TRUMP SAID, “WE DON’T WORSHIP GOV’T, WE WORSHIP GOD

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“As long as I am your president, no one is ever going to stop you from practising your faith,” Trump said at the evangelical Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia, before a crowd of about 50,000 people

“America has always been the land of dreams because America is a nation of true believers,” the president continued. “When the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they prayed. When the founders wrote the Declaration of Independence, they invoked our Creator four times. Because in America, we don’t worship government, we worship God.”
Trump added that for the same reason elected officials in the U.S. put their hands on the Bible and say, “So help me God,” while taking the oath of office. “It is why our currency proudly declares, ‘In God we trust,’ and it’s why we proudly proclaim that we are one nation under God every time we say the pledge of allegiance.”
The story of America, he continued, is the “story of an adventure that began with deep faith, big dreams and humble beginnings.”

Trump also spoke about Liberty’s founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. “In this beautiful campus and in your smiling faces, but it all began with a vision. That vision was of a world class university for evangelical Christians. … No doubt many people told him his vision was impossible, and I am sure they continued to say that so long after he started, at the beginning with just 154 students, but the fact is no one has ever achieved anything significant without a chorus of critics standing on the sidelines explaining why it can’t be done.”
He continued, “Nothing is easier or more pathetic than being a critic. … The future belongs to the people who follow their heart no matter what the critics say because they truly believe in their vision. … A small group of failed voices who think they know everything and understand everyone want to tell everybody else how to live and what to do and how to think, but you aren’t going to let other people tell you what you believe, especially when you know that you’re right.”

BETSY DE VOS APPOINTED EDUCATION SECRETARY

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With the election of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, there is NO doubt now, that Trump is God’s man to bring Him back into the Nation’s life and hopefully make what is on their currency “In God We Trust” meaningful.

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Rev. Robert Sirico, the founder of the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute and a long-time DeVos family friend, describes her as a “solid evangelical Christian” who is active in her church and “orthodox in her beliefs and personal commitment to Jesus Christ.”

John Booy, another long-time friend, told CBN News that DeVos integrates her faith into all areas of her life and that it’s led her to a “deep sensitivity to those who have not had the privilege she’s grown up with.”

DeVos and her husband Dick DeVos spoke at a 2001 Christian philanthropic gathering about their faith.  She described a desire to be active in education to influence the culture and help “advance God’s kingdom.”

Dick DeVos spoke about wanting to drive better performance across all education.  “Our Christian worldview, which for us comes from a Calvinist tradition, which is to be very much a part of the world and to provide for a greater opportunity, a more expanded opportunity someday for all parents to be able to educate their children in a school that reflects their worldview,” he said.

Booy is principal at the Potter’s House, a Christian K-12 school in Grand Rapids.  DeVos has actively supported the school for years and Booy says she became passionate about reforming education while meeting parents there.  The school opened in 1981 to provide a choice for families in the low-income neighbourhood surrounding it.  At the time, their public school ranked third-lowest in the state.

Ingersoll, the University of North Florida scholar, says that “it’s a long-standing goal of the religious right to dismantle public education” and that religious conservatives like DeVos “don’t see public schools as religiously neutral.” If an education is not Christian, then it is anti-Christian. This is a view, she suggests, DeVos shares with Mike Pence, the religiously conservative vice president, who is expected by some to have Dick Cheney-level influence in the Trump administration. Moreover, it is a view that can’t be ignored. Creation cannot be taught in public schools only evolution which is also teaching children atheism.

This is just one more Christian appointed by Trump to high office in government.

 

GOD APPOINTS OUR LEADERS, INCLUDING DONALD TRUMP

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Rosh Hashanah 2015 to Rosh Hashanah 2016 brought us the 70th year of Jubilee and this unprecedented year of Jubilee brought us God’s choice of Donald Trump as President of the United States and Leader of the Free World.

donald-trump-2Trump at age 70 became elected President of this nation during the Hebraic year 5777. 

On inauguration day he will be 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old.

Because the Electoral College changed some votes it allowed Trump to end up with exactly 77 more electoral votes. 7 is the prime number of God and is why there are 7 spirits of God.

Outgoing president Barack Obama’s legacy-tainting final acts against Israel are an immediate, major proof that the insertion of Trump as President was an act of God. Trump is committed to supporting Israel and was outspoken about his intentions during the election campaign. For America, if Trump upholds his promise to support Israel, it means they will avoid many national catastrophes.

hugo-chavezFormer Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez publicly cursed Israel “from the depths of my intestines” and the next day began to feel intense intestinal pains that became a supremely rare cancer that took him out. In fact, 4 other South American leaders who shared Chavez’s views developed cancer in the same year, yet no one learned the lesson but instead blamed “the CIA” for spraying them with something that caused cancer. Two of those Presidents are now out of office and facing prison.

Israel may be tiny in the natural but it is absolutely huge in the matrix of the spirit world. Every global kingdom assignment begins with a proper reckoning of the preeminent place of Jerusalem and Israel. Every major, false doctrine starts with diminishing natural Israel and natural Jerusalem (“Replacement Theology” etc.). Every Antichrist spirit running among the nations begins with antisemitism at its core. For clarity’s sake, while it is not wrong to want Palestinians to be properly treated, any passion towards Israel giving up land or being furthermore diminished is influenced by an Antichrist spirit, and that’s whether you are a “Christian” or not.

