Clueless Emma

Carl Jung: Psychologist or Sorcerer?

If Burney's assertion is correct, and the human race isn't sinful, then the Bible is nothing more than myths and fables -- and Jesus was a nut job for declaring He was the Son of God who came into the world to die for the sins of all mankind. Jesus clearly taught that we are sinners, with a capital S, and "fall short of the glory of God." Sin was the reason Jesus went to the cross. His death was payment for mankind's sin debt. Thus He threw open the gates of heaven, and all who believe in Him will be reconciled to God. If it's true that we are merely "Spiritual Beings having a human experience" as Burney claims, the Son of God would have had no reason to leave His throne in heaven and come to Earth. Which is Burney's whole point! If we're not sinners, we have no need of a Savior! ~Marsha West

via www.newswithviews.com

Marsha West -- A subtle and dangerous shift in Christianity

A SUBTLE AND DANGEROUS SHIFT IN CHRISTIANITY

via www.newswithviews.com

The Bible does not teach that God’s people are to go into a self-induced altered-state of consciousness to commune with Him. Again, meditating day and night does not mean we are to look for the “God within,” as Eastern mystics and occultist do. For the Christian to be involved in any sort of pagan practice is strictly forbidden by God! This is because God opposes paganism's polytheism and blatant immorality. There is no getting around the fact that polytheism and immorality are the pagan way.

Green religion movement hopes spill wins converts - Yahoo! News

NEW ORLEANS – Where would Jesus drill?

via news.yahoo.com

Hmmm...I don't remember the Great Commission being anything like "Go ye therefore, and guard all beaches, protecting the trees , Teachingthem to observe all things natural and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Judging Others: Do We Have the Right?

I believe there is Absolute Truth. We have a reason to live, a mission to follow. Many like to think we are to go through life being nonjudgmental, to accept everyone and every life choice with open arms. True, the bible tells us not to be hypocritical in judgment. But we are also told to try every spirit, to see if it is of God. If it is not, we cannot accept it into our everyday life. Tolerance is not acceptance!

It amazes me that so many people automatically label someone with an unwavering opinion as a hater or as unChristlike. It is NOT hateful to judge something as unbiblical or as something that should not be accepted--it is NOT wrong to tell a friend that they have the freedom to choose what they will in life, but that they will not be accepted into my little world while they are participating in said activities. We have forgotten what boundaries are. It is okay to say no. It is okay to "be ye separate." I am a fierce proponent of individual freedoms--and they include the freedom to judge whether or not I will allow people to actively participate in my life.

My rules for determining acceptance into my personal life:

1) If I cry more than laugh when we talk, you're out.
2) If I feel guilty more than joyful when we're together, you're out.
3) If I feel more unsure about what you're really thinking and doing more than I feel secure knowing you are open and honest at all times, you're out.
4) If I have to walk on eggshells because I never know what will set you off, I'm out.
5) When you berate me more than compliment me; display continual personal hypocrisy in your judgment of me; or act differently when we're around family and/or friends than when we're alone, you're out.

I tolerate everyone. I only accept those who will not hurt me. Isn't that the way it should be for all of us?

Praying in park puts man in jail for 9 days

Moyer then arrested the seven and reported it was because of concern that the homosexual festival participants might react with hostility to the Christians.

via www.wnd.com

Banished Bible Study in the USA! It's Here already.

Banished! City forbids Bible studies in homes.

The Old Faith Restated

"It will be admitted that if God were in any proper sense the author of the Bible, it would bear these marks of its own truthfulness. Indeed, if he inspired its authors, he must have desired that his creatures should believe its statements and observe its precepts; and he would certainly impart this very quality to it. The fact, then, that the Bible has the identical effect on a vast multitude of its readers which its author must have designed if that author is God, is no mean proof that God is its author. This evidence can have but little effect on those who are as yet unbelievers, and who consequently do not receive the impression we refer to; but it is solid and satisfactory evidence to all those who have for this and other reasons combined received the book as true, and studied it for the good that is in it."

--J.M. McGarvey, The Old Faith Restated, ed. J. H. Garrison (St. Louis, MO: Christian Publishing Company, 1891), pp. 11-48.

As The Berean Call states: "While recent apologetics focus on the archaeological proof confirming Scripture, this entry from 1891 points out a more obvious and faithful witness to the truth of Scripture."

WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME WAS COME

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law" (Galatians 4:4).

[From The Berean Call: Jesus came in the fullness of time. He came when Rome dominated the known world with its Pax Romana (peace) making travel safer and a common language (Greek) made sharing information easier. He came when the practice of crucifixion, hitherto unknown in Israel, but prophesied in Psalm 22, was the Roman capital punishment. He came when the Law had been shown to be "our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). He came when everything was ready.]

On Calvinism: H. A. Ironside

"Turn to your Bible and read for yourself in the only two chapters in which this word predestinate or predestinated is found. The first is Romans 8:29-30, the other chapter is Ephesians 1:5 and 11. You will note that there is no reference in these four verses to either heaven or hell but to Christ-likeness eventually. Nowhere are we told in scripture that God predestinated one man to be saved and another to be lost. Men are to be saved or lost eternally because of their attitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Predestination means that someday all the redeemed shall become just like the Lord Jesus"

"D.L. Moody used to put it very simply the elect are the 'whosoever wills' the non-elect 'whosoever wont's'. This is exactly what scripture teaches, the invitation is to all, those who accept it are the elect. Remember, we are never told that Christ died for the elect".

"Whosoever means, whosoever." Only a biased theologian, with an axe to grind, could ever think that it meant only the elect."

--H.A. Ironside

Change, Not Annihilation

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?' (John 11:25-26).

One thing that I notice immediately is the mysterious relationship between blood and life. God had instructed Israel about this link. "The life of a creature is in the blood," God said, "and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life" (Leviticus 17:11). This instruction concerning blood and the atonement was at the very heart of Israel's religion and her relationship with God. The blood was considered mysterious and sacred. Israelites were never to ingest blood.

The second thing I note is the relationship between sin and death. As human beings, we do not know all there is to know about death. There are religious groups who claim to believe in the annihilation of the human soul and the end of all existence. (Annihilation means to withdraw something from existence.) In the scriptural account of creation God made something out of nothing. But there is no instance in Scripture where God reverses the process of creation and calls an existing thing back into nothingness. Nor is there the concept of annihilation in nature. It is hard, then, to understand why some people want to introduce annihilation into the kingdom of God.

Matter can be--and regularly is--changed. But matter cannot be annihilated. If I strike a wooden match and let it burn to ashes, I can pinch the remaining ash into a smudge on my fingers, but I have not annihilated the elements that were in that match. They merely changed form. Part of the match went up in smoke. Part of it turned to ash. The part that became gaseous continues to possess invisible form in the atmosphere.

Thought: Death brings change, not annihilation. The resulting change is an eternal one--forever in the presence of God or forever separated from Him, forever living or forever in the state of dying.

-- A.W. Tozer

Q & A Berean Call Style: Why protestants do not recognize "church" authority

Question: Why do you Protestants fail to see that without the tradition and pronouncements of an authoritative Church, you wouldn't know what was Scripture? The New Testament was certainly not available for many years. Without the oral teachings of the Apostles, how could people know what was truth?

Response: Catholicism would dearly love to claim the mantle of being the "authoritative" church, but all she has been able to produce through threat of force is a surface conformity riddled by internal dissension and corruption. In contrast, believers are truly given an unfailing authority.

Second Timothy 3:16 is rightly cited as evidence for sola scriptura [by Scripture alone]. Verse 15 says: "From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures...." The "scriptures" here must refer to the Old Testament because Timothy did not have the New Testament in its entirety. Nevertheless, he had at least the two epistles written to him. Furthermore, this verse tells us that "from a child" he had known the Holy Scriptures, undoubtedly taught to him by a godly mother and grandmother. The Apostle Paul is declaring that the Scriptures available were sufficient to lead one to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is filled with examples of the apostles expounding the Scriptures, but we will consider just a few. 

In Acts 8, Philip was led of the Lord to where a certain Ethiopian eunuch was passing by. As Philip approached, he heard him reading from the book of Isaiah. Apparently, the Scriptures weren't so scarce that a courtier in Ethiopia couldn't obtain a copy. Philip and the man had an exchange, and the Ethiopian invited him to ride along in the chariot. Then "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:35). The book of Isaiah, used at the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, was sufficient to lead this man to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament Scriptures were also sufficient for the Lord Jesus Christ when He confronted the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27). Imagine what a Bible study that must have been! Consider the case of Apollos (who was "mighty in the scriptures") in Acts 18. He was preaching the "things of the Lord," but he knew only the baptism of John (v. 25). He did not know that the Messiah had come, lived, bled and died on the Cross, been buried, and then raised again, in power. Two disciples, Aquila and Priscilla, took him aside and "...expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly" (v. 26). At that point, he did not begin teaching a tradition solely on the basis of something orally communicated to him; rather, he continued to preach and exhort, "showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ" (Acts 18:28).

From The Berean Call newsletter

Love is the Most Abiding Grace

Love is the most abiding grace. This will stay with us when other graces take their farewell. In heaven we shall need no repentance, because we shall have no sin. In heaven we shall not need patience, because there will be no affliction. In heaven we shall need no faith because faith looks at things unseen (Heb. xi. 1). But then we shall see God face to face; and where there is vision, there is no need of faith.

