1 Timothy 1:1-20 2 Timothy 4:1-5 2 Timothy 3:16-17 2 Timothy 4:3-5 1 Timothy 1:18-19 2 Timothy 4:7-8 Lucado, the teaching minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas…
Colossians 1:9-23 Genesis 1:26-27 John 1:9-12 1 John 3:1-2 Galatians 4:4-5 Ephesians 1:5 Rod Dreher in his book titled: “Live not by Lies” writes: “Over the past few years, America…
Matthew 3:1 Matthew 4:17 Matthew 6:32-33 Hebrews 11:6; Jeremiah 29:13 John 3:1-21 The author Scott David Allen in his book “Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice” on pages 56-58…
Daniel 3:8-30 Daniel 3:8-12 Daniel 3:12 Daniel 3:14-15 Daniel 3:16-18 Daniel 3:24-25 Hebrews 13:5 Erwin Lutzer in his book “We Will Not Be Silent”; sub-titled: “Responding Courageously to Our Culture’s…
Winston Churchill was once asked to give the qualifications a person needed in order to succeed in politics, and he replied:
“It is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.” Winston Churchill
On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at the University of Michigan these words: “In your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward a rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the GREAT SOCIETY.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson
“Look to others and be distressed;
Look at yourself and be depressed;
Look to God, and you will be blessed.”
A Former KGB Agent by the name of Yuri Bezmenov defected to the United States in 1970.
He gave an interview in 1985 (which is still on YouTube today) were he revealed the strategy Communistic regimes are using to bring down the United States and the Western World.
“Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the softheads of at least three generations of American students, without being challenged or counter-balanced by the basic values of Americanism and American patriotism.
The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already…Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards.
As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures. Even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him concentration camp he will refuse to believe it until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom. When the military boot crashes him, then he will understand, but not before that. That’s the tragic of the situation of demoralization.” Yuri Bezmenov
“The United States is in a state of war. Undeclared total war against the basic principles and the foundations of this system……
The time bomb is ticking. Every second, the disaster is coming closer and closer. Unlike myself, you will have nowhere to defect to unless you want to live in antarctica with penguins. This is it. This is the last country of freedom and possibility.” Yuri Bezmenov
Francis Schaeffer in his book “How Should We Then Live?” published in 1976 wrote these words:
“The danger in regard to the rise of authoritarian government is that Christians will be still as long as their own religious activities, evangelism, and life-styles are not disturbed.
We are not excused from speaking, just because the culture and society no longer rest as much as they once did on Christian thinking. Moreover, Christians do not need to be in the majority in order to influence society.”
“If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian governments grow from within or come from outside, eventually we or our children will be THE ENEMY OF SOCIETY AND THE STATE.
No truly authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes and who speak out and act upon that absolute. This was the issue with the early church in regard to the Roman Empire, and though the specific issue will in all probability take a different form than Caesar-worship, the basic issue of having an absolute by which to judge the state and society will be the same.”
“To make no decision in regard to the growth of authoritarian government is already a decision for it.” Francis Schaeffer
Bill Muehlenberg wrote “A commentary on issues of the day” in CUTLURE WATCH. He published it September 4, 2018
“The Christian claim that Christ is Lord always puts it at odds with the state and other power structures. Demand of absolute loyalty to God alone makes the faith something that will threaten rulers who seek to have total control and demand complete allegiance.”
What are you waiting for?
• A supernatural event that would change our circumstances?
• A powerful political leader that would lead us out of this mess?
• A powerful religious leader who understands the spiritual battle?
• A 100% proven effective vaccine that eradicates COVID-19?
• A power economic miracle that would promise a better standard of living than we ever had before?
Isaiah 40:31
But they that WAIT FOR THE LORD, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Nobody Home, Nowhere To Run, Just a Dead End Alleyway (following quotes from the Complete Works Of Francis Schaeffer volume 4 & 5.
• “For man is not just a chance configuration of atoms in the slip stream of meaningless chance history”. NO, MAN, made in the image of God, has a purpose-to be in relationship to the God who is there.”
• “What marks our own generation? It is the fact that modern man thinks there is nobody home in the universe. NOBODY TO LOVE, NOBODY COMFORT HIM, even while he seeks desperately to find comfort in the limited, finite, horizontal relationships of life.”
