TURKEY – THE ORIGIN OF THE ANTICHRIST

Posted on by

The following quote is from a nationalist poem used by Recip Tayyip Erdoğan in a famous speech that he gave when he was mayor of Istanbul. The speech landed him in jail for four months in 1999 and banned him from political life in Turkey under the charge of “inciting hatred based on religious differences.” It gives us a peek into the man’s heart and aspirations.

“Our minarets are our bayonets, our domes are our helmets, our mosques are our barracks. We will put a final end to ethnic segregation. No one can ever intimidate us. If the skies and the ground were to open against us. If floods and volcanoes were to burst, we will not turn from our mission. My reference is Islam. If I am not able to speak of this, what is the use of living?

Erdogan is the type of person the Antichrist would have to be, the type of leader that most prophetic experts predict – slick, persuasive, able to bridge the Eastern and Western worlds in dress, manner, and understanding, and being well-spoken and fluent in English. It is not a great leap to imagine a Turkish man. Perhaps a good candidate would be Sinan Ogan of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party.

Sinan Ogan is out of the recent presidential race but he has played a pivotal role in the second round as he came out in favor of Erdogan and is now seen as the “kingmaker”. In the aftermath of Turkey’s dramatic elections, a new name is on the lips of political commentators: third-placed presidential contender Sinan Ogan.

In the US, Gog and Magog in biblical prophecy were Russia, reflecting the Cold War lenses that were used at the time to interpret Scripture. However, now many end times Bible scholars believe Gog and Magog represent Turkey.

Turkey is identified by multiple ancient place names/locations that existed within that country’s current borders (i.e., Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Togarmah). This coalition of nations, and the Bible implies many more nations with them, will make an all-out assault on Israel, intending to destroy her. God told Ezekiel that this event would occur in the ‘latter years’ (Ezekiel 38:8). At the last moment it will look like Israel will be wiped out, but God will intervene and … the other nations, including Iran, will suffer a 7-fold judgment from God – a great earthquake, pestilence, bloodshed, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone (Ezekiel 38:19-22). Finally, if the nations of the Middle East mentioned in Ezekiel 38 (i.e., Libya, Iran, Turkey, etc.) are right now coming into alignment with each other before our very eyes, and assuming that the incredible event described above occurs sometime during the Great Tribulation period as most Biblical scholars believe, how much closer are we then to the soon coming return of Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 38, one of the primary End Times passages in God’s Word, “confirms Turkey’s leadership role” due to five of the eight “nations” mentioned are located in Turkey.

Revelation 17 reaffirms Turkey as the host of the Antichrist, with Istanbul as the empire that suffered a fatal wound but will return to stun the world. That blow, many would say, was the AD 1453 capture of the glorious city of Constantinople, a true wonder of the world that was taken over by the Turks.

Another interesting note is Istanbul has long been known as the “city on seven hills,” which has a strange ring when you read this verse in Revelation 17: The seven heads [of the woman on the Beast] are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction (vv. 9-11).

Daniel 9 says the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed by the people of the prince to come (v. 26). The unit of the Roman legion that leveled the Temple in AD 70 was based in Antioch in modern Turkey.

Daniel 11 tells us of a “king of the North” who will be much like the Antichrist (an archetype of him). Most prophecy scholars agree that this was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the ruler of the Seleucid Division of the Greek Empire. Much of that king’s reign was over modern-day Turkey.

Isaiah’s and Micah’s frequent mentions of Assyria’s opposition to Messiah Jesus further underscore the geographical proof of Turkey’s role. The ancient kingdom of Assyria comprised much of modern Turkey.

Zechariah 9 reaffirms Turkey’s role as it says the sons of Zion will be roused against the sons of another kingdom. Verse 13 has often been translated as “sons of Greece,” leading to many interpretations of the End Times centered around a revival of the Greek Empire, or the Western world as exemplified in Greek thought. But more careful, literal translations interpret this verse as “sons of Yavan.” Who was Yavan? A grandson of Noah, whose descendants settled in western Turkey, many in the city of Izmir, a longtime biblical site. Another son of Yavan (or Javan) was Tarshish, now modern-day Tarsus, also in Turkey.

