‘Overdoing It’ All the Way to Hell

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Carnival Rio

by Bill Bonner in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Best selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder of Agora Publishing, one of the world’s most successful consumer newsletter companies. Today’s article  in Daily Reckoning says a lot about where the world is heading.

Buttocks must be subject to the same law of declining marginal utility as everything else, we concluded, just after midnight. There must have been 10,000 of them, sweating, shaking, quivering, and vibrating in the Sambadrome last night.

The costumes were over-the-top, unrestrained, immodest as you might imagine. The idea seemed to be to put on as many sequins and as many feathers as possible. Then, amid the gaud and glitz of the get-up, typically, the rear end was left open, to reveal the shimmering cheeks.

As we made our way to the Sambadrome, we began to suspect that this was not going to be just like any other night out. Crowds filled the streets and pavements all over town. One young man was retching on the curb. A young woman had passed out; her friends were slapping her to try to get her back to consciousness. A little further, another man was being loaded onto a stretcher, ailment unknown. And on a back street outside the stadium, two women had gotten into a fight, cause likewise unknown.

Carnival in Rio: the whole city has let its hair down.

We were in the elite section of the Sambadrome. Our fellow spectators looked a bit like the crowd you’d find at one of Baltimore’s slick eateries in Cambden; young, professional, good looking. The men looked like they might be stockbrokers during the week. The women might have been models. Sleek, attractive… some trophies, many still competing.

Scarcely had we arrived when the music began. We missed the bombing of Dresden and the collapse of the World Trade Centers, but it’s hard to imagine that the decibel level was much higher.

Meanwhile, waiters circulated with trays of drinks. They were determined to give you one, whether you wanted it or not. The idea seemed to be to increase the noise and inebriation level throughout the night; no one should wake the next day without thinking he had a good time the night before. Everyone would have the pounding head to prove it!

The music was so loud our ear drums almost popped. The drummers pounded out an unrelenting rhythm without missing a beat or granting a moment of tranquillity. One after the other they came in groups of 50…100…10,000…

The parade took a long time to reach us. And then…wowee!

Baffling, outrageous and over-the-top, maybe Carnival isn’t as far from finance as I thought.

Readers are still puzzled — as we are — by how the modern money system works and what it means. One reader managed to put his finger on it:

‘So let me see if I understand this! First the feds removed any real-money restrictions on their spending by voiding the convertibility of dollars to gold AND now they have removed any free market restrictions on spending (and selling debt) through an insidious process of selling their debt to themselves. They have shifted the paradigm without telling anyone. I guess their message is: if you can’t figure it out for yourself that’s too bad?’

Yes, that’s right. There is no longer any obvious, effective limit on the amount of ‘money’ the central bank can create or ‘lend’ to the government.

We put those key words in quotation marks, simply to indicate that it would take whole volumes to understand what they actually mean.

There, of course, is the problem. The system is so novel and so nuanced that nobody really knows what is going on, least of all the people who claim they have it under control.

Yes, it’s a funny old world. Among the funniest things about it, circa 2015, is that the smarter you are, the harder it is to understand our money system. Martin Wolf, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Larry Summers — ‘brilliant’ men, we are told, every one of them — don’t have a clue. They are victims of their own brainpower, confident that they can figure it out as they go along, adjusting monetary policy to the needs of the moment.

Is that the way it works, dear reader? Can you just make it up as you go along, reacting first to one event, then to another?

We don’t think so. What happens is that one conceit leads to another. You are like Napoleon on his way to Moscow, Gideon Gono on his way to hyperinflation, or a wayward husband on his way to a noonday tryst. One decision seems pardonable, under the circumstances. Then, the circumstances trap you. You would prefer that it were different. You’d like to back up. You’d like to take a different course. But it is too late. ‘Under the circumstances’ you do what you have to do. Then, finally, you find yourself in Hell. You’ve overdone it.

Bill’s report shows a world out of control. A world that has rejected God and His rule. A world under judgment.

 

Shemitah reveals last days secrets

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Rabbi Jonathan Cahn explains the Shemitah is the countdown of everything.

Israel has always been proof that God exists and it has been center stage during most of human history usually under intense persecution.

Jonathan is the prophet to the gentiles in this generation.

This is just one of his videos on You Tube you should make the time to view others or get his book/audio “The Mystery of the Shemitah”.

