CHURCH AS GOD INTENDED IT TO BE

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Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, was drawing around 5,000 people and growing in 2010. But Francis Chan felt the megachurch he founded was not as God intended it to be.

Francis Chan, a bestselling author who heads We Are Church, speaks at the Facebook headquarters in California, June 22, 2017.

“I got frustrated at a point, just biblically, Chan said. “According to the Bible, every single person in the church has a supernatural gift that’s meant to be used for the body. And I’m like 5,000 people show up every week to hear my gift, see my gift. That’s a lot of waste. Then I started thinking how much does it cost to run this thing? Millions of dollars!”

“So I’m wasting the human resource of these people that according to Scripture have a miraculous gift that they could contribute to the body but they’re just sitting there quietly. … [T]hey just sit there and listen to me.”

Moreover, he felt the church wasn’t following God’s command to love one another — attendees would simply greet each other for 30 seconds and mainly hang out in cliques once a week.

“I was like, ‘God, you wanted a church that was known for their love. You wanted a group of people where everyone was expressing their gifts. … We’re a body. I’m one member, maybe I’m the mouth. But if the mouth is the only thing that’s working and … I’m trying to drag the rest of the body along, chewing on the carpet …”

His decision in 2010 to leave Cornerstone — which he started in his living room — came as a shock to many, including fellow evangelical pastors. In his announcement to the congregation at that time, he said he had been feeling a restlessness and stirring to let go of the megachurch and take on a new adventure.

He also indicated that he was wary of being “comfortable.”

In his talk at Facebook last week, he offered more details about why he made that decision to leave, including a desire to get away from the pride he began to feel as his book, Crazy Love, became a bestseller and as he became a popular sought-after speaker.

“I freaked out during that time in my life,” Chan recalled. “The pride … [going to] a conference and seeing my face on a magazine … and hearing whispers … and walking in the room and actually liking it.”

At one point, Chan felt convicted and realized he became everything he didn’t want to be. “Everything you (God) said you hated, that’s me right now,” he realized. “I gotta get out of here. I’m losing my soul.”

Chan stressed to the Facebook group that God hates pride and that one can easily lose humility.

Today, Chan leads a house church movement in San Francisco called We Are Church. There are currently 14 to 15 house churches, he said, and 30 pastors (two pastors per church) — all of whom do it for free. Each church is designed to be small so it’s more like family where members can actually get to know one another, love one another and make use of their gifts.

“We’ve got a few hundred people now and it costs nothing,” Chan explained. “And everyone’s growing and everyone’s having to read this book (Bible) for themselves and people actually caring for one another. I don’t even preach. They just meet in their homes, they study, they pray, they care for one another. They’re becoming the church and I’m just loving it and realising that these 30 guys [are] leading this and the women as well.”

The people who join include “guys coming off the streets, out of prison to doctors and people that work here (Facebook) or Google,” he said.

He’s hoping to double the number of house churches every year so that in 10 years, there would be 1.2 million people in We Are Church. And, he reiterated, it’s all free.

How would he compare the megachurch he once led to the current house church movement?

“This one guy put it like this: It’s like being adopted rather than being in an orphanage,” Chan said. “Church the way I was doing was like an orphanage. Here’s just a bunch of kids with one leader. And rather than saying ‘No, you know what, we’re going to put you in a home and these guys are going to actually know you and love you and care for you.’

“It’s just like family.”

Recalling a sober moment he had while at Cornerstone Church, Chan said he baptized a kid from a gang but that kid later left though he was quite involved in the church.

“One of my friends asked him, ‘Hey, how come you’re not at Cornerstone anymore?’ He said ‘I didn’t understand church. When I was baptised, I thought that was going to be being jumped into the gang where it’s like 24/7 they’re my family, because I didn’t know it was just somewhere we attend on Sundays.”

When Chan heard that, he said it made him sick.

“That makes me so sick that the gangs are a better picture of family than the church of Jesus Christ. I can’t live with that. … We’re going to do something different.”

While Chan said he loves what he’s doing now, he admitted that it wasn’t easy and that his former gig at the megachurch was easier in some aspects.

“Some days I think it was a lot easier when I could just preach, go back and drive off in my car and leave all of them like I will today,” he said to laughter among the Facebook employees. “I don’t have to care for your issues, you know? … I’ll never see you again.