But when the other graces are out of date, love continues; and in this sense the apostle says that love is greater than faith, because it abides the longest." Charity never faileth" (1 Cor. xiii. 8). Faith is the staff we walk with in this life." We walk by faith" (2 Cor. v. 7). But we shall leave this staff at heaven's door, and only love shall enter. Thus love carries away the crown from all the other graces. Love is the most long lived grace, it is a blossom of eternity. How should we strive to excel in this grace, which alone shall live with us in heaven, and shall accompany us to the marriage supper of the Lamb! -

--Thomas Watson, "All Things for Good" pg. 96

From The Berean Call email

Tho Satan Should Buffet [Excerpts]

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
 
The second verse of "It Is Well with My Soul" puts persecution and troubles in perspective.
 
Tho Satan should buffet, tho trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
 
Paul was given "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet" him (2 Corinthians 12:7). Almost every saint of every age could echo Paul's concerns, for trials come to each child of God. "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you" (1 Peter 4:12). God had a purpose in Paul's life, and He has one in ours, although Paul couldn't clearly see the purpose, and, at times, we can't either. We can, however, "glory," as Paul did; or "rejoice," as Peter advises, in response to the knowledge of God's loving oversight.

(John D. Morris, Days of Praise, Institute for Creation Research, September 2, 2009).

Faith and Freedom

"I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state; up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better to have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake."—Thomas Paine, 1776

Federal law mandates that all high schools, colleges and universities across the country that receive federal funds host educational events about the Constitution on Constitution Day, September 17. Yet as John W. Whitehead points out in his latest commentary, the best way to celebrate the Constitution is by knowing and exercising your rights.

Formally adopted on September 17, 1787, the Constitution has long served as the bulwark of American freedom and as an example for struggling nations worldwide. Unfortunately, the rights enshrined in this vitally important document are under constant attack. And this month's Faith and Freedom newsletter shines a spotlight on three vitally important religious freedom cases being litigated by The Rutherford Institute before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Busch v. Marple Newtown School District, Institute attorneys are fighting for Donna Busch's right to read a few verses from Psalms as part of an "All About Me" kindergarten classroom program intended to spotlight her son Wesley and his favorite book, the Bible. School officials actually told Mrs. Busch that the Bible is illegal in public schools. Incredibly enough, school officials then suggested that a book on Halloween might be an appropriate substitute!

In McComb v. Crehan, Institute attorneys are fighting for high school valedictorian Brittany McComb's right to give God credit in her graduation speech as the reason for her success in school. School officials actually unplugged Brittany's microphone just as began speaking about her Christian faith.

And in Nurre v. Whitehead, Institute attorneys are fighting for Kathryn Nurre's right, as part of a school woodwind ensemble, to be able to perform an instrumental arrangement of Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" at graduation. Mind you, no words were to be sung—just an instrumental piece was to be played! School officials actually defended the ban as necessary in order to avoid offending someone in the audience.

We hope you'll take a moment to read about these and other critical cases and issues affecting your rights. Thank you, and God bless you, for continuing to stand with The Rutherford Institute as we strive for liberty and justice for all.

The Rutherford Institute

Words of the Wise: F.B. Meyer

"It is very wonderful. Yes; the heavens, even the heavens of heavens, with all their light and glory, alone seem worthy of Him. But even there He is not more at home than He is with the humble and contrite spirit that simply trust in Him. In His earthly life, He said that the Father dwelt in Him so really that the words He spake and the works He did were not His own, but His Father's. And He desires to be in us as His Father was in Him, so that the outgoings of our life may be channels through which He, hidden within, may pour Himself forth upon men."

--F.B. Meyer, The Secret of Guidance

Amen!

Episcopal Bishop calls individual salvation 'heresy,' 'idolatry'

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says it's "heresy" to believe that an individual can be saved through a sinner's prayer of repentance.

In her opening address to the church's General Conference in California, Jefferts Schori called that "the great Western heresy: that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God."

The presiding bishop said that view is "caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus."

According to Schori, it is heresy to believe that an individual's prayer can achieve a saving relationship with God. "That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy."

From The Berean Call newsletter

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in" (Matthew 23:13).

Leavening the Lump

"Error is like leaven, of which we read, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous.

God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died."

--H.A. Ironside

The Alphabet of Life

"DNA are three letters full of paradox. What they represent remains little understood by the public, yet they are on everyone's tongue. Amid the chatter of popular culture, the truth gets lost that DNA is one of the most powerful clues we have of the existence of a spiritual reality, maybe to the existence of God.

"For a fee, DNA testing can shed light on anyone's genetic ancestry, including whether you have "Jewish genes." There is supposed to be a "God gene" for religious belief in general. And a "gay gene." And so on.

"But all this is trivial compared to the largely unheralded insight gained from the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003. The insight is disturbing. It is that while DNA codes for the cell's building blocks, the information needed to build the rest of the creature is seemingly, in large measure, absent.

"CONSIDER THE HOX "master" genes that supposedly determine the spatial configuration of the front and back ends of creatures as diverse as frogs, mice and humans. As British physician James Le Fanu writes in a fascinating new book, Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (Pantheon), Swiss biologist Walter Gehring showed that "the same 'master' genes mastermind the three-dimensional structures of all living things... The same master genes that cause a fly to have the form of a fly cause a mouse to have the form of a mouse." The physically encoded information to form that mouse, as opposed to that fly, isn't there. Instead, "It is as if the 'idea' of the fly (or any other organism) must somehow permeate the genome that gives rise to it."

"Such an understanding, of nature driven by a force outside nature, was dominant in biology before Darwin. Baron Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), director of Paris's Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, held that there was an unknown biological "formative impulse," an organizational principle of some kind that directed the formation of diverse kinds of life."

From The Berean Call email

The Truth is: "I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well" (Psalm 139:14).

Are There Any Prophets or Apostles in Your Neighborhood?

Search the Scriptures

Coddled or Crucified?

"Though the cross of Christ has been beautified by the poet and the artist, the avid seeker after God is likely to find it the same savage implement of destruction it was in the days of old. The way of the cross is still the pain-wracked path to spiritual power and fruitfulness.
   
So do not seek to hide from it. Do not accept an easy way. Do not allow yourself to be patted to sleep in a comfortable church, void of power. Do not paint the cross nor deck it with flowers. Take it for what it is, as it is, and you will find it the rugged way to death and life. Let it slay you utterly."

-- A.W. Tozer, from Coddled or Crucified?

WHEN THE WICKED RULE [Excerpts]

From Dave Welch at WND:

Are you mourning yet over the spiritual, moral, cultural and political direction of our nation?

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." (Proverbs 29:2)

Why do you suppose the people mourn - literally in "physical or mental distress" - when the wicked rule, as Scripture describes? Renowned biblical commentator Matthew Henry wrote about this passage that: The people will have cause to rejoice or mourn according as their rulers are righteous or wicked; for, if the righteous be in authority, sin will be punished and restrained, religion and virtue will be supported and kept in reputation; but, if the wicked get power in their hands, wickedness will abound, religion and religious people will be persecuted, and so the ends of government will be perverted.

Wicked rulers reject God, embrace evil and impose theft, death and destruction upon the people.

Sounding familiar?

The latest in governmental wickedness gone wild is the 63-28 passage in the U.S. Senate of S. 909, the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act", although its service as a gateway to oppression of freedom of speech and religion is only the secondary effect. Since all law is "legislating morality" and establishing what We the People collectively determine as the standard of right and wrong, this legislation if signed into law will take us to new depths of depravity.

"Speechless: Silencing the Christians," by Don Wildmon, lays out determined strategy of coalition of liberal secularists, homosexual activists and Fortune 500 companies

I refer specifically to the inclusion of "actual or perceived ... gender, sexual orientation, gender identity. ..." (emphasis added) Also notice the inclusion of both gender and "gender identity" in addition to "sexual orientation." For the first time in federal criminal law we have not only codified the official acceptance and protection of any and every possible form of sexual deviancy, but have assured that there can be no firm definition.

Legitimately caring, concerned and conservative Christians of any denomination and ethnic background are indeed approaching "physical or mental distress" over the rapid and rabid imposition of ungodly, wicked laws and policies by our current elected federal leadership. What we have to recognize is that just as surely as the sun rises in the east, ungodly lawmakers produce ungodly laws.

We have two effective long-term political solutions: change the hearts and minds of the lawmakers by spiritual and moral regeneration through faith in Jesus Christ, or replace the lawmakers – the "rulers" – with those who are already on that Transformation Road.

Why Reiki Is Not of God and Dangerous to Those Who Employ It.

From ReikiDangers:

[Here are listed] web sites that are written to clarify about the occult of reiki and to point towards the Grace of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. To share the biblical Truth about reiki and tell about practical experiences with ex-reikians. We are listing these websites as a unified Christian voice, to warn you about reiki and guide you Home to God. Because there is Hope, there is a better alternative for reiki, found in Jesus. Just repent and turn to the Truth, the Light of Salvation which is found in Jesus Christ, get saved and set free. We are blessing you, not condemning, in fact this is between you and God and not between Church and you, nor between christians and reikians. The bible says clearly; Eph 6,12: for we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, (people) but against the powers (reiki) against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere, (reikidemons) ...this is not personal, it is spiritual. We have selected more then 30 websites from all kind of Churches and from saved ex-reikians who proof [sic] reiki spiritually occult, dangerous and not from God.

