Freedom From BigBrother Now!

Do You Live In Fear of the Imminent End of the World?

Relax. You’ll be just fine. Here’s a message of hope. For too long the world has lived and labored under the destructive mindset that everything is going to hell in a hen basket. As usually is the case the loudest voices lack substantive proof.

Consider a different end-time perspective, not because it may be new to you, but simply because it has validity based upon evidence.

The Critical Problem of Time

Where did the idea of the imminent destruction of the universe originate in the first place? On May 22, 2000, in USA Today, Irvin Baxter prophesies a war for the near future in which two billion people will die. Men obsess with predicting the end of the world.

People have been predicting the end of the world since the close of the first century? The irony is, when the “end of the world” was imminent, men obsessed with its continuation (2 Peter 3:4). Now that the predicted end occurred many modern day prophets yet proclaim the imminent end of the world and all life on the planet.

The Promise to Never Destroy the Earth

After bringing a flood upon the earth to destroy all living things because of man’s evil, Genesis 6:5, God promises that He would never again curse the ground or destroy every living thing as he had done. His promise is, ‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:21, 22).

Someone may respond that this begs the question of how long does the earth remain? The answer is forever. Solomon said, one generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever. (Ecclesiastes 1:4). David recorded that God made a decree stating the sun, moon, stars and the heavens were established forever and would not pass away. (Psalms 148:4-6)

The Predicted End of the World

What is commonly known as the prediction of the end of the world is often misunderstood and more often misapplied. Jesus is asked by disciples after hearing about the destruction of the temple, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age.” (Matthew 24:3)

Some translations will supply “world” instead of age. This is not an accurate rendering. The word “age” from aeon is correct. It means an epoch or period of time. Their question is not about a future destruction of the globe. They wanted to know when the “age” i.e. Old Covenant age would come to an end. It was that end that was predicted, not an end of the material creation.

The language of “de-creation” is often used in the prophets to describe the fall of nations. See for example, Isaiah 13:10-13, where the language describes in apocalyptic terms, the end of ancient Babylon. Check other references in Isaiah 34:3-5, referring to Edom.

Apocalyptic Language

Too often, apocalyptic or figurative language is interpreted literally causing great confusion and misunderstandings. It forces unnatural renderings of plain texts. When we consider the time element that is used in the texts, we cannot place interpretations on the passages which violate the time in which the event is scheduled to occur. That is a huge key in understanding Bible prophecy. It virtually eliminates the end-time madness being inflicted upon society today.

Yes, the heavens and earth are said to be destroyed, but such language is governed by and within time limiting statements which set the parameters of fulfillment to be the age in which Jesus lived. “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

The Language of the Apostles

The above is why the apostles saw themselves living in the terminal generation. They never expected life on the planet to end. They were well-versed in Old Testament imagery and they knew such terminology referred to the end of the Old Covenant era.
Paul, for example, declares that the end of the age had come in their day. “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11). It serves no value to claim Paul was mistaken, that Jesus lied or that all the first century writers were misinformed.

They knew well the meaning of their words. They did live in the end of the age/world. The confusion begins when we misunderstand their language and misapply it by placing 21st century applications on first century events. Until we are more wise in handling the end-time language of the Bible, we are forever doomed to a hopeless future of confusion, self-fulfilling prophecies of destruction and war, and to a society paralyzed with fear and its consequences.

Jesus Died in the End of the Age

The phrase “end of the age” occurs five times in the New Testament. (Matthew 13:39, 40; 24:3; 28:20, and Hebrews 9:26) Each time it occurs, the Mosaic or Jewish age is meant. In the Hebrews passage, the text says Jesus died in the “end of the age.” Did the material world end with Jesus’ death? Was it about to end? We can all look back almost 2000 years ago and see that that was not the case.

However, there was an age which hurried toward destruction. The day, near on the horizon soon approached. (Hebrews 10:25) The event being concurrent with Christ’s return would happen in a little while. (Hebrews 10:37) These are the time statements that limit the end-time events to the first century.
That is why the writers of the Bible said, “The world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 John 2:15-17)

In addition, the antichrists were right there signaling that the last hour had come in their day, (1 John 2:18).
When speaking of the present world under the new covenant, it is a world which lasts forever and has no end. (Luke 1:32, 32; Ephesians 3:21; Hebrews 12:28)

In summary, the problems with end of the world predictions lie in their failure to encompass the emphatic time statements that saturate end-time teachings. These statements placed the end-time events in the first century. That includes what is called the end of the world.

With no outlook for doom on the horizon, we can expect nothing but a very bright future. The world will continue on. Life on the plant continues endlessly. Contrary to the escapism mandated by doom and gloom prophets, let’s get busy making it a better place instead of sabotaging ourselves and others with “chicken little” philosophy.

William Bell is a public speaker, author and writer on Covenant Eschatology. For more information visit http://www.allthingsfulfilled.com. Comments or questions are welcomed at info@allthingsfulfilled.com

I am sure you have all heard by now how the secular forces in our country are attacking the true meaning of Christmas. These secular forces are trying to literally replace the term “merry Christmas” with “happy holidays.” They are trying too re-name our traditional Christmas tree as the “holiday tree.” They are trying to take out the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph from the manger scenes.

President Bush himself has taken out the term “merry Christmas” from his yearly standard Christmas card that he sends out in an attempt to try and be politically correct. Many of our major department and retail stores have also replaced the term “merry Christmas” with “happy holidays” for fear of offending the minority in our country if they are not Christians.

