The Struggle - Ray Stedman

http://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/ephesians/the-struggle

A daily devotion for March 28th

Read the Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-12

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes (Ephesians 6:11).

Our experience confirms the suggestion of this passage—that life is basically a struggle. Life never conforms to the rosy idealism of our dreams or to the romanticism of our songs. The explanation of this struggle lies deeper than we ordinarily think.

The common view of our struggle has been that we are engaged in conflict against flesh and blood, against other men and women. But Paul says the battle is not against flesh and blood; it lies deeper than that. The basic problem is that this is a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan and that people themselves are the battlefield. The battle is visible not only in the wars, revolutions, and crime waves that fill our newspapers, but it is also seen in the inner tensions and fears of individual lives, in the neurotic problems and mental illnesses that afflict us today, in family fights and church struggles. It is even visible in nature, where all of life competes in a ruthless, deadly struggle to survive.

The whole race has fallen under the control of satanic forces, which Paul calls, the world rulers of this present darkness (6:12 RSV)—a most significant phrase. The picture of the Bible from beginning to end is that all human beings without Christ, without exception, regardless of how clever or educated or cultured they may be, are the helpless victims of satanic control. Under the control of satanic forces human beings are uncomfortable and unhappy but also completely unable to escape by any wisdom or power of their own.

But the good news is that some have been set free through the coming of that stronger one, Jesus Himself, who came, as John tells us, to destroy the devil's work (1 John 3:8b). Through Him deliverance is obtained. Through the amazing mystery of the cross and the resurrection, Jesus has broken the power and bondage of Satan over human lives. Those who individually receive and acknowledge this are set free to live in the freedom and liberty of the children of God.

They are not set free to live unto themselves. They are set free in order to battle. That is the call that comes to all Christians. We are not set free in order to enjoy ourselves. We are set free to do battle, to engage in the fight, to overcome in our own lives, and to become the channels by which others are set free. How do you do this? Paul's answer is in one phrase: Put on the whole armor of God. Full provision has been made that you might win in this battle. This is the amazing thing we must learn. God has made full provision for us to fight these forces that hold the world in their grip.

Father, tear away the delusive veils by which I have allowed myself to be rendered powerless in this great battle. Help me to understand that I would have no possibility of fighting were it not for the delivering work of the Lord Jesus, who has come to bind the power of darkness.

Life Application: Why does life not conform to our rosy idealism and romanticism? What is the true nature of the human struggle? How can we face life with confidence and freedom?

We hope you were blessed by this daily devotion.

From your friends at www.RayStedman.org

Bringing Christ To WorkEphesians: Riches in ChristThe Breastplate Of Righteousness

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Copyright © 2007 by Elaine Stedman — This daily devotion is from the book The Power of His Presence: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman; compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to www.RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet. Please direct any questions you may have to webmaster@RayStedman.org.

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My level of disgust is severely eroding my tolerance for news these days

Reblogged from servehiminthewaiting.com   By STLloyd March 27, 2015 

 America sin Sodomy

I can hardly bring myself to address some of the pure unadulterated B.S. that is the behavior of our elected officials, broadcasters, and even some Christian bloggers these days.  Does anyone have standards anymore?  I have been doing this blog for three years, and sometimes there simply are no words to address the goings-on.  I’ve unsubscribed to so many “sources” in the past year, it’s not even funny!

Why would a “Christian” blog do an article about the lasciviousness of Nicki Minaj, complete with an x-rated photo of her G-string clad posterior?  This is pornography.  Why perpetuate it?  I understand that sometimes a person can re-blog something and not be aware that a photo will show, or post a video that they may have been momentarily distracted or interrupted and miss some brief segment that had they seen it, they would have refrained from posting.  But come on!

And the speculation, the intrigue, the absolute ignorance of scripture!
Is it me, or does it seem like the entire world has lost its ever-lovin’ mind?  Our President is a criminal, our markets are rigged, our military is being systematically emasculated, and I say that without apology to the female soldiers, because a real woman gets it.  Scientists are trying to open portals to parallel dimensions.

