Thursday, May 31, 2012

Mistakes in the Bible?

In his ignorance man searches for what he considers "mistakes" in the Bible to justify his godless beliefs. He is like a man with a magnifying glass who diligently searches for a tiny dirt speck on the Mona Lisa, so he can justify discarding the whole painting as junk. In the following (extremely applicable) article from The Almost Christian, written in 1661, Matthew Mead addresses the problem:
"There is a proud heart in every natural man. There was much pride in Adam's sin-and there is much of it in all Adam's sons. Pride is a radical sin, and from hence arises this over-inflated opinion of a man's spiritual state and condition: 'The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers' (Luke 18:11). This is the unsaved man's motto.
"A proud man has an eye to see his beauty-but not his deformity. He sees his abilities-but not his spots. He sees his seeming righteousness-but not his real wretchedness. It must be a work of grace-which must show a man the lack of grace. The haughty eye looks upward-but the humble eye looks downward, and therefore this is the believer's motto, 'I am the least of saints-and the greatest of sinners!'"

Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered and said to them, You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

 

- Ray Comfort

 

 

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Who Do You Want to Follow?

A glance around the evangelical landscape today offers a wide variety of leadership models and styles: entrepreneurs, kings, rock stars, motivational speakers, armchair psychologists, and modern-day monks. You would have to look much harder to find a simple servant. Christ’s views on leadership are conspicuously out of step with the conventional wisdom of our age: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25–28).
According to Jesus, then, the truest kind of leadership demands service, sacrifice, and selflessness. A proud and self-promoting person is not a good leader by Christ’s standard, regardless of how much clout he or she might wield. Leaders who look to Christ as their Leader and their supreme model of leadership will have servants’ hearts. They will exemplify sacrifice.
I realize those are not characteristics most people associate with leadership, but they are essential qualities of a biblical approach to leadership, which is the only kind I’m interested in.
Notice, by the way, that Jesus was expressly teaching Christians to approach leadership in a different way and from a radically different point of view than the leaders of this world. It’s folly for Christians to assume (as these days many do) that the best way for Christians to learn leadership is from worldly examples.
There’s a crucial reason for that: Leadership for the Christian always has a spiritual dimension. The duty of leading people carries with it certain spiritual obligations. That is as true for the Christian president of a secular company as it is for the stay-at-home mom whose sphere of leadership might extend no further than her own children. All Christians in every kind of leadership are called to be spiritual leaders.
If you truly understand your accountability before God as a leader, you can begin to see why Christ portrayed the leader as a servant. He was not suggesting, as many have supposed, that lowliness alone is the essence of leadership. There are plenty of humble, meek, tenderhearted, servant-minded people who are not leaders. A true leader inspires followers. Someone who has no followers can hardly be called a leader.
So while it is certainly true that leadership demands a servant’s heart, it is by no means the case that everyone with a servant’s heart is thereby a leader. There’s far more to leadership than that.
To put it simply, leadership is influence. The ideal leader is someone whose life and character motivate people to follow. The best kind of leadership derives its authority first from the force of a righteous example, and not merely from the power of prestige, personality, or position. By contrast, much of the world’s “leadership” is nothing but manipulation of people by threats and rewards. That is not true leadership; it’s exploitation. Real leadership seeks to motivate people from the inside, by an appeal to the heart, not by external pressure and coercion.
For all those reasons, leadership is not about style or technique as much as it is about character. Want proof that effective leadership is not just about style? Notice that a number of divergent leadership styles are modeled in Scripture. Elijah was a loner and a prophet; Moses delegated duties to trusted people whom he kept close to him. Peter was brash; John was tenderhearted. Paul was a dynamic leader, even when being carried about in chains. He influenced people primarily through the force of his words. Evidently, his physical appearance was anything but powerful (2 Corinthians 10:1). All were men of action, and all used their diverse gifts in markedly different ways. Their leadership styles were varied and diverse. But all were true leaders.
Again, I think it’s a serious mistake for Christians in leadership to pass over these biblical examples of leadership and turn instead to secular models in pursuit of style-obsessed formulae they think will make them better leaders.
So what kind of leader are you? Or more to the point, what kind of leader do you want to be? Who are your aspirational models for leadership? What kind of leaders should you follow and should influence you and your family?
In the coming days we’ll look closely at some of the dominant, modern models for leadership and see how they measure up against Christ’s command to humble ourselves for a life of sacrifice and service.

By John MacArthur
http://www.gty.org/blog/B120514

Saturday, May 26, 2012

New Age vs. Bibilical Christianity

(The following is a comparison. It shows the differences and similaries
and why Jesus said to "Beware of false teachers!" We must "test the
spirits to see whether they are from God;" ( 1 John 4:1-3).                                            