In the last poll I saw taken, it has been estimated that 80-85% of the people in our country still consider themselves to be Christians. We are thus looking at 15-20% of our population either being atheists, agnostics or of another faith and religion.

In an effort to try and appease and not offend this small minority, many in the political, academic and social fields are literally trying to take out the true meaning of Christmas - the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And surprisingly, many liberal Christians are now in this secular camp.

I have seen many of them on the local news and cable talk shows. They are telling the rest of us conservative and traditional minded Christians that we are getting too upset over nothing, that we should be willing to completely separate Church from state, that we are too thin skinned and that we need to go along with this secular agenda and take our faith and belief right out of any kind of public arena.

As a result of this dark side attack, many Christians have risen up and have done battle with the secular forces trying to remove Christianity from the public square. We have been successful in some of the court battles along with some of the battles against some of the schools who are also trying to remove every tenant of Christianity in their teaching systems.

For those of you who don’t know what the word “secular” means, Webster’s Dictionary describes it as follows:

“Worldly, profane, heathen. Relating to worldly things as distinguished from things relating to church and religion; not sacred or religious, temporal.”

Another term that you will often hear is the phrase “secular humanism.” Webster’s describes this term as follows:

“Humanism that systematically opposes the introduction of religious ideas or standards into the functions of the state, especially into public education. A system of doctrines and practices that disregards or rejects any form of religious faith and worship.”

Remember this word. You will be seeing a lot more of this demonic movement in the coming years.

Per the series of articles I have done on all the end time events that will be occurring before Jesus returns to us for His second coming, one of the heavier signs that will be occurring will be the moral disintegration of many people from all walks of life.

The Bible tells us that in the latter days many people will become lovers of self, boasters, proud, blasphemers, unthankful, unholy, slanderers, brutal, without self-control, headstrong and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. The Bible also tells us that some of these people will be falling for “doctrines of demons.”

There is no doubt in my mind that the secular agenda and their basic philosophy is a demonic doctrine straight from the pit of hell. Not only do they not believe in God - but they want to try and take Him right out of any kind of pubic arena - even if they are considered to be in the minority!

You thus have liberal judges, teachers, professors and politicians who are doing everything they can to try and remove God from all of the public areas of our life. They are doing everything they can to try and remove the Bible and the Ten Commandments from every major public area of our lives.

Many of our school children have literally lost their faith in God and Jesus by the time they graduate from some of these liberal and secular colleges. If that child has not been raised up with a good, solid Christian upbringing, he will become easy prey for some of these demonic professors who are teaching them that man does not need a God to answer too and that man and science can eventually solve all the world’s problems.

What you will find that is really funny in all of this is that these secular forces are not attacking any of the other false religious faiths and beliefs. They are not attacking any of their holidays or trying to take out any of their system of beliefs out of our public arenas.

The reason for that is that all of these other false religions and beliefs are not considered a threat to them and their beliefs. Christianity is the only faith and religion that will draw a major battle line in the sand and call out things the way they really are. Christianity is the only faith that will call man as he really is - a sinner in need of a Savior.

Secularists don’t want to be told that they are all sinners. They don’t want to be told that they need God’s grace and mercy through the death of Jesus Christ in order to receive redemption and a pardon for their sinful states and natures.

They don’t want to be told what they can and cannot do. They want total freedom of expression and they don’t want to have to answer to a real live living God for the moral decisions they want to make with their lives. In other words, they do not want any moral absolutes dictating how they should live in this life.

This is why you are seeing such a fierce and relentless attack on Christianity in every area that they think they can get away with. With us now approaching what I believe are the latter years as told to us in the Bible, I am afraid that not only is the secular movement not going to be going away, but it will be getting stronger in the coming years, eventually leading up to a real live antichrist who will literally be ruling this entire world for the last 7 years on this earth.

To find what those two bone chilling verses from Scripture are and for a complete copy ofTaking Jesus out of Chrismas

Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of Bible knowledge.

The Masonic Groups are no longer being careful with the types of people they let into the organization and this is causing a problem because too many people know people who happen to be Masons and they look at them as if they are derelicts. A group like the Masonic organization needs to be careful as to who they let into their group and watch more closely the level of personal character that is allowed into the group.

Even if the lower levels of the group remain at those lower levels they still hold them selves out to be Masonic members, and yet they do not have the same mannerism and this currently is turning people off. The Masonic groups are losing their tradition in the United States of America and the older and more wiser gentlemen who have wisdom and knowledge are not passing the torch correctly and in some cases entrusting people who are all low moral character and do not understand.

This is unfortunate because it is causing a decay in the Masonic Groups and even with strong political support and even secret group meetings the Masonic Groups are dying on the vines and many people no longer trust them or care much about what they say.

This is indeed unfortunate, yet it is a fact. Personally, I realize that this article may offend some people, but if one cannot handle the truth or walk outside the cave and see what is really going on then they need to be enlightened. Additionally, the Masonic Groups are getting a bad image and desperately need better marketing and revitalization of their brand image.

If not they will be unable to recruit the caliber of person to take the group to the next level in future periods. This article is merely an accumulation of my observations from traveling around the country for the last five years. If you guys don’t get on low ball you’re going to lose it all. Your Masonic Groups need to get together and decide amongst themselves how to propel the group into the future. Do not be blinded by arrogance, tunnel vision or tradition and take down the whole ship. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Question
What happens to all the cities of the world? Are they utilized in Christ’s millennial kingdom?