Another Insurmountable Problem for Evolution

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Dr Ken Funk

Dr Ken Funk attended Moody Bible Institute and graduated from Houghton College (New York State) as a chemistry major, zoology minor and then from Case-Western Reserve University, Ohio with both masters and doctorate degrees in organic chemistry. He is the owner of three patents and has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Ken says, “Evolutionists argue that given sufficient time proteins could form by chance. But, for a protein of just the minimum 100 amino acids (many are tens of thousands long), for all to be left-handed, and assuming that it did not matter which order they appeared in, it’s like flipping a coin 100 times and resulting in all heads. The number is astronomical.”

But in fact, the order is crucial at most positions in the chain, and for each position chance has to choose from 20 amino acids, which makes the problem stupendously greater. In all proteins, the order is crucial, some more than others. E.g. calmodulin, the ubiquitous calcium-binding protein, has almost all of its 140–150 amino acids ‘conserved’ (the same in all organisms). So if we generously (to the evolutionists) assume we have a pool of 20 left-handed amino acids, the chances of all 140 amino acids to be right is about one chance in 10182—like guessing a 182-digit PIN.8 And all one would have, even then, is a lonely protein, useless without all sorts of other proteins and other machinery of life.

 Chirality insurmountable problem for Evolution

Life requires what is known as an ‘optically pure’ supply of solely left-handed amino acids, whereas chemistry by itself, following the laws of chance, will always produce a racemic mixture. Moreover, all sugars in DNA and RNA must be ‘right-handed’, otherwise the vital informational double helix could not form.  

The problem of chirality remains to this day an unsolved problem to both chemists and biologists that undermines evolutionary biology’s path to any functional first protein, much less the appearance of a first cell.

Ken on the age of the earth.

Ken is frustrated that so many church leaders sit on the fence with regard to the age of the earth. He notes, “They don’t realize that the concept of millions of years totally undermines the credibility of Genesis, and thus the rest of Scripture and the Gospel, by putting eons of death and destruction before Adam and his Fall. It is especially sad that scientists who support biblical authority get so little support from today’s theologians.”

Extract of article on Dr Ken Funk in http://www.creation.com

 

 

THE GOSPEL: If not from GOD from whom?

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Jesus on Cross

 

I believe we can boldly assert that no man of all the myriads that have ever lived – let him be as wise as Solomon, the very best as Job, could have possibly invented from his own “thoughts” the GOSPEL.

Paul says as much in Galatians 1:11 “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.”

It was absolutely impossible for such a plan of salvation ever to be devised by man’s thoughts. It is utterly at variance with those thoughts. It is infinitely to intricate in all its marvelous adaptations to all the involved problems that have to be met , so that no careless, thoughtless one could ever have conceived it. He would cease to be careless. But that eliminates most of us, for indeed aren’t most of us careless? But could a proud man, let him be ever so thoughtful and intelligent, have invented it? I don’t think so, for it humbles him to nothing , telling him that he is ungodly and without strength and only as in heart confessing this can he be saved. He would have to cease being proud in order to have conceived it, to have been its author.

There only remains the poor is spirit, the confessed sinner. Could such have invented the idea that the Creator of all, glorious in holiness, that so high, so Holy a One should  give up His dearest Treasure to bear the sins of one like himself, so conscious as he is of his unworthiness? Would it be likely a humble mind to invent such a plan? He would cease to be humble to have invented it. In fact how blasphemously proud would such a person be!

Then I would suggest, it is proved that since no man – careless or thoughtful, proud or humble, bad or good – could have conceived it, it must have been a divine revelation, the result of God’s thoughts and not man’s.

“For My thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declared the Lord.”

 

What’s ahead for us all in 2015.

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Vern Gowdie of the “The Daily Reckoning” produced by Port Phillip Publishing (Financial News and Analysis Publications) wrote this article today “Its an Upside Down World”. He certainly tells it like it is and paints a bleak future, no a catastrophic future ahead.

Vern Gowdie The Daily Reckoning

‘A man secure in his faith need not fear the words of a blasphemer. A fanatic must hide from the truth wherever he suspects it.’  Author unknown

The US markets may have risen overnight but the world is very much poorer for the events that have occurred in Paris.

Slaying 12 people because they had the ‘temerity’ to express an opinion is barbaric. Freedom of expression and the sharing of opinions (whether you agree or disagree with them) is what gives rise to a richer society. One that is rich in knowledge, tolerance and ideas.