 Key Person or Founder,    
Date, Location
  • Biblical Christianity: Jesus Christ. Founded about AD 30-33, in the Judean province of Palestine (Israel today), under the Roman Empire. Followers of Jesus Christ become known as Christians.
  • New Age: Based on Eastern mysticism, Hinduism, and paganism. Popularized in part by actress Shirley MacLaine (1934-) in the 1980's and 1990's. Beliefs vary.
Key Writings
  • Biblical Christianity: The Bible, written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament), and Greek (New Testament).
  • New Age: No holy book. Use selected Bible passages; I Ching; Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist writings; and Native American beliefs. Writings on astrology, mysticism, and magic.
Who is God?
  •  Biblical Christianity: The one God is Triune (one God in three persons, not three gods): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Often the title "God" designates the first person, God the Father. God is a spiritual being without a pyshical body. He is personal and involved with people. He created the universe out of nothing. He is eternal, changeless, holy, loving, and perfect.
  • New Age: Everything and everyone is God. God is an impersonal force or principle, not a person. People have unlimited inner power and need to discover it.
 Who is Jesus?
  • Biblical Christianity: Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity. As God the Son, he has always existed and was never created. He is fully God and fully man (the two natures joined, not mixed). As the second person of the Trinity, he is coequal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. In becoming man, he was begotten through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus is the only way to the Father, salvation, and eternal life. He died on a cross according to God's plan, as the full sacrifice and payment for our sins. He rose from the dead on the third day, spiritually and psychically immortal. For the next 40 days he was seen by more than 500 eye-witnesses. His wounds were touched and he ate meals. He psychically ascended to heaven. Jesus will return again visibly and psychically at the end of the world to establish God's kingdom and judge the world.
  • New Age: Jesus is not the one true God. He is not a savior, but a spiritual model and guru, and now an "ascended master." He was a New Ager who tapped into divine power in the same way the anyone can. Many believe he went east to India or Tibet and learned mystical truths. He did not rise physically from the dead, but "rose" into a higher spiritual realm.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
  • Biblical Christianity: The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force or energy field. He comforts, grieves, reproves, convicts, guides, teaches, and fills Christians. He is not the Father, nor is he the Son, Jesus Christ.
  • New Age: Sometimes considered a psychic force. Man is divine and can experience psychic phenomena such as contacting unearthly beings.
How to be Saved
  • Biblical Christianity: Salvation is by God's grace, not by an individual's good works. Salvation must be received by faith. People must believe in their hearts that Jesus died for their sins and psychically rose again, which is the assurance of forgiveness and resurrection of the body. This is God's loving plan to forgive sinful people.
  • New Age: Need to offset bad karma with good karma. Can tap into supernatural power through meditation, self-awareness, and "spirit guides." Followers use terms such as "reborn" to describe this new self-awareness.
What Happens after Death?
  • Biblical Christianity: Believers go to be with Jesus. After death, all people await the final judgement. Both saved and lost people will be resurrected. Those who are saved will live with Jesus in Heaven. Those who are lost will suffer the torment of eternal separation from God (hell). Jesus' bodily resurrection guarantees believer that they, too, will be resurrected and receive new immortal bodies.
  • New Age: Human reincarnations occur until a person reaches oneness with God. No eternal life as a resurrected person. No literal heaven or hell.
Other Facts, Beliefs, or Practices
  • Biblical Christianity: Group worship, usually in churches. No secret rites. Baptism and Lord's Supper (Communion). Active voluntary missionary efforts. Aid to those in need: the poor, widows, orphans, and downtrodden. Christians believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah promised to Israel in the Old Testament (Tanakh). Jesus said his followers would be known by their love for one another.
  • New Age: Can include yoga, meditation, visualization, astrology, channeling, hypnosis, trances, and tarot card readings. Use of crystal to get in harmony with God (Energy), for higher consciousness or other psychic powers. Strive for world unity and peace. Emphasis on holistic health.
(Info taken from brochure: http://www.rose-publishing.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=404x)

Gimme a Second- LeCrae (Church Clothes)


Lyrics:

Gimme a second, gimme a second yeah
Gimme a second, listen what I'm sayin to you
Uh huh, listen, gimme a second
All I need is a second yeah
Gimme a second, uh yeah

Hey listen Cole talk that college talk
Wayne talks gangs
Jay-z's talkin' money mayne and (Kan)ye talk fame
And people say I talk about the same ole thang
Reason that I sound the same cause the truth don't change
Look, people get it twisted like a lemon in the spirit
If I ain't talking killin' I must be talking bout healin'
And I ain't talking bout how Jesus gonna make me a million
With my hands to the ceiling I got that spiritual feelin'
Head bowed down, knees to the floor
You a Christian and you rap? That must be the way you flow - No
I talk reality like mama on her death bed
The birth of a child, the soldier losing his left leg
Who gon write songs to give him hope in his chair
Addicted to pain killers, wife left last year
Your favorite rapper was probably tryin' to make his next hit
Talking looking what I got, who I shot and who I tip
Couldn't be more common if them boys made sense
Couldn't be more common if Serena was they chick
And this is not a diss, this how reality sound
Let it off my mind, this how my mentality sound

[Hook]
Everything I do, I do for you
I don't wanna single a thing, I don't wanna sing a thing
Ain't got no kind of angle
I ain't tryin play you, ain't gotta know my name,
You ain't gotta know my name
But in my short time on this Earth
I done died, been rebirthed
And I know this sounds strange to you
So give me a little time, let me spit a couple lines
And I promise it might just change you too

I sound like the mad rapper 'cause I'm crazy
The radio be like "we love you", but they never play me
I be doin' shows like "you ain't even gotta pay me"
I just wanna spread the same message that done saved me
You see I probably grew up just like you
Tellin' my heroes "Man I wanna be just like you"
I got in trouble went to court
Judge showed me couple inmates and he told me man
They started off just like you
I never rolled around strapped
I was busy chasing girls and money
I play ball and smoke weed thought the world was funny
I went to church a few times with my head on a swivel
And I was lookin' for the bad ones that sat in the middle
I couldn't remember a sermon, I never caught the spirit
And if Christians was tryin' to rap then I'm not tryin' to hear it
I never would've imagined that I would be rhymin'
About the same God that I couldn't confide in
Never planned to get married, raise a family, help kids grow up
Visit people in prison, I was busy tryin' to blow up
But see, now I'm unimpressed with the way these folks dress
Or the engine in the truck, all I want is soul rest
And I'm so blessed, look at what He did to me
How could I keep this to myself? Somebody bled for me
Nah, you just gon' have to hate this
'Cause God's the only reason I'm able to say this

[Hook]
Everything I do, I do for you
I don't wanna single a thing, I don't wanna sing a thing
Ain't got no kind of angle
I ain't tryin play you, ain't gotta know my name,
You ain't gotta know my name
But in my short time on this Earth
I done died, been rebirthed
And I know this sounds strange to you
So give me a little time, let me spit a couple lines
And I promise it might just change you too

Friday, May 25, 2012

How to raise godly offspring.



