Grasp Without Reach
"Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint." Proverbs 29:18 (R.V.)
There is a difference between an ideal and a vision. An ideal has no moral inspiration; a vision has. The people who give themselves over to ideals rarely do anything. A man’s conception of Deity may be used to justify his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah argued that because God was a God of justice and of mercy, therefore everything would be all right. I may have a right conception of God, and that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of rectitude because the vision imparts moral incentive.
Ideals may lull to ruin. Take stock of yourself spiritually and see whether you have ideals only or if you have vision.
"Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?"
"Where there is no vision. . . ." When once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless, we cast off certain restraints, we cast off praying, we cast off the vision of God in little things, and begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on the downward path, we have lost the vision. Is our attitude to-day an attitude that springs from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done? Is there a freshness and vigour in our spiritual out look?
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 93,94)
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Having lived in England for half my adult life I can attest to this story. The Sun Newspaper in England is famous for its “Page Three Girl” (Page three of this daily tabloid newspaper has a topless model). the Sun is one of the largest circulation newspapers in the U.K., and now the sun has created a pornographic web site dedicated to its “Page Three Girls” and who is the publisher and owner of the Sun Newspaper and Web Site? None other than Rupert Murdoch who also owns the Fox Network, Fox News and Zondervan Publishing, and is also a member of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, hard to believe isn’t it? A Pornographer owns the largest publisher of Christian books and Bibles in the World!
The question is? Why isnt Rick Warren as Rupert Murdoch's pastor condeming this? Oh I forgot, Rupert Murdoch owned Zondervan is the Publisher of Rick Warren's books: The Purpose Driven Life, and The Purpose Driven Church. Wouldnt want to upset the man with the purse would he?
A Graphic Example of Purpose-Driven Pornography.
A Little Leaven has just published a GRAPHIC example of the type of pornography that Rupert Murdoch is producing in Europe.
An Infamous Porn Site Owned by a Man Who Is A Born-Again Christian and Pastored by Rick Warren.
Click here to read this disturbing article: http://www.alittleleaven.com/2007/05/owned_by_a_born.html
The question is? Why isnt Rick Warren as Rupert Murdoch's pastor condeming this? Oh I forgot, Rupert Murdoch owned Zondervan is the Publisher of Rick Warren's books: The Purpose Driven Life, and The Purpose Driven Church. Wouldnt want to upset the man with the purse would he?
A Graphic Example of Purpose-Driven Pornography.
A Little Leaven has just published a GRAPHIC example of the type of pornography that Rupert Murdoch is producing in Europe.
An Infamous Porn Site Owned by a Man Who Is A Born-Again Christian and Pastored by Rick Warren.
Click here to read this disturbing article: http://www.alittleleaven.com/2007/05/owned_by_a_born.html
Building for Eternity
"For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" (Luke 14:28)
Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count, but to a cost which He has counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary - the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. Men are not going to laugh at Him at last and say - "This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
The conditions of discipleship laid down by Our Lord in vv. 26, 27 and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. "If any man come to Me, and hate not . . . he cannot be My disciple." Our Lord implies that the only men and women He will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately and devotedly beyond any of the closest ties on earth. The conditions are stern, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. Is God going to detect in His searching fire that we have built on the foundation of Jesus some enterprise of our own? These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when we are trying to work for God, and therein is the snare. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus takes us over for His enterprises, His building schemes entirely, and no soul has any right to claim where he shall be put.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 92)
"For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" (Luke 14:28)
Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count, but to a cost which He has counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary - the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. Men are not going to laugh at Him at last and say - "This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
The conditions of discipleship laid down by Our Lord in vv. 26, 27 and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. "If any man come to Me, and hate not . . . he cannot be My disciple." Our Lord implies that the only men and women He will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately and devotedly beyond any of the closest ties on earth. The conditions are stern, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. Is God going to detect in His searching fire that we have built on the foundation of Jesus some enterprise of our own? These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when we are trying to work for God, and therein is the snare. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus takes us over for His enterprises, His building schemes entirely, and no soul has any right to claim where he shall be put.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 92)
Friday, May 04, 2007
A Genuine Gift
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
Let me shock you at this point. A naturally bright person can carry on religious activity without a special gift from God.
Filling church pulpits every week are some who are using only natural abilities and special training. Some are known as Bible expositors, for it is possible to read and study commentaries and then repeat what has been learned about the Scriptures. Yes, it may shock you, but it is true that anyone able to talk fluently can learn to use religious phrases and can become recognized as a preacher.
But if any person is determined to preach so that his work and ministry will abide in the day of the judgment fire, then he must preach, teach and exhort with the kind of love and concern that comes only through a genuine gift of the Holy Spirit–something beyond his own capabilities. TRA021-022.
"Lord, grant me that gift as I wait before You again this morning. I certainly want to preach with eternal benefit, and recognize that only in the power–and love–of the Holy Spirit will that happen. Amen."
(A.W. Tozer. Tozer on Christian Leadership, May 4)
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
Let me shock you at this point. A naturally bright person can carry on religious activity without a special gift from God.
Filling church pulpits every week are some who are using only natural abilities and special training. Some are known as Bible expositors, for it is possible to read and study commentaries and then repeat what has been learned about the Scriptures. Yes, it may shock you, but it is true that anyone able to talk fluently can learn to use religious phrases and can become recognized as a preacher.
But if any person is determined to preach so that his work and ministry will abide in the day of the judgment fire, then he must preach, teach and exhort with the kind of love and concern that comes only through a genuine gift of the Holy Spirit–something beyond his own capabilities. TRA021-022.
"Lord, grant me that gift as I wait before You again this morning. I certainly want to preach with eternal benefit, and recognize that only in the power–and love–of the Holy Spirit will that happen. Amen."
(A.W. Tozer. Tozer on Christian Leadership, May 4)
Thursday, May 03, 2007
What's Right With The World?-Ishmael and Isaac
I am interrupting my posts on Roman Catholicism and its doctrines, to let off some steam. I will not, however, apologize for the rant. (In actuality this will deal a bit with some roman doctrine.) I had been wanting to post on this subject matter for quite awhile, but kept it on the back-burner.This seems to be the appointed time for this.
Genesis 17:15
And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." 17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" 19God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year."
Matthew 16:13
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
A recent post at the shadow blog, CRN-(non)Info compels me to post this. Of course I expect that they will all get a good laugh out of it, (the intended irony of this will become apparent).
It has been my observation for some time that the church at large whether it calls itself emerging; emergent; evangelical; charismatic/pentecostal/fundamentalist; or ????Has long been operating in the realm of the ”good idea”. The church has been caught up in the realm of dispensationalist dogma for so long that it is missing the point entirely.
The story of Ishmael and Isaac is not the story of Islam vs. the Judeo-Christian world.
The confession of Peter, followed by his receiving a most severe rebuke from Jesus, is not the story of the “first pope”, or the story of good old “bumbling Peter”.
Jesus’ words to Nicodemus are not a “formula” for salvation.
All of these are speaking of the battle between man’ ideas and methods and God’s, specific and pre-established plans, which are his ways and thoughts.
Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In the next breath, he was denying the work and purpose of that very Christ.Let’s look at this.
The revelation that Peter spoke was given to Him by God the Father. Peter could take no credit for this knowledge, as he never possessed it. 1 Cor 2: 6-16
This alone refutes the roman claim that Peter is the rock the church is built upon.Why build your church on a “man”, when it is built upon the new man who is the Christ the Son of the living God? 1 Cor 3:9-17; 1 Peter 2:4-8; Eph 2:19-21
Therefore the confession that Jesus is the Christ, is the cornerstone we are built upon. The confession is the essence of who He is. The Word (confession) became flesh.
The knowledge given to Peter from above, and the professing of that knowledge into the earth, are the revelation of the plan and method of God.When Jesus begins to explain what that revelation really means, Peter slips into “man-mode” and rebukes Jesus, “far be it from you Lord!” to which Jesus rebukes Peter, “get behind me Satan”. We are all so relieved that the Lord said it to Peter, and not to us. We are Peter! The Lord is saying this to us, constantly.
Let’s look at Nicodemus:
Jesus said a man must be born again, i.e. born anew, from above (in the Greek)Nicodemus asked how a man could enter the womb again and be physically reborn. Of course we know that Jesus did not mean that. He was speaking of a new creation. The old man has died, and we are reborn in Him; baptism being the testimony of this fact, and not the required method of salvation. That is another subject, for another time.
Jesus answer is interesting. “That which is born of flesh is flesh”. This refers to the physical process of childbirth. “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit”. In other words, “born again” has nothing to do with the natural man. No one knows where the wind comes from or where it goes, but they know it is there. So it is with all things spiritual. No one discerns the origin or destination of the Spirit, but the Spirit. (back to 1 Cor 2:6-16 see above)
Nicodemus was thinking as men think. He could not discern the mind of the Spirit. The Lord once again reveals His will and agenda, when he desires, and to whom He desires.
Now onto Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael, and my point.
God gave a covenant-promise to Abraham, which Abraham believed by faith, in Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:1-6; (See also Romans 4:1-5)
When Abram and Sarai came to the decision to have Abram conceive a child with Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar, they acted in good faith.
“Abram believed God” is what the Scripture says. However neither he, nor Sarai, had any understanding of how God intended to accomplish this.In Genesis 16 we have Abram conceiving a child with Hagar; Sarai having a change of heart, and causing Hagar to flee from her; and God promising Hagar that He would BLESS her son and give him many descendants, which is in keeping with His original promise to Abram.( What a faithful and glorious God. He keeps all His Word.) The one caveat being that Ishmael would be wild and contentious towards his brothers.
In the beginning of chapter 17 God repeats the covenant to Abram, and reveals more of its detail. He also changes Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah.
