed, and pointed the finger of accusation. We never added our voices to the call for common decency because we weren’t to participate in the “worlds” affairs; and besides, we didn’t believe in common decency. Our perspective was: “the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”. There was no belief that God had created good within any heart. When I was finally free of the shroud of the Old Covenant, and the black shroud around my heart, somehow everyone else was different *a bit of sarcasm*. I could see that (at least a few percentage points over a majority) people are generally decent.
I believe that good people have made a difference. Untold numbers of people have been served by the willingness of good people to make their will a force for good. And how, I wonder, has the Kingdom Of God benefitted by creating a safe haven for the followers of Jesus? I’d say that God has ripe wheat in many fields upon the earth, and those who tended the fields have served God.
In OWCG we were resigned to the ‘futility’ of striving against evil. Should we not also tend his fields? I’m sure we would have sat passively by and let the sacrifices of those who had died, to secure freedom, be wasted. Jesus called his followers the ‘salt of the earth’. Salt influences the dish that it is sprinkled upon. Salt with no influence is worthless. To be the salt of the earth, people of good conscience, with a heart for God should let their presence be known. Again I’ll repeat: to serve God you must love your children. Piling up an unbelievable mountain of debt doesn’t sound like love for those God gives us the responsibility for. Now, more than ever, people of God…… do not be silent.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Inside the Revolution: National Town Hall Meeting - currently being archived - coming soon
DVD Now Available | Order Now »
- A Message from Joel
- Town Hall Radio Special
- Watch - Coming Soon!
- TV & Radio
- Ministry Resources
- Churches Who Participated
INSIDE THE REVOLUTION
A groundbreaking documentary film from
New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg.
THE DVD | THE EVENT |
A Message from Joel | Town Hall Radio Special | Ministry Resources |
© 2009 Solomon Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September 11, 2009 INSIDE THE REVOLUTION
A groundbreaking documentary film from New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg.
Go here to watch the live Webcast.
About the Documentary
In 1979, the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, unleashed the Islamic Revolution, and changed the world forever. Three decades later, New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg brings you a groundbreaking documentary film that takes you inside the three most dramatic movements of our time:
- THE RADICALS—Why do Radical Muslims want to annihilate the United States and Israel? Why do they believe the Islamic Messiah’s arrival on Earth is “imminent” and the End of Days is at hand? How close are they to acquiring nuclear weapons and achieving their apocalyptic objectives?
- THE REFORMERS—Aren’t there any Muslims who believe the Radicals are wrong? Is there any real hope such Reformers can create real democracies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere?
- THE REVIVALISTS—Is it really true that millions of Muslims are abandoning Islam and turning to faith in Jesus Christ? How is it happening? What are their stories?
Inside the Revolution is a 90-minute documentary film with extensive special features and exclusive interviews with:
- Porter Goss, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Lt.-General (ret.) Jerry Boykin, former Delta Force commander and deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence
- Hon. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel
- Senior Iraqi government officials
- Joel C. Rosenberg, author and founder of The Joshua Fund
Filmed on location in Iraq, Turkey, Morocco, Israel, the United Kingdom, and Washington, D.C.
Live Webcast
On Friday night, September 11, 2009, Joel C. Rosenberg and Lt.-General (ret.) Jerry Boykin, former commander of Delta Force, will host a national town hall meeting to discuss the threat of Radical Islam, the future of Israel, and the role of the Church in the Middle East.
They will show a 30-minute excerpt from the Inside the Revolution documentary film to an audience of some 2,500 in Philadelphia. They will then answer questions from the audience, and from viewers around the country and around the world. Our hope is that pastors in hundreds of congregations throughout North America will choose to show the webcast of the 2-hour event in their auditoriums that Friday night as a catalyst for an ongoing conversation on these vital topics in the weeks and months ahead.