• The Fragmentation of Humanity:
Theological: fragmentation between God and man
Psychological: fragmentation between man and his mind, his soul or heart
Sociological: fragmentation between man and his neighbor (humanity & nations)
What or who fills the fractures?
• Resulting ethos: The erosion of cultural norms (absolutes, form and freedom, the Constitutional authority) that has led to a vacuum thereby lending to an elite group who give authoritative arbitrary absolutes. To quote FAS “… if there is no absolutes by which to judge society, then society becomes absolute.”
TWO KINGDOMS
Our confrontation now in America is with the Kingdom of Man: TYRANNY>ONENESS
Our Hope for Humanity comes in an Invitation to the Kingdom of God:
Matthew 3:1
Matthew 4:17
• Repent: “RETHINK YOUR THINKING. Repent , as Jesus commanded in Matthew 4:17. REPENT just means to turn back on how you are thinking about things and reconsider”.(book by Dallas Willard, “Living In Christ Presence” p. 15).
Matthew 6:32-33
• Seek First the Kingdom of God:
Hebrews 11:6; Jeremiah 29:13
Authenticity in seeking
• The Story of Nicodemus: an example of authentic seeking
John 3:1-21
• Rebirth: Born IntoThe Kingdom Of God (Metamorphosis)
• A renewed existence, a second birth, the real you whom God indwells creating a masterpiece to accomplish great things in you and through you.
• A NEW PERSON: see 2 Corinthians 5:16-18
• A NEW IDENTITY: 1Peter 2:4-12
• A Kingdom Life: Colossians 1:11-14
Chuck Swindoll in his commentary on Malachi writes:
“The people of Judah began to be exiled from the Promised Land in 605 B.C. and returned from Babylon about seventy years later. By the time of Malachi, they had been back in the land for more than a hundred years and were looking for the blessings they expected to receive when they returned.
Though the temple had been rebuilt, the fervor of those early returning Israelites had given way to a thorough apathy for the things of God. This led to rampant corruption among the priesthood and spiritual lethargy among the people.
Malachi came along at a time when the people were struggling to believe that God loved them. The people were focused on their unfortunate circumstances and refused to account for their own sinful deeds.
So, God pointed the finger back at them, and through Malachi, told the people where they had fallen short of their covenant with Him. If they hoped to see change, they needed to take responsibility for their own actions and serve God faithfully according to the promise that their fathers had made to Him on Mount Sinai all those years before.”
In his book ‘DARK AGENDA’ – “The war to destroy Christian America”, author David Horowitz (published 2018) writes:
“Religion must die in order for mankind to live”, proclaims left-wing commentator and comedian Bill Maher in RELIGULOUS, the most watched commentary feature of 2008.
Both title and script were transparent attempts to stigmatize religious people as dangerous morons whose views could not be taken seriously. Through the film, Maher travels to Jerusalem, the Vatican, and Salt Lake City, as well as other centers of religion, interviewing believers and making them appear foolish. How did he gain interviews with his victims? HE LIED TO THEM, SAYING HE WAS MAKING A FILM CALLED ‘A Spiritual Journey.”
According to Maher, “THE IRONY OF RELIGION IS THAT BECAUSE OF ITS POWER TO DIVERT MAN TO DESTRUCTIVE COURSES, THE WORLD COULD ACTUALLY COME TO AN END.” He predicts the destruction of the human race as a result of “religion-inspired nuclear terrorism.” Hence the need for religion to die if mankind is to live. Maher’s views accurately reflect the attitudes of a movement called THE NEW ATHEISM, whose leaders are prominent scientists and best-selling authors, far superior in intellect to Maher but equally contemptuous of religion and religious believers.
Like Maher’s film, the New Atheism movement seeks to discredit all religious belief by caricaturing its adherents as simpletons, and worse. The goal of the New Atheism is to delegitimize and extinguish the religious point of view.”
Most people don’t realize that if God is dead,
THEN EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED, BECAUSE THERE ARE NO GROUNDS FOR CALLING ANYTHING – AN ACT, A STATEMENT, AN EVENT, A CHOICE, EITHER GOOD OR BAD, RIGHT OR WRONG, VALUABLE OR WORTHLESS, IMPORTANT OR UNIMPORTANT.