If you want "godly offspring," it is essential that you make the time to establish a family altar. Build it out of the unmovable rocks of resolution. You will need to be resolute about this because it will be a battle. Your flesh will fight it, and you can be sure there will be a continual spiritual battle within your mind. "Circumstances" will constantly crop up. Your kids will occasionally groan when you announce that it is time for devotions. Loved ones may subtly, subconsciously discourage you. However, your time of family devotions should be a priority for your whole family. Don't be legalistic about it, but as much as possible, put all other things aside before you postpone or cancel family devotions.
It will be an altar of sacrifice, as you sacrifice your time, your energy, and sometimes your dignity. For years, our kids heard, "Six o'clock-reading time." My wife and I dropped whatever we were doing, and the children learned to do the same, and we gathered as a family. Making it a priority for your family's growth will speak volumes about its importance in their lives.
Again, you will find that there are many excuses for not having devotions. You may be pressed for time, feel tired, or think you are unable to teach the Bible. However, there is one very powerful reason why you should have daily devotions: the eternal salvation of your children. (Adapted from How to Bring Your Children to Christ�& Keep Them There.)
Malachi 2:15 But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

 - Ray Comfort


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

ARE YOU SAVED?


There is nothing more important than where you will spend eternity!


If you have never thought about where you will go when you die...now is the time to do so. Perhaps you received one of these tombstone cards with the question, "What is the most important part on this headstone?" What do you think? Take a good look at it.


Is the most important part your name? The date? That you were dearly loved? That you were someone's son or daughter?


The answer is surprising...


It's none of the above!


Did you miss it?


Most people do.


The most important part on the headstone is the dash in between the two dates. It represents all the days of your life here on earth. The bible tells us that life is like a vapor. Think about it. Your life appears for a little while and then it's gone. 


Have you ever thought about death? Where will you go after you die? Where will you spend all eternity when your life here on earth is over


Think about it. The ultimate statistic is that 33 people out of 33 people die! That means you won't escape death. No one will.  And eternity is a long time. In fact, just think, it's forever and never ends. There is no time in eternity.


We care about you and we want you to understand that there's nothing more important than where you go after you die. That's why someone gave this card to you.

Have you ever looked at yourself according to how God see's you? If not, here's what to do, evaluate yourself by the 10 Commandments to see how you measure up to God's standard of righteousness.

Have you ever lied (even once--fibs, white lies, etc.)? Have you ever stolen (the value is irrelevant)? Jesus said, "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already with her in his heart." Have you ever looked with lust? If you have said "Yes" to these three questions (by your own admission), you are a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart; and we've only looked at three of the Ten Commandments.

Perhaps you're thinking that the 10 Commandments were given a long time ago and are not relevant for today...but the bible gives us surety in the New Testament, "that no fornicator (a person who has sex outside of marriage), unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Ephesians 5: 5 (Italicize portion not in the original text).

Have you put God first in your life? Or have you created a false god to suit yourself; a god you feel comfortable with? If God judges you by that standard will you be innocent or guilty on the Day of Judgment? If you're honest and listen to your 
 conscience you know that you will be guilty, and end up in Hell.

The reality of that should strike terror in your heart! 

But WAIT!

LISTEN!

There's Good News!

God Himself made a way for sinners to be forgiven...Listen to this...

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16). Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man and was without sin. He suffered and died on the cross and then He rose from the dead, defeating death. You broke the Law and Jesus paid the fine with His precious blood for sinners! Today, here's what to do, confess your sins to God, repent (turn) from your sins, put your trust in Jesus to save you from eternal damnation, and you will pass from death to life. Only through Christ can God forgive you and grant you the gift of everlasting life.












Monday, May 21, 2012

Last Day Deception


And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ ” and will mislead many. (24:4–5)

The first birth pain to signal Christ’s return will be widespread deception by a proliferation of false Christs. There were false Christs, or Messiahs, before Jesus’ time, and there have been others at various times since, including many in our own day. But in the end times their number and influence will vastly increase.

Jesus is warning those who will be living during the end times, which will not include believers of the church age (who will either have died or been raptured before the Tribulation). The deception of those days will be intensified and escalated as never before, as the Holy Spirit withdraws His restraining power and lets all hell break loose. The evils, deceptions, sorrows, tragedies, conflicts, and animosities of those days will exceed all others the world has ever known.

Because deception will be at its apex, Jesus warns, See to it that no one misleads you. Blepo (see to it) literally means simply “to see,” but was often used, as here, in the sense of “keep your eyes open,” or “beware.” In his parallel account Luke reports Jesus as saying, “See to it that you be not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and ‘The time is at hand’; do not go after them” (21:8). Later in the discourse Jesus repeats the warning: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:23–24). Empowered by demons, the end-time false Christs will manifest supernatural powers that previous ones have not possessed.

As the number of deceivers grows, so will the number of vulnerable people who desperately look for answers to the overwhelming calamities that torment them (see 2 Pet. 2:1–3; 2 Tim. 3:13). The world will begin to disintegrate, suffering will become unbearable, and sin will reach its maximum potential. The moral and spiritual influence of the church will be gone, and even more significantly, the restraining power of the Holy Spirit will be removed (see 2 Thess. 2:7). The world’s systems and institutions will start to self-destruct from unbridled wickedness.