From Probe Ministries:

In a book entitled Basic Questions on Alternative Medicine, a corporate project by members of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1988), there is a short chapter on Reiki (pp. 61-63). I will draw some information from that chapter. Although Reiki claims to be an "ancient healing practice that Buddha (and Jesus) used," all records of it were lost. It was allegedly rediscovered by Mikao Usui, a Zen Buddhist monk, in the mid-1800s "during a psychic experience." Additionally, it is claimed that details about lost aspects of the practice have "been revealed through channeling." Channeling is the New Age term for mediumship and involves contact with, and usually possession by, "spirit guides." The authors of this chapter state that a second-degree Reiki practitioner "learns about spirit guides and how to contact and use them in healing sessions." They further state that third degree Reiki masters give "complete control of healing sessions to their spirit guides." Healing sessions appear to be based on the use of "life-energy" (i.e. ki, chi, or prana), which is sent from the practitioner into the patient's body.

The greatest concern would seem to be the identity of the "spirit guides." Since they are typically contacted in ways expressly forbidden in Scripture, and since they advocate unbiblical ideas and practices, it is honestly quite difficult to view them as anything other than the biblical demons. The authors of this chapter conclude by stating: "Reiki is antithetical to biblical Christianity. Channeling is a way of communicating with spirits to obtain information not otherwise accessible. It is denounced in the Bible as sorcery, mediumship, and spiritism (Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6; Deut. 18:9-14...)."

A former Reiki master who has become a Christian wrote this testimony to Sue Bohlin:

"Reiki is something that is very mis-stated, and misunderstood, by those outside of the Reiki circle. Having been in it, I can tell you everything you need to know. I will tell you right up front that it was a hard one to shake, that it was VERY real and beneficial, but that it is decidedly non-Christian. "I highly recommend anyone looking into it to just stop. Prayer is very powerful, and is our direct link to God through Christ. If we petition directly for healing, it may come. If we have faith that it WILL come, our chances are far better. As with anything we are to test, does Reiki point either the practitioner or the client to Christ? No. Big no. It uses a Universal energy that is non-personal and can be manipulated. You can pray to God, to the Earth Mother, to Mother/Father God, etc. But it in fact leads you AWAY from Christ. "It is all about what you FEEL in your hands, what you FEEL in your spirit, what the client FEELS in their body/emotions/spirit. In that regard it is very very real. My hands get hot, I hit a place of extreme peace and quiet, I heal people who feel a tingle or hot spot or whatever. Their headache, menstrual cramps, emotional distress, bruises, whatever, goes away. But is God glorified? No way. Is self glorified? Yes.

"If it is so good and right, why do practitioners go on to other things once they hit Master level? The teacher who taught me was going on to accupuncture and other new Reiki teachings. Always something else, something new, something you NEED to be a true master. Sound familiar? It is like everything else in this world, but Christ. There is no lasting peace, no connection with the universe, there is a big void in your soul that is not going away. WE ALL NEED CHRIST! I told my wife when she questioned my stopping in my search for peace once I found Christ (she had followed my years of searching through New Age theologies, etc) that Jesus Christ filled the hole. All the puzzle pieces fell into place and everything suddenly made sense. For a long time after that I tried to make Reiki fit into Christianity but it didn't. I prayed a lot about it. God firmly and solidly showed me in Scripture how it couldn't work. The two major things against it, regardless of how well it works, are 1) it does not point anyone to Christ and in facts points people away from a single triune God, and 2) it is no different than all the pagan rituals in the Old Testament that would have people pray to the rain god or fertility god, etc. They must have worked or people wouldn't have kept praying to them, and God's people wouldn't have been attracted to them. But either way it isn't what GOD has asked us to do. Everything we need is in Him. We can pray for any healing we need."

From Christian Answers for the New Age:

Reiki and Jesus: There is no evidence that Jesus used Reiki, as many Reiki books and teachers assert. Jesus, being God the Son, did not need a technique, but healed because His nature was the same as God's (which is what being the "Son of God" signifies), and God is the Healer and Giver of life (Genesis 1 and 2; Psalm 103:1-3, 147:3; Hosea 6:1; Matthew 4:23; Luke 4:18; John 10:10; Acts 11:18).

Jesus' miracles of healing were not just to cure, however, but were a sign that He was the promised Messiah. Luke 4:18 refers to prophecy of the Messiah as a healer in Isaiah 61:1. In Luke 7:18-23, John the Baptist sends a messenger to ask Jesus if He really is the Promised One, the Messiah. Jesus replies: "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them," (v.22). In His answer, Jesus refers to two Isaiah passages, Isaiah 35:5 and 61:1, which gave John the confirmation he asked for. Jesus was not channeling a universal energy, but was acting with the power of God.

As Acts 10:38 says, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." The power of God was not coming through a technique or secret teaching, but from the Person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus conferred this power specifically to and only on His disciples, He "gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness," (Matthew 10:1, Mark 3:13-15, Luke 9:1). It is His authority over illness that Christ gave the disciples, not a secret teaching or technique.

This authority over disease was only one aspect of the power and authority of the Son of God. He also demonstrated authority in His teaching (Matthew 7:29), authority over demons (Matthew 8:28-24, also in Mark 5:1-17, Luke 8:22-25, as well as many other passages), authority to forgive (Matthew 9:5, also in Mark 2:10, Luke 5:24), authority over nature (Matthew 8:23-27, also in Mark 4:36-41, Luke 8:22-25), and authority over death (Matthew 9:23-26). After His resurrection, He was given all authority: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18). Jesus' healing magnified the glory of God.

After the blind man by the side of the road was healed in Luke 18:35-43, he followed Jesus, "glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God," (verse 43). This same praising of God happened after Jesus healed the paralytic (Matthew 9:2-8, Mark 2:10-12, Luke 5:22-26), when He healed the "lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others...so that the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel" (Matthew 15:30, 31), when Jesus raised the dead man in Nain (Luke 7:11-16), when He made the woman bent doubled stand straight (Luke 13:13), and when one of the ten lepers healed by Jesus turned back "glorifying God in a loud voice" and falling on his face at Jesus' feet (Luke 17:15, 16).

What is the Gospel?

What is the gospel itself but a merciful moderation, in which Christ's obedience is esteemed ours, and our sins laid upon him, wherein God, from being a judge, becomes our Father, pardoning our sins and accepting our obedience, though feeble and blemished? We are now brought to heaven under the covenant of grace by a way of love and mercy.

It will prove a special help to know distinctly the difference between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, between Moses and Christ. Moses, without any mercy, breaks all bruised reeds, and quenches all smoking flax. For the law requires personal, perpetual and perfect obedience from the heart, and that under a most terrible curse, but gives no strength. It is a severe taskmaster, like Pharaoh's, requiring the whole tale of bricks and yet giving no straw. Christ comes with blessing after blessing, even upon those whom Moses had cursed, and with healing balm for those wounds which Moses had made.

The same duties are required in both covenants, such as to love the Lord with all our hearts and with all our souls (Deut. 6:5). In the covenant of works, this must be fulfilled absolutely, but under the covenant of grace it must have an evangelical mitigation. A sincere endeavor proportionable to grace received is accepted (and so it must be understood of Josiah, and others, when it is said they did that which was right in the sight of the Lord).

The law is sweetened by the gospel, and becomes delightful to the inner man (Rom. 7:22). Under this gracious covenant, sincerity is perfection. This is the death in the pot of the Roman religion, that they confound the two covenants, and it deadens the comfort of drooping ones that they cannot distinguish them. And thus they suffer themselves to be held under bondage when Christ has set them free, and stay in the prison when Christ has set open the doors before them.

--Richard Sibbes, "The Bruised Reed," pgs. 36-37

VICIOUS ACADEMIC LIBERALS

CNSnews: Ward Connerly, former University of California Regent, has an article, "Study, Study, Study - A Bad Career Move" in the June 2, 2009 edition of Minding the Campus (www.mindingthecampus.com) that should raise any decent American's level of disgust for what's routinely practiced at most of our universities.
 
Mr. Connerly tells of a conversation he had with a high-ranking UC administrator about a proposal that the administrator was developing to increase campus diversity. Connerly asked the administrator why he considered it important to tinker with admissions instead of just letting the chips fall where they may.

His response was that that unless the university took steps to "guide" admissions decisions, the University of California campuses studywould be dominated by Asians. When Connerly asked, "What would be wrong with that?", the UC administrator told him that Asians are "too dull -- they study, study, study."

Then he said to Connerly, "If you ever say I said this, I will have to deny it." Connerly did not reveal the administrator's name. It would not have done any good because it's part of a diversity vision shared by most college administrators.

Asian student enrollment on all nine UC campuses is over 40 percent. That's in a state where the Asian population is about 13 percent.

When there are policies that emphasize and reward academic achievement, Asians excel. College officials and others who are proponents of "diversity" and equal representation find that outcome offensive.

To deal with the Asian "menace," the UC Regents have proposed, starting in 2010, that no longer will the top 12.5 percent of students based on statewide performance be automatically admitted. Students won't have to take SAT subject matter tests. Grades and test scores will no longer weigh so heavily in admission decisions.
 

Ward Connerly ends his article saying, "There is one truth that is universally applicable in the era of 'diversity,' especially in American universities: an absolute unwillingness to accept the verdict of colorblind policies."

