The sharp growth in claims of gender dysphoria, particularly by young women who feel they should be male, is a confronting trend that requires serious attention. The Weekend Australian has been particularly concerned aboutclaims critical of the speed with which young people have been encouraged to undergo irreversible treatment, sometimes without the consent of parents.
Even discussing the issue has raised the ire of some practitioners, resulting in lengthy investigations into the report in The Australian. The finding of the Australian Press Council in September last year that the report was in the public interest, despite partly upholding a complaint by Dr Michelle Telfer, who runs the gender clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, has been validated by the closure of the Tavistock Gender Clinic in the UK. This is particularly so given the reliance that specialists working in this area here have put on the controversial methods and approaches used at Tavistock. Australian clinics use the same hormonal treatments, including puberty blockers.
The British clinic is being shut down after it was criticized in an independent review that highlighted very poor evidence to support hormonal treatment. Doctors reported concerns that some patients were referred to a gender transitioning pathway too quickly. Gender identity services at Tavistock will be brought to a close and transferred to two services led by specialist children’s hospitals in London and the North West.
male and female chromosones
Once very rare, the diagnosis of gender dysphoria has taken off among teenagers in affluent countries, including Australia.
A “gender-affirming” world view pioneered in Australia confronts parents witha stark and false choice:streamlined access to “lifesaving treatment”, or a child left to suffer the suicidal distress of gender identity at odds with the body’s biology.
Persuaded by gender clinicians and human rights lawyers, the Family Court had made it easier over the past several years for children and adolescents to get puberty-blocker drugs, cross-sex hormones,and surgery such as mastectomy without the obstacle of a court application, as long as parents did not disagree. With the closure of Tavistock, the question must be asked: If it is unsafe in the UK, can the same approach be considered safe in Australia? There is an urgent need to revisit the findings of a flawed inquiry initiated by former federal health minister Greg Hunt that preserved the status quo. Parents and children in need deserve to know the treatments they are being offered do not fall outside mainstream mental health guidelines or have been motivated by hardcore transgender ideology. The closure of Tavistock should open the way for a proper, open investigation.
Sadly, none of the work done has considered God and His commandments and His purposes for men and women. Even more so, they need to consider that our Heavenly Father sent His Son to provide mankind with a way back into a righteous relationship with Him. When we repent of our rebellion against God and accept Jesus our Lord and Saviour our Heavenly Father sends the Holy Spirit to indwell our spirit and be our counsellor, teacher, and comforter. We then have all the power we need to overcome so-called gender dysphoria.
What is God calling Christians to do? We are simply to be found faithful in the task of delivering the Gospel message. We are to bring the gospel into our workplaces, friendships, and families, to whomever and wherever. All that is required is to look to where God has placed us and simply to be found faithful to the task of proclaiming the good news to those who are dead in their sins. It requires that we not be ashamed of the good news of the gospel, which includes not being ashamed of the bad news of God’s judgment against sin.
Whatever the result of that proclamation of the gospel may be, whether a hardening or a softening of the heart, God effectually uses this message for His purposes.
Not every instance of proclaiming a message of repentance is designed by God to bring the people who hear it to repentance and faith. In fact, Scripture often demonstrates the opposite is true—that the proclamation serves to condemn the recipients rather than restore them. A great example of this is found in the commissioning of the prophet Isaiah:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said,
“Go and tell these people: Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.Render the hearts of these people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.”Then I said, “Lord, how long?” and He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitants, houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, and it will again be subject to burning, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump”Isaiah 6:8-13
As Brevard Childs ( Isaiah. Westminster John Knox Press, (2001): p56). puts it, “Isaiah, the prophet is to be the executor of death, the guarantor of complete hardening. His very proclamation is to ensure that Israel will not turn and repent.” How would you like to be called by God to deliver that message?
“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:14
“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish in the Lake of Fire, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” Charles Spurgeon
We may not necessarily like the implications of God using our proclamation of judgment and salvation to effectively harden an individual’s heart. We may not believe the implications of this are even fair—but we ought to remember in the midst of everything that we don’t want fair because our idea of what’s fair doesn’t square with God’s.
What’s fair is God condemning every man, woman, and child to eternal destruction in the Lake of Fire. What’s fair is that the only blameless One to have ever existed would not be put to the cross to pay for the sins of others. What you and I desire is mercy and grace, because mercy is not giving people what they deserve, which is condemnation, and grace is giving people what they don’t deserve, which is no condemnation. The gospel is a scandal to the world because it sees the murderer, rapist, racist, and the like, on equal footing with the sweet old lady who doesn’t confess Christ—and offers them all the same grace of God in Christ. What that very simply means is that the gospel is not barred from anyone on the basis of their own doing or choosing, but rather, on the sovereign choice of God Himself. If those who struggle with evangelizing were to focus on the sovereignty of God in evangelism, it would free many a burdened soul up to take joy in the work that God has given them, realizing that whether the person they share the gospel with rejects or receives it, God is glorified in accomplishing His work through the preached word.
