Please take some time to listen to these excellent talks about how Greek influence has affected the religion of God. It’s important that we understand that the basis of our faith has Hebrew roots, and that the Hebrew mindset is very different to the Greek. The influence of Greece on our faith and our culture, is enormous. Mr Pawson takes us through so many of those influences as they can be seen in our modern world today. From democracy to sport, Greece has had a hand in shaping our culture, and also our faith in ways we may not be aware of. A dear friend sent me this, and I recommend it to you.
How do you cope in moments of great strain? How do you regain your equilibrium when you see or experience the problems of the modern world? How do you deal with roadblocks in your own life?
In Luke 21:9 Yeshua tells us:
But when you shall hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet. [King James 2000]
These things have to happen, and sometimes we need to realise that those things we see happening around us and to us also have to happen, even if they are upsetting. Perhaps you have lost a friendship, or perhaps your family is breaking apart in disagreement. Perhaps, as I am, you are feeling stuck and your life seems to have a roadblock in some area.
We can expect persecution – persecution comes when we proclaim Christ. We don’t get persecuted by the enemy – satan cannot have a foothold unless we give it to him. He will try and we may feel we’re being persecuted, but really persecution comes through people. One of the saddest things I hear in churches is the notion that as “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) that we are suddenly clean, and released from all past sins. Members of the congregation continue to struggle with intergenerational curses due to unrepented of sins, and the pain and suffering is very real.
So we need to place any ground given to satan over the years of sin firmly under the blood of Christ, and change our behaviour, clean our homes of sin- and curse-bearing objects – everything from vibrators (ladies!) to pentagrams, yin yang symbols, dream catchers – the list is endless! I have spent almost eight years cleaning house both my internal house, but also my actual house. The things I have found lurking in drawers would shock you – my “old man” – my past self – brought many of these objects into this house, or allowed them to be brought in. As I’ve cleaned house, I’ve burned books – hundreds of pounds worth. I’ve got rid of countless items. Everything from books and magazines to DVDs of films with inappropriate content. I’ve been quite the purist – perhaps more than necessary! But, “if in doubt, throw it out” is a good motto when it comes to the potential of objects to bring problems. I hope there are none left.
But in all of this life has moved forwards. Not at the speed I’d hoped, and I’m not where I want to be, and my timetable has not been followed, if you’ll pardon my forwardness. My timetable would have seen life move on way sooner, but God’s timetable was different, and I can see that now. I wonder when things will finally look like I want them to, or if they ever will. I do know that God is with me, and that “these things must first come to pass” – that just as there is an order to the return of Christ, there is an order, in the will of God, for my recovery. That my recovery is happening day by day, and that despair is an occassional roadblock to my faith, not a result of a roadblock in my route out of where I am.
So much “serendipity” along the way – which is how many people think, when really those moments are “God moments”. Yet just when I am crying out to God and saying “WHEN?!” and saying “where will the money come from?” and “why are my needs not met?” I am concentrating on the lack of the perceived need and not on the fact that it is impossible for me to be lacking anything which I need. I have simply misunderstood my own needs. Satan cannot take a job opportunity from me, he cannot affect my finances – everything in my life is under prayer and in submission to God!
So I need to press in, to trust more and to be extra patient as God prepares the way better and more fully than I can do myself. God is, in fact, repairing my very foundations. My mind, my imagination and my will are no match for His perfect will and His healing!
If God provided for what I want to do before He’d completed the work He wants to do in me, then things would not go right. Equally when He provides opportunities I have to see them and act on them, and not be passive. It’s a process and a learning experience all round! When satan is trying to mess things up I also need to recognise that and deal with the enemy the right way:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [James 4:7 KJV]
So don’t despair when things are not going how you want. Pray – place it all under the blood of Christ and wait. Doors will open when God has made YOU ready, not when you have struggled by yourself to “make it happen”.
We are told in Psalm 127:1-2
Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.
