Sunday, August 2, 2009

Debunking a recent False Post on many Prophecy sites:Did Jesus Name The Anti-Christ?


http://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/did-jesus-name-the-anti-christ/

Did Jesus Name The Anti-Christ?

Q. I just watched a video that was posted on (a Christian News Site) in which a Bible scholar researched a passage spoken by the Lord that may have given a clue to the Antichrist’s identity. In Luke 10:18, Jesus said, “And I beheld Satan as lightning falling from the heavens…”. The filmmaker went on to point out, that using the ancient Hebrew text, in the poetry of Isaiah 14, ‘lightning’ means ‘Baraq’, and ‘heavens, or high places’ is Bamah. Then, he explains that a conjuction that the Hebrews would use, is vaw, which would be pronounced ‘U’ or ‘O’. What are your thoughts on this?

A. I think this is a case of someone deciding the outcome first and then looking for a way to justify it. But there is no Biblical justification for tying Isaiah 14 which was written in Hebrew together with Luke 10 which was written in Greek. Besides, while Barak can mean lightning, bamah means high place, such as a stage or pagan altar. The Hebrew word translated heaven in Isaiah 14:12-13 is shamayim, just like it is in Genesis 1:1 and 395 other paces in the Old Testament. Jesus did not name the anti-Christ in Luke 10:18.


I Told You So....,

Some people say you shouldn't say that, but in Prophecy Blogs, I would say this, YOU BETTER LISTEN:

There are sites reposting and distibuting anything and everything that will catch your ear or eye and whether they are True or Not, whether they have any remote possibility of being accurate, they will be promoted on the site as Factual.

WND recently fell into that trap, BPT is on slipperyl slope of occaisonally doing it. The fact is you are messing around with God Almighty and Prophecy which if you look at the last chapter or Revelation it has a simple warning:

Add to the Book, the Tribulation will be added unto you.
Selete from the Book, your name will be blotted out.

I know more than few who unless they repent, they are going into Tribulation.....Bummer Dude...., You Did It. You Said it> You retract it before it's too late and quit misleading people no matter how innocent you think a post is.

GOD is not mocked, God will do it. I don't have top say I told you so...,

But I will say this is a reminder of the warning God already gave you.

Ignore it and He will Judge...,

As to False Accusations of President Obama being Anti-Christ?

It is a Lie, a myth, a fallacy, a deception and it has no basis in Truth.
None. Nada. Ninguno, Nyet, No.

The Accuser of the Brethren would love to decieve you, but you already know better, you have a bible, you have scriptures, and you have the Holy Spirit to lead you inot TRUTH and the Gospel, not Lies and the Gossip.

We posted the clip before as being false, here we add another voice saying so.

Michael James Stone

PROVE ALL THINGS!!!!!





The Banking industry has taking over the nation ~Gerald Celente



Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Banking industry has taking over the nation Gerald Celente


Gerald Celente on One Radio Network 24 July 2009


Gerald Celente says the greatest heist of the American history is happening right in front of the eyes of the people and either the people have been so beaten down and have lost resistance or just they do not want to face the facts but the Banking industry has taking over the nation it is just astounding that they are taking money from those who have the least and giving it to those who have the most

...if it was a pulp fiction people won't believe it because the storyline would be so 'corning' ... as an Italian American if the names on Wall Street was Celente Caruso Puccini Rossini DiMaggio they call it the Mafia but you can't call the white shoe boys crooks they come up with these schemes ,

they call it credit swap flow derivatives , now how about calling them scams and cons but they get away with it they're robbing the country blind , and again when you look at what happens to the people they became so docile and accepting of being beaten down that is just remarkable what happened to this country that's what amazes me so much "

said Gerald Celente


Gerald Celente has been billed as 'The world's number one trends forecaster , Gerald Celente is also regarded as one of the foremost trend predictors in the world. This author of Trends 2000 and Trend Tracking, and publisher of The Trends Journal, is frequently a guest on television news and talk show programs.

The New York Post said "if Nostradamus were alive today, he'd have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente."' and there is a good reason for this. In this short interview much valuable information is jam packed in...

What’s Obama doing in August? What will happen in September October ? Who is taking our money and why? What can we do?