The “throne of Satan” mentioned in Revelation 2 was constructed in Pergamum, a city whose spectacular ruins you can see in Turkey today, along with a reconstruction of that throne. In addition to these seven “biblical proofs,” Walid Shoebat* makes a powerful case for a Turkish Antichrist by noting that any Beast who would be able to dupe the nation of Israel into a peace treaty for three-and-a-half years would have to “have the reputation for being moderate and must possess the trust of the Israelis and the world.” I agree. There will need to be some repair in the Turk-Israeli alliance before this can happen, but these two nations have shown a remarkable willingness to partner in hopes of keeping the rest of the Middle East calm, up until very recently. And despite the political tension between the two, the economic relationship remains strong, with a nearly 40 percent jump in trade reported in 2013.[274] Turkey and Israel have a history of cooperation, unlike Israel with other Middle

Turkey is one of the few Middle Eastern countries that recognized Israel’s right to exist immediately, on March 28, 1949. Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the U.A.E., and Yemen still do not accept Israeli passports, and I don’t see another country of consequence in the region that would be able to lure Israel into a peace treaty.

Shoebat affirms the common scriptural narrative that “the Antichrist will initially appear to be moderate and trustworthy, but he will also eventually show his true colors. And, his success will come through deceit and shrewdness.” He added, “When searching for the Antichrist, one must never look to Ahmadinejads or Usamas of the world, but instead to someone with a moderate mask – at least in the beginning. His sinister, rabid hatred for Jews and Christians will not be revealed until he lures the sheep into his den.”

Anyone able to pull off a peace treaty with Israel and then negotiate his way to global domination will look great, speak well in English, and be comfortable around all sorts of people from the West and East. I don’t think he will wear an Arab dress or be monolingual. I think he will look like a handsome politician and wear a variety of clothing to fit the context; he will be familiar with Western ways of thought, and he will probably have been educated at some point in Europe or the U.S. This fits the profile of many leaders in Turkey who have studied abroad and speak at least passable English. They present themselves and their country as moderate, tolerant, and inclusive, but they are not shy about their faith, either.

The fact is the Turks have either killed or driven out all minority peoples and faiths. The Armenian Genocide in 1914-18 is increasingly recognized, even among Turks, as having occurred. One-and-a-half million Christians were expelled in 1923, and another 150,000 left after anti-Christian riots in Istanbul in 1955, helping to cut the Christian population from two million to a mere four thousand today.[

The author Ralph Stice tells a story that is classical Turkish “tolerance.” At the University he was teaching, he tried to book the room that was designated for religious minorities to meet. On the surface, it looks as if religious minorities will be welcomed to practice their faith as they see fit. In reality, however, Christians were not allowed to meet in the room designated for them in a religious complex. The promise was, in fact, a lie. Perhaps this is why the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Christian Church, Bartholomew, told 60 Minutes, “I feel crucified” living under a Turkish government that “would like to see his nearly 2,000-year-old Patriarchate die out,” as the church’s seminary was shut down and part of its property seized, like a python slowly squeezing a victim to death.[

As the idea that Turkey could be the home of the Antichrist has gained circulation, Turkish imams are fighting back even as they agree to be interviewed by American authors such as Joel Richardson. Adnan Oktar is a renowned Islamic teacher who oversees a popular website bursting with information on al-Mahdi. When challenged; in a soft, calm, reasoning voice, Oktar says that labeling Turkey as the Antichrist “makes the slaying of the Muslim world lawful,” and then says, “It is wrong and illogical to portray Turkey as the Antichrist. It is cruelty … You fail to think the best … You must trust people … You are sowing the seeds of hatred in all Christians’ hearts … You should be demanding warmth and brotherhood … We believe in the same Allah, don’t we?