This post was extracted from an article by Grayson Gilbert, A Lesson from Isaiah on the Sovereignty of God in Evangelism July 23, 2020, http://www.patheos.com
How come the following graph, also from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that shows heat spikes from 1895 until 2015 is not revealed in their latest report?
It shows that of the 50 all-time high-temperature records for the individual U.S. states, 32 (64%) were set before 1950 and 70 % before 1955. The U.S. Weather Bureau was created in 1890. The all-time national record high, 134 deg. F, was set in Death Valley, California, in 1913, one hundred and nine years ago!
In the 132-year span since the National Weather Service was created, 1936 stands out like no other. It owns 14 of the all-time records. In spite of EPA’s penchant for force-fitting more recent heat waves into a mold hoping to validate its dodgy theory of human-caused climate change, the foot does not fit the shoe. We’ll take a closer look at that in a moment.
Consider the 1930s decade that led to a majority of the still-standing records and the evolution of the Great Dust Bowl. By 1930 excessively high temperatures began to appear across the southern plains. Severe drought struck portions of Texas and Oklahoma. Louisiana and Mississippi each established their all-time high temperatures that summer.
The succeeding years were very hot, with only a brief respite in 1933, when welcome rains relieved some of the driest affected areas. Then followed 1934. By some criteria, it remains the hottest year in the entire US record that currently extends through 2021.
Now to the EPA’s reporting on the severity of the current and recent heat waves. Here is EPA’s heat-wave graph with the headline that introduces it:
What is wrong with this picture? As already stated, the US weather record extends back to 1890. The most severe heat and drought-related weather had already occurred before 1960. These graphs are all a day late and a dollar short.
The apparent trends in the bar graphs above are an EPA figment. If the decade of the 1930s had been included, the existing bars would shrink to comparative insignificance. The decade from the 1960s and into the 1970s was a relatively cooler period so by truncating the earlier portion of the time series, EPA has painted a false picture that implies a continuous warming trend that has never existed if viewed on the scale of the entire 20th Century.
The reader may be curious about how nature can produce coupled twin events, a prolonged heat wave, and a long persistent drought.
On a regional scale, dry periods often will follow the development of a coupled circulation pattern in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, known to climatologists as the El Niño Southern Oscillation or ENSO. El Niños develop on the back of prevailing westerly winds that drive warm surface water from the central Pacific Ocean against the coastline of South America (Peru and Chile). The results of this large-scale event were sometimes observed by Peruvian sardine fishermen around Christmas time, and they called it “El Niño,” the little boy. But there is a counter-event known as “La Niña”, the little girl, that sets in when persistent easterly winds push warm water back toward the central Pacific. As surface water is displaced westward, it is replenished with upwelling, nutrient-laden cold water that greatly favors the sardine fishery.
The upshot is that whenever a La Niña pattern is in place, much less water vapor evaporates from eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in less precipitation falling over Central and North America. Persistent La Niñas, like the one now in its third year, tend to produce dry conditions in drought-prone regions of the western United States. It is far more likely that the ENSO pattern is driving the current dryness and accompanying hot weather than that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are.
But heat waves and drought go hand in hand. Once land and forest reach a certain level of dryness, evaporative cooling diminishes. Then temperatures are free to rise and fall to the limits of the diurnal cycle of night and day and the synoptic weather patterns that may cause blocking of a stagnant high-pressure area. The domes of dense, drier air may then slowly move eastward, allowing the maximum daily temperature to continue to rise until its final passage.
During the Dust Bowl, tilled soil that had been planted to wheat and other grains dried out so thoroughly that the crops shriveled to nothing, leaving bare soil exposed to the winds. Ablation then carried away billions of acre-feet of what had been fertile soil across the eastern states and as far as the Atlantic Ocean.
In the absence of beneficial rainfall, the process went on unabated until the arrival of autumn and winter. By then there was too little precipitation to abate the same processes from resuming and going forward during the next summer. Historical revisionism likes to blame the Dust Bowl on poor farming practices. But given the magnitude of the altered 1930s climate, it is not clear that much the same result wouldn’t have proceeded with incipient desertification during that full decade of heat and dryness.