To take advantage of that desperate situation, an abundance of false and cleverly deceptive messiahs will arise, each claiming, I am the Christ. Their spurious gospels will mislead many, as they promise to deliver men from their problems and troubles. The epitome of that false group will be the Antichrist, the ultimate false messiah and deceiver. As Jesus Christ was righteousness incarnate, the Antichrist will be evil incarnate. In the book of Daniel he is called an insolent king, skilled in intrigue (8:23), a self-willed tyrant who magnifies himself above every god and speaks monstrous evil against the God of gods (11:36). Paul calls him the man of lawlessness and the son of destruction (2 Thess. 2:3), and in the book of Revelation he is called the beast (11:7; 13:1–10).

-The MacArthur New Testament Commentary
 http://www.macarthurcommentaries.com/#

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Why We Answer the Door When the Cultists Come Knocking


By Jason Carlson
My father, Dr. Ron Carlson, used to remind people every chance that he could that the cults are literally a mission field at our front door step.  Unfortunately, many Christians miss this tremendous opportunity to share our faith when the cultists, such as Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, come calling.  For some people, taking the time to engage the cultist in a conversation is just too great an inconvenience.  For others, the fear of not knowing what to say to the cultist at the door is justification enough for the common Christian response of, "No thank you, I'm a Baptist (or insert your particular denomination)". 
The sad reality, however, is that when we fail to engage the cultist in a conversation about spiritual truths, or at the very least share our personal testimony with them, we are neglecting a ready-made opportunity to minister to a lost soul who desperately needs to know the Lord.  And the fact of the matter is this; you may be that cultist's last, best opportunity to hear the truth of the Gospel.  And while that may sound sensational, this is a lesson I learned in a profound way just recently.
For the past six months I've been in an ongoing conversation with a couple of men who are Jehovah's Witnesses- one a middle-aged man and the other in his late twenties.  I first met them when they were going door to door around my neighborhood.  And I must admit, I too was a bit agitated when I saw them coming to my front door; the cultists never seem to come at a convenient time.  However, I opened the door to them and we had a very good conversation for about 5-10 minutes before I politely told them that I needed to be going, but I'd love to talk to them again sometime.  Well, this was the beginning of an ongoing relationship with these guys where they would stop by about once every 4-6 weeks and we'd talk theology.  Sometimes these conversations were short, sometimes they were longer, but in each of them I made the conscious effort to clearly articulate the biblical revelation of God's triune nature, the full deity of Jesus Christ, and the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith. 
Now, from everything I can tell, my proclamation of the truth to these guys hasn't made a dent in their cultic worldview.  However, I'm not responsible for how they respond to the message of the Gospel, I'm simply responsible for being faithful in the opportunity that God has given me with these guys.  So, I continue to proclaim the truth to them and I pray that the Holy Spirit is working on their hearts in ways that I do not see. 
This past week, though, my regular visit with my JW friends was very different, and very sad.  You see, on this most recent visit only one of my new friends came calling; and he informed me that the young man in his twenties who was his regular witnessing partner had died two weeks earlier of an unexpected, massive heart-attack.  I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear this news.  Just a month earlier I had sat face to face with this young man discussing the claims of his religion and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and now he was gone.  What makes this situation even more tragic is that as far as I'm aware, this young man went to his grave clinging to his faith in a false religion, a false Jesus, and a false salvation; and now he'll spend eternity separated from God in Hell. 
This is why we must answer the door when the cultists come knocking.  The eternal destinies of lost people are at stake.  These are people God loves and whom He deeply desires to see come to repentance.  And as I said earlier, we must never discount the possibility that we may be that cultist's last, best opportunity to hear the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know, because I was. 
Remember, as Christians we are not responsible for how a person responds to our proclamation of the Gospel.  We're simply responsible for being faithful with the opportunities we have to proclaim it.  The next time the cultists come to your front door, please take a few minutes to share the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ with them.  They are literally a mission field at our front door step. 

Rev. Jason Carlson is the President of Christian Ministries International, an organization that has been committed to contending for the truth of biblical Christianity for over 35 years.  For more information on the ministry of CMI or to find helpful resources for witnessing to the cults, please visit: www.jude3.com.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

12 Pictures That Demonstrate How The New World Order Openly Mocks Us


If you know what to look for, it quickly becomes obvious that the elite of the world are not even trying to hide their insidious plans for the planet. They hope to unite the entire globe under their leadership, and they don't think that we are strong enough or smart enough to stop them. They openly embed symbols expressing their desire for a one world economic system, a one world religion and a one world government on our buildings, on our monuments and on our money and they think that it is funny that most people have no idea what those symbols mean. The New World Order openly mocks us and they seem to take pleasure in giving us "clues" about what their plans for humanity are. In the "global society" that they have planned for us, individual freedoms and liberties will be greatly restricted "for the good of humanity" and they will use the emerging Big Brother police state control grid to monitor and control everything that we do. It would be a totalitarian regime unlike anything the world has ever seen before. That is why it is absolutely imperative that we wake people up and get them educated about what the globalists plan to do so that they can resist this growing tyranny.
The following are 12 pictures that demonstrate how the New World Order openly mocks us....