“This is easy. But you have this circle here and you’re in each other’s lives and no offence, it’s not this Facebook — I can just put up what I want about myself. That’s kind of like the way church was. It’s like let me just show you this one side on Sunday morning and let me just show you the best pictures of me and my greatest accomplishments.

“But when it’s family, it gets messy. And you start finding out people’s dirt. Just like you know about your brother and sister every Thanksgiving. It’s messy because it’s family. That’s what Christ wanted. And so we fight for it. And it’s been a blast.”

As for what he does with all the money he earns through his bestselling books, Chan said he gives it all away.

He had prayed to God years ago, saying he was frustrated with the rich people in church who only give 5 to 10 percent of their money to church while living off millions. He prayed that God would either raise up a new generation of rich people who would actually live for eternity and give all their money away or make him rich.

“I’ll give it all away to show that you’re better than all of that,” Chan remembered praying. So when he surprisingly made a million dollars the next year through his book and continued to make more over the following years, he signed it all over to a charitable gift fund “so that I can’t even touch it. I can’t even buy lunch with the money … I can only give to charity.

“It’s been the best thing. Now I spend my days going and looking where are the needs around the world and how can I contribute to it?”

 

WHAT WILL THE CHURCH LOOK LIKE IN THE LAST DAYS?

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Considering the following Hillsong video, what does it say about the state of the church in these last days, surely this video demonstrates we are witnessing the precursor to the prophesied great falling away in the church as persecution increases.

In this video “Vigilant Christian” gives a warning of a very possible Trojan horse deception! (wolf in sheep’s clothing). The warning is about Hillsong because of their starry night Christmas special! The performance was done Hollywood style, worldly, sensual and of the flesh! Please pray for God to give you discernment on this issue! God Bless, STAY VIGILANT & FEAR NO EVIL !!!

 

JESUS CHRIST’S SECOND COMING

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The Lord’s second coming (parousia) will be a comprehensive-complex whole. In other words, it will not be a simple, instantaneous event as the rapture will be. Instead it will span various events that will fulfil divine purposes.

Image result for pictures of jesus rapture

We can illustrate this by looking at Jesus’ first coming. When we think of this event, we do not think exclusively of his birth. His birth was his arrival, but his subsequent presence included his upbringing, teaching ministry, miracles, discipleship, death, burial, and resurrection. It was a complex whole that God used to fulfil his purposes. Similarly, the second coming will begin with Jesus’ arrival in the clouds to resurrect the dead and rapture them along with believers who are alive at that time (1 Thess. 4:13–18). The biblical writers often emphasised the arrival aspect of the parousia because they wanted to induce godly living in their listeners. But it would be a mistake to think they viewed it as limited only to Jesus’ glorious appearing in the sky to resurrect the dead and rapture all believers. This is because his subsequent presence (parousia) will encompass major events such as the day of the Lord’s wrath, bringing the remnant of Israel to salvation, and reclaiming his earthly regal-rule, which will extend into the millennium. In short, Christ’s parousia will be realised in his delivery of God’s people, judgement upon the wicked, and reign over the world.

What are key passages that you believe best represent your Prewrath position for the rapture?

I think the strongest passage is 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul reassures the trepidation of the Thessalonian believers that they are not experiencing the day of the Lord’s wrath. Paul explains that they are not experiencing the day of the Lord’s wrath because two discernible events must happen first—the revelation of Antichrist and the apostasy. Since they have not happened, Paul argues, the day of the Lord has not materialised.

I also see Jesus’ Olivet Discourse as a key passage that supports the pre-wrath position. It depicts all the key elements: the Antichrist’s great tribulation, cutting short of the great tribulation, celestial disturbances, Son of Man’s return to the clouds, rescue of God’s people, and the impending wrath of God.

I would argue, as well, from the book of Daniel and Revelation, but the former two passages, in my view, form a strong case for the pre-wrath position.

What role does Daniel 9 have in your understanding of the timing of the rapture?

I do not see Daniel 9 informing a particular eschatological sequence vis-à-vis the rapture question (but I do in Daniel 11:36–12:4). There are at least two points that Daniel 9 informs us on: (1) There will be a future seven-year period during which time key events will unfold, and (2) the fulfillment of the salvation of Israel will happen when the seven-year period is complete.