Current temperatures being recorded at locations where new daily records are being notched (no report of a new state record as yet in 2022) are likely accurate in themselves. What is less certain is whether any monitoring station reporting a new record is in proper compliance with NOAA’s strict guidelines for operating an official temperature measuring station.
A team of observers headed by career meteorologist Anthony Watts, under the auspices of the Heartland Institute, has just completed a year-long study of the NOAA weather stations that feed data to the US climatological network.
The prognosis is not good. A full 96% of stations investigated failed to meet NOAA’s own siting standards. Most measurement devices were placed uncomfortably short of the specified minimum 100-foot separation from an adjoining building or structure. Many others are placed over concrete or other heat-absorbing solid materials instead of grassy turf or soil as spelled out in NOAA’s own manuals. Others were even in the immediate vicinity of heat-generating devices such as air conditioners, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiing areas.
The inescapable conclusion is that a vast majority of the monitoring sites are generating data contaminated with a positive bias, adding to the false notion of dangerous warming. The recorded temperatures are higher than if they were being taken from a site not influenced by extraneous heat sources.
So it is at least highly likely that more than a few of the new daily records being bandied about this summer could be artifacts of their immediate environment and do not necessarily represent a true temperature record for the areas of concern. In any case, they don’t yet begin to challenge the temperatures of the 1930s for the highest on record.
William D. Balgord, Ph.D. (geochemistry,) heads Environmental & Resources Technology, Inc., Middleton, WI, and is a contributing writer for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation.
When God called Abraham, he didn’t say, “You need to ascribe to these commandments, right principles, and correct beliefs.” Instead, God told Abraham, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” How did Abraham respond?
“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.”Genesis 12.4
He didn’t say a word. He got his feet moving.
When it came time for Jesus to assemble the men who would become His apostles and disciples, he didn’t command them to discern and discover all of the scriptural rules and laws to govern their conduct and learn what they should believe. No, Jesus called them and what was their response?
“Immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.” Matthew 4:22
They got their feet moving and so should we.
In the three short years that Jesus ministered on this earth, Jesus walked over 3000 miles. He was a man on the move. He was a man of imminency and intention.
Jesus took ordinary people, made by and in the image of, his Father, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, turned them into a community, a family, of fervent and dedicated apostles, disciples, and students, thereby launching the greatest social movement in human history.
By Jesus’ death and resurrection, He made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, to indwell the Spirit of every person who repents of their past rebellion against God and given their life to Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Submitting to baptism in water they have shown they have died to their old life and been born again by the Holy Spirit into a new life in Christ.
It is possible to be born again by the Holy Spirit and yet we quench His work in our lives thereby grieving Him.
The detailed message we are given of how Elijah heard from God is tremendously important.
What did Elijah hear after the wind, earthquake, and fire?
“And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:11-12
How did Elijah respond to the “still small voice“? He “went out..”. He got his feet moving.
“And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out…” 1 Kings 19:13
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
It is obvious from this Scripture that it is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit and we are told that we quench His work in our lives when we ignore His “still small voice“. I know in my own life that I often am distracted by worldly attractions and miss God’s best for me which means I miss the joy that we get from serving Him.
Prayer is the way we stay in touch with God, Human beings were made to be in fellowship with God. Adam and Eve’s disobedience severed the link but thank God He asked His Son, Jesus, to restore the link. What does God do for those that relate to Him in love? The Psalmist puts it well when he said,
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalms 16:11
If we are obedient and get our feet moving when He asks us to go, He will guide our steps.
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases Him.” 1 John 3:21-22
In Rome at the birth of Christianity, it was a faith that shunned popular vices and amusements that provoked a hatred that took the form of blackening the character of Christians. Christians were accused of all kinds of wickedness. Their assemblies for worship, instruction, and the celebration of the eucharist were none other than secret gatherings for incest, child murder, and cannibalism.
As prophesied in the last days before Jesus returns to rescue the Saints and to judge the world, Christians will be persecuted and martyred as was the early church in the days of Justin Martyr.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr represents a pioneer type of Greek Apologist. He is concerned not only with the refutation of attacks against Christians; he is also concerned to show that philosophy is truth, reason as a spiritual power, and Christianity the fullness of both. Christianity was, for him, not a theory but philosophic truth itself and this he served with unswerving devotion and courage. The heart of Christianity, which for him was indispensable, was God’s care and love for men and women revealed in the Bible and supremely in Jesus Christ. This places him in the mainstream of the Christian tradition and not on the outskirts as one who grievously distorted the Gospel of Christ by his excursions into philosophy.
