EXTENT OF DECEPTION IN THE LAST DAYS

Another revealing article from Creation Ministries (www.creation.com) this time from Lita Cosner. It demonstrates the extent of the deception that is occurring in these “last days” , which confirms the Bibles “end times” prophecies, “many false prophets will arise and a great falling away occurs, even the elect being deceived”, Matthew 24:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Lita Cosner’s Report: A reader sent in a video by a Dr Tim Jennings, a Christian psychiatrist, about homosexuality, transgenderism, and Christianity, and asked us for a response. We normally do not respond to videos, because of the time involved to watch and fairly interact with such media, but we felt the teaching value in this case merited an exception.

Dr-Tim-Jennings

Dr Jennings calls out the Christian community for “a lot of ignorance and a lot of misinformation.” He believes that “We have to start with facts, we have to start with truth.” He asks, “Are you willing to look at evidence and facts or do you want to hold beliefs that are refuted by evidence, facts, and truth?”

But when he goes into these ‘facts’, we find that they don’t prove what he thinks they prove. Most of his arguments involve very rare abnormalities.

First, he brings out Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, where a person is genetically male (XY), but has no testosterone receptors, so the child develops to look outwardly female (but lacks a uterus and ovaries). Dr Jennings makes the first of many errors in his video when he says that all babies begin as females, and hormones, particularly testosterone, cause the baby to masculinize. At fertilisation, every individual is either genetically female (XX) or male (XY) (yes—there are a handful of intersex chromosomal conditions, most commonly Klinefelter’s—but these are rare), and the baby develops as a female or a male according to the genetics. Dr Jennings inadvertently acknowledges this when he says that the male baby has testes even with AIS.

The next condition is chimerism, the extremely rare condition where one embryo absorbs his or her fraternal twin early in development, resulting in one individual with two distinct sets of genetics. He claims that this can result in someone with both male and female DNA. So someone could have a male brain genetically, and a female body, and so on. Then he claims that epigenetic markers affect whether the brain is masculinized in the womb or not.

His AIS and epigenetic arguments basically say that hormones can determine someone’s sexual identity. But then the chimerism argument says precisely the opposite—that genetics determine sexual identity. Which is it? Of course, this discussion of chromosomal and developmental conditions leaves out the fact that most people who identify as homosexual or transgender are biologically healthy males or females with no ambiguity or genetic defect.

Then Dr Jennings goes in a completely different direction and notes that sometimes trauma can confuse a person’s sexual identity, and gives an anecdote involving one of his counselees. In that counselee’s case, resolving a trauma led her to realise that she was not a lesbian after all, but heterosexual. But how can we tell someone who is ‘naturally’ homosexual from someone who is confused because of a trauma? And how can we even ask that question when it is now forbidden to even raise that as a possibility?

Dr Jennings then turns to Romans 1, and says that “exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones” means that naturally heterosexual people were engaging in homosexual relations as part of Roman fertility cult worship. He argues Paul wasn’t talking about people who are naturally homosexual. But sexual orientation as a core element of our personality wasn’t even conceived of until less than 200 years ago. In the Roman world, free men in particular would engage in both homosexual and heterosexual acts with a variety of partners—the only thing that was taboo was for a free male adult to assume a ‘submissive’ role.

Then he criticises Christians with “imperial” and “legal” ways of reading the Bible. I think that’s extremely judgemental of him—my brain development was shaped in the womb to make me think in imperial and legal ways. In any case, he says that Christians think homosexuals should act like heterosexuals. That’s not true. Rather, Christians recognise that the Fall affects us in different ways in our bodies, our minds, and our relationships. All of us have to submit ourselves to Scripture which challenges each of us in different ways.

Dr Jennings says that we should present the truth in love, and this will leave people free. While I would agree with him about this principle, we would disagree vastly about the proper application. I do not believe it is loving to present a false gospel to any person that says that Christ is powerless to transform them—regardless of what needs to be transformed.

70th WEEK OF DANIEL

Daniel’s prophecy of the “70 Weeks” may be the most important prophecy in the Bible and the most amazing. Its sweeping panorama allowed the wise in ancient Israel to know the exact timing of the arrival of Jesus upon his first coming and His death.

