Millions of Christians across the globe live in perpetual fear that they will be punished, harmed — or even killed for merely practicing their faith.

Thank goodness for the following Scriptures:

“Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

“Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17.

“In light of that eternal glory being achieved for us by our momentary troubles, Paul offers the following words of eternal perspective: “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” 2 Corinthians 4:1

Worldwide persecution continues to be at a fever pitch, with varying degrees of affliction for those who openly embrace the Bible.

This tragic reality is more than evident in Open Doors USA’s latest “World Watch List,” an annual report that offers “an unparalleled glimpse into the 50 places around the world where it costs the most to be a Christian.”

According to the stunning 2020 report, more than 260 million Christians live in places where there is a high level of persecution, amounting to one-in-eight Christians worldwide. The “World Watch List” gives a lens into some of the most unthinkable scenarios. “It’s the foremost grassroots data on the persecution of Christians,” Open Doors USA president and CEO David Curry recently told The Pure Flix Podcast. It gives us an idea about the trends of religious liberty generally.”

He said there are restrictions in most places of the world, but that the areas of extreme oppression will likely shock those unfamiliar with the dire scenario. From government seizure of property and social exclusion to violence and murder, there is a wide range of ways in which Christians can be oppressed for their faith.

“The most dangerous country where persecution was most intense was North Korea,” Curry said. “But as far as violence, Nigeria pops up [high] on our list.” The government of North Korea, for instance, has “great control over every sphere of life,” Curry said, with people who are found with scripture or who are suspected of being a Christian at risk of losing everything and being sent to labour camps.

In places like Nigeria — the 12th most dangerous place to be a Christian on the 2020 list — Islamic extremists with the Boko Haram terror group use extreme violence. “Such violence often results in loss of life, physical injury, as well as loss of property,” the report reads. “As a result of the violence, Christians are also being dispossessed of their land and means of livelihood — and Christians with a Muslim background also face rejection from their own families.”

Should we be surprised at the increased persecution of Christians? We should not be, as Jesus revealed to us what it will be like just prior to His return. It will be a time of tribulation even great tribulation such that Jesus said, “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” Matthew 24:22

Open Doors collects the “World Watch List” data through a network of researchers who are on the ground all over the globe.

God is shaking all that can be shaken in Australia, and elsewhere for that matter, exactly as prophesied by Him in the “last days” before Jesus returns. What we are experiencing right now with on going rain and flooding is unprecedented following what seemed endless drought and fires. I have extracted these headlines from newspapers reports on these events.

Why These Australia Fires Are Like Nothing We’ve Seen Before

More than 16 million acres have gone up in flames. And it has happened in populated areas, unlike most of the world’s other blazes of this scale. Millions more acres have burned in other parts of the country.

The modern world has never seen anything quite like these Australia fires. What sets these blazes apart, in terms of their size, is that they are happening in populated areas. Until now, fires this large happened mostly in places like northern Canada or Siberia, where few people live and blazes burn largely uncontrolled.

“What we’re seeing in Australia, in a completely different environment, are fires that are approaching or even exceeding the magnitude of things that we only saw in the most remote forested regions in the world,” said Ross Bradstock, the director of the Center for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales.

Wet and Wild as Bureau of Meteorology warns of Dangerous Floods

Wild weather is lashing both sides of the country, with NSW and Queensland being warned of life-threatening flash flooding, cyclone Damien smashing WA’s Pilbara coast, and tens of thousands left without power across three states.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) stated on Saturday it was shifting its state operation centre’s focus from fires to floods as the weather helped bring the number of active blazes down to 37, extinguishing the huge Currowan Fire in the Shoalhaven Region, which had burnt for 74 days and and destroyed 312 homes.

“With significant focus shifting from fires to floods, the NSW RFS state operations centre has now been reconfigured to operate as the NSW State Emergency Services (SES) Sydney Zone Operations Centre in support of statewide flood operations,” said NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

The heaviest rains in more than two decades have swamped large tracts of NSW and Queensland, bringing a dramatic end to the bush fire season but leaving more than 100,000 residents across the two states without power as ­authorities warn that the worst of the deluge is still to come.

The great physicist Albert Einstein was interviewed by the Post reporter George Viereck, The Saturday Evening Post, October 26th, 1929.