Wenlock - Official Mascot Of The 2012 London Olympics
On the official London 2012 website, we are told that Wenlock, the official mascot of the 2012 London Olympics, has a camera for an eye because that "lets Wenlock record everything".
How creepy is that?
No matter what Wenlock is doing, he is always watching and always recording....
A recent Vanity Fair article by Michael Joseph Gross contained some additional details about Wenlock....
Even the 2012 cartoon mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville, have the notion of surveillance built into their design. Wenlock and Mandeville are two slightly different-shaped silver blobs, meant to be drops of steel taken "from the last huge girder of the Olympic Stadium." Each of their faces is taken up entirely by a single eye, which is meant to be a camera lens. The packaging for the plush-toy versions of both figures explains, "My single eye is like a camera letting me record everything I see." (locog has also licensed toy versions of London bobbies and Buckingham Palace guards with camera lenses for faces.) Is the idea of giving children a surveillance toy, I asked Johnson, just a little creepy?
"Are you referring to Mandeville and Wenlock?" the mayor replied. "The thing that children up and down the country, indeed across the planet, are crying out to their parents to buy them for Christmas? Are you referring to our national icons as creepy? I think that's-they will be, if they are not already, as cherished and as sought-after as-uh ... Schtroumpfs. Or Smurfs. They are the Schtroumpfs du jour. They will be infinitely collectible. What to you is a creepy, monocular, Cyclopean android-type thing is to many children a lovable, hilarious, uh, individual-that will comfort them at night."
Of course this is going to do nothing to reduce the reputation the UK has for being a Big Brother surveillance society.
In the UK today, there are more surveillance cameras per capita than anywhere else in the world. It has been estimated that there are close to 5 million surveillance cameras in the UK constantly watching every move that people make.
So Wenlock is a perfect mascot for an Olympics to be held in London.
The message that this "cute" little Olympic mascot sends is very clear....
Big Brother is watching you.

World Bank Headquarters Art
Robert Wenzel of the Economic Policy Journal recently posted the following two pictures of artwork inside World Bank Headquarters....


Do you think that you can figure out the message that this artwork is attempting to convey?
The truth is that the propaganda is so blatant that even a child should be able to figure it out instantly.
And yet there are still lots of people out there that still deny that there is a conspiracy to create a one world economic system.

The Denver Airport Murals
There are plenty of reasons to be creeped out by Denver International Airport, but perhaps the biggest reason is the artwork that is being displayed there. The Denver Airport murals have become world famous, and they convey some very bizarre messages.
For example, this first picture is of a mural entitled "Peace And Harmony With Nature". But the truth is that this mural does not appear to be very peaceful at all. In fact, it appears to be a funeral for dead children while a fire rages in the background....

A closer look at the dead child on the bottom right of the mural reveals some very disturbing details....

As the Vigilant Citizen website points out, this dead girl appears to be identified with both Judaism and Christianity....
The girl on the right holds a Bible and a yellow "Juden" star used by the Nazi to identify jews. It seems to symbolize the death of Judeo-Christian beliefs.
Is this mural trying to tell us that Judeo-Christian beliefs will be eradicated?
Posted below is another of the famous Denver Airport murals. This one seems to portray some kind of mass extermination....

As I have written about previously, the global elite love death. They believe that there are far too many people on the planet and that we are destroying the earth.
The elite desperately want us to stop reproducing, and many of them would openly rejoice if "something" caused the population of the planet to suddenly decline dramatically.
So is that mural trying to send us all a message?
This obsession with population control is also reflected in the next piece of "art" that we are going to examine....
The Georgia Guidestones
The Georgia Guidestones contain ten "new commandments" for humanity to follow.
If you will notice, the number one commandment is to reduce the human population of the planet to less than 500 million people....

But this desire to reduce the global population by more than 90% is not just expressed on this one monument.
As I have written about previously, global leaders associated with the New World Order have been expressing their desire for radical population reduction for many, many years.

The Statue Outside Of EU Headquarters In Brussels, Belgium
The coming world government has been portrayed as a woman riding a beast for ages. It is a very powerful symbol and most educated people know what it stands for.
Well, guess what is standing right outside of EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium?
A giant statue of a woman riding a beast.
The woman is supposed to represent the pagan goddess Europa, and the beast is supposed to represent the pagan god Zeus. In the original mythology, Europa and Zeus become lovers.
The pagan god Zeus is commonly associated with the entity known as Lucifer or Satan. In the end, Europa (Europe) will be proudly riding high as a partner in the world system that has been established by Lucifer.
For those that understand what this really means, this image should make you sick....

European Coins
This symbolism also shows up on European money.
For example, the following is a picture of a 2 euro coin minted for Greece that has the same symbology of a woman riding the beast....

Magazine Covers
A woman riding a beast has also been used to represent Europe by some of the most prominent mainstream publications on the continent.
For example, check out the following cover that Der Spiegel once ran....

The Tower Of Babel
But a woman riding a beast is not the only symbology that the EU has pulled directly out of ancient traditions.
Posted below is an image of an official poster that was used to promote the EU Parliament before it was withdrawn due to public outcry.
It clearly portrays the EU as an attempt to restart the work that the builders of the Tower of Babel began.
So who originally constructed the Tower of Babel?
Well, according to tradition, it was actually a ruler named Nimrod that began construction of the Tower of Babel. From his home base in Babylon, he attempted to establish the very first global government.
Nimrod was a very important figure in ancient history. Many of the pagan religious practices that spread throughout the ancient world originated with the ancient Babylonian religion of Nimrod.
In fact, many of our most notable secret societies today trace their origins all the way back to Nimrod. According to some traditions, the very first Freemason was Nimrod.
So for the EU to purposely choose the symbology of the Tower of Babel and Nimrod to represent themselves is very powerful indeed....