Gerald Celente says that he is very bearish on dollar and very bullish on gold , he says he knows gold a lot better than silver so he sticks to gold , gerald also agrees with BOB Chapman on several issues Antitrust legislation, Goldman Sachs , The founding fathers warned us about the central bankers taking over the country, Asian economies , Europe and the Euro , unwinding of the economy, global recession and depression , Bob Chapman, unemployment exploding numbers the real unemployment numbers are more likely to be around 18% , and much more.




rated 4.79 by 241 people [?]

"I Have no Belief, Therefore it Doesn't Exist."~Ray Comfort

Atheist Central -- Ray Comfort’s Blog

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools..." (Romans 1:20-22).
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart"
(Matthew 5:27-28).
Cuss words (mild or abbrev.), blasphemy, URL’s, incivility,
or failure to give the name ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ capitals, will be deleted.”
Cartoons by Richard Gunther.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

"I Have no Belief, Therefore it Doesn't Exist."

"Can you explain to me how these two ideas can peacefully co-exist? 1. God's moral standards are not the same as man's standards. 2. Man's moral standards were defined and then given to us by God. I've pointed this out before but never received a response. I'd very much like to hear an explanation."

The answer is simple. God’s moral standards are the same as man’s moral standards. Morality is defined in the Ten Commandments. Anything that falls short of their absolute moral perfection is called "sin," and all sin will receive just retribution. To put it in secular terms, all who break God's Law will be punished by the Law (see Romans 2:12).

Here now is a testimony to the stupidity of us as human beings. We think that if we don’t believe in something, it therefore doesn’t exist. Unbelievers say that they don’t believe in gods. That is supposed to encompass the God who created them. God doesn’t exist, because they don’t believe in Him. Hell doesn’t exist, because they don’t believe in it.

If you are an atheist try an experiment. Go outside at midday on a clear day, look at the sun and say, "I see no evidence that suns exist." You will notice that the sun doesn’t go away. An old Chinese proverb says, "He who gazes upon the sun need not debate its brilliance."

The sun exists despite whatever you do or don’t believe about it. It’s intellectually embarrassing to have to explain this, but unbelief or belief doesn’t negate reality.

Creation is the brilliant light that reveals the Creator. His moral standard is revealed in His Law, the Ten Commandments, and those Commandments are affirmed by your God-given conscience. So there you have it--you have before you the offer of life in Jesus Christ through trust in Him, or death and Hell through unbelief (which is rooted in disobedience). See needGod.com for details.

Rapture Ready Frustration: One mans View of Twitter and Modern Technology (Leave it to God)

The Blogger: poster below sounds frustrated, I understand his point though I disagree with his solution.

I can see a use and a abuse of facebook, twitter, and frankly prayer also.

A prayer chain is about as scriptural as a TWEET VERSE, they are tools based on scripture, not scripture.

Me?

I pray and leave it to God. I tweet and leave it to God. I post and leave it to God. I read and leave it to God. I facebook and leave it to God. I go to church and leave it to God. I help my neighbor and leave it to God. I do as little or as lot as I do, and leave it to God.

You can tell by my picture, I leave alot to God, but what little I do, what I can, I leave it to God and He lets me Trust Him to do the rest.

How about You? Leave it to God?

Michael James Stone

Twittering Time Away

It’s hard to imagine that there once was a time when it was almost impossible for the average person to own a copy of the Holy Bible. Until the invention of the printing press, each Bible had to be transcribed by hand.

Today, I have dozens of Bibles around the house. You can go to a dollar store and find piles of Bibles that were mass-produced in China. For a buck, you can also buy a digital copy of the Bible. I have a text file of the Bible that I can email to anyone around the world. It's amazing to think that my Bible file would only take three seconds to transmit to someone with a cable modem. During the Middle Ages, it would have taken take three years to produce the same text for someone wealthy enough to afford one.

Over the course of time, we have gone from information resources being rare to them being in amazing abundance. In fact, I think we are now drowning in a sea of data. The internet has become a vast wasteland of trivial or useless garbage.

If you type the name “Jesus Christ” into a search engine, you will receive, as I did in Yahoo, 179 million results. There are some good links, but many are harmful. The Mormon cult alone has four links in the top twenty listings.

I've always thought the best plan of operation for any Christian website is to assess what value content will have the moment after the rapture. I would say that 80 percent of the information on the average prophecy site would become useless after the rapture. Most prophetic domains devote most of their space to news and issues with a temporary importance.

One of Satan's main strategies in the destruction of men's souls is to simply stall for time. Because people are born in a lost state, the devil knows that he wins by default. By causing Christians to waste time, he can achieve victory.