Answer
According to Revelation 16:18-20 the mother of all earthquakes will topple every city on earth. If Jesus wants to use them again, he would have to order their restoration. I doubt he will do that because the Bible says there will he topographical changes throughout the earth. Rivers will he re-routed, mountains displaced, valleys elevated and desserts will be made to bloom. These changes may indicate that the earth will become largely an agrarian environment. This idea is not ironclad but the city busting earthquake is.

Question
Is the battle of Armageddon the third or the last world war?

Answer
Armageddon is not the third world war. In fact it isn’t a world war of any kind. It is a battle involving most every country in the world. It takes place fifty five miles north of the city of Jerusalem in the plains of Megiddo. It is a last ditch attempt of the antichrist to stop the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It fails miserably because Christ annihilates every last person in that battle with a single stroke. It will take the armies a hundred times longer to assemble, than to meet their doom.

But a world war it is not. Perhaps it could best be described as a futile attempt to stay a very angry God. I always think of Isaiah saying the nations are as a drop in the bucket when I think of this battle Isaiah 40:15. It has to be constantly emphasized to the believer that man is not using his own devices to bring about the judgments of God in those days. Armageddon is the perfect example of the ineffectiveness of the combined efforts of the entire world to produce much of anything. This is God’s time not mans. Revelation 16:l3f

Question
Why is the idea that the world will just keep getting better, and that a gradual improvement will usher in the return of the Lord, wrong?

Answer
The Jehovah’s Witnesses hold this belief, but they are not alone. The so called Dominion teachings that are strongly emerging today espouse the same idea. Sometimes referred to as restoration theology this teaching is found mostly in Great Britain but is gaining acceptance in other countries as well. It is based on the idea that man must take dominion over the earth and bring in the millennial peace by laws and biblical principles. The laws are largely based on the Old Testament Mosaic traditions.

Besides the fact that the Mosaic Law already had its debut and failed, it is hard to believe that any person who has ever read the New Testament could believe this foolishness, but they do. Those who go ahead with this absurd idea must disregard about one quarter of the Bible’s teaching. This is equal to labeling every angel, apostle, prophet and the Lord himself a bunch of inveterate liars. I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of any one espousing this doctrine when Christ appears in the eastern skies and the trumpet can he heard that calls the whole world to attention.

This notion that things are getting better may allow uncounted millions to accept the rule of the antichrist without question. After all, he does enter on the wings of peace, and a promise of a better worldwide economy. How easy it would be to see him as part of the things are getting better doctrine of the Dominionists. Even without this doctrinal new kid on the block, only a fool or someone deaf, dumb and blind would admit that the world is getting better. But there will always be those who dismiss the insanity in today’s world with the glib adage “these things are not new, but have been around for ages.” Yes, they have been in the world for centuries. Murder, theft, etc, have been with us since time immemorial but that’s not the question. The question is how pervasive are these things today.

I could use hundreds of examples here but to make the point let me just pop this one out. In the mid nineteen thirties America was shocked, outraged and in arms about the kidnapping of one single child, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. Today upwards of fifty thousand children a year go missing, some are abducted and killed. Is this what we mean when we cover our increased penchant for evil with the worn out lame excuse that all these things are after all, “nothing new?”

Jesus said that in the last days the love of many would wax cold. Matthew 24:12. The last thing that this world needs less of is love but the reason love thins down is also stated in the same verse of scripture. Love is given walking papers in the last days by the abounding of iniquity. This implies that it isn’t the presence of the same old sins that have been around for centuries, but it is their exponential increase in the last days that helps to rid the world of the thing it has always needed the most…love.

Rev Bresciani has written many articles over the past thirty years in such periodicals as Guideposts and Catholic Digest. He is the author of two books available on Amazon.com, Alibris, Barnes and Noble and many other places. Rev Bresciani wrote “Hook Line and Sinker or what has Your Church Been Teaching You,” publisher, PublishAmerica of Baltimore MD. He also wrote a book published by Xulon Press entitled “An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ.” His book is now being heralded as the clearest book on the subject of the second coming of Christ since Hal Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth” Rev Bresciani’s website is,
http://americanprophet.org.

For many years Muslims have, since they first encountered developed Christian thought, pondered the relationship between the various aspects of dogmatic theology (sometimes called “Kalam”). Because the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) accurately reflects the system of theology found in the holy Scripture, its theology of Christ (Christology), for instance, neatly comports with its doctrine of Scripture. This is an example of what it means to show that the Bible has “the [mutual] consent of all the parts.”

This is not at all the case with Islam. Two important points concerning Islamic theology render it logically impossible [not two points only, many others exist too, but only two will be considered here], and thus idolatrous, creating a distortion of the Nature of the One True and Living God. At each point, these first-order deficiencies of Islam show up in a respective failure to provide the logical preconditions for making sense out of the world. These doctrinal culprits have names. The first Islamic gaff bears the appellation “tanzih” (say TAWN-zuh) and the second “tawhid” (TAU-heed).

A. Tanzih. This doctrine emphasizes the absolute “other-ness” (what philosophical types call “transcendence”) of God. In the Qur’an, one finds the saying that “God is altogether unlike any creature.” Here Islam deviates radically from historic Christian and biblical theology, which would deny the word “altogether” found in the previous phrase. In the Bible, God transcends his creation in some respects (called His “incommunicable attributes” because He alone possesses these); but God also remains LIKE the creation in OTHER respects (His “communicable attributes”). For instance, the biblical doctrine of man has him (and her) made in God’s image. This requires then a kind of “analogy of being” (”analogia entis” for Latin junkies), however remote, between God and man. In this respect God is decisively NOT “altogether unlike any creature.”