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, If I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.” Psalm 137:5-6.

For those who would diminish Jerusalem to “Old Testament” importance, remember that this is the very location that Jesus Christ was crucified.  The very idea that God could shed His literal Blood in a literal place and that that literal place could then descend into being only incidentally relevant is beyond comprehension.

There is a reason Jerusalem and its destruction is the desire of every principality. Destruction of Jerusalem destroys the master plan, and it is the master plan of our God that will guarantee Jerusalem’s future. There is also a guarantee that Jerusalem will ultimately be a place that reveals the salvation of God to the whole world—that guarantee is the spilled Blood of Jesus. You cannot understand the significance of the Blood of Jesus if you do not know how to also apply it to the geographical place He willingly shed it.

For more clarity, it is almost insanity to believe that the Blood of Jesus is powerful enough to give us access into Heaven despite our sins, and not believe it is powerful enough to spiritually secure the city and country where it was shed. Jesus does not return, nor does any great end-time objective take place, without Jerusalem and Israel being central to it. To not know that is to be in deception and to remain almost wilfully so. The Scripture is too clear on that and the Holy Spirit is too insistent on that. We will no longer get a “pass” on blindness to this reality. Jesus will literally return to the same place where He left this planet  a little over 2000 years ago. Also, the first parable Jesus told His disciples as a sign of His second coming was The Parable of the Fig Tree. The miraculous reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 was that sign. When we see that happen, Jesus tells us to WATCH, be ALERT to the tribulation that He describes will occur in these “last days”.

  • “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming – in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning – lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to ALL: WATCH!” Mark 13:35-37
  • “So then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert (WATCH) and be sober” 1 Thessalonians 5:6
  • “Be on the alert (WATCH) then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:13

The section on the importance of Israel and Jerusalem to God’s future plans includes sections from a prophecy by Johnny Enlow – 2017 – The Ride of the Reformation Glory Train.

GOOD ADVICE FOR 2017

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While timely Rhema revelation is uplifting, the church must return to confidence in the logos. The infallible written truth of God’s Word – The Holy Bible.

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When timely prophetic words are given, we should value them highly. However, don’t seek after them. Don’t crave for them. God knows when you need them. What we can’t do without, even for a day, is the Word of God, the Bible. We need for the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths in fresh new ways. Keep a Holy Spirit journal to record these new revelations.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever” (Is. 40:8)
“Forever, O Lord, Your word is established in heaven” (Ps. 119:89)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35)
I exhort you to open the Word of God daily. The wealth it contains will transform your new year much more powerfully than a low level prophetic word ever will.

Consider some of the following verses and begin your quest to encounter God through his Word. Take note of the promises and also of the conditions associated with them. May the fear of the Lord delight you. May your new year be marked by fresh revelation and trust in God’s mighty Word.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).

“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways” (Deut. 28:7).

“Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and pay your vows to the Most High, and call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me” (Ps. 50:14-15).

“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Now a slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever. Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed'” (John 8:34-36).

“Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

I have listed just a few verses.  Now go ahead and receive the remaining promises in the Bible that are waiting for you in the New Year. There are thousands.

HOW RELEVANT IS THIS WORD FOR THESE LAST DAYS?

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Jesus revealed to the disciples in Matthew 24 what we can expect to experience in the last days before His second coming. Moreover, God is revealing to those who are seekers after the truth in His Word, the many prophecies in both the OT and NT that are unfolding in our time and hence, also, what is to come before His second coming.

James Goll has identified  a number of KEY paradigm shifts: breakdown of the denominational barriers and structures. Part of that is a multitude of prayer networks that are emerging, that cross those denominational barriers. I am involved in one that has just started up in the Southern Region of Sydney – South Eastern Sydney Prayer Network – contact Ps Ron Brookman 0425 225 386 or myself on 0414412740 to get on the mailing list.

James Goll originally wrote this twelve years ago but has just up dated it. I have not reproduced the entire article but what I believe is relevant for today.  Sadly, as prophesied, we are also going to see a great falling away in the denominational churches as persecution intensifies.

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 24 11-13

Only those who are totally sold out for Jesus, and who recognise we are in the “end times’, and are prepared to face whatever persecution comes there way, in the knowledge that to die in Christ is GAIN, will be saved.

Paradigm Shifts for the 21st Century

James W Goll

by James W. Goll

As we have crossed the threshold of a new era in the Lord, there will be a lot of shifting taking place in the church and the world. It is the time of completing unfinished business, a time of cleansing, and a time to get prepared for a “spiritual church-quake” to transpire in the life of what some prophetic voices call the “Third Day Church”.  With this view in mind, let me present some bullets on Paradigm Shifts for the 21st Century.