He then reveals His will and ways completely to Abraham. You will have son with Sarah. At this Abraham laughs, as he is now 99 years old.
Abraham cries out “oh that Ishmael (now 13 years of age) might live before you.”
Abraham still does not see it. God is merciful and blesses Ishmael for Abraham’s sake, but he proclaims that only through Sarah, and in Isaac (laughter) will He accomplish His purposes of salvation and blessing for all the earth.Ishmael and Isaac, and the contention between them is commonly taught to represent, as I said, the current state of the middle east.
The Scriptures do not support this:Galatians 4:
21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Paul is saying Ishmael represents all who are born into the bondage of the Law, and Isaac represents all who are “born again” into the promise, as Isaac is the fruit of two “dead bodies” miraculously producing life. Life out of death, what a novel concept.
Paul quotes Isaiah 54. The “desolate one” typifies all of those who are not Israel, and “the one who has a husband” is the nation Israel. Romans 10:18-21
Paul then concludes with this thought, which has its’ full revelation in the letter to the church in Rome;
We who have died with Christ, to the flesh, are now born again on the Spirit, and therefore children of the promise.
The Law, through the flesh, contends with those who are of the Spirit and are free. (Romans 5-6-7-8)
The name Ishmael means “God has heard my cry” this symbolizes the state of the slave crying out for freedom. The name Isaac, meaning laughter symbolizes the state of the free man, i.e. “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”
Isaac is God’s revealed will,and Ishmael is man’s good idea; man’s attempt to save himself and accomplish the will of God. The Law saves no one, unless one can actually keep it.
So in the church today we have Peter’s rebuke to Jesus. Nicodemus’ non-comprehension, and Abram’s and Sarai’s good faith attempt to accomplish God’s will for Him.
Let no one believe for a moment, that God’s allowing Ishmael to be conceived, birthed, and even blessed, for a time, is a sign that anything we say, or do, is Isaac. Our efforts are allowed only as a contrast to the times when God does move in power and authority.
God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and referred to him as Abraham’s ONLY son. Genesis 22
In the flesh this was not true, as Abraham had several sons, but what is born of the Spirit, is Spirit. Isaac is born of the Spirit, and the Lord only accepts what comes from Him as acceptable worship. Romans 12:1-2
We prove daily what works are Ishmael, and what are Isaac. What comes from ourselves, innovative as it may seem, and what is Christ. The Father accepts only that which is offered to Him through the finished work of His only begotten Son. That finished work and will is this:
“21From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Is the foundation we are laying, and our building upon that foundation, in line with the Lord’s mind revealed in this scripture, or are we saying” far be it from you Lord” we don’t care for that way at all?
When it comes to Rick Warren, or Brian McClaren , or Rob Bell, or the folks at CRN(non)Info, this is the only standard that applies. The appearance of success or blessing is no proof that their work is not of their own invention.
Jesus’ admonition to judge with right judgment is not only applicable to healing a man on the Sabbath, it is applicable to everything and anything that the “church” says and does in the name of the Lord, and His Kingdom. John 7:23-24
The only standard of discernment is the WORD, i.e. Jesus, revealed through His Word, the Scripture. Nothing will be judged by mere appearances. Righteous and just judgment is God’s will. Deut 16:18-20
Isaiah 55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God does not hide His will for us, from us. May the Isaac of God be birthed in His church, and may true biblical discernment be manifest.
Deut 29:2929"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
For His Glory Alone,
Chris P.
I am interrupting my posts on Roman Catholicism and its doctrines, to let off some steam. I will not, however, apologize for the rant. (In actuality this will deal a bit with some roman doctrine.) I had been wanting to post on this subject matter for quite awhile, but kept it on the back-burner.This seems to be the appointed time for this.
Genesis 17:15
And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." 17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" 19God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year."
Matthew 16:13
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
A recent post at the shadow blog, CRN-(non)Info compels me to post this. Of course I expect that they will all get a good laugh out of it, (the intended irony of this will become apparent).
It has been my observation for some time that the church at large whether it calls itself emerging; emergent; evangelical; charismatic/pentecostal/fundamentalist; or ????Has long been operating in the realm of the ”good idea”. The church has been caught up in the realm of dispensationalist dogma for so long that it is missing the point entirely.
The story of Ishmael and Isaac is not the story of Islam vs. the Judeo-Christian world.
The confession of Peter, followed by his receiving a most severe rebuke from Jesus, is not the story of the “first pope”, or the story of good old “bumbling Peter”.
Jesus’ words to Nicodemus are not a “formula” for salvation.
All of these are speaking of the battle between man’ ideas and methods and God’s, specific and pre-established plans, which are his ways and thoughts.
Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In the next breath, he was denying the work and purpose of that very Christ.Let’s look at this.
The revelation that Peter spoke was given to Him by God the Father. Peter could take no credit for this knowledge, as he never possessed it. 1 Cor 2: 6-16
This alone refutes the roman claim that Peter is the rock the church is built upon.Why build your church on a “man”, when it is built upon the new man who is the Christ the Son of the living God? 1 Cor 3:9-17; 1 Peter 2:4-8; Eph 2:19-21
Therefore the confession that Jesus is the Christ, is the cornerstone we are built upon. The confession is the essence of who He is. The Word (confession) became flesh.
The knowledge given to Peter from above, and the professing of that knowledge into the earth, are the revelation of the plan and method of God.When Jesus begins to explain what that revelation really means, Peter slips into “man-mode” and rebukes Jesus, “far be it from you Lord!” to which Jesus rebukes Peter, “get behind me Satan”. We are all so relieved that the Lord said it to Peter, and not to us. We are Peter! The Lord is saying this to us, constantly.
Let’s look at Nicodemus:
Jesus said a man must be born again, i.e. born anew, from above (in the Greek)Nicodemus asked how a man could enter the womb again and be physically reborn. Of course we know that Jesus did not mean that. He was speaking of a new creation. The old man has died, and we are reborn in Him; baptism being the testimony of this fact, and not the required method of salvation. That is another subject, for another time.
Jesus answer is interesting. “That which is born of flesh is flesh”. This refers to the physical process of childbirth. “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit”. In other words, “born again” has nothing to do with the natural man. No one knows where the wind comes from or where it goes, but they know it is there. So it is with all things spiritual. No one discerns the origin or destination of the Spirit, but the Spirit. (back to 1 Cor 2:6-16 see above)
Nicodemus was thinking as men think. He could not discern the mind of the Spirit. The Lord once again reveals His will and agenda, when he desires, and to whom He desires.
Now onto Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael, and my point.
God gave a covenant-promise to Abraham, which Abraham believed by faith, in Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:1-6; (See also Romans 4:1-5)
When Abram and Sarai came to the decision to have Abram conceive a child with Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar, they acted in good faith.
“Abram believed God” is what the Scripture says. However neither he, nor Sarai, had any understanding of how God intended to accomplish this.In Genesis 16 we have Abram conceiving a child with Hagar; Sarai having a change of heart, and causing Hagar to flee from her; and God promising Hagar that He would BLESS her son and give him many descendants, which is in keeping with His original promise to Abram.( What a faithful and glorious God. He keeps all His Word.) The one caveat being that Ishmael would be wild and contentious towards his brothers.
In the beginning of chapter 17 God repeats the covenant to Abram, and reveals more of its detail. He also changes Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah.
He then reveals His will and ways completely to Abraham. You will have son with Sarah. At this Abraham laughs, as he is now 99 years old.
Abraham cries out “oh that Ishmael (now 13 years of age) might live before you.”
Abraham still does not see it. God is merciful and blesses Ishmael for Abraham’s sake, but he proclaims that only through Sarah, and in Isaac (laughter) will He accomplish His purposes of salvation and blessing for all the earth.Ishmael and Isaac, and the contention between them is commonly taught to represent, as I said, the current state of the middle east.
The Scriptures do not support this:Galatians 4:
21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." 28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Paul is saying Ishmael represents all who are born into the bondage of the Law, and Isaac represents all who are “born again” into the promise, as Isaac is the fruit of two “dead bodies” miraculously producing life. Life out of death, what a novel concept.
Paul quotes Isaiah 54. The “desolate one” typifies all of those who are not Israel, and “the one who has a husband” is the nation Israel. Romans 10:18-21
Paul then concludes with this thought, which has its’ full revelation in the letter to the church in Rome;
We who have died with Christ, to the flesh, are now born again on the Spirit, and therefore children of the promise.
The Law, through the flesh, contends with those who are of the Spirit and are free. (Romans 5-6-7-8)
The name Ishmael means “God has heard my cry” this symbolizes the state of the slave crying out for freedom. The name Isaac, meaning laughter symbolizes the state of the free man, i.e. “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”
Isaac is God’s revealed will,and Ishmael is man’s good idea; man’s attempt to save himself and accomplish the will of God. The Law saves no one, unless one can actually keep it.
So in the church today we have Peter’s rebuke to Jesus. Nicodemus’ non-comprehension, and Abram’s and Sarai’s good faith attempt to accomplish God’s will for Him.
Let no one believe for a moment, that God’s allowing Ishmael to be conceived, birthed, and even blessed, for a time, is a sign that anything we say, or do, is Isaac. Our efforts are allowed only as a contrast to the times when God does move in power and authority.
God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and referred to him as Abraham’s ONLY son. Genesis 22
In the flesh this was not true, as Abraham had several sons, but what is born of the Spirit, is Spirit. Isaac is born of the Spirit, and the Lord only accepts what comes from Him as acceptable worship. Romans 12:1-2
We prove daily what works are Ishmael, and what are Isaac. What comes from ourselves, innovative as it may seem, and what is Christ. The Father accepts only that which is offered to Him through the finished work of His only begotten Son. That finished work and will is this:
“21From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Is the foundation we are laying, and our building upon that foundation, in line with the Lord’s mind revealed in this scripture, or are we saying” far be it from you Lord” we don’t care for that way at all?