Church Broadcast
Registration for churches has now closed. To find a church near you that is broadcasting the Town Hall Meeting, click here. Or watch LIVE online, right here at www.insidetherevolution.org.Individual Broadcast
We will be broadcasting the event live at 7:00pm Eastern Time, and rebroadcasting it again at 7:00pm Pacific Time, via Windows Media (click here to download). The link will be available on the front page of www.insidetherevolution.org starting at 6:50pm Eastern and PacificBroadcast Times
Live Broadcast:7PM Eastern
6PM Central
5PM Mountain
4PM Pacific
Rebroadcast:
10PM Eastern
9PM Central
8PM Mountain
7PM Pacific
ABOUT JOEL ROSENBERG
Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of The Last Jihad, The Last Days, The Ezekiel Option, The Copper Scroll, and Epicenter: How the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your World, with more than one million copies in print. He is also the founder and president of the Joshua Fund, a nonprofit charitable and educational organization that provides humanitarian relief for victims of war and terrorism in Israel and the Muslim world.
As a communications strategist, Joel has worked with some of the world's most influential leaders in business, politics, and media, including Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As a novelist, he has been interviewed on more than 300 radio and TV programs, including ABC's Nightline, CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel, the History Channel, MSNBC, the Rush Limbaugh Show, and the Sean Hannity Show. He has been profiled by The New York Times, The Washington Times, and The Jerusalem Post, and he was the subject of two cover stories in World magazine. He has addressed audiences all over the world, including Russia, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Belgium. He has spoken at the White House, the Heritage Foundation, AOL, and the International Spy Museum, as well as at dozens of conferences, universities, churches, synagogues, political events, book-seller conventions, and charitable fund-raisers.
The first page of his first novel-The Last Jihad-puts you inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city, which leads to a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction. Yet it was written before 9/11, long before the actual war with Iraq. When published, The Last Jihad spent 11 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, reaching as high as #7. It raced up the USA Today and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists, hit #4 on the Wall Street Journal list, and hit #1 on Amazon.com.
His second thriller-The Last Days-opens with the death of Yasser Arafat and a U.S. diplomatic convoy ambushed in Gaza. Six days before The Last Days was published in hardcover, a U.S. diplomatic convoy was ambushed in Gaza. Thirteen months later, Yasser Arafat died. The Last Days spent 4 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, hit #5 on the Denver Post list, and reached #8 on the Dallas Morning News list. Both books were optioned by a Hollywood producer.
The Ezekiel Option centers on a Russian dictator who forms a military alliance with the leaders of Iran who are feverishly pursuing nuclear weapons and threatening to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. On the very day it was published in June 2005, Iran elected a new leader who vowed to accelerate the country's nuclear program and later vowed to "wipe Israel off the map." Six months after the book was published, Moscow signed a $1 billion arms deal with Tehran. The Ezekiel Option spent four weeks on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list and more than six months on the CBA best-seller list. It was named the "Best Christian Novel of 2006" by the Christian Booksellers Association.
The Copper Scroll is the fourth novel in the series and a New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and CBA best seller. On June 1, 1956, The New York Times broke a story that captured the imagination of the world. Another Dead Sea Scroll had been found, unlike any before it, describing unimaginable treasures worth untold billions buried in the hills east of Jerusalem and under the Holy City itself. In the years that followed, scholars came to believe that the Copper Scroll could be history's greatest treasure map, one that could not only lead to great wealth but pave the way to the building of the Third Jewish Temple. But the scroll's code has never been broken, and experts from all sides warn that any effort by Israel to rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem would unleash a war of biblical proportions. Saddam Hussein is gone. Yasser Arafat is dead. A new Iraq is rising. And now White House advisors Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy find themselves facing a terrifying new threat triggered by an ancient mystery.
Epicenter is Joel's first nonfiction book, focusing on the rapidly rising Iranian nuclear threat, why Russia is selling arms and nuclear technology to Iran, why Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes it is the end of the world, and why Ahmadinejad is saying that the way to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah is to annihilate the United States and Israel. Using exclusive interviews with U.S., Israeli, Arab, and Russian leaders and previously classified documents from the White House, CIA, and State Department, Joel examines 10 future headlines that could come out of Russia and the Middle East, and does so in the light of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian eschatology (end-times theology). Epicenter has spent months on the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and CBA best-seller lists. It is currently being turned into a documentary for a major national television network.