  • An Apostolic Relational Mandate is being released emphasizing “networking” versus vertical authority structures. This fresh emphasis on cross-pollination will replace much of the inbred church associations, which are strife ridden by the spirit of competition and control.
  • While in worship I was given the following phases: “When the Apostolic is Made Personal (AMP) there will be Mighty Authority in the Prophetic (MAP) in that day. The Lord will amplify His voice in those relational renewal centres and the Holy Spirit will put them on His map.”
  • Confrontation shall come with the “political spirit”. Even as the “prophetic movement” exposed and confronted the “religious spirit” in the church, so an “apostolic movement of grace and truth” will expose and lay an axe at the historical root of the “political spirit” in the church.
  • The restoration of David’s Tabernacle as prophesied in Amos 9:12 and Acts 15:16-18 shall escalate resulting in authentic 24-hour houses of prayer and praise, worship and intercession sprinkled across the nations. New creative songs and sounds shall emerge as it was with the radical ministry of William and Katherine Booth’s Salvation Army bands. Praise, once again, will not be confined to the “four walls of the church” but will spill out into the open-air arena.
  • In the church world, there will be a continued theological shift away from the false theory of cessationism (spiritual gifts passed away with the closing of the cannon of scriptures and/or the second generation apostles of the early church.) In other words, cessationism is going to cease!
  • A new Signs and Wonders Movement is growing. Healing Rooms and Centres will be instituted in many cities devoted to praying for the sick and casting out evil spirits (Luke 10). Parades of people healed of various diseases will once again occur as in the days of life of John G. Lake in the 1920’s.
  • A renewed Quietest Movement will emerge as believers in Christ find the “secret place” of the Most High to truly be their dwelling place (Ps. 91). A fresh revelation of intimacy with God, communion with their lover/husbandman and master will come forth. A generation in the spirit of Mary of Bethany will arise and gladly “waste their life” on the Lord!
  • A fresh Holiness Movement will spring up in the church worldwide. Its emphasis shall be one of the Father’s mercies mixed with an authentic spirit of conviction of sin (John 16) causing many to repent and their stained garments to be experientially cleansed by the power and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • The body of Christ will awaken to her call and responsibility to reach and lift up the poor and oppressed as stated in Isaiah 58:7-12. Finances will be released to care for the widow and the orphan as declared in James 1:27. Chains of orphanages will come forth as the church awakens from her self-centered life styles and hilarious, joyful giving is restored.
  • We will see tremendous transfers of wealth into the Kingdom of God through the ministry of “market place apostles and prophets”. Those with anointing for business, administration and creativity shall be blessed – not resisted – by the church. The wall between clergy/laity and secular market place/spiritual ministry shall come down.
  • An extravagant Youth Movement is coming to the global body of Christ that will “rock the nations”.  Public events will be led by youth to pray and fast for revival, which will spread rapidly around the nations. This will be a “trans-generational anointing” where the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children and the hearts of the children to the Father (Mal. 4:5-6).
  • A wave of “Identificational Repentance” will overwhelm a remnant of the Gentile church causing her to repent of her historical wrongs against the Jewish people. In response to this, a revelation of the “Sabbath rest” shall be released from the throne of grace that will be non-legalistic and result in healing for many.
  • It is the devil’s strategy to precipitate another type of holocaust – but God will raise up trumpeters like Mordecai who shall prepare the corporate Esther (the church) for such a time as this. Radical prayer will open a hedge of protection for the Jewish people as the shields of the earth belong to the Lord.
  • A “Convergence of the Ages” shall come upon us. The anointings of Pentecostal fire, the healing and deliverance crusades, the Latter Rain presence, the Evangelical burden for the lost, the Charismatic Gifts, the Jesus People zeal, the Third Wave credibility, the revelation of the Prophetic movement and the relational networking of the Apostolic Reformation shall all merge together into a tidal wave that will be greater than the impact of “reformation of 500 years ago.” This will ultimately create what could be called The Great Revolution in the Church“.
  • Radical deeds of identificational repentance, acts of mercy to the poor and the oppressed, presence and power encounters to the sick and the demonized, warrior praise and intercession arising over cities will mount as a Revolution comes upon the global body of Christ and creates a great societal awakening! If history books are written of the years that lie ahead, they might be termed “The Days of His Glorious Presence“.

(Note: James wrote this 12 years ago and it was published in his book The Coming Prophetic Revolution. He has looked at these declarations again, edited them slightly and thought it would be good to post them for you once again.)

source: James W. Goll

SUPERNATURAL CONVERSION OF MUSLIMS

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How often, do we mistakenly believe the church in the west has to send missionaries to the unreached people groups of the world, otherwise they will never hear the gospel and get saved.

Those of you who have read Heavenly Man by Brother Yun, realise that after Mao came to power in China, Christian Missionaries from the west were deported or killed. The Chinese church went underground, now with its total dependence on God. Has God built His church through forty years of persecution under Mao? Yes! emphatically Yes! He has, and much like the early church, they experience all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including the miraculous.

Well the same is true in the middle east, Muslims are coming to Jesus without coming into contact with missionaries from the west. God is not waiting on Western workers to reach the peoples of the world!

God always takes the initiative. He is always seeking ways to reveal Himself in the darkest corners of the earth.

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Nik Ripken in his book, The Insanity of Obedience – Walking with Jesus in tough places, reveals that more than 90% of Muslim background believers had come to faith without the help of an outsider or a believer from another culture.