Alan Kurschner is director of Eschatos Ministries, which is dedicated to teaching biblical prophecy from a futurist, premillennial, prewrath perspective. www.AlanKurschner.com.

SALVO’S UNDERSTAND CHURCH UNITY ESSENTIAL TO IMPACT COMMUNITY FOR CHRIST

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Listen to Miriam Gluyas, the Divisional Commander for Salvation Army, NSW & ACT talk about the value of UNITY that was expressed by all those attending the recent National Gathering sponsored by One Heart Australia.

Join a prayer network in your region that is praying for revival and the churches in your area.

TURKEY INVESTS MILLIONS TO RETURN MUSLIM CONTROL OVER JERUSALEM

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Is Turkey hoping for a return of the Ottoman Empire to Jerusalem?

It would fit with Bible prophecy of a revived Ottoman Empire in the “last days”. In Daniel 11:40, the Antichrist, as the last days Antiochus IV Epiphanes, is also referred to as the King of the North who will rule over a last-days version of the Seleucid Empire (revived Ottoman Empire). In verse 41, we are then told he invades the Glorious Land – Israel.

World events are consistent with a Muslim Antichrist – the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule prior to the Day of Judgement

Turkey invests millions to return Muslim control over Jerusalem

Turkey is reportedly positioning itself as a Muslim power in Jerusalem by investing millions of dollars in the Old City and the Temple Mount.

According to an investigative report, due to be published in full in the coming weekend edition of Israel Hayom, the Turkish government-funded Cooperation and Coordination Agency, also known as TIKA, has invested millions of dollars into 63 different projects “defending and strengthening the Muslim heritage and character of Jerusalem” since 2004.

Turkey has teamed up with Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which was outlawed in November 2015, as well as with former Jerusalem mufti Sheikh Akram Sabri.  Both are opposed to Israel’s existence.

Among other activities, TIKA has invested resources in restoring the Ottoman Muslim archives on the Temple Mount, renovated the Muslim cemetery adjacent to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, and been involved in numerous community-related work throughout the eastern sections of Israel’s capital.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has consistently supported TIKA’s work and condemned Israel’s control of Jerusalem, which he labels “an insult.”

Last month, in a speech at the International Al-Quds Forum in Istanbul, Erdogan urged Muslims to make frequent visits to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount, in order “to protect the Muslim identity” of the site, the Turkish daily Sabah reported.

“As a Muslim community, we need to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque often; each day that Jerusalem is under occupation is an insult to us,” he was quoted as saying.

While Turkey is enhancing its position in Jerusalem, the influence of Jordan, the traditional custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim sites, appears to be declining.

Visitors to Jerusalem’s Old City can easily notice the increased Turkish presence through the numerous Turkish national flags on display. In addition, Turkish culture and cuisine are becoming more popular in the area. Turkey’s government also covered some of the expenses for the new golden crescent atop the Dome of the Rock a few years ago.

 

ISLAM’S LINK TO ALL THE ANCIENT PAGAN RELIGIONS

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Paul clearly tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that we don’t fight against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers , against the rulers of the darkness of this age. Therefore, we know that principalities and powers in the heavens control events here on earth. We can therefore expect that all the so called god’s in history are deceptions of Satan himself. The following presentation shows the underlying links between the God’s of earlier civilisations and the religion of Islam. It also clearly shows that we are in the Biblical prophesied “last days” and reveals the identity of Mystery Babylon – Mecca.

ARE WE WATCHING EZEKIEL 36:24 COME TO PASS?

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A group of Ethiopian Falash Mura arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday, the first group in a new wave of aliyah (immigration to Israel).

“I will gather you from foreign nations and bring you home.” Ezekiel 36:24

“Behold, I the Lord will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth.” Jeremiah 31:8

The 72 new Jewish immigrants arrived in the Jewish state as part of a collaborative effort between the Jewish Agency for Israel and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ).

 

More than 200 families and supporters greeted the new immigrants at the airport.

Another three immigrant flights from Ethiopia are expected to arrive in Israel this month.

Tuesday night’s flight marked the first group of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia to arrive in Israel since the Israeli government approved and renewed the Ethiopian Aliyah program in October 2016.

