While compassion and empathy must remain paramount in our hearts as Believers, and love for everyone has to be the hallmark of who we are, it should never be at the expense of our character, morality, and nobility. Nobility is nobleness of mind, character and spirit.
We live in a day and age when morality has become relative, nobility is most often only found in fictional stories, and virtue-less people consider righteous standards as religious oppression. Also, it is incredible that, people who don’t even believe in God, much less the Bible, use verses like “judge not lest you be judged” and “Jesus didn’t condemn sinners” to neutralize noble living and moral teaching. They use the Word of God against us in order to shape the culture that our children will one day inherit. What’s even more concerning is how Christian leaders are allowing these unbelievers to dictate how to interpret the Bible. What does God say about homosexuality and therefore gay marriage? What does He say about gender? What does He say about abortion? What about infidelity and how to treat parents, children, friends and even our enemies? Modern Christianity has become more about sanctioning sin and calling it unity than it is about God, His values, His kingdom. Jesus warned us that this would happen in the last days before He returns to this earth.
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:10-12
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24
A nightmarish drought, horrific flooding along the Mississippi River, and a giant “derecho” that just hit the farm belt have combined to make this one of the toughest years for American farmers ever. And this comes at a particularly bad time because the stress that the COVID-19 pandemic has put on food distribution systems has already created periodic shortages of certain items around the nation.
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name 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.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14
On Monday last, an absolutely massive “derecho” roared through the Midwest. According to USA Today, the storm had winds of up to 112 miles per hour… as powerful as an inland hurricane – as it tore from eastern Nebraska across Iowa and parts of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois, including Chicago and its suburbs.
According to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, approximately 10 million acres of crops were destroyed in Iowa alone… he said, most hurricanes don’t have winds that high once they finally reach shore, and I have personally never experienced wind speeds of such magnitude. Needless to say, this very unusual storm caused immense devastation. In addition, tens of millions of bushels of grain that were stored at co-ops and on farms were damaged or destroyed as bins blew away. If about 10 million acres were flattened just in Iowa, how many more acres did this storm destroy in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois?
Sadly, this one storm is going to completely financially ruin some farmers. For example, Iowa farmer Tim Bardole is facing losses that could potentially exceed one million dollars… Corn that used to stand upright on Bardole’s farm is now laying on its side. Some stalks snapped off, others ripped out of the ground at the roots.
Bardole estimated he’ll be out $200 an acre, which is $500,000 total. Worst-case scenario, that could go up to $500 per acre. That would equate to $1.25 million. Further south, many farmers along the southern Mississippi Delta have already had their growing seasons wiped out by historic flooding for the second year in a row…
The southern Mississippi Delta is home to some of the most fertile farmland in the United States. But not a single crop of soybeans, cotton, corn, or rice has been planted at many farms in the region — one of the poorest in the country.
Surely, Christians understand what is unfolding. Pestilences and famines are part of “end times” shaking which God subjects this planet, to bring people to repentance. Christians should be on our knees praying to ensure we are in the centre of God’s will for us. It won’t be too long before we stand before God in judgement. Your assignment in the Millennial reign of Jesus on this planet will be determined by what you do with your time here on earth now. Let me plead with you to start living with an eternal focus now.
Jesus commands us: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28), We can’t do this in our own strength. It takes yielding to God’s Holy Spirit within to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,” and “pray for those who abuse you.”
I am sure Abraham did not completely understand what God was doing by asking him to sacrifice his son, but he was prepared to do it anyway. Likewise, there are times when I cannot understand why we are commanded to pray for our enemies, do good to those that hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who abuse us but, I do it anyway. And never have I ever regretted it.
I might not precisely understand what God’s Word tells me to do in some cases, so I must trust the Spirit and yield to His influence. The Spirit might prompt me to do something that I would not ordinarily do, and even though my own flesh says, “No,” I sense it’s what God wants me to do, and more often than not, I discover that, in His sovereignty, God had placed me in such a place and time to do just what He willed for me to do. I know that if what I do helps others; if it glorifies God, and it’s revealed in the Word of God, then I must do it, even if I don’t fully understand it at the time.
Colossians is a great book for helping us to live eternally now. Paul instructs us to concentrate on the eternal realities of heaven. “Set your minds on things above” The Greek verb for set emphasizes an ongoing decision. Christians must continually discipline themselves to focus on eternal realities instead of the temporal realities of this earth.“
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:1-11
Use of old self and new self.These two terms do not refer to the Christian’s fleshly and spiritual natures. Instead, Paul describes our former unredeemed life as the old self and our life as God’s child as the new self. The new self has the image of the new creation in Christ, just as the old self bears the image of our fallen nature. The old self is under an old master, Satan, while the new self has a new master, the Holy Spirit of God living within.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
Philippians 4:13 is likely one of the most misquoted, misapplied, and misunderstood passages within the New Testament. Suffice it to say, it is not about how one can literally do anything you put your mind to simply because you are in Christ. Paul has a specific context in mind here—and it is not about attaining your personal goals and aspirations, developing a healthy conception of self-worth, nor is it designed to be a coping mechanism to deal with the hardships of life. The passage isn’t even about finding the secret of contentment in all things, despite insistence from many that this is the focal point of this passage. This interpretation has more validity due to the previous verses:
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” Philippians 4:11-12
Paul undoubtedly affirms learning contentment in all circumstances. However, the overarching point of Paul to the Philippians in this passage is not contentment, but one of enduring through suffering, particularly, a suffering brought on through no fault of their own.