Look, I don’t know if Ted Cruz (or the platform he purports to represent and deliver)  stands a chance, but I do know this, anyone who is holding out hope, who has some  pie in the sky conviction that “of course things are going to turn around”, you need to understand something.  If there is a turnaround, it will be only because somewhere someone was wiling to face the hideous truth about how grossly rebellious this nation has become, and they got on their face and they begged God on the basis of His Mercy alone, to forgive the sins of this nation and to give it one more chance.  And if God grants that mercy, it will be for the sake of the salvation offered in Christ Jesus, because He paid for the sins of this world and it is Gods desire that all would come to salvation, though He knows all will not do so.

There is a whole lot of damage that is going to need to be addressed.  The utter destabilization of the Middle East is a fact and America is not the center of this world.  If someone doesn’t find some testicular fortitude and rein in the madman in the White House before he utterly destroys this nation’s alliance with Israel, this nation is in for a world of hurt. God’s time-table revolves around Israel. What will be will be, just as it has already been written in scripture, but there is still about a flea’s eyelash worth of room for America’s ultimate legacy to be salvaged.  God judges people, and He judges nations.

I know that there are people who have been on their face before the Lord.  I’m not talking about the ones who imagine themselves as “taking dominion”, WE LOST THAT IN THE FALL.  Don’t tell me you are praying for this nation if you are going to pray in ignorance.  And don’t tell me that I’m too wrapped up in the “negative”  Listen, Jesus gave us a model prayer.

Our Father, if you aren’t saved, stop right there.  You father is the devil.

Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Hallowed. Do we even know what that word means any more?
His name is Holy because HE is Holy.

Sodomy is a sin, there is no such thing as gay marriage, marriage is a holy sacrament, a covenant that was created by God, and two men do not qualify, nor do two women, and if anyone has an issue with that, take it up with GOD.  Because you can be sure He is going to take it up with you, and you can hunt me down, and you can torment those who stand on the truth, but you are only storing up wrath against yourself which God will address in His good time. To put it in the inane language of the current day, yes, Sin really is a “thing”.
It’s not some passé societally-dictated device.

And hell is a real place.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but it seems to me like we need to just take up our positions and get on with this thing.  This “tolerance” garbage is getting really old.  If you think God is love and that’s all He is, you are in for a very rude awakening.  If you think that a Christian owes it to the rest of the world to shut up and sit down and roll over, you are utterly mistaken about what it means to be a Christian.

Love that is not founded in truth is not love at all.  It is mere flattery.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
What a glorious day that’s going to be!

John Bolton: Bomb Iran Before It Gets the Bomb

(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Thursday, 26 Mar 2015 02:47 PM

By Sandy Fitzgerald 

There is only one way to block the Iranians from building a nuclear bomb, according to former ambassador John Bolton: Bomb them first.
"The inescapable conclusion is that Iran will not negotiate away its nuclear program," Bolton wrote in an opinion piece for The New York Times on Thursday. "Nor will sanctions block its building a broad and deep weapons infrastructure."

The "inconvenient truth," Bolton insists, is that "only military action like Israel's 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein's Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed."

Such an attack would not need to destroy Iran's entire nuclear infrastructure, but instead, Bolton said, would break key links in the nuclear fuel cycle and set back Iran's program by at least three to five years.

"Rendering inoperable the Natanz and Fordow uranium-enrichment installations and the Arak heavy-water production facility and reactor would be priorities," said Bolton. "So, too, would be the little-noticed but critical uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan."
The United States could thoroughly destroy the targets, he said, but Israel, acting alone, could also take the necessary steps. He also called for the action to combine with U.S. support for regime change in Iran.

Meanwhile, Bolton said, President Barack Obama's fascination with striking a nuclear deal with Iran could trigger a wave of nuclear programs throughout the Middle East.
"The president's biggest legacy could be a thoroughly nuclear-weaponized Middle East," said Bolton.