The Great Seal
Most Americans have no idea, but there is also very powerful New World Order symbology on U.S. currency.
For example, on the back of every one dollar bill is the Great Seal of the United States.
At the bottom of the Great Seal, we find these words: "Novus Ordo Seclorum".
When translated, that means a "new secular order" or a "new order for the ages".
Next time you pull out a dollar bill, flip it over and take a look for yourself....
So who is heading up this "new order"?
Well, on the Great Seal we can see a capstone descending to finish the pyramid with an "all-seeing eye" on it.
According to Wikipedia, imagery of an all-seeing eye "can be traced back to Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus."
Manly P. Hall, one of the most famous Freemasons of all time, believed that a triangle with an all-seeing eye is a very powerful ancient symbol that has been passed down to us through the secret societies....
"On the reverse of our nation's Great Seal is an unfinished pyramid to represent human society itself, imperfect and incomplete. Above floats the symbol of the esoteric orders, the radiant triangle with its all-seeing eye. ... There is only one possible origin for these symbols, and that is the secret societies which came to this country 150 years before the Revolutionary War. ... There can be no question that the great seal was directly inspired by these orders of the human Quest, and that it set forth the purpose for this nation."
-Manly P. Hall, The Secret Destiny of America, pp. 174, 181.
Throughout history, various esoteric traditions have associated Horus with both Nimrod and Lucifer. The Great Seal is definitely referring to a "god", but it is not the God of Christianity.
The first portion of the motto on the Great Seal, Annuit Coeptis, is commonly translated as follows: "he approves of the undertakings".
So in essence, the real message of the Great Seal is that Horus (Lucifer) approves of the establishment of a "new order for the ages".
Today, the elite of the world hope to finally establish this "new order" over the entire globe.
That is why they are constantly seeking to bring the economies of the world together, to bring the religions of the world together, and to strengthen institutions involved in "global governance" such as the United Nations.
It is incredibly important that we get people educated about all of this.
One of the most prominent mottos used in ancient secret societies such as Freemasonry is "ordo ab chao" ("order from chaos").
In the years ahead, there is going to be mass chaos on a global scale.
Out of that incredible chaos, the global elite hope to pick up the pieces and finally establish their "New World Order".

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=8289

Thursday, May 17, 2012

How to Hear God's Voice 100% of the Time

Are you struggling to figure out if those whispers that your pastor has told you to listen for are really God's voice or a case of gastrointestinal hallucinations caused by a bad batch of pepperoni pizza?
Are you tired of going through the whole rigamarole of filtering those voices in your head through a six point 'discernment grid' to try to ascertain if that's the Holy Spirit speaking to you or proof that you need to make an appointment with a shrink?
Have you read and reread Blackaby and still haven't got the foggiest notion as to how to tell where God is working in the world so that you can join Him?
If you've answered yes to one or all of these questions then I've got great news for you! I have discovered a simple and sure fire way for you to hear God's voice. The best part is that its 100% guaranteed and totally Biblical.
Here it is.
1. Acquire a Bible.
If you do not have a Bible then you can read it for free on the internet at BibleGateway.org. I recommend the English Standard Version for both readability and translational accuracy.
2. Open the Bible.
3. Begin reading it.
Read it with your mind engaged. Pay close attention to grammar and context. Take notes. Set a goal to read 3 to 10 chapters per day.
That's it.
If you do those three things then you will be hearing God's voice every single time that you open the Bible. No guess work, no need for six point 'discernment filters' and no nagging uncertainty about whether your hearing God's voice or something else.
How can I be so sure and certain that this works?
I'm glad you asked.
One day, while I was reading my Bible I read 2 Timothy 3:16–17. Here's what it says:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” [emphasis added]
Let's break this down.
1. This passage says ALL scripture is God breathed. That means that God, The Holy-Spirit, personally inspired every one of the Biblical authors. In other words, you can know with certainty that every word of scripture contains God's thoughts and when you're reading the Bible you're hearing God's voice.
2. This passage says that the man of God would be COMPLETE through the reading, learning, knowing and applying of scripture. Notice that this verse doesn't say that the man of God would be incomplete through his reading of scripture and that he'd need to augment the scriptures through whispers, subjective feelings, internal voices, direct revelation, dreams or visions. NO! It literally says that the man of God would be COMPLETE. The Greek word that is used here is ἄρτιος and it means "complete and/or fully qualified". There is nothing else needed for the man of God. The scriptures are totally sufficient.
3. If point two wasn't clear enough, 2 Timothy 3:17 drives the point home by stating that through the written word of God the man of God is equipped for EVERY good work. There are no good works that God would have you do that would require you to rely on anything other than His word to make you complete and fully equipped for the task.
The Bible is sufficient to make you complete and fully equipped for every good work.
You don't need whispers.
You don't need dreams.
You don't need visions.
You don't need trances.
You don't need a glory cloud.
You don't need to figure out how to 'experience God'.
You don't need contemplative mysticism.
All you need is the written word of God. The Bible is sufficient to make you complete and fully equipped for every good work and because every word of scripture is God breathed, you can know with confidence that you're hearing the voice of God.
You may be asking yourself if it could truly be that simple.
Yes, it really is that simple!

By Chris Rosebrough

Taken from: http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=8276

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Modern Gender Roles Affect Everyone