Christians who have the desire to be about the Lord's work need to ask themselves, "Am I actually doing something productive?" I've seen all kinds of examples of folks engaged in trivial activity.

At least twice a month for the past five years, a woman named Mary Sullivan has been sending me and several leading figures in prophecy a forty-page email that attacks the pretrib rapture. I'm sure none of the other people on her list ever bother to read her manifesto.

The lack of priorities is another problem. I was once told about a woman who spends vast amounts of time on the internet posting news stories and running a message board. While she was cruising the internet nonstop, her daughter tried to commit suicide. I don't know the details of situation, but the incident had no effect on her internet activity.

Social networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace, and Twitter are key examples of misspent energy. I would single out Twitter as the leader of the pack. I've seen dozens of Christian sites incorporate Twitter into their web activity, and I can't recall one that posted anything meaningful. Most “Tweets,” as they are called, are just a log of what someone has done somewhere else on the ‘net. An example for RR would be, "I updated Nearing Midnight,” "I updated the Rapture Index," or "I added new articles to the site." I think the demise of Twitter will be the mass realization that nobody cares about the mundane activities of people’s lives.

This week, I found a great example of the fruits that spring from the productive use of time. A woman emailed me about the leader of an end-time cult. She asked me if I had any information on Irvin Baxter. Before I could reply to her, she had sent me another email, saying, "I sent you an email earlier about Irvin Baxter and his study on end-time prophecies. Interestingly enough, I typed in his name on Google and came upon the section of your site that has talked about him."

I long ago realized that one reason RR has been so successful is that so many Christians are wasting time. In the case of the woman who was looking for information on Baxter, there should have been a dozen apologetic sites with more detailed information ahead of us on the Google search results. These sites don't exist because most believers are focused on pursuits of trivial importance.

I firmly believe that if you pray long enough and hard enough for someone to come to faith in Christ, your intercession will eventually work. Unfortunately, it may take many years to achieve this goal. The time may come when there is not enough time. It may take ten years to lead your stubborn brother to the Lord. But if the Lord is coming two years from now, you’re eight years too late. Time is an important commodity, so don't be twittering it away.

-- Todd

UPdated: Twitter Media~Michael James Stone

With Recent True Stories like the Tehran Crackdown and the False Leads like WND is using and loosing credibility about President Obama's birth certificate, it is important to remember, there is Facts and Fallacies on Twitter.

Your Favorite Pastor or Poster, Blogger or New Reporter may be duped or dupe you into sensationalistic claims much like the "Get Rich Quick" Scams or "Click It" make millions scheme's flooding the Internet and Twitter.

But,

In all these things we have more, we have each other and we have God. God who can and will lead us inot all Truth as we seek to follow Him and each other as we warn each other of Scams or phony reports that stay on the Internet Years after they are debunked.

Prove all things, hold fast that whihc is good is absolutely necessary and you will find most sites will not tell you that. They will not say to APPROVE or DISPROVE the posts they have, they will in fact sue you.

They will seek to make themselves out to tbe the authority rather than turn all credibility to God and Honor and glory to the one who made them and forget the dust from whence they came.

We who love are not so, we can warn and still love, we can state facts and not lie, we can use every oppportunity to point to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith and Find THAT IS WHERE THESE SITES AND POSTERS FAIL.

Who do they point to?
Who or what do they use?
What do they gain from saying it?

I, Michael James Stone, will state clearly, and factually that on the Web ALL THINGS, EVERYONE, whether prophet or pastor, preacher or teacher, blogger or News Anchor, ALL and I mean all Fall short of the Glory of God and We all need to be saved from oursleves, from our Sins and from the corruption we can so easily put in another person soul by the words we write and thigns we say.

WE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE....

God Help us.

Michael.


An image smuggled out of Teheran via the Internet in recent days may well have captured the essence of the struggle which has pitted followers of the reformist camp in Iran against the state authorities.
A photo of a broken computer...

A photo of a broken computer taken by a University of Teheran student and distributed on Twitter.


The image is of a computer owned by a University of Teheran student, which had been smashed to pieces by Iranian police officers during the recent unrest. Shards of glass mark where the computer screen had been.

"We [would] like to show [what] the police did to our dorms and computers [in the] last [few] days," a message on Twitter, the short-message social networking Web site, said, directing readers to the picture.