Using fear and intimidation to stifle the robust exchange of views has the capacity to make our society more insular. It is our hope that the brutal and cruel actions of a tiny minority do not succeed in this objective. Sadly, I think people will, at least in the near term, be more guarded in their views for fear of becoming the next victim.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims of this senseless atrocity. We stand with you and with the ideals of free expression— whatever that expression may be— that the journalists and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo fought and died for.

At The Daily Reckoning, we will not succumb to fear…and promise to continue bringing you our uncensored views, from business and finance to geopolitical events.

The opening quote, by the way, was sent to me by Bernd Struben, the DR’s Managing Editor. It’s from a newspaper cut-out his mother kept tacked to the family refrigerator when he was growing up. It makes you wish more people were secure in their faith. And it tells you the three cowardly terrorists in Paris are riddled with doubts about their own fanatical dogma.

Now let’s move on from these events to something closer to home.

Maybe I’ve become a grumpy old man, but the world makes less sense to me these days.

People pay good money and endure pain to permanently disfigure themselves by putting indelible ink all over their bodies. Then, some pay even more good money and endure even more pain to have the ink (partially) removed.

People with no other talent other than blatant self-promotion make millions from narcissism. What does it say about society that these people attract an audience?

People turn a baseball cap backwards, mumble into a microphone and get paid millions for pumping out (c)rap. Reality TV creates instant fame for the most obnoxious people.

Some people have no shame or manners for that matter, yet society puts them front and centre, on magazines, TV promos etc., and the crowd goes wild. What sort of message are we sending?

Political leaders who dare mention the concept of living within our means and paying down debt see their approval ratings plummet to a level that’s on a par with Ivan Milat.

I don’t get it.

The world is being dumbed down in oh-so-many ways. Experienced teachers are voicing concern over the watering down of curriculum content, not to mention the lack of respect and discipline from a growing percentage of the student body.

A dumb society makes dumb choices and accepts dumb decisions.

Perhaps this explains why the financial world no longer makes sense to me.

A 22 year old invents a virtual reality headset that enables people to play more realistic games and Facebook pays him US$2.8 billion for it. What’s the going rate for the cure for Alzheimer’s?

Twitter (a narcissist’s must-have) is valued at US$23 billion. I wouldn’t give you a hundred bucks for it. I’ve never used it and my life is none the poorer for not knowing what self-absorbed people are doing every minute of the day.

My grumpy old man rant could go on — Uber, Facebook, Alibaba. Sure these companies have a value, but not the stratospheric ones that are currently — and I stress, currently — applied to them.

This is the upside down, valueless society we currently — and again I stress, currently — live in.

There’s a scene in Remember the Titans where Gerry Bertier (the white captain of the football team) accuses Julius Campbell (one of the African American players) of having a bad attitude. Campbell replies, ‘Attitude reflects leadership, captain.’

And so it is with the attitude of today’s society.

For forty years, the Western world lived beyond its means, borrowing to fund a lifestyle we had not earned. The GFC was the moment when the natural order of the universe had had enough.

Instead of heeding this call, our leaders put on earmuffs, hummed loudly and continued on as if nothing had happen.

Were those responsible for bringing the financial system to its knees held accountable? Hell no, they were given trillions to recapitalise and go back to business as usual (and along the way pay the token billion or three in fines from the multi-billion dollar profits they’ve been making).

Politicians continue to think money grows on trees (and to a large degree, the central bankers confirm it) and go on making promises that in the longer term cannot be met.

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is the pin-up boy for spendthrift politicians. Abe-san knows no bounds on how to conjure up money to pay for mounting interest, welfare, health and energy costs. Given the lacklustre turnout at the recent Japanese elections, my guess is most Japanese realise they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. So what the heck? — let Abe write his name in the ‘Catastrophic Disasters’ chapter of the economic history books.

Then we come to the leadership of our central bankers. These folks have enough letters after their names that you’d think they’d know better. Unfortunately, none of those letters spell c-o-m-m-o-n s-e-n-s-e.

Central bankers, in their effort to keep in play an economic model well past it use-by date, have turned the world of asset values upside down. Economic growth derived from wanton, credit funded spending is not sustainable.

In our upside down investment world, Japanese 10-year bonds are paying a measly 0.3% while Japan’s inflation rate is averaging around 1.5%. The Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) ability to print an unlimited amount of yen to finance Abe’s grand plans has completely distorted the bond market. Is this phenomenon permanent or temporary?

