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Ebola - the 4th horseman of the Apocalyse

Occupy till I come Part 2 - Spiritual gifts

Saturday, March 14th, 2015

• Christian Life
• Featured
• Spiritual Gifts

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Occupy Until I Come A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

(Note: If you haven’t already done so, I suggest reading “Occupy Until I Come” as an introduction to this study.)
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines (1 Cor. 12:7,11).
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully, administering God’s grace in it’s various forms (1 Peter 4:10).

Most born again Christians have heard something about the gifts of the Spirit, but some things we’ve heard are not consistent with what the Bible teaches. The enemy must know what powerful tools these gifts are, because he has pulled out all the stops in his efforts to neutralize them. In some parts of the Church he has used false teaching to convince people the gifts are no longer being distributed, while in others he has used counterfeit manifestations to turn religious gatherings into circus sideshows. The result is a Church that has become what Paul said we’d be; a people having a form of godliness but denying its power.

The truth is we’ve all been given at least one Spiritual gift, so in this study we’ll review what the Bible says about them and get some accurate information straight from the source.

What Are They?

Paul spoke about the gifts of the Spirit in his letters to the Romans, the Corinthians, and the Ephesians. He wrote 1 Corinthians first, and 1 Cor. 12:7-11 contains his first description of gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes to believers as He determines, for the common good of the Church. In these four verses he listed nine gifts.
Wisdom … The application of Biblical truth to everyday life situations
Knowledge … the ability to understand the deep things of God and the mysteries of His Word.
Faith … the ability to believe in the power of God to provide without limit
Healing … applying God’s power to cure human ailments through prayer
Miraculous powers … performing supernatural acts in the power of God
Prophecy … declaring God’s purpose by foretelling future events
Discernment … intuitively understanding whether something is from God or not.
Tongues … speaking a human language one has not learned
Interpretation of tongues … translating a human language one has not learned

In 1 Cor. 12:28 Paul repeated some from the first list and added some others.
Apostle … one who has been sent forth with orders, a delegate
Prophet … one who can foretell future events pertaining to the Kingdom of God
Teacher … one who teaches concerning the things of God and the duties of man
Miracle worker … one who can manifest God’s supernatural power to accomplish the impossible
Healing … one who can heal diseases, ailments, etc. through prayer
Helps … one who skillfully renders support or assistance to those in ministry
Administration … one who can organize and steer others toward the achievement of goals
Tongues … one who can speak a human language he or she has not learned

Romans 12:6-8 includes a list of 7 gifts, and again there are some duplicates.
Prophecy … declaring God’s purpose by foretelling future events
Service … ministering to the needs of others
Teaching … providing instruction concerning the things of God, and the duties of man
Encouraging … offering exhortation, encouragement, or consolation
Giving … offering material support to those in need
Leadership … presiding over something, as a protector or guardian
Mercy … caring for the sick or afflicted

And in Ephesians 4:11 5 gifts are listed, most of them duplicates from the other lists.
Apostle … one who has been sent forth with orders, a delegate
Prophet … one who can foretell future events pertaining to the Kingdom of God
Evangelist … one who brings the good news of the gospel
Pastor … a shepherd, one to whose care others have committed themselves
Teacher … one who teaches concerning the things of God, and the duties of man

From various other passages we find the following additional gifts identified.
Celibacy (1 Cor. 7:7-8) … the ability to abstain from sexual relations
Hospitality (1 Peter 4:9-10) … cheerfully providing comfort and sustenance to guests
Martyrdom (1 Cor. 13:3) … surrendering one’s life for the faith
Missionary (Ephes. 3:6-8) … going among the unsaved, sharing the good news
Voluntary poverty (1 Cor. 13:3) … living at the minimum sustainable level to help the poor
Since these are all gifts from the Holy Spirit, it’s important to apply a supernatural component to their descriptions. Exercising our gifts for His purpose will result in performance that exceeds normal human capability in a way that’s obvious to others. Whether it’s teaching, caring for the sick, making others feel comfortable, or seeing to it that things run smoothly, the power of the Holy Spirit will be an obvious enhancement to our capabilities, producing an outcome that exceeds normal expectations.

Why Are We Given Them?

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Cor. 12:27).
In 1 Cor. 12:12-27 Paul compared the Church to a human body. He said a human body has many parts, each one of which has a unique purpose. The body needs all of its parts to achieve their purpose in order for it to function properly. If it had too many of one part or was missing some others it wouldn’t work the way it’s supposed to.

The Church is a Spiritual body, the body of Christ. It also has many parts and needs them all to achieve their purpose in order for it to function properly. We are the parts in the body of Christ. Each of us has a unique purpose. Since the Church is a Spiritual body, the Lord has given us Spiritual gifts which empower us to achieve our purpose so the Church can function properly.

Who Gets What?

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11).
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (Hebrews 2:3-4).
Paul said the Holy Spirit distributes His gifts to each believer by His own determination, and the writer of Hebrews confirmed it. But Paul also said we should eagerly desire the greater gifts (1 Cor. 12:31) and specifically mentioned the gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1). Obviously, it wouldn’t make sense for everyone to have the same gift, but Paul didn’t say anything about us being limited to just one.

From their descriptions, you can see that many of the gifts have a secular application as well as a spiritual one. In fact one of the clues to pursue in discovering your gift is to look at what things on these lists you like doing most or are really good at. You could be catching a glimpse of your Spiritual gift. If so, putting it to work for the Lord will add the power of the Holy Spirit to something you’re already good at.