Joel was born to a Jewish father and a Gentile mother, Joel is an evangelical Christian. His grandparents escaped Russian persecution of the Jews in the early part of the twentieth century. Joel graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 and studied at Tel Aviv University. He is married, has four sons, and lives near Washington, D.C., where he and his wife are members of McLean Bible Church. His Web sites are joelrosenberg.com and joshuafund.net.
Click here to visit Joel's website
Click here to receive Joel's "Flash Traffic" Email Updates.
© 2009 Epicenter Conference. All Rights Reserved.
This information was gathered from the Epicenter Conference website.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Adam: The first man. Adam was inflicted with a wound in his side for the purpose of acquiring a mate. From that day forward, this wound has been self-inflicted.
Ahab: Wicked king of ancient Israel, said to have gone mad searching for a white whale.
Antichrist: Someone else’s Christ. It is theorized that if the antichrist and Christ were to meet, great destruction would result.
Apocaholic: One addicted to doom and gloom. It can be one either preaching or believing the soon coming total destruction of evil mankind, leaving them and others like them to inherit the earth.
Balaam: A priest of some sort who was hired by the enemies of Israel to curse Israel. Balaam was warned by an ass, and in the end, lost his ass.
Balm: Healing substance made in Gilead that was made popular through aggressive advertizing, including a jingle that has survived to this day in one form or another.
Ben Hur: A prince of Judah who, during the ministry of Jesus, spent his time traveling the Mediterranean by ship. Ben Hur was said to have had a remarkable resemblance to Moses.
Boaz: Old Testament character who, prior to marriage, was known to be Ruthless.
Burnt-Offering: 1 Sacrifice made to God where the offering is burnt up completely on the altar. 2 Dinner cooked by a variety of modern wives.
Canada: Land where God instructed Moses to lead the children of Israel after leaving Egypt. Moses was somewhat hard of hearing, and as a result relocated in Canaan instead. As a result, Yiddish Columbia is today known as British Columbia.
Catechism: The worship of cats.
Cubit: Standard of measurement used in Ancient Israel that was lacking in standardization. The cubit is believed by most to be the length from a man’s elbow to the tip of his fingers. In recent history this method of measurement was replaced by a more precise standard, called the “Foot.”
David (King): King of ancient Israel said to be a man after God’s own heart. King David committed many egregious sins, such as murder and adultery, yet managed to preserve his relationship with God. It’s good to be the king.
Deceived: Condition suffered by others claiming to be Christian who attend churches other than yours. It is utterly impossible for a real Christian to be deceived, despite the warnings in scripture concerning deceptions. “We know we are right and the rest are wrong” is one of the main tenets of Christianity.
Donation: Euphemistic term for money extorted from the membership of a church collective.
Eden: Mankind’s first abode. Adam and Eve ticked off the landlord and were evicted with instructions to never come back. Something to do with stealing fruit from the landlord’s tree.
Eli: Old Testament religious leader and High Priest, who set the stage for modern religious leaders and practice.
Eschatology: The study of the end time and end time events. Eschatology is usually speculative, and viewed in the time frame of those studying the subject for the last two millennia. Some modern views on Eschatology appear to be more closely related to Scatology.
Eve: The first schemer and shopper. In order to acquire a particular fruit, she talked Adam into trying a sample. Men have been tasting things prepared by wives ever since in order to avoid confrontation.
False Witness: A person conjured up by the powers that be in order to discredit a person worthy of condemnation when no credible True Witness can be found.
Gilead: District of Israel known for bomb making, hence the warning in song: There is a bomb in Gilead.
Gluttony: The sin of eating to excess. Gluttony should be a sin on par with drunkenness, where many churches have outlawed the drinking of alcoholic beverages in order to prevent their membership from inadvertently getting drunk. Therefore, using the same logic, eating should not be allowed either, as one might overindulge. This will never happen seeing as it would have to be enacted by well fed ministers.
Graven image: Image or Icon that is anointed with gravy.
Ham: Son of Noah who became unclean.
Harlot: Woman of influence and power.