Experts have been worried for years that it would happen, said Bolton. As in other cases such as India, Pakistan and North Korea, the West should have been vigilant, he says, "but failing to act in the past is no excuse for making the same mistakes now."

Obama, like his predecessors, inherited the effects of past presidents' decisions, but is responsible for what is happening on his watch, Bolton said, and his "approach on Iran has brought a bad situation to the brink of catastrophe."

Meanwhile, comprehensive international sanctions have crippled Iran somewhat but have not stopped the nuclear program's progress.
"Even absent palpable proof, like a nuclear test, Iran's steady progress toward nuclear weapons has long been evident," said Bolton. "Now, the arms race has begun."
He noted that Saudi Arabia is expected to move first, as "no way would the Sunni Saudis allow the Shiite Persians to outpace them in the quest for dominance."

Analysts believe that Saudi Arabia is able to get nuclear weapons from Pakistan, and Bolton said Egypt or Turkey would not be far behind.
Israel's nuclear capability, though, is mainly seen as a deterrent, not as an offensive measure, and has not brought on an arms race, but Iran is different.

The evidence is mounting that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey are quickening their pace for nuclear weapons of their own, said Bolton.
"Saudi Arabia has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with South Korea, China, France and Argentina, aiming to build a total of 16 reactors by 2030," said Bolton.

The Saudis have also held recent meetings with leaders from Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey, and "nuclear matters were almost certainly on the agenda."
Bolton said that Pakistan could quickly supply weapons, and he warned not to rule out North Korea dealing behind the backs of its Iranian allies "for the right price."

Related Stories:

• What an Iran Nuclear Deal Could Look Like
• Experts: Iran Now a Nuclear-Ready State Missiles Capable of Hitting US
  

© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/John-Bolton-nuclear-weapons-Obama-deal/2015/03/26/id/634716/#ixzz3VcOkFwjc
Urgent: Rate Obama on His Job Performance. Vote Here Now!

Israel national anthem A Capella

Blog author´s note: This doesn´t sound like an aggressive hymn of conquest, does it? Rather it is representative of the spirit of shalom that motivates the Jewish people to seek to live in peace with their neighbors. I love this prophecy of Zacharias in Luke 1. The Jewish people is still waiting for their Prince of Peace, the desire of the nations.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—
71 [aq]Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;
72 To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;
77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
[ar]By the forgiveness of their sins,
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of PEACE.”

HaTikvah ("The Hope")
Israel's National Anthem The words to Israel's national anthem were written in 1886 by Naphtali Herz Imber, an English poet originally from Bohemia. The melody was written by Samuel Cohen, an immigrant from Moldavia. Cohen actually based the melody on a musical theme found in Bedrich Smetana’s "Moldau."


Listen Now!!

As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,

With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,

Then our hope - the two-thousand-year-old hope - will not be lost:

To be a free people in our land,

The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Restoration Promised

30 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you ^[a]call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, ² and you return to the Lord your God and ^[b]obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, ³ then the Lord your God will restore ^[c]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴ If your outcasts are at the ends of the ^[d]earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will ^[e]bring you back. ⁵ The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.

Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory.

Global View

The Orwellian Obama Presidency

Orwell would have understood the president’s upside-down thinking. Photo: Getty Images

By

Bret Stephens

March 23, 2015 7:28 p.m. ET 

 

The humiliating denouement to America’s involvement in Yemen came over the weekend, when U.S. Special Forces were forced to evacuate a base from which they had operated against the local branch of al Qaeda. This is the same branch that claimed responsibility for the January attack on Charlie Hebdo and has long been considered to pose the most direct threat to Europe and the United States.

So who should Barack Obama be declaring war on in the Middle East other than the state of Israel?
There is an upside-down quality to this president’s world view. His administration is now on better terms with Iran—whose Houthi proxies, with the slogan “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damn the Jews, power to Islam,” just deposed Yemen’s legitimate president—than it is with Israel. He claims we are winning the war against Islamic State even as the group continues to extend its reach into Libya, Yemen and Nigeria.