Then, after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Dan. 9:25. This part of the prophecy has occurred. The rest of the prophecy provides incredible details about Jesus’s second coming.

This sermon by Jonathan Cahn on Daniel’s 70 weeks is excellent. The only significant difference in my view of this prophecy and Jonathan’s, is the identity of the Antichrist. As most of you already know, I believe the Antichrist will be a Muslim , possibly the Mahdi, the Muslim Messiah and they believe his arrival is imminent.  The people of the prince to come that destroyed the city were not Roman.

This phrase about the coming prince is one of the most controversial passages in the entire Bible!  The Greek perfectly renders this thought. Jesus was going to destroy the city and Temple with the one that is coming. In this case that was Titus, the general of the Roman forces. Jesus destroyed the city using his agents, which just happened to be Titus and his soldiers. After examining a sampling of evidence from both ancient historians as well as the most cutting-edge modern scholarship to date, we may very confidently conclude that the ‘Roman’ soldiers in the Eastern provinces that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple were in fact Eastern peoples – the inhabitants of Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia and Egypt. The people of the prince to come were from Middle Eastern countries that are now Muslim.

UN PASSES 6 ANTI ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS IN ONE DAY

The U.N. passed six resolutions against Israel on Friday, preserving its reputation of being obsessed with attacking the Jewish State and rejecting Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. The Bible reveals that at the “end times’ this small (geography) country would be the centre of hostility, surrounded by nations intent on its destruction. In the natural it makes no sense, but in the spiritual it makes complete sense. Satan knows Scripture. Jesus said He will return to rule and reign from Jerusalem. Satan is intent on doing his utmost to stop that from happening. 

UN passes 6 anti-Israel resolutions in one day, rejects Jewish ties to Jerusalem

As Muslim countries dominate the UN it is conceivable that the Antichrist, who I believe will be the Muslim Mahdi will be elected the Secretary General of the UN. It is no coincidence that most of the Middle East Muslim nations believe the return of their Messiah – Mahdi is imminent. The table below is revealing.

It is useful now, to look at Daniel’s revelation of the Kingdoms that will rule during the “end times” prior to Jesus return which will give us a clue to the Antichrist identity.

  • Which Kingdoms best fit the dream Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, had that Daniel 2 revealed were four Empires that would succeed the Neo Babylonian Empire.
  • Daniel reveals Medo-Persia and Greek Empires would succeed Nebuchadnezzar but he does not reveal the fourth Empire. However, the description given that the fourth Empire would completely crush the former territories of the previous three Empires, reveals the identity of the only Empire to accomplish this feat. It is an Islamic Caliphate – The Ottoman Empire.
  • The Final Empire is a revived but divided fourth Empire – an Islamic Caliphate which the Antichrist will rule, partially overcoming the Sunni/Shia divide

The six anti Israel resolutions passed in one day.

The first, titled “The Syrian Golan,” passed with 100 votes in favour, 12 against and 62 abstentions. For a second consecutive year, the United Kingdom broke with the European Union to vote against it, joining the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and a few others.

The second, titled “Jerusalem,” was adopted with 148 votes in favour, 11 against and 14 abstentions, rejects Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. Israel and the United States were joined by Canada, Australia, Guatemala and six others to vote against.

The third, titled “Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat,” which appropriates U.N. funds for anti-Israel purposes, passed with 96 votes in favour, 13 against and 64 abstentions. The United States, Israel, Australia Canada, Moldova, Hungary, Honduras, Guatemala and others voted against it.

The fourth, “Special information programme on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat,” was adopted with 152 votes in favour, eight against and 14 abstentions. The United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, Guatemala and a few others voted against the resolution. “The program eschews a balanced approach by overtly choosing the Palestinian over Israeli narrative, ignoring terrorism against Israeli men, women and children, and other daily realities of Israeli life,” stated U.N. Watch.

The fifth, “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine,” passed 156 votes in favour, eight against and 12 abstentions. The United States, Israel Canada, Australia and four others voted against the measure, which solely blames Israel for no peace in the area.

The sixth resolution, “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People,” was adopted 100 votes in favour, 12 against and 62 abstentions. The United States, Israel, Australia, Canada and Hungary joined several other countries to vote against the resolution. This committee invited Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill to speak on Wednesday, where he advocated for “a Free Palestine From the River to the Sea,” in addition to making other anti-Israel comments.