Summary by Ralph Stice: For the many reasons I’ve stated – from Turkey as the site of the largest Muslim empire in the world and the only country seeking to revive such an empire, to possible scriptural evidence for the “Lost Land of the Bible” being a key country in the End Times – I believe Turkey merits our most careful attention in the years to come. As I lived in Turkey, I found a brand of Islam that I think would play very well in the modern world as a deceptive lure into the religion of Muhammad. There is just enough charm, Sufi-inspired emotion, and emphasis on “love,” “understanding,” and “tolerance” to make a Turk a prime candidate for the Antichrist, someone who appears quite palatable with politically correct people, yet who has a burning desire to spread Islam across the globe. Let me add Sinan Ogan is a good example of such a Turk.

*Walid Shoebat. He used to be a radicalized Muslim willing to die for the cause of Jihad until he converted to Christianity in 1994.
A significant portion of this post was taken from the book by Ralph Stice, Arab Spring, Christian Winter: Islam Unleashed on the Church and the World. ANEKO Press.

BIBLE COLLEGES TEACH EVOLUTION

Posted on by

The following report from Scientific American shows that academia is concerned that one in six biology teachers still cling to a Creator God.

Scientific American stated in 2019 that despite encouraging trends, one in six biology teachers, 17.6 percent, are still presenting creationism as a scientifically credible alternative to evolution. And almost as many high school biology teachers, 15 percent, are still failing to emphasize the broad scientific consensus on evolution, despite its general prevalence in state science standards and despite encouragement from professional organizations.

For me what is even more disturbing is the number of Bible Colleges that teach evolution and compromise the clear Bible teaching on creation and a young earth.

Jesus believed in a young world, but leading theistic evolutionists say He is wrong.

The standard secular timeline, from an alleged ‘big bang’ some 15 billion years ago to now, is accepted by most people in the evangelical Christian world, even though many would deny evolution. Some would even say that to dispute billions of years is to place an unnecessary stumbling block in the way of any scientifically-minded potential converts.

This is in contrast to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator made flesh, as well as several of the biblical authors, which makes it plain that this is wrong—people were there from the beginning of creation.

“But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.” Mark 10:6

“That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias … ” Luke 11:5-51

Paul plainly says in the following Scripture that people have been able to perceive these attributes of God in His creation ever since the creation of the world. Not ever since people were created.

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”. Romans 1:20

Carl Weiland former CEO of CMI produced the following response for a Professor at a leading Bible College whose response to Jesus’ clear teaching on origins was that Jesus did not know the science we know today. Moreover, Jesus had laid aside his divinity at the incarnation.

“OK, let’s assume for the sake of the argument that firstly, creation was by evolution, over millions of years of death and suffering—and that Jesus did perform some sort of lobotomy on Himself so that He could no longer recall what really took place. So He just understood Genesis in the most natural straightforward way, not realizing what the real truth was. What you’re claiming, in that case, amounts to this: That God the Father, knowing the real truth, permitted not just the Apostles, but His beloved Son, while on Earth, to believe and teach things that were utter falsehoods. Furthermore, it means that the Father permitted these false teachings to appear—repeatedly—in His revealed Word. With the result that for some 2,000 years, the vast majority of Christians were seriously misled about such things as not just the time and manner of creation, but gospel-crucial matters such as the origin of sin, and of death and suffering.”

The Lord Jesus repeatedly made it clear that His words and actions were on the Father’s authority, in all respects. Some examples:

“So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me‘”. John 8:28

“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” John 12:49-50

When God’s church and Bible Colleges no longer teach the inerrancy of the Bible – God’s Word, you know He will step in and judge them just as He has judged the nation He set up to be His witness on the earth – Israel.