The Berean Call: "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage" (2 Peter 2:19).

[Truly, are we even a tiny bit surprised? CE]

WORDS OF THE WISE: SEEK TO KNOW HIM, A.W. Tozer

"Let us seek to know Him in the Word. It is in the Word we will find the Holy Spirit. Don't read too many other things. Some of you will say, "Look who's talking!" Well, go ahead and say it, I don't mind; but I am reading fewer and fewer things as I get older, not because I'm losing interest in this great, big, old suffering world, but because I'm gaining interest in that other world above. So I say, don't try to know everything. You can't. Find Him in the Word, for the Holy Ghost wrote this book. He inspired it, and He will be revealed in its pages."

--A.W. Tozer

LETTER TO A CATHOLIC PRIEST

It is my firm conviction that an increase in the knowledge of God and his will is an impossibility until the supremacy of scripture is recognized. As one tradition after another is found to be in opposition to it, scripture is allowed to judge, and those traditions are relegated to the ecclesiastical wastebasket. I venture to say that any God-fearing priest who would read nothing but the Bible daily for one year, and read that thoughtfully, prayerfully, and penitently, determined to refuse everything he had learned not in agreement with it, would at the end of the twelve months have forever cast aside so many traditionary fables and would have found such great enlightenment and blessing, that he would be encouraged to continue to make the holy scriptures his one chief study. Thus he would be enabled to walk in peace and godliness in the path of the just which shines brighter unto the perfect day. And so full would be the divine instruction received that he would never miss the human traditions and ecclesiastical dogmas thus discarded, but would find every spiritual need met in the great storehouse of heavenly food found in the inerrant and God-breathed depository of light and truth, the once neglected Bible.

-- H.A. Ironside, from the booklet "Letters to a Roman Catholic Priest," Loizeaux Brothers, pg. 39

Words of the Wise: John Wesley 2

"Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone; only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his Book; for this end, to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? Does anything appear dark or intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of lights: 'Lord, is it not thy Word, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God"? Thou 'givest liberally and upbraidest not'. Thou hast said, 'If any be willing to do thy will, he shall know.' I am willing to do, let me know thy will. I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual'. I meditate thereon, with all the attention and earnestness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God, and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn, that I teach."

--John Wesley, Preface to Standard Sermons

Mindless Messianic Mob Mentality

Although secular society is supposed to be free from religion, it doesn't take much examination to see evidence of much religious thought and sentiment. Consider the reactions of secular news reporters and broadcasters concerning the president.

"Barack's appeal is actually messianic... he... communicates God-like energy... What if God decided to incarnate as men preaching 'hope and change.' And what if we... let them slip away, not availing ourselves... to be led by God!" (Barack's appeal is actually messianic, Steve Davis, March 31, 2008, Journal Gazette).

"This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament! I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event" (Chris Matthews, MSNBC, February 12, 2008).

"Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?" (Daily Kos, Sat Apr 26, 2008).

"Obama, to me, must be not just an ordinary human being but indeed an Advanced Soul, come to lead America out of this mess" (Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun Times, March 21, 2008).

"He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians...the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century" ([Former U.S. Senator] Gary Hart, Huffington Post February 13, 2008).

"He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh...Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves" ("Obama's Gift", by Ezra Klein. January 3, 2008).

"Obama has the capacity to summon heroic forces from the spiritual depths of ordinary citizens and to unleash therefrom a symphonic chorus of unique creative acts whose common purpose is to tame the soul and alleviate the great challenges facing mankind" ("Obama: On Toughness and Success in Politics by Gerald Campbell. First Things First, December 22, 2007).

[The Berean Call: If so much adulation is accorded an earthly politician, imagine that generated in response to another leader who is prophesied to come. "And they worshiped the dragon which gave power to the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like to the beast? who is able to make war with him? (Rev 13:4). "...and all the world wondered after the beast" (Rev 13 :3).]

From John Newton's Letters: True Patriotism!

[American Flag once draped over President Lincoln's casket. Taken at DC Smithsonian June 2009]

Dear friend,

Allow me to say, that it excites both my wonder and concern, that a Christian minister such as yourself, should think it worth his while to attempt political reforms. When I look around upon the present state of the nation, such an attempt appears to me, to be no less vain and foolish, than it would be to paint the cabin--while the ship is sinking! Or to decorate the parlor--while the house is on fire!

When our Lord Jesus was upon earth, He refused to get involved in disputes or politics, "Friend, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" Luke 12:14. "My kingdom is not of this world! If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight!" John 18:36. God's children belong to a kingdom which is not of this world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and a part of their Scriptural character is, that they are the "quiet in the land." Psalm 35:19.

Satan has many contrivances to amuse people, and to divert their thoughts from their real danger!

My dear sir, my prayer to God for you is--that He may induce you to employ the talents He has given you, in pointing out sin as the great cause and source of every existing evil; and to engage those who love and fear Him, (instead of wasting time in political speculations, for which very few of them are competent,) to sigh and cry for our abounding abominations, and to stand in the breach, by prayer, that God's wrath may yet be averted, and our national mercies prolonged! This, I think, is true patriotism--the best way in which people in private life may serve their country.

I consider the ungodly as saws and hammers in the hand of the Lord. So far as they are His instruments, they will succeed--but not an inch further! Their wrath shall praise Him, and be subservient to His designs!

If our lot is so cast that we can exercise our ministry free from stripes, fines, imprisonments, and death--it is more than the gospel has promised to us! If Christians were quiet when under the cruel governments of Nero and other wicked persecutors, when they were hunted down like wild beasts--then we ought to be not only quiet but very thankful now! It was then accounted an honor to suffer for Christ and the 'offence of the cross'!

Those are to be greatly pitied, who boast of their 'liberty'--and yet they do not consider that they are in the most deplorable bondage as the slaves of sin and Satan, under the curse of God's law and His eternal wrath! Oh! for a voice to reach their hearts, that they may know their true and dreadful state--and seek deliverance from their horrific thraldom! May you and I labor to direct them to the one thing, which is absolutely needful, and abundantly sufficient.

If I had the wisdom or influence to soothe the angry passions of mankind--I would gladly employ them! But I am a stranger and a pilgrim here in this world. My charter, my rights and my treasures, are all in heaven--and there my heart ought to be. In a very short time, I may be removed (and perhaps suddenly) into the unseen and eternal world--where all that now causes so much bustle upon earth--will be of no more importance to me--than the events which took place among the antediluvians!

In the hour, when death shall open the door into eternity--many things which now assume an 'air of importance', will be found as light and unsubstantial as a child's dream!

How crucial then, is it for me--to be found watching, with my lamp burning, diligently engaged in my proper calling! For the Lord has not called me to set governments right--but to preach the gospel, to proclaim the glory of His name, and to endeavor to win souls! "Let the dead bury their own dead--but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God!" Luke 9:60. Happy is that servant, whom his Master finds so doing, when He returns!

As you have forced me to respond--both duty and love have obliged me to be faithful and free in giving you my thoughts.

I recommend you to the care and blessing of the great Shepherd and Savior; and remain for His sake, your affectionate friend and brother,

John Newton

Israel and Prophetic Proof Part II

Dave Hunt

Israel is the major topic of Bible prophecy, mentioned more than 2,900 times, nearly twice as many times as her Messiah. Without Israel there would be no Messiah and no salvation for anyone, Jew or Gentile. The first mention of His coming is in God's rebuke of the guilty parties involved in man's fall in Eden: the serpent (an identity that Satan retains from Genesis to Revelation) and Adam and Eve. The Bible account is not myth but history. In many places around the world, archaeologists continue to find ancient representations of three figures appearing together: a woman, a serpent, and a tree.

God foretells a long conflict between the serpent and the Messiah and the latter's ultimate triumph that would occur in a way Satan could never have imagined. An old hymn tells it beautifully:

In weakness like defeat,
He won the victor's crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.
He Satan's power laid low;
Made sin, He sin o'er threw;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.      

God's declaration to the three guilty parties is simple and to the point. To the serpent He said, "I will put enmity between thee [serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed [the Messiah]; it [the woman's seed] shall bruise thy head [a death blow], and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gn 3:15).

The fact that God does not say "thy seed and Adam's" must indicate that no man would be involved. From that moment, Satan was eagerly awaiting this virgin birth in order to kill the babe. Watching closely as events unfold, Satan learns that the Messiah will be of the seed of Abraham. Ishmael (father of the Arabs) is Abraham's firstborn, but by Hagar, Sarah's maid 7. Finally, Abraham is given a second son by his wife. He is Isaac, "the son of promise." It seems a miraculous birth because for 90 years Sarah had been barren though not a virgin. Satan watches and waits.

Both Ishmael and Isaac were born "in the land of Canaan" among Canaanites who had lived there for centuries (Gn 11:31; 12:5-6; 13:7, etc.). There was no such place as "Palestine" nor any people called "Palestinians." No Arabs would live in so-called Palestine until the savage Islamic conquest of the world began in the seventh century, and they would not claim descent from "the original Palestinians" until the 1950s. Anyone making such a claim via descent from Ishmael is deluded by tradition. Ishmael's father (Abraham) was a Chaldean (Gn 11:31; 15:7) and his mother (Hagar) was an Egyptian (16:1).