We only know that Justin taught in Rome in the reign of Antoninus Pius and that he was martyred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. from which we infer that his birth occurred either late in the first century or early in the second-century AD. His martyrdom may have been the outcome of a conflict with Crescens, a cynic philosopher whom Justin had convicted of ignorance—certainly, there are ominous forebodings in the Second Apology that this might happen. For the actual account of his death between 162 and 167 AD, we are dependent on the Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum Manuscript Collection, Justin and his companions are brought before Rusticus, the prefect of Rome, and commanded to sacrifice to the gods. On examination, Justin testifies to Christianity as the truth. After a brave refusal to sacrifice, Justin and those with him are condemned to be beaten with rods and beheaded. They pass to their deaths praising God and confessing Christ; later faithful Christians secretly carry away their bodies in order to give them a decent burial.
In the opening chapters of the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (which in its final form probably dates from c. 160 c.e.), Justin gives a graphic account of the studies through which he had passed before becoming a Christian convert. From youth, he appears to have been of an earnest and religious type of mind intent on finding intellectual peace and satisfaction. With this hope in mind, he undergoes instruction from a Stoic, a Peripatetic, a Pythagorean, and finally a Platonist teacher. The Platonic philosophy immediately impresses him: “The perception of immaterial things quite overpowered me, and the contemplation of ideas furnished my mind with wings.” It was while a Platonist that Justin became a Christian through the agency of an old man who kindled a flame in Justin’s soul: “A love of the prophets, and of those people who are friends of Christ, possessed me.” Christianity was the one, sure, worthy philosophy.
In a statement recorded in the Acta Martyrum, which almost all scholars regard as based on good historical tradition. According to this account Justin, in answer to the Prefect Rusticus’s question, “What teachings do you hold?” said, “I have tried to learn from all teachings, but I came to adopt the true teachings, which are those of the Christians.” Justin found the truth only after much searching. The use of testimony sources in Justin’s First Apology, in addition, confirms that he was converted to Christianity through reading the Old Testament with Christians.
We possess few details of Justin’s life following his conversion and baptism. He seems to have come to Rome and to have stayed there some time. In Acta Martyrum it is stated that he had resided twice in Rome. This is consonant with what we know of the various schools of thought that Christian teachers established in the capital city of the Empire (so Valentinus had connections with Alexandria and Cyprus as well as Rome). It is not therefore to be assumed that Justin established a permanent school of Christian philosophy in Rome. It may be that he taught in other cities at different times in his career. Justin’s special task was Christian apologetics or the defense of the faith. Eusebius vividly describes his work: “But Justin was the most noted of those that flourished in those times, who, in the guise of a philosopher, preached the truth of God, and contended for the faith, also, in his writings.” Again the Acta Martyrum speaks of him sitting in the house of Martinus, a recognized meeting place for Christians, and there conversing with any who visited him, imparting to them the true teaching. The persons condemned with Justin are those whom he had gathered around him; “I took delight,” says one Evelpistus, “in listening to Justin’s discourse.” This is a picture of a philosophical evangelist informally training disciples. One of the most famous of these was Tatian, the brilliant Assyrian, who came from the neighborhood of Nisibis beyond the Euphrates and who became famous as the author of the Diatessaron, the first harmony of the Gospels. Justin’s school may well have engaged in literary production—indeed may have provided the material from which Tatian later was to compose the Diatessaron.
“Our object must not only appeal for toleration of the Christian faith but even more win people to the Christian faith. The Christian way of life has to be shown as the highest ideal of ethical conduct the world has yet seen.”