Thank goodness the Bible gives us many prophecies that apostasy will be prevalent in the last days before Jesus returns so we need not be concerned, God is still in control. However, we need to make sure we are doing what He has called us to do. Christians are called to be salt and light in a dark and dying world. Why salt? Salt purifies, it preserves, it enhances the flavor. It prevents decay, it puts out fires, and it helps to de-ice things that are frozen. Light dispels darkness, reveals hidden dangers, and exposes dirt (sin).

GOOD NEWS FOR THE WORLD

Posted on by

Here’s Good News for the world

Creation Ministries International seeks to give glory and honour to the triune God of the Bible as Creator, and to affirm the truth of the biblical record of the real origin and history of the world and mankind.

Part of this real history is the bad news that the rebellion of the first man, Adam, against God’s command, brought death, suffering, and separation from God into this world. We see the results all around us. All of Adam’s descendants are sinful from conception (Psalm 51:5) and have themselves entered into this rebellion (sin). They, therefore, cannot live with a holy God but are condemned to separation from God. The Bible says that “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that all are therefore subject to “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” Psalms 51:5. Read the entire Psalm, David prayed this Psalm after his sin with Bathsheba was disclosed by Nathan.

But the good news is that God has done something about it. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16

Jesus Christ the Creator, God the Son, though totally sinless, took on human nature, so He could become our Redeemer. Then He suffered, on behalf of mankind, the penalty of mankind’s sin, which is death and separation from God. He did this to satisfy the righteous demands of the holiness and justice of God, His Father. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice; He died on the cross, but on the third day, He rose again, conquering death so that all who truly believe in Him, repent (repentance = a change of mind) of their sin and trust in Him (rather than their own merit), are able to come back to God and live for eternity with their Creator.

Therefore: “He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” John 3:18

What a wonderful Saviour—and what a wonderful salvation in Christ our Creator!

If you want to know more of what the Bible says about how you can receive eternal life, please email, write or call the office near you. For more: creation.com/good news.

CAN WE TRUST THE GOSPELS?

Posted on by

The Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are four accounts of Jesus’s life and teachings while on earth. But are they historically accurate?

New Testament scholar, Dr Peter Williams, presents a powerful case for the historical reliability of the Gospels. He compares different accounts of the same events, assesses how accurately the four biblical accounts reflect the cultural context of their day, considers how the texts were handed down throughout the centuries, and examines evidence from non-Christian sources.

Dr Williams applies a series of tests covering topics which range from geography to personal names, tax to language, and weights and measures to botany. His conclusion is clear: It is highly rational to trust the Gospels.

Contents
1. What Do Non-Christian Sources Say? 2. What Are the Four Gospels? 3. Did the Gospel Authors Know Their Stuff? 4. Undesigned Coincidences 5. Do We Have Jesus’s Actual Words? 6. Has the Text Changed? 7. What about Contradictions? 8. Who Would Make All This Up?

This book’s title, Can We Trust the Gospels?, is carefully chosen. It addresses the question by looking at evidence of the Gospels’ trustworthiness. The great thing about trust is that it is something we all understand to a degree because we all exercise it. … It is a version of [this] everyday sort of trust that we are going to consider in this book as we ask whether we can trust the accounts of Jesus’s life …

Trusting the Gospels is both the same as trusting other things and different. It is the same in that we often have to evaluate the credibility of people and things in daily life. It is different in that the Gospels contain accounts of miracles and of a man, Jesus Christ, who is presented as the supernatural Son of God who can rightfully claim ownership of our lives. But before we consider such claims, we need to ask whether the Gospels show the signs of trustworthiness we usually look for in things we believe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter J. Williams (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the principal of Tyndale House, one of the world’s leading institutes for biblical research. Previously a senior lecturer in New Testament at the University of Aberdeen, he is the chair of the International Greek New Testament Project and a member of the ESV Translation Oversight Committee.

