More than meets the eye! Foolishness 101

Post by Hakan Mengüç.

The sin problem and the Schism

Reblogged from Serve Him in the Waiting

By STLloyd December 5, 2014 Ferguson Police Brutality racism salvation
 
In my post “Conversations that need to be had“, I talked about the fact that Benjamin Watson had got it right when he said the issue in Ferguson is not a race problem but a sin problem.  There was a reader/commenter who expressed his resentment of any insinuation that as a black man anyone could tell him to act a certain way in order to ensure his safety from being targeted by police.  Granted I mentioned and linked-to two other videos wherein black men expressed opinions that blacks need to stop blaming whites, and start taking a look at themselves and behaving better, but those were not the point of my post, yet they were the only message the Christian black male commenter seemed to hear. 
Ok.  I get that this is a volatile issue and that as a white female I can’t possibly know what that feels like.  He quoted someone who had said “you have the complexion that ensures protection”.

I want to be clear, and I realize that my mind is often going in so many directions at once, and write in such a stream-of-consciousness way, that I sometimes don’t do a good job of making my point.  And of course, I write as if to those who have been with this blog all along and know a little about me, that I do care.  As I responded to his comment, I think that everything that happened in Ferguson is a tragedy.  It is a tragedy that a young black man is dead.  It is also a tragedy that a police officer who never had to fire his weapon in the line of duty before, did so and is going to live with that knowledge the rest of his life.  It is a compound tragedy that so many black business owners now have had their livelihood wiped out, and that those who participated in this travesty have made those of the Ferguson community look bad.  Especially when a lot of the looters were not locals, and there were provocateurs fanning the flames.

This writer was a nurse.  I worked in hospice.  I am no stranger to death and the signs of impending death.  America as a Constitutional Republic, is on her deathbed.  Obama and others have over-played their hand with the race card this time around.  Many more Americans are still waking up.  But those who would rather not take personal responsibility, will always eagerly and readily project that blame onto someone else.  The politicians know this, and they use it to their advantage.  With a media that is complicit, the narrative gets broadcast and incessantly reinforced.

I don’t hate black people.  There is one race.  The human race.  There are different ethnicities in each of our heritages, but we are all just people.  We all have a sinful nature, though, and that is what is at the root of all of it.

Police brutality is also a major issue.  But all of the evidence presented to the Grand Jury in Brown’s case says he was a real and immediate threat to Officer Wilson.  l of the black individuals think that this brutality is aimed only at blacks,  I can tell you that it isn’t.  It seems pretty equal-opportunity, actually.  In a world where “right and wrong” have purposely been made fuzzy and vague, I would imagine a police officer, who is supposed to enforce the law, might have a pretty high level of frustration.  The law used to mean something, and as an officer of the law, the authority of the law was behind them in their job.  These days, though, they can risk their lives to get a real bad guy off the street, only to see him released with little or no repercussions whatsoever.

Sometimes people get mad and do foolish things, and sometimes people do really stupid and foolish things because they are already angry.  I don’t doubt there are a lot of angry cops out there.  The really angry and bitter ones who see criminals get away with murder, sometimes decide, “why not me?”

I don’t doubt that a lot of the folks who took to the streets of Ferguson were angry.  But I don’t think it was about Brown.  Kind of like the “Occupy” movement.  What were the protesters protesting?  Anything and Everything, each his own thing.  Mad, and determined a whole lot of some bodies are going to know about it!

The political manipulators know this about an angry person.  They are so easily manipulated because they don’t care to exercise self-control or restraint.  They are “bloodthirsty” for chaos, mayhem, destruction, and actual blood.

That is demonic.  Demons know this about an angry person too.  And will use it.
This blog doesn’t focus only on America, and yet lately, with all that is going on, you’d think that was the focus.  I guess that is because America has always been a sort of  “world hero”, and no one enjoys watching a hero fall.  Cosby is like America’s Dad in a symbolic way, and it’s almost like watching a ritual sacrifice. Who can anyone look up to anymore?
God deals with people and He deals with nations.