Brutal execution of 11 blindfolded Christians in Nigeria, the day after Christmas
The thing that is rather sad about focusing on both the ability to do “all things” and “contentment” is that we don’t focus properly on the message of Paul, which is Christ Himself. Not only does emphasizing the “all things” profoundly miss the point of the passage, but it just doesn’t stand the test of basic logic. It isn’t even an adequate application of this passage, because “all things” to Paul here has a specific context, and that context is enduring through suffering for the prize gained through the glorious gospel of our Lord. Even more clearly, they stand to be glorified with Christ, as they too share in His sufferings. Yet equally as sad, though perhaps in a less heinous way, is the focus on learning contentment that is often also presented as the point of this passage. Again, it must be restated: contentment is the fruit, not the root. The root is Jesus Christ
A rather large focus in Philippians surrounds the idea that the knowledge of Christ and His great work is the means by which the Christian is able to endure persecution. What that means is that a true knowledge of Christ leads to us seeing Him as greater than everything else—even our suffering. A true knowledge of Christ will produce in us the heart attitude that believes all else is to be considered as loss, and that to live is Christ. The one who sees Christ as the preeminent One will actually remain stable in the midst of either incredible prosperity or incredible duress, because their eyes are fixated on the risen Christ Himself (Hebrews 12:1-2). They are not lured away to treasure or trust in wealth, yet neither are they acting as if the sky is falling in the midst of even the most horrendous of circumstances. They are able to say with Paul that they may be, “…hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Why? Because it is invariably through weakness that the Lord is pleased to show His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9). They are content, yet their contentment is born exclusively out of seeing that their “light and momentary” afflictionsproducesan eternal glory, which is the hope of the resurrection that the gospel of Christ brings (2 Corinthians 4:1-5:10).
Taken from article by Grayson Gilbert (Patheos) “Philippians 4:13 is not about your life goals”. Grayson completed his Masters of Divinity degree at Moody Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing church planting under the umbrella of his home church.
David Wood’s best friend at college was Nabeel Qureshi, a Muslim. Initially, David did not know much about the Muslim faith but over four years and considerable research into the Quran and even some Hadiths as a result of discussions with Nabeel, David become sufficiently knowledgeable that he was able to convince Nabeel that Jesus was who He said He was, the Son of God and that Jesus mission on earth was to provide atonement for mankind’s sin with His own death on The Cross. Nabeel not only became a Christian but went on to write two best selling books: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus and No God but One: Allah or Jesus?
The Israeli company, Watergen, is turning air into water with the help of innovative technology. As the lack of water is a source of starvation and conflict around the world, and unclean water becomes a tremendous health hazard, Watergen envisions that bringing clean drinking water from the air will have a major global impact on the future. The amount of water in the air is considerable and it is inexhaustible so what an amazing solution to the world’s biggest problem.
When Dr. Michael Mirilashvili, president of Watergen was asked what help does he need his response was “I need the help of God, we already have the technology. This entrepreneur, Michael Mirilashvili truly knows where his help comes from just as Bezalel and Oholiab knew when they were constructing the Tabernacle of the Lord.
“See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft.And He has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.” Exodus 35:30-35
Covid 19, unprecedented debt, and now even more significant is our relations with China have soured beyond recovery for the foreseeable future. Australia’s strong ties with the USA is a problem for the Chinese. Considering China is our biggest export partner (iron ore, coal, natural gas, barley, beef etc) and the biggest contributor to our tourism and education markets, this will have catastrophic consequences for our nation.
China’s relations with the USA were in steep decline prior to Covid. It- has now utterly squandered any remaining international goodwill with the emergence and its handling of coronavirus.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says he’s over China’s ‘bullying and coercion’, signalling a toughening of European security policy towards Beijing.
The UK, just like us, has reversed course on Huawei, easing the Chinese company out of its 5G network.
Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and most recently India have all been bullied by China and its blustering about building military bases in contested territory in the South China Sea.
Everywhere you look, countries are reconsidering their trade ties. Trade is what fuelled China’s rise. Less trade will cause its fall. Any hopes of a new US trade deal with China have been quashed.
‘I don’t think about that now,’ Trump recently told reporters aboard Air Force One. ‘They could have stopped the plague. They could have stopped it. They didn’t stop it.’
Lower trade with the US and its other top trading partners will deprive China of US dollars. China needs US dollars to buy its own imports.
This has extremely bearish implications for Australia. Think about it… China can’t buy our iron ore, coal and copper with yuan. It needs US dollars. Yet US dollars is what it’s going to earn less of in the years ahead.