Thus, the erroneous doctrine of tanzih implies:

Since God is wise, and is ALTOGETHER UNLIKE any creature, therefore, no creature is wise. This would imply, of course, that Mohammed was a fool — an implication unacceptable to any Muslim. It would also make idiots of angels (a most unlikely prospect), and men like Solomon, and all the prophets. This proposition then - Tanzih - clearly incurs the biblical “two thumbs down.”
Second, since God can read and write, tanzih implies that no creature can do so. This would, of course, render the Koran [Qur’an] quite impossible, or at the least, meaningless. It hardly makes sense for God to go through a good deal of trouble to communicate His Word to men in writing, if he has not enabled any of them to read.

Third, the doctrine of tanzih implies that Man cannot be created in God’s image, as implied earlier.

In affirming BOTH that man is created in God’s image, AND that God is altoghether unlike any creature, Islam shows itself as self-refuting, and merely man-made religion. The Gospel of Christ, on the other hand, affirms that the creation (esp. man) reflects God’s communicable attributes, and in these ways God is LIKE men. God created man in His image, so that later [after the fall of man into sin], it would be possible for God to BECOME a man, in order to redeem us.

Here, we see the clarity and consistency of the Gospel of Christ, set over against the foolishness of Islam at one major point where Islam entangles itself in a web of deceit.

Now we move onto the doctrine of Tawhid.

Islam teaches the absolute unity (Oneness) of God as a means of trying to set itself over against various forms of polytheism. But this clearly provides a case of “overcompensation,” as is shown by a logical critique on the subject. Contrary to the doctrine of tanzih, here, God has created a cosmos that reflects “his eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:19-20). This is why we sometimes refer to the cosmos (a greek word meaning “order”) as the “universe.” “Uni-” indicates the unity of the many things (”verse”) we experience in this world.

The world displays both unity and a diversity among its many parts. In philosophy, this simple fact gives rise to a problem called “the One and the Many.” How does one explain how it is that this unity and plurality work together to give us a single common experience of the world? How can the world (cosmos) be unified in all its diverse things out there? Nature can nature in all its variety (we have cats and dogs, cars and trucks, sand and mud, trees and flowers, etc.), still be uniform (so that the same laws of physics apply to all of them similarly) — even on the moon ??

The Christian answer is direct: God is One with respect to his divine nature, and many with respect to his personhood. This roughly states the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. This is, of course, not a contradiction. A contradiction must imply (or state) both A and not-A, in the SAME RESPECT, and at the same time. Christians hold that God is One (in respect A = his divine nature), and that God is many (in respect B = his personhood), so that the three divine Persons are One God.

This in fact explains why nature shows BOTH uniformity and diversity: The Creator who made it is both One and many, and since the creation reflects his character, it also has a oneness and a “many-ness” about it, which (given the Christian worldview) resolves the problem of the One and the Many, which no pagan philosopher in the history of the world has been able to do.

And Islam is no help here either. First, the Quranic doctrine of tanzih denies any analogy between the creation and Creator, then tawhid says that, even if there were such an analogy, nature would show no diversity at all — the creation would be a monolithic “one” — an absolute unity with no diversity. This would make the creation something (by way of illustration) like one big cement block, or one big stone. If the creation were in fact like these doctrines suggest, they would preclude human experience altogether, since “human” would not be distinguishable from any other adjective.

Therefore, the fact that we experience anything at all is proof for the truth of the Christian worldview, and a standing denial of the folly of Islam — together with the other false religions (like Roman Catholicism or Buddhism) which, in the end, cannot explain anything. Their basic presuppositions cannot provide the necessary preconditions (like the unity AND diversity of the cosmos) to make human experience intelligible.

And any worldview (including all forms of Atheism or Agnosticism) which cannot render the world intelligible to us, is itself not a meaningful picture of what the world is, of how we know what we know, and of how we should live our lives. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply the TRUTH, which is why it ALONE explains all three aspects of human experience just mentioned — with “the consent of all the parts.”

This is what is meant when Christians say, “Sola Scriptura!,” and why the phrase properly ends with an exclamation point. And those who chant “God is great” do not know the half of what they say, for He is much greater than the Qu’ran would have us believe. The contrary is impossible.

Carson Day has written some 1.3 gazillion articles and essays on all manner of topics. These aim to glorify God and offer people real help to live wisely and well. You can visit Carson’s websites at http://ophirgold.blogspot.com (The Omniblog, where Carson blogs everything) or http://extremeprofit.blogspot.com (Carson’s Day Trading Outpost). Thanks for stopping by.

One cycle of Heaven and Earth is 129,600 years and in every cycle, the world will end and then start again according to the law of nature just like in a day there are 24 hours. One cycle is divided into 12 phases and each phase is 10,800 years. We are now in the 7th to 8th phase and it has been 60,000 years since man was created in this cycle of Heaven and Earth and now it is at the peak of human civilization and the sins caused by human beings are also at its peak. The last chance is the opportunity to have salvation before earth and spiritual world destruct.

With the great mercy, God so far has descended ten Buddhas to govern this cycle of Heaven and Earth. Nine Buddhas had already passed, leaving the tenth Buddha, Mi-Le Buddha ( Maitreya Buddha), to amass souls in “Long-hua Assemblies” (’Long’ implies the True Self. ‘Hua’ implies the life. Long-hua Assemblies means that everyone has his True Self and life combine together and meet in Heaven. It also means that the True Savior of the world will attain Tao under a Long-hua tree). Making Tao of Heaven accessible to everyone is a Divine Mission ordained by God and derived from the great merciful vows of Mi-Le Buddha.