If you are looking for answers and truth, to make sense of all that is happening in this world, you won’t find it in elected officials.  If you are looking for true justice, you won’t find it in courts.  If you are troubled by the direction things are going in this nation, it won’t be fixed via politics or activism, or protests.  If we could get every person in America to hold hands and come together, we still could not achieve the peace we seek.  Because of sin.
Sin is an unpopular word.  It has fallen way out of favor.  But you know what, in a world where we so value “expression” and so “struggle” to achieve it, the fact is, we can’t express anything if we don’t have some universality to the meanings of words.  We can’t have peace if we don’t have laws that say and mean exactly what they say and mean.  It’s like the Tower of Babel all over again.  Don’t you see it?

We have thrown off all restraint and denied all absolutes, and now the very building blocks of communication, civility, and an orderly society are no more.  We are tearing them down brick by brick.  We are throwing away with both hands, all the blessings God has so graciously given America.  I say we, because all of us are guilty to one degree or another,  if only in taking it all for granted.

But what is happening is not just happening to America.  There is something much bigger going on, across the entire globe. This is going somewhere.  And the one place to figure out where this world is headed, is in the Bible. Yes, that old book.  Some say it is outdated.  But those who read it know better. The explanation is all there.  People don’t reject the Bible because it is irrelevant or because it contradicts itself.  They reject it because it contradicts their behaviors and their evil hearts.  They don’t like what it says.  But no matter.  That doesn’t make it any less true.

People caught up in the welfare state, are stuck there because they choose to believe lies.  The Bible says those who love not the truth will be given over to delusion.  When you look around doesn’t it seem like a lot of people are delusional?  Starting with the man in the Oval office and the other heads of state, and right on down.

There is a split that has always existed.  Jesus said you are either reconciled to God by His blood (if you are willing) and adopted as a son into God’s family or you are “of your father the devil”.  Hal Lindsey talks about a split in his report today.  It is a split in the church, but this church he refers to is the biblical “Harlot” of Revelation.  It is the church of those who practice a form of godliness and yet deny the power thereof (of God Himself, who is able not only to kill the body but cast the soul into hell).  The world’s religions are very much in the front pages of the news these days, have you noticed?  Islam, the Pope, Jews, Satan-worshipers, Christians being tortured and killed in many places, and harassed by atheists, the gays, government officials.  Seems like in the last 20 years the few holdouts who didn’t want anything to do with spiritual things, suddenly took interest in spirituality, and started a trend (with Oprah leading the way) of cafeteria-style religion.

When you mix red and blue, you get purple. When you mix red and blue, and yellow and green and pink and brown and orange and purple, you get a murky, muddy black mess, no “color” at all.  Nothing is distinct after that.  This “universal religion” will be a mixture.  It will mix complementary beliefs, and then embrace opposing ones.  Ecumenical.
Followers of Christ know to come out of her, this harlot church.   She is doomed. She will unite the world and facilitate the rise of a world leader, who will then destroy her.  America has more churches than any other nation.  The harlot is alive and flourishing in most of them.

The wars that are “in the making” will change some dynamics.  Many of the radical Muslims will die.  Peaceful Muslims will then have no reason to fear and will go ahead in the quest to unite with other religions.

All throughout the Bible God speaks of chosen out a people, both from the Jews, and out of every kindred, tribe and nation.  Some day, true justice will be served. But when we face our Creator, we will not be there to lodge our case against others.  We will be there to be judged ourselves. On that day it will not matter how good a person you feel you are.  Because He will be the judge.   There is one defense, and one only.   The blood of infinitely sinless Jesus, shed for infinitely sinful sinners. Has that ransom been paid on you behalf by Jesus?  
Have you asked Him to save you from hell?

Call upon Him while there is still time.  Sudden destruction is going to befall this world soon. Everyone knows it.   As the lines are drawn, are you trying to figure out how to “weather it”?  Your only safety is in Jesus. He is the bridge that closes the gap between you and your Maker that is a great chasm, not just a schism.  When God withdraws His grace, and pours out His wrath, only those hidden in Christ will escape it. Lets quit pretending it is just a matter of my truth vs. your truth.  Lets stop pretending that just because we don’t like the truth sometimes, that actually nullifies it. 