Justin Martyr shows the actual truth of Christianity and its positive worth. He begins by demonstrating that Christians are monotheists who worship God and then Jesus Christ according to His secondary rank, and then the Prophetic Spirit. Christian worship is essentially reasonable worship. Justin then gives examples of the moral power and elevation of Christ’s teaching and produces analogies between the Christian doctrines of immortality, resurrection, the end of the world, and the teaching of nature and philosophy. He also gives some of the pagan fables about the exploits of the sons of gods and shows how irrational it was for believers in these tales to persecute believers in the facts of Jesus’ life. Justin’s object in this part of the First Apology was to disarm unbelief and to show that Christianity was not contemptible or novel but essentially rational. He seeks to show (a) that the teaching of Christ and the prophets is alone true and is older than all other writers; (b) that Jesus Christ is alone begotten as the Son of God being His logos and First-born and Power and appeared on earth as a teacher for the conversion and restoration of the human race; (c) that before Christ came some, influenced by the demons, related through the poet’s mythological tales intended as a travesty of the future revelation. After showing the irrationality of allowing impostors such as Simon Magus and Menander and heretics like Marcion to go unmolested, Justin then passes to the main burden of his argument. This consists of elaborate proofs of the fulfillment of prophecy. The main facts of Christ’s life and work and the mission of the Apostles to the world had been predicted in great detail centuries in advance. He also explains the different kinds of prophecy and defends them against the charge of fatalism. In a remarkable passage, Justin replies to the objection that since Christ came so late in time, those who lived before His coming were not accountable. Quite the opposite—the divine logos had been in the world since the beginning and those who lived according to reason, whatever their race, were really Christians though they have been thought atheists; so among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and among the barbarians Abraham, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, and Elias and many others. On the other hand, those who lived irrationally were the enemies of Christ and so wicked. From all these “fulfilled” predictions, the Christian belief in Christ as the firstborn of God and the universal Judge of humankind is totally justified. Justin next passes to a demonstration that mythology was used by demons to imitate Christ although they had failed to understand the predictions of the Cross, which were also clearly evident in nature and human life. He then tries to show that Plato was directly dependent on Moses for his account of the origin of the world and of the second and third power in the Universe. In the concluding part of his work, Justin gives an account of the Christian sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, which is of great value to students of the early liturgy. Those who are to be baptized are “brought to the place where there is water” where they are regenerated and illuminated. Baptism is in the Name of the Trinity. In the Eucharist, after a reading from the Memoirs of the Apostles or the prophets, intercession is made for the Church and those in the world. The Ruler prays extempore over the elements and the deacons distribute the eucharistic gifts to those present and then take them to the absent.
Justin’s Second Apology is much shorter than the First and was apparently called into existence by his indignation at an outrage that had recently occurred—typical of the indignities to which Christians were subjected. A dissolute man, angry with his Christian wife for having rebuked his vices, had charged her teacher Ptolemaeus with being a Christian. As a result, Prefect Urbicus sentenced Ptolemaeus and two others to death simply because they were Christians. Justin then divulges that he himself expects to fall a victim to the malice of Crescens, “that lover of bravado and boasting” whom he had publicly shown to be an ignorant demagogue. He then goes on to discuss two popular objections to Christians: (a) Why did they not kill themselves if they were so willing to face martyrdom? Justin replies that God’s creation is good and to kill themselves would prevent the spread of the living doctrines; Why did their God not protect them? Justin replies by declaring that God placed the world in charge of angels, but some of these fell, and to them and their offspring are due to the evils that good people suffer. In contrast to the demons is the one ineffable God and His begotten logos, who became man to deliver man from the demons. God in fact spares the world for the sake of the Christians. In all ages, those who followed reason have been persecuted by the demons but the time of judgment will come. Christianity is superior to all other teachings because it reveals the whole logos of God. Another reason why God allows people to suffer is because of the blessedness won through discipline and probation. They are as athletes who prove their virtue by risking death. The way in which Christians regard death is a crowning proof of the truth of their religion and the falsity of the slanders reported about them.
“The Holy Spirit is how God quickens us to new life and births us from above.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:5-7
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11
The third person of the Trinity. All three have a role in your Salvation.
The Holy Spirit has a special role as He seals us for eternity. The Apostle Paul says,
“In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:25-26
“But When He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all truth” John 16:13
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me.” John 15:26
“I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7
It is the Holy Spirit’s role to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgement. We cannot convert anyone unless the Holy Spirit has first convicted the person of their sin.
And when he comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”John 16:7-11
The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
He provides the gifts of the Spirit for ministry
“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another, the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another, the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another, various kinds of tongues, to another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
SUMMARY
He lives within you forever (John 14:16).
He directs your paths (Prov. 3:4-5, Romans 8:14, Acts 8:29, Acts 8:39)
He guides you into all truth (John 14:17, 16:13a).
He teaches you all things (John 14:26a).
He reveals to you things to come (John 16:13).
He reveals to you the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10).
He produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life.(Galatians 5:22-23)
He equips and empowers you for ministry. (1 Corinth. 12:7-11)
He freely gives you all things (1 Cor. 2:12).
He offers you the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
You cannot live a Christian life without the Holy Spirit. It is impossible. Make sure you do not grieve the Holy Spirit nor quench His work in your life but follow Paul’s advice that he gave to Timothy, “fan into flame the gift of God“.
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
“Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19
“For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, forGod gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:6
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day”John 6:44
To make it even clearer, He says
“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”John 6:65
So it is not we who found God, but God found us; He called us. Salvation is not a decision we make. It is an act of God upon those whom He brings to repentance and faith.
“God has granted repentance that leads to life.”Acts 11:18
“God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:25
Jesus assures believers that
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”John 6:37
It is the Father’s promise to deliver you into the kingdom as Jesus again says,
“This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”John 6:39
Twice in three sentences, Jesus says that “All” will come to Him and of all given to Him (Jesus), so not one will be lost, as a result of the Father drawing us to Christ. I am not sure where I read this but I thought it was good enough to write in my Holy Spirit Journal.