The Holy Spirit does not gift us in areas where we have no aptitude or interest, so whether we’re working to earn a living or working for the Lord, we will be more productive and more fulfilled when our responsibilities fall within the area of our gift. And when we’re applying our gift to His work it will often seem like our natural aptitudes and interests are being enhanced to a supernatural level.

It’s important to remember that like our salvation, our gift is something we don’t deserve and didn’t earn. Whatever we accomplish with it is the Lord’s doing not ours. Paul’s advice that we should eagerly desire the greater gifts (1 Cor. 12:31) cannot be taken solely for the purpose of drawing attention to, or elevating ourselves, but must be in pursuit of the purpose for which they are intended, the proper functioning of the body of Christ, to His glory.

Does The Holy Spirit Still Do That?

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears (1 Cor. 13:8-10).
Today, some parts of the church teach that the gifts of the Spirit were withdrawn after the time of the Apostolic Church, using the passage above as their justification. In my opinion this an incorrect position, based on a misinterpretation of the passage.

Those who deny the gifts are still being given say that 1 Cor. 13:8-10 refers to the completion of the New Testament canon. They say the gifts were for the time when the Church didn’t have the completed word of God and the apostles had to rely on their Spiritual gifts to build the Church.

But Paul went on to say that now we see only a poor reflection, then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part, then we shall know fully even as we are fully known (1 Cor. 13:12). The first time this statement will be true is just after the rapture when we’ll be standing before the Lord in our perfected bodies. That’s the time when John said we’ll be like the Lord for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). That’s when perfection will come and, since we’ll no longer need them, that’s when the gifts will cease.

Think about it. How many of us, having the complete New Testament in our hands, have seen the Lord face to face, and know everything about His plan for man, just as He knows everything about us? Insisting the gifts have ceased is a position without merit, and strangely enough was never heard in the Church before the early 1900’s just as the Pentecostal movement was being born and the gifts of the Spirit were re-emerging.

How Can I Discover My Gift?

Recently a visitor to the site asked, “Why do we have to discover what our Spiritual gift is? Why doesn’t God just tell us?”
Earlier I said that one of the clues to pursue in discovering your gift is to look at what you like doing the most or are really good at. We’ve also seen that God had the New Testament writers include a list of Spiritual gifts in the Bible. So if you compare the list of gifts with a list of things you are really good at or enjoy doing, you’ll have a clue as to what your Spiritual gift might be. So in that sense, God has given you some direction.
But the real path to discovery lies in Romans 12:1-2.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Once we abandon the spiritually bankrupt ways of the world and turn toward God, He initiates a renewal process in our minds, opening them up to His way, and helping us see what He really wants for us.

This doesn’t require a radical shift in our current circumstances, just in our perspective. God will meet us right where we are. He knows we have responsibilities and obligations, but He never intended for us to be one kind of person six days a week and another kind on the seventh. In other words, He knows we’re in the world, He just doesn’t want us to be of the world. He hates to see us locked up in a prison of our own making, pursuing our empty dreams, when He’s standing right beside us holding the keys to real freedom and fulfillment.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Colossians 3:23-24).

Simply by changing our perspective about who we’re really working for, we can begin to see ways to serve Him no matter where we are. As we turn toward Him, He will turn toward us (James 4:8) and begin to show us all the wonderful things He wants for us, including the special gift He’s given us to help us along the way.

It’s no coincidence that Paul’s list of Spiritual gifts in Romans 12 immediately follows His admonition to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. The gifts are given for a purpose and until we’re ready to achieve that purpose we really have no need for them. That’s why He doesn’t just tell us what they are.

If you are a born again believer you have at least one Spiritual gift.  Now you have a better understanding of what the Spiritual gifts are, and if you don’t already know what yours is, you have a way to discover it as well. That’s what the Bible says. 03-14-15

Occupy till I come - Jack Kelley

Saturday, February 21st, 20

• Christian Life
• End Times
• Featured
• Prophecy

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Occupy Until I Come

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
 

Some of you are aware that we post a “Question Of The Day” on Facebook each day. Recently one of these questions received more comments than any other we’ve ever posted by a wide margin.

It concerned a woman’s frustration because in a recent conversation her friends confirmed that they believe in an any moment rapture but then went on to tell her their plans for the next 10-20 years, what they expect to do when they retire, what kind of career they hope their children will have, and how they can’t wait to have grand children. She felt like they were just paying lip service to the nearness of the rapture and were more focused on their long term hopes and plans for this world.

I agreed with her, saying that what people pay attention to in their life gives you a clue as to what their intentions are for their life. When people spend more time talking about their long range plans for their life in this world than they do about their longing for the Lord to return for the Church and what they’re doing for Him while they wait, it tells us they intend to be here for a long time.

The comments I received in response to this posting were all over the place. A few agreed with the questioner, but most thought there is nothing wrong with making long term plans for our lives because we can’t know for sure when He’s coming. And more than one person said, “We can’t just abandon our lives and go camp on a hill waiting for Him.”
Several quoted the phrase “Occupy until I come” from the Parable of the Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27) as their justification for making long term worldly plans, but I wonder how many of us realize the context in which the Lord said this.

In the parable, a man of noble birth was going on an extended trip and was leaving his servants in charge of a portion of his wealth saying, “Occupy till I come.”
As you know a parable is a heavenly story put into an earthly context where every character is fictional and represents an actual one. In the Parable of the Ten Minas the man of noble birth represents Jesus, and His servants represent us.