And another vital verse for you in times of trouble:
Be not therefore anxious for the morrow, for the morrow shall be anxious for its own things; sufficient for the day is the evil of it. [Matthew 6:34 YLT]
Let times of despair be times when you trust God more fully to be doing the vital work in you which you didn’t know needed doing.
A Christian rock star has abandoned her dream of becoming an Anglican priest because as a gay woman she cannot accept the church’s teaching that homosexuality is ‘sinful’.
Vicky Beeching, 38, revealed she has now ‘let go of her dream’ to become a priest after bishops allegedly warned her she would need to become celibate if she wanted to continue her training. […]
‘I can’t say I believe same-sex relationships and marriage are sinful,’ she told the Sunday Times.
‘I have decided it will take too long for the church to change on this. I can’t move into that role with the infighting, the disciplinary measures going on for LGBT clergy who step outside the lines.’ […]
But Beeching said she hopes the church will eventually change its teaching on the subject.
She continued: ‘Future generations will look back at the way the church has treated LGBT people in the same way we look back and shudder at the way the church defended slavery or opposed women’s right to vote.’
Now, if you’ve never heard of Vicky Beeching, you’re not alone, I haven’t either. However she is in the national news talking about how the church will change eventually – she won’t change, and she doesn’t seem willing to even acknowledge her sin, let alone call on God to change her.
We are ALL sinners – we can refrain from sin ONLY with help from God! We are absolutely vulnerable to those sins, specifically, which we don’t acknowledge as sin, because we are unprotected, and satan knows it. Sin is defined as “transgression of the law” in 1 John 3:4.
While the church tells her she must be celibate, her desire for sex prevents her fulfilling what she believes is her calling. Just as we would hope that the C of E wouldn’t ordain a witch as priest, we must also resist having other kinds of unrepentant sinners lead us!
This comment from that article seems very appropriate: [emphasis added]
Anglicanism has bent to every liberal wind and still hasn’t held its congregation… the restrictions on sexual behaviour are not written by any denomination so cannot be altered by any to suit the times …… take it up with God who is above any archbishop.. no church can validate what God has prohibited, nomatter how popular a particular idea becomes it cannot be de classified as no longer sinful in the teachings of God, simply by popular vote….. e.g. abortion, divorce, homosexuality normalisation, euthanasia…. tough but true… human nature has to submit to the Word of God… it cannot pick and choose according to popular demand
I hope that Vicky will find a way to BELIEVE God, and not just believe IN Him.
I heard this on the Andrew Carrington-Hitchcock show a couple of days ago – a very interesting question came up and I want to share it with you.
I know many of you are Torah observant already, but some of you may not be. This question should help you to decide what you need to do!
Do you believe in God, or do you believe God?
Do you believe what He put down in writing and preserved for two thousand years so that we could walk rightly with Him? Walking in obedience requires us to not just believe that God is real, but to believe what He says!
Perhaps it’s time to walk away from church doctrine, and to get into the word of God? He preserved His word for you so that you could know how He wants you to live.
I wrote this post ages ago and left it as a draft – perhaps I felt somehow it’s moment had passed, or perhaps I was too worried about the potential backlash! However, the other day I saw a thread on Twitter where British people were saying they thought that burning the flag was treasonous, and should be met with a prison sentence, amongst other punitive measures. I wish I’d kept the thread now, but in recalling I had this written I thought I would finally share it, with some added words at the end. Lis
Ok, brace yourself – I’ll apologise for the offence, but I won’t apologise for my words.
I am against making flag burning illegal.
Ok, there, I said it – but before you get all huffy and upset with me, let me explain why. The flag is a sign of your country – in fact when the flag becomes sacrosanct and cannot be burned or stomped on you create a new, fresh tyranny. You create a time where the flag is raised up to a point of idolatry. Yes, idolatry. It’s only a flag, after all. Bible burning is not illegal in the US, even though that ought to offend at least as many people.
We must be careful to avoid idolatry of the flag – it is only a sign, not who we are.