President Obama continues to apply pressure upon Israel to deal justly with the "Palestinians." He asks these misnamed people to cease their violence against Israel. He must know that this is like pleading with a hurricane for mercy. Since long before the days of Arafat and his partner, Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO Charter's call for Israel's annihilation has been the sworn purpose of every Islamic government in obedience to Muhammad and has been reiterated hundreds of times throughout the Muslim world.

As Mortimer Zuckerman, in his U.S. News and World Report editorial of June 9, 2009, recently reminded world leaders demanding that Israel make "peace" with the Palestinians, the latter's violence is fueled by "the incessant spewing of hatred against Israel in schools, mosques, and the media, especially TV. This poisoning of the mind of the next generation is not just the stock in trade of Hamas and Hezbollah but also of the schools and media controlled by Fatah and reporting directly to Abbas."

In spite of the facts, political and church leaders persist in avoiding any mention of Islam or Muslims when referring to their violence. That is always blamed on "extremists." In fact, Muhammad himself began this trail of death, and his followers have obeyed, as supported by the Qur'an. The simple truth of history is brushed aside by the UN and almost the entire world, including the church and, sadly, our own president.

Being repeatedly condemned by the world for trying to defend itself against suicide bomber attacks that were costing the lives of hundreds of Israelis, including women and children, Israel's only alternative was to build a barrier that would cut off the attackers from entering her homeland. World opinion expressed outrage. The World Court ruled 14-1 that construction must cease immediately and everything be dismantled, with compensation to the Palestinians. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on July 20, 2004, 150-6, calling on Israel to respect the World Court ruling. Only the United States, Israel, Australia, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau voted against the resolution. Israel rejected world opinion and, from necessity, has proceeded with construction. Though the barrier has not been completed as of this date, it has already almost totally cut off the infiltration of terrorists.

Israel subsequently "gave back" Gaza, which historically belonged to her. She generously left operative the huge greenhouses that had fed Israel and much of Europe with fresh vegetables and could have done the same for the new "owners." Instead, these new owners tore the structures apart, and the mob carried off the materials for their individual use, thereby losing the potential income from exports that Israel had derived as well as the ability to feed themselves.

Going back to history, in 135 A.D., the Romans destroyed 1,000 Jewish villages, killed 500,000 Jews, and enslaved thousands. Furious that they'd been forced to bring in more legions to quell the rebellion, the Romans angrily renamed what had for more than 1,500 years been known as Israel. They called it Provincia Palestina after the Philistines, Israel's ancient enemies. Those living there became known as Palestinians. Who lived there? Jews! So Jews, ironically were the first "Palestinians." This is what they were called (along with many derisive names that have followed them as they've been hunted from country to country). Only in the 1950s did the Arabs begin to call themselves "Palestinians" in order to gain worldwide sympathy for their acts of terrorism even as UN pressure squeezed Israel into an ever-smaller corner in order to facilitate her destruction. (We document all of this and much more in Judgment Day.)

Since 1948, Israel has been arming herself and fighting back. Her vow of "never again" will be fulfilled but not before Jewry worldwide suffers the worst horror of her history. Under attack by all of the world's armies (Zec 12:3; 14:2; Jl 3:2, Ezk 38:8,9 etc.), Israel will call upon the Messiah, and He will rescue her. It is all declared plainly by the ancient prophets of Israel in the Old Testament (the Tenach).

It has taken the Lord many years and many circumstances to open my eyes to these prophecies. It was all there in His Word, but I didn't understand. How blind I was!

In 1966-67, my wife and I, with our four young children, were living on the third floor of a small seventeenth-century castle in Switzerland. That year was to have been an intensive time of ministry to university students, but God had something far different in mind. Suddenly, an overwhelming urgency to pray for Israel came upon me toward the end of 1966. Even when giving thanks to God at mealtime, I was compelled to include this prayer, "O Lord, I pray that you will defeat, confound, confuse, and frustrate all those who plot the destruction of Israel; turn their counsel into foolishness and protect your ancient people from their evil designs. In Jesus' name, Amen!"

I didn't understand that prayer at the time, but my naiveté was soon dispelled. In Cairo, Egypt, I went into a travel agency and asked, "How can I get to Israel?" The man waiting on me took me aside and whispered, "If you mention that [expletive] word again in this country they'll kill you!" I was shocked. I knew the Bible well but had never realized the significance of Psalm 83: "...thine enemies...that hate thee...have taken crafty counsel against thy people, [saying] let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." This destruction has been the determined goal of Islam since it was founded by Muhammad.

Muslims are fighting against the God who calls Himself the "God of Israel" 203 times in the Bible. What an embarrassment it would be if Israel could be destroyed! It could never happen, for that act would destroy "the God of Israel" as well. He will not allow it.

Interacting with the very friendly people our family met as we drove the length and breadth of Egypt in our VW minibus in late May 1967, we repeatedly heard the words, "The 19-year war." What war was this? It took a while for that cryptic phrase to sink into our dull understanding.  From the so-called 1948 cessation of hostilities until 1967 was 19 years. Even as they professed peace, but inspired by Egypt's dictator, Gamal Abdul Nasser, the 40 million Muslims surrounding Israel had been arming nonstop to achieve her destruction. Nasser had sworn to lead the Arab world to a glorious victory. The humiliating defeat of the Arab armies in "The Six Day War" of 1967 ended Nasser's bombastic boast that he would destroy Israel. He subsequently had a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered.

In May 1948, Israel had declared its independence and was instantly attacked by the combined might of 40 million Arab/Muslims surrounding her. This tiny nation of 600,000, with its hastily assembled, hurriedly trained, and poorly equipped army of 60,000, with weapons smuggled in from Czechoslovakia (France, Britain, America, et al., would sell them nothing) fought for its survival against an enemy that had sworn its utter annihilation. They "crushed 600,000 soldiers of four Arab armies, well trained and heavily armed [with tanks and planes, of which Israel had none], reinforced by units from seven additional Arab countries, not to mention the active help of the British." This quote is part of the lengthy endorsement of Judgment Day by a retired Israeli General.

Three times God calls Israel the "apple of his eye" and warns: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye" (Zec 2:8; Dt 32:10; Lam 2:18). The statements that Barack Obama continually makes in favor of Islam are not only alarming for his own sake and the sake of the United States but are a slap in the face of the God of Israel. I can only warn him with what God himself told Abraham regarding the subsequent mistreatment of his descendants: "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gn 12:3).

In a hotel room in Tyre, Lebanon, the evening of June 3, 1967, our family prayed for direction from God. We had visas to drive through Syria into Jordan and then return by the same route. The newspapers the next morning gave the answer clearly. We immediately headed north through Syria and had, by God's grace, barely gotten across the border into Turkey when the war broke out. 

In spite of hundreds of very clear declarations by Jewish prophets and the promises that God has given to His people, about 30 percent of today's Israelis claim to be atheists. He wants to bless them and protect them, but how can He, when they continue to reject Him? The following is just a sample of what God has repeatedly said to His people: "I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries...fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.... But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would [have] none of me"
(Ps 81:11-16).

Israel is both under God's judgment because of its continual rejection of the God of Israel, but at the same time, He has not abandoned her, and woe to those who take God's judgment into their own hands!

In the meantime, the nations of the world continue to become a party to Islam's deception by attempting to force Israel into what can only be a false "peace." What Islam has in mind is not what the peacemakers naively intend. It's called a hudna, the "peace" that Muhammad made with the Meccans for ten years. Long before then, under a pretense, Muslims attacked and took over that "holy" city, which had so long been the goal of the hajj (long practiced before Muhammad's birth by most Arab tribes). Of course, this ancient custom, along with others, such as the feast of Ramadan, have been taken over by Muslims. Thus, history is perverted to make it seem that these had always been Islamic practices.

Ramadan had for centuries been agreed upon by warring Arab tribes to be 30 days of peace. At just the right time to allow him to attack a passing caravan, Muhammad received a "new revelation" that Muslims could fight during this time. Ramadan has become a time of the deadliest attacks of Shiites against Sunnis (does this demonstrate to the world that "Islam is peace?")

These prophecies are so important for the strengthening of our own faith, but what about those whom we want to bring into the faith of the God of Israel? We need to provide to everyone with whom we speak (as I often do for those with whom the Lord puts me in contact everywhere, but especially on airplanes) first of all, proof of God's existence. How better to do this than to take the approach of Zinzendorf with the King of Sweden, as we mentioned in Part I of this article, using biblical prophecies about Israel?

We can talk to others about God and Jesus Christ, but when we say "God," what do we mean? A "higher power" of some kind?  We have to be sure that those whom we want to introduce to the God of Israel understand who He is, why we believe in Him, and why we think the most intelligent decision they could make is to believe in Him as well.  TBC
 

IRANIAN CHRISTIANS IN U.S. PRAYING FOR THEIR HOMELAND

Members of the Iranian Christian Church of San Diego are praying for their homeland amid continuing turmoil over Iran's disputed presidential election.

The Rev. Sohrab Ramtin, whose sermons are broadcast by satellite into Iran, says his congregation believes reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though the incumbent claims to have won a landslide victory.

Ramtin says Iranian Christians hoped a Mousavi victory would ease persecution in Iran. Iran's supreme ruler, meanwhile, has warned Iranians to unite behind the country's Islamic system.

The pastor of the Iranian Christian Church of Colorado says Iran's hardline Islamic regime has caused many Iranians to turn their backs on Islam and become Christians. The Rev. Ashton Stewart, who grew up in Iran, says God also has been converting Iranians in ways only God can.