When it comes to Rick Warren, or Brian McClaren , or Rob Bell, or the folks at CRN(non)Info, this is the only standard that applies. The appearance of success or blessing is no proof that their work is not of their own invention.
Jesus’ admonition to judge with right judgment is not only applicable to healing a man on the Sabbath, it is applicable to everything and anything that the “church” says and does in the name of the Lord, and His Kingdom. John 7:23-24
The only standard of discernment is the WORD, i.e. Jesus, revealed through His Word, the Scripture. Nothing will be judged by mere appearances. Righteous and just judgment is God’s will. Deut 16:18-20
Isaiah 55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God does not hide His will for us, from us. May the Isaac of God be birthed in His church, and may true biblical discernment be manifest.
Deut 29:2929"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
For His Glory Alone,
Chris P.
http://jeremiahsquestion.blogspot.com/2007/05/whats-right-with-world-ishmael-and.html
Vital Intercession
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (Ephesians 6:18
As we go on in intercession we may find that our obedience to God is going to cost other people more than we thought. The danger then is to begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting to a totally different sphere in answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from identification with God’s interest in others into sympathy with them, the vital connection with God has gone, we have put our sympathy, our consideration for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
It is impossible to intercede vitally unless we are perfectly sure of God, and the greatest dissipator of our relationship to God is personal sympathy and personal prejudice. Identification is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with God, it is by sympathy, not by sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our relationship to God, but sympathy will, sympathy with ourselves or with others which makes us say - "I will not allow that thing to happen." Instantly we are out of vital connection with God.
Intercession leaves you neither time nor inclination to pray for your own "sad sweet self." The thought of yourself is not kept out, because it is not there to keep out; you are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests in other lives.
Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to fault finding.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 89-90)
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (Ephesians 6:18
As we go on in intercession we may find that our obedience to God is going to cost other people more than we thought. The danger then is to begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting to a totally different sphere in answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from identification with God’s interest in others into sympathy with them, the vital connection with God has gone, we have put our sympathy, our consideration for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
It is impossible to intercede vitally unless we are perfectly sure of God, and the greatest dissipator of our relationship to God is personal sympathy and personal prejudice. Identification is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with God, it is by sympathy, not by sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our relationship to God, but sympathy will, sympathy with ourselves or with others which makes us say - "I will not allow that thing to happen." Instantly we are out of vital connection with God.
Intercession leaves you neither time nor inclination to pray for your own "sad sweet self." The thought of yourself is not kept out, because it is not there to keep out; you are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests in other lives.
Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to fault finding.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 89-90)
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Kill Joys
You people are such a bunch of kill-joys! When I wrote the initial post on the preach-off poll, I was looking forward to writing a bang-up sermon, presenting it and letting you see just how good a preacher I am. And at first the polls supported me. Then as more of you began to vote, the trend completely reversed and you were saying “no,”
don’t do the preach-off. Worst than that, most of your reasons for not doing the preach-off were irritatingly insightful. This completely ruined my opportunity to wallow around in the flesh and make me look good.
The upside though, is the fact that the whole adventure got shut down well before I bought my purple suit with the black stripes and light purple lapels, to go along with the purple shirt with a black collar (edged in gold). The whole outfit, including the white shoes was going to set me back about $950. So I guess I saved a couple of bucks in the whole thing anyway.
But more than that, I believe we stumbled onto something of an illustration for an argument against tithing. Yes, that’s right - against tithing.
Let’s suppose that instead of preaching a sermon, I, as the pastor of a church, went to the congregation and told them that I wanted to do a certain thing, say – build a day care facility (The Melvinite Center of Magnificent Childhood Development and Equipping to Take Over the World). I further explained that we needed some money to do that, so I am going to use the church funds (which are quite plentiful since almost all of the congregants have been convinced through dubious exegesis that they must tithe or suffer the curses of God on them and their children) and borrow some more money from the bank. Most of the congregants don’t agree with the idea but hey, I’m the pastor and it’s not their concern what I do with the money since it is God’s tithe and not theirs. Because I am in no way held accountable, I go running down a road that neither God nor the congregants are particularly eager to have me go.
Rewind.
This time I’m the pastor and people give only as God moves on their hearts to give. And I expect them to give only as God would have them give. I never quote Malachi, chapter 3, I never tell them they are robbing God, and I never promise them supernatural blessings if they give sacrificially.
Instead, I explain to them what I believe God would have us do. If they agree with it, they can give. If they disagree with it, they can refuse to give.
Now their giving is very similar to the poll we just completed. But in this case a “yes” translates to contributions and a “no” is the same as keeping your purse shut.
Guess what? If God moves on their hearts to not give (Ezra 1:1, 5) and they are obedient to God (as I, as a good pastor have consistently encouraged them to be), then the church doesn’t go hiking down that day care road. Instead, we are kept on track. Either way, I’m going to be really careful about what I take to the congregation, ‘cause these jokers just might turn me down! Instead, I will actually pray to God about things, sincerely, and make sure I’m reading Him right. After all, if He wants it, he can and will move on the hearts of the families with no problem.
True, we might never move out of the dance room at the YWCA. And we may never get to be any larger than twenty families. And we may never have anything that resembles a big bookstore selling my books alongside T. Dexter’s books. And worse than that, I may never be able to quit my job and “do ministry” full time (Sigh. And no SR22 either. Not even a Liberty XL2 which is one fourth the cost of the SR22). But I digress.
When we walk by faith and give in faith, we are dependent on and obedient to the Spirit of God. When we tithe, we are dependent on our check book balancing and budgeting skills. When we give in faith, the elders are dependent on God. When we tithe, the elders are dependent on a bank to secure a loan for the rest of the money.
Tithing makes giving nothing more than paying a bill (phone bill - $78, electric bill - $159, car payment - $234, tithes and offerings - $120). Giving as God would lead becomes an exercise, a daily exercise, in walking in faith. Which one do you think generates more growth in the individual? Which approach honestly allows you to give cheerfully?
http://www.pulpit-pimps.org/archives/2007/04/30/kill-joys
You people are such a bunch of kill-joys! When I wrote the initial post on the preach-off poll, I was looking forward to writing a bang-up sermon, presenting it and letting you see just how good a preacher I am. And at first the polls supported me. Then as more of you began to vote, the trend completely reversed and you were saying “no,”
don’t do the preach-off. Worst than that, most of your reasons for not doing the preach-off were irritatingly insightful. This completely ruined my opportunity to wallow around in the flesh and make me look good. The upside though, is the fact that the whole adventure got shut down well before I bought my purple suit with the black stripes and light purple lapels, to go along with the purple shirt with a black collar (edged in gold). The whole outfit, including the white shoes was going to set me back about $950. So I guess I saved a couple of bucks in the whole thing anyway.
But more than that, I believe we stumbled onto something of an illustration for an argument against tithing. Yes, that’s right - against tithing.
Let’s suppose that instead of preaching a sermon, I, as the pastor of a church, went to the congregation and told them that I wanted to do a certain thing, say – build a day care facility (The Melvinite Center of Magnificent Childhood Development and Equipping to Take Over the World). I further explained that we needed some money to do that, so I am going to use the church funds (which are quite plentiful since almost all of the congregants have been convinced through dubious exegesis that they must tithe or suffer the curses of God on them and their children) and borrow some more money from the bank. Most of the congregants don’t agree with the idea but hey, I’m the pastor and it’s not their concern what I do with the money since it is God’s tithe and not theirs. Because I am in no way held accountable, I go running down a road that neither God nor the congregants are particularly eager to have me go.
Rewind.
This time I’m the pastor and people give only as God moves on their hearts to give. And I expect them to give only as God would have them give. I never quote Malachi, chapter 3, I never tell them they are robbing God, and I never promise them supernatural blessings if they give sacrificially.
Instead, I explain to them what I believe God would have us do. If they agree with it, they can give. If they disagree with it, they can refuse to give.
Now their giving is very similar to the poll we just completed. But in this case a “yes” translates to contributions and a “no” is the same as keeping your purse shut.
Guess what? If God moves on their hearts to not give (Ezra 1:1, 5) and they are obedient to God (as I, as a good pastor have consistently encouraged them to be), then the church doesn’t go hiking down that day care road. Instead, we are kept on track. Either way, I’m going to be really careful about what I take to the congregation, ‘cause these jokers just might turn me down! Instead, I will actually pray to God about things, sincerely, and make sure I’m reading Him right. After all, if He wants it, he can and will move on the hearts of the families with no problem.
True, we might never move out of the dance room at the YWCA. And we may never get to be any larger than twenty families. And we may never have anything that resembles a big bookstore selling my books alongside T. Dexter’s books. And worse than that, I may never be able to quit my job and “do ministry” full time (Sigh. And no SR22 either. Not even a Liberty XL2 which is one fourth the cost of the SR22). But I digress.
When we walk by faith and give in faith, we are dependent on and obedient to the Spirit of God. When we tithe, we are dependent on our check book balancing and budgeting skills. When we give in faith, the elders are dependent on God. When we tithe, the elders are dependent on a bank to secure a loan for the rest of the money.
Tithing makes giving nothing more than paying a bill (phone bill - $78, electric bill - $159, car payment - $234, tithes and offerings - $120). Giving as God would lead becomes an exercise, a daily exercise, in walking in faith. Which one do you think generates more growth in the individual? Which approach honestly allows you to give cheerfully?
http://www.pulpit-pimps.org/archives/2007/04/30/kill-joys
Insight Not Emotion
“I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 [MOFFATT])
For a time we are conscious of God’s attentions, then, when God begins to use us in His enterprises, we take on a pathetic look and talk of the trials and the difficulties, and all the time God is trying to make us do our duty as obscure people. None of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden babes and the flush of inspiration, and to have the saints of God dealing with us all the time. A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God. We are here as men and women, not as half-fledged angels, to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power to stand the turmoil because we have been born from above.