ICEJ, a Christian Zionist global ministry, sponsored the latest Ethiopian immigration wave to Israel and has worked to raise funds for the first year of the reintroduced Ethiopian Aliyah program, which will bring 1,400 new immigrants to the Jewish state.

Falash Mura is the name given to those of the Beta Israel community in Ethiopia and Eritrea who converted to Christianity under pressure from the Christian Mission during the 19th and 20th centuries. The establishment of the Jewish state and the waves of aliyah from Ethiopia have brought them back to their roots and heritage.

In 2003, the Israeli government applied Resolution 2958 to the Falash Mura, which grants maternal descendants of Jews the right to immigrate to Israel under the Israeli Law of Return and to obtain citizenship if they convert to Judaism.

Some 9,000 Jews still reside in Ethiopia and are waiting Israeli government approval to make aliyah.

Also Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and his wife to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

“The Ethiopian community, Mr. Prime Minister, is a human bridge between our two nations,” Netanyahu said. 

This article originally appeared at unitedwithisrael.org.

BY GOD’S GRACE WE ARE SAVED BY FAITH

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Another great message from Torben, much needed in these “last days”. Bereans can see the prophesied great falling away occurring in the church. A church that no longer believes in the TRUTH of GOD’S WORD.

DAYS OF LOT: TRANS-MAN EXPECTING FIRST CHILD

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This is another end times sign. When Jesus was asked by His disciples what it would it be like at His second coming, Jesus said it would be like the days of Lot. This is just one of the signs; a great falling away in His church (apostasy) would be another. Church denomination after another has capitulated with gay marriage and homosexual leaders in the church. Where does your church stand on the inerrancy of Scripture?

Trystan Reese is a trans man who is expecting a baby with his partner of seven years, Biff Chaplow.

Trystan Reese is a trans man who is expecting a baby with his partner of seven years, Biff Chaplow.

Reese, who was assigned the female gender at birth and says he kept his “original parts,” adds that he never wanted to change his body.
“I think my body is awesome. I feel like it’s a gift to have been born with the body that I did, and I made the necessary changes so that I could keep living in it, both through hormones and through other body modifications,” he shared in a video posted to the couple’s Facebook page.
Reece is a female with all the right parts to have a child, moreover he thinks his body is awesome so why he would choose to take male hormones to take on the appearance of a male? It is odd, and from a Christian perspective not honouring to the God who made her and very confusing to the children they raise.

WHO WON”T INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

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Paul wrote: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10, emphasis mine).

I’ve read that passage many times, but the word “revilers” jumped off the page. The Greek word, loidoros, means “one who reviles; one who speaks profanely or rails at abusively.” It refers to irreverent speech that is hurtful and crudely disrespectful. The verb “rail” can also mean “to complain loudly and bitterly,” and it implies that the criticism contains nasty rumours or untruths.

Whether you listen to news broadcasts, talk radio or political commentary or read online forums or Facebook comments, it is common place now to hear/see hurtful and crudely disrespectful speech. Revilers can’t just disagree politely. They have to shout, and they have to lace their comments with vicious attacks and malicious jabs. Revilers also feel a need to drop F-bombs and use vulgar language in every sentence to make sure their words are as vile and hateful as possible.

Revilers have no respect for people in positions of leadership, either. Whether they are talking about a president, the CEO of a company, a college president, an athlete or a stay-at-home mother, revilers pounce on their prey and skewer their victims with abusive words that have been dipped in the acid of hate.

Comedian Kathy Griffin watches as her attorney Lisa Bloom (L) speaks at a news conference in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, June 2, 2017. (Reuters/Ringo Chiu)

Kathy Griffin is one of only three women who’ve won a Grammy for best comedy album. Her profanity-laced stand-up comedy routines made her a hit on HBO, and she was voted one of the funniest women alive by the Oxygen network a few years ago. Her popularity soared in recent years because of the way she irreverently pokes fun at politicians and celebrities.

But few people were laughing last week when Griffin posted images of herself holding a model of President Trump’s head dripping with fake blood.

Even though Griffin apologised for her botched attempt at political humour, saying, “I beg your forgiveness,” venues around the nation quickly cancelled her scheduled appearances.

As could be expected, within a few days, she declared that she was the victim and blamed the Trump family for trying to destroy her career.