Death and Suffering – only credible HOPE

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Twin Towers attack

The only truly satisfying answer to the existence of death and suffering is found in God’s word. Pain, suffering and death are intruders into God’s creation and He has already provided a way out with the promise of eternal life.

The BIBLE tells of the creation of a once-good world, in which death and suffering are not “natural” at all, but are intruders. They occur because of humanity’s rebellion against its maker (Genesis 3).  But if fossils formed over millions of years, which so many Christians just blithely accept as “fact”, then that wipes out The Fall as an answer to evil, especially “natural evil”. The fossils show the existence of things like death, bloodshed and suffering. So if these were there millions of years ago, they must have been there before man and hence before sin. This is the rock against which old-age compromises inevitably founder. This is also the reason why the age of things is not some obscure academic debate that Christians can put in the “too-hard-for-now” basket. Because it strikes to the heart of the hugest questions of all in relation to the nature of God, sin, evil, death; questions at the very core of Christian belief (or reasons given for no belief, for that matter).

When we try, however inadequately, to see things from God’s viewpoint rather than our own, things become quite different. There is suddenly nothing unfair about the deaths of any one of us, no matter what the circumstances.

God is the sovereign Judge who is totally holy (1 John 1:5). It is impossible to overstate His utter abhorrence of even the slightest sin. He is our Creator, He establishes the rules for our existence. Just as He destroyed almost all of mankind with Noah’s Flood which incidentally buried the myriad of dead things found in rocks all over the world (fossils); we know from His Word that He will eventually wind up the history of this fallen world and there will be a new heaven and new earth.

“and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Thank goodness God is merciful and loving (2 Peter 3:9), and long-suffering. In the most profound display of mercy and grace imaginable, He stepped into our shoes as a man, JESUS CHRIST, God the Son. He came to suffer and die so that God’s righteous anger against sin could be appeased and the penalty paid for those who place their trust in Him and receive His free gift—forgiveness of their sin and admission into God’s family—by faith.

There are daily reminders of His Curse on all creation all around us. When they are punctuated by horrifically sad concentrated bursts such as recent disasters, we are doubly reminded of the awfulness of sin. Does knowing the answers to the “big picture” make us callous to suffering? Far from it: we are moved even more by compassion, just as the Lord Jesus was when He lived among us. Because of Jesus, Christians—those who take the Bible as the Word of God, and know Jesus Christ as the Creator incarnate—are at the forefront of digging into their pockets to help alleviate suffering.

“If (since) Christ is God and died for me, then nothing I can do in obedience to Him can ever be too much”.  paraphrase C.T.Studd.

For more information check out article by Dr Jonathan Sarfati, “Why would a loving God allow death and suffering?” on http://www.creation.com.

TIME: YOUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE

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On Time

Contrast this pivotal resource of life with others, such as energy and finances, and a sharp distinction becomes obvious. While these other assets fluctuate, time constantly diminishes. No matter what one possesses, no matter the financial resources at your disposal, time cannot be purchased or stockpiled. One cannot gain access to additional time; you merely have the amount given to you.

So, if time is the most precious resource life offers, the question then becomes how do we use it wisely?

    1. Spend time in prayer. For contemporary believers this seems to be one of the more taxing tasks the Christian life demands. For, prayer takes time, and time is short and the day is long but how else do you build a relationship with your Creator other than spend time in prayer and in HIS WORD. Moreover HE said, “And ALL THINGS, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you will receive” Matthew 21:22. If you want to be a person who changes the course of history, you will pray and seek God’s will for your life. He has a plan for your life don’t miss it.
    2. Invest in building relationships. This certainly has the potential to multiply time. Think of a Christian parent’s relationship with their child, and the ripple effect this relationship can have for decades, if not centuries of time and on numerous other relationships. Their actions will not only have the potential to impact society for good but above all can have eternal significance.

Peter Kreeft, a Christian philosopher, offers an important understanding of time and prayer. He notes, “We have time and prayer backwards. We think time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack of time.” This understanding of the relationship of time to prayer is not a pithy saying to be taken lightly, but biblical insight into the significance of both. For the One who listens to the prayer knows about multiplication.

Matthew chapter 14 speaks to the ability of Christ to multiply scarce resources in order to maximize their potential. Yet, consider if the child had never offered his five loves and two fish. Christ’s ability to multiply would, at least in this instance, never been engaged.

Succinctly put, life in modern society is belligerently backwards. Modern life is arranged around tasks and duties which consume a large portion of the time given us each day. This utilitarian view of time has riddled modern society, families, and individuals with discontent, loneliness, and want of purpose.