Most blacks are killed by blacks.  Well guess what?  Most whites are killed by whites.    Most Muslims are killed by Muslims.  Murder is sin.  Along with lying, stealing, and adultery. The gays didn’t destroy marriage, heterosexual self-professing Christians did.   If we are going to talk about a slippery slope, then let’s go all the way back.  God gave His law to the Jews and to the Christians. Where we fail to uphold it, the unbelievers can hardly be held to account.  He gave the gospel to a small group of Jews who He chose to be the first Christians,  revealing Himself as Messiah, and extending His grace to all people. We live in that age of grace now, but it is coming quickly to an end.

'J'accuse': Israeli ambassador smacks Europe at U.N.

WND EXCLUSIVE

Hurls 'hypocrisy' charge over unilateral recognition of 'Palestine'

Curtis Ellis

Israeli Ambassador to
the U.N. Ron Prosor

UNITED NATIONS – 

Diplomats from around the world got an earful when they gathered to mark a day of international solidarity with the Palestinian people at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Israel’s ambassador to the august body dropped the diplomatic niceties as he stepped to the rostrum and accused the international community of hypocrisy and duplicity, and denounced Europeans for playing cynical political games with terrorists.

Monday’s special session of the General Assembly was part of the U.N.’s 2014 Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The yearlong event has seen any number of photo exhibits, receptions and concerts funded by the emir of Qatar, one of the world’s leading financiers of al-Qaida, ISIS, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

While the U.N. passes resolution after resolution accusing Israel of mistreating Palestinian civilians, “Yazidis, Bahai, Kurds, Christians and Muslims are being executed and expelled by radical extremists at a rate of 1,000 people per month” across the Middle East, Ambassador Ron Prosor said, pointing out the U.N. has not passed a single resolution addressing these crises.

The Israeli ambassador went on to blast the U.N. for ignoring the plight of the Palestinian refugees in Arab nations.
“In most of the Arab world, Palestinians are denied citizenship and are aggressively discriminated against” and “barred from owning land and prevented from entering certain professions,” he explained to the stone-faced diplomats.
The U.N., in fact, has done far more than refuse to condemn Arab states for persecuting Palestinian people. It has actively helped perpetuate the persecution, he charged.

Since 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, has provided “assistance” exclusively to Palestinians in refugee camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. In doing so, it has acted like the international version of a welfare agency that fosters dependency, allowing “refugee status” to be passed down from generation to generation rather than encouraging host countries to integrate the refugees into society.

By the U.N.’s own numbers, about 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from Israel in 1948. UNRWA now serves some 5 million “official” Palestinian refugees.
“If you were so truly concerned about the Palestinians there would be at least one resolution to denounce the treatment of Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps,” Prosor said.

But the Europeans came under the most scorching attack.
“The European nations claim to stand for Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – freedom, equality and brotherhood – but nothing could be farther from the truth,” the ambassador said.
Prosor recounted the European nations’ refusal to allow American cargo planes to refuel as they carried weapons and ammunition to Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
“The Jewish people have a long memory. We will never ever forget that you failed us in the 1940s. You failed us in 1973. And you are failing us again today.”

Prosor turned his ire on Swedish Secretary of State Annika Soder, whose government recognized Palestine as an independent state and was seated among the delegates in the room.
“The Swedish government may host the Nobel Prize ceremony, but there is nothing noble about their cynical political campaign to appease the Arabs in order to get a seat on the Security Council,” he said. “Nations on the Security Council should have sense, sensitivity and sensibility. Well, the Swedish government has shown no sense, no sensitivity and no sensibility. Just nonsense.”

He reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to guarantee people of all faiths and nationalities will have access to Jerusalem’s holy sites.
“You don’t have to be Catholic to visit the Vatican, you don’t have to be Jewish to visit the Western Wall, but some Palestinians would like to see the day when only Muslims can visit the Temple Mount. … We will make sure that the holy places remain open to all people of all faiths for all time.”