I am encouraged that Australia was amongst the nations that voted against these resolutions. Where does your nation stand in this regard? Will it be a sheep or goat nation? Only sheep nations get to continue on into the Millennium, so if yours voted for these resolutions, I would be on my knees in prayer interceding for a turn around. Mind you, I am on my knees for Australia, as our future is in the balance.

BLESSINGS RELEASED WITH JOHN 17 UNITY

The Bible is coming to life beyond belief in the heartland of the Buckeye state. Clergymen from Richland County, Ohio, are reclaiming the nexus between church and state and proving they are the juggernaut that can bring social change to their region.

Leading clergymen from over 100 congregations across Richland County sent a letter to local and state school officials calling for civil disobedience to the Obama restroom mandate. Citing the mandate jeopardised privacy and safety of women and children, these ministers took a bold stand when many were afraid to challenge a hostile federal government.

Pastors pose with police car with national motto for Clergy Appreciation Month in 2017.

Pastors pose with police car with national motto for Clergy Appreciation Month in 2017.

This account also documents tangible blessings that followed hand in hand after biblical obedience.

Bountiful August rains in the midst of a five-month drought in 2016 came at just the right time. This rainfall had a ripple effect, bringing an unusual abundance of milk and honey, and propelling a robust harvest. Despite being the second hottest August on record, milk productivity countywide increased 43 percent from the previous August. Meanwhile, swarms abounded for a bee population still stinging from the colony collapse disorder, with one prominent beekeeper declaring the summer of 2016 as “the best bee season in a decade.”

“Showers of blessing” became new buzzwords to come out of a sticky situation. In spite of the drought, one farmer exclaimed “In 74 years of farming, I have never had 80 bushels of soybeans an acre like I did in 2016!” Another farmer proudly boasted of having five cuts of hay that year. … but that’s not all.

This extraordinary turn of events occurred one month after clergy drew national attention for challenging the Washington, D.C., establishment. This same month also saw a sudden exodus of witchcraft with two out of the three area psychic stores closing. Legislative efforts to attack religious freedoms were also averted. And despite an infant mortality rate nearly twice the national average, no cases of premature infant deaths were recorded. Last but not least, the clergy’s milestone moment saw no traffic fatalities during the same summer vacation month.

According to the ancient promises described in Deuteronomy 28, simple obedience by pastors became a pivot point to set these wheels of blessing in motion; one act of faith can change a nation.

GREAT EARTHQUAKES PROPHESIED

“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood. . .  The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” (Rev 6:12, 14)

“Then there were flashes of lightning, roaring, and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake—an earthquake unequalled since humanity has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.” (Rev 16:18)

Strange waves rippled around the world, and nobody knows why

Instruments picked up the seismic waves more than 10,000 miles away—but bizarrely, nobody felt them.

On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a mysterious rumble rolled around the world.

Image result for picture of Island of Mayotte

The seismic waves began roughly 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte, a French island sandwiched between Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. The waves buzzed across Africa, ringing sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/11/strange-earthquake-waves-rippled-around-world-earth-geology/

People mock Christians who take the judgements in the Book of Revelation in a literal fashion, claiming it is all “symbolic” and out of the realm of possibility and will not correspond to a future, historical reality.

And yet just recently we received a foretaste of what will become a devastating global earthquake. There was a global earthquake on a small scale that happened on Nov 11, where it even slightly “moved” some islands. The notion of global earthquakes, islands moving, and other global catastrophes can no longer be denied as out of the realm of possibility. God’s word says it will happen in the not too distant future.

IS GENESIS HISTORY? YES IT IS.

Catastrophism not uniformitarianism formed most of the geologic features we see in the world today including the formation of coal. Evidence from the volcanic eruption of Mt St. Helens demonstrates Noah’s Flood is a good explanation for the geologic record.

Is Genesis History provides valuable resources for defending the Bible’s history. This short video will give you an overview of what to expect. Be blessed.

REMINDER THAT NOAH’S FLOOD WAS A REAL EVENT

“This is a copy of God’s ship. It only makes sense to take it to God’s land,” said boat builder Johan Huibers.