If we try to re-introduce the rare moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are making a fetish of the moments when God did come and speak, and insisting that He must do it again; whereas what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have laid ourselves by, as it were, and said - “I cannot do any more until God appears to me.” He never will, and without any inspiration, without any sudden touch of God, we will have to get up. Then comes the surprise - “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for the rare moments, they are surprises. God will give us touches of inspiration when He sees we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never make our moments of inspiration our standard; our standard is our duty.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 88)
“I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 [MOFFATT])
For a time we are conscious of God’s attentions, then, when God begins to use us in His enterprises, we take on a pathetic look and talk of the trials and the difficulties, and all the time God is trying to make us do our duty as obscure people. None of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden babes and the flush of inspiration, and to have the saints of God dealing with us all the time. A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God. We are here as men and women, not as half-fledged angels, to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power to stand the turmoil because we have been born from above.
If we try to re-introduce the rare moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are making a fetish of the moments when God did come and speak, and insisting that He must do it again; whereas what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have laid ourselves by, as it were, and said - “I cannot do any more until God appears to me.” He never will, and without any inspiration, without any sudden touch of God, we will have to get up. Then comes the surprise - “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for the rare moments, they are surprises. God will give us touches of inspiration when He sees we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never make our moments of inspiration our standard; our standard is our duty.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 88)
Monday, April 30, 2007
The heart is deceitful . . .
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
Persecution is coming folks, no I’m not talking about China, Africa or even India. I am talking about right here in the United States.
This past week the Democrat controlled House refused all amendments intended to take the teeth out of House Resolution 1592 a bill that will make it a federal crime to use words that “insight hatred” against a person or group of persons. The bill is vague enough to allow it to be used against Christians who quote certain passages from the Bible.
In other words it would make it a crime to call sin for what it is: SIN.
Have you heard a peep out our nations church pulpit’s about this bill? No?
Some people may shake their head and wonder how did we get to this point as a so called “Christian” country? I say, we got there as a direct result of an American Church that has walked away from living and preaching the truth of God’s word. As a direct result of a national church leadership that has not stood up for the truth no matter the cost. A direct result of a church leadership who coveted their position more than the truth and therefore rationalized it and remained silent when past indiscretions and troubling theologies were first becoming popularized, because these “new” troubling theologies were what was accepted and popular, and to go against it was to go against the tide, to go against “Prime Time Christianity” and hence lose one’s status or position.
Our church leadership has been raised up on “Pop Culture Christianity”, that uses the same methods created by Atheistic Evolutionary Psychologists to first titillate people’s emotions and felt needs to get them to purchase things they didn’t need in the first place and then seeing how successful it was and having enslaved them to their emotions, using that same avenue to control the population by playing on their deftly directed aroused emotions. Modern Christianity has become a poor sad parody of secular corporate marketing.
The church has been poisoned by allowing its success criteria to be defined by the very things it was supposed to be preaching against!
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men.
1 Corinthians 3:18-21
So since the church has let that poison in the door, and achieved what it considers “success”: a Mega-Church, with a multi-million dollar building program debt, a multi-million dollar fixed cost overhead budget, and a congregation who will only remain as long as their emotional stimulation continues. Is it any further surprise that they would then use Pop Culture Self-Esteem Psychology to continue the emotional stimulation to pay the bloated bills of a Corporatized Prime Time false Christian beast, where the most important element is the church’s cash flow position?!?!
Add to this sad mess a Satanic Anti-Christ Religion: Islam that has declared a war to the death against the west and its pork barrel prosperity Ideology, no not the one the media tries to pawn off on us i.e. a fundamentalist radical minority of an otherwise “peaceful” religion.
When the actual truth is the entire theology of Islam is evil. I do not say that without knowledge, having studied the religion and its revered book: the Qur’an for over three years. Islam’s fundamental aim is to either force you and I by whatever means necessary to convert to Islam or make us virtual slaves subservient to it and governed by its Sharia Law. Because you see Islam says we are all being held under subjection, either by an illegitimate government (one not ruled by Islamic Clerics, getting their marching orders straight from Allah and one whose laws are not Islamic Sharia Law). Or we are held in subjection to our own selfish desires and hence in rebellion against Allah.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
Persecution is coming folks, no I’m not talking about China, Africa or even India. I am talking about right here in the United States.
This past week the Democrat controlled House refused all amendments intended to take the teeth out of House Resolution 1592 a bill that will make it a federal crime to use words that “insight hatred” against a person or group of persons. The bill is vague enough to allow it to be used against Christians who quote certain passages from the Bible.
In other words it would make it a crime to call sin for what it is: SIN.
Have you heard a peep out our nations church pulpit’s about this bill? No?
Some people may shake their head and wonder how did we get to this point as a so called “Christian” country? I say, we got there as a direct result of an American Church that has walked away from living and preaching the truth of God’s word. As a direct result of a national church leadership that has not stood up for the truth no matter the cost. A direct result of a church leadership who coveted their position more than the truth and therefore rationalized it and remained silent when past indiscretions and troubling theologies were first becoming popularized, because these “new” troubling theologies were what was accepted and popular, and to go against it was to go against the tide, to go against “Prime Time Christianity” and hence lose one’s status or position.
Our church leadership has been raised up on “Pop Culture Christianity”, that uses the same methods created by Atheistic Evolutionary Psychologists to first titillate people’s emotions and felt needs to get them to purchase things they didn’t need in the first place and then seeing how successful it was and having enslaved them to their emotions, using that same avenue to control the population by playing on their deftly directed aroused emotions. Modern Christianity has become a poor sad parody of secular corporate marketing.
The church has been poisoned by allowing its success criteria to be defined by the very things it was supposed to be preaching against!
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men.
1 Corinthians 3:18-21
So since the church has let that poison in the door, and achieved what it considers “success”: a Mega-Church, with a multi-million dollar building program debt, a multi-million dollar fixed cost overhead budget, and a congregation who will only remain as long as their emotional stimulation continues. Is it any further surprise that they would then use Pop Culture Self-Esteem Psychology to continue the emotional stimulation to pay the bloated bills of a Corporatized Prime Time false Christian beast, where the most important element is the church’s cash flow position?!?!
Add to this sad mess a Satanic Anti-Christ Religion: Islam that has declared a war to the death against the west and its pork barrel prosperity Ideology, no not the one the media tries to pawn off on us i.e. a fundamentalist radical minority of an otherwise “peaceful” religion.
When the actual truth is the entire theology of Islam is evil. I do not say that without knowledge, having studied the religion and its revered book: the Qur’an for over three years. Islam’s fundamental aim is to either force you and I by whatever means necessary to convert to Islam or make us virtual slaves subservient to it and governed by its Sharia Law. Because you see Islam says we are all being held under subjection, either by an illegitimate government (one not ruled by Islamic Clerics, getting their marching orders straight from Allah and one whose laws are not Islamic Sharia Law). Or we are held in subjection to our own selfish desires and hence in rebellion against Allah.
The other parts of Christianity that have not went the way of Pop-Culture Psychology are either busy dismantling the deity of Christ, or are dismantling the requirements that Christians actually need a Savior to atone for their sins or they deny that sin exists at all, because after all God loves us just the way we are, and he understands we are all really deep down inside just good hearted people with some emotional baggage.
This new pending hate crimes bill when signed into law will only hasten the apostasy that has already strangling the life out of western Christianity. How many of the western “milk” Christians do you think are prepared to be persecuted for their faith? How many who have been fed a diet of positive self-esteem messages, who need to be stroked every Sunday, who have been told that God wants them perpetually happy and prosperous via their own “felt needs”, will deny their faith when persecution hits because they will not perceive it as persecution for being a Christian but will only see it as being “out of alignment”, not keeping a “positive frame of mind”, not maintaining a “positive self image” or not doing enough to name it and claim it” or not having “sewed” enough into brother so and so’s ministry so as to get that “hundred fold return”.
I say that they will turn away from persecution in mass as they have never been taught that to stand on truth means you may have to accept persecution, deprivation or even death!
You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you! For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.
1 Corinthians 4:8-13
And once they have completely walked away from Truth they will willingly, gladly and actually believe they are doing as they have been taught and find it easy to say the words that make you a good Muslim: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet” and no Muslim will ever have to put a gun to their head to force them to say it.
Or how many of the Christ deniers who say that Jesus was not really divine or the one’s who say we don’t need a savior to atone for our sins, because God loves us just the way we are will quickly become a Muslim because after all Islam denies the divinity of Jesus too! And considers it a sentence of death to say otherwise? When you delve into the Theology of Islam you quickly find it is actually very accomodating to those who deny the dvinity of Christ, the existence of the trinity, and the need for an atonement. All it requires is a ruthless obedience to a deity who is unreachable, unknowable, who can have no human attributes, who is pure will and nothing else, and teaches that the only ones who go straight to heaven are those who kill for Allah, all the rest go straight to hell to pay pennance for their sins here on earth, no matter if they have been born a Muslim or become one in later life.
Then there are those who do see the persecution but have begun to close ranks with those who seem on the surface to have a similar moral stance becoming co-belligerents with them, and just as they are starting to do now look longingly at the Harlot of Rome and her foul offspring because they have found a few scraps of the Bible underneath all of her millennia of encrusted Pagan tradition but in reacing out to the Harlo they choose to ignore the pesky problem of all that encrusted Pagan tradition having made those few scraps of the Bible of none affect! And hence those who hold to truth will be further reduced.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.