Richard Dawkins “The God Delusion” (2006)
“Do we know of any……examples where stupid ideas have been known to spread like an epidemic? Yes, by God! Religion. Religious ideas are irrational. Religious believes are dumb and dumber. Religion drives otherwise sensible people into celibate monasteries or crashing into New York skyscrapers. Religion motivates people to whip their own backs, to set fire to themselves or their daughters, to denounce their own grandmothers as witches, or, in less extreme cases, simply to stand or kneel, week after week, through ceremonies of stupefying boredom.”
C.S. Lewis in his book “The Abolition of Man” writes:
“The triumph of personal desire over objective validity as a standard of behavior creates what is tantamount to a moral vacuum into which will rush disordered passions bloated in their abnormal freedom from any constraint.
The three passions are: THE LUST FOR SENSATION, THE LUST FOR MANIPULATIVE KNOWLEDGE, AND THE WILL TO POWER, respectively.
The egotistical will to power and pleasure supersedes any less explicit idea or sentiment of obligation to some criterion or good outside of self.
It assumes that the pleasure of self is the highest good and that life is an aesthetic phenomenon; under such conditions, society becomes a jungle in which eventually a contest for the survival of the fittest can only favor the Nazi, the Hell’s Angel, the robber baron, and the gangsters.”
Chuck Swindoll in his Daily Devotional from December 31, 2020 writes:
“A new year is smiling at us, with twelve months of the unknown. I feel like we’re sitting on the beach, an entire ocean of possibilities, including both sundrenched days and a few storms with howling winds and giant waves, stretched out across the unchartered waters. If you and I let ourselves, we could become so afraid of the potential dangers that we would miss the adventure.
Becoming a couch potato is an option. You’d look toward the horizon, entertain a few thoughts that start with “Someday……” but then lean back and just keep looking and longing. Hawaii would never have been discovered had everyone chosen to sit tight and stay with a sure thing.
Sandwiched between January 1 and December 31 are twelve exciting yet unlived months of opportunities. Challenges brought on by changes await us. We will be shoved out of our comfort zones and required to respond. We can do so positively or negatively, with optimism or with pessimism. Even the familiar beach we have gotten used to is in for some changes, forcing us to leave our “spot” and accept new surroundings. If you are not careful, you’ll be so preoccupied with complaining, you’ll miss your golden moment to grow a little…to make some new discoveries…to switch from being a passive sitter on the beach to becoming an active participant in the adventure beyond the familiar.
Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983) “Marching Orders for the End Battle”
“In order to realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the stress of the storm.”
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom
Dr. Michael Heiser in “The Unseen Realm” writes:
“The New Testament marks the rebirth of a struggle thousands of years in the making. The people of God have been isolated and under foreign rule. The divine presence of the days of Moses, David, Solomon, and the prophets is nothing but memory. When angels visit Mary and Zechariah to announce the impending births of Jesus and John, centuries of divine silence are broken. Thirty years later, JUDEA WILL EXPLODE. The unseen spiritual conflict is even more volatile.
Every chapter of the New Testament provides a glimpse into this conflict. The cosmic geography of the Old Testament is evident in the New. Where Jesus goes and what he says and does when he gets there is FRAMED BY CONFRONTATION WITH UNSEEN POWERS. The conflict pursues him unto death – as God had planned, and as Jesus provoked.
The Kingdom of God establishes a permanent beachhead at the foot of the cross and the door of the empty tomb.”
Dr. Michael Heiser: “The Unseen Realm”
“The seed of Abraham, scattered to the winds in exile, turn out to function like spiritual cell groups secretly planted in every nation under the dominion of the hostile gods. The kingdom spreads slowly but relentlessly, one new believer at a time. Every church is a new pocked of resistance, every baptism another pledge of allegiance to the Most High, and every celebration of the Lord’s Supper a denial of fellowship with lesser masters and a proclamation of the success of Yahweh’s mysterious plan. The lines are drawn. The stakes are high. The enemy desperate. The fullness of the Gentiles will come, all Israel will be saved, and the Deliverer will come from the heavenly Zion. IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME.”