God created Heaven and Earth, and presides over the cosmos. Hence, God descends Buddhas and Saints to rule the world and to amass souls. In this Last Catastrophe of the Third Period, the human morality is so deteriorated that the magnitude of catastrophes and destructions will be greater than ever before. In order to bring salvation to mankind, God has set this time to be the last opportunity to receive Tao of Heaven, which won’t happen again for another 129,600 years. This is the meaning of “The last Chance” according to Tao of Heaven.

Mi-Le Buddha has been practising “Three ‘Mei’ of Mercifulness” (Three Mei means the ultimate quiescence. Three Mei of Mercifulness means to attain the ultimate quiescence through mercifulness) since he first took his vows. After many Cycles of Heaven and Earth, the seed he sowed sprouted and the fruit ripened in this Cycle. His mercifulness enlightens the Three Domains (Heaven of Desires, Heaven of Images, and Heaven of Non-Images - These are Buddhist terms) and shapes the Pure Land in ‘Wei’ (Phase 8th of cycle of Heaven and Earth) Phase. He also helps the predestined to transcend the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and becomes enlightened. The amassment of souls is all because of the great merciful vows of Mi-Le Buddha.

“The Last Chance” is the last opportunity bestowed by God. If one misses this opportunity, one has to wait until the next amassment of souls in the next Cycle of Heaven and Earth. After such a long period, who can guarantee one will still have a human body and encounter Tao of Heaven at that time? Therefore, “The Last chance” is of ultimate importance.

My Heavenly Master JiGong said, “The Final Years (New Age, Last Days - the New Age, described in Christianity as the Last Days and in Buddhism as the Last Kalpa or the Decaying Dharma Period) has come. During this very stage of Universal Transformation (Pu-Du), we all belong to a group that strives upwardly for the Way to Full Enlightenment (perfect universal awareness) and works downwardly to carry numerous beings across the bitter sea of life (transform others). Hence, we must be hard-working and be energetic in making progress. And then we can explain the Truth-Principle according to the situations and chances. Essentially, the law or Truth does not bear the differences of being superior or inferior and being profound or superficial. As long as it suits the taste of the receiver (audience), it is all right.”

Author: T.A Chew

T.A Chew, realized that The Final Catastrophe can be real after listening to the teachings of Tao of Heaven and seeing that what was taught earlier are really happening. Tsunami, earthquake, fire, wind etc are all in the divine messages long before they came. Website: http://www.white-sun.com

What does your church teach regarding the subject of Widows and Orphans? If we were all being honest, most of us rarely give the matter a second thought. If your ministry, company, or even your civic group is struggling, or you’re lacking contentment in your own spiritual life, here’s a tip that’s guaranteed to send any lackluster routine into hyperspace. Interested?

Here it is: Start reaching out to widows and orphans within your scope of influence.

Recently, TV’s 700 Club interviewed Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries which is experiencing phenomenal revival among many African tribes. To paraphrase Heidi, “If you want to see revival, start ministering to the widows and orphans.”

Even America, the most powerful, wealthiest nation on Earth, lags embarrassingly behind smaller countries where providing for its children is concerned. While we rank first among nations for military spending and the number of our millionaires, we rank a dismal 14th in our efforts to help our orphans. Jesus said, “…what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Here are some sad statistics about the State of the Children in the land of the free and home of the brave, submitted by the Children’s Defense Fund: Each day, four children are killed by abuse or neglect, five commit suicide, eight are killed by firearms, 76 die before their first birthday, 182 are arrested for violent crimes and 366 for drug abuse, 1,186 are born to teenage mothers, 1,707 are born without health insurance, 2,171 are born into poverty, 2,341 are born to mothers without a high school diploma, 2,455 are abused or neglected, 2,539 high school students drop out and 4,440 children under age 18 are arrested.

Those statistics would make Abraham Lincoln, our nation’s 16th President, roll over in his grave. It was he who said, in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865: “With malice toward none, with charity for all…to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan…”

Today, we find ourselves in a new kind of war. Though wecall it a “war against terrorism,” fact is, it’s still a war and that means people are dying. As of this writing, July 8, 2005, America has experienced a total of 1,752 casualties in Iraq; 210 in Afghanistan, 56 of those in 2005. Are we, the people, taking advantage of the opportunity to reach out to the women left without husbands and children left fatherless? Or do we leave that to the government or say “Somebody should do something”?

WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE INSTRUCT US TO DO?

There is a verse in Scripture that describes the only kind of true religion, the kind that Jesus taught and exemplified - one which had nothing to do with obligatory Church attendance or obedience to manmade rules and regulations. This verse, describing the only kind of religion that makes sense, can be found in James 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

As you may have noticed, Jesus was not a very religious person, always butting heads with the most religious people of His day, healing on the Sabbath, hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors and so on. The religious part of any faith is no less than a mere return to bondage - adherence to rules and regulations that shackle humankind - intended to be the most free creatures in the universe. That kind of religion - legalism, self-imposed rules and self-denial - is the kind that nobody needs or desires. Religion is, after all, man’s hapless attempt to reach God. We simply can’t reach that high. So, God became one of us. I wish everyone had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He’s real, you know. Jesus proclaimed that He came to set us free. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Relationship is what Christianity is all about - reconciliation between God and man and man with each other (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).