Mark 7:5-8
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
1 Corinthians 1:17
What we are seeing come to pass and emerge are all the ingredients for the making of the “Perfect Storm! Where all of these events coalesce to bring about the larget mass falling away from True Christian faith in the last two thousand years.Or what is described in the Bible as "The Great Apostasy":
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
2nd Thessalonians 2 :3-4
What is so sadly ironic is this was all foretold within the Bible that they ignore so much:
I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
John 5:43
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from truth, and be turned aside to fables."
2 Timothy 4:3-4
And its in the same Bible that you and I read, that these “Christians” read, but in today’s Psychology polluted Church there is no room for word’s that may “cause injury” to “fragile self-esteem’s” or don’t emphasize the current culturally accepted version of God as a sometimes slow on the uptake sugar-daddy Grandfather, who loves you and accepts you just as you are, and wants you to have whatever your heart desires.
But what did Jeremiah 17:9 say again:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Coming to a School near You the Homosexual Agenda, As a Christian what should you do?
To be clear the article below should not generate hate for Homosexuals and Lesbians, if you have hate in your heart for them then you need to talk to God about purging it from your heart and ask him instead to make you into an intercessor to stand in the gap to pray for them that God can reach them.
This war to remove this perverse corruption of our children will not be won by man made means, it will be won when those who call themselves Christians get down on their knee's in mass and ask God to first forgive us and then ask God to forgive these people who are pushing this agenda "for they know not what they do"
Just as Stephen was when he was being stoned by the Pharisee’s:
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7: 54-60
Because as Christians we:
do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
So the weapons of our warfare must be spiritual weapons:
Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
And how do we ensure our spiritual weapons are sharp:
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Ephesians 6:14-17
When we do this we will become like our High Priest: Jesus Christ who died for us. Who lived a perfect and Righteous life, and being righteous he died for the unrighteous.
So also we have to be righteous and become intercessors able to stand in the gap and pray to God in heaven to forgive our sins, and then to forgive the sins of these people. This is how we have to be. Far too many Christians today are “Vampire Christians” They are constantly in need. They go to Church on Sunday to get an emotional fill up and then during the week they struggle. They struggle because they do not know how to or do not want to know how to sharpen their spiritual weapons. They remain forever “Vampire Christians” needing to constantly be fed.
Whatever happened to Christians wanting to drink of the water that makes them never thirst again?
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
John 4:1-42
To say that we are a Christian is supposed to mean that we HAVE drunk of this water and we therefore thirst no more. It means that we too are to be like the apostles after Jesus’ Resurrection and the day of Pentecost. We are to have such a close spiritual walk with Christ that we are more than willing to become an intercessor for the lost, and if needs be gladly lay down our life not just for Truth but for the unsaved. Not that we can atone for their sins like Jesus, but that we might be like Jesus. This is what Christ asks of each one of us.
The next time you see a headline like this, instead of allowing your flesh to rise up, decide to become an intercessor, to pray, to stand in the gap: to be more like Jesus. Who knows, if enough of us do this:
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
2nd Chronicles 7:14-15
John Baker
MUST SEE VIDEO - Homosexual Propaganda Fed to Elementary School Children
"It's so heartbreaking to see little kids brainwashed", says former homosexual Stephen Bennett
By John-Henry Westen NEW YORK,
April 24, 2007
(LifeSiteNews.com) - In a press release this morning, Stephen Bennett, a man who once lived the "gay" lifestyle and has since founded a ministry to assist people to leave the destructive lifestyle, alerted the media to a video clip demonstrating what he calls first-hand homosexual activist "brainwashing" of elementary school children. The video available on the Internet on Youtube.com follows a Massachusetts school's fourth annual gay and lesbian pride day activities.
The video contains actual classroom footage showing teachers imposing pro-homosexual propaganda on children as young as six. Beyond that the video captures a pre-gay pride day staff meeting where one teacher, an African American, asks if teachers are to tell children whose parents oppose homosexuality that they should nonetheless accept it as a good, to which an affirmative answer is given.
A transcript of that portion of the video follows:Unidentified African American female teacher:
"I don't know what to do about this but, as a school are we saying that kids have to support this? I guess that's what it sounds like to me that we're saying. If a child comes from a background that says homosexuality is not correct, are we telling that child that they're supposed to, this is what you are supposed to do?"Unidentified Caucasian female teacher, "I think that we are asking kids to believe this is right. Not as a matter of moral principal, but as a matter of, we're educating them and this is part of what we consider to be a healthy education."Stephen Bennett told
LifeSiteNews.com in an interview that he was "horrified" and "had tears in my eyes" after seeing the video. "It's so heartbreaking to see little kids brainwashed," he said.Stressing that the video must been seen by all concerned parents, Bennett said, "this is what is happening to America's children -- without many parents even knowing a thing.
This is a crime against our children. Let the children be children!"Amazingly, the video, while newly posted on the internet, is a clip from a 1996 pro-homosexual film called "It's elementary". While the first segment of the YouTube clip of the film covers Cambridge Friends School (CFS) in Massachusetts, a second clip covers New York City Public School 87 where similar propagandizing occurs.In the 1996 video, then CFS Principal Thomas Price notes that it is the school's fourth annual celebration of gay pride day.
Homosexual activists have reacted quickly to the publicity of their agenda and have discussed demanding YouTube to remove the videos. The videos seem to have been posted to the internet by a racist and Bennett in his release stressed that the tag on the video reading "faggots" is something he opposes and should be removed. Homosexual activists have themselves acknowledged however the veracity of the video clips as segments of the film 'It's elementary'.
See the Youtube video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mil2ohzJ6gs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spz5yN5I2wU&mode=related&...
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07042407.html
To be clear the article below should not generate hate for Homosexuals and Lesbians, if you have hate in your heart for them then you need to talk to God about purging it from your heart and ask him instead to make you into an intercessor to stand in the gap to pray for them that God can reach them.
This war to remove this perverse corruption of our children will not be won by man made means, it will be won when those who call themselves Christians get down on their knee's in mass and ask God to first forgive us and then ask God to forgive these people who are pushing this agenda "for they know not what they do"
Just as Stephen was when he was being stoned by the Pharisee’s:
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7: 54-60
Because as Christians we:
do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
So the weapons of our warfare must be spiritual weapons:
Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
And how do we ensure our spiritual weapons are sharp:
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Ephesians 6:14-17
When we do this we will become like our High Priest: Jesus Christ who died for us. Who lived a perfect and Righteous life, and being righteous he died for the unrighteous.
So also we have to be righteous and become intercessors able to stand in the gap and pray to God in heaven to forgive our sins, and then to forgive the sins of these people. This is how we have to be. Far too many Christians today are “Vampire Christians” They are constantly in need. They go to Church on Sunday to get an emotional fill up and then during the week they struggle. They struggle because they do not know how to or do not want to know how to sharpen their spiritual weapons. They remain forever “Vampire Christians” needing to constantly be fed.
Whatever happened to Christians wanting to drink of the water that makes them never thirst again?
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
John 4:1-42
To say that we are a Christian is supposed to mean that we HAVE drunk of this water and we therefore thirst no more. It means that we too are to be like the apostles after Jesus’ Resurrection and the day of Pentecost. We are to have such a close spiritual walk with Christ that we are more than willing to become an intercessor for the lost, and if needs be gladly lay down our life not just for Truth but for the unsaved. Not that we can atone for their sins like Jesus, but that we might be like Jesus. This is what Christ asks of each one of us.
The next time you see a headline like this, instead of allowing your flesh to rise up, decide to become an intercessor, to pray, to stand in the gap: to be more like Jesus. Who knows, if enough of us do this:
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
2nd Chronicles 7:14-15
John Baker
MUST SEE VIDEO - Homosexual Propaganda Fed to Elementary School Children
"It's so heartbreaking to see little kids brainwashed", says former homosexual Stephen Bennett
By John-Henry Westen NEW YORK,
April 24, 2007
(LifeSiteNews.com) - In a press release this morning, Stephen Bennett, a man who once lived the "gay" lifestyle and has since founded a ministry to assist people to leave the destructive lifestyle, alerted the media to a video clip demonstrating what he calls first-hand homosexual activist "brainwashing" of elementary school children. The video available on the Internet on Youtube.com follows a Massachusetts school's fourth annual gay and lesbian pride day activities.
The video contains actual classroom footage showing teachers imposing pro-homosexual propaganda on children as young as six. Beyond that the video captures a pre-gay pride day staff meeting where one teacher, an African American, asks if teachers are to tell children whose parents oppose homosexuality that they should nonetheless accept it as a good, to which an affirmative answer is given.
A transcript of that portion of the video follows:Unidentified African American female teacher:
"I don't know what to do about this but, as a school are we saying that kids have to support this? I guess that's what it sounds like to me that we're saying. If a child comes from a background that says homosexuality is not correct, are we telling that child that they're supposed to, this is what you are supposed to do?"Unidentified Caucasian female teacher, "I think that we are asking kids to believe this is right. Not as a matter of moral principal, but as a matter of, we're educating them and this is part of what we consider to be a healthy education."Stephen Bennett told
LifeSiteNews.com in an interview that he was "horrified" and "had tears in my eyes" after seeing the video. "It's so heartbreaking to see little kids brainwashed," he said.Stressing that the video must been seen by all concerned parents, Bennett said, "this is what is happening to America's children -- without many parents even knowing a thing.
This is a crime against our children. Let the children be children!"Amazingly, the video, while newly posted on the internet, is a clip from a 1996 pro-homosexual film called "It's elementary". While the first segment of the YouTube clip of the film covers Cambridge Friends School (CFS) in Massachusetts, a second clip covers New York City Public School 87 where similar propagandizing occurs.In the 1996 video, then CFS Principal Thomas Price notes that it is the school's fourth annual celebration of gay pride day.
