Ear Tickling must STOP ~ Chris Bennett

Ear Tickling must STOP

Blog of a Wandering Christian

 

How many of you have a computer at home or at work? And how many of you use your computer to ‘look up’ things on the web. How many of you know that the initials of the World Wide Web have great significance? How about this then – in Hebrew script the letter W is Vov so it becomes not the WWW but the vov vov vov. It looks like a number 7. This in turn when translated from Hebrew is also 666 !! Interesting eh ??

Have you noticed the amount of ‘questionable prophecy’ around at the moment?

1 Corinthians 14:3-4 “But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.”

This is getting quite serious. Huge amounts of prophecy, or so-called prophecy, most of it coming out of America, and some other places, is being hailed with such words as,

“So-and-so shares a great word for breakthrough - especially financial breakthrough and .......”

And again - “God wants to use your current situation to bless you and release finances and favour into your life.”

This “wonderful” prophetic word is being put out over the whole World Wide Web as being the latest “encouraging now-word for YOU in your current situation.” The prophecy is then absolutely lapped up by the readers and they love it – its what they wanted to hear right now. In the current financial market, who doesn’t want to hear that God is on their side and is going to look on them with favour and increase their finances??

As I read this today, the Lord asked me a question. He said this, “Hmm – looks good doesn’t it? But tell me, how does this edify, or encourage, or strengthen My people in Africa or India or China?” The penny dropped quite quickly – I was reading a ‘word’ aimed especially for the people of America - perhaps Europe too – yet here it was going out all around the world to ‘every tribe & tongue’. Looking back, I noticed that this was one of many similar words given out from America. Words that look good, even popularist, that would please the listening American audience. Please don’t get me wrong here – I am NOT having a go at the USA here. I am bemoaning the ear-tickling peddlers of good news who use the system by giving their audience exactly what they want to hear - “Its going to be all right – cos God is on YOUR side and fighting YOUR corner.” And the huge majority of it is coming from – you got it – the USA. The fact that these people might also line their own pockets, by increasing demand for their speaking engagements because they speak a popular message, is almost beside the point isn’t it?

Have you not noticed that the number of ‘ear ticklers’ is increasing? Almost everyone rising to popularity in the Christian Media in America is an Ear Tickler ! Even well loved and internationally known big ministries bearing much fruit occasionally slip into ear tickling mode. Listen to what the Word says about this :-

2Tim 4:1-5 “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

Why would people “turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths”? Because they are hearing a message that they really want to hear. Its not the message they need to hear but it is one that they want to hear.

This is all so sad. The Lord must be so very sad watching all of this happen. When I mentioned earlier that He had asked me questions about what I was reading, I thought then that He sounded a little sad – resigned - almost expecting this situation. But then, He is God. He knew this would happen. That doesn’t stop Him being sad about it though – does it? He will, after all, have the final word when He judges us.

As the scripture says, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” So – Please – Stop all this ‘ear tickling’ nonsense. Let our prophecy be for the strengthening, encouragement and comfort of the church – the Bride of Christ. Please let us return to prophecy that is from the Lord and not that which comes from ourselves.

A prediction> Sean Osborne on Israeli Strike

Sunday, October 4, 2009

T-Minus ?? And Counting to Iran N-Strike

UPDATE 05 October 2009: Debkafile reports that the Chiefs-of-Staff for the United States, France and Israel held a secret meeting in Normandy, France yesterday to discuss the newly emergent military situation in the Middle East. According to the Debka report, "The three army leaders met to review the new military conditions emerging in the Middle East following the understanding reached between Washington and Moscow for scrapping US plans to install missile shield systems in East Europe. Russia is assuming a major role in the region with the full support of the Obama administration, part of its plan for a new diplomatic-military front against Iran composed of the US, Russia and Middle East nations."

UPDATE 30 September 2009: There's other information that has been circulating about the work being done in Iran to produce indigenous nuclear warheads. I studied multiple-sourced reports on this warhead issue over the past couple of days, then today in continuing that track I came across this report from The Financial Times: "Iran ‘has secret nuclear arms plan’"

The intelligence services of both France and Germany agree with their British cousins. Iran has been working on its nuclear warhead program for the past five years. This really puts the lie to the 2007 DNI National Intelligence Estimate, and that was a publication most intelligent folks immediately regarded as rubbish.