The Greek word translated “occupy” in the King James translation of Luke 19:13 can mean to be occupied in anything, but in the context of the parable it means to “carry on a business.” In place of “occupy till I come” some English translations have the nobleman saying, “Put this money to work until I come back.” Others say, “Engage in business with this until I return.”

While there are a number of ways in which different translations convey this idea, I didn’t find a single one that indicated the nobleman was just telling his servants to idly wait for him as in “camping on a hill.” Nor did I find one that had the nobleman telling them to do whatever they wanted while he was gone. They all conveyed the idea that he expected them to conduct his business on his behalf using the resources he was leaving with them.
Therefore, the phrase “occupy until I come” doesn’t mean we’re free to live our life according to whatever priorities we’ve established while we wait for the rapture. It means we’re to be occupied in the work He’s given us until He returns, and to have something to show for it. The fact that the nobleman criticized the servant who preserved the money he’d been given but didn’t increase it at all lends credence to this interpretation. He expected a return on his capital.

What Work Has He Given Us?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship (Romans 12:1).
Romans 12:1-2 could be called Paul’s interpretation of the phrase “Occupy until I come.” I say that because the Greek word translated “worship” in Romans 12:1 is not the one that would normally be used. In fact, it actually means “service” and that’s the way many translations render it. The King James translation calls it our “reasonable service”. In Romans 12:1 Paul urged us to offer ourselves to God to perform whatever service He has in mind for us as our response to the mercy He has shown us. And how are we supposed to know what that is? Verse 2 gives us the answer.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

Do you know what God’s will for your life is? We can discover His will for us by refusing to accept the pattern of this world with it’s “bigger this and more of that” mentality and allowing our minds to be renewed and become focused on the much more meaningful plans God has for our life.

You can make this discovery at any point in your life. The minute you decide to give your life to the Lord and start seeking His will for you, He will meet you right where you are. The only radical change you’ll have to make is in the area of your priorities. God has to replace you or anything else you might currently have in your number 1 position. But even then, He knows you have family and financial responsibilities and will not expect you to abandon them.
Remember, in the early Church there were no paid positions. Every one was a volunteer, and earned his or her own living. Even today there are untold numbers of bi-vocational pastors, para-church ministries, missionaries, etc. who earn their own way in life, yet consider the work they do for the Lord as their reasonable acts of service and their number 1 priority.

Remember, the mission fields aren’t all in far away places. They are all around us. There are people everywhere who need food, shelter, and clothing. There are sick people who need visitors to comfort them, lonely people who need someone to talk to, ministries who need volunteer help, the list goes on and on. Some are even missionaries to their own local congregation. Also, there are two kinds of missionaries; those who go and those who send them.

Gifted For Service

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in everyone. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (1 Cor. 12:4-7).
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines (1 Cor. 12:10-11).
The ten minas the nobleman gave to each servant can represent the Spiritual gifts we’ve all been given to enable us to accomplish the Lord’s will for us. And just as the nobleman expected his servants to put what he had given them to work, so does the Lord expect us to put the gifts He’s given us to work for him. Listen to these words He spoke.
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16).

Do you know what spiritual gifts He’s given you to help you achieve His will for your life? We all have them, you know. We just need to discover them, and put them to use. That will happen as we seek His will for our life.

No One Knows The Day Or Hour

Most people have no idea that the Lord only spoke this phrase in reference to the 2^nd Coming, never the rapture. Even so, no one knows exactly when the rapture will happen. But the Bible gives us a number of signs as to when the end of the age will arrive, and tells us the rapture will precede it. And for the first time in history, every one of those signs is visible today.

Paul said the coming Day of the Lord should not take us by surprise because we’re children of the light (1 Thes. 5:4-5). That means we’ve been given all the information (light) we need to know the times and seasons of His Coming. The only people who can be taken by surprise are those have not made themselves familiar with end times prophecy, whether by accident or design.  In other words, those who say we can’t know the nearness of the rapture simply haven’t made an effort to inform themselves.

Read what the Lord said to the generation that wasn’t expecting Him the first time He came.
“When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matt. 16:2-3).
It was not that they couldn’t have known He was coming, because their Scriptures contained hundreds of prophecies of His first coming, many of which pointed to their time. It was that His coming had become less important to them than knowing what the day’s weather would be, so they didn’t bother learning about it. He could say the same thing to much of the Church today.

Some scholars are calling what’s happening in our time the convergence of signs. That means we don’t just have a few signs showing up, which would be exciting enough. It means that all the signs we were told to look for can now be found and they are all converging on a point in our not too distant future. No generation since His first coming could say this.

Does This Mean I Can’t Have A Life Of My Own?

Truth be told, the Bible never promised us a life of our own. In fact it says, “We are not our own. We’ve been bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). But God never forces any of His children to do anything. The single condition for our salvation is to “believe in the One He sent” (John 6:28-29). So you can have a life of your own. If all you want is to have your “fire insurance” policy paid up, you did that by becoming a believer (Ephes. 1:13-14). Even if you never do a single thing for the Lord and all your works are burned up in the fires of judgment, you yourself will still be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1 Cor. 3:15).