Dutch Christian businessman who built a life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark has announced he hopes to sail the 95-foot-wide, 410-foot-long, and 75-foot-tall vessel to Israel.

Dutch Noah's Ark

God told us ahead of time that in the “last days” the world would no longer believe He destroyed the world but for the eight people and the animals on board Noah’s ark.

“Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they wilfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3-7

Johan Huiber’s accurate dimension replica of Noah’s Ark is a great witness at this time to the past and future world wide judgements of God. We are without excuse.

3 POWERFUL GOSPEL TRUTHS FOR ADDRESSING HOMOSEXUALITY

Great teaching by Jeremy Lelek, Association of Biblical Counsellors particularly number 3.

The Redeeming Hope of the Gospel

1. The Gospel and Christian Life are about God

When I counsel those struggling with homosexual attraction, one of the first things I want them to do is trust God. Now, when I use the word struggle, I am referring to a person who has not accepted homosexuality as being morally right, but who daily fights against these desires wishing they didn’t exist in the first place. By the time such individuals reach my office, they have promised themselves 100’s of times that they will never lust after the same sex again or look at homosexual pornography again or engage in other homosexual activities again. Such promises are always broken, leaving them in a cycle of shame and condemnation. Since they are unable to completely eliminate their sin, they often turn from God.

It is not unusual for me to tell such a person, “It is time to gaze upon God’s faithfulness not your own.” Jesus knows the burden of sexual temptation, and He has profound sympathy for anyone whose hearts are captured by this issue (Heb. 2:17–18; 4:14–15). He is also committed to saving and transforming His own so that they reflect children of glory (Rom. 8:28-29; 1 Thess. 4:3).

Does this mean that He has promised to remove all sexual affections or any sexual affection completely? No. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that there is a war raging in our hearts that will not rest until we see Him face to face (Gal. 5:16–17). What God promises is His presence and faithfulness (Heb. 13:5). His presence to hold His children through any storm in life until the day of resurrection (John 6:37–40). He promises the Holy Spirit as our Helper to empower us to walk wisely and resist sin (John 14:16–17). He promises His faithfulness to not allow anything to separate us from His love (Rom. 8:37–39). He assures us of His faithfulness to complete His work of redemption in our lives (Phil. 1:6). Very often it is in the presence, not the absence, of our sinful struggles that God magnifies the beauty and value of His faithfulness. The struggle is often an occasion for rich abiding worship.

2. The Redeeming Work of the Gospel Enables Us to Hear and Obey God

When Paul is addressing the Corinthians regarding sexual sin, he doesn’t tell them that if they just believe, God will remove all their ungodly sexual temptation. Instead, he assumes the possible presence of such temptations and writes things like, “Flee sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18a) and “… for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20).

When the author of Proverbs is counselling his son, he doesn’t treat him as though he will not wrestle with sexual temptation, but offers wisdom when such imminent temptation arises. Concerning the adulteress, he warns, “Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house” (Prov. 5:8), “Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes” (Prov. 6:25), “Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray onto her paths” (Prov. 7:25).

The inference of both Paul and the author of Proverbs is that sexual temptation is a possibility, and the way to combat such longings are fleeing, resisting, and living to the glory of God. The ability to walk by faith comes through the hearing of the Gospel (Rom. 10:17) and the supernatural awaking of our hearts to want God and His ways (Eph. 2:4–8). Upon such awakening, Jesus works in us (over a lifetime, moment by moment) to create in us hearts that are zealous to do what is good and holy (Titus 2:11–14). He saves us then progressively enables us to glorify him in our lives and bodies through obedience. Healing may not be universally characterised as the complete elimination of sexual temptation from the human heart, but by hearts that are transformed and empowered by His grace to obey (from the New Self) when sexual temptation seeks to grip us (from remnants of the Old Self) (Eph. 4:22–24).

3. Hope in Symptom Eradication Minimises the Pervasive Reality of Sin and our Desperate Need for Jesus, Our Redeemer

Some people hold to the idea that homosexual or heterosexual temptations are only sins if they are acted upon. If the attraction is there, but you resist acting upon it, then you’re good to go. I think this conceptualisation minimises our Gospel need and refutes the teachings of Jesus who said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27–28).