After cataloguing terrorist attacks and their celebration by Palestinian authorities, he said the battle the world is witnessing is not between Jews and Arabs, but “a battle between those who sanctify life and those who celebrate death.”
As the delegates sat silently, Prosor summed up: “To the nations that continue to allow prejudice to prevail over truth, I say ‘J’accuse.’ I accuse you of hypocrisy. I accuse you of duplicity.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/11/jaccuse-israeli-ambassador-smacks-europe-at-u-n/#1OyDDbhH0j2p5CI5.99

Our Pope, Rick Warren?

Jesu joy of men´s desiring

Mary did you know?

Imam insulted Christians, Jews in National Cathedral

Reposted from World Net Daily
Imam insulted Christians, Jews in National Cathedral

Islam is hard-wired with a “conquering” mentality that dates back to its earliest days, says a noted author, and that mentality was on display Friday at the Washington National Cathedral.
Even in a service billed as a symbolic olive branch to Christianity, celebrated inside an iconic church, Islam’s air of supremacy could not help but leak out, says Dr. Andrew Bostom, author of several books on Islam including “The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims” in 2005 and “The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History” in 2008.

Not that anyone in the Episcopal cathedral cared to notice.
“After viewing Friday’s ostensible exercise in ‘ecumenism’ at the National Cathedral, it is impossible for me to discern whether the Christian event organizers are more ethically, or intellectually cretinous,” writes Bostom in his blog at AndrewBostom.org.
Bostom is an associate professor of medicine at Brown University Medical School and author of four exhaustive studies on Islam.

Read more at World Net Daily

Disturbing developments

Reblogged from: Serve him in the waiting

By STLloyd November 18, 2014 

Obama Met With Ferguson Activists – Said He’s Concerned They “Stay on Course”

President Obama met with Ferguson protest leaders on November 5th, the day after the midterm elections. The meeting was not on his daily schedule. He was concerned that the protesters “stay on course.”
What does that mean?
And why is the president meeting with the violent Mike Brown protesters before a verdict is reached in the court case? MORE

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S.T. Lloyd Commentary:

Generally, if I am late (in the day or week) getting online and catching up on the latest news, I may or may not run a post on certain “big stories” if they are already posted on most blogs or news sites of similar content, simply because I assume readers have seen them elsewhere by then.   It’s been a busy week for me, and seemingly, despite the midterms, sort of a quiet news week.  The most significant stories in my opinion, though, were the Muslim prayer on the House floor for opening of the congressional session, (though it is not as if that is the first time it has happened), and the Friday prayer session which took place at the National Cathedral Friday.  This is like sitting at the bedside of a loved one on “death watch”.   There are always those who remain in denial right up until the last gasp.

The other big “story” (though the only surprising thing about the story itself, is that people are surprised!) as to Obama’s carrying on as if he didn’t just receive the most resounding vote of “no confidence” that ever occurred in the history of this nation.

Really he is the epitome of the humanistic mindset.  “Your reality is what you choose to be true”.  Humanists call that “self actualization”.  Sane people call it delusion.  You can never appeal to a delusional person on the basis of logic.  I’m just not sure who is more deluded; the President, or those who voted for him that feel he has let them down.  It is kind of like the unfaithful husband who gets into an affair with a married woman, and then is surprised when the new relationship, built solely upon the shifting sands of self-centered duplicity, doesn’t hold together any better than the first.

The election can’t change anything.  America sprang from a revolution.  But the cause from which the revolution was ignited, a strong desire to freely worship God, does no longer drive this nation.  For the most part, what drives those running and ruling this nation, is anything but!  I think there are a great number of individuals that still hold dear, the founding principles, but the nation itself has been hijacked.

The same goes for “the church”!

For decades now, the professing Christian church has ceased being an “infirmary” where terminally ill are rescued from certain death, into some sort of resort-spa-self-improvement camp where people go to self-optimize.

This story from Before It’s News, and the accompanying video, epitomizes how, and to what (extreme) degree, the true Bride of Christ has been “driven underground” while what poses as the “Christian Church” has been entirely possessed by an entirely different (imposter) entity altogether. 