Hence if Muslims are coming to Jesus (and they are), and if these conversions are not currently aided by Western workers (and they are not) then exactly how are these conversions happening? This question is of course crucial.

It was discovered that for Muslim Background Believers (MBB’s), there are three major components in their journey to faith in Jesus.

DREAMS & VISIONS

First most experienced dreams and visions which set them on a spiritual pilgrimage. In talking to hundreds of MBB’s, they heard repeatedly of a period of time lasting three to five years when dreams and visions were present and life-shaping in their pilgrimage to Jesus. It was very common for them to hear a voice without a body speaking to them and they knew it was Jesus or on occasions thought it was the angel Gabriel (Gabriel is significant, because it is believed that he gave the Qur’an to Mohammed). It was common to see a bright white light. A strong desire to get and read a Bible was common (Qur’an refers to Jesus as the “Word of God”).

It is interesting, to many Muslims, dreams and visions are not considered to be miraculous events; they are in fact quite common. What is miraculous, is how God breaks into those dreams and visions and overtime leads the seeker to begin a spiritual pilgrimage. The dreams and visions are not salvific. The dreams allow God to get the recipients attention and eventually lead them to Jesus.

Strangely, when these dreams and visions begin, a Muslim will typically turn to the mosque for answers and explanations. This is of course, the natural place a Muslim would seek answers. Typically, a first question to a spiritual leader in the mosque was “What do these dreams mean? Interestingly, spiritual leaders in the mosque invariably affirmed that the dreams and visions are from God, and they will often tell the seeker that the instructions in the dreams need to be followed. Strangely also, is that when God begins to break into their consciousness through these means, Muslims begin to visit and pray in the mosque like never before. The males may grow a long beard, change the way they dress, become a conservative practitioner of I slam.

The next steps are radical and usually involve the seeker asking questions of their Muslim spiritual leader that he cannot answer to their satisfaction. Questions such as, “How can I know God loves me?” and “How can I be sure I go to paradise when I die?” The answer from the Muslim leader to both questions will be, “Well, you can’t know that.” Often the seeker will be harshly commanded to stop asking such questions and to simply submit to Islam and obey the Qur’an. At some point, unanswerable questions like these will lead to frustration. And often, within three to six months, the seeker will leave the mosque and look for answers elsewhere. In most cases the seeker will never return to the mosque.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE BIBLE

Always as part of the MBB’s spiritual quest, there were dramatic encounters with the Bible. Often these encounters were miraculous. Bibles are simply not available. In some cases, Muslims simply began to dream about the Bible (God’s Word), but still have no idea where to find one. In Central Asia, one seeker, who had been attempting to find a Bible for months, went to an all male market and there, a stranger simply appeared in the busy marketplace and handed him a Bible. The stranger simply said, ” the Holy Spirit told me to give this to you”. He then disappeared into the crowd. In another case, a seeker having been told in a dream to get a Bible, wandered through a bookstore filled with green Qur’ans. There at the back of the shop was a single blue covered book which he was drawn to, it turned out to be a Bible, which of course he purchased. Another female Muslim seeker shared her dream about a Bible with her family and discovered that her father was also a seeker who shared his bible with her. Nik and his team heard many stories like these and because of the miraculous way these seekers obtained their Bibles they treated them as prize possessions and read the voraciously. Most had read their Bibles through multiple times even up to twenty one times before coming to faith in Christ. What this meant is that most MBB’s have a profound knowledge of Scripture before making their faith decision. Nik concluded that “Where there is no Bible, there is no salvation” .

The centrality of Scripture to this salvation process is so important. The dreams and visions even required that kind of encounter with the Bible. And that kind of encounter is indispensable to the conversion process. This of course poses a big problem for the seeker who cannot read and there are many Muslim women who are illiterate. Fortunately, there are Christian radio stations able to get there signal into Muslim countries and report some success but no doubt God is also using MMB’s to witness to them.

ENCOUNTERS WITH IN-CULTURE OR NEAR CULTURE BELIEVERS

After dreams and visions, miraculous encounters with the Bible then third, there are encounters with in-culture and near-culture believers. These encounters often take the form of “divine appointments” where someone simply appears on the scene to provide guidance, counsel and instruction.

In Scripture, these kinds of encounters happen frequently. Philip’s meeting with the Ethiopian eunuch, Ananias role with Saul to become Paul and many others. How did the Ethiopian eunuch have the Isaiah scroll? Likewise, how do Muslim seekers get a Bible, but miraculously.

Nik also discovered that Western missionaries can be a negative, as they can fear persecution and avoid it at all costs. Also, dreams and visions are not the norm for most missionaries so would they be able to discern what God is doing. Moreover providing a Bible is no problem which would deprive the MMB of God’s miraculous provision. If an outsider provides everything for the seeker what is left for the Holy Spirit to provide?

It is obvious that God is perfectly able to draw people to Himself and our task is not to co-opt this process but to prayerfully discern what He is doing and join Him as insrructed. Much like Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch, God brings him into the story miraculously at exactly the right time and takes him out again just as suddenly and miraculously.