Homosexual activists have reacted quickly to the publicity of their agenda and have discussed demanding YouTube to remove the videos. The videos seem to have been posted to the internet by a racist and Bennett in his release stressed that the tag on the video reading "faggots" is something he opposes and should be removed. Homosexual activists have themselves acknowledged however the veracity of the video clips as segments of the film 'It's elementary'.
See the Youtube video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mil2ohzJ6gs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spz5yN5I2wU&mode=related&...
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/apr/07042407.html
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Evangelicals Reject God’s Holiness
From "No Place for Truth: Or whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology" (Eerdmans, 1993), p. 300.
By Dr. David F. Wells
"...the shallowness of modern life derives not from its banality but from its having lost its moral bearings. ... Christ seems to offer little of what this world is asking for. It wants whatever is new; it looks for the next step in the journey of the human spirit...."
"It is this holiness of God, then, without which the Cross of Christ is incomprehensible, that provides the light that exposes modernity's darkness for what it is....
Evangelicals turned from focusing on God's transcendence to focusing on his immanence [pervading all creation] -- and then they took the further step of interpreting his immanence as friendliness with modernity....
"The loss of the traditional vision of God as holy is now manifested everywhere in the evangelical world. It is the key to understanding why sin and grace have become such empty terms.... Divorced from the holiness of God -
sin is merely self-defeating behavior or a breach in etiquette...
grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation....
our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines....
our public morality is reduced to little more than an accumulation of trade-offs between competing private interests.
our worship becomes mere entertainment.
"The holiness of God is the very cornerstone of Christian faith, for it is the foundation of reality....
"...this God, majestic and holy in his being... has disappeared from the modern evangelical world. He has been replaced in many quarters by a God... whose Word is a plaything for those who wish merely to listen to themselves, whose Church is a mall in which the religious, their pockets filled with the coin of need, do their business. We seek happiness, not righteousness."
Monday, April 23, 2007
Saul: The Medium and The Lying Spirit vs. TD Jakes: Yoga and Meditation.
1 Samuel 28:7-14
Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.” So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” Then the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, “As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.” So he said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.” And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.
The key phrase in this passage is: Saul perceived that it was Samuel. However it was not Samuel it was a lying spirit. Saul had violated a specific commandment from God not to seek out and inquire of Mediums because Mediums were not of God and could only call up lying spirits:
Leviticus 19:31
Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 20:6
And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
1 Chronicles 10:13
So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.
God has given specific instructions on how to seek him out, also nowhere in Scripture does it say that those who have died can be contacted by the living. The commandment from God also more importantly points out that God has specific methods for seeking him, and there are methods that are not to be used:
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
The use of mediums was part of the idolatry that was practiced by those people in Canaan that the Children of Israel were not to copy.
TD Jakes in a Washington Post Article says its ok to do Yoga and Meditation if the intent is correct, in other words If you are a Christian and have no intent of doing it to follow a Hindu belief system. Does TD Jakes in saying this show both his ignorance and blindness to God's Word?
As TD Jakes view violates not only God's Commandments in Leviticus but also the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians Chapter 8:4-13:
Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
TD Jakes as a supposed knowledgeable man of God should know not to place a stumbling block via his words or actions in front of weak Christians. The sad fact is that a large portion of Christians in our morally bankrupt America of today are constantly seeking after “Signs and Wonders” without living in obedience to God’s word, and they would jump at the chance to hear from a “familiar spirit" while utilizing Yoga & Meditation to their own detriment, fall and destruction.
Practicing Yoga and Meditation goes far beyond eating foods offered to Idols. Because Yoga is part of the Theology of Hinduism, it is used to prepare the person for meditation which then opens the person up to make contact with the "Higher Self" or the "Universal Consciousness" as Hinduism teaches that all of creation is one single integrated consciousness or being. There are hundreds of New Age books that have been written by people who have went into transcendental mediation and supposedly been contacted by spirits who gave them messages. Meditation has also been used to "Channel Spirit Guides" that use the person meditating to give "messages" to other people or mankind as a whole.
The Book: "A Course in Miracles" by an atheistic psychologist from Columbia University named: Helen Schucman who began to channel messages from a spirit she thought to be “Jesus”. She ultimately produced, or she says this “Jesus” revealed to her, over a thousand pages of revelation over a period of seven years. This "Spirit Jesus" supposedly told Schucman that who he was and what his purpose was had been misunderstood and that he was actually a "spiritual big brother" to everyone and that his real purpose was to show everyone how they could find their own "inner spiritual guide" to help them learn that they too could be a Jesus just like him and be part of the "sonship" the same as him. Chapter three of "A Course in Miracles" even denies that Jesus crucifixion established the atonement for our sins!
So the question has to be asked, is TD Jakes truly ignorant of all of this? I would tend to say no he is not, after all he holds to the heretical "Oneness" Theology which teaches that there is no Trinity, and that God actually operates in different modes all on his own. When he needs to be Jesus the Son, he becomes Jesus the Son, when he needs to become God the Father, He becomes God the Father, when he needs to be the Holy Spirit he becomes the Holy Spirit. But there are not three persons: God the Father, God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit in the Godhead. Which if you think about it, is a ridiculous concept, as when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist (Matthew 17:5), God the Father spoke from heaven and said “This is my son in whom I am well pleased” So if God operates in different modes and at that time he was in the Mode of God the Son (Jesus), was God the Son doing a slight of hand? Throwing his voice? The very idea of “Oneness” Theology throws the whole of Scripture into total nonsense!
If a person already holds to a major Heretical anti-Biblical Theological position such as “Oneness Theology” Then they have opened the gateway to acceptance and incorporation of other heretical anti-Biblical positions and beliefs
TD Jakes “Oneness” Theology, his approval of Yoga & Meditation also falls in line with him stumbling on the question of whether Jesus is the only way to Heaven, on a Radio program in Seattle Washington just as Joel Osteen did on Larry King Live when asked by a caller who happened to be a Hindu, whether Jesus was truly the only way to heaven, Jakes told the caller that only God knew who was going to Heaven, now to show that he wasn’t just trying to avoid the question by using a political answer, Jakes went further to misuse the words of Jesus in John 10:16 where Jesus says “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” to say that there would be people who did not believe in Jesus who would go to heaven. But there is a major problem here. Jesus was speaking to a group of Jews, and Jesus was referring to the Gentiles who would come to believe in him and be saved though the missionary work of his disciples and others, beginning in Acts chapter 10 with Peter going to the house of Cornelius the Roman Centurion.
John 14:6:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me
I wonder why there are no well known "Televangelists" practicing the role of the Watchman and calling out TD Jakes on his major departures from Biblical Truth? Where is Kim Clement "The Prophet", to be a "troubler" to those who do not speak Biblical Truth? Oh I forgot he is out promising more abundance to those who already have far too much abundance! Could it be that none of them want to lose their position on the National and International Podium of Power and Fame?
None of them wanting to be booted off of the trough of Total Biblical Nonsense that is TBN? It should be a warning to all Christians that something stinks in the World of Televangelism!
John Baker
1 Samuel 28:7-14
Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.” So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” Then the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, “As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.” So he said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.” And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.
The key phrase in this passage is: Saul perceived that it was Samuel. However it was not Samuel it was a lying spirit. Saul had violated a specific commandment from God not to seek out and inquire of Mediums because Mediums were not of God and could only call up lying spirits:
Leviticus 19:31
Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 20:6
And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
1 Chronicles 10:13
So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.
God has given specific instructions on how to seek him out, also nowhere in Scripture does it say that those who have died can be contacted by the living. The commandment from God also more importantly points out that God has specific methods for seeking him, and there are methods that are not to be used:
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
The use of mediums was part of the idolatry that was practiced by those people in Canaan that the Children of Israel were not to copy.
TD Jakes in a Washington Post Article says its ok to do Yoga and Meditation if the intent is correct, in other words If you are a Christian and have no intent of doing it to follow a Hindu belief system. Does TD Jakes in saying this show both his ignorance and blindness to God's Word?
As TD Jakes view violates not only God's Commandments in Leviticus but also the teaching of Paul in 1 Corinthians Chapter 8:4-13:
Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
TD Jakes as a supposed knowledgeable man of God should know not to place a stumbling block via his words or actions in front of weak Christians. The sad fact is that a large portion of Christians in our morally bankrupt America of today are constantly seeking after “Signs and Wonders” without living in obedience to God’s word, and they would jump at the chance to hear from a “familiar spirit" while utilizing Yoga & Meditation to their own detriment, fall and destruction.
Practicing Yoga and Meditation goes far beyond eating foods offered to Idols. Because Yoga is part of the Theology of Hinduism, it is used to prepare the person for meditation which then opens the person up to make contact with the "Higher Self" or the "Universal Consciousness" as Hinduism teaches that all of creation is one single integrated consciousness or being. There are hundreds of New Age books that have been written by people who have went into transcendental mediation and supposedly been contacted by spirits who gave them messages. Meditation has also been used to "Channel Spirit Guides" that use the person meditating to give "messages" to other people or mankind as a whole.
The Book: "A Course in Miracles" by an atheistic psychologist from Columbia University named: Helen Schucman who began to channel messages from a spirit she thought to be “Jesus”. She ultimately produced, or she says this “Jesus” revealed to her, over a thousand pages of revelation over a period of seven years. This "Spirit Jesus" supposedly told Schucman that who he was and what his purpose was had been misunderstood and that he was actually a "spiritual big brother" to everyone and that his real purpose was to show everyone how they could find their own "inner spiritual guide" to help them learn that they too could be a Jesus just like him and be part of the "sonship" the same as him. Chapter three of "A Course in Miracles" even denies that Jesus crucifixion established the atonement for our sins!