"God has been showing himself through visions of Christ, incredible healings, incredible experiences that have just confirmed for thousands of people that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life," he shares.

While many Iranians hoped for the defeat of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Stewart says his main prayer is that the post-election crisis will help grow the church in Iran. He's also asking American Christians to "pray for the persecuted" in Iran, where he says "there are many Christians in jail today, and some of them are being treated very, very brutally."

Constitutional Right to Free Speech, Freedom to Worship (for Christians) on the Way out the Door

From John W. Whitehead at the Rutherford Institute:

I never thought I would see the absurd proportions that things have reached in this country, all for the sake of not offending some individual or special-interest group. Political correctness—a philosophy that discourages diversity of viewpoints—has become a guiding principle of modern society. If there is the slightest possibility that someone might be offended, freedom of speech is erased.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the schools, especially when Christianity is involved.

Indeed, things have gotten so ridiculous that the mere mention of God is enough to send public school officials into a tailspin. Just consider what happened to Renee Griffith on her graduation day.

By virtue of her scholastic achievements, Renee was one of ten valedictorians selected to deliver remarks at graduation about things they had learned during their time at Butte High School in Butte, Montana. The students prepared their own remarks, and some delivered them together, in an alternating fashion. Renee paired up with another student to talk about the lessons they had learned in school, which ranged from the humorous and mundane to the heartfelt.

School officials who reviewed the remarks prior to graduation did not raise any objections to the students' light-hearted remarks. What they did object to, ironically enough, was Renee's heartfelt statement about how she learned to persevere and not fear by standing up for her religious convictions.

"I learned to persevere these past four years, even through failure or discouragement, when I had to stand for my convictions," wrote Renee. "I didn't let fear keep me from sharing Christ and His joy with those around me. I learned to impart hope, to encourage people to treat each day as a gift. I learned not to be known for my grades or for what I did during school, but for being committed to my faith and morals and being someone who lived with a purpose from God with a passionate love for Him."

Just prior to the graduation ceremony, Renee was given an ultimatum by school officials: either delete the references to God from her speech and replace them with more neutral phrases or be forbidden to speak at all at the graduation program.

For example, instead of saying "I didn't let fear keep me from sharing Christ and His joy with those around me," she was instructed to say "I didn't let fear keep me from sharing my faith with those around me." And instead of "being someone who lived with a purpose from God with a passionate love for Him," she was told to describe herself as "someone who lived with a purpose, a purpose derived from my faith and based on a love of mankind."

To most people, these might seem like minor changes. But to Renee, there is a world of difference between a life that is based on a love of God and a life based on a love of mankind.

Not surprisingly, Renee insisted on her right to free speech. After all, Renee has a constitutional right to use the words of her choice when talking about the lessons she learned in school, just as other students were permitted to use words of their choosing to share what they learned.

Unfortunately, school officials didn't see it that way. They banned Renee from participating in the graduation ceremony altogether. That's when Renee turned to The Rutherford Institute for help.

We've already filed a free speech lawsuit in Montana state court, and we're preparing for what will likely be a long and costly court battle. But we cannot do this alone. This case promises to be another momentous religious freedom battle, and we're going to need all the help we can get in order to prevail.

As a great American patriot once remarked, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

Thank you, and God bless you, for faithfully standing with us and never tiring of supporting this much-needed and critical work to safeguard our God-given freedoms.

Yours faithfully,

John W. Whitehead

P.S. If there has ever been a time to take a stand and fight for freedom, it is now. As historian Roland Bainton reminds us, "All freedoms hang together. Civil liberties scarcely thrive when religious liberties are disregarded, and the reverse is equally true." In other words, if all freedoms hang together, then they will fall together, too. In fact, they will fall like dominoes.

As we prepare to end our fiscal year on June 30, we are still almost $350,000 short of balancing the budget. Please take a moment today to help us end this year in the black and continue to fight for justice and the courageous individuals who are willing to take a stand, and often suffer, for our cherished beliefs. And remember, your donation will also count toward a $60,000 matching gift challenge issued by some of our concerned faithful donors.

Click here to make your online donation in support of The Rutherford Institute today.

PREACH THE WORD AND JOEL OSTEEN

"[Osteen] understands the importance of TV and uses the language of contemporary American society - the language of psychotherapy."

Having preached for less than a decade, Osteen, 46, presides over a Houston church in a former basketball arena that draws 40,000 people on Sundays. His televised sermons are seen by more than 7 million Americans a week and millions more around the world.

He's had two best-selling books and a third, "It's Your Time," will come out in November. He's only been preaching on the road for five years, but is taking the stage at the new Yankee Stadium before A-Rod for what he calls "A Night of Hope.

He appeals to conservatives and liberals, Texas Republicans and Nancy Pelosi, Pentecostal Christians filled with the Holy Spirit and atheists filled with none.

"I wish I could explain it better," he said of his appeal in a recent interview with The Journal News at the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Columbus Circle. "I don't have an answer. I guess it's that my message is positive and hopeful. People stop me on the street, whether they are bikers or bankers. I've had atheists tell me that they watch me on TV.

"It's got to be God," he said, "because it's not me."

Tulane University's Shayne Lee, an expert on superstar evangelists, said Osteen is young, fresh, likable and doesn't have the baggage of the televangelists of old.

"He understands the importance of TV and uses the language of contemporary American society - the language of psychotherapy, the language of Americans who watch Oprah and Dr. Phil," said Lee, whose new book, "Holy Mavericks," profiles Osteen and four other pastors with national followings. "Osteen understands that his brand is not to condemn, but uplift. If the caricature of the typical evangelist is a fingerpointing loudmouth, Osteen seems so trustworthy that he's the boy next door."

"My message is not about doctrine. I don't have to get 50 references from Scripture in a sermon for it to be a good sermon. Churches that are helping people live out a Christian life are growing and flourishing."

From www.lohud.com


[The Berean Call adds: [But the bible says] "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.]

Words of the Wise: Robert C Chapman

The ruin of a kingdom is a little thing in God's sight, in comparison with division among a handful of sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ.

--Robert C. Chapman

Paul's Admonition

Paul does not ask a thing of the saints in the first three chapters of Ephesians but just to listen while he proclaims that wondrous series of great and eternal facts concerning them;  and not until he has completed this catalogue of realities about them does he ask them to do anything at all!

And when he does open his plea for their high walk as saints, everything is based on the revelation before given-the facts of their high character and destiny as saints: 'I therefore...beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Eph. 4:1).

Let us cease laying down to the saints long lists of 'conditions' of entering into the blessed life in Christ; and instead, as the primal preparation for leading them into the experience of this life, show them what their position, possessions, and privileges in Christ already are. Thus shall we truly work with the Holy Spirit, and thus shall we have more, much more abiding fruit of our labors among the people of God"

(Wm. R. Newell, from "The Green Letters" by Miles J. Stanford, pgs. 38-39).

Liberals Hold Prayer Breakfast in US Capitol to Pray for Bill to End Secret Ballots in Union Organizing

Union leaders, clergy and liberal members of Congress gathered in the mostly empty U.S. Capitol Visitors Center early Tuesday morning to hear multicultural choir music, speeches from religious leaders--and to pray for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. The prayer breakfast was sponsored by Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness--a coalition of liberal religious groups that was formed for the sole purpose of promoting the "card-check" bill.

(Washington, CNSNews.com, May 20, 2009, http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=48367 )

[The Berean Call: These liberal clergy are advocating the theft of individual rights. As a secret ballot in general elections protects from intimidation and allows a voter to vote their conscience, a secret ballot in considering the formation of unions also protects the rights of the individual. Anything less fails to protect from intimidation. This is not an argument for or against the right to form a union. Rather, it is a reminder that true freedom only comes from God and that every effort of man outside the guidance of God only tends to tyranny and bondage. "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage" (2 Peter 2:19).]

LEFT-LEANING EVANGELICALS MISLEADING YOUNG PEOPLE

Some prominent evangelicals who are backing the "hate crimes" bill awaiting a vote in the Senate are making a concerted effort to get evangelicals to abandon their traditionally conservative voting habits.

The homosexual activist group, Human Rights Campaign, held a "Clergy Call" rally last week on Capitol Hill to urge passage of legislation that would add "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to the list of protected categories under federal hate crimes law. HRC distributed statements from some influential evangelicals who support the bill, including Mercer University Christian ethicist David Gushee and Florida mega-church pastor Joel Hunter.

Pastor Hunter says he "strongly endorse[s]" S. 909* because it "protects both the rights of conservative religious people to voice passionately their interpretations of their scriptures and protects their fellow citizens from physical attack."
 
Mark Tooley, president of the Washington-based Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), says such statements from figures like Hunter and Gushee are finding fertile ground -- particularly among a new, younger generation of evangelicals.
 
Mark Tooley, "Clearly [these clergy] are a part of an evangelical left crowd who are strategically attempting to shift evangelicals away from conservative social issues to liberal economic and foreign policy [issues] -- and in this case, in the case of hate crimes legislation, social issues as well," he states.
 
In a statement released on Monday, Tooley argues that increasingly, the evangelical left is "indistinguishable from the secular left."
 
"Christians of all traditions are called to transform the culture -- not conform to it," he says in reference to Romans 12:2. "But the evangelical left repeats arguments from The New York Times' editorial page and seems to think such cultural conformity will win applause. History shows that accommodationist Christians are ultimately irrelevant Christians."