FILM NEFARIOUS GETS DEMONS RIGHT

Posted on by

“I did not believe there was such a thing as possession,” writes Peck in his book Glimpses of the Devil, where he records the above case of Jersey along with several other confrontations with possessed people in his psychiatric practice. But his encounter with the demon who decided to finally reveal itself in full to Peck during his session with Jersey changed his opinion.

While the demon in Peck’s first case he chronicles in his book hid for some time, the one in the movie Nefarious takes the opposite approach. “I am a demon” it right-from-the-start tells the atheist psychiatrist, Dr. James Martin, sent to evaluate the inmate that the demon possesses who is about to be executed on death row.

What follows is a dialogue between the demon and the psychiatrist, played by Jordan Belfi, that takes up the vast majority of the movie. It’s a conversation similar to the precision-styled dialogue with which the demon in Peck’s case spoke and is sprinkled with some of the best biblically-based demonology I’ve heard in any film whose theme involves the demonic.

“I am the most rational being you will ever meet”

My oldest daughter and I enjoy going to scary movies together. When she picked “Nefarious” for our weekend film outing, neither of us knew we were walking into a movie that would be so spot-on where demons are concerned.

About a third of the way through the film, I turned to her and said, “The writers must have gotten a Christian professor schooled in demonology to consult on this because it’s so accurate theologically.” I had completely overlooked the fact that the directors and writers of the film are Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, the same team that produced God’s Not Dead, so it’s no surprise they did their homework.

The plot revolves around Belfi’s character assessing a murderer, who is about to be executed that evening at the prison, in order to determine if he is sane and therefore legally allowed to die for his crimes. The demon tells Belfi that its goal with him is two-fold: to have the person it possesses die in the electric chair (“because we have no need of him anymore”) and have Belfi evangelize the demon’s Gospel to the rest of the world.

Sean Patrick Flanery plays the part of the demon named Nefarious (along with “Edward,” the demon’s host) and does an outstanding job in the role. He transitions from the demon to Edward with perfect fluidity and aces it when it comes to delivering a hostile combination of contempt, arrogance, and maliciousness as the demon when conversing with and mastering Belfi’s psychiatrist.  

Flanery’s character is on death row for 11 murders, which he claims Nefarious has committed: “Six convicted, one suspected, four that they don’t have the capacity to figure out.” When the skeptical Belfi questions Edward’s reason and rationality, the demon responds, “I am the most rational being you will ever meet” — a good reminder to us that the enemy adheres to a logical teleology in how he operates.

Another powerful scene involves the demon speaking to the psychiatrist about an abortion his girlfriend is about to undergo. The demon’s narrative includes Old Testament references to infants being offered up to false gods and is sickeningly insightful: “The Creator creates, and we destroy. And we do all of it through you. We always have. Did you forget your history, Jimmy? Even in ancient times, the arch-demon Molech was celebrated by tossing infants into flaming bonfires.”

The film, through the mouth of Nefarious, also provides good cultural commentary on the escalations of crime and malevolence seen in almost every news article today:

“Now there’s evil everywhere, and no one even cares … we achieved our goal. Slowly. With your movies, your TV, and your media. We desensitized you. Redirected your worldview. To the point that you can’t recognize evil when it’s right in front of your face. More to the point, James, you can’t even feel it when you’re doing it. As for winners and losers, whoa, whoa, whoa! That gets decided at the time of death. The exact numbers are a closely guarded secret, but there are more of you ending up in my master’s house than with the Enemy. A lot more, Jimmy.”

Is the movie scary? It depends on how you define ‘scary.’ There are no real jump scares, nor CGI or anything similar to tantalize you.

But if you understand the demonic, that’s really not needed. There’s a reason that nearly every time in Scripture when the natural encounters the supernatural, the former can rarely stay upright. I can testify to that with the two confrontations I’ve had with demons. Their presence alone makes your skin crawl.

Moreover, watching the demon terrorize, humiliate, and deprive the Edward character of everything in his life and then be ultimately responsible for his death and assignment to eternal punishment is the very definition of ‘horror.’  