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin
THE PRINCIPLE OF AGREEMENT IS FUNDAMENTAL HOW THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE OPERATES
“In reality, what Christians call “spiritual warfare” is more than just spiritual; it’s a collusion of spirits and human organizations that have the power to either heal and reconcile or divide and conquer the nation by stirring hatred between genders, races, and social economic classes. I believe that riots and civil unrest in cities are connected by a threefold cord joining the vulnerabilities of people, the agenda of political/social organization operating in cities, and the territorial spirits that dominate a geography. As activities come into a territory, they activate the people and stir up the territorial spirits to mobilize manifestation.” Lance Wallnau “God’s Chaos Code”
On June 15, 2020, a program hosted by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Cullors and Melinda Abdullah, co-founders of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, discussed the role that spirituality has played in the Black Lives Matter movement. “In the interview, Abdullah said it took her almost a year before she realized BLM was much more than a racial and social justice movement. “At its core, it’s a spiritual movement,” she said.
Cullors, in startling detail, revealed the extent to which they are tapping into the spirit realm when calling out the names of the victims.
“It is literally almost resurrecting a spirit so they can work through us to get the work that we need to get done.” Abdullah added that, “We become very intimate with the spirits that we call on regularly. Right, like, each of them seems to have a different presence and personality. You know, I laugh a lot with Wakiesha, you know, and I didn’t meet her in her body. Right, I met her through this work. Wakiesha Wilson was an African American women found dead in a Los Angeles jail in 2016.
These are more than slogans; they are an appeal to the spirits of the deceased to rise up and work through her and others.” Lance Wallnau “God’s Chaos Code”
Bob Woodson is a faith-filled man who works with people that are struggling:
“Spiritual work is practical work, and the real systemic problem isn’t racism, it’s greed.
In 1960, when the government started spending 22 trillion, 70 cents of every dollar did not go to the poor, it went to those who served the poor. They asked not which problems are solvable, but which once are fundable. And so what happened is we’ve created a commodity out of poor people.
And so, as a consequence, there was no incentives to solve problems of the poor because the careers of those serving them were dependent upon having people to serve.
Up until 1960, eighty-five percent of all black families had a man and a women raising children. That figure is now reversed; 75 percent of all African American families today are single-parent house holds.
So social policies of the 60s did what racism couldn’t have accomplished before. And that’s why in the black community, you’ve seen the families disintegrate over the last 50 years, when prior – but a hundred years prior to that, black families were intact.” Bob Woodson “Countering NY Times 1916 Project”
“The American storm is larger than racial, gender, and political division. When the disciples feared that the storm would sink the boat, they cried out and waakened Jesus who arose to rebuke the storms. The challenge for us is that there is no physical Jesus to awaken – IT IS THE SLEEPING BODY OF CHIRST THAT MUST AWAKEN AND SPEAK TO THE STORM.
Angry waves have overtaken the ship, and demonic winds may lash the vessel violently, but God is on board this boat. To quell the ferocity of the storm, it’s going to take all of us finding our place in the midst of the crisis, the chaos, and the call of God.” Lance Wallnau
Stuart Briscoe in his book titled: “Vital Truths to Shape Your Life”
“Freedom creates options. Political freedom allows me to vote for the politician whose platform most closely reflects my political opinions – or not to vote at all. Religious freedom allows me to worship at the church, synagogue, mosque, or temple that I believe teaches the truth. Or I am free not to believe anything. Economic freedom allows me to live where I wish, drive what I prefer, travel where I want, wear what I like, associate with whom I choose. BUT ALL THESE OPTIONS REQUIRE ME TO CHOOSE. “
Ian Thomas comments on this text: “Those who would have you reject the Virgin Birth of Christ, would have you believe that He was the illegitimate child of a woman who was both unfaithful and a liar! Others would have you believe that a matter of such gravity is of no particular consequence! Remember that every lie is a lie about the truth – and every lie comes from the same source, the big Lie, who is the father of lies.”
Ian Thomas: “By the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, acting on the obedience of Faith. That is how the miracle took place, and Christ was born in Bethlehem. …By His incarnation the Lord Jesus Christ had established a precedent in procedure for spiritual regeneration.