Yet however many computer screens are destroyed by the truncheons of Iranian security agents, and despite attempts by the regime to block access to sites like Twitter and Facebook, such sweeping measures of repression have failed to plug the enormous leak of information coming out of the Islamic Republic.
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"Telephone report from my wife - They are open[ing] firing on the crowd. The police are refusing entry into the hospitals unless it is the Basij [pro-regime militia]," another message read, this time posted on the Teheran Bureau Web site.

According to the anonymous author, wounded protesters were told by militia members, "You deserve to die." This was one of the last posts to appear on the Teheran Bureau Web site.

Updates from Twitter, however, show no signs of abating.

"We students do not chant death to America, we want the American constitution," another Twitter message from Iran declared to the world.

It is Twitter which has most notably come to play an indispensable role in pumping out this type of information, forming a virtual pipeline connecting Iranian dissidents to one another and to the outside world.

"Twitter is most suited to a psychological information war, and right now in Iran there is a war over information," Dr. Yaniv Levyatan, an expert on information warfare at the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies of the University of Haifa, told The Jerusalem Post. "This is the first Twitter war."

"On the one hand, you've got Ahmadinejad's regime striving to manipulate and hide information, and to create an information monopoly. But unfortunately for them, this can no longer be done because of the democracy of the new media," Levyatan added.

"We are seeing the regime do everything it can to censor information, but its efforts aren't working because of the phenomenal rate at which updates are appearing," he said. "This is history."

Levyatan described a lightening-paced game of cat and mouse being played by the Iranian regime and its opponents on the Internet. In this game, proxy servers - alternative Internet servers located abroad - are playing a decisive role in helping the protesters sidestep Iranian state Internet filters.

"The main content of messages on Twitter is made up of IP addresses of proxy servers located in the West," Levyatan explained. Once an Iranian protester gets hold of a proxy server, he can use his cell phone to transmit videos and text to the outside world.

"This is also how they coordinate themselves on the streets and pass down instructions," Levyatan said.

"Yesterday, instructions were transmitted on Twitter on how to act during demonstrations. Activists were told not to get violent with the basij, and to demonstrate peacefully. In the cyber world, supporters of the reform camp outside of Iran are being asked to hack Web sites affiliated with the regime," he added.

The Iranian government has, however, also attempted to fight this new war.

Iranian agents have set up false Twitter accounts from which they transmit disinformation to confuse the reformists. False times and locations of fictitious protests are routinely sent out.

"Ahmadinejad's people are disguised as dissidents on Twitter. They will falsely tell demonstrators that a protest has been canceled," Levyatan said.

Iranian intelligence agents identify Web users in Iran by homing in on the local time settings of their computers. If the local time is set to Teheran on one's computer, "Iranian agents will think you're Iranian," Levyatan said.

As a result, Iranian protesters "have asked everyone to change their local time settings to Teheran," to confound such efforts, he said.

"The situation in Iran has proven that today, the kilobyte is more powerful than the megaton. The modem is more significant than a bullet. The modem connects us all to the global village, while the bullet strikes a single person," Levyatan said.

Still, the Twitter revolution has its drawbacks. The sheer quantity of information being transmitted means that quality information can be lost among less useful data.

"This is one of the problems, a flooding of information," Levyatan added.

Blessed are the Persecuted ~Ron Graham


Blessed are the Persecuted

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10. Can we, as believers, actually look at persecution as a blessing? There probably isn’t a Christian alive today who is looking forward to a future filled with persecution with much excitement. Ours is the kingdom of Heaven and we will be persecuted before we leave this earth. Jesus’ Church has been persecuted from the outset. If we are truly His followers then we had better get used to the idea of persecution, and soon. Yes, even in America .

Have you noticed that the news media will put the name “Christian” on anything they perceive to be something they can use to condemn the Church? A Christian Evangelist who took young girls across state lines to engage in sex has, in the media’s view, been newsworthy for weeks now. A Christian drifter on the beach in California was recently linked to killing two couples. The actual headlines themselves are quite telling. They show just how much distain the secular news media has for all Christians. We’re hated and persecuted as the followers of Jesus Christ and condemned right along with the sex perverts and murderers.

American media, being mostly secular, hasn’t a clue as to what it means to be a Christian. Through their ignorance of the truth, they seem to lump all professing Christians together in the same bad light. That’s like saying all Americans agree and follow Obama because he’s been elected president of the United States, which, as most of you well know, would be a huge error.