So the question has to be asked, is TD Jakes truly ignorant of all of this? I would tend to say no he is not, after all he holds to the heretical "Oneness" Theology which teaches that there is no Trinity, and that God actually operates in different modes all on his own. When he needs to be Jesus the Son, he becomes Jesus the Son, when he needs to become God the Father, He becomes God the Father, when he needs to be the Holy Spirit he becomes the Holy Spirit. But there are not three persons: God the Father, God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit in the Godhead. Which if you think about it, is a ridiculous concept, as when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist (Matthew 17:5), God the Father spoke from heaven and said “This is my son in whom I am well pleased” So if God operates in different modes and at that time he was in the Mode of God the Son (Jesus), was God the Son doing a slight of hand? Throwing his voice? The very idea of “Oneness” Theology throws the whole of Scripture into total nonsense!
If a person already holds to a major Heretical anti-Biblical Theological position such as “Oneness Theology” Then they have opened the gateway to acceptance and incorporation of other heretical anti-Biblical positions and beliefs
TD Jakes “Oneness” Theology, his approval of Yoga & Meditation also falls in line with him stumbling on the question of whether Jesus is the only way to Heaven, on a Radio program in Seattle Washington just as Joel Osteen did on Larry King Live when asked by a caller who happened to be a Hindu, whether Jesus was truly the only way to heaven, Jakes told the caller that only God knew who was going to Heaven, now to show that he wasn’t just trying to avoid the question by using a political answer, Jakes went further to misuse the words of Jesus in John 10:16 where Jesus says “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” to say that there would be people who did not believe in Jesus who would go to heaven. But there is a major problem here. Jesus was speaking to a group of Jews, and Jesus was referring to the Gentiles who would come to believe in him and be saved though the missionary work of his disciples and others, beginning in Acts chapter 10 with Peter going to the house of Cornelius the Roman Centurion.
John 14:6:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me
I wonder why there are no well known "Televangelists" practicing the role of the Watchman and calling out TD Jakes on his major departures from Biblical Truth? Where is Kim Clement "The Prophet", to be a "troubler" to those who do not speak Biblical Truth? Oh I forgot he is out promising more abundance to those who already have far too much abundance! Could it be that none of them want to lose their position on the National and International Podium of Power and Fame?
None of them wanting to be booted off of the trough of Total Biblical Nonsense that is TBN? It should be a warning to all Christians that something stinks in the World of Televangelism!
John Baker
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
THE DR. RUTH OF CHRISTIANDOM?!!!
Any Fans Of Juanita Bynum And Bishop Thomas Weeks Out There?
(Caution although the video in the link below is supposed to be a Christian Video it may offend some!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frFXQlvrBgg
A Late edition:
Bishop Weeks, Juanita Bynum-Weeks husband approving of Sodomy, Oral Sex, Public Sex, and exploring things that "you havent tried" but may like!
(Caution this Video clip is much worse than the first one):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ7LFb7lhaQ
Let’s be clear on something! Only carnal Godless men constantly think about Sex. Godly men do not constantly think about sex. These videos are a disgusting example of how the modern false prophets are mangling the word of God. And to be clear the way in which the true church should be teaching couples on how to love each other is through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. If we use Godly Biblical Wisdom to teach couples how to love each other then God sanctifies that teaching and therefore there is never a need for false teachers to “teach” in such a disgusting and carnal manner.
The main problem today is that the Holy Spirit has been pushed so far out of the teaching in our churches, that what is left is fallen carnal humanistic teaching. When the Teacher does not have the true indwelling of the person of the Holy Spirit then discernment and Godly wisdom will not be there. And this video is a classic example of that.
We have allowed far too much carnality into the church and given way to far too much carnality in the life of individual Christians that your average Christian has no understanding of what the Holy Spirit can do in their individual lives, in their marriages, and in their relationships with others.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a fundamental requirement for a Christian to be the salt and light. Jesus before ascending into Heaven told his disciples:
Luk 24:49
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
The Power from on high came on the day of Pentecost when the Disciples were in the upper room:
Acts 2:1-4
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
This same indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is still available to those Christians whose hearts are fully turned towards God to do his will. but because most Christians want to be like Simon the Sorcerer:
Acts 8:18-23
And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
They think the Holy Spirit is for their own carnal desires, and this is why they never receive the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, God knows their heart, they continue to be bound to their carnal desires and lacking any discernment fall to the words of false Prophets and Seducing Spirits:
2 Timothy 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Revelation 2:18-23
‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
Any Fans Of Juanita Bynum And Bishop Thomas Weeks Out There?
(Caution although the video in the link below is supposed to be a Christian Video it may offend some!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frFXQlvrBgg
A Late edition:
Bishop Weeks, Juanita Bynum-Weeks husband approving of Sodomy, Oral Sex, Public Sex, and exploring things that "you havent tried" but may like!
(Caution this Video clip is much worse than the first one):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ7LFb7lhaQ
Let’s be clear on something! Only carnal Godless men constantly think about Sex. Godly men do not constantly think about sex. These videos are a disgusting example of how the modern false prophets are mangling the word of God. And to be clear the way in which the true church should be teaching couples on how to love each other is through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. If we use Godly Biblical Wisdom to teach couples how to love each other then God sanctifies that teaching and therefore there is never a need for false teachers to “teach” in such a disgusting and carnal manner.
The main problem today is that the Holy Spirit has been pushed so far out of the teaching in our churches, that what is left is fallen carnal humanistic teaching. When the Teacher does not have the true indwelling of the person of the Holy Spirit then discernment and Godly wisdom will not be there. And this video is a classic example of that.
We have allowed far too much carnality into the church and given way to far too much carnality in the life of individual Christians that your average Christian has no understanding of what the Holy Spirit can do in their individual lives, in their marriages, and in their relationships with others.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a fundamental requirement for a Christian to be the salt and light. Jesus before ascending into Heaven told his disciples:
Luk 24:49
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
The Power from on high came on the day of Pentecost when the Disciples were in the upper room:
Acts 2:1-4
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
This same indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is still available to those Christians whose hearts are fully turned towards God to do his will. but because most Christians want to be like Simon the Sorcerer:
Acts 8:18-23
And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
They think the Holy Spirit is for their own carnal desires, and this is why they never receive the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, God knows their heart, they continue to be bound to their carnal desires and lacking any discernment fall to the words of false Prophets and Seducing Spirits:
2 Timothy 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Revelation 2:18-23
‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
John Baker
University convocation told of Allah, not Jesus
Speakers also invoke Buddha, Dalai Lama
Speakers at the Virginia Tech convocation yesterday called on Allah and Buddha in their efforts to minister to the survivors, family and friends of victims of the shooting massacre at the school – but Jesus wasn't mentioned by name.
President Bush did offer a biblical message of hope, when he suggested the school community that lost 32 members to the shootings by an out-of-control resident alien student find "comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God."
But even he didn't bring Jesus, the only hope of comfort and future life for Christians, into the memorials.
"I'm sitting here watching the convocation service at VT," wrote a WND reader who was given anonymity. "Five minutes ago they had four representatives from the local 'religious community.'
The Muslim specifically invoked Allah's blessings… and he didn't shy away from saying the name of Allah. The Jewish rep asked for God's blessings. Buddha was represented. The only name that [was] omitted, of course, Jesus Christ."
And another WND reader cited the speakers, in order:
"1st Speaker: A Muslim cleric invoking the name of Allah and quoting the Quran."
"2nd Speaker: A Buddhist Community Leader preaching that mankind is basically 'good.'"
"3rd Speaker: A Female speaker from the Jewish Community quoting Ecclesiastes: 'There is a time for everything.'"
"4th Speaker: A Liberal Lutheran Minister talking about 'healing,' etc. and how everyone needs to come together (blah, blah, blah…)."
"BUT NOT ONE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN PASTOR/PREACHER. NO INVOCATION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST JESUS," the reader said.
"The only thing that surprised me, though, is that they didn't have a rep from the Universal Life 'church' or the 'Church of Satan.' Go figure," said the first reader.
Yet another reader wondered why a Muslim cleric was the first member of the clergy to deliver remarks.
"By the prominence of the Muslim speaker in the service are we to assume that Virginia Tech is mainly a Muslim student body? ... How are we to know this wasn't a signal to a sleeper cell? ... I pray the students and staff find tangible comfort from the God who freely gave us the Lord Jesus to show us how to live."
It was up to the president to deliver references to Christianity.
"People who have never met you are praying for you," Bush said. "They're praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There's a power in these prayers, a real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and the guidance of a loving God."
Most of the other official statements of condolence released also ignored the savior of the Christian faith.
"Today is a day to reflect on our many blessings of family, neighbors, and our Blacksburg community, which includes the students of Virginia Tech," said a statement from the town of Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech is located.
"I urge Virginians to keep these victims and their families in their thoughts and prayers," said Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, who recounted some of the Old Testament Book of Job in his remarks.
"In time, Americans will learn more about the circumstances of this senseless tragedy. For now and forever after, our hearts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the other students, faculty and staff of Virginia Tech, and their families," said Sen. John Warner, a Republican.
"My heart goes out to the parents and families of the victims of this senseless act," said Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat.
The school has announced a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the mass killing Monday.
The campus also was ordered closed through this week, and counseling services were being made available to students, faculty and staff.
"We come to express our sympathy in this time of anguish. I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you and asking God to provide comfort for all who have been affected," the president told the community assembly.
"May God bless you and keep you and keep the souls of the lost and may his love touch all of those who suffer and grieve," he concluded.
He earlier had ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half staff at the White House, federal buildings and grounds, naval craft and military posts through Sunday.
"Our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. We hold the victims in our hearts. We lift them up in our prayers, and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering," Bush said in the flag proclamation.