Now, what is offensive about flag burning is that it doesn’t offend enough people. While the flag of a good country doesn’t need protection (because that country and all it stands for are good in the eyes of its citizens), if someone does burn it, they are seen as outcasts, the social consequences should be enough of a deterrent. Who wants to be shunned by everyone in their town because they are a self-hating American? So what does it mean that America now believes itself to have a ‘flag burning problem’? It means that you have nurtured vipers in your bosom. You have allowed the young, in particular, of your nation, to be raised to hate the very values which your flag represents. In fact it’s probably time to ask what your country really represents today?!
America is so corrupt, let’s not add another layer to it by outlawing expressions of hatred towards it. However, let’s watch Trump (hopefully) make America great again, in particular dealing with immigration, so that the social consequences of flag burning will once again be enough of a deterrent to a deeply offensive act.
I will add that in trying to track down the thread on twitter today I came across this article, which states:
The United States Flag Code (4 USC Sec 8 Para (k) Amended 7 July 1976) states: “The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.” (Link)
I do appreciate that there is a difference here between the two types of burning (respectful, versus defiant), but I also couldn’t help feeling it was a slightly ironic too. The article also says the flag is: “considered to be the most sacred symbol of the United States of America”. Should it be?
For us, in these times, let us gather under the standard of our LORD! In Luke 14:26, Yeshua calls on us to hate our own family for His sake – in order to be His disciple! In fact the nature of the word ‘hate‘ in that context is comparative, i.e. we are to love all those things, and people LESS than we love God. We are to love our lives less than Him, and our families less than Him. That includes our nation, and it also includes our flag.
I haven’t written anything for a while, and it’s not because I’ve somehow managed to wrench myself away from all sources of news (ONE DAY! 😉 ). It’s because the deep sense of tiredness and being pi**ed off with everything that’s happening might make my posts somewhat ‘day darkening’. I am still seeing the same trajectory for every country on earth – electing Trump doesn’t seem to have caused the satanic cabal which backed Hillary to miss a single step. They just seem to have duped the US into electing a president who is already not as good as his word. I really, really hope I’m wrong about that! So far he’s responded to a fake, false flag ‘chemical weapons’ attack by bombing the heck out of Syria (which benefits no one except the Saudis and, oh yeah, the ROTHSCHILDS!
He’s also dropped the ‘MOAB’ (Mother Of All Bombs) as a way to threaten and intimidate North Korea (which won’t work). Trump is coming across like a playground bully who says ‘MY CONKER’S BIGGER THAN YOURS!’
And, as you can see, my mood in the face of such treachery, isn’t great!
Maybe one of my American readers can give me some hope that Trump has an intention of turning things around, back to his pre-election promises. I’m an optimist at heart (you know, I doubt that’s coming through to you in this post, is it?!).
So with all that doom and gloom in mind, let me just say that life goes on, and I hope and pray that during what seem to be difficult times that your faith is being strengthened, and that your fears are fears of God and not fears of men. I really hope that through what you are experiencing personally that you are being edified, and that you are trusting ever more closely in the LORD every day.
Now is a time to not be afraid to share our faith and the bible more than ever. If we won’t, who will? God has us in His hand. May He protect and bless you today and every day as you walk with Him and learn with Him – your Heavenly Father!
Trusting in God can be hard sometimes – not because we don’t believe in Him, but because we fear the world, or think we might be about to lose out on something we’ve always wanted.
When we don’t get what we want, or what we think we need, we must remember that God has a plan, and His plan is perfect.
Loving God and His Kingdom more than our own ideas is something we need to practice daily.
Now read this quote about Cloward-Piven strategy (how to bring down capitalism):
“First proposed in 1966 and named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.
Inspired by the August 1965 riots in the black district of Watts in Los Angeles (which erupted after police had used batons to subdue a black man suspected of drunk driving), Cloward and Piven published an article titled “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty” in the May 2, 1966 issue of The Nation. Following its publication, The Nation sold an unprecedented 30,000 reprints. Activists were abuzz over the so-called “crisis strategy” or “Cloward-Piven Strategy,” as it came to be called. Many were eager to put it into effect.