“Nefarious”is definitely worth a watch and beats the vast majority of demon-themed films where accuracy in the devil’s thinking is concerned. In a Hollywood way, it shows itself to be a good case study of Satan’s strategy with humankind.

That strategy can be difficult to see sometimes amidst the superficial layer of the culture wars that play out every day. M. Scott Peck noted in his time with his first demonically-possessed patient how her evil facial manifestations that he and others with him saw multiple times were never picked up by the video recorders capturing her and their sessions.   

Speaking about how evil is sometimes difficult to see and detect, Peck quotes Malachi Martin who wrote, “evil moves cunningly along the lines of contemporary fads and interests, and within the usual bounds of experiences of ordinary men and women.” The movie “Nefarious” does a good job of reminding us of just how cunning the devil’s evil can be and how dull we can be to it even when it’s staring us in the face. 

Robin Schumacher is an accomplished software executive and Christian apologist who has written many articles, authored and contributed to several Christian books, appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs, and presented at apologetic events. He holds a BS in Business, Master’s in Christian apologetics and a Ph.D. in New Testament. His latest book is, A Confident Faith: Winning people to Christ with the apologetics of the Apostle Paul.

LESBIAN WOMEN’S STUDIES PROFESSOR COMES TO CHRIST

Posted on by

This video is about former lesbian women’s studies professor Rosaria Butterfield story of coming to Christ, In this video interview Beckett and Rosaria cover sexual orientation as a modern construct, Christian hospitality, and much more. It takes a look at three of her books, “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert,” “Openness Unhindered,” and “The Gospel Comes with a House Key.” This conversation will pull you in, encourage and enlighten you. Rosaria brings so much wisdom to the topic of homosexuality. This important episode is a MUST WATCH.

Only God could change a person so radically as happened with Rosaria Butterfield. Testimonies of changed lives are powerful.

MORE ON HUMILITY

Posted on by

This post follows my post The Power of Humility, posted five days ago. Humility is relying on God, rather than on ourselves, in the sure knowledge that He gives the grace (the ability to succeed) to the humble (James 4:6). When we see God act, it increases our sense of security and makes us aware of His presence with us. We become aware that the One acting on our behalf is giving us the very thing which we have been unable to grasp for ourselves. It is the meek (humble) who will inherit the land, rather than those whose hope is based on power, rights, skills, or privilege.

“But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” Psalms 37:11

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5

To act meekly, trusting God alone, is profoundly counter-cultural and very different from seeking to reach our ‘full potential’ as independent autonomous entities. Pride engenders self-reliance; humility frees us from total dependence on our insights and abilities.

Humility is sometimes portrayed as involving the adoption of a negative view of ourselves, but in fact, humility releases us to be who we really are, without the need for pretense. It engenders self-acceptance and saves us from having to construct a false self to convince ourselves and others that we are worthy of acceptance, love, and admiration. Our true self is potentially less impressive than we would like to be but is more peaceful, less self-absorbed, and easier to be with. Thomas Merton puts the heart of the matter quite succinctly: ‘In order to become myself I must cease to be what I always thought I wanted to be’. We do not need to aspire to be more gifted, good-looking, athletic, or intelligent than we already are. Humility is a great blessing, as it frees us from the need to be defensive about our shortcomings. It releases us from our desire to dominate others so that we feel superior; we don’t have to impress friends and colleagues to get the recognition we crave.

Humility, accepting our limitations, enables God to work through us more effectively and it puts us in good company. The Gospels, Mark’s in particular, intentionally highlight the way the disciples always seemed to get hold of the wrong end of the stick, often compounding their incompetence by suggesting a foolish course of action. When Jesus speaks metaphorically they take it literally and vice versa. The good news is that if God could use them so powerfully, despite their obvious limitations, then he can use us as well. His power really is made perfect in our weakness.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Walking humbly with your God now will prepare you for reigning with Jesus in His soon-coming Millennial Kingdom. It no doubt will determine the role that Jesus assigns to you.