Heave offering: Offering that is large enough as to require two or more people to cast it upon the altar while reciting the proper liturgy, “Heave ho”; the meaning of which has been lost to antiquity.
Heaven: The realm where God resides and the realm where Christians believe they will reside as the reward, or end result of salvation, where they can indulge in doing the things they could not do on earth in order to assure entrance into heaven. Many Christians believe that they will go to heaven, but none seem to be in any big hurry to get there. When Jesus is seen as returning to the earth, some believe that those Christians who are alive will be changed and go to heaven. Hopefully, they will wave to each other in passing.
Heretic: 1One who’s set of beliefs differ from yours. 2Parasite found on Greek goddesses.
Holy Roller: Quaint term used to describe one who’s religion includes physical manifestations, such as rolling on the floor. In this way the worshiper is able to exercise without having to join a fitness club.
Hypocrisy: The fine art of maintaining a double standard, where one condemns others for conduct they practice themselves.
Inspiration: Claim made by most all religious leaders in order to inspire a following. The proper translation of the word more accurately means “expiration” which is what many of those claiming inspiration should practice.
Jerusalem: City located along the high ridge separating the desert to the east, and the coastal area to the west. The city and surrounding terrain is somewhat inhospitable, similar to the area of Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas legalized gambling in order to draw people. Jerusalem was proclaimed a religious setting for much the same reasoning.
Judah: One of the twelve sons of Israel who had a good sense for business. When the brothers of Joseph conspired to kill him, Judah realized there was no profit in this, and recommended they sell Joseph into slavery instead.
Judas Iscariot: Disciple who betrayed Jesus into the hands of the Jewish religious leaders by way of a kiss. This practice has been borrowed by certain crime families which became known as the kiss of death. In the gay mafia, the kiss of death is followed by dinner and dancing.
Judgement: What every Christian is entitled to practice without restraint— not to be confused with Final Judgement, where those who practiced judgement find themselves condemned for some vague reason.
Last Rites: Ritual performed in the Catholic faith prior to imminent death. If by some miracle the person recovers, Last Rites automatically become Second-to-Last Rites. This possibility has the potential of causing some theological problems which could easily be avoided by the Priest who administers the Last Rites, by giving the suffering individual a slight rap on the head with a blunt object (perhaps a large cross) at the conclusion of Last Rites.
Levi: One of the sons of Jacob who wore the pants in his family.
Lord’s Supper: One of the few Christian rituals in a religion that claims to have replaced rituals with spiritual realities. In this ritual, the membership partake of a small bit of bread representative of the body of Jesus, and a small amount of wine, representative of Jesus’ blood. Some churches teach that these symbols literally become the body and blood of the Christ. (see: Transubstantiation) Much has been written on this subject by unbelievers who have pointed out certain absurdities such as, “If a mouse were to eat a piece of bread now the body of Christ, would the mouse be saved?” The answer is obviously no, as the mouse failed to drink the wine/blood. Another observation is the statement that if one were to poison the bread prior to its being made the body of Christ, would the bread, now the body of Christ, kill the person who ate it? The question is irrelevant, because whether the person lives or dies, at least he is now assured eternal life as long as he gets a sip of the wine/blood before collapsing.
The issue can be easily answered for all parties concerned by simply reading the rest of John the sixth chapter, where Jesus qualifies what he meant earlier in the narrative. This, however, has been too much a bother for Christians throughout the centuries.
It is the opinion of this writer that the Lord’s Supper should be followed by another ritual, to be known as, “The Lord’s Dessert” as the supper isn’t very filling.
Love: Vaguely defined concept in scripture that relates to another's relationship toward you, where you would have them do unto you what you would not necessarily do for them. Scriptures are replete with the concept, which are largely ignored and thought to be of minor importance in the greater scheme of things.
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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. Acts 17:11
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Prayer Request
Could I impose upon you, once again, and ask you to pray for another family member who just, two days ago, discovered they have Hepatitis C.
I, and my family would be so very grateful!
UPDATE: There are also prayer requests in the comments.
Thank you in advance.
~Seeker
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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. Acts 17:11
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