He treats Republicans in the Senate as an enemy when it comes to the Iranian nuclear negotiations, while treating the Russian foreign ministry as a diplomatic partner. He favors the moral legitimacy of the United Nations Security Council to that of the U.S. Congress. He is facilitating Bashar Assad’s war on his own people by targeting ISIS so the Syrian dictator can train his fire on our ostensible allies in the Free Syrian Army. 

He was prepared to embrace a Muslim Brother as president of Egypt but maintains an arm’s-length relationship with his popular pro-American successor. He has no problem keeping company with Al Sharpton and tagging an American police department as comprehensively racist but is nothing if not adamant that the words “Islamic” and “terrorism” must on no account ever be conjoined. The deeper that Russian forces advance into Ukraine, the more they violate cease-fires, the weaker the Kiev government becomes, the more insistent he is that his response to Russia is working.

To adapt George Orwell’s motto for Oceania: Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory.

The current victim of Mr. Obama’s moral inversions is the recently re-elected Israeli prime minister. Normally a sweeping democratic mandate reflects legitimacy, but not for Mr. Obama. Now we are treated to the astonishing spectacle in which Benjamin Netanyahu has become persona non grata for his comments doubting the current feasibility of a two-state solution. This, while his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas is in the 11th year of his four-year term, without a murmur of protest from the White House.

It is true that Mr. Netanyahu made an ugly election-day remark about Israeli-Arab voters “coming out in droves to the polls,” thereby putting “the right-wing government in danger.” For this he has apologized, in person, to leaders of the Israeli-Arab community.

That’s more than can be said for Mr. Abbas, who last year threatened Israel with a global religious war if Jews were allowed to pray in the Temple Mount’s Al Aqsa mosque. “We will not allow our holy places to be contaminated,” the Palestinian Authority president said. The Obama administration insists that Mr. Abbas is “the best interlocutor Israel is ever going to have.”

Maybe that’s true, but if so it only underscores the point Mr. Netanyahu was making in the first place—and for which Mr. Obama now threatens a fundamental reassessment of U.S. relations with Israel. In 2014 Mr. Abbas agreed to a power-sharing agreement with Hamas, a deal breaker for any Israeli interested in peace. In 2010 he used the expiration of a 10-month Israeli settlement freeze as an excuse to abandon bilateral peace efforts. In 2008 he walked away from a statehood offer from then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. In 2000 he was with Yasser Arafat at Camp David when the Palestinians turned down a deal from Israel’s Ehud Barak. 

And so on. For continuously rejecting good-faith Israeli offers, Mr. Abbas may be about to get his wish: a U.S. vote for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations. For tiring of constant Palestinian bad faith—and noting the fact—Israel will now be treated to pariah-nation status by Mr. Obama.

Here is my advice to the Israeli government, along with every other country being treated disdainfully by this crass administration: Repay contempt with contempt. Mr. Obama plays to classic bully type. He is abusive and surly only toward those he feels are either too weak, or too polite, to hit back.

The Saudis figured that out in 2013, after Mr. Obama failed to honor his promises on Syria; they turned down a seat on the Security Council, spoke openly about acquiring nuclear weapons from Pakistan and tanked the price of oil, mainly as a weapon against Iran. Now Mr. Obama is nothing if not solicitous of the Saudi highnesses. 

The Israelis will need to chart their own path of resistance. On the Iranian nuclear deal, they may have to go rogue: Let’s hope their warnings have not been mere bluffs. Israel survived its first 19 years without meaningful U.S. patronage. For now, all it has to do is get through the next 22, admittedly long, months.
Write to bstephens@wsj.com

US Declassifies Document Revealing Israel's Nuclear Program

Obama revenge for Netanyahu's Congress talk? 1987 report on Israel's top secret nuclear program released in unprecedented move.

By Ari Yashar, Matt Wanderman

First Publish: 3/25/2015, 8:00 PM

Dimona nuclear reactor circa 1960s

National Security Archive/Flash 90

In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth.