Likewise, we see the US share markets (S&P 500 and Dow Jones) soar to record highs during the most anaemic economic recovery since WWII. The wind beneath the market’s wings has been the Fed’s provision of plenty of cheap dollars to Wall Street. This is why multi-billion dollar valuations can be placed on tech companies that offer questionable value to society.

The following extremes in long term valuation metrics indicate how far from the norm we have strayed.

Valuation metric Current Historical Mean Year historical Mean measured from Deviation from Mean
Shiller PE 10 27.2x 16.6x 1870 +64%
Market Cap/GDP (the Buffett Index) 123% 69% 1950 +78%
Tobin Q Ratio 1.14 0.68 1900 +68%

The average deviation from mean is 70%. This is in the seriously over-valued territory where only the rarest and most infamous of markets have ventured — 1929, 2000 and 2007.

We may currently live in an upside down world, but the laws of mathematics remain the same — reversion to the mean is tried and true. The euphoria of ’29, ’00, and ’08 was short lived; the stratospheric prices soon returned to earth with a resounding thud.

The dumbing down of society has enabled our political and financial leaders to carry out this fraud in broad daylight. Mainstream economists not only endorse but actually encourage these hare-brained stimulus strategies.

Far too many people have little idea what is actually going on. So long as they can continue to buy tattoos, watch reality TV, play mindless computer games and listen to (c)rap while enjoying free health coverage and collecting welfare then all is okay with the world and woe betide anyone who wants to turn the world right side up.

Well folks, a reversion to the mean is coming, and when it does, the world is going be far meaner to a lot of people.

My gut feeling is the corrective activity the universe has destined for us will be of such a magnitude that it will change society for generations to come.

And when it does, this grumpy old man will be a lot happier.

Gathering in China to embrace JESUS and HIS KINGDOM

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In these last days God has prepared the Chinese Church through their faithfulness and humility under persecution to lead the Church in this part of our end time journey. The Chinese Church has acknowledged God’s call to take the Gospel to the Nations on the three silk roads back to Jerusalem (Back to Jerusalem, Called to Complete the Great Commission by Three Chinese Church Leaders published UK 2003). Their freedom from fear of death, their humility and complete abandonment to the will of God is allowing the Lord to speedily bring them into unity with one another and alignment with His headship.

In His wisdom, God has positioned the Chinese in the natural realm, geographically close to India and the Arab Nations and to have favour among the Arabs as well as respect among the Jews. So the Chinese are able to go where the Western Church cannot. They are able to stretch their arms wide to embrace not only the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac, but also the Western Church, bringing the whole Body together into one family.

Hopefully this video will give you a glimpse of the passion the Chinese have for our Lord.

Extract from article by David Demian “The Road From Asia to Jerusalem”

What is ahead for Christians in 2015?

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2015 image 2

Does the Bible give us any clues from prophecy? Of course it does, and like never before, Biblical scholars are studying the prophecy sections in both the Old and New Testaments. What has stimulated this frenzy is of course what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa as Christians are facing unprecedented persecution.

The rise of ISIS and the atrocities (beheading) against Christians in a number of middle eastern countries draws us to the end times prophecy in Matthew 24:7-9  “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you (Christians) up to be afflicted and will kill you. And you will be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” ISIS gives Christians three choices: 1. Convert to Islam, 2. Remain a Christian and pay an exorbitant tax, 3. Remain a Christian and be beheaded. Option 2 is not a long term option.

It is also significant that Damascus and its demise is central focus of many old testament end time prophecies: Isaiah 17:1, Ezekiel 38 & 39, Amos 1:3-5. Some commentators refer to Syria’s involvement in the 1948, 1967 and 1973 wars as the three sins mentioned in Amos with a fourth still to come in the End Times. Jeremiah 49:23-27 also discusses Damascus downfall with similar language to Amos. Isn’t it interesting the West particularly America is trying to decide what role they should take in Syria as it continues into increasing chaos.

It was thought the overthrow of Morosi’s government in Egypt would help Christians but this has not happened. An outburst of violence against Christians by Morosi supporters in 2013 was not halted by the new government not wanting to offend the Islamists. Seventy four churches were burned or desecrated and a grand total of one person was arrested though ten’s of thousands of Islamists were involved.

The British author and journalist (Daily Telegraph & Prospect) concluded in his outstanding column on the fate of Christians in the Middle East with “The story is not of expansion followed by persecution but of persecution leading to elimination”.