How now should we live?

Remember The Lord’s Prayer – “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Invest your time in building God’s Kingdom on earth and you also build treasure in heaven which has ETERNAL value and significance. Don’t waste your time on building your Kingdom on earth, it is fleeting and ultimately brings no peace or joy.

Time is precious and limited, yet of eternal value. What makes it so is how you use it and whom you give it to. Begin now to start living eternally.

DEMONIC POSSESSION is REAL & DEADLY

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robin williamsBrian Wilson Beach Boys

 

Robin Williams is interviewed by James Kaplan for the US Weekly, January, 1999, p. 53

“Yeah! Literally, it’s like possession ‑ all of a sudden you’re in, and because it’s in front of a live audience, you just get this energy that just starts going…But there’s also that thing ‑ it is possession. In the old days you’d be burned for it…But there is something empowering about it. I mean, it is a place where you are totally ‑ it is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where you really can become this other force. Maybe that’s why I don’t need to play evil characters [in movies], ’cause sometimes onstage you can cross that line and come back. Clubs are a weird kind of Petri dish environment. I mean, that’s where people can get as dark as they can in comedy ‑ in the name of comedy, be talking about outrageous stuff and somehow come out the other side. I mean, that’s one place where you really want to push it”

Robin Williams acknowledged that he had opened himself up to transformative demonic powers that aided him on stage. Without the aid of such demonic powers, it is likely that you would have never have heard of Robin Williams and many other celebrities.

Williams also recognized that these powers had manifested a very evil influence on stage and that there could be a hefty price to pay for their assistance. Williams told James Kaplan of US Weekly. This last statement answers the question as to why the demonic powers use entertainers. Their goal is to promote evil and darkness and increase mankind’s rebellion against God.

It was in Williams’ stand-up where he would go into his manic, stream-of-consciousness rants filled with vulgar language, perverse sexuality and the glorification of illicit drugs and drunkenness. Many people express shock after seeing Williams’ stand-up, not knowing his act was so perverse.

Brian Wilson, considered the musical genius of the Beach Boys, claimed that he had been harassed by several different demonic spirit entities that so tormented him that he was bed ridden for years.

Extract from Rolling Stone, August, 1988, p. 51-52

“Brian Wilson hears voices. They talk to him. They frighten him, distract him, confuse him…the voices are calling. His eyes roll toward the ceiling; they’ve gone blank. His brow is furrowed with thick worry lines. He is silent. Gone. He looks up, jerks his head back and forth for a few seconds, as if physically shaking away the voices”

Former Warner Brother Records President, Larry Waronker, claims to have met at least five different entities possessing Brian Wilson’s body.

Most people are blind to this diabolical pattern of celebrities giving themselves over to satanic power for fame and fortune, only to be exploited, used and abused, and then spit out after Satan is done with them.

The truth is that only the Lord Jesus Christ has the power and authority to deliver humans from satanic powers. The scriptures reveal that the demonic powers tremble before God’s mighty power (James 2:19). It is in Jesus’ name that believers have victory over the demonic realm. God’s Word declares:

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

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Dr Michael Guillen – do you believe every word in the Bible?

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michael-guillen

Yes I do, he says.  So who is Dr Michael Guillen?

He was born in East Los Angeles, earned his BS from UCLA and his MS and PhD from Cornell University in physics, mathematics and astronomy.

For eight years he was an award-winning physics instructor at Harvard University. For fourteen years he was the Emmy-award-winning science correspondent for ABC News, appearing regularly on Good Morning America, 20/20, Nightline, and World News Tonight.

Dr. Guillen is the host of The History Channel series, “Where Did It Come From?” and producer of the award-winning family movie, LITTLE RED WAGON. Among his popular speaking topics is the series “CRAZY! Because Life Is Not Logical.”

Have I read the Bible cover to cover? Yes, I have (as well as the sacred literature of other religions), more than once and in different translations. Do I understand every word of the Bible? No, I don’t but believe every word, yes I do.

As 1 Corinthians 13:12 points out, no one should expect to comprehend everything right here, right now:

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”

Having faith in something I don’t completely understand is not limited to my spiritual life; it’s also true of my relationship to science and rational thought. Science and logic cannot explain everything about the universe – especially since more than 90% of the cosmos is invisible to us – nevertheless, I believe in them so much I dedicated my career to their practice.