Einstein never expressed any belief in a personal God, but he believed in the historical Jesus — not the popularised prophet such as appeared in a best-selling biography by Emil Ludwig.

“To what extent are you influenced by Christianity ?”

“As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud . I am a Jew but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.

“Have you read Emil Ludwig’s book on Jesus?”

“Emil Ludwig’s Jesus,” Einstein replied, “is shallow. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrase mongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot.”

“You accept the historical existence of Jesus? ”

“Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels .”.without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. How different, for instance, is the impression which we receive from an account of legendary heroes of antiquity like Theseus. Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus.”

” Ludwig Lewisohn, in one of his recent books, claims that many of the sayings of Jesus paraphrase the sayings of other prophets.” “No man,” Einstein replied. “can deny the fact that Jesus existed. nor that his sayings are beautiful. Even if some of them have been said before, no one has expressed them so divinely as he.”

I wonder if the Holy Spirit ever revealed to Einstein his need of Jesus as his Lord and Saviour?

Jordan – military maneuvers simulating war with Israel

“And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:6

The maneuvers, conducted in the presence of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, were named “Swords of Karameh” in an apparent reference to the 1968 Battle of Karameh, in which Jordan and Fatah fought together against Israel.

from World Israel News Nov. 29th, 2019

The Jordanian Army conducted a series of military maneuvers this week simulating an attempted invasion of the kingdom, but which also appeared to be a message to Israel.

The maneuvers, which took place on Nov. 25 in the presence of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, were named “Swords of Karameh,” in an apparent reference to Israel’s 1968 military operation against Fatah near the Jordanian village of Karameh, in which the Jordanian Army fought alongside the Palestinian group.

Jordan’s official Petra news agency and the Jordanian media reported that the maneuvers involved large numbers of ground and air vehicles, and were aimed at “destroying the vanguard of the enemy and the bridges that can be used as crossing points” into Jordanian territory.

While the official Jordanian reports did not explicitly mention Israel, the reference to the Battle of Karameh and that fact that the drill focused on an invasion via bridges—that is, bridges over the Jordan River that forms the border between the two countries—strongly implies a connection.

AS AL GORE AND HIS CLAIMS CONTINUE TO BE PROVEN FALSE AND HE CONTINUES TO BE DISCOVERED TO BE A SNAKE OIL SALESMAN, SCIENTISTS ARE NOW BEGINNING TO CALL HIM AND ALL OTHER GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISTS LIARS.

Over 31,000 scientists disagree with Al Gore, and have come forward and stated that ‘catastrophic man-made global warming’ is a complete hoax and science lie.

There are the more than 31,000 American scientists (to date) who have signed a petition challenging the climate change narrative and 9,029 of them hold PhDs in their respective fields.

Many of those scientists who signed the petition were encouraged to speak out in favor of the truth after retired senior NASA atmospheric scientist John L. Casey revealed that solar cycles are largely responsible for warming periods on Earth – not human activity.

Even the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece in 2015 challenging the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) pseudoscience being promulgated by global warming proponents.

And, of course, there are the more than 31,000 American scientists (to date) who have signed a petition challenging the climate change narrative and 9,029 of them hold PhDs in their respective fields. But hey, Obama, Al Gore and his cronies have also ignored that inconvenient truth, as well.

Climate change proponents remain undeterred in their mission, ignoring numerous recent scientific findings indicating that there has been no warming trend at all for nearly two decades.

Al Gore’s dire predictions of the melting of polar ice on a massive scale have proved to be completely false. In fact, in 2014 – a year that was touted as being “the hottest ever” in the Earth’s history – there were record amounts of ice reported in Antarctica, an increase in Arctic ice, and record snowfalls across the globe.

But the global warming crowd continues to push their agenda on the public while lining their pockets in the process.

This post was prompted by my recent post “Are We All Called to be Fishers of Men?, where you can see a recent video by Francis Chan. In the video, Francis Chan recounts how God has called him to radical change direction in his ministry. For all of us, there invariably will come a time in our spiritual journey when the Lord will solicit our cooperation in permitting Him to guide us in a new way. His preference is that we would sense His leading, fully cooperate and move in the new direction.