In Romans 12:1 Paul said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy …” He didn’t order or command us, he urged us. Even the Holy Spirit is only our counselor, not our commander. No one will force you to do anything.
Instead, what this means is you can have a better life than the one you’ve planned for yourself. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). In the first place, when you turn your life over to the Lord, He will see to it that all your needs are met, so you won’t have to worry at all about what tomorrow might bring (Matt 6:31-34). He will see that everything works together for your good (Romans 8:28). He will give back to you all out of proportion to what you give to Him (Luke 6:38). He will make you rich in every way so you can be generous on every occasion (2 Cor. 9:11), and you’ll be storing up untold treasure in heaven (Matt. 6:19-21) as well.

So you see, neither camping on a hilltop and waiting nor getting on with life while waiting is the Biblically correct approach. To occupy till He comes is to be engaged in the conduct of the business He has called us to.

Final Thoughts

In closing, I’m reminded of my favorite paraphrase of James 2:17 where the apostle wrote, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by deeds is dead.” The version I like goes, “If what you say you believe does not result in action, maybe you don’t really believe it.” If you’re not longing for the rapture and engaged in the Lord’s work while you wait for it, then maybe you don’t really believe it’s coming soon.

When viewed from a strictly human perspective, the rapture of the Church is the most incredible event in history. The resurrection of believers is the fulfillment of a promise that was made on the cross, the delivery of the greatest blessing ever given to mankind. And among resurrected believers, no other group has been or will be blessed as richly as the Church. Paul said God is doing this so that in ages yet to come He might demonstrate the incomparable riches of His Grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephes. 2:7).

But even above all this, He has chosen one generation of the Church to pass directly from mortal to immortal without experiencing death. This generation will be standing on Earth in our mortal, sin filled bodies and then in the twinkling of an eye we’ll be transformed directly into a perfect, immortal version of ourselves.  Immediately, we’ll transported to the home He has spent the last 2,000 years preparing for us to begin a life with Him that is literally beyond imagining. And it could happen any day now.

But what if it doesn’t happen today? I was a business consultant when I became a believer 30 years ago. One of the services I provided was to help individuals and companies identify and achieve long term goals. Following my own example, I had binders full of five year plans for my self and my company which I faithfully tracked each month and completely updated annually.

I had learned about the rapture early in my life as a believer and, like most people, I was immediately excited about it. When I felt the Lord telling me to put my plans for my life aside and follow the path He had laid out for me instead, I thought, “Why not? We won’t be here that long anyway.” I decided to stop making my own plans for the future, and began letting Him implement His plan instead. Later I realized that this is what He meant in Matt. 16:24-25.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”

That was 30 years ago, and I haven’t made any future plans for me or anyone else since. The life I have today is nothing like the one I had planned for myself. But it’s more exciting and more fulfilling than anything I could have imagined. I still see the rapture as an “any day now” event and I’m ready to go the instant I hear the trumpet. But I also realize that if that doesn’t happen today, the plan the Lord is unfolding in my life is the next best thing that could have happened to me, because I’m occupying until He comes. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah 02-21-15.

Related posts:

1. Occupy Til I Come
2. Spiritual Gifts … Occupy Part 2
3. Israel And The Church. Follow Up
4. Are Pastors Allowed To Retire?

Gutfeld: When did chivalry become 'benevolent sexism'? | Fox News Video

Gutfeld: When did chivalry become 'benevolent sexism'? | Fox News Video

The nature of Christian unity - Ray Stedman

Read the Scripture: Ephesians 4:4-6

There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called... (Ephesians 4:4).

This verse sets forth the nature of Christian unity. It is not a union to be produced, but a unity that already exists. These are not articles of theological agreement. No, these are areas of mutual experience. These are things that lay hold of us, not we who lay hold of them. All these are immediately experienced by all who are in Christ. Therefore, the way to create unity is simply to bring people to Christ, and the unity of the Spirit will be produced in them by the Spirit.

As we apply this great truth there are certain things that are evident: First, we cannot classify Christians by organizations. We cannot say that all those who belong to the Baptist church, for instance, are Christians, but all those who are Catholics are not. God's Spirit forever overleaps human boundaries. The unity of the Spirit will be found in people in many different groups. We will find Christians everywhere, and it becomes our responsibility to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with Christians wherever we find them.

A second conclusion suggests that those who have entered into this unity of the Spirit cannot possibly join in an evangelistic endeavor with those who deny this fundamental unity. Why not? Because our actions are determined by our beliefs. These are such fundamental beliefs that they set the direction of our life. Where one person accepts these and has experienced them and someone else does not, you have two fundamentally separate directions. It is impossible for one person to ride two horses going in opposite directions—to attempt it puts a terrific strain upon the anatomy.

This is why the Israelites were ordered not to yoke an ox and an ass together. Why not? Well, they go at two different speeds, they are two different heights, and they would simply chafe one another all the time. It would be cruelty to both to link them together. This is God's way of teaching us, symbolically, that there are fundamental differences of gait and direction—that two cannot walk together except they be agreed.

There comes a third practical application of this. The efforts of Christians are not to be directed toward creating unity but toward maintaining peace in the body. That is the way Paul puts it: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (v. 3). It is important that Christians not be quarreling, bickering, and struggling against one another. A church that is like that is a totally ineffective body in its community. It is important that when Christians meet together they recognize that they are called to understand one another, to forbear one another, to pray for one another, to forgive one another, to be kind, tenderhearted, not holding grudges, not being unforgiving, bitter, resentful, and hateful toward each other. This is where the Spirit aims when He comes into our midst, at the healing of long-standing grudges, deep-seated resentments, and bitter hostilities that are harbored against one another. We must fulfill what the apostle tells us to do, to maintain the unity of the Spirit.