Meanwhile, China’s state-directed banking system created a huge pile of yuan-denominated credit to keep the economy afloat. In the first six months of 2020, it created 12 trillion yuan in new bank debt! Even before the COVID crisis, between 2001 and 2019, China had printed more money than any other country in world history. Chinese authorities are far more concerned with reversing their economic implosion than they are about printing so much money it becomes next to useless. That’s why you’re seeing stories about an ‘economic recovery’ in China. All this money must go somewhere. But where? More ‘ghost cities’ and ‘bridges to nowhere’. The resources cool off that we saw in 2016-2017 (BHP $46 down to $17) will be nothing to what is coming. At present our resource stocks are at almost record highs, One reason is Brazil is the world’s second largest iron ore producer and the Covid virus infected 188 people at just one mine alone. The lock-downs there have benefited Australian miners greatly, but it is a temporary reprieve.
China has 50 million empty apartments
The drought has lifted off most States. Fortunately, the drought and floods mobilised Christians to repentance and prayer. I believe God answered those prayers just as He did to provide Scott Morrison as our Prime Minister against all the odds. It is interesting to see that the State that has moved furthermost away from God on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, abolishing RE in schools and introducing the diabolical “Safe Schools” programme is suffering the most from Covid19 cases and deaths.
The shaking has just started and Christians need to recognise we are in the “last days”. Persecution will only increase for those that stand up for God’s values. Regardless, God is in control and He will empower those of us that are submitted to doing His will. Make sure you are in step with Him, each day asking the Holy Spirit for His guidance, to enable God’s Kingdom to come where He has placed you at this late hour in earths history.
A new survey shows that the majority of Americans no longer believe that Jesus is the path to salvation and instead believe that being a good person is sufficient.
As part of the ongoing release of the Arizona Christian University-based Cultural Research Center’s American Worldview Inventory, the latest findings — exploring perceptions of sin and salvation — from George Barna, the group’s director, show that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that having some kind of faith is more important than the particular faith with which someone aligns.
Sixty-eight percent who embrace that notion identify as Christians, including 56% of self-described evangelicals and 62% of those who identify as Pentecostals. Sixty-seven percent of mainline Protestants and 77% of Catholics also embraced that idea, the findings show.
Slightly over half of Christian respondents said they believe someone can attain salvation by “being or doing good,” a figure that includes, 46% of Pentecostals, 44% of mainline Protestants, 41% of evangelicals, and 70% of Catholics.
In addition to the viewpoint that eternal salvation can be earned, survey results show that 58% of Americans believe that no absolute moral truth exists and that the basis of truth are factors or sources other than God. Seventy-seven percent said that right and wrong is determined by factors other than the Bible. Fifty-nine percent said that the Bible is not God’s authoritative and true Word and 69% said people are basically good.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Most people contend that all faiths are of equal value, that entry into God’s eternal presence is determined by one’s personal means of choice and that there are no absolutes to guide or grow us morally.
The philosophy of life now held by most Americans contradicts a fundamental basis of what may be the two most significant documents to the longevity and success of America – the Bible and the Constitution of the United States.
Those documents agree that this nation will only be healthy and fruitful if it is populated by moral people. By abandoning their moral standards and traditions, and replacing them with inclusive and conditional preferences, they are losing the foundations that have enabled the ‘American experiment’ to succeed for more than two centuries. We can only hope that their critical moral institutions — particularly the family and the church — will wake up and help the nation to get back on track.
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best posted this open letter to the city council on August third, writing:
“Before this devolves into the new way of doing business by mob rule here in Seattle, and across the nation, elected officials like you must forcefully call for the end of these tactics.”
In response, Seattle Council Member Kshama Swant said, “Today I am unveiling our budget proposal to defund Seattle Police Department by 50%right now, for the rest of the year 2020 and to take that money and invest in black and brown communities.”
Best then announced she’s stepping down. She made her decision public on the same day the city council approved cutting the police department by nearly $4 million and 100 officers.
Her announcement comes as law enforcement organizations across the country are experiencing serious budget cuts amid the push to defund the police. That’s happening despite an increase in crime in many major cities.
What we see unfolding is exactly what Jesus said would be the chaotic, godless state of nations just before He returns to this earth to rule with a rod of iron.
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13
You might not hear it from media outlets, but in Portland more than 270 federal officers have been injured protecting buildings since May. In Seattle, one day of recent rioting led to 59 officers getting wounded by rocks, bottles and improvised explosives. Business owners board up stores for protection from groups like Antifa. Still, even though nightly violence and skyrocketing crime rock American cities, some politicians are echoing the call to defund or even abolish the police.
The impact of this war on cops can be devastating, according to Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins. And as the only US representative still certified as a law enforcement officer, Higgins has front line experience.
Higgins believes up to a third of all cops in some districts could resign in the coming year, leading to dire consequences.
“You’ve got maybe a million certified cops across the country. No matter what happens now, if we flip the switch in the other direction, they’ve already come under so much fire…unrighteous fire…cops…their families are being eaten alive by the communities that they serve, by politicians and corrupt media. They’re gonna leave,” he warned.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 