Look at Colossians 2:23 where religion is spoken of in this way: “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”

An Old Testament verse, Deuteronomy 10:18, reads: “… He executes justice forthe fatherless and the widow….” There have always been widows and orphans. The Scriptures repeatedly uses widows and orphans as the litmus test of need. Apparently, from Heaven’s perspective, there is no one more needy than the woman who has lost her husband or the child who has lost mommy and daddy. God’s heart is turned toward them. Ours should be as well.

Religion that is acceptable to God is religion that has Christ’s hands and feet, the Body of Christ. Now, it may involve more than this, but it never involves less. Regarding James 1:27, the NIV translates the “visiting” of widows and orphans as episkeptesthai, meaning: “to look after.” The King James translates it as, “to visit.” The Good News Bible translates it as, “to take care.” All these translations are pretty much spot on. It’s more than merely visiting and it’s more than taking care of. Literally, it’s about visiting in order to help. It’s about taking the initiative to go to those who need assistance.

EXAMPLES FROM THE EARLY CHURCH

The Early church actively addressed legitimate social concerns (Acts 6:1; 9:39; 1 Tim. 5:3). This was in keeping with Old Testament instructions about caring for the needy (Deut. 14;28,19; 16:11; 26:12). The example set by the Early church has been imitated for nearly 2,000 years. For example, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, described his ministry in this way: “We will wash (our sacrifices) in the tears of widows and orphans and lay it on the altar of humanity.” In looking at James 1:27 as it might apply to the life issues facing us today, it is interesting that the two groups James charges us with looking after are single women (widows) and parentless children (orphans). The church is not called to choose between the two - as we have, let’s say, in the abortion issue - but to love them both. Truly, the most God-honoring solution to that particular issue is a solution in which both the mother and child are ministered to, not pitted as pawns against each other in a battle of rights.

If a child becomes an orphan, James asks the church to take care of it. If a woman loses her husband, James asks the church to take care of her. The practical implication for the abortion issue is clear; if both mother and father abandon their child, even an unborn child, it is the church’s responsibility to present an alternative and to speak up for that child. Proverbs 31:8 admonishes us to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” If a man abandons a pregnant woman, the church - NOT the Government - must step in and take responsibility there, too.

AN EXAMPLE FROM SCRIPTURE

Dorcas was a very kind person who was always mindful of the widows and the poor. Great example, she was. In Bible times, when a woman’s husband died, she had no way to make a living. This condition exists even today all over the planet. The law in those times stated that if a widow’s husband had owned land, it went to the oldest son, not the dead man’s wife. If the oldest son failed to take care of his mother, she had nowhere to turn for help. If there was no son, she still lost her property and could only get it back if a relative of her husband married her. Remember the story of Ruth and Boaz? That’s what that was about.

God had instructed the Jews to care for the poor. They could not harvest the edges of their fields, but had to leave the grain for the poor people to “glean” or pick up. Neither could the owner go over the field a second time to pick up grain that had fallen. It was to be left for the poor.

Every third year the tithe was to be reserved as a festival tithe where they brought out all the tithe, and their produce where the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the poor who were in their town, could come and eat and be content (Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 26:12-15). In the New Testament, there was organized giving within local assemblies to care for believing widows and orphans who had no other family to rely on (Acts 6:1-4; 1 Tim. 5:1-16). As we see in the book of James, those who care for the poor receive God’s approval, and those who do not are displeasing to him.

True, there is NO New Covenant example (after Christ’s Resurrection) of the early Church “tithing.” In Acts 4:32-37, there were many wealthy Christians who sold portions of their assets and put the money at the Apostles’ feet. Was it for the apostles, in order to make them rich? No, it was for the Christian community. The apostles distributed what they received. The only time we find a New Testament example of God’s judgment having to do with money is in Acts 5:1-11. Ananias and Sapphira were condemned for lying, because they held back part of the proceeds from the sale of the land that they had promised along with everyone else. Despite what some preachers may say, this judgment had absolutely nothing to do with “tithing,” as much as it had to do with keeping their word. Message: Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.

REVIVAL BASED UPON OBEDIENCE

As Heidi Baker said, I believe that, if the Body of Christ were to set their sights on aiding the widows and the orphans, it would command a blessing from Heaven that we could not contain. It’s true.To obtain a blessing we must remain blessable. Frankly, I believe that stands true regarding civic groups, businesses and individuals as well. Why else would it be that so many nations - other than the USA, that is - are experiencing exponential Christian growth amidst famine, war, disease and pestilence? Is it because so much money and aid are being directed to assist the refugees, consisting in great part, of widows and orphans?

Let’s read Acts 6: 1-7. It says: And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration… brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word…and they chose… And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Did you notice? As soon as the church focused upon the widows, their numbers increased. So simple! You see, the bottom line is this: it’s not OUR money. We are merely stewards of it and, if we perform our duties well, it commands a blessing from God. Simply put, it’s called reaping and sowing.

“He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done,” Proverbs 19:17.

I expect most who are reading this right now have a religion of sorts. Hopefully, many have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I wish that was so for all people everywhere. But, for those who have religion only - even if it’s the ‘religion’ of Christianity (rather than a relationship with God through Jesus Christ) - please ask yourself this question: how pure, and undefiled is it? Does it measure up to James’ description of pure and undefiled religion?

Though there are some who claim that James 1:27 refers only to those within the church (specifically THEIR church), there are multitudes who will never join their group because they neglected to show the hands and feet of Christ to the widows and orphans right there in their community.

Jesus, once again, has the final word on this subject. In Matthew 25:40, He says, “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Love oneanother.