In their 1966 article, Cloward and Piven charged that the ruling classes used welfare to weaken the poor; that by providing a social safety net, the rich doused the fires of rebellion. Poor people can advance only when “the rest of society is afraid of them,” Cloward told The New York Times on September 27, 1970. Rather than placating the poor with government hand-outs, wrote Cloward and Piven, activists should work to sabotage and destroy the welfare system; the collapse of the welfare state would ignite a political and financial crisis that would rock the nation; poor people would rise in revolt; only then would “the rest of society” accept their demands.
The key to sparking this rebellion would be to expose the inadequacy of the welfare state. Cloward-Piven’s early promoters cited radical organizer Saul Alinsky as their inspiration. “Make the enemy live up to their (sic) own book of rules,” Alinsky wrote in his 1972 book Rules for Radicals. When pressed to honor every word of every law and statute, every Judaeo-Christian moral tenet, and every implicit promise of the liberal social contract, human agencies inevitably fall short. The system’s failure to “live up” to its rule book can then be used to discredit it altogether, and to replace the capitalist “rule book” with a socialist one.” [emphasis added] (source)
This is why now, and this is why them – they have come for our money. They have come to take what they want. Just as Obama ‘invited’ tens of thousands of South American’s into the US without any mandate to do so – and has given them welfare and the vote – what better way to bring down the system – overwhelm the system, and you can destroy capitalism.
I found this great image of Obama:
The same now applies to every politician who backs flooding Europe with those who can contribute nothing and who will not assimilate – every one of them knows the consequences of their actions – they cannot be that naive, surely?
The media is complicit in a one-sided presentation of these refugees, and this quote from “Pulling Our Heart Strings to Bring Us Down: How the Enemy Within Uses Our Empathy Against Us” by Tim Murray, sums it up perfectly:
“State media and its clones have a game plan:
The discussion must not be allowed to stray into the cold territory of numbers, resources, or likely long-term effects. Viewers must not be confronted with the reality that Europe simply does not have the capacity to accommodate the numbers of people who seek sanctuary and residence within its borders. Or that so-called “rich” countries like Canada and the United States, propped up by fiat currency and a bubble of purchasing power, cannot accept the hundreds of millions, and possibly billions of migrants who are anxious to flee poverty, famine or war. In short, viewers must not be allowed to understand the concept of limits.
If Western civilization is to be buried in an avalanche of migrants, its epitaph will be, “They died of misplaced empathy.” Empathy stoked up by photos and images promoted by our hostile elites in the media, eagerly grasped by ambitious politicians, and channeled towards the outsider at the expense of those within our ranks who are asked to sacrifice their space, their resources and their cultural heritage to serve the cause of “humanity.”” (Link)
Now let me get down to the nitty-gritty – why.
We are under judgement – we have strayed from God, so He has magnified our enemies, He has strengthened our enemies, He is giving us into the hands of our enemies – throughout the Old Testament, God continually dealt with Israel’s idolatry and sin by allowing them to be attacked – this was the consequence of their sin. In effect they did this to themselves, because when God was with them, they were impossible to defeat!
So where are we headed?
25 The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. Deuteronomy 28:25
And in Leviticus 26: 36-42, we see the fear that God is placing in our hearts as we see the mounting crisis:
36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
All this (and I urge you to go and re-read the whole of those two chapters) for not obeying and harkening to His Law.
If we accept our punishment, then He will remember our land. Isn’t it time for a Day of Atonement in the hearts of all mankind? If not yet, it will be soon – the agony is being prolonged by our refusal to harken to Him.
For all of you feeling worry over the events in the world – be ready to accept God – He is the remedy!
I’m starting with Psalm 34 from Youngs Literal Translation. Note how in verse 4 – it says all – yes from all my fears did deliver me – and in verse 6: from all his distresses saved him –ALL! This psalm is full of promise to those who love and fear Yehovah!
In verse 7, David tells us that “A messenger of Jehovah is encamping, Round about those who fear Him, And He armeth them.”Fear Yehovah – and He will protect you.
34 By David, in his changing his behaviour before Abimelech, and he driveth him away, and he goeth. I do bless Jehovah at all times, Continually His praise [is] in my mouth.