If believers are guilty by association then yes, I’m guilty. But my guilt lies in being a devout follower of my Lord Jesus Christ, not with deviants who erroneously claim a kinship in His name. For example, I and many of my brethren claim no association with the man occupying the Oval Office. Although he claims to be a Christian, the lack of fruit in his life would move him closer to claiming a kinship with the aforementioned miscreants than with Christians. There’s no one who can legitimately claim a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and yet wholeheartedly stand against Him. That’s a notion wrought with failure. Christians don’t persecute Christians.

If there is any way to persecute the Church or to put an unfavorable look on us, the secular media will find it, even if they have to print half truths and misleading facts. Hollywood is behind much of the persecution of the Church. They assign top paid actors and directors to produce films that denigrate Christianity. They’re like wild dogs searching out a blood scent from ten miles away. They are relentless in their pursuit to bring down the Christian Church, and that means each individual Christian is in the line of fire. If there is any doubt in your mind as to the accusation I just made, step back and take a good look at Sarah Palin’s life over the past year or so. Whether or not you agree with her politics, you must admit she’s endured far above her share of persecution. And it’s her biblical stance on the issues that the media can’t tolerate.

The news media and their satanic efforts of digging out corruption in the Christian community will never succeed at bringing down the Church, but these folks will stop at nothing in their attempts to smash the Church and destroy it for good. And they laugh at Jesus’ followers as they proceed with their persecution of His Church. But Christians can take heart in Jesus words, “...and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Matthew 16:18b.

Although many believers here in the states live fairly comfortable lives, many of our brethren in foreign countries are suffering tremendous persecution including, at times, martyrdom all because they are known to follow Jesus Christ, period. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matthew 5:12.

Sounds like doom and gloom, Ron.

Mark my words, people; what we once took for granted is disappearing. There’s a new dog in town.

It’s not that difficult to see the persecution coming our way. Many of my brethren have blinders on when it comes to viewing the US and the rest of the world falling into perfect step with one another. Much of the rest of the world has been building up to a confrontation with Christians for years as nations execute our brethren, destroy our places of worship, and eliminate any and all references to the Bible. Christians understand fully who it is these people really hate. Just His name seems to invoke hatred.

As we get farther and farther into the current administration’s four year stint, we’re beginning to see many signs that point to more and more animosity towards Christians, and as I stated before, this coming from a president claiming to be Christian. I suppose if the news media can believe a man who takes young girls across state lines for the sole purpose of having sex with them is a Christian, they can believe our president is one too. Looking at all the gross, blatant, evil denigration made against Biblical truths these days, we become more suspicious of our government and their agenda with each passing day.

The American culture is changing exactly as promised by you know who, just like the majority of voters wanted to see happen. Along with those changes came new restrictions aimed at the followers of Jesus Christ. Those of us who take the word of God literally will soon find new un-Constitutional restrictions imposed upon us which are designed to stop us from speaking Biblical truth. If we choose to stand on God’s infallible word, we will find Christian persecution at every turn. Then again, many will just bury their heads in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist. That won’t do them any good though, unless they are prepared to renounce Christ. If not, they, along with the rest of the Church, will soon come to understand that persecution is most certainly upon us.

“Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” 2 Corinthians 4:9. Paul lived a life of almost continual trials after his conversion. He endured horrible persecution, probably much more than you or I will ever have occasion to experience in our lifetime, but then again who knows?

The way in which persecution can come upon the Church can be almost stealth-like at first. For example, the pulpits of our churches are to be silent when it comes to endorsing or speaking out against those running for political office; any Church found not following these guidelines can and will lose their tax exempt status. How would the IRS find out about this dastardly deed? Someone in the congregation would most certainly need to be a snitch. So, for the most part, the Church has caved in on that front. After awhile, though, that persecution won’t be enough. Soon orders will emerge from a hostile government telling us to stop using that hate-filled book, the Holy Bible, when we assemble or, again, we’ll lose that most revered and favored tax exempt status and much more. In a socialist society there’s no room for “people of the Book”. Paul knew that only his faith in Jesus’ power and victory could see him through his trials. The mindset demonstrated by Paul is necessary in every believer’s life today.

Believers must keep this very important fact in mind: We aren’t suffering because of some evil deed we performed. We followers of Jesus Christ will be judged for taking His name and rightly so. We should never feel ashamed if we suffer for Christ’s sake and in His name. “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:16, 17.