The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that it came as tensions spiraled out of control between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama ahead of Netanyahu's March 3 address in Congress, in which he warned against the dangers of Iran's nuclear program and how the deal being formed on that program leaves the Islamic regime with nuclear breakout capabilities.

Another highly suspicious aspect of the document is that while the Pentagon saw fit to declassify sections on Israel's sensitive nuclear program, it kept sections on Italy, France, West Germany and other NATO countries classified, with those sections blocked out in the document.

The 386-page report entitled "Critical Technological Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations" gives a detailed description of how Israel advanced its military technology and developed its nuclear infrastructure and research in the 1970s and 1980s.
Israel is "developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs. That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level," reveals the report, stating that in the 1980s Israelis were reaching the ability to create bombs considered a thousand times more powerful than atom bombs.
The revelation marks a first in which the US published in a document a description of how Israel attained hydrogen bombs.

The report also notes research laboratories in Israel "are equivalent to our Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories," the key labs in developing America's nuclear arsenal.

Israel's nuclear infrastructure is "an almost exact parallel of the capability currently existing at our National Laboratories," it adds.
"As far as nuclear technology is concerned the Israelis are roughly where the U.S. was in the fission weapon field in about 1955 to 1960," the report reveals, noting a time frame just after America tested its first hydrogen bomb.
Institute for Defense Analysis, a federally funded agency operating under the Pentagon, penned the report back in 1987. 

Aside from nuclear capabilities, the report revealed Israel at the time had "a totally integrated effort in systems development throughout the nation," with electronic combat all in one "integrated system, not separated systems for the Army, Navy and Air Force." It even acknowledged that in some cases, Israeli military technology "is more advanced than in the U.S."

Declassifying the report comes at a sensitive timing as noted above, and given that the process to have it published was started three years ago, that timing is seen as having been the choice of the American government.

US journalist Grant Smith petitioned to have the report published based on the Freedom of Information Act. Initially the Pentagon took its time answering, leading Smith to sue, and a District Court judge to order the Pentagon to respond to the request.
Smith, who heads the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy, reportedly said he thinks this is the first time the US government has officially confirmed that Israel is a nuclear power, a status that Israel has long been widely known to have despite being undeclared.

Instructions to parents

Read the Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

This word translated fathers could well be translated parents, because it includes both the father and the mother. It is also true that the emphasis is laid largely upon the father, for he is responsible for what the children become. That is sobering, is it not, fathers? Mothers may enforce policy, but it is the father's task to set it and to see that his children are raised properly. There is nothing that is more dishonoring to the spirit of Christianity than the attitude adopted by many fathers: It is my job to make the living; her job is to raise the children. Not in the Word of God! In the Bible, the ultimate responsibility for what a home becomes is the father's. So the word is addressed to fathers.

This is the way a father subjects himself to his children—by deliberately avoiding the things that make a child rebel. Do not exasperate your children. The word used here means anger that results in a rebellion. Fathers, do not provoke your children to the place where they completely lose control and break out against authority.

There are two things that cause rebellion in children: indulgence and harshness. These two things are the negative of the two things he instructs the father to do: Bring them up in the training and the instruction [or the exhortation] of the Lord. The opposites of these are indulgence and harshness.

Lack of discipline will make a child insecure, miserable, and self-centered. That is what we call a spoiled child—one who grows up to expect to have her way in everything and who rides roughshod over the feelings of everyone else. This is created by a spirit of indulgence on the part of parents who allow their children to make decisions that no child is capable of making. Parents must learn that they need to make decisions for their children for quite a while in their life and only gradually help them to learn to make those decisions as they are able to do so. In the early years of childhood parents must make almost all the decisions. One of the terribly tragic things about life today is the degree to which many parents let children make decisions they are incapable of making.

The other extreme that provokes a child to revolt is harshness—rigorous, demanding discipline that is never accompanied with love or understanding. Rigid, military discipline that says, Do this, or this, or else, will inevitably drive a child to revolt as he comes to adolescence.