Father, may Your Spirit search my heart about my attitude toward others. Thank You that it is not my calling to produce a union of Christians but rather to discover that unity produced only by the Holy Spirit.

Life Application: Have we realized that it is not our job to produce unity, but to discover the unity produced by the Spirit? Have others noticed the peace, love, and life of Christ in us?

We hope you were blessed by this daily devotion.

From your friends at www.RayStedman.org

Herzog’s four pledges for his first 100 days as prime minister are unworkable

Herzog’s four pledges for his first 100 days as prime minister are unworkable

WHEN YOU SEE A SWORD COMING:Three existential threats facing America.

• Joel C. Rosenberg
• Address to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention
• Nashville, Tennessee
• February 26, 2015

Reblogged from http://www.joelrosenberg.com/  


My text tonight is Ezekiel chapter 33, verses one through nine. It is a famous passage — one that you all know — about the role of the “Watchman on the Wall.” I believe it is deeply relevant to our times.

33 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴ then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’

⁷ “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. ⁹ But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

More than 2,500 years ago, the Lord spoke these words to the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel.

• A man of God
• Born in Israel
• Exiled and living in Iraq
• Amidst grave dangers rising

What was Ezekiel commanded to do? The text is clear.

• Listen to God
• Watch for threats
• Warn the people, come what may

This was a divine calling – an enormous responsibility. And God was clear. Some would listen to Ezekiel’s warnings. Some would not. Ezekiel was not going to be held responsible for the decision others made to obey the Lord or not. He would be held responsible for obeying the Lord, teaching people the Word of God and warning the people when God told him to speak. Fortunately, Ezekiel was faithful to the task.

As followers of Jesus Christ — and as pastors and ministry leaders and religious broadcasters — each of you are, in our modern times, also watchmen on the walls. In many ways, you have the same calling. The same responsibility.

• To listen to the Word of God, found in the Bible
• To speak the Word of God — to tell people the bad news and the good news according to the Scriptures
• To warn people of threats that are rising
• To speak the truth in love, come what may

God warned Ezekiel — as He warns us today — that if He speaks and we don’t share His Word with others, we will be held to account. What’s more, if we see threats rising, and we do not warn people, we will be held to account.
Tonight, as I look out America, I see three existential threats.

• Threat #1 — What if America is not simply in a season of decline but heading towards collapse, towards implosion?
• Threat #2 — What if America is not simply at rising risk of attack by Radical Islam but heading towards the risk of annihilation by Apocalyptic Islam?
• Threat #3 — What if America is not simply entering a season of strained relations with Israel but heading towards total abandonment of the Jewish State?

Let’s take those one by one.
IMPLOSION
Threat #1 — What if America is not simply in a season of decline but heading towards collapse, towards implosion?

In 2012, I wrote a non-fiction book called, Implosion: Can America Recover From Her Economic & Spiritual Challenges in Time? I commend it to your attention because every passing day I believe the analysis is proving to be true and its message is becoming more urgent. The nation – and the Church – must know how much danger we are in. If we are silent, or if we soften it around the edges, we will be held to account before the Lord.

In the State of the Union address in January, the President covered a range of issues and challenges that we face, but this was his central case. “No challenge — no challenge — poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” (SOTU, January 20, 2015)
I respectfully disagree. There is a long list of reasons America faces implosion, but I can sum it up in one number: 58 million.

Since 1973, Americans have aborted 58 million babies. Think about that — 58 million. It is a staggering number. And if something doesn’t happen soon to change course, in less than two years we will hit 60 million.

If this happens, we as Americans will have murdered ten times more human beings than the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis.

We know the judgment of God that fell upon Nazi Germany. What do we think is going to happen to a nation that exterminates ten times more people than the Nazis?

The judgment of Almighty God is coming. There is no way out. The souls of 58 million babies are crying out for justice – and they will get it.But for this to happen we need to be pleading with God to have mercy on us. We need to be calling people to prayer, fasting and above all repentance.
I’m grateful for pastors like Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Bible teachers like Anne Graham Lotz who are calling the Church to precisely this. May their tribe increase.

As watchmen, are you warning America of the coming implosion? Are you calling the Church and nation to prayer and fasting and repentance? Is there more that you can do? Let us be found faithful, for I believe our time is running out.

RADICAL ISLAM AND APOCALYPTIC ISLAM
Threat #2 — What if America is not simply at rising risk of attack by Radical Islam but heading towards the risk of annihilation by Apocalyptic Islam?

There are two core themes in my books, both novels and non-fiction:

1. To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blind-sided by it.
2. Evil, unchecked, is the prelude to genocide.

On December 7, 1941, we were blindsided by an evil we did not understand.
It happened again on September 11, 2001.

The 9/11 Commission Report stated that the attacks perpetrated by al Qaeda were “not a failure of intelligence but a failure of imagination.” Despite all of the data that was pouring in, our leaders in Washington simply never imagined that such an attack were possible.
Fourteen years later, we have a President who refuses to define “Radical Islam” as the source of the threat we face in the Middle East and North Africa.