It seems fanciful to see a world where Islam is ruling the nations unless of course the Bible’s prophesy of a one-world leader is true and that leader happens to be the 12th Imam (al Mahdi, the “Rightly Guided One”) that the Muslim world believes in and his appearance is imminent.  A recent survey amongst Muslims revealed 42% of them believe this Islamic superman will appear in their lifetime. When you read what Muslims believe al-Mahdi will achieve, you would think you are reading the Bible’s description of the Ant Christ. Dozens of books have been written about Mahdi by both Sunni and Shiite scholars and both believe he will come to prepare the world for Allah’s judgment. Jerusalem will even be the centre of Imam, al-Mahdi’s Islamic rule according to a hadith from Muhammad. If you want to read more about the similarities between the Bible’s Antichrist and al-Mahdi get the book by Ralph Stice, Arab Spring, Christian Winter: Islam Unleashed on the Church and the World (2014). Ralph says to keep your eye on Turkey (old Ottoman Empire). Joel Richardson’s DVD “The Return is Near” is another valuable resource.

I believe Jonathan Cahn in his best selling book and DVD “The Harbinger” has identified correctly the judgment God is meting out on America starting with 9/11. There is no sign of repentance and turning back to God in this nation. In fact, the opposite is true so more judgment is ahead. Jonathan expects September 13th, 2015 to be a significant day for more economic judgment as it marks the next Shemitah. The last Shemitah 9/29/2008 signaled the collapse of Wall Street – drop of 777 points (7%).

Of interest, I met Jonathan unexpectedly in a hotel in Jerusalem last month. It was no coincidence. I was there for the “Gathering” put on by Watchmen for the Nations. Three and half thousand Christians were meeting in Jerusalem to praise God and pray with and support the Jewish and Arab Christians in Israel. Jonathan had no knowledge of this event or of the group putting it on. I was God’s messenger to connect Jonathan with this group. What really astounded Jonathan was that more than half of the Christians at the Gathering were Chinese. It demonstrated what he knew to be true that just as the economic power has swung from the west to the east, Holy Spirit power has also swung from the west to the east.

Chinese Christians are carrying out God’s call to send evangelists on the three Silk Roads back to Jerusalem. They go as Jesus sent His disciples to spread the Gospel, no two pairs of shoes. It is happening. The book “Back to Jerusalem – Call to Complete the Great Commission” by Three Chinese Church Leaders is a must read to know what God is doing in these last days.

Russia is back in the news. If oil prices remain this low for much longer, the former Soviet Union will face recession. Last week the ruble fell 36% against the dollar. A desperate interest rate increase has reversed the trend for a time but it is known the oil price is below the production cost for the debt ridden state -owned Rosneft. Clearly Putin’s geopolitical ambitions were financed on $100 + oil, but with $60 oil, Russia is fighting to keep itself afloat. Desperate circumstances often bring desperate action.

Debt ridden European Union countries are in crisis. This quote by George Diez in Spiegel Online International says it all. “It is in the nature of this crisis that the longer it continues, the more confusing it gets. It becomes more difficult to follow its twists and turns and to see who is responsible for what. And the whole time, alternatives are disappearing before our very eyes.”

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa poses a catastrophic threat to the region, and could spread further reports The Economist.

As I write famine warnings are being sounded for South Sudan and Somalia.

The world is being shaken as never before and yet God is in control of world events. Jonathan Cahn’s “The Harbinger” reveals the truth that God is in control of world events. The stock market fell 777 points ( 7%) exactly 7 years to the day after 9/11.

The Bible is God’s HISTORY and it reveals how events are going to play out in the not too distant future. Put your trust in our loving heavenly Father and what He has provided for you through His son Jesus.

 

Biblical Genealogies are Trustworthy Historical Records

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genealogy

 

1 Chronicles 1 and Luke 3 take these genealogies to be completely historical. So theistic evolutionists who would relegate these genealogies to mythical status have to reckon not only with the plain teaching of the chronogenealogies, but how the rest of Scripture treats them as well.

Adam to Noah

The first genealogies we find in Genesis (in chapters 5 and 11) are called ‘chronogenealogies’ because the age of the father at the birth of the son are given. This allows us to know with a very high degree of accuracy (within a year) how much time passed during each generation. It also lets us know there is no gap between the names.

Shem to Abram

The most noticeable element of the genealogy is the steady decrease in lifespans. The antediluvians all seemed to live very long lives. But after the Flood, each generation lives shorter and shorter lives, until many children die before their longer-lived parents, and even before grandparents and beyond. By the time of Abraham, lifespans were only about twice what we experience in the modern-day world.