2 In Jehovah doth my soul boast herself, Hear do the humble and rejoice.
3 Ascribe ye greatness to Jehovah with me, And we exalt His name together.
4 I sought Jehovah, and He answered me, And from all my fears did deliver me.
5 They looked expectingly unto Him, And they became bright, And their faces are not ashamed.
6 This poor [one] called, and Jehovah heard, And from all his distresses saved him.
7 A messenger of Jehovah is encamping, Round about those who fear Him, And He armeth them.
8 Taste ye and see that Jehovah [is] good, O the happiness of the man who trusteth in Him.
9 Fear Jehovah, ye His holy ones, For there is no lack to those fearing Him.
10 Young lions have lacked and been hungry, And those seeking Jehovah lack not any good,
11 Come ye, children, hearken to me, The fear of Jehovah I do teach you.
12 Who [is] the man that is desiring life? Loving days to see good?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, And thy lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn aside from evil and do good, Seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of Jehovah [are] unto the righteous, And His ears unto their cry.
16 (The face of Jehovah [is] on doers of evil, To cut off from earth their memorial.)
17 They cried, and Jehovah heard, And from all their distresses delivered them.
18 Near [is] Jehovah to the broken of heart, And the bruised of spirit He saveth.
19 Many [are] the evils of the righteous, Out of them all doth Jehovah deliver him.
20 He is keeping all his bones, One of them hath not been broken.
21 Evil doth put to death the wicked, And those hating the righteous are desolate.
22 Jehovah redeemeth the soul of His servants, And none trusting in Him are desolate!
Yes times are difficult for us – the world is in a mess, and evil forces abound in high places. God’s wrath is kindled against mankind – and we know most of the reasons why. But take comfort, for Yehovah says in Isaiah 54:8-17 (YLT)
8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face [for] a moment from thee, And in kindness age-during I have loved thee, Said thy Redeemer — Jehovah!
9 For, the waters of Noah [is] this to Me, In that I have sworn — the waters of Noah Do not pass again over the earth — So I have sworn, Wrath is not upon thee, Nor rebuke against thee.
10 For the mountains depart, and the hills remove, And My kindness from thee departeth not, And the covenant of My peace removeth not, Said hath thy loving one — Jehovah.
11 O afflicted, storm-tossed, not comforted, Lo, I am laying with cement thy stones, And have founded thee with sapphires,
12 And have made of agate thy pinnacles, And thy gates of carbuncle stones, And all thy border of stones of delight,
13 And all thy sons are taught of Jehovah, And abundant [is] the peace of thy sons.
14 In righteousness thou establishest thyself, Be far from oppression, for thou fearest not, And from ruin, for it cometh not near unto thee.
15 Lo, he doth diligently assemble without My desire, Who hath assembled near thee? By thee he falleth!
16 Lo, I — I have prepared an artizan, Blowing on a fire of coals, And bringing out an instrument for his work, And I have prepared a destroyer to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against thee prospereth, And every tongue rising against thee, In judgment thou condemnest. This [is] the inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, And their righteousness from me, an affirmation of Jehovah!
No weapon formed against thee prospereth – see that? NO WEAPON – it doesn’t say ‘most weapons’, or ‘all the least pointy ones’, it says NO WEAPON! Yes, I know you are afraid – remember who to fear! Fear Yehovah – do not fear man! Do not fear the unseen forces – educate yourself in God’s word, and take up your sword (His word) and walk in faith. In 2 Corinthians 5:7, Paul tells us:
7 for through faith we walk, not through sight
In Isaiah 54:14 it says: “In righteousness thou establishest thyself, Be far from oppression, for thou fearest not, And from ruin, for it cometh not near unto thee.”
Trust in Yehovah – however hard it sometimes seems.
Otto Koning was a missionary, and his stories are wonderful! I’m going to put all three of his videos in this post, and I recommend you come back to this post until you have managed to watch all three. These are so entertaning, and yet the messages in all three are profound.
Selah Ministries 