• Running in 2008, said Iran was a small country and did not pose a serious threat to us
• January 2014: said ISIS was a “jayvee” squad, not a serious threat
• August 28, 2014: “We don’t have a strategy yet” to defeat ISIS.
• January 20, 2015: didn’t mention Islam or Islamism or AQI in his SOTU address

My friends, we cannot defeat an enemy we refuse to define.
The threat of Radical Islam is a very serious threat to us and our allies.
Consider the words of Jordan’s King Abdullah, not only a Muslim but a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

• we are in a “Third World War”
• “This is a war inside Islam. So we [Muslims] have to own up to it. We have to take the lead. And we have to start fighting back.”
• “This is a Muslim problem. We need to take ownership of this. We need to stand up and say what is right and what is wrong.” (interview on CBS 60 Minutes, December 5, 2014)

The King and his senior advisors get it. They aren’t Radicals, but Reformers. And they are actively engaged in fighting the Radicals militarily, diplomatically, politically, financially, and even theologically.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also gets it. He, too, is a Muslim – and he, too, is engaging the fight on multiple fronts.
Consider his speech on January 1, 2015 at Al Azhar University in Cairo:

• “Is it possible that 1.6 billion people [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants…so that they themselves may win? Impossible.”
• “We are in need of a religious revolution. You imams are responsible before Allah. The entire world is waiting for your next move.”

The President insists that we are not at war with Islam. Obviously. The vast majority of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims are not a danger. But research shows that 7% to 10% of Muslims worldwide do support violent jihad. That’s upwards of 150 million people. If it were a single country — the Islamic Republic of Radicalstan — it would the world’s 9th largest, just ahead of Russia (146 million).
But the threat we face is not simply from Radical Islam. Indeed, it not even primarily from Radical Islam at this hour.

The most serious threat we face in the Middle East and North Africa is what I call “Apocalyptic Islam.”
This is a term each of needs to become familiar with and begin to teach others.
For the first time in all of human history, we have not just one but two nation states who rulers are driven not by political ideology — or even mere religious theology — but by apocalyptic End Times eschatology.

• The Islamic Republic of Iran today is ruled by an apocalyptic, genocidal death cult.
• So is the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
• The former are Shia. The latter are Sunni.
• Both believe the End of days has come.
• Both believe their messiah – known as the “Mahdi” — is coming at any moment.
• Both are trying to hasten the coming of the Mahdi.
• Yet each has entirely different strategies.
• ISIS wants to build a caliphate.
• Iran wants to build The Bomb.
• ISIS is committing genocide now.
• Iran is preparing to commit genocide later.

In the near term, ISIS is more dangerous. Why? Because ISIS is on a jihadist rampage right now. Robbing. Killing. Destroying. Enslaving. Raping. Torturing. Beheading. As Americans, we dare not turn a blind eye to this threat. If we don’t defeat the jihadists over there, they are coming here. We must act, and act now.

That said, as Christians we have different responsibilities. The government’s job is to defeat and destroy our enemies. Our job as Christians is to love our enemies, and all those who are living under their reign of terror.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we must not be blind to the enormous suffering inside the Muslim world, nor deaf to their cries for help, nor dull to the tyranny we face. Christ commands us to love them, to serve them, to bless them, to tell them the good news that they may have life. We must act, and act now.

Longer term, Iran is the most dangerous, especially if the President approves this nuclear deal that is emerging. Why? Because the apocalyptic leaders of Iran are biding their time to build a nuclear arsenal capable of killing millions of people in a matter of minutes.

Far too few people in the West truly understand the nature and threat of Radical Islam, much less that of Apocalyptic Islam. Indeed, many dismiss these concerns all together. But it is empirical fact that a deep and widespread belief exists within the Islamic world that we are living in the End of Days.
According to a 2012 report by the Pew Research Center, “in most countries in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, more than half or more of Muslims believe they will love to see the return of the Mahdi.” That’s more than 750 million Muslims.

• Egypt — 40% of Muslims believe the return of the Mahdi is imminent.
• Jordan — 41%
• Palestinians — 46%
• Iraq — 72%

What’s more, the report found that an enormous number of Muslims believe that Jesus is coming back to earth (to serve under the Mahdi.)

• Jordan — 29% of Muslims believe Jesus is coming back to earth
• Egypt — 39%
• Palestinians — 46%
• Iraq — 64%

Apocalyptic Islamic eschatology is a photographic negative of Biblical eschatology. The leaders of Iran and ISIS believe the way to hasten the coming of the messiah to kill as many people as possible. The followers of Jesus Christ, on the other hand,  believe the way to hasten the coming of the messiah is to save as many people as possible. (Matthew 24:14)
Which brings me back to you — the watchmen on the wall.

• Are you warning the nation of the “coming sword” – the threat of both Radical Islam and Apocalyptic Islam — and explaining to people their similarities and their differences?
• Are you urging the Church to fulfill the Great Commission by preaching the gospel and making disciples of all nations, including Muslim nations?

Let us not simply tell the bad news. Let us tell the good news. And there is much good news. Since 1979, more Muslims have come to faith on Christ and renounced Islam than in the last 14 centuries of Islam combined.

So now is not the time to cower in fear. Now is the time to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit — with courage and conviction — because “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.”

ISRAEL
Which brings me finally to Threat #3 — What if America is not simply entering a season of strained relations with Israel, but we are heading towards total American abandonment of the Jewish State?

• Genesis 12:1-3 — God says He will bless those who bless Israel and the Jewish people, and curse those who curse them.
• Joel 3:2 — God warns the nations that He will judge all who divide the Land of Israel.
• Ezekiel 38-39 — God warns that a group of nations will attack Israel in the “last days” but no nation will come to Israel’s defense.
• Revelation 16 — God warns that all nations in the End of Days will attack Israel.