Opposed to this the apostle puts two things—training and instruction (or exhortation) in the Lord. The word for instruction is really putting in mind in the Lord. Training and putting in mind in the Lord. As the child grows older, physical discipline is to be replaced by exhortation, by understanding—helping a child to see what lies behind the restrictions and always showing concern and love. It does not mean a total relaxing of limits, but it means a different way of enforcing them.

Father, thank You that You can change the mistakes I have made as a parent into opportunities for advancement in my children's lives as well as my own life.

Life Application: Are we, as parents, able to see and acknowledge two common behaviors that cause rebellion in our children? What training and instruction does our Father give us?

We hope you were blessed by this daily devotion.

From your friends at www.RayStedman.org

I wasn´t saved by a loving Jesus wooing me

Reblogged from  the-end-time.blogspot.com

I wasn't saved by love. The Gospel was not attractive to me. It was not made attractive to me by smiling Christians. I was saved by wrath.

This is NOT my Jesus

Glorious Jesus who was and is and is to come did not woo me to the cross. No one fulfilled my felt needs. No one befriended me and cajoled me into loving Jesus. He battered my head with a 2X4, dragging me kicking and screaming to the cross, where He made me face my sin. Once I saw my sin, I saw His coming wrath for it.

I repented.

THEN I loved Him. After He opened my eyes I saw all His loveliness and grace and mercy and long-suffering and patience and grief over sin and sinners. But I was not wooed, nor was I loved onto Mt Moriah. It is not true that "Jesus won't come where He isn't welcome". It is not true that "Jesus won't force Himself on anybody." He is sovereign God! He goes where He pleases! (Psalm 24:1). He drop kicked Saul/Paul to the ground AND blinded him! He didn't ASK Mary if she'd like to become pregnant and an object of ridicule and rumor the rest of her life. No, He sent an angel to TELL her how it was going to be. (Luke 1:30-37)

He isn't wringing His hands in heaven hoping that Jane or Tom or Mary will believe in Him, and maybe they will, if he just sends the Spirit to soften the pew cushions ... or energizes the preacher with a louder "WOO!" ... or if the musician plays one more verse of "Just As I Am." Maybe if He can make church "exciting" then Harry will repent and believe. No.

It was the sovereign wrath that convicted me and convinced me. It is why I love passages like this.

The Judgment at Christ’s Coming

The Great Day of His Wrath, John Martin ~1853

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

Let us begin the marveling now. Marvel at a Savior who saves by His sovereign election, will, purpose, and plan! Marvel at He who is wrath and judgment and holiness and fierce anger! Be afeared of His anger over your sin. Marvel that El Shaddai... El Elyon ...sent His Son to take on all anger for sin. Marvel that He is also Jehovah Rapha, and Jehovah Jireh, the LORD that heals, the LORD will provide. Marvel at the wrath. It makes marveling at the grace all the more sweet.

Wide is the Gate - Emerging church - Volume 1

To read more of this blog author´s original writing on discernment of  New Age false teachings and practices, click on the following links.

 Rob Bell, Kriya Yoga and another Jesus
Who is this Jesus?
The New Age Movement - Beginning in the Garden of Eden
Dr. Ben Carson revisited
Be careful, who are you listening to?
Warning! Danger ahead. Who is writing on the book of your life?
Personal reflection on sheep and goats.
Perceived truth and absolute truth
The woman at the well
How do we measure success?
The poison of false teachings
Preach the Word... and by all means use words (Scripture)

Turning Against Israel - Hal Lindsey

Reblogged from http://www.hallindsey.com/watchman-warning-3-23-2015/

According to the media, on March 16th, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu told the world there will never be a Palestinian state as long as he serves as Prime Minister.  There’s only one problem.  That’s not what he said.

Here’s what he actually said.  “I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands is giving attack grounds to radical Islam against the state of Israel.  There is a real threat here that a left-wing government will join the international community and follow its orders.”