We obviously know that as our culture gets further and further away from the truth of God's word and what the Bible says, our world will look less like Christians and more like pagans every day. Well this has become apparent in one area in particular at rapid speed it as appeared. Some are calling it coincidence, random encounters or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time as we see this. We disagree….it is obvious that good Godly Christian respectable men are vanishing. So are the submissive, meek, gentle, kind hearted women as well. No, they aren't being wiped off the face of the earth, rather they are transforming into what the world accepts…selfishness, lack of chivalry, and pride to rise to the top.
Obviously this is where the disclaimer comes in---not all men and women are going to fall into this category as described here, but it's worth pointing out via this article just what is becoming the norm for unsaved and falsely converted people who are not rooted in Christ and His word. So if you are one of those truly saved individuals not behaving this way…pass this article on to someone who needs to read it and we thank God that there are men and women like you out there that answer the call of Christ.
Let's start with the men first. It has become apparent that the idea of respecting a woman has gone by the wayside.  No longer do men open car doors for their wives, or hold the door open when going in somewhere. How about when men used to stand when a woman entered the room? The complete disregard for the weaker vessel of a woman as scripture points out in 1 Peter 3:7 has run rampant in today's society. Obviously the passage is talking about husbands and wives, but I think there is a principle to be drawn from the idea of a woman being weaker, not of less value, but should be treated with respect and dignity. 
Lori has had several encounters where not only was there a lack of regard for her as a female, but simply just the idea to be respectful to another human has become a thing of the past.
It has been different occurrences here and there, and then more specific as Lori will explain in a particular instance later on.  Here are some brief examples:  walking in the mall and male teen-agers just walk right in front of you, cut you off, and are more interested in gawking at toys than respecting that they just literally ignored your walking space. In addition, guys standing in a checkout stand at a store staring at the pornographic magazine covers that line the entry next to candy bars and gum.  Recently, we were sitting at restaurants on two separate occasions, the first one that was bothersome were a group of married men with rings on fingers doing nothing short of flirting with the waitress and wait staff at a "family restaurant." The other time we were out with friends and at the table next to us there was a young man looking to be the age of about 16 or 17 flipping through his iphone pictures of "friends" as he ate with his mom, dad, and younger brother. Lori casually looked over to see what this kid was doing when she noticed the pictures were not appropriate for anyone to be observing. What is worse, he even showed a few to his mom who seemed to just brush it off.  Appalling behavior that would never have been tolerated back just 50 years ago. Total disrespect for women as a gender and not only that, just a disrespect for a woman as a person as noted above.  (We will note that women are not innocent of some of these things either, they can be just as bad with their gossipy talk and too often overly detailed private conversations.)
While shopping for groceries a couple of weeks ago, I had a basketful of groceries and was pulled up to my trunk to start unloading them. There were a few heavy items that were on the underside of the basket that needed to be lifted up into the trunk. As soon as I got to my trunk and lifted the lid there was an average sized looking guy that followed up behind me. It startled me that he was right there and holding onto my basket. I could see by his logo on his shirt that he worked for the store, so I thought, how nice, he's going to help me unload my groceries. Think again. As he proceed to stand there saying nothing, I looked up as I'm loading the bags in and say "is there something you needed?" The response that was given as this grown adult guy is playing games on his phone was a mumbled "I'm waiting for the cart." Taken aback by the complete disrespect not only that a guy wouldn't offer to help a woman with heavy bags, then the fact that he's a store employee and didn't even offer customer service prompted me to respond with, "well while you are standing there, you could help me lift those into the trunk." He proceeded to stare at his phone and say "that's okay." Seriously?  A grown man at least in his late twenties if not thirties would rather play a game on his phone than be helpful and respectful? Wow. So I then responded, in a kind tone, "man, I guess chivalry sure is gone nowadays huh?" To which the guy replied, "yep, I guess so."  So I finished putting the groceries in my trunk by myself and the cart was free. That is what he was waiting for wasn't it? He wanted me to push it on over to him so he could push it on into the store with some others he was gathering.
Gender roles have definitely become something that is to blame as well. We have taken the idea of the man being the spiritual leader of the home, being the protector of the family, and have switched that around to look something like the following- women now wanting to be co-equals and have it all, be a mom, climb the corporate ladder, preach in the church pulpit and be on the same footing as men. It's sad. It's an epidemic and its growing deeper and deeper as we sink into the pit of social gospel lies, feminism running rampant, and passive men watching it all happen.
It's starting in the homes and these girls and boys are seeing a different home life, then they are going out and living that in the world and thus the vicious cycle returns over and over.
Just the other day a new mother told us that she couldn't wait to get back to work because she missed it so much. That she loved her corporate career and was definitely not giving that up to simply just stay at home all day with her new baby. It was as if the idea of being a stay at home was appalling to even think of. In fact, the truth comes out that even when this baby was still in her womb they had the child on a waiting list for daycare and are still waiting for a slot to open up so that the mother in law won't have to watch the baby anymore. What in the world? When did being a stay at home mom become a downgrade in society? When did fulfilling your role as a biblical mom as Titus 2: 4-5 clearly points out become acceptable to abdicate it?
The Bible defined the roles of men and women quite clearly and there is a reason for it. God knows what He is doing. He clearly spelled out how a home is to be operated, what men are to do, and what women are to do in a general sense and even more specific in other verses. Ephesians 5 gives great examples of all of this. What is sad is that since the tables have been flipped so drastically, even if men were to do some of these respectful actions, women have distorted the view so much that it's taken out of context to where they see it as flirtatious or that they are being demeaned because they are female. So in a lot of ways both genders are flawed to many extremes throwing the entire roles out of whack and therefore we now have what you see going on everyday; single parents, over-worked husbands, corporate driven moms, in debt families, passive husbands who don't know how to lead, overbearing wives that don't know how to submit, and children lost in the mix because no one is there to take care of them because they are too busy making money or too busy playing a role they were never called to be in.
Honestly….what is going on with men? Is it because they are being raised to be enabled and not have to get a job, take responsibility, or maybe because they don't have a male role model in the home? And what is going on with women? Is it because they don't know what true biblical feminism looks like and that the term domestic is now a derogatory word to them? Or could it just be that they are all lost? Simply lost as lost can be, and not just lost on the idea of morality or the concept of how to treat a woman, or how to be a women, but lost in the spiritual sense.  We know that is obviously the root cause of the problem, as it always is with sin. It's a heart issue. Lost people treat other people no differently because there is no conviction of the heart.
False converts do this scenario very well. They do the "Jesus thing" and therefore think all is well, all the while they are not exhibiting the attributes of a godly lifestyle and role. False converts are more dangerous than the lost, because they will go to church on Sunday, then send their child off to daycare Monday when mom should be at home, disrespect each other routinely, ignore the family time just to get to work so they can pay off the enormous debt they've incurred to keep up with the Joneses, and the unsaved world sees this and thinks this is how you live out the Gospel.  They are lying to themselves and they are portraying a horrible picture for the lost because they are lost themselves and they don't even realize it. This is definitely the diagnosis of the root. There needs to be recognition of sins and trust in the Lord Jesus to save you, and for the Holy Spirit to grant you repentance by crying out to Him to rescue you. That is the only way anything gets turned around. 
This is how you get off the exhausting roller coaster of trying to be something you were never designed to be, and how you fulfill your role biblically and honorably. Life isn't meant to be difficult in this area, we will have trials, but why induce them by trying to do it your way? The Bible is so clear on these roles, but before you can even try to accomplish them, you have to have be regenerated by the Holy Spirit doing a work in you. We pray that if any of this sounds familiar and it's pricked your conscience that you would take the time to search the scriptures and see if these things are so as we have brought them to you. Be a good Berean and see what the Lord says about what your life should look like. 1 John is a great place to start if you think your life doesn't look like a Christian and you might be falsely converted.  Ephesians, Timothy, Titus all are books with great instruction in them for the life of a believer and what the roles of it all looks like. Test everything and stand firm in the faith!