These genealogies are actually indications that Genesis intends to be taken as history, and not myth, because the chronology claims to set each person in a specific place in history. Many of the people in the genealogies are not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture, so their only purpose seems to be to link one important character with another (linking Noah back to Adam, for example). By the time Moses wrote Genesis, most of these names would not be otherwise significant to the Hebrews.

Matthew’s genealogy

The purpose of Matthew’s genealogy was to trace the legal line of rightful heirs to the throne of David. This of course included biological descent, but also some ‘adoptive’ relationships where a man had no descendant, or whose descendants were disqualified. Matthew’s genealogy used obvious ‘telescoping’ where less important people were omitted.

Matthew claims that his choice of names is significant because of the number of generations listed “So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ fourteen generations” (Matthew 1:17). The most plausible significance for this is because the numerical value of the letters in David’s name added up to 14. God is in total control of history. After all it is HIS story.

Luke’s genealogy

When we interpret the genealogies correctly, we see that they are trustworthy historical records.

Luke’s genealogy looks a lot more complete, and was probably the biological genealogy of Mary, so we see Jesus’ biological ancestry from David, and from Adam. We would expect that Luke would want to give us a complete chain to link Jesus biologically with David. But from Adam to David, he uses the Old Testament sources which indicates his confidence in them as Jesus had total confidence in them – Mt 5:18.

Luke’s genealogy is unusual in that it starts with Jesus and goes back to Adam—all the other genealogies go from father to son. This allows it to end with, “the son of Adam, the son of God.” This means that the genealogy starts and ends with a “son of God”, and nicely makes the theological point that Jesus is linked to all of humanity via common descent from Adam.

Trustworthy historical records

When we look at the biblical genealogies, we have to appreciate the purpose behind each of them, and that helps us to interpret them correctly. And when we interpret them correctly, we see that they are trustworthy historical records.

Extracted from article by Lita Costner “Are There Gaps in the Biblical Genealogies” http://www.creation.com

Over A Thousand People Came Together To Bring This Moving Christmas Hymn To Life

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I have already posted one Christmas video “Mary, Did You Know” by the group Pentatonix but when I saw this I just had to put it up. It even made the Guinness Book of Records. I hope you like it.

http://youtu.be/PrLoWt2tfqg

Billy Graham on the Authority of Scripture

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Billy-Graham

Doubt can be a severe problem and was something that both Billy Graham and Charles Templeton faced.

In the late 1940’s, Billy and Charles attended a conference in California where a number of young theologians including Charles were expressing their doubts about the authority of the Bible. They were good friends, both budding evangelists, and they discussed those doubts.

“Suddenly, I wondered if the Bible could be trusted completely,” Billy said in his book “Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador.

Those same doubts eventually caused Charles Templeton to say goodbye to God. It was the 20th century, anti-creationist, scientific community claiming the earth was millions of years old (and later billions of years) that influenced Charles Templeton, who later wrote the book Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith. Sadly, Templeton was not able to distinguish the difference between the observations of scientists and their opinions (scientists with ulterior motives).

In contrast, Billy immediately began to study the subject intensively turning to the Scriptures themselves for guidance. “The Apostle Paul,” Billy said, “wrote to Timothy saying, ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.’ Jesus himself said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away.’ I also thought of Christ’s own attitude, He loved the Scriptures, quoted from them constantly, and never once intimated that they might be false.”

Billy recalls the moment that changed him forever. “That night , I walked out in the moonlight, my heart heavy and burdened. I dropped to my knees and opened my Bible on a tree stump. If the issue was not settled soon, I knew I could not go on. ‘Oh God, I prayed, ‘there are many things in this book I do not understand. But God, I am going to accept this book as Your Word by faith. I’m going to allow my faith to go beyond my intellect and believe that this is Your inspired Word.’ From that moment on I have never doubted God’s Word. When I quote the Bible, I believe I am quoting the very Word of God and there’s power in it.

This all occurred one month before his very successful Los Angeles crusade which marked a decisive turning point in his ministry. The Los Angeles rally pushed him onto the national scene. A lifetime of ministry has followed and even in his 90’s Billy is still impacting the world for God.

The Bible is God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation and the Apostle John’s last words in the book of Revelation are warning enough to those that reject the authority of scripture.

“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22: 18,19