[The Berean Call: Any reformation of culture can only come through the strategy given to the Church: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine."

Q & A Berean Style May 31, 2009

Question: On the last night of the Tulsa Prophecy Conference, during the Q&A session, a question was directed to Dave Hunt that related to Calvinism. He stated that election and predestination were never unto salvation but unto service. Mike Gendron responded by reading 2 Thessalonians 2:13: "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Doesn't that sound like God has chosen certain ones to be saved, which of course would mean that the rest are chosen to damnation by default?

Response: I had already stated that I did not want to prolong a discussion about Calvinism. Looking back, I do not want to leave the impression that I had no answer to the verse Mike read. One thing you will notice when this subject comes up: there are a few favorite verses that Calvinists quote. This is one of about four or five, and Mike didn't mention any of the others.

Had I wanted to continue the discussion, I could have noted that whereas Calvinists have a handful of favorite verses, there are literally hundreds proving that God has not chosen certain ones for heaven and others for hell. For example, Christ introduces and explains John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.") with a reference to the incident in the wilderness involving the brazen serpent: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This reference is to Numbers 21. Let's notice the wording there: "Every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live....If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Nu 21:8,9). This was the way Christ explained John 3:16. The Calvinists say that Christ was not talking about the whole world but only the world of the elect. Christ's example shows that this is not the case.

Christ does not allow this misinterpretation. Here is one of the reasons Calvinists generally avoid references to the Old Testament. Calvinism, far from being supported there, is refuted. It was not the homes of a few elect over which the destroying angel passed but every home where the blood had been applied. Who went through the Red Sea on dry land? An elect few? No, everyone who had been delivered from Egypt by the blood. Who ate of the manna in the wilderness? For whom did the water flow out of the rock? Who was led by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night? Was it an elect few among the Israelites? No, it was all of them, even though all did not believe.

Such examples could be multiplied by the dozens. In comparison, the few verses of doubtful interpretation that Calvinists hold out to prove their case are far from conclusive on their side. Even 2 Thessalonians 2:13, which Mike read, includes the proof that there is more involved than God simply choosing some to heaven. Something more is required of man: "through...belief of the truth."

Question: I have been aggravated for some time with the controversy surrounding the security of the believer. In other words, the "Once Saved, Always Saved" issue is very controversial in many Christian circles, and there seem to be few resources on this issue. Could you please address this in a future issue of the Berean Call newsletter?

Response: We first addressed the security of the believer in the June 1989 issue of the newsletter. This article has since been reformatted and is now available as the tract "Once Saved, Always Saved?" (www.thebereancall.org).

Regardless of our own perceptions or convictions, we must begin with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and compare all other scriptures (such as James 5, Ezekiel 18, or the "difficult" passages in Hebrews) to His words. The clearest statement of the Savior's intent can be found in John 10:26-29. He makes six declarative statements with absolutely no qualifications:

1) My sheep hear My voice. 2) I know them. 3) They follow Me. 4) I give unto them eternal life. 5) They shall never perish. 6) Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand, nor out of My Father's hand.

The language used in the original is very adamant, as the phrase translated "any man" is all inclusive--which includes "us" in the "any man" category. Hebrews 12:5-12 is an excellent (albeit painful) example of how God works in the lives of His children as He disciplines them. There are no qualifiers re how closely they follow, how far they stray in their waywardness, or how dim the voice of the Shepherd may become to them. Furthermore, "If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire"  (1 Cor 3:14-15).

Why Doesn't God Reveal Himself to Me?

(An excerpt from Dave Hunt's timeless classic, In Defense of the Faith.)

Question: I would like to know God, and I have asked Him to reveal Himself to me, but nothing happens. No lights have gone on, no messages in the sky, no sudden revelation. It seems to me that if God really existed He would want us to believe in Him and He would therefore do something tangible to let us know He exists. Is it wrong to ask for some unmistakable evidence of God's existence?

Response: No, and the evidence is all around you--more than you need. The kind of evidence you seem to be hoping for, however, wouldn't help at all. Suppose some message with your name in it suddenly appeared in the sky. How would you know that God put it there? Suppose right now you heard an audible voice saying loudly, "I am God! Worship me!" What would that tell you about God--and how would you know that He had actually spoken?

In fact, God has spoken to you. The design of the universe is a message from God, telling you of His existence as Creator and of His infinite wisdom and power. Those things that you value most highly and that you know in your heart make life worthwhile--love, joy, peace, moral purity, goodness, truthfulness, justice, kindness-tell you of God's character. Your conscience tells you that you are morally accountable to God, that you have violated His laws and have fallen short of His perfect standard. Your conscience also tells you that there is no way you can make up for having broken God's laws. You can't buy Him off with sacrifice, prayers, good deeds, or ritual.

Suppose you got a speeding ticket. Would you waste your time telling the judge that you've driven that stretch of highway within the speed limit more often than above it? Would he let you off under the theory that your "good deeds outweigh the bad"? You know that won't work with an earthly judge, and it certainly won't work with God.

Would you tell him that if he lets you off this time you will never break the law again? You know what the judge would say: "If you never break the law again, you're only doing what the law requires. You get no extra credit for that. It doesn't make up for having broken the law in the past. The penalty will have to be paid as the law prescribes it." You know it's the same way with God.

Your conscience tells you that the only way you could possibly escape the severe penalty that God's infinite justice must demand for having broken His laws would be if He forgives you. And you know He can't just wipe the slate clean for no reason. For one thing, that would hardly encourage you to improve your behavior. Furthermore, it would violate His own law. He must have some way of paying the penalty Himself--a penalty you can't pay--so that you can be forgiven by His grace.

You don't know what that method may be, but you know that a God of perfect love and perfect justice would somehow provide it. If there is an explanation of this good news, it would surely be in the Bible. In fact, God has explained it all in those pages. Have you seriously studied the Bible and checked out the evidence that shows it is God's infallible Word?

There is more than sufficient historic, archaeological, and scientific evidence to prove that the Bible is God's infallible Word. In fact, in this volume alone we provide overwhelming evidence of that fact. But you don't really need it. That kind of proof is like icing on the cake. If you just read the Bible with an open heart and mind, you will know that God is speaking to your heart as only He can speak.

I recommend that you begin with the Gospel of John and continue through Acts and Romans, then read those three books again. God has promised in His Word: "Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). That is a promise you can count on! Seek God with all your heart and put Him to the test by looking in the Bible for the revelation of Himself!

Israel and Prophetic Proof Part I

Dave Hunt

"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them....And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." Amos 9:14-15

         

About 150 years ago, the King of Sweden had troubling doubts about whether the Bible was really true in every word. He asked Count von Zinzendorf, bishop of the MoravianChurch, to give him proof that the Bible was truly inspired of God. The King had set aside 10 hours to hear what might be said. To his majesty's surprise, Zinzendorf informed him that the time allotted was far too much. He only needed to say one word. Astonished, the King asked what that could be. The Count replied, "Jews."

Today we would add one more word, "Israel." In Zinzendorf's day, that tiny and beleaguered nation, born on May 14, 1948, did not exist except in the hearts of Zionists who had never given up awaiting the fulfillment of the "God of Israel's" solemn promises. The continued existence of Israel today, surrounded by more than a billion Muslims who have sworn to exterminate her and who continually plot and repeatedly attack her in the attempt to do so, is one of the most astonishing miracles of modern times.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has blessed the Jewish people with a brilliance that generally far exceeds their cousins the Arabs and the rest of the Gentile world.

The Arabs have the oil, but the Jews have the brains. Lest I be accused of racism, one need only compare the numbers of Nobel prize winners among them. In the Arab/Muslim world of 1.4 billion there are 6 Nobelists: 3 for Peace, and 1 each for Chemistry, Physics, and Literature.

In the Jewish population of 14 million (one hundredth of the Arab world) there are 165 Nobelists: 51 for Medicine, 45 for Physics, 27 for chemistry, 22 for Economics, 11 for Literature, and 9 for Peace. This is astonishing!

Words of The Wise: John Bunyan

"He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day"

--John Bunyan

THE EVOLUTION CONNECTION

The idea of extraterrestrial life stems largely from a belief in evolution. Recall that in the evolutionary view, the earth is "just another planet"-one where the conditions just happened to be right for life to form and evolve. If there are countless billions of other planets in our galaxy, then surely at least a handful of these worlds have also had the right conditions. Extraterrestrial life is almost inevitable in an evolutionary worldview.

However, the notion of alien life does not square well with Scripture. The earth is unique. God designed the earth for life (Isaiah 45:18). The other planets have an entirely different purpose than does the earth, and thus, they are designed differently. In Genesis 1 we read that God created plants on the earth on Day 3, birds to fly in the atmosphere and marine life to swim in the ocean on Day 5, and animals to inhabit the land on Day 6. Human beings were also made on Day 6 and were given dominion over the animals. But where does the Bible discuss the creation of life on the "lights in the expanse of the heavens"? There is no such description because the lights in the expanse were not designed to accommodate life. God gave care of the earth to man, but the heavens are the Lord's (Psalm 115:16). From a biblical perspective, extraterrestrial life does not seem reasonable

When we consider how the salvation plan might apply to any hypothetical extraterrestrial (but otherwise human-like) beings, we are presented with a problem. If there were Vulcans or Klingons out there, how would they be saved? They are not blood relatives of Jesus, and so Christ's shed blood cannot pay for their sin. One might at first suppose that Christ also visited their world, lived there, and died there as well, but this is antibiblical. Christ died once for all (1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 9:27-28, Hebrews 10:10). Jesus is now and forever both God and man; but He is not an alien.