This is obviously not the only way God works but clearly we see that He needs to be directing the work. Our role is supportive, in league with Him. One role in particular, that Nik saw God use MMB’s to initiate, was to start churches particularly of the Book of Acts variety.

Bring on the persecution Lord, if it means we get to experience YOU more, to know You love us, and are providing what we really need to build our relationship with You. Give us a hunger for Your Word like these MMB’s we have read about.

It is great to know, You are constantly reaching out to the lost. Help us Lord to get in step with You.

 

 

 

AMAZING STORY: GOD DETERMINED CASTRO’S REIGN – THE VERY DAY & YEAR

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This is a guest post from Rabbi Jonathan Cahn:

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As the ashes of Fidel Castro are now laid to rest in Santiago, Cuba, I am at liberty to tell the story that’s waited years to be told.

In 1999, for the first time since he took power in 1959, Fidel Castro agreed to open up the island of Cuba for the Gospel, under much control and surveillance, and for only one month. By this he would show the world that there was ‘freedom’ in Cuba—an evangelical celebration that would span the island from the east, where Castro’s revolution began, to Revolutionary Square, Havana, where he began his rule.

Word was sent to me to open the celebration in the city of Goa with the sounding of the shofar. I agreed.

The Magi Prophecy

One week before leaving, a man from Cuba appeared at our service. He was a pastor who had been imprisoned on the island for his faith.

We were told we would go to Cuba as the magi, bearing gifts, and enter the palace of the king. I prayed as to what word I should bring to the people of Cuba. What came to me was the message of Jubilee. The Jubilee concerns those who have lost their land, their family’s possession, their freedom. That was Cuba. So I came to Cuba proclaiming the God’s Jubilee, His power to set free those in bondage and to bring restoration.

But I came also with something for Fidel Castro. I purposed that if God would open the door, I would give to the island’s communist leader a Bible, a letter, and a shofar, the Trumpet of Jubilee, the vessel used in biblical times to proclaim freedom throughout the land.

In the following weeks, I spoke in churches and gatherings throughout the island to give hope and encouragement to the believers of Cuba. In place after place, Cubans came up to me and those with me to tell us that they saw visions of us coming specifically as the magi.

It was then that I realised the full significance of the word given to us before we left. As the magi had come to an unlikely place to witness the newborn life of God, so had we now come to Cuba to witness God’s newborn presence there, a revival was about to break forth. Our gift to them was to strengthen and encourage them in the Lord.

At the same time, as in the account of the magi, there was opposition to that new life. There was a throne and an ageing king on the throne who was fearful that the presence of Jesus in his land would be a threat to his regime. To the people of God, the magi’s visitation was a sign of hope and blessing. But to the king it was a sign of alarm, something to be closely watched, and ultimately a portent of the end of his reign.

The Jubilee

At the island’s eastern end, near the port city of Barracoa, I opened up the evangelical celebration, the first fully public evangelical gathering in the public squares of Cuba since the beginning of the revolution (before such things were effectively banned. I opened it by the sounding of the shofar. The communist officials watching all around me inquired why I was blowing the “Jewish horn.” Someone else was watching—Fidel Castro. The events were being televised throughout the island. It was reported back to us that Castro was inquiring, “Who is this man with the beard causing such a ruckus?” and “What is this Jewish man doing in the churches?”

In many ways we were retracing the footsteps of Castro’s revolution—but with a very different message and of a very different revolution. I was proclaiming the Gospel and the power of God for Jubilee, for freedom and restoration. As I spoke of these things, my translator, a man named Felix, hesitate at times to repeat them, knowing that in virtually every place, there were secret police and informers planted in the gathering. And just as potentially dangerous, all over the island, on church buildings, houses, walls, and taxi cabs there were posters plastered proclaiming the words ‘El Jubileo Vienne!” “the Jubilee is Coming” or “Freedom and Release is Coming,’ above a photograph of me sounding the shofar.

The Boy Named “Faith”

On the way to Havana, I picked up a book about Fidel Castro and religion. Most people don’t’ realise that his name, ‘Fidel,’ means ‘faith.’ But as a young boy, Fidel had begun to lose faith. He told the story of how each year, at Christmas time, he would write a letter—to the magi. And every year, he would get a cardboard trumpet. When he realised the magi didn’t exist, he began to lose his faith. So it all started with a boy named ‘Faith,’ who first began to lose his faith over the magi. From this would ultimately come atheism, a revolution, prison camps, firing squads, and years of suffering for an entire nation—even the banning of the celebration of Christmas. And now here we were, coming to Havana, as magi who happened to be led to bring the gift of a trumpet—of Jubilee.

‘And Every Man Shall Return’

The last stop before Havana was the province of Camiguey. For my translator, Felix, it was the last night of ministry. The next day he had to return to America. I had no idea when I first asked him to join me that he had been born in Cuba, and that his family lost everything in the revolution, their possessions and their ancestral land. They fled to America where he grew up. There he came to the Lord. His dream and prayer was that one day he would return to Cuba and to his family’s land and his lost inheritance, and there build a church in which he would preach the Gospel. It was ironic that as I was preaching the Jubilee to Cuba, the restoration of every man to his ancestral land, the one translating that message had himself lost his ancestral land in the Cuban revolution.