The Bible teaches us that all nations will turn against Israel in the last days — and all nations will face judgment for it — but woe into us if it happens on our watch.
Have we come to that fateful moment? It is not yet clear. Still, we are watching the President:

• negotiate an incredibly dangerous deal with Iran
• refuse to share the details of this detail with Israel, America’s most faithful and trusted ally in the region
• refuse to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister when he came to address a Joint Session of Congress on matters of existential importance to both of our nations.
• send the VP and Secretary of State out of country to avoid seeing the Prime Minister
• send his political strategists and operatives to defeat the Prime Minister and his party in Israel’s elections (March 17^th)

This is the most dangerous moment in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
What do the next two years hold?

I’m not sure. But this much I know: on top of all America’s national challenges and sins, we dare not also abandon or turn against Israel and the Jewish people. If we do, we will seal our fate with God.
Which brings me back to you — the watchmen on the walls.

Are you warning the nation and the Church of the dangerous road the President has us on vis-à-vis Israel?
Are you mobilizing Christians to love and bless and pray for and stand with Israel and the Jewish people in this critical hour?

CONCLUSION

I am afraid I cannot tell you whether God will grant America a Third Great Awakening and/or raise up a King like Josiah (see 2 Chronicles 34-35) and thus forestall the coming judgment.
I cannot tell you whether the American government will do its job to protect us and our allies from Radical and Apocalyptic Islam before it’s too late.

Or whether the Church will do her job in fulfilling the Great Commission and standing with our persecuted brothers and sisters in the epicenter.

Or whether America and the Church will stand with Israel and bless her and the Jewish people.
All I can tell you is that you and I have been called to be watchmen on the walls.
Our job is to:

• Listen to and study and know the Word of God
• Teach the Word of God
• Watch for threats
• Warn the people, come what may

We are not going to be held responsible if people do not listen to us or to the Word of God. We will be held to account if we fail to speak and act when the Lord commands us to do so.
Much is hanging in the balance. May you and I be found faithful to the task.

Israel’s next 22 months - Caroline Glick

Reblogged from http://carolineglick.com/israels-next-22-months/

Friday, March 13th, 2015

The next 22 months until President Barack Obama leaves office promise to be the most challenging period in the history of US-Israel relations.

Now unfettered by electoral concerns, over the past week Obama exposed his ill-intentions toward Israel in two different ways.

First, the Justice Department leaked its intention to indict Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez on corruption charges. Menendez is the ranking Democratic member, and the former chairman, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is also the most outspoken Democratic critic of Obama’s policy of appeasing the Iranian regime.

As former US federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote this week at PJMedia, “It is perfectly reasonable to believe that Menendez may be guilty of corruption offenses and that his political opposition on Iran is factoring into the administration’s decision to charge him. Put it another way, if Menendez were running interference for Obama on the Iran deal, rather than trying to scupper it, I believe he would not be charged.”

The Menendez prosecution tells us that Obama wishes to leave office after having vastly
diminished support for Israel among Democrats. And he will not hesitate to use strong-arm tactics against his fellow Democrats to achieve his goal.

We already experienced Obama’s efforts in this sphere in the lead-up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before the joint houses of Congress on March 3 with his campaign to pressure Democratic lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu’s address.

Now, with his move against Menendez, Obama made clear that support for Israel – even in the form of opposition to the nuclear armament of Iran – will be personally and politically costly for Democrats.

The long-term implications of Obama’s moves to transform US support for Israel into a partisan issue cannot by wished away. It is possible that his successor as the head of the Democratic Party will hold a more sympathetic view of Israel. But it is also possible that the architecture of Democratic fund-raising and grassroots support that Obama has been building for the past six years will survive his presidency and that as a consequence, Democrats will have incentives to oppose Israel.

The reason Obama is so keen to transform Israel into a partisan issue was made clear by the second move he made last week.

Last Thursday, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice announced that the NSC’s Middle East Coordinator Phil Gordon was stepping down and being replaced by serial Israel-basher Robert Malley.

Malley, who served as an NSC junior staffer during the Clinton administration, rose to prominence in late 2000 when, following the failed Camp David peace summit in July 2000 and the outbreak of the Palestinian terror war, Malley co-authored an op-ed in The New York Times blaming Israel and then-prime minister Ehud Barak for the failure of the negotiations.

What was most remarkable at the time about Malley’s positions was that they completely contradicted Bill Clinton’s expressed views. Clinton placed the blame for the failure of the talks squarely on then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s shoulders.

Not only did Arafat reject Barak’s unprecedented offer of Palestinian statehood and sovereignty over all of Gaza, most of Judea and Samaria and parts of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, he refused to make a counter-offer. And then two months later, he opened the Palestinian terror war.

 As Jonathan Tobin explained in Commentary this week, through his writings and public statements, Malley has legitimized Palestinian rejection of Israel’s right to exist. Malley thinks it is perfectly reasonable that the Palestinians refuse to concede their demand for free immigration of millions of foreign Arabs to the Jewish state in the framework of their concocted “right of return,” even though the clear goal of that demand is to destroy Israel. As Tobin noted, Malley believes that Palestinian terrorism against Israel is “understandable if not necessarily commendable.”

During Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, then-senator Obama listed Malley as a member of his foreign policy team. When pro-Israel groups criticized his appointment, Obama fired Malley.