Authorities have identified the shooter as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior English major at the school whose class writings were so disturbing he previously had been referred for counseling.
http://wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55252
Speakers also invoke Buddha, Dalai Lama
Speakers at the Virginia Tech convocation yesterday called on Allah and Buddha in their efforts to minister to the survivors, family and friends of victims of the shooting massacre at the school – but Jesus wasn't mentioned by name.
President Bush did offer a biblical message of hope, when he suggested the school community that lost 32 members to the shootings by an out-of-control resident alien student find "comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God."
But even he didn't bring Jesus, the only hope of comfort and future life for Christians, into the memorials.
"I'm sitting here watching the convocation service at VT," wrote a WND reader who was given anonymity. "Five minutes ago they had four representatives from the local 'religious community.'
The Muslim specifically invoked Allah's blessings… and he didn't shy away from saying the name of Allah. The Jewish rep asked for God's blessings. Buddha was represented. The only name that [was] omitted, of course, Jesus Christ."
And another WND reader cited the speakers, in order:
"1st Speaker: A Muslim cleric invoking the name of Allah and quoting the Quran."
"2nd Speaker: A Buddhist Community Leader preaching that mankind is basically 'good.'"
"3rd Speaker: A Female speaker from the Jewish Community quoting Ecclesiastes: 'There is a time for everything.'"
"4th Speaker: A Liberal Lutheran Minister talking about 'healing,' etc. and how everyone needs to come together (blah, blah, blah…)."
"BUT NOT ONE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN PASTOR/PREACHER. NO INVOCATION OF THE NAME OF CHRIST JESUS," the reader said.
"The only thing that surprised me, though, is that they didn't have a rep from the Universal Life 'church' or the 'Church of Satan.' Go figure," said the first reader.
Yet another reader wondered why a Muslim cleric was the first member of the clergy to deliver remarks.
"By the prominence of the Muslim speaker in the service are we to assume that Virginia Tech is mainly a Muslim student body? ... How are we to know this wasn't a signal to a sleeper cell? ... I pray the students and staff find tangible comfort from the God who freely gave us the Lord Jesus to show us how to live."
It was up to the president to deliver references to Christianity.
"People who have never met you are praying for you," Bush said. "They're praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There's a power in these prayers, a real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and the guidance of a loving God."
Most of the other official statements of condolence released also ignored the savior of the Christian faith.
"Today is a day to reflect on our many blessings of family, neighbors, and our Blacksburg community, which includes the students of Virginia Tech," said a statement from the town of Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech is located.
"I urge Virginians to keep these victims and their families in their thoughts and prayers," said Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, who recounted some of the Old Testament Book of Job in his remarks.
"In time, Americans will learn more about the circumstances of this senseless tragedy. For now and forever after, our hearts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the other students, faculty and staff of Virginia Tech, and their families," said Sen. John Warner, a Republican.
"My heart goes out to the parents and families of the victims of this senseless act," said Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat.
The school has announced a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the mass killing Monday.
The campus also was ordered closed through this week, and counseling services were being made available to students, faculty and staff.
"We come to express our sympathy in this time of anguish. I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you and asking God to provide comfort for all who have been affected," the president told the community assembly.
"May God bless you and keep you and keep the souls of the lost and may his love touch all of those who suffer and grieve," he concluded.
He earlier had ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half staff at the White House, federal buildings and grounds, naval craft and military posts through Sunday.
"Our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. We hold the victims in our hearts. We lift them up in our prayers, and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering," Bush said in the flag proclamation.
Authorities have identified the shooter as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior English major at the school whose class writings were so disturbing he previously had been referred for counseling.
http://wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55252
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Virginia Tech students gather in front of the War Memorial to mourn their fellow students on Monday after the shooting rampage.It Sets Our Childrens Teeth on Edge
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Jeremiah 31: 27-30 (KJV)
Oh that our country would fall on its knee’s in repentance and pray:
Come Lord Jesus, Forgive us for walking away from you, be our Lord, and watch over us, build up and plant within us all a new heart. And let no more that our children’s teeth be set on edge in fear.
John Baker
Authorities ID gunman in Va. Tech rampage
College president says gunman was a student; 33 killed, 26 wounded
BLACKSBURG, Va. - A Virginia Tech student was behind the massacre of at least 30 people locked inside a campus building in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, the university said Tuesday.
The Virginia Tech Police Department identified him as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior in the English department.
The bloodbath ended with the gunman’s suicide, bringing the death toll from two separate shootings — first at a dorm, then in a classroom building — to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy.
Ballistics tests showed one of the guns found was used in both shootings, at the doom and the classroom building, Virginia State Police said.
A federal law enforcement official said Tuesday he had been told by other federal law enforcement officials that the two guns recovered in the shooting had had their serial numbers scraped off. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been announced.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information had not been announced, said Cho was carrying a backpack that contained receipts for a March purchase of a Glock 9 mm pistol.
At least 26 people were taken to hospitals after the second attack, some seriously injured. Victims were reported early Tuesday to be in stable condition at two area hospitals.
Community struggles to cope
President Bush planned to attend a memorial service Tuesday afternoon at the university, the White House said, and Gov. Tim Kaine was flying back to Virginia from Tokyo for the 2 p.m. convocation.
Local authorities have scheduled a media briefing for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The people of Blacksburg struggled to find order in the wake of the shooting at Virginia Tech university.
“For all the children in our community who are afraid,” one woman pleaded in a church service held for those seeking solace.
Another added: “For parents near and far who wonder at a time like this, ‘Is my child safe?”’
Investigators gave no motive for the attack. The gunman’s name has not been released.
“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” Steger said. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.”
Difficult questionsBut he was also faced with difficult questions about the university’s handling of the emergency and whether it did enough to warn students and protect them after the first burst of gunfire. Some students bitterly complained they got no warning from the university until an e-mail that arrived more than two hours after the first shots rang out.
Wielding two handguns and carrying multiple clips of ammunition, the killer opened fire about 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston, a high-rise coed dormitory, then stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building a half-mile away on the other side of the 2,600-acre campus. Some of the doors at Norris Hall were found chained from the inside, apparently by the gunman.
Two people died in a dorm room, and 31 others were killed in Norris Hall, including the gunman, who put a bullet in his head.
Students jumped from windows in panic.
Alec Calhoun, a 20-year-old junior, said he was in a 9:05 a.m. mechanics class when he and classmates heard a thunderous sound from the classroom next door — “what sounded like an enormous hammer.”
Screams followed an instant later, and the banging continued. When students realized the sounds were gunshots, Calhoun said, he started flipping over desks for hiding places. Others dashed to the windows of the second-floor classroom, kicking out the screens and jumping from the ledge of Room 204, he said.
“I must’ve been the eighth or ninth person who jumped, and I think I was the last,” said Calhoun, of Waynesboro, Va. He landed in a bush and ran.
Calhoun said that the two students behind him were shot, but that he believed they survived. Just before he climbed out the window, Calhoun said, he turned to look at the professor, who had stayed behind, perhaps to block the door.
The instructor was killed, he said.
‘Very calm look on his face’Young people and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive. Many found themselves trapped behind chained and padlocked doors. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. A student used his cell-phone camera to record the sound of bullets echoing through a stone building.
Trey Perkins, who was sitting in a German class in Norris Hall, told The Washington Post that the gunman barged into the room at about 9:50 a.m. and opened fire for about a minute and a half, squeezing off about 30 shots.
The gunman first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the students, Perkins said. The gunman was about 19 years old and had a “very serious but very calm look on his face,” he said.
“Everyone hit the floor at that moment,” said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. “And the shots seemed like it lasted forever.”
Erin Sheehan, who was also in the German class, told the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, that she was one of only four of about two dozen people in the class to walk out of the room. The rest were dead or wounded, she said.
She said the gunman “had on a Boy Scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something.”
Students angry at university's responseStudents said that there were no public-address announcements after the first shots. Many said they learned of the first shooting in an e-mail that arrived shortly before the gunman struck again.
“I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident,” said Billy Bason, 18, who lives on the seventh floor of the dorm.
Steger defended the university’s conduct, saying authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.
“We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur,” he said.
University President Charles Steger emphasized that the university closed off the dorm after the first attack and decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means to spread the word, but said that with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out.
He said that before the e-mail went out, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms and sent people to knock on doors. Students were warned to stay inside and away from the windows.
“We can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don’t have hours to reflect on it,” Steger said.
Some students and Laura Wedin, a student programs manager at Virginia Tech, said their first notification came in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m., more than two hours after the first shooting.
The e-mail had few details. It read: “A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.” The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.
Edmund Henneke, associate dean of engineering, said that he was in the classroom building and that he and colleagues had just read the e-mail advisory and were discussing it when he heard gunfire. He said that moments later SWAT team members rushed them downstairs, but that the doors were chained and padlocked from the inside. They left the building through an unlocked construction area.
Previous rampagesUntil Monday, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby’s Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.
The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.
Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire. He killed 16 people before police shot him to death.
Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is about 160 miles west of Richmond. With more than 25,000 full-time students, it has the state’s largest full-time student population. It is best known for its engineering school and its powerhouse Hokies football team.
The campus is centered on the Drill Field, a grassy field where military cadets practice. The dorm and the classroom building are on opposites sides of the Drill Field.
After the shootings, all campus entrances were closed, and classes were canceled through Tuesday. The university set up a spot for families to reunite with their children. It also made counselors available and planned an assembly Tuesday.
Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks but said they had not determined a link to the shootings.
Second shooting in less than a yearIt was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.
In August, the opening day of classes was canceled when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff’s deputy was killed just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.
At a hastily arranged service Monday night at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Susan Verbrugge gazed out at about 150 bowed heads.
“Death has come trundling into our life, a sudden and savage entity laying waste to our hearts and making desolate our minds,” Verbrugge said during a prayer. “We need now the consolation only you can give.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18148802/?GT1=9246
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