That night, they took us to the place where we would minister, a farm in the middle of nowhere, so much in the middle of nowhere that they had to transport the people to us by cattle car. Before ministering, I looked for Felix. He was wandering around the farm in a daze. I asked him what happened. He had just discovered that the land to which we had been brought to minister—was his ancestral land. It was his family’s farm, the inheritance he had lost in the revolution, the place he had prayed he would one day return to.

So here on his last night, God had brought him home. It was what I had been preaching all along throughout the land, and what he had been translating—the Jubilee, the restoration—”And every man shall return to his property.” And so his journey ended with the fulfilment of that Scripture, and that prayer. And as for the church he had dreamed of building there, it had already been built, and was waiting for him to enter it. That night he preached inside the church of his inheritance. He didn’t realise it until that moment—he had been a sign to Cuba, all along, with every footstep, of restoration.

The Castle and the Star

We arrived in the capital city of Havana. Every day there, I would gaze out my hotel room to see a centuries-old Spanish castle by the sea. I was strongly led that we had to go to the castle and see what was inside. So we did. We walked through its ancient chambers. As we turned a corner, we suddenly beheld a massive painting that stunned us. The painting depicted the magi.

It turned out that the castle we were in was as national symbol of Cuba and was called “The Castle of the Three Kings.” And in the painting, standing next to the magi was a boy holding in his hand an object that looked like a shofar—the very thing I was now bringing to Havana.

The magi followed a star. That was the one thing missing. We joked, wondering if we would somehow see a star in Havana.

We decided to go to Revolutionary Square, to pray on the site on which the evangelical gathering would take place the following day. We entered the Jose Marti Memorial, the towering monument that marks the square. The government official inside began to reveal that the tower had been built so that from the sky it would form a star. It was the star—as the star of the magi, it would mark the end and destination of our journey. It actually marked two destinations: the square in which monument of Revolutionary Square, the day before the gathering

God’s people would gather together the following day, and the Presidential Palace from which Fidel Castro ruled the island. And as in the nativity account, the star would be linked to the presence of Jesus on one hand—and an ageing king and a dying kingdom on the other. And it was then that we realised that we had seen that star every night as we looked out the window of our hotel room in Havana, ablaze with light in the darkness, marking the final destination of our journey.

The following day we stood in the midst of the multitudes gathered for the first evangelical celebration in Revolutionary Square. Fidel Castro also stood there witnessing the gathering that filled the plaza that had once been filled with Cubans welcoming his revolution to Havana. Now it was filled for a different purpose. It was there that arrangements began that would lead me to present the gifts to Cuba’s ruler.

The Prophetic Sign and Countdown

I received an invitation to enter the Presidential Palace. I was greeted there by one of Castro’s assistants, who told me that the “Comandante” was very much aware of me and was watching my journey through Cuba. I was brought inside and presented the gifts, the Bible, a note with a message I had written him, and the shofar, the Trumpet of Jubilee Castro sent word thanking me for the gifts. He also wanted to know how I could be Jewish and believe in Jesus. The Central Communist Committee also sent word inquiring into the shofar.

Giving the Trumpet of Jubilee to Fidel Castro was a biblical reminder of the power of God for freedom, and a prophetic sign that that power was greater than the bondage’s of man. The Cuban revolution had caused millions of Cubans to lose their land, their homes, their ancestral possessions, their inheritances, and their freedom—the very thing the Jubilee undoes. It had all begun as the Batista government collapsed and Castro and his guerrillas swept into the city of Havana at the start of 1959.

But the trumpet was also linked to a mathematical timing to the ending of bondage. The Jubilee ordains a countdown: “You shall count off seven sevens of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sevens of years amounts to a period of 49 years. Then you shall sound the trumpet….”

What happens if one takes the biblical countdown of Jubilee and applies it to Castro’s reign, starting with the year 1959, the moment when Cuba lost its freedom. Count “seven sevens of years, seven times seven years—so that the seven sevens of years amounts to a period of 49 years.” Where does it take you? It takes you to the year 2008. Did anything significant happen in 2008? 2008 was the year that ended the rule of Fidel Castro. His entire reign, from 1959 to 2008, comprised the seven sevens of years, the 49 years of the countdown ordained by God of Jubilee—the release.

What about days? Castro’s reign began specifically on New Year’s Day, January 1, 1959. “Seven times seven” years from that day brings us to January 1, 2008, the end of the 49th year and the beginning of the 50th. If one then counts a Jubilee of days, “seven times seven” days into that year of release, it all culminates on February 19, 2008. Was there anything significant about that day? February 19, 2008 was the exact day that after nearly a half century, the rule of Fidel Castro came to its end. On February 19, the day of release, he released his reins of power. So from its beginning on New Year’s Day, January 1, 1959 to its end on February 19, 2008, Castro’s reign would comprise exactly “seven times seven” years and exactly “seven times seven” days—a Jubilee of years and a Jubilee of days.