But after his 2012 reelection, no longer fearing the ramifications of embracing an openly anti-Israel adviser, one who had documented contacts with Hamas terrorists and has expressed support for recognizing the terror group, Obama appointed Malley to serve as his senior adviser for Iraq-Iran-Syria and the Gulf states. Still facing the 2014 congressional elections, Obama pledged that Malley would have no involvement in issues related to Israel and the Palestinians. But then last week, he appointed him to direct the NSC’s policy in relation to the entire Middle East, including Israel.

The deeper significance of Malley’s appointment is that it demonstrates that Obama’s goal in his remaining time in office is to realign US Middle East policy away from Israel. With his Middle East policy led by a man who thinks the Palestinian goal of destroying Israel is legitimate, Obama can be expected to expand his practice of placing all the blame for the absence of peace between Israel and the Palestinians solely on Israel’s shoulders.

Malley’s appointment indicates that there is nothing Israel can do to stem the tsunami of American pressure it is about to suffer. Electing a left-wing government to replace Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will make no difference.

Just as Malley was willing to blame Barak – a leader who went to Camp David as the head of a minority coalition, whose positions on territorial withdrawals were rejected by a wide majority of Israelis – for the absence of peace, so we can assume that he, and his boss, will blame Israel for the absence of peace over the next 22 months, regardless of who stands at the head of the next government.

In this vein we can expect the administration to expand the anti-Israel positions it has already taken.

The US position paper regarding Israeli-Palestinian negotiation that was leaked this past week to Yediot Aharonot made clear the direction Obama wishes to go. That document called for Israel to withdraw to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines, with minor revisions.

In the coming 22 months we can expect the US to use more and more coercive measures to force Israel to capitulate to its position.
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Russia: The Age of Mythology with Nuclear Rockets

 Reblogged from  www.frontpagemag.com

March 6, 2015 by Oleg Atbashian 29 Comments

 
The ballistic missile with Obama’s name on it, paraded in the streets of Moscow this Monday, was only an imitation – but the sentiment was genuine.
Looking like a gigantic allegorical suppository for the American president, the green twelve-foot rocket emblazoned with the hammer and sickle over a red star brought up Cold War memories of real intercontinental missiles the Soviet government would parade in Red Square as a vague threat to its enemies. There was no vagueness this time: in large print letters, the message on the rocket said, “To be delivered to Obama in person.”

The occasion was the Day of the Defenders of the Motherland – a big annual celebration of the creation of the Red Army in 1918 by Leon Trotsky. To be sure, Trotsky’s name had not been attached to this holiday ever since his removal from power and assassination by Stalin. Additionally, the country has since changed its name, borders, ideology, the system of government, and renamed the very holiday in question. Still, the holiday spirit runs strong, along with patriotic rallies, propaganda posters, and nationally televised bombastic military-themed concerts puffed up by a full roster of Kremlin-approved celebrities.

It’s also dubbed Men’s Day, as all Russian men and boys receive greetings and gifts from women and girls – a rather manipulative hetero-normative reminder that all male citizens belong in the army. In a way, this mirrors Women’s Day on March 8th – another originally communist holiday that comes twelve days later, when women and girls receive greetings and gifts from men and boys, as men volunteer to help around the house and do women’s work in the kitchen – which may also be seen as a hetero-normative reminder of a woman’s place on all other days of the year.

This year Ukraine officially canceled the celebration of Russia’s military holiday, belatedly joining other ex-Soviet republics that had suffered the wrath of the Red Army. In contrast, Vladimir Putin’s government has boosted the celebration even further, making February 23rd an official day off and using it to crank up the already excessive Russian patriotism.
With full support of the government-controlled media, national chauvinism is now spilling over the state borders, as gangs of armed “patriots” flock to eastern Ukraine, eager to show the uppity ukrops their place in Pax Russiana. Jingoism dominates Russia’s online forums and social media, as well as the streets and city squares, with rallies that support Putin, military adventurism, and Pax Russiana, while at the same time trashing everything non-Russian, especially America and Gayrope (a new Russian slur deriving from “gay” + “Europe.”) The stunt with the Obama-targeted missile is merely a small piece in the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle called Russia.

According to the Levada Center, a Moscow-based independent polling organization, America is seen negatively today by 74% of the Russian population (60% also have a negative view of Europe), and 69% believe the United States is a hostile nation. At the same time, after the break-up of the USSR in the early 1990s, only 10% of Russians viewed the U.S. negatively. What happened?

The Levada Center has registered four waves of anti-American and anti-Western sentiment in Russia – in 1999 (the war in Serbia), in 2003 (the war in Iraq), in 2008 (the war in Georgia), and in 2014 (the war in Ukraine), with today’s wave being the strongest in the last 20 years. Sociologists also believe that Russia’s public opinion is shaped largely by the government-run media, with more than one half of the respondents admitting they couldn’t form opinions independently.

It would be fair to say that every such wave of anti-Americanism in Russia (and to some extent around the world) has been orchestrated and paid for by the Kremlin’s powerful propaganda machine, which deploys two parallel narratives – one for the foreigners and one for domestic use. The domestic narrative is always a variation of the same formula:

“Once again, the Motherland is under attack from American imperialism. The West has always hated Russia. Out of sheer hatred they want to humiliate us and push Russia out of its traditional spheres of influence. To survive, our nation must unite around a strong leader and his party.”

The leader is, of course, Vladimir Putin; the party is United Russia.
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