However, as is all too often the case, He must intervene in the affairs of our lives due to the fact that we are comfortable and entrenched in our present course of action.

To secure our attention and place us on the pathway God desires, there are strategies that He employs that are very effective. As much as we are not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11), we must be even more knowledgeable of the ways of the Lord (Psalms. 25:4). Knowing God’s ways will allow us to experience His mighty acts (Psalms 103:7).

This article by Glenn Bleakney offers sound advice on how God moves us in a new direction. I hope it will be helpful. Glenn is the founder and president of Awake Nations Ministries.

Here are three ways God works to move us in a new direction:

1. Disruption of Our Plans
2. Dissipation of Resources
3. Dissolution of Relationships

DISRUPTION OF OUR PLANS

The Apostle Paul had received an apostolic commission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. In keeping with his mandate, he targeted key cities in the Roman Empire to visit. Yet, the New Testament narrative informs us that on at least one occasion he was not able to fulfill his objective because God saw fit to stop him. “They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them” (Acts 16:6-7).

Like Paul the apostle, while attempting to do the will of the Lord, perhaps you were heading down a certain roadway and you ended up “hitting a wall” and were stopped in your tracks. From that point on, no matter how hard you worked, you were incapable of making significant progress. Initiatives and projects that were originally inspired by a lofty vision and deep passion ended up languishing, some of them even terminating.

When stuck at an impasse, it is a natural tendency to return to familiar surroundings. We see this in the lives of the disciples after Jesus’ death. They went back to fishing even though they had clearly been mandated to forsake their vocation and follow Christ (See Luke 5:10-11; John 21:3). Because they were commercial fishermen, there may even have been economic motives behind their actions. Nevertheless, we see clearly that there was no lasting provision and no permanent peace in returning to past environments.

When God leads us out of a place of familiarity and the way forward is blocked, what is the solution?

There are some breakthroughs reserved for us that can only be accessed through prayer. We must seek God until we receive a clear answer from heaven. Whether it was Paul’s night vision of the man in Macedonia summoning him, or the voice of Jesus speaking to the disciples on the seashore in Galilee, the New Testament Christians received clear direction from the Spirit and were able to regain momentum and experience breakthrough.

DISSIPATION OF RESOURCES

When God wants us to move in a new direction, He may also permit us to experience the dissipation of resources. Elijah had been powerfully used by the Lord to declare prophetically the purpose of God in dealing with Israel. “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kin. 17:1) And just as the prophet had foretold, the word of the Lord came to pass. “And there was a severe famine in Samaria … “(1 Kin. 18:2).

During the famine, God looked after Elijah. He gave him specific instruction relative to how he would be sustained. “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.’ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook” (1 Kings 17:2-6).

Cherith which means “place of covenant,” was where the Lord demonstrated His faithfulness in taking care of Elijah. However, the day would come when the brook would run dry and the birds would no longer fly (see 1 Kin. 17:7). Although Elijah had come to depend on such provision, God seemed to have no compunction at all cutting off these resources.

Has Your Brook Dried Up?

Have you experienced something similar? Your streams of resource have dried up. You struggle to make ends meet and you do not know how you are going to keep going. During such a time, trust that the Lord will soon speak to you like He did to Elijah. “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you'” (1 Kin. 17:8-9).

More than a cute cliche, you will see that the place where He leads you will be the place where He feeds you. Where the Lord guides, He provides!

DISSOLUTION OF RELATIONSHIPS

A third way the Lord works to set us in motion in a new direction is through the dissolution of certain relationship. (Please note: we are not addressing covenant marriage relationships here). We see this clearly in the life of David. The heart of King Achish, once favorable to David, turned away from him.” Then Achish called David and said to him, ‘Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines'” (1 Sam. 29:6-7).

An unanticipated meltdown in a relationship can cause great pain. Abandonment and unanswered questions will naturally follow. One vital truth to come to grips with is that God will on occasion send certain people into our lives for a short season or perhaps even a brief encounter.

God-sanctioned, transitory connections, though nonsustainable, serve a purpose in facilitating the plan of the Lord. Being able to differentiate between what is intended to be provisional and what is meant to be permanent will enlighten one of the Father’s intention for the relationship.