God thought us; God sought us; God caught us; God bought us, and God taught us. It’s all about God and not about us.
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” Psalms 115:1-2
Moreover, Jesus will soon do all that He pleases on earth during His Millennial reign with the Saints.
“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
A former professor of women’s studies at Syracuse University recently shared her personal journey from lesbian feminist to Christ-follower. During an episode of The Becket Cook Show, Rosaria Butterfield explained how converting to Christianity radically transformed her life, identity, and relationships.
She met a Presbyterian pastor who played an integral part in opening her eyes and heart to the Lord. “I talk about what it was like to meet a pastor, who was my neighbour when I was a lesbian, feminist, activist, professor,” Butterfield said. “I met Ken Smith, the pastor who the Lord used in my conversion. I thought this man is really smart. He and his wife Floy welcomed me into their world and they came into my world and they didn’t act as though I was polluting them.
Early on in our friendship, Ken said to me ‘there’s a difference between acceptance and approval and if you can live with that difference, I can live with that difference.’” Butterfield started reading the Bible and routinely met with Pastor Ken and Floy, which allowed her to discuss situations from a Christian perspective. “I saw the way his house functioned, it was amazing. We would talk about hard and heavy things. We would read the Bible, we would pray, and would sing songs. I couldn’t help but notice there was an aesthetic, palpable difference between my house and Ken Smith’s house.” She continued, “My house was filled with anxiety and constant frenetic, political activism. At Ken’s house, they would talk about hard things, but at a certain point, they would open the Bible. They’d pray and they would do this thing called ‘leave it at the cross.’ Then they would go on and laugh, feast, and have fun.
I was intrigued by that. I came to the Bible with a long list of things I was mad about that I needed to work through.” “In two years, I read the Bible seven times. I wanted to understand why Bible-believing Christians believed the things they did. This man-God, Jesus was and is compelling beyond description. I wondered two things: could I trust Him and is it true? And that was really the turning point. That’s when I decided that I needed to stop working with Ken Smith.” Butterfield explained that she came to a critical moment in her spiritual journey where the truth of the Gospel was visible and that frightened her. “At that point, Ken and Floy did not become stalkers but they came very close. They weren’t going to let go of me,” she said. “I stopped reading the Bible for research and started reading it for personal questions of truth, life, and death.
It was at that point that I was convicted of a number of sins. I was convicted of the sin of somehow thinking that I had been on the side of truth, justice, diversity, reparations, kindness, and compassion when it was really Jesus who was persecuted the whole time.” “I started going to church, I just showed up one day,” Butterfield said. “I discovered that sermons were this totally different thing and they would really force me to think about things that I hadn’t thought about before. I realized that part of why I didn’t understand how to be a godly woman was because I didn’t understand how to be a woman, which was hilarious because I’m a professor of women’s studies at the time,” she pointed out. “I was a mess, and I committed my life to Christ because I believed He was true and real and I had no idea what He was going to do with a mess like me.”
“Conversion put me in complicated and comprehensive chaos. I sometimes wonder, when I hear other Christians pray for the salvation of the “lost,” if they realize that this comprehensive chaos is the desired end of such prayers. Often, people asked me to describe the “lessons” that I learned from this experience. I can’t. It was too traumatic. Sometimes in crisis, we don’t really learn lessons. Sometimes the result is simpler and more profound: sometimes our character is simply transformed.” —Rosaria Butterfield
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the disciples were always concerned with where they’d be ruling in the coming Kingdom, but Jesus told them that they had it all wrong. Here is the Living God, Jesus Christ; the omnipotent God, telling them that:
“even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Mark 10:45
They thought like most of the world thinks; the greatest person is the one with the most servants, but Jesus flips that on its head, saying that:
“whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”Mark 10:44
The Apostle Peter could not be clearer about how Jesus Christ brings salvation to the sinner. Peter says,
“that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold.”1 Peter 1:18
All the wealth in the universe would not be sufficient to redeem even one sinner. It took the shed blood of Jesus to redeem us. There was absolutely no other way.
“the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”1 Peter 1:19
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”John 14:6-7
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27-28.
Salvation was achieved by Jesus shedding His blood at His first coming to earth but at His second coming Jesus completes the task by resurrecting the dead Saints and the rapture of those that are alive with glorious new bodies.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” Philippians 3:20-21
Source: Angela Rodriguez, Contributing Writer for Intercessors for America
When the Covid crisis began, supply chain problems popped up around the globe, leading to outbreaks of fear-based irrational behaviour. The supply chain issues have intensified since the war in Ukraine. When you walk into a supermarket, you notice your favorite cereal is missing. You also start to notice that the milk or other item you bought in 2021 is now costing you almost a dollar more. Many of us notice 30% or more increases in our favorite food items, well above the published inflation rate.