Here are the details as I currently understand them. The Defense Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran has within its structure an organization known as "Research Center for Explosions and Impact, also known by the Persian language acronym "METFAZ." METFAZ HQ is located in the Fars section of eastern Tehran. Two other facilities exist to the east and southeast of the Iranian capital. The first is in a village named Sanjarian (or Shah-jarian?). This facility is were the research, production and testing (computer simulation?) of the warheads occurs. The other facility is located in the town of Parchin. This is where the warhead initiator explosives are mixed and tested. Warhead design, missile delivery system and fissile core - all three of the primary indigenous ingredients are in progress. It appears as though the IDF has its work cut out for it.

UPDATE 28 September 2009: According to a report published yesterday by Express.co.uk, the government of Saudi Arabia “certainly approves” the use of its airspace by the Israel Defense Forces to attack Iranian nuclear installations.

Concurrently, Iranian military exercises featured test launches of the Tondar-69 (variant of the Chicom CSS-8), Fateh-110, and Zelzal short-range missiles. These missiles are estimated to have ranges of 60, 120 and 250 miles respectively. Thus one key aspect of Iran's expected retaliation for an Israeli strike would include selected targets in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Test firing of Iran's 1,200-mile range missiles (Shahab-3/Qadr-F1 and Sejjil) occured this morning. IRGC "war games" continue.

26 September 2009: Well, it won't be long now. Israel's much rumored strike against Iranian nuclear facilities has entered its final countdown. While the precise timing of an Israeli pre-emptive strike would never be revealed here, a very good assessment would hold that F-16I 'Sufa' ('Storm') and other Israeli strike packages are likely to go 'wheels-up' within 90 days - assuming of course that Yom Kippur passes without incident.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

End Times Urgency ~ Bill Kellar

End Times Urgency

By Bill Keller

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Is it really possible for there to be a one-world government, economy, and religion as the Bible speaks of? When I was going through my formal theological training 20 years ago, I have to admit that I really never saw the probability of some of the things spoken of in the Book of Revelation happening in my lifetime. I thought it was impossible in the world as we knew it in the 90s to ever see a one-world government, or economy, or religion. There were just too many factors that made that type of scenario impossible. Fast forward to the year 2009, and we now live in a world that is ripe for the emergence of a one-world government, economy, and religion.

My warnings for the past year about King Obama, excuse me, President Obama, have been about the spiritual impact of his philosophies on politics and life and the fact he opposes God on every major spiritual issue of our day. The danger of his socialist political ideology is that it puts the United States in play to see the formation of a one-world government, economy, and religion. It now aligns us with most of the European countries and many other nations around the world, making it very possible for the pages of Revelation to be fulfilled, even in our lifetime!

We have already been living in a global economy for several decades now. China has recently been pushing for a new world currency to replace the dollar. With the strength of the Euro, the declining value of the dollar, discussion of a new one-world currency takes on a new significance. There is no doubt that due to the economic crisis across the globe, the advent of a one-world currency and economic system could happen rather quickly. Economists will proffer the new one-world currency and economic system as the answer to the current economic crisis that is affecting all of the nations of the world.

A one-world government could easily fall into place as well. With the UN and other organizations involving numerous nations, with the European Union, the reality of a North American Union involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the ability to pull together the various governments around the world becomes a much easier task. Once again, the political philosophies of President Obama make the United States a ripe candidate for these type of alliances that could easily evolve into a one-world government.

Also ripe like never before, is the reality of a one-world religion. With much of the world void of any faith, with the better percentage of two full generations in the United States having never even been to church, there is a great spiritual void in the world that could be easily filled by a one-world religion. Many of the New Age teachings have that type of universal appeal. People still hunger from that spiritual void that only being reconnected to God their Creator through faith in Jesus Christ can fill, so the emergence of a one-world religion is more likely today than ever before in human history.

My purpose today is not to get into a deep discussion of eschatology, or end time events. I am very aware of the many different teachings on end time events. I'll let others argue the details and intricacies of the last days. My personal thoughts on these end time events is that so much is subjective, so much is not crystal clear from Scripture, that while it is interesting and fun to study, I don't get too wrapped up or dogmatic about the order of the events, who will be who, and all of the details many get into.

The key is the Jesus is coming back as He promised, the world will ultimately be judged as God unleashes His wrath upon His fallen creation, those who know Jesus as their Savior by faith will be forever in Heaven, and that in the end, God wins!!! The key for you today is that the one-world government, economy, and religion spoken of in the Bible is more of a reality today than ever before. Time is very short and Jesus is coming at any moment.