This is certainly not only in America.  These same “churches” have continued to send missionaries across the globe peddling this new “gospel”.  The “preachers” in this new “improved” version of church clearly disdain sound doctrine and the Jesus of the Holy Bible, and ultimately a Sovereign God.  They are not interested in seeing anyone get saved.  They are looking for people who cling to the misguided belief that they are capable of goodness and holiness in and of themselves.

It goes without saying that things are lined up for the arrival of the Antichrist on the world stage. All that is lacking is the “sudden destruction” of I Thessalonians 5:3.

My Journey Away from Contemporary Christian Music

Reblogged fromhttp://www.dancogan.com

Posted by Dan Michael Cogan

I have been what many would call a “worship leader” for close to two decades. When I first became involved in “worship ministry” in an Assemblies of God youth group we sang such songs as The Name of the Lord Is a Strong Tower, As the Deer, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, and others of the era of the 1980s and 90s. Ours was considered a stylistically progressive church since we used almost exclusively contemporary songs.

This meant that if I were to visit a “traditional” church, not only would I be unfamiliar with the hymns, I would also likely cringe when they sang them and in my heart ridicule them (the people rather than the songs) as being old-fashioned.

It was during these formative years in my experience as a worship leader that I began to introduce even more contemporary songs to our youth group. It was then that I discovered artists like Delirious, Darrel Evans, Matt Redman, and Vineyard Music with their songs Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble, Trading My Sorrows, Heart of Worship, and Hungry. 
As a young musician who desired to honor Christ, I found these songs to be particularly compelling. I felt different when we sang them. The way Nirvana gave voice to the angst of Generation X, bands like Delirious were giving voice to a generation of young Christians who didn’t feel they could relate to the songs of their parents and grandparents.

Over the years when I would occasionally hear a hymn, the language was always strikingly foreign, with Ebenezers and bulwarks, diadems and fetters. Which only served to confirm my bias that hymns were simply out-of-date. They had served their purpose. They had run their course.

The problem with my youthful logic only began to dawn on me about seven years ago. I had come to recognize that these ancient hymns accomplished something that the new songs weren’t. While contemporary worship seemed to take the listener on an exciting and emotional rollercoaster, the old hymns engaged the mind with deep and glorious truths that when sincerely pondered caused a regenerated heart to humbly bow before its King.

When I accepted my first post as a paid member of a church staff in 2007, I began the practice of singing one hymn each week. There were times where my peers would teasingly ask what an “Ebenezer” was. What I found was that when I gave them a basic definition of these seemingly obsolete words we were singing, their response was usually something akin to, “Oh? Cool. I never knew that!” I think when they asked, they half expected me to say, “I don’t know! Weird word, huh?” Instead they were being challenged to learn, not merely a new word, but how to ponder the things of God deeply when we sing His praises.

Nowadays, I still choose songs for our congregation to sing that were written recently, but they 

are becoming increasingly the minority. And the criteria for selecting them is becoming more and more thorough. Hymns have begun to take precedent in my song selection for two reasons.

First, hymns have been sung by the giants of the faith who have gone on before us over the last two millennia. 
When we sing A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, we join with Martin Luther who wrote it, and with Calvin and Spurgeon and Edwards who invariably sang and cherished it. When we sing It Is Well With My Soul we are encouraged by the faith of Horatio Spafford who wrote the hymn in the wake of the tragic death of his four daughters. And while many contemporary songs have certainly been written by wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who have surely endured trials, the fact that we can join with generations past and be reminded that the Church is vastly larger than our local congregation, farther reaching than our town or state or country, and much, much older than the oldest saint living today is something we should not take lightly. Indeed, this should birth in us a desire to sing the songs that our Family has sung together for two-thousand years (and beyond when we discuss singing the Psalms).

Second, the content of hymns is almost always vastly more theologically rich. When I say rich, I don’t necessarily mean every hymn recounts the Gospel in it’s entirety, or that all hymns clearly teach the Five Points of Calvinism. Rather, the theology in the hymns is typically more sound or healthy than much of contemporary worship music. As I said earlier, contemporary songs engage our emotions more often, where the hymns engage our hearts by way of the mind.