The key word is “today.”  That means, “Under the present circumstances”… “As things are now”… “In the current situation.”  “Today” does not mean “forever.”
In media coverage, we rarely hear the actual quote. Instead, they describe him as saying “as long as I’m Prime Minister.”  But he didn’t say “as long as.”  He said, “Today.”
The New York Times characterized Netanyahu’s statement as “declaring definitively that if he was returned to office he would never establish a Palestinian state.”

The New York Daily News called such assessments “pure bunk.”
The Daily News seemed to be one of the few major news outlets to examine Netanyahu’s actual words.  Their editorial showed how reasonable his comments were.  “Israel would necessarily have to surrender territory to the Palestinians under any two-state pact,” they wrote.  “Netanyahu’s indisputable point was that doing so, as the facts on the ground now exist, would better position hostile forces to launch assaults.”

The media loves what they see as the story of the “real Netanyahu” coming out in the heat of the campaign, and showing his true feelings regarding a two-state solution.  Why should they bother with the facts when the fiction perfectly fits their prejudices?
The Obama administration also seems intent on reading the worst into Netanyahu’s statement.  The Department of State is the department of diplomacy.  They usually bend over backwards to see the words of foreign leaders, especially allies, in the best possible light.  Yet, the opposite is happening here.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, President Obama said, “We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn’t happen during his prime ministership, and so that’s why we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available.”

It doesn’t matter that he didn’t say it.  It doesn’t matter that he later explained in interview after interview that his words didn’t mean it “wouldn't happen during his prime ministership.”  It doesn’t matter because the administration sees this as an opportunity for leverage over Israel.

The president and his team have decided that under Netanyahu’s leadership Israel will never give up East Jerusalem, nor negotiate away Israel’s national security.  They now believe that a negotiated peace is not possible.  So their new plan seems to be an imposed peace.  They’re using Netanyahu’s statement (the one he never really said) to give them political cover for turning against Israel.

The president misrepresented the prime minister’s position, then said, “That's why we've got to evaluate what other options are available….”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest threatened that Netanyahu’s campaign statements will “have consequences.”  A senior administration official told the Wall Street Journal that such consequences might involve “potential action at the U.N. Security Council.”
The Security Council is the only United Nations body authorized to issue binding resolutions to member states.  The one safeguard is that permanent members of the Council have veto power over such resolutions.  In the past, the U.S. used its veto power to protect Israel.  But the U.S. now threatens to use Netanyahu’s supposed comment as an excuse to remove its protection.

On April 1st, the Palestinians will officially become part of the International Criminal Court.  Their expressed purpose in seeking membership has been to gain the ability to file war crimes suits against Israel.  Will America have Israel’s back?  It’s being “reevaluated.”
The BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) against Israel has had little impact so far.  However, the United States government’s newly inflamed anger against Israel gives anti-Israel and anti-Semitic attitudes new political cover.  In fact, rage against Israel has become politically correct on university campuses worldwide, and from there it’s spilling over into the streets.  If the U.S. government turns on Israel, the rage will go unchecked.

Will the United Nations be allowed to simply draw new borders at its own whim?  Will Judea and Samaria be stolen from Israel by international fiat?  Will trade restrictions on Hamas-run Gaza be removed allowing that terrorist organization to openly import its weapons of terror?  Will East Jerusalem be taken from Israel and given to the Palestinian Authority, a group now actively partnering with terrorist Hamas?

The angry U.S. response to Netanyahu has had the effect of hardening Israel into a position it never took and the U.S. never wanted — no two-state solution, no more dividing the land.  Interestingly, that has been God’s position all along.  In Joel 3:2, the Lord speaks of judging those nations who “have divided up My land.”


America has been Israel’s staunch defender for many decades.  But Zechariah 12:3 speaks of a time when “all the nations of the earth will be gathered against” Jerusalem.  Is the United States now turning to this dark side?

Folks, things are happening fast.  The return of Jesus is very, very close.