The world sees Jesus not as their savior, but as an antiquated, intolerant, religious carpenter, or a myth. They see His precepts as being way too exclusive. They blaspheme Him daily in their ignorance and their pride. They use His name as profanity. They see His followers as foolish, non-participants of their ideal normal society. When the world recognizes us as Jesus’ followers, rejoice. That’s exactly how we should want to be known.

Depressing as this world may seem at times, we must remember that God triumphs in the end, which means we also win. As believers, our lives are in God’s hands and there is nothing to fear from this old sinful world, even though so many shun the truth and live the lie that currently permeates the world. I’m sure there are horror stories out there of all forms of Christian persecution of which I’ve not even scratched the surface in this commentary. But through our sufferings and persecutions we will see God accomplish great things. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” Matthew 5:11. The more we are persecuted, the more we can revel in our afflictions and bask in God’s glorious love.

Honestly, after living 58 years in the U.S. of A, having spent many of those years living as a worldly, ignorant, self-seeking follower of Satan, it’s extremely refreshing now that Jesus rules and reigns in my life, to know I’m now on the winning team. During my early years as a believer I hadn’t really noticed the Church being persecuted. That’s because I was ignorant of the scriptures and didn’t recognize it. Persecution has always been around knocking at the door of the Church. Anytime we believers are forced to comply with laws or regulations which are contrary to the word of God, whether in America or any other nation, it’s called Christian persecution.

For example, as American citizens we live in a country that murders millions of unborn babies and has done so for years. As believers we know this evil is contrary to the word of God and yet the Church has been unsuccessful at eliminating this scourge on society. As a matter of fact, with this current administration in place, abortion has now exploded with a new vigor. This current usurper of the Oval Office has made it his goal to eliminate all unwanted babies. Even those who escape the abortionist and live, he demands be left to die on the garbage heaps. Your president, America , using your tax dollars to abort those innocent little ones God loves so dearly.

All laws which Congress passed or intends to pass in the future and which run contrary to the Bible, of which Christians are forced to adhere to or suffer dire consequences, are Christian persecutions. Whether forced on us singularly or collectively as Christ’s Church, it’s still persecution. What’s more, Jesus told us persecution and hatred, were coming. It would be extremely arrogant of believers to think He excluded those of us living in America from this persecution. No, my brethren, persecution of Christ’s Church is here and it’s only going to get worse.

You may ask, “What must we do to head off this persecution?” First of all, when Jesus says something is going to occur we would do well to heed what He says. As His followers we will be forced to endure persecution. He says so. I don’t know how much persecution or how severe it will be, but as far as heading it off, there will be a future event that will cause all Christian persecution to cease, at least temporarily. That event will be the Rapture of the Church. Those who are left behind and come to a believing faith during the tribulation will endure much worse persecution.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Church in American, as well as worldwide, has already been hit with tons of persecution. Still, in many countries the Church flourishes. Why is that? Because God says His word shall not return void. Christian evangelism is still prominent in many third world countries. In America though, many evangelists have turned emergent and no longer preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If it’s not God’s word, then it’s not God’s will. Anything else is void.

What believers need is to get back into a routine of wearing out our knees. Humble ourselves before God in fervent prayer. Take it to Him every day. The hour is late and God waits to hear from His children. Sometimes I wonder how the world would react if believers just started humbling themselves out in the open. Not just mouthing silent prayers but verbally spoken prayers before God and all of His creation. I mean bowing our heads in prayer at a moment’s notice, in the middle of a shopping mall, in an airport, or in a crowed elevator. Some might poke fun, we might even be ridiculed (persecuted), but all would see God’s power revealed.

We see many individuals in public with purple hair and other characteristics that we find weird. We see men holding hands with men, and they all defy people to mock them. Why are Christians the ones who seem to be ashamed of our beliefs? Why can’t we be as blatant and obvious about our love for Jesus Christ?

Standing up for Jesus in all situations will bring persecution. That’s just a fact of life. But it doesn’t need to be a frightening experience. Actually it should bring an abundance of joy to our hearts. Our Christian brethren would be comforted and emboldened by witnessing other believer’s steadfastness. The Holy Spirit is sealed within every believer “...in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” Ephesians 1:13, and He is thoroughly capable of handling any and all situations.

If we trust God to supply us with compassion and love as we witness to our neighbors shouldn’t we also trust Him to embolden us in the hour when it becomes necessary to address our persecutors? “...that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” Jude 1:3b.

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Philippians 3:8.

God bless you all,
Ron Graham
twotug@embarqmail.com
All scripture is from the KJV