When I asked the Lord for what word I was to give to Cuba, when I proclaimed the Jubilee throughout the island, when I gave to Castro the Trumpet of Jubilee, and when the posters were plastered throughout the communist nation proclaiming “El Jubileo Viene!” “The Jubilee is Coming!” it all contained a mystery and a precise prophetic countdown to the end. Castro’s reign would be timed to that countdown to end on the eve of the 50th day of the 50th year, and not a day longer – the mathematics of Jubilee. And as the countdown ordained by God leads to a release after 49 years, so at the end of that countdown, after 49 years, there would come a release, the most enduring iron grip of any ruler over any nation in the modern world came to its end.

The Other King

I have wondered since then, when Fidel Castro looked at the Jubilee Trumpet I gave him, did he ever realise its significance. I pray before he left this life he turned back to the One from the boy named “Faith” once turned away, and found forgiveness for his sins.

In the Biblical account, the ageing king Herod dies, but the new born life of Bethlehem, the life of Messiah, goes on—to overcome kingdoms and change the world. As I watched the thousands of Cubans paying their last respects to their aged leader, as they lined up to enter the Jose Marti Memorial, I wondered if they realized that they were heading to a star. Fidel Castro’s funeral took place under that same star which, as the star of Bethlehem marked for the magi, marked for us both the ending of a dying kingdom, and the birth of God’s presence, the light of hope, a light shining in the darkness.

Castro has passed away, as did King Herod, and as do all the kings and rulers of this world, and as do all those who, as Castro once did, tried to stamp out the Gospel. But the revival that began under Castro’s rule has not been stamped out. For kings and kingdoms, rulers and tyrants, all pass away, but the name of Messiah remains.

Castro has died—but Jesus lives. And as the dictator’s ashes were laid to rest in the city of Santiago, the presence of Jesus was and is as alive throughout the island as much as it ever was. It is even at this moment transforming the lives of Cubans in a way that Castro’s revolution, with all its guns and powers of state, never could. The Jubilee that began in our visit to the island has not stopped, but continues.

The King lives … and the Revolution goes on.

CHRISTIANITY STANDS OR FALLS ON THE HISTORICAL ACCURACY OF GENESIS

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How did Christ and His Apostles view the Old Testament?

According to Jesus, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35) and “not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). When referring to the Old Testament, He would often assert, “It is written”, making clear that He considered Scripture to be the final authority in all matters of faith and life. Along with the Pharisees He regarded the Old Testament as truly God’s Word. When quoting Genesis 2:24, for example, He affirmed that it was God speaking (Matthew 19:4, 5) even though the passage itself does not specifically state this.6

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In his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Commenting on this verse, and the New Testament in general, Frederick C. Grant, Professor of Biblical Theology at Union Theological Seminary wrote, “Everywhere it is taken for granted that what is written in scripture is the work of divine inspiration, and therefore trustworthy, infallible, and inerrant.”7

From this it might be understood that Professor Grant held to a similarly high view of Scripture. Not at all! In fact, he believed much of the Bible to be based on myths. Despite this, and along with many other liberal theologians, he recognised the Apostles’ unswerving commitment to the Old Testament as the Word of God and as unquestionably trustworthy in everything it teaches.

It is not difficult to see why scholars understand this to be true.8,9 In the Apostle Paul’s thinking, the Jews had been “entrusted with the oracles [the very words] of God” (Romans 3:2). When referring to the Old Testament he had no hesitation in affirming, “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers …” (Acts 28:25). Similarly, when quoting from the Psalms, the Apostle Peter stated that, while the words came from the mouth of David, it was the Holy Spirit speaking (Acts 4:24, 25). Moreover, he affirmed that “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20–21).

Both Jesus and His Apostles undoubtedly regarded Genesis as history. Jesus, for example, affirmed the creation of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4), the murder of Abel (Luke 11:50, 51), the Noahic Flood (Matthew 24:37–39) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15). Moreover, for Him, these were not simply interesting stories; rather they provided the basis for understanding important spiritual truths. Similarly, the Apostle Paul built his teaching on events recorded in the Old Testament, such as the doctrine of Original Sin (Romans 5) and the role of men and women in the church (1 Timothy 2:12–14). The writer to the Hebrews referred to the accounts of Abel, Enoch and Noah as real events that happened to real people (Hebrews 11). Significantly, this letter was written to encourage Christians who were facing serious persecution; but what use are mythical characters to those potentially facing death? The idea that anyone would think that such people might be helped by reminding them of stories suitable only for Sunday School children is absurd. The writers of the New Testament undoubtedly accepted the first book of the Bible as historical and Huxley was right: if Genesis is wrong, Christianity was built upon no more than “legendary quicksands”.

Where does your church, your denomination stand on the inerrancy of scripture? Ask your pastor to get one of the excellent PhD speakers from Creation Ministries to come speak at your church on the evidence for the Genesis account of Creation. His response may surprise you.

AMAZING, TRUMP ALREADY DELIVERING BIG TIME ON HIS PROMISES.