For me, science and rational thought are precisely why I abandoned the atheism I practiced during many years of my schooling. As part of my rigorous scientific training, my mind was broadened with respect to things I cannot see. I was urged to believe in black holes, parallel universes, dark energy, and a plethora of other modern scientific exotica based solely on clever theoretical imaginings and indirect, circumstantial evidence. So now, when I read the Bible, which invites me to believe in all kinds of seemingly unbelievable things, my reaction is informed by what I’ve learned as a theoretical physicist. I believe Shakespeare said it best when he penned that immortal line: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

It takes humility to admit that to seemingly intractable problems there are many possible solutions we haven’t thought of yet, and might never think of in this life. It takes humility to have faith in something of everlasting importance that you don’t completely understand yet and can’t possibly, given its infinite nature and our finite capacities. It takes humility, above all, not to jump to any conclusions about what isn’t possible in this glorious, mysterious universe of ours … and what is.

For more information, go to www.michaelguillen.com or get his book Can a Smart Person Believe in God?

ARABS SELF DESTRUCT: ENEMY NOT ISRAEL

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Abdulatif-Al-Mulhim-Correct_44Mosul destruction

Abdulateef  Al Mulhim, regular writer for ARAB NEWS poses important questions for the Arab World in a recent article. “I decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about a starving child in Yemen, a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria, the under developed Sinai in Egypt, car bombs in Iraq and the destroyed buildings in Libya. The photos and the reports were shown on the Al-Arabiya network, which is the most watched and respected news outlet in the Middle East. The common thing among all what I saw is that the destruction and the atrocities are not done by an outside enemy. The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries are done by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard the people of these countries.”

So, the question now is that who is the real enemy of the Arab world?

Since 1948 there have been three wars and many minor and major conflicts. “What has been the real cost of this Arab-Israeli hostility to the Arab people? What was the real cost of not recognizing Israel in 1948 and why didn’t the Arab states spend their assets on education, healthcare and basic infrastructures instead of wars?” The hardest question he says no Arab national wants to hear is whether Israel is the real enemy of the Arab world and its people? He states: “The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for the human lives and finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people. These dictators’ atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.”

Concerning the current conflict in Gaza, Hamas knows well that Israel will hit back and hit hard if attacked. So, if Hamas is capable of building a sophisticated network of tunnels why haven’t they built simple bomb shelters to protect their citizens? Is Hamas willing to sacrifice Palestinians, even their children to get more Arab and foreign financial aid?

Wake up call: Australian Muslims call for Caliphate

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Post on Caliph Lakemba to Gaza

People march in Sydney in protest over Israeli attacks on Gaza. Picture Toby Zerna Also a couple of hundred men marched past the Lakemba Hotel in Sydney, Australia a week ago chanting their support for Gaza and with it a threat. Here is what they shouted while waving black flags of Jihad Palestine is Muslim land

The solution is Jihad …

You can never stop Islam From Australia to al Sham (Syria)

One umma (Muslim community) hand in hand From Lakemba to Gaza

One call “khalifa” (Caliphate) – (read my previous post)

Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun tells it as it is : That chant is a wake-up for a political class now too cowed or craven to judge between the civilized and the primitive. Our cultural and political institutions have also surrendered our values, or made them seem no better than some we’ve imported so recklessly. Just last week, the N.S.W. Community Relations Commission chairman, Vic Alhadeff, a Jew, had to resign for simply noting Palestinian terrorists were firing rockets at Israeli civilians, and Israel would naturally “do whatever is needed to defend its citizens”. Yes, supporting a Western democracy against an Islamist terrorist tyranny now makes you unfit to foster proper community relations. WAKE UP PEOPLE SUPPORT POLITICIANS THAT SEE THE THREAT AND ACT.

The proposed changes to section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act put forward by Senator Brandis would have helped people speak out against this threat, sadly the government gave in to the minority voices again.

 

Iraqui Jihadist declares a new Caliphate

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Alleged ISIL leader appears in video footageJihadist map of Muslim Caliphate

 

On Friday, July 4th, a 42-year-old Iraqi Jihadist leader who fights under the name Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared in a mosque in the city of Mosul, which his group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) had seized weeks earlier, along with swathes of Iraq and Syria. Al-Baghdadi, dressed in long black robes delivered a sermon announcing that he would henceforth be known as Caliph Ibrahim, emir of the faithful in the Islamic state.

A caliphate is an Islamic state – and then some. In theory, a caliphate is more than just a country that happens to be officially Muslim; it is supposed to encompass every Muslim on earth. The last time that sort of caliphate existed was many centuries ago. But the word caliphate still evokes the idea of a glorious and unified Islamic civilization.