This is why I am so passionate about the last work God has called me to perform here at Liveprayer, and that is to help lead this nation back to God and to Biblical Truth while we still have that chance. While we minister to the needs of people around the world each day, bring God's Truth into the marketplace, and lead lost souls to faith in Jesus Christ, leading the United States back to God and to His Truth is the only hope we have to redeem this rebellious nation.

We no longer have the luxury of sitting back in apathy and hoping things will change. Things will only change is we actively initiate the change. We have the power of God with us. We have the Truth of His Word to guides us. We either sit back and watch our nation continue to sink into the spiritual abyss to be lost forever, or we take our stand now and lead this spiritual revolution since the only answer and the only hope we have of escaping God's continued wrath and judgment is to turn back to our Creator and to Biblical Truth. There is no time left, we must act now!!!

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at:
bkeller@liveprayer.com

 

2012: The Bible and the End of the World ~A book review by Terry James

2012: The Bible and the End of the World

by Mark Hitchcock

~A book review by Terry James

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One senses the fear building. “The end is near!” A mental image of the little bearded man in a long robe holding a placard affixed to a wooden stake with those words in broad red letters comes to mind. Only it isn't a cartoon we are facing, but the end of the world as we've known it. Planet earth is about to—because of powerful astral alignment dynamics—most likely suffer instant pole reversals, thus horrific tectonic plate shifts. This will cause the catastrophic end for most, perhaps all, human life. This is the fear of proponents of ancient Mayan Calendar predictions.

The year 2012 is but some twenty-seven months away, and the hype is on. December 21, at 11: 11 pm Universal Time of that year will...well, we don't really know. But, it will—according to pundits from scientists, astrologers, and religionists to new agers, fiction writers, and documentarians—be very bad indeed for inhabitants of the earth.

My favorite writer in the Bible prophecy genre has tackled the hoopla surrounding the 2012 specter and, with his always calming perspective based thoroughly on what the Bible has to say, makes unmistakably clear and understandable the truth regarding the Mayan Calendar prophecy. Dr. Mark Hitchcock, in 192 pages, gets to the heart of the doomsday prediction presented by shamans who have been dead for centuries. In this masterful work, while other authors of voluminous tomes on the 2012 matters consider writing second, even third volumes, Hitchcock points with precision in this tightly crafted book to where the reader should devote concentration about 2012.

The author points out the explosion of information about the subject of 2012. He writes that 187 books appeared when he searched Amazon on the topic. He indicates that when he Googled “2012,” there were almost 60,000 hits. He writes that new books are appearing on the Internet and in bookstores almost every month.

Hitchcock writes:

So, why another book? What could I possibly say that has not already been said? Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to point to the title of the book. As the title suggests, my focus is to examine the 2012 phenomenon from a biblical perspective, primarily from the vantage point of end time Bible prophecy....While many other 2012 books mention the Bible or Bible codes, they don’t look at 2012 through the lens of Scripture; rather, they look at Scripture through the lens of 2012. They pick and choose selected verses from the Bible, especially from the Book of Revelation, to support their vision of what the future holds....This book is written with one purpose in mind: to examine and expose the 2012 deadline in light of Bible prophecy and present what I believe the Bible reveals about the end of the age.

 I agree with the author. My own recent interview for The Nostradamus Effect documentary on the History Channel will doubtless be cut and shaped to   point to how Bible prophecy such as that involving the rapture (the primary subject about which they quizzed me) might contribute to giving credence to the "prophecies" of Nostradamus, and to the Mayan 2012 prediction. I've never known a secular documentary to use the Bible in checking for truth of the prophecies that are non-biblical. The Bible, in such cases, is used in such a way as to presume its support for those extra-biblical foretellings. Always they look at Scripture through the lens of whatever non-biblical prophecy they are presenting.

 Mark Hitchcock, in dynamic fashion—yet with his trademark graceful use of reason tempered by a profound understanding of God's prophetic Word—shines the spotlight of truth on the ominous things of the 2012 prophecy. To get a quick, thorough, and easy-to-read, Bible-based understanding of what the growing 2012 hysteria is all about, this is the only book you need.

 2012: The Bible and the End of the World is the book on the 2012 matter I can without reservation recommend to best bring you, the reader, understanding of what the future holds.

2012: The Bible and the End of the World

Author: Mark Hitchcock

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

ISBN: 978-0736926515