Here is a powerful truth to embrace when a key connection you value has dissolved for no apparent legitimate reason: The Lord is turning the hearts of men in the direction He desires (Proverbs 21:1) and is in fact making it easier for you to let go and move forward into your next assignment. Therefore, do not take the matter personally and become bitter with people as though they are rejecting you.

TRUSTING IN GOD’S GOOD GUIDANCE

You may not understand what is currently happening in your life. Does it seem to you that God has messed up your plans? Have resources dried up? Has a relationship disintegrated?

Sometimes Father God’s ways do not make sense to us. Scripture attests to this reality. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). This is because the LORD possesses infinite knowledge and perfect wisdom. He is eternal, Almighty and omniscient. He sees the end from the beginning and is completely aware of the final outcome of all things.

No matter how it may appear on the surface, He is actively involved in the affairs of our lives. On occasion, He may even interrupt our plans resulting in us experiencing a sense of anxiety due to a perceived loss of control. However, as uncomfortable as we may become, we must trust that He is leading us along the best pathway for our lives. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye on you” (Psalms 32:8).

Trusting God at all times is a non-negotiable prerequisite for living supernaturally in the kingdom!

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Learn more about Glenn Bleakney at awakenations.org.

According to a 2016 time study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 34% of the workforce works on the weekend. The U.S. workforce is approximately 160 million. That means over 54 million work on the weekend. That’s staggering. Moreover, this situation will be mirrored in most developed nations.

The two fastest-growing demographics working on weekends are entrepreneurs and those with more than one job. The rise of the entrepreneurial society and the gig economy virtually guarantees this weekend workforce will increase, probably substantially.

If someone works either day, Saturday or Sunday, they are not likely to attend Sunday services. For Saturday workers, Sunday becomes their day off after a tough work schedule.

The reasons for not doing weeknight services are rarely theological. If your church has Sunday-only service or services, you are missing out on reaching one of three working persons. I really don’t think most church leaders realise how huge this number is.

The weekend workforce is not a future trend; it is a staggering present reality. Some churches will adjust and seek to reach these workers. Sadly most won’t.

As most readers of my post know, I believe in the last days the persecuted church will be like that described in the Book of Acts, like it was in China during the time of Mao, like it is now in Iran and many of the other Muslim countries. As well, pastors like Francis Chan have already discovered large churches are not focused on training up disciples who are then in turn capable of training up more disciples. Small groups of people totally committed to one another as they were in the early church is the model that is capable of completing the great commission.

By: Rabbi Ari Enkin, Rabbinic Director, United with Israel

Yom Kippur is a time when we are forced to focus on our mortality. We take inventory of what we have done. We evaluate our ‘spiritual worth.’ Just like Yom Kippur is the day of judgement, so, too, we must prepare ourselves for the ultimate Day of Judgement. And that is what I want to focus on in this article.

We also make use of Yom Kippur to recommit ourselves to leading a life worth living. We recommit to being good people whose lives are filled with meaning. We also want to ensure that we get ourselves the ‘best seats’ in the World to Come.

The Talmud tells us that we will be asked four questions when we one day reach heaven.

The first question is “Have you been honest in your business dealings?“

But make no mistake, it doesn’t merely refer to our honesty in money-related dealings. It also comes to include the questions: “Were you honest in your relationships? Were you a good neighbor? A good husband? A good father? Were you honest and did you give all your endeavors your best effort?”

The next question will be “Did you set aside time for Torah study?”

This too, is a much more loaded question than meets the eye. It comes to include such things as: “Did you pursue education? Did you strengthen your Judaism? Did you seek knowledge or did you prefer ignorance when it came to Torah observance? Did you live by the Torah’s values? Did you teach your children our heritage”?

Then we will be asked: “Did you try to have children?”

This, too, is of course, a loaded question. But it is so much more than that. It also includes: “Did you spend time with your family? Did you treat your wife properly? Did you try to provide for those dependent on you to the best of your ability?”

And finally, there is the question: “Did you look forward to redemption?”

I would suggest that this includes: “Did you work hard to build a better future for yourself and those around you? Did you give up when things weren’t getting tough or did you try, try, and try again? Did you support the State of Israe,l which represents Jewish redemption in our day?”

As we enter Yom Kippur it is these many question that should be on our mind. May we be able to give Him the right answers.