While the supply chain issues are multi-faceted, there are some specific reasons for the problems at hand. Ukraine and Russia are both major exporters of wheat, corn, and sunflower products, but that is just the tip of the harvest sickle. Back in mid-May, economist James Rickards posted an article where he laid out the reasons why we could see more food supply issues in the near future. He wrote, “In the Northern Hemisphere, the planting season for 2022 is well underway. Crops were planted in March and April. Based on that, you can already form estimates of output for next September and October during the harvest season. Plantings have been far below normal in 2022, either due to lack of fertilizer or much higher costs for fertilizer where farmers simply chose to plant less. This predictable shortage is added to the fact that Russian output is sanctioned, and Ukrainian output is non-existent because it’s at war.”
Rickards explains that Russia and Ukraine account for 29% of the global wheat exports and 19% of corn. But he stresses that this doesn’t mean they grow 29% of the wheat in the world–they grow 29% of the exports. There are some countries, such as Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, and other African and Middle Eastern nations, that receive a large percentage of their grain supply from Ukraine, Russia, or both. Rickards says the situation could become dire because many of the Ukrainian exports have shut down. To make matters worse, the planting season is almost over. Rickards concludes, “And you’re not going to get any grain in October if you didn’t plant it in April or May.” Projecting ahead to October–December of 2022, this means that the countries that rely the most on importing grain will not be able to get the amount they need.
According to Rickards, “The combined population of countries that get between 70%-100% of their imports from Russia or Ukraine is 700 million people. That’s 10% of the population… you’re looking at a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions, probably the worst since the Black Death of the 14th century.” The fertilizer issue is perhaps the biggest nail in the coffin when it comes to the price of future supplies of food. With some farmers paying two to three times last year’s price, it’s inevitable that the consumer will absorb much of this cost. Farmers in North Carolina (USA) say they are feeling the impact of inflation and that increased input costs are not sustainable. One farmer said that fertilizer cost is “up three to four times what it was a year ago.” The farmer also added that “a 275-gallon tote of generic Roundup, which is a weed killer, a year ago was $1400; now it’s over $10,000…everything has risen out of sight.”
Add in higher prices at the pump and you get a recipe for rampant inflation. In places like the United Kingdom, farmers can’t afford to plant crops for the next season because of skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer costs. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey declared that food prices are rising at the fastest rate in 30 years, causing “a huge income shock.” He described food price increases as “apocalyptic.” He warns that the UK may see a double-digit inflation rate by the end of the year.
In response to the shortages, the United States wants its companies to “ramp up” their purchases of Russian fertilizer, especially as inflation continues to increase. According to a Bloomberg report, “The challenge the US faces is that it must balance putting more pressure on Moscow, while also limiting repercussions for the global economy and the world’s food supply, which relies on a wide range of products from Russia.” At this point, however, over 25 million tons of grain, sunflower oil, and other goods are stuck in Ukraine.
While the grain supply is one concern, another issue is the outbreak of diseases among animal populations. In the United States, a bacterial outbreak occurred in two hatcheries in California, which could lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of fish. Additionally, the American poultry industry is getting slammed by what’s being dubbed the bird flu. An egg factory in Iowa slaughtered over 5 million chickens because of the virus in March 2022. Earlier that month 50,000 turkeys were euthanized at a different facility. Other states such as Nebraska, Maryland, and South Dakota have experienced outbreaks as well. Adding fuel to the fire, there’s also been a mysterious outbreak of fires in major food processing facilities across the country. One such facility, known as Azure Standard, was destroyed overnight, affecting liquid products such as honey, oil, and vinegar. A week before this, a fire erupted at Taylor Farms, where the main processing facility was destroyed. Known as a “major player” in the food supply chain for both Canada and the U.S., this loss did not go unnoticed.
Another fire occurred in March at the Maricopa Food Pantry in Arizona, resulting in the loss of 50,000 pounds of food. If that weren’t enough, in Minnesota, thousands of chickens died in a devastating blaze. Additional fires have flared up in Texas, Indiana, New Hampshire, Oregon and more. As these incidents and shortages play out, one can’t help but wonder what the globalists are saying, or more appropriately, what’s their role in all of this? It’s no surprise that one world organization like the United Nations is talking about food shortages. David Beasley, the current head of the UN’s world food program, is predicting a “perfect storm” of global agricultural collapse. The biggest problem this year is food prices, but he warns that next year, it will morph into a food availability problem as supplies run dry. In 2023 there will be a food shortage problem.”