One might suppose that alien beings have never sinned, in which case they would not need to be redeemed. But then another problem emerges: they suffer the effects of sin, despite having never sinned. Adam's sin has affected all of creation- not just mankind. Romans 8:20-22 makes it clear that the entirety of creation suffers under the bondage of corruption. These kinds of issues highlight the problem of attempting to incorporate an antibiblical notion into the Christian worldview.

Extraterrestrial life is an evolutionary concept; it does not comport with the biblical teachings of the uniqueness of the earth and the distinct spiritual position of human beings. Of all the worlds in the universe, it was the earth that God Himself visited, taking on the additional nature of a human being, dying on a cross, and rising from the dead in order to redeem all who would trust in Him.

Piano Tuning

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.

So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.

--A.W. Tozer

THE CHILDREN OF FATHER GOD

[THE BEREAN CALL: The Mormon teaching of a "Father God" who with his celestial wives populates a planet through conceiving billions of "spirit children" very naturally prompts a further question: Is there a mother-god and if there is, why can we not worship her?]

The Mormon Mother God theory is a logical extension of the Church's teaching that Joseph Smith introduced in 1844 - namely by teaching that God was once a man like us, who had a father and who had a father and so on... (See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp.345-347).

Since Joseph Smith taught that God was once a man who "became a god", it is assumed that he also had a wife - or actually wives, since polygamy was also part of Joseph Smith's teachings.

The Mormon Church teaches that all humans and angelic beings were begotten sons and daughters of Elohim before they were begotten on earth as mankind. God the Father and His wife (or wives) are considered by the Mormon Church to be our heavenly parents, and that we all were born to them as their spirit children, and that we grew in that heavenly abode to spirit adulthood (Gospel Principles, 1997 ed., p. 290). Our earthly parents procreated our physical bodies to which these spirits then would come. There are many references throughout official Mormon teaching materials to "our heavenly parents" meaning that there is a mother (or mothers) also. (Gospel Principles, p. 11, 13-15, 19).

However, the Mormon Church does not sanction worship of Mother in Heaven, or even prayer to her, but it does clearly teach her existence and her necessary role in procreation of human spirits, including Jesus as well as Lucifer. (Gospel Principles, pp. 17-18). This led to the teaching that men can become Gods and then create their own worlds and procreate their own spirit children who will have the same relationship to them (prayer, worship and adoration) as they now have with God the Father (Gospel Principles, p. 302).

Such teaching is completely unbiblical and foreign to Christianity - from the time of Christ to this time. This teaching resembles Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian and Roman pagan concepts of their gods being just a little above humans, and who relate to humans on their level and who procreate as they do.

This (men becoming gods) doctrine can be traced back to Satan's own ambition of godhood (Isa. 14:12-14), and his promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden. (Gen. 3:5).
This is an abomination to the God of the Bible, who is the only God there is and ever will be. He is not a man - He is wholly apart from His creation. (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10-11; 44:6, 8; 45:21-22; 46:9; Mark 12:29-34; James 2:19. See also Numbers 23:19; Hosea 11:9; Romans 1:22-23; Psalm 90:2; Isa. 40:28).

(H.I.S. Ministries International, April 2009 Newsletter, Sandy, Utah, www.hismin.com

Oops...is it only gays who can use the term "Queer Eye?" Guess some of us missed the memo.

Oh, for Joe's sake...liberals know gays are queer, which is the whole reason they push the gay agenda. Dangerous? Not necessarily, but I'd think twice before letting any man alone with either of my kids for any length of time.

Post-Exodus Isrealite sites uncovered?

A Haifa University archaeologist on Monday said he has unearthed structures in the shape of human feet believed to have been erected by the Israelites upon their initial entry to the Land of Canaan.

Prof. Adam Zertal said that the large compounds discovered in the Jordan Valley were "the first sites to have been built by the Israelites upon entering Canaan and manifest the biblical notion of claiming ownership of the land by setting feet on it."

Prof. Zertal's excavation team uncovered five large foot-shaped compounds that he identifies as the biblical site of Gilgal.

Zertal's most famous discovery is a compound on Mount Ebal near Nablus, which he identified as the site of the Covenant ceremony depicted in the biblical Book of Joshua. Other archaeologists have identified that site as a watchtower.

Since 1990, five sites shaped like human feet have been excavated in the Jordan Valley. All five date back to the early Iron Age (12th to 13th centuries B.C.E.), and their shapes indicate that they were used as communal gathering places.

Zertal said that the foot-shaped sites were used during ceremonies following the Israelites' entry into the Land of Canaan. He added that the concept of the Jewish pilgrimage to Jerusalem on three major holidays (known as "aliya la'regel" or ascending on foot) also originates from the foot-shaped sites in the Jordan Valley and Mount Ebal.

True Love Part II: Morals and Meaning

Dave Hunt

The atheistic understanding of love, the highest human virtue, is badly skewed. Sam Harris, in his book Letter to a Christian Nation, says that the fact that "love is more conducive to happiness than hate" is the key to "the moral order of our world."1 So morality depends upon what makes one happy? Any child whose parents have disciplined him at all knows that isn't true. The saddest thing is that not only Harris but the multitudes who have read and turned this book into a bestseller really imagine they have escaped from God with nonsense that would be laughed out of any elementary ethics class.

In another burst of absolutely dazzling profundity, Harris adds, "While feeling love for others is surely one of the greatest sources of our own happiness, it entails a very deep concern for the happiness and suffering of those we love."2 "Feeling love"? What does that mean? With deep feelings of love, a young man says to the young woman beside him in his car, "I love you with all my heart!" What he really means, although neither of them understands it, is "I love me, and I want you!"

If this is what his "selfish genes"3 (as Richard Dawkins would say) and the molecules in his brain are causing him to think, who can blame him? Clearly, the logic of atheism, evolution, and natural selection will inevitably bring us to the day when no one can be blamed for anything. Blame will have lost all meaning. The physical construction of our bodies will have to bear the responsibility. The universal excuse (and it will have to be accepted by every court of law) will no longer be "The devil made me do it" but "My selfish genes made me do it!" Who believes in the devil anyway? But surely we all believe that genes are selfish, don't we? No, we do not. We still have enough common sense to reject this amorality that now governs our ethics and morals.

Healthy marriages = healthy social system

"The marriage relation lies at the very root of the social system of nations. The public morality of a people, and the private happiness of the families which compose a people, are deeply involved in the whole question of the law of marriage. . . . "Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules. The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God's approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another's sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are." J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1857, rep. 2000), 199-200).

Sexual politics in Episcopal Church affect African churches

A Sudanese priest recently had an eye-opening introduction to the U.S. Episcopal Church. John, a clergyman from the Episcopal Church of Sudan, sent an inquiry to the "justice missioner" on the website of the Diocese of Newark. The justice missioner responded to John's email and informed him that her focus was advocacy for people with disabilities, people of color, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex community.

Although fluent in English, John found this language incomprehensible. He knew Americans talked openly about homosexuality, but he was bewildered by the terms "transgender" and "intersex." John asked the justice missioner if she prayed for healing of individuals with these disorders. She informed him that they didn't need healing, only "full inclusion" in the church. John told her he was sorry that the diocese was leaving people in sexual brokenness. He urged her to bring them to transformation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. With that, he never heard from the justice missioner again.

John is a former "Lost Boy," one of some 33,000 southern Sudanese children who fled attacks by government-sponsored militias during Sudan's more than two decades of civil war. He survived a three-year trek from Sudan to Ethiopia to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Now he is the pastor of over 1,000 refugees at Kakuma.

John assumed that a church justice office would focus on human-rights issues like genocide in Sudan, religious persecution, poverty, hunger, and human trafficking. What he did not know was that in the U.S. Episcopal Church, affirming one's sexual orientation is as much a justice and human-rights issue as genocide.

Pilgrims tracing the last steps of Jesus have been going the wrong way for 2,000 years, says historian

For the best part of 2,000 years, pilgrims have flocked to Jerusalem to retrace Jesus's final steps.

The Via Dolorosa, or 'Way of Suffering', took them from the Praetorium, where He was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, to the site of the Crucifixion  -  or so they thought

Now, it seems they may have been walking in the wrong direction.

A respected archaeologist claims that pilgrims have been starting from the wrong end of Jerusalem and that the locations of two of the holiest sites on the route are 'completely wrong'.

Shimon Gibson, a Holy Land specialist, said the traditional start of the Via Dolorosa, north of the Old City, should be at the other end of the city.

Since medieval times, Christians have assumed that the Praetorium, the starting point of the route and the Roman headquarters mentioned in the Gospels as the scene of Jesus's trial, was the Antonia Fortress which stood in the north of Jerusalem.

But Professor Gibson said there was 'no historical basis whatsoever' for this being the site where Jesus was tried and condemned to death by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

(Alberge, [London Daily] Mail Online, 4/10/09.]

[The Berean Call: Traditions often prove to be contrary to Scripture. It may be exciting to see where Jesus walked, but that should never detract from the fact that believers ARE walking daily with Jesus.]