By way of example, one of the top ten contemporary songs being sung in American evangelical churches right now is called One Thing Remains. While there is nothing in the song particularly bad (in fact, much of it is pretty good), it seems to me that the purpose of the song is to work the listeners into an emotional state. The chorus is:

“Your love never fails / It never gives up / Never runs out on me / Your love never fails / It never gives up / Never runs out on me / Your love never fails / It never gives up / Never runs out on me / Your love / Your love / Your love.”

With the repetition of a simple lyric like that, it isn’t a stretch to say that the composers’ goal was not to engage the listeners mind.
Whereas Augustus Toplady’s hymn Rock of Ages is doctrinally sound, it also is a very moving song of our dependance upon Christ our Rock:

“Rock of Ages cleft for me / Let me hide myself in Thee / Let the water and the blood / From Thy wounded side which flowed / Be of sin the double cure / Save from wrath and make me pure.”

So I make this plea to my fellow ministers, do not neglect these milestones from ages past. In fact, I would make the case for the abandonment of most contemporary songs. If you choose a song for congregational worship based on it’s content (say you have chosen a contemporary song because of it’s focus on the Cross), do the hard work of finding a hymn that more than likely addresses the same topic or doctrine in a much deeper way.

If on the other hand you have chosen a song because of the way it feels or the emotion it evokes, ask yourself whether you are depending upon the Holy Spirit or your own skills to engage our brothers and sisters in singing to our King.

Hezbollah Smuggling Weapons to Brazilian Criminal Gangs

Reblogged from:The Jewish Press

By: Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency

Published: November 17th, 2014

Chief Hezbollah terrorist Hassan Nasrallah.
Photo Credit: Ferran Queved/Flash 90
 

The prominent Brazilian newspaper, O Globo reported recently that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group has links with Brazil’s largest criminal gang, First Capital Command (PCC).

According to the O Globo report on November 9, the Brazilian government has tried to minimize the issue of Hezbollah activity in the region. But in the past eight years, Brazilian intelligence services “have gathered a lot of evidence that traffickers linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah, the ‘Party of God,’ ventured a Brazilian association with criminals,” according to the report. 

The news report also states that Brazil’s Federal Police have indicated that Hezbollah groups are linked with criminal organizations that operate in Brazilian prisons, mainly in São Paulo. Police documents reveal that Hezbollah has been providing the Brazilian gang with weapons while also acting as intermediaries in the sale of explosives that the PCC stole from Paraguay. In exchange, the PCC offers protection in Brazil’s prisons for inmates of Lebanese origin. 

Reports of Hezbollah building a Western base in South America’s Tri-border area – the region divided by the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil – have surfaced years ago. In 2007, NBC News and Telemundo uncovered details of an extensive smuggling network run by Hezbollah, through which large sums of money were funneled to terrorist leaders in the Middle East and for training camps. 

The Tri-border has been described by US officials as the most important base for Hezbollah to finance its operations outside of Lebanon itself.
Founded in 1982, Hezbollah, a radical Shiite Muslim group, is considered to be one of the most active terrorist organizations in the world with a global terror network that has killed hundreds of innocent civilians through plane hijackings, suicide bombings, assassinations, weapons smuggling and rocket fire. It is the first organization in modern history that has perpetrated a suicide bombing attack.

In 1994, a Hezbollah suicide bomber, directed by the Iranian regime, detonated a car in front of the Jewish Community Center in the commercial area of Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding 300. Hezbollah is also responsible for the assassination of American academic Malcolm Kerr in 1984, the assassination of French military attaché in Lebanon, Col. Christian Gouttiere in 1986, and an international court found evidence of Hezbollah’s role in the assassination in 2005 of Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri.

Last month, Hezbollah operative, Mohammed Amdar, a Lebanese citizen, was apprehended in Peru on October 28 thanks to a tip by Israeli intelligence for suspicion of planning attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets. Officials discovered TNT, explosives and flammable substances in the Lima apartment of Amdar, who had been gathering information on Jewish institutions and places where Israelis frequently hike in Peru.

Hezbollah forces also planted two bombs on the Israeli side of the Lebanese border in the Har Dov region of the Golan Heights on October 7, wounding two IDF soldiers who were bomb-disposal experts from the Combat Engineering Corps.