Every blessing!

Michael
A servant of God
t.e.a.m. ministries
A Message of Discipleship & Encouragement to the Body of Christ
P.O. Box 633
Stephenville, Texas 76401
http://www.planetaryministry.org
BLOG: http://journals.aol.com/team1min/YourTownforJesus/

Pastor Michael has been broadcasting his eMail messages of Discipleship and encouragement to Christians of all denominations
since 1999. These messages are literally reaching millions each week and the messages are being re-posted on other Christian sites,used as Bible studies for groups, and are being used by those in ministry as a preaching guide.

The Coming World War III [with Russia]

In my book, “The Last Trumpet…” I write about prophecy, and World War III, which I wrote about five years ago; thus, I have not wrote much on it since, which I fear, I should have. Many things have happened in the past five years, besides me traveling around the world ten times, and writing book after book, World War III has been gearing up; how so? Let me explain. First of all, I was an Ordained Minister, in good standing, in l993 (I have since left that area, for my own personal reasons); I wrote out the Manuscript, of “The Last Trumpet…” in l984, sent it to three clergy I knew, and one person died of the three, and I he misplaced it when I went to find it; so it was lost, as was the second one to the second clergy, and mine was misplaced for 13-years. Then my mother told me I need to get it out no matter what, she died in 2003, I had gotten the book out in 2002, so she got her wish. Anyhow, they used it for Bible Study, in prophecy in Haiti, believe it or not, so the pastor wrote me and told me. But let me get the premise here.

We are presently, somewhat friendly with Russia, but it will not remain that way. In the book of Ezekiel, prophecy foretold Israel shall return to their own land, and now we see this has come to pass. I do believe Iran will be directly involved with the invasion, as will Russia, as they plan to invade Israel in the near future. That is one of the reasons we are in Iraq, believe it or not; we are a buffer. Look into chapter 38, verses 1 and 2, Ezekiel mentions Gog, the land of Magog. If you ask a Russian what is the top of the Caucasus Mountains called, he’d say, “The Gogh”. Magog, with his tribe, left Asia Minor and went to the southern part of the land we now call Russia. Thus, Russia is going to play a major part in the war to come in the Middle East.

These are the times, Israel’s last Holocaust you could say, is coming (that is, a war, and then the Holocaust). The people to come up against Israel will look like a cloud. Two hundred-million, military forces will come against Israel. China can boast that now with their reserves, so it has been written; that is two thirds the population of the United States. Those who have mocked the Bible, look closer skeptics, look at 2 Peter 3:10, there you will find a clear definition of the atomic warfare as is contained in any library. ‘…the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” This is the end, end times; Russia will hit Israel before her last strike; when I say her last strike I’m jumping too far into the future, but not that far. First comes the war with Russia, and then the 200-million military force.

Dennis Siluk, you can see his book at his site, or http://www.amazon.com http://dennissiluk.tripod

So your kids are getting older and you’re worried about how to
deal with the world outside your door. When you open it, you’re
flooded with a multitude of temptations…all inviting your
children to join the new order of instant gratification. The
seduction is hard enough for adults to deal with, so how can the
underdeveloped Christian mind ever hope to resist. Especially
when the don’t understand the serious harm some of these things
can do.

It Starts with Example

Needless to say, it all starts with example. Johnny might not
buy into Mom and Dad’s strict life policies, but he’ll at least
always remember it. It’ll gnaw at the back of his conscience and
continue to urge him towards holiness throughout his life.

And it works the other way too. A bad example from parents will
always be an excuse for poor behavior from young adults. Think
of how many times you’ve thought to yourself, “My dad used to do
it…it can’t be that bad.”

But it Doesn’t End There

Parenthood calls for more than example. After all, many selfless
parents have raised selfish (spoiled) brats. There has to be
more. There has to be some intervention. But how much? Do we
keep them in a bubble until they’re eighteen? Or do we allow
them to experience and learn from the world?

This subject is much too large for one article. But there’s an
important aspect to parenthood that was probably not passed on
from our own parents…because when they were parents, it wasn’t
as big an issue.

The fact is, we’re no longer living in a Christian world…and
we have to adjust our approach to life. We can no longer rely on
any sort of rating system from the entertainment world. We can’t
trust that our schools (even the Catholic ones) are going to
provide a Christian education.

This means that you’ll have to pay more attention and teach your
kids what it means to be Christian. You have to make them
realize that they are different. They have to feel separated
from the rest of the world. At first, this could mean something
as simple as teaching them not to pay attention to the Jones’s.
But eventually, they need to know their unique position. They
are children of God…and that carry’s responsibility.

Telling them once isn’t a cure-all. There has to be a continuing
reminder that our duty to God comes first. And of course, it’ll
only work with prayer and example.

The Openness of God

A different perception of God has arisen in Evangelical Christianity that while not being new, has challenged the way we have always thought about God’s nature. This paradigm shift is seen by it’s authors to bring us closer to the biblical conception of God. The book is called The Openness Of God and is seen to be very controversial in it’s perception of God and will have sweeping effects on every other area of evangelical thought and life.

The God shown in this book is not the immutable monarch controlling human history and man’s individual lives but rather a loving and suffering Father who has chosen to allow man’s actions to affect Him in very real ways. At face value what they propose looks like Libertarian process theology with a twist of arminianism. But it seems it is actually much more. These authors introduce us to a God who is with us in time through self-limitation and does not know the future in absolute detail. This new view of God is called “the open view of God,” “creative-love theism,” or “free-will theism.” It is extreme Arminianism, but stops short of full-on process theology.