Record low water levels in parts of China have put pressure on the nation’s hydropower generators
In China, the power crisis in the world’s second-biggest economy came at a time when supply chains were already strained by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, China’s strict lockdowns, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It threatens supplies of everything from metals such as aluminum to automotive parts, as well as food commodities.
Ye Tan, an economist and founder of the consulting group Ye Tan Finance, told DW that the current crisis has also hit the agriculture sector hard. She said the provinces affected were the “food basket” of China — accounting for over 20% of the national agricultural output.
Poor autumn harvests in China will have a huge impact on the global market for agricultural commodities, causing already high prices to surge further, she said. The investment bank Goldman Sachs issued a similar warning, saying rice harvests would be at the greatest risk should the severe weather continue. China’s Agriculture Ministry also said over the weekend that high temperatures and unusually low rains since July have posed “a severe challenge” to fall grain production, Bloomberg reported.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) talked about food shortages at their annual meeting in Davos which was held May 22-26, 2022. Ahead of the meeting, World Economic Forum Founder Klaus Schwab said, “The return of war, epidemics, and the climate crisis, all those disruptive forces have derailed the global recovery. Those issues must be confronted in Davos, and the global food crisis in particular needs our immediate attention.” An article that is part of the Davos agenda lays out the food crisis initiatives. It begins by saying that the food system has been knocked off its axis and “stabilizing the global food system requires collaboration and partnerships among key players in agriculture. Climate resilience must be built into agriculture, including carbon-smart solutions and biological alternatives to artificial fertilizers.”
In this case, is it a stretch to ponder the idea that the globalists have their climate-friendly solution for world hunger already in hand? After all, they claim to be sustainable food supply experts who must act swiftly to save the world. At the 2022 meeting, they parroted all the answers and so did their stakeholders and partners. Speaking of the WEF and its supporters, the Rockefeller Foundation had a lot to say about the global food crisis in their guide titled Reset the Table: Transforming the U.S. Food System.
The objective is clearly stated on page 3: “One of the consistent needs we’ve heard expressed by those seeking to transform the food system is a SHARED NARRATIVE to motivate the needed changes in the system. We articulated a narrative and a message framework focused on the long-term transformation needed in the food system.” Further investigation of this guide reveals some common themes which are: racial justice, equity, fairness, sustainability, and shared prosperity. Additionally, while the consumption of healthier food is suggested, emphasis is placed on the use of government programs and subsidies, which are outlined in the guide.
The guide suggests immediate actions that need to be taken to produce “equitable prosperity throughout the supply chain” such as “Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) must set and enforce mandatory guidelines to keep workers and the food supply safe,” as well as “provide credit, loan servicing and debt relief for farmers and ranchers.” This whole narrative the globalists are creating is likely part of a greater plan–one which will have many strings attached, such as global ID’s and carbon footprint trackers. As J. Michael Evans of the Alibaba group declared at the World Economic Forum’s 2022 annual meeting: “We are developing through technology the ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint. What does that mean? That is where they are traveling, how they are traveling, WHAT THEY ARE EATING, what they are consuming on the platform.”
Other hints of this same agenda come from the World Bank Group. They, along with the United Nations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Secure Identity Alliance, Mastercard, the World Food Program and others have big plans for their universal ID program that is built upon sustainable goals. The World Banks states, “The alliance will therefore also work together to help countries build stronger food systems and gradually transition to a sustainable agricultural production base.” Hmm, here are a few questions for the Rockefeller Foundation, Alibaba, and the World Bank.
Will this universal ID be mandatory in order to receive the benefits of these food systems? Will our trackable carbon footprint affect what and how much we can eat? If we defy the approved narrative, will we be locked out of the program? How will food wealth be shared from one nation to another in order to provide “equity”?
“Also, it (False Prophet) causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.” Revelation 13:16-18
The truth is that food can be used as a weapon. So, what do we do about it? Of course, we must take this issue to our Great Provider, Jesus Christ, who is very aware of the true narrative surrounding this issue. No matter what happens, we must remember that God is more than able to provide for all our needs. Like the story of Elijah and the ravens, God can use the most unique ways to sustain us. The ravens brought Elijah bread and meat twice a day. In our times of need, God will not fail us.
Prayer Point: Lord Jesus, please intervene for the nations of the world who may be on the brink of a food crisis. Like Joseph, who supplied grain during a famine, please provide security and sustenance to everyone in need. Above all, keep our eyes fixed on you.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 