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Crumbling under the pressure of President-elect Trump, The Ford Motor’s CEO announced he would not be moving factories to Mexico. (Bloomberg News 11/17/2016). Abruptly, Apple’s CEO announced that his company was considering moving all its IPhone manufacturing to the United States. (Opposing News 11/18/2016)

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“United Auto Workers leaders huddled with Ford Motor Co. executives today after the union was caught off guard by President-elect Donald Trump’s tweet last night, he helped prevent another Ford model going to Mexico … Ford did not inform the Union of its long-term plans for the MKC before the tweets went out Thursday night, Dunn said..”

“After Trump’s tweets, the company acknowledged for the first time it had been considering moving production of the MKC to Mexico, allowing the plant to boost output of the Escape, one of its hottest models. After talks between Executive Chairman Bill Ford and the President-elect, Trump, the automaker decided to keep building the MKC in Louisville after the UAW’s current contract expires in 2019.”

Apple may soon start producing IPhones in the U.S.A., as a result of Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election … Apple asked Foxconn and Pegatron, the two IPhone assemblers to look into making IPhones in the U.S.A.” Foxconn, which puts together more than 200 million IPhones every year in Taiwan complied with the request saying making IPhones in the U.S.A. will more than double the cost.” the source said.

It appears, Donald Trump’s harsh words during the campaign are now having the desired effect. What did Trump say repeatedly about Apple? “We’re going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries,” Trump said in January, adding he would do so by imposing tariffs on all American companies that manufacture their products abroad. “How does it help us when they make it in China?” he said in March.

Perhaps America will develop that unprecedented prosperity foretold in Revelation just before God annihilates it. What God’s Word prophecies for these last days, will play out exactly as foretold. Are we in step, with what God is calling His church to do in these “last days”

WOW: THE BIBLE’S ‘CYRUS THE GREAT’ AND ‘DONALD TRUMP’—IS THIS GOD?

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Lance Wallnau believes God is raising up Donald Trump like he did King Cyrus in Isaiah 45. When the charismatic speaker/business consultant first said this long before the billionaire businessman received the Republican nomination, nearly everyone thought he was nuts.

Now, Wallnau’s analysis is ringing true with many Christians who are looking to make sense spiritually of this very strange election season.

Wallnau also believes God gives leaders “common grace” to be instruments of His purposes—ones like Lincoln or Churchill or Thatcher. In a recent podcast, Wallnau told me (Steve Strang) all this and more. You can listen to it here as well as a follow up podcast with Wallnau here.

I felt this message was so important that I asked Wallnau to write it and we published it in Charisma magazine in our October issue which has Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Pence on the cover. An early form of this article was published online in three installments and you can read them here and here and here.

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Wallnau told me he had an impression when he first met Donald Trump early this year that there was an anointing on him. He didn’t understand the impression since he preferred Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina. Then he saw a meme on Facebook showing Trump as the nation’s 45th president. About the same time, he felt the Lord tell him to read Isaiah 45, which says King Cyrus who is called the Lord’s “anointed” and later in the chapter says, “I have even called you by your name … though you have not known Me.”

Wallnau then told me he felt he heard the Lord tell him “common grace,” and he found the term in a Charles Colson book. It was a term the Reformers used to contrast “saving grace,” when there was a basic understanding of God that influenced governments and societies even though the people who had this common grace might not have experienced “saving grace.”

I urge you to not only listen to the podcast (and share it with friends on social media) but to read the article in Charisma. The full issue is available digitally behind a paywall and you can access it here and learn how to subscribe.

Meanwhile Steve Shultz, founder of The Elijah List sent out an email about my podcast with Wallnau with this incredible subject line: “Wow: The Bible’s ‘Cyrus the Great’ and ‘Donald Trump’—Is This God?” Here, he encouraged his readers, as I am, to listen to the podcast, then he gave a detailed report on what Wallnau said. I found it interesting in how Shultz wrote it, and I end my report by quoting him:

Lance Wallnau shares in this podcast:

  • God anoints secular rulers in history for specific purposes in order to protect His interests.
  • This will amaze you! The three issues that Cyrus took the most satisfaction in:
  1. Dealing with terror
  2. Restoring the habitations or economic stability of their cities
  3. Honoring their sanctuaries or their houses of faith

The Cyrus cylinder (that was uncovered in an archaeological dig) talks about terrorism, economics and faith.

  • This election is so critical … Lance says, “I don’t know yet if the church is going to be as awakened as they need to be—to show up in the force they need to show up in to support what this man’s (Donald Trump) capable of doing in restoration. Because ‘if history tells us anything (it’s this)—when God shows up He’s ‘disguised’ and His people don’t (always) recognize Him.”
  • “Trump is like a wrecking ball.”
  • Trump challenged this group of ministers (who met with him at Trump Tower)and said, “If you don’t mind me saying so, I think you guys have gotten soft.”

Lance went on to explain that Trump was looking at how fear and embarrassment are so often in ministry … with the church backing up from issues.

  • Lance continued saying that Trump is like a wrecking ball going toward many controversial issues. And Trump’s observation was, “I really think that America’s turned against Christianity in the last decade in a way that’s not healthy, and I think you guys have gotten soft in terms of taking your ground and holding it.”

Only someone like Donald Trump, himself a brand-new Christian, could actually get away with saying that to the church leadership in America.

Steve Strang is the founder of Charisma and CEO of Charisma Media. click here to sign up for the Strang Report newsletter.