Some definitions may be helpful at this point, there are two main theological beliefs currently accepted by the mainstream church, Armenianism and Calvinism. Arminianism is the belief that God has given man the choice to accept or reject Him. Predestination is conditioned by God’s foreknowledge of who would respond to the gospel. It is also possible for a believer to fall from grace. Man can neither of himself nor of his free will do anything truly good until he is born again of God.

Calvinism states that fallen man is totally unnable to save himself, and that God’s electing purpose was not conitioned by anything in man. That Christ’s atoning death was sufficient to save all men, but efficient only for the elect. That God’s grace is irresistable to the elect of God and that they being regenerated and redeemed will persevere in the faith.

Less commonly accepted, is Process Theology which is more philosophically than biblically or confessionally based. Process Theology is the belief that God is evolving with the universe and does not know the future but is learning along with his creation, He is confined to time and thus knows possibilities and probabilities but He doesn’t know actualities.

The Openness of God is not a new concept. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Socinians made the same argument. “God does not know, in such a way that whatsoever he knows will surely come to pass.” So in regard to human choices, God knows future possibilities but not future certainties.

Both Calvanists and Arminians, along with the most part of christendom affirmed God’s foreknowledge of human choices.

John Calvin wrote,”[God] foresees future events only by reason of the fact that he decreed that they take place.” Jacob Arminius wrote,”[God] has known from eternity which persons should believe…and which should persevere through subsequent grace.”

Christian orthodoxy has never denied God’s foreknowledge of human choices. Both Arminianists and Calvinists ( the whole church) do not agree with Open theology.

I believe that a defective doctrine of God would affect all areas of Christian life and leadership as well as discipleship to bring about an eroding of the glory due to God. Your theology will directly influence your leadership style and the outworking of your salvation. After all your conceptualisation of God’s nature is what is imitated and lived out in daily life.

Openness theology is not necessarily an extension of Arminianism and neither is it the opposite of Calvinism, nor even a response to the calvinist tradition. Instead it appears to be another tangent in the quest to reconcile divine providence and human freedom with a little input from Process theology.The followers of this particular view are I believe genuinely concerned with preaching the word of God and the work of discipling others in Christ. Nevertheless, it does seem clear that openness theologians lack adequate scriptural grounding and are outside of the theological mainstream with regard to God’s omniscience and providence. Biblically, the future appears to be less open than they propose.

Openness Theologians say that history is the combined result of what God and His creatures decide to do. God is always walking beside us, and experiencing intimately all that we go through. God is omnipotent in the sense that He is the creator of all and could control his creatures if He so wished but He chooses not to control by coercion or force, instead His role is influential and persuasive.

The argument of openness theologians is that God has been taken hostage and held captive by classic theism where His transcendence is overemphasised and His personhood as the Trinity downplayed. They say this view of God is inconsistent with the revelation of God through scripture, namely that God can suffer, grieve and repent.

One would think that the opposite of the God of classical theism would be the finite God of process theology, but the openness of God is clear that God does intervene and will certainly bring history to a conclusion in line with His will and purposes-with or without the help of mankind.

Openness theology also teaches that any claims about the nature of God that are logical contradictions cannot be accepted in theology. It has to be all or nothing as in the case where one says that God knows the future in absolute detail and with total certainty but still leaves parts of the future open and undetermined i.e. in the case of people’s decisions regarding their personal salvation.

Another tenant of Openness theology is that true freedom means being able to choose between options without any predetermination. This puts them in a position where neither determination nor predestination are an option. Ultimately it means that the creature assumes and requires a certain limited independence from God. Whereas other evangelicals and Calvanists in particular prefer to accept a more compatible idea of freedom whereby for them, true freedom is being able to do what God knows and has decided is right.Thus they choose to be totally dependant on God, and independence from God is slavery.

For openness adherents this is very foreign, because it ultimately places one in a position that seems to attribute the authorship of both good and evil to God. It is a powerful and persuasive book, but it does have some serious problems that will prevent even sympathetic readers from embracing it as a model for life.

For instance can a self-limiting God who rarely, if ever, intervenes in the free choice and actions of man be assured that the history of this planet will end in the way He desires. For instance every decision we make can have hard hitting and lasting effects in this cause and effect world. A good example would be Peter’s act of denying Christ three times. Is there a chance after Jesus told Peter that he would deny his master three times, that Peter would stay true to His master and not deny Christ and God’s prediction would thus be wrong?

If God’s prediction was wrong, it would mean that God makes mistakes, because God is right about Peter in this case does it mean it was just a good guess or that God really does know the future. The same goes for Jesus’ prophecy of Judas as His betrayer, the bible says in John 6:64,”Jesus knew from the beginning..who it was that would betray Him.” Whether Peter does or does not deny Christ or Judas does or does not betray Christ advocates of the openness of God are faced with a dilemma.

Still the real weakness in the openness view of God comes when the authors distinguish between the infinite and the personal attributes of God. This creates a tension that they cannot reconcile so they drop the ball when it matters most They embrace the personal God and lose sight of His infinite nature. Believing that God must be finite or at least limit himself to being as such, thus He does not know the future and cannot know the future while still be personal. This is very selective and the glory of God is lost in this model of God that they are encouraging us to embrace. As a result they tend to take words that mean one thing to us as mankind and finite and apply those same words and actions to God who is infinite. Words such as repent simply cannot be applied to an eternal God in the same way as they may be applied to humanity…

This article is continued in The Openness of God (part 2)…

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