What does a caliph do, exactly?

Originally, the caliph was the person who took over Mohammed’s (1) rule over the unified Islamic state and (2) responsibility for all Muslims. Over the next seven hundred years, Mohammed’s memory obviously faded, but those remained the two defining responsibilities: rule over a unified Islamic state and bear responsibility for the community of all Muslims, or the ummah.

The present-day Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in declaring himself a caliph and his terrorist mini-state a caliphate, is communicating that he believes he is fighting on behalf of all Muslims worldwide (he does not count Shia Muslims in this, only Sunnis) and that he is the representative of God on earth. He is also sort of suggesting a desire to continue ISIS’s advance until he has conquered all Muslim-majority lands, which is an aspiration that’s hinted at frequently in jihadist maps of a unified Islamic empire – see map above.

Could this man lead the armies in the battle of Gog and Magog referred to in Ezekiel 38 & 39 which occurs about the middle of The Tribulation?

Awesome Creator says Dr Yusdi Santoso

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10396472-computer-artwork-showing-a-hand-and-double-stranded-dna-deoxyribonucleic-acid-molecules-dna-is-compo[1]

Dr Yusdi Santoso an Oxford PhD scientist whose research on DNA polymerase led to the discovery that, prior to proof reading, there is an additional process that screens the DNA letters before they are incorporated into the copy. Since defective screening leads to copying errors Dr Yusdi’s work may contribute to curing genetic diseases arising from inefficiencies in this process.

Only those people who have already decided to reject God, reject it is a miracle of design by an awesome designer outside the Matter/Space/Time Universe He created says, Dr Yusdi Santoso.

It is interesting that Francis Crick evolutionist, one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA and author of Life Itself: Its Origin & Nature admitted, “an honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many conditions which would have to be satisfied to get it going”.

Can I recommend you take a look at the complete article “Oxford trained scientist acknowledges the Creator” in Creation magazine Vol. 36, No. 3 2014. Dominic Statham interviews biophysicist Dr Yusdi Santoso. It concludes with – Dr Santoso is adamant that the reality of God can be seen in creation: “The Bible tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 134:19) and I saw this clearly in much of my scientific work. My research into DNA polymerase, particularly, showed me just how complex life is. All this speaks of an awesome Creator.

FORGIVE YOUR ENEMIES – Is it possible?

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Corrie Ten Boon spent years in the notorious Ravensbruck Concentration Camp near Berlin in World War Two. After the war when confronted by one of the Ravensbruck guards who had been instrumental in killing her sister Betsy, do you think Corrie could forgive him? Corrie could not but the Holy Spirit within her could. HE convicted Corrie of Jesus & The Cross, The Lord’s Prayer and her need to forgive others so that God could forgive her. Listen to what happened after she forgave that converted prison guard.

Financial Crisis Inevitable – going to end badly say the experts

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If this dialogue between two well known and respected financial experts doesn’t convince you we are in the Biblical end times nothing will.

Chris Martenson of Peak Prosperity interviews John Rubino author of two best sellers “The Crash of the Dollar” and “The Money Bubble”.

You need to listen to these two experts because they know that whilst the 2008 Economic Crisis was bad, the next one is going to be humungous. Why, because governments have allowed those that created the problem which was ‘out of control debt’ to try and fix it with more debt. People who should have been jailed are still there creating another big debt bubble which is then fixed with more debt. We see the smart architects of the problem get out and sound the warning of impending disaster. They caused the problem but now want to be seen as the voice of sanity. People like Greenspan write best selling books and still earn a fortune on the author circuit.

It can only end badly says John Rubino. “Debt is growing beyond all reason, it is going to end badly, it is beyond our control”.

Governments are already preparing for civil unrest and domestic terrorism. During the 2008 crisis the government was days away from instituting martial law. Well, the debt situation is exponentially larger with no fix possible because the complexity of the deregulated financial markets is such that even the experts can’t predict what will happen, let alone governments. They will have difficulty working out what happened and who was responsible even after the collapse. Listen to some of the descriptions: “Moral corruption in governments”, “Financial markets devolving into a branch of the Mafia”, “Sound money is a moral issue”, “Need to impose financial morality on governments”.

John Rubino suggests a good solution for each of us at the end of the interview. Get together with your local community and start preparing now for the inevitable.

As Christians we know what is coming and we know the ultimate solution – Jesus ruling and reigning on this earth. In the meantime we should be doing what He taught us to pray for “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Let us play our part in bringing His Kingdom to bear in our sphere of influence. Let our church and our families be examples of what His Kingdom looks like.