Jesus was speaking to people who had developed elaborate systems of “holiness” that gauged their sense of goodness and righteousness before God. Many of them likely exuded a great deal of pride, considering themselves good men because they had never given their bodies over to the act of adultery. Jesus obliterated their paradigm, however. He knew that every man standing in front of Him was guilty of this sin. In some ways, it seems as though he was setting up the despair of their situation, thereby ushering in the only hope for their dilemma—Himself. If sin was more than a behavioural issue, but was ultimately an inner issue of the heart, then they were all doomed (Matt. 15:17–20). That is, unless their righteousness could be found elsewhere.

As Christians who wrestle with either heterosexual or homosexual lusts, we must hate such sins, but not be threatened by their presence. If my hope resides in the absence of sinful thoughts and desires, then I am going to have to resign myself to a life of hopelessness. But if my hope resides in the righteousness of Another when such lusts present themselves in my heart, then there is reason for genuine hope. I can rest in the wonderful words of the author of Hebrews as the basis to fight my sins:

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’ then he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb. 10:12–18).

In the end, our situation is far worse than we realise.  Even if therapy helps remove sexual temptation, we are still condemned—that is, unless we place our faith in the One who made this single sacrifice for all our sins. At that point, upon placing faith in Jesus, our situation becomes far better than we could ever imagine. Our sins remind us of our desperation and propels us towards a God of infinite love, faithfulness, and mercy. It thrusts us into the magnificent glories of the Gospel.

May we not shrink our hopes to the small goals of the temporal removal of sin, but may our hopes rejoice in the eternal removal of all our sins (past, present, and future) because of a God who loves us more than our feeble minds can fathom.

DECONSTRUCTING DARWINISM: A THEORY GONE BAD, A WORLD GONE MAD

The author of the book Charles Darwin : Victorian myth-maker, A.N.Wilson was former professor of medieval literature at Oxford University and a highly acclaimed biographer.

Wilson was a Darwin believer when he started research for his book. His conclusions were unexpected, both to others and most surprisingly, to him. What may have begun the firestorm against his book was Wilson’s prelude, in which he said,

Darwin was wrong. That was the unlooked for conclusion to which I was inexorably led while writing this book

Charles Darwin : Victorian Mythmaker - A N Wilson

He added that this conclusion “certainly was not my intention when I began detailed reading for this book”. But the result of his historic research was “to part company from the mainstream of scientific opinion which still claims to believe, the central contentions of Darwin’s famous book, On the Origin of the Species.

Wilson’s conclusion was based on the fact that “there is no consensus among scientists about the theory of evolution”, even the central parts of the theory. He added that until he began his research he had assumed “scientific opinion accepted the truth of Darwin’s central theories, and that objections to it were motivated not by scientific doubts but…. most likely religious ones”

He then illustrates this contention by quoting the leading evolutionary scientists, including Harvard’s E.O. Wilson and Oxford’s Richard Dawkins. One familiar with the field will recognise most of the heated evolution controversies which Wilson accurately relates.

A major problem Darwin had which is still true of Darwinism today was coming up with evidence for his view that nature changes little by little. If this was true , all life would be ” in a state of infinitely slow evolution into something else”, and as Darwin taught, taxonomy classification would only be temporary – a condition the fossil record simply does not support. This problem is why some leading evolutionists argued for punctuated equilibrium, in which life forms, in geological terms , change rapidly while at other times they are in a state of stasis.

Wilson documents that the discovery of the laws of genetics were “lethal to Darwinism”. The reason it was a lethal nail in the coffin for Darwin was the problem that Mendelism created for Darwin’s gradualism. We now know that because nearly all mutations are near neutral or lethal, and variation is not unlimited as Darwin proposed his theory is without foundation.

Wilson also documents that Darwinism has become a religion. Evolution is the doorway to atheism. It was spoken of as a faith, and those that rejected the view that the origin of humans was purely natural, including the co-founder of the theory, Alfred Russel Wallace and St George Mivart were excommunicated from the tribe, the loyal circle of Darwin supporters.

Regardless, there is no doubt that it is Darwin, more than any other man, that persuaded much of the academic world that “special creation” was wrong and ‘evolution’ was right. Furthermore, “Darwinism as is shown by the current state of the debate, is resistant to argument because it is resistant to fact”.