Humility creates community. Rather than being a sign of weakness, being humble requires a certain strength. Humility takes much more courage than pretending that we are something we are not.

In the Millennium glorified believers will mediate Jesus’ rule throughout the earth acting as civil and criminal magistrates and judges and spiritual guides and leaders in all aspects of the Kingdom: worship, politics, health, education, business, art, sport etc.

THE POWER OF HUMILITY

Posted on by

The ultimate act of humility was seen when Jesus trusted the Father so completely that he became a vulnerable human baby and later submitted to death on a Cross. His willingness to humble himself had a paradoxical outcome: he refused to elevate himself and, as a result of his refusal, he was raised to the right hand of God. God the Father exalted Jesus because he refused to exalt himself and the same dynamic works in our lives as well.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-10

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” 1 Peter 5:6

Humility is the opposite of pride and it is the quality we most need in order to walk with God but we can only do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

“But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord,” Micah 3:8

Humility cultivates God’s presence, whereas pride alienates him since God is opposed to the proud. Pride is founded on self-deception, the grandiose delusion that we are special and gifted, perhaps even exceptional. God allowed the Apostle Paul to be severely afflicted to prevent pride from creeping in (2 Corinthians 12:7). Particularly pernicious is so-called spiritual pride, a tendency which was continually countered by Jesus in his interaction with the Pharisees.

Originally God made man from the dust of the ground and but for the grace of God, we end up as dust. Humility is the acceptance that we have these lowly origins and we are, therefore, limited beings. This has a very positive effect on our inner world, as it enables us to make peace with our limitations, as well as allowing us to celebrate our strengths. Humility frees us from having overly high expectations of ourselves and of others in a world that often demands impossible standards. We can escape this toxic situation, which always leaves us feeling that we are failures (not just that we have failed but that we, in ourselves, are failures). Humility is being comfortable in our own skin, so comfortable that we don’t feel the need to justify ourselves to others or to bolster our reputation.

The main ‘skill’ which is required for leadership is discerning when we are moving with God’s presence and in God’s Spirit – and not just simply moving. We cannot move in God’s presence and Spirit without being humble. Also, leadership is not simply a case of being good at planning, skilled in organizational development, or having the personal charisma which others naturally follow. This perspective is in keeping with the New Testament where leadership is regarded primarily as a gift from God (Romans 12:8). Also, spiritual leadership is not to be confused with being a religious entrepreneur.

This post is adapted from information in Richard Roberts book Cultivating God’s Presence

In the Millennium all the glorified believers will mediate Jesus’ rule throughout the earth acting as civil and criminal magistrates and judges and spiritual guides and leaders in all aspects of the Kingdom: worship, politics, health, education, business, art, sport etc.

.

TRANSGENDER SURGERY FOR CHILDREN

Posted on by

Is the following good news an indicator that the world is turning back to God’s values? Sadly, God’s Word, the Bible tells us that godlessness and lawlessness will increase as we approach the time of Jesus’ Second Coming. God has given us at least 1800 prophecies of His return to earth, first to raise the dead in Christ and then to rapture believers to heaven before God pours out His wrath upon an unrepentant world.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced on Monday that he has implemented an emergency regulation imposing what his office calls “guardrails” on gender transition interventions for minors as the push to ban the controversial practices continues on a state-by-state basis. “Even Europe recognizes that mutilating children for the sake of a woke, leftist agenda has irreversible consequences, and countries like Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom have all sharply curtailed these procedures,”

The new regulation “clarifies that state law already prohibits performing experimental procedures in the absence of specific guardrails” and requires medical professionals to inform patients that the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones “is experimental and is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)” and that “the FDA has issued a warning that puberty blockers can lead to brain swelling and blindness.” Bailey’s office says the move was necessary “due to the skyrocketing number of gender transition interventions despite rising concerns in the medical community that these procedures are experimental and lack clinical evidence of safety or success.”