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Official End of Christendom?


Fox News journalist, Shep Smith, welcomed President Obama into the 21st century and declared those who still oppose same-sex marriage to be on the wrong side of history.
May 9, 2012 was indeed an historic moment. Though President Obama bathed his decision in Christian principles: "…our faith…is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf but it's also the golden rule…treat others the way you'd want to be treated…" For the first time ever, a sitting US president, considered the most powerful political leader in the world, has endorsed a marital arrangement that formally constitutes the pagan "worship of the creation rather than worship of the Creator" (Romans 1:25).
"How do you get there?" you may ask. My statement is neither panic nor exaggeration, since it comes from the theological reasoning of the inspired Apostle Paul: "For this reason," he says, "God gave them up to dishonorable passions [of lesbianism and homosexuality] contrary to nature" (Romans 1:26–28). The "reason" to which Paul refers is what he stated in the previous verse (25), namely the exchange of the truth for the lie, and the worship of creation rather than the Creator. That process includes an exchange of sexuality for a practice "contrary to [created] nature."
Historian Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, once a radical Marxist feminist, observed (as a chastened older observer of the Cultural Revolution in which she had enthusiastically participated): "within a remarkably brief period …has occurred a cataclysmic transformation of the very nature of our society."
The speed of this "cataclysmic" change takes our breath away. At the same-sex Stonewall riots of 1969 few people had even heard of homosexuality. Just forty-three years later, a president publicly announces support of same-sex marriage. In the 1960s, thanks to the Beatles and the hippies 1960s "Christian America" discovered for the first time the spirituality of the East. In August 2009, Newsweek announced: "We are all Hindus Now," as yoga studios outnumber Starbucks cafes in New York City, and we massage our karma with mantras and meditation.
The "cataclysm" is due to the invasion into the "Christian" West of pagan spirituality, with its strident intention to "eliminate the binary." The foremost "binary" is the distinction between the Creator and the creature. Other binaries then fall like dominos-the binary of right and wrong, for example. "We must beware of thinking of good and evil as absolute opposites," says a leading theorist. Modern psychologists tell us that a binary view of reality (as made up of opposites) produces guilt, the hallmark of neurosis. The Hindu notion of Advaita, "not two," dominates spirituality and "non-dual spirituality" is taught even in some "evangelical" schools. Lesbian activists ask: "Can We Put an End to the Gender Binary?" (The Advocate.com) because "there is no one way a person should be."
On all these levels we see Two-ism (theism) undermined for the promotion of a One-ist worldview. Of course, it is said that same-sex "marriage" will not harm anyone. However, its legalization will introduce a God-denying civilization that will erase 2000 years of Christendom based on Two-ism. The past will be labeled "homophobic." Nursery rhymes, literature and art that consider heterosexuality normal (including the Gospel) will be declared illegal and obsolete. Christians will be outside the law. Already the fifteen Christian groups (Catholic and Protestant) at Vanderbilt have been kicked off campus for refusing, by principle, to allow gays on their leadership teams. This is a classic preview of what the future holds.
May 9th 2012 is in many ways the final "sacralization" of the Sixties, where behind the pretext of the Golden Rule, the "revolution" fraudulently covers its unrestrained libido in the white robes of bridal purity.
We must not panic or exaggerate, nor cease to love homosexual individuals. But we must not re-interpret "Christian" love, so that our contemporary culture can reject God the Creator in favor of self-serving desires. The Gospel love story of creation and redemption must be heard via a clear witness to the biblical worldview, as Paul articulates it in Colossians 1:19–20:
For in Christ…by whom all things were created…[God] through him reconcile[d] to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
The President's "Christ sacrificing himself" is not a decorative element of the Faith but the very essence of all things, expressed distinctively in male/female marriage as the love of the other for the different. In this way, Christ the Creator loves his people. Paul in Ephesians 5:32 calls this a "mystery," the deep meaning of all things on earth and in heaven. The radicals rightly call their same-sex marriage "the sacrament of monism," and see in it a pagan celebration of One-ist sameness and of the divinity of self-creating Nature. Alas, Paul would call this a part of "the mystery of lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

Dr. Peter Jones is Director of truthXchange, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament, as well as Scholar in Residence, at Westminster Seminary California.