Despite this information, the LGBTQ agenda is being promoted and adopted widely

Dylan Mulvaney appeared on the Drew Barrymore Show Monday imparting wisdom to fellow transgender people just starting their “gender journey,” and encouraging parents of so-called “trans kids” to support their confused children in their belief that they are members of the opposite sex.

At one point, Barrymore, one of the most famous women in the world, kneeled before Mulvaney in a gushing display of deference to the male who shot to fame performing an over-the-top ditsy-woman persona in the TikTok series 100 Days of Girlhood.

Trans activists like Dylan Mulvaney, whose painfully offensive internet content shows each day of his life of “girlhood” using outdated female stereotypes, may merit our compassion and an invitation to redemption — but Barrymore’s behavior was more akin to worship. She appeared to wholeheartedly celebrate everything that Dylan falsely proclaims himself to be, perpetuating the same façade that both she and everyone watching knew to be a lie.

Contrary to Barrymore’s example, in a culture where the existence and privacy of women are increasingly thrust into question by transgender ideology, it is more important than ever that women stick together in defending the dignity of our sex against those who parody it in the public square.

In a similar act of kneeling to transgender ideology, Wellesley College made headlines this week due to a student referendum that supported welcoming all transgender and so-called nonbinary-identifying students to the traditionally all-female institution. If adopted, this change would mark a significant departure from the original intention of the school, which was founded in 1875 with the goal of expanding higher education opportunities to women; notably, Ivy League universities didn’t accept female students until they began in the late 1960s. In more recent years, women’s colleges have offered young women an oasis of privacy, particularly for students with a prior history of sexual trauma and a desire to minimize the risk of suffering the all-too-common experience of campus sexual assault.

This is clear evidence we are living in the last days before Jesus returns to set up His millennial reign on this earth. As I mentioned before, there are more than 1800 Bible references to Jesus’ second coming so know it is next on God’s agenda for this earth. If you want to know more about what is coming next for this planet go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net.

“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6

EASTER CELEBRATION ON MEMORY MOUNTAIN IN OUTBACK AUSTRALIA

Posted on by

Vision Christian Media will be Broadcasting Live from Memory Mountain (230 km west of Alice Springs) on Easter Sunday

You have the blessed opportunity to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience – the launch of the Cross on Memory Mountain.  During Easter 2023, from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, many Indigenous tribes will gather at the foot of the Cross to celebrate their faith and culture, and to thank God for the fulfillment of their long-held vision to erect this Cross. 

This Easter the lights on the Forgiveness Cross will be turned on for the first time! Remarkably, this will be the 100th Anniversary of the first time the gospel came to the area! Four Aboriginal Lutheran evangelists brought hundreds of people to Christ and baptised them here in 1923! Memory Mountain was named in memory of this. This is a ‘thin place’ – a ‘Jacob’s ladder place where earth meets heaven and heaven meets earth. The Ikuntji Community expects miracles, signs & wonders, spontaneous salvations, etc.

The Cross on Memory Mountain will eventually draw visitors from across Australia and around the world who wish to have an authentic encounter with local Indigenous people. This iconic symbol of the faith, culture, and traditions of the Indigenous people of central Australia will become a major new outback tourism icon.  

The plan for an iconic tourism precinct at Memory Mountain is part of a long-term, life-changing strategy to give Indigenous Australians a hand up – not a handout.  Tourism and ancillary businesses will bring employment opportunities, sustainable enterprises, and financial independence to the local communities. The Cross will bring connection, understanding, and true reconciliation.
In case you can’t make it to the launch celebrations in person over the Easter weekend, Vision Christian Media will be broadcasting live from Memory Mountain on Easter Sunday at 8am AEST on their Sunday Morning Together program.
You can enjoy the live broadcast on your computer or mobile device by going to www.vision.org.au and clicking on Live Stream.