GOD AT WORK IN THE UKRAINE (PART 1)

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Miracles are taking place in Ukraine, despite the horror of war, according to the Deputy General Secretary of the Ukrainian Bible Society. Anatoliy Raychynets, who is based in the capital Kyiv, says more and more people are turning to Christianity to find light in the darkness since the Russian invasion began, and he says the power of God is preventing even worse devastation.

Day by day, women with small kids are running here outside our office in the streets to find the basement bombing room to hide themselves there. Many people are crying out to help them to get out of Kyiv.

Bibles bring comfort in the midst of devastation

“Many people haven’t eaten for 3 or 4 days. There are many elderly people living in apartments around my office who cannot go outside because of illness. They just sit inside waiting for a miracle that someone will come to them. They call us “Angels!” when we find they need medical help and bring medicine and bread.” Despite the risks, Raychynets and his team help distribute food and medical supplies to local people, along with Bibles and resources. He says that many people ask for the Bibles, even if they haven’t previously had a faith. “Yesterday we were in a park to deliver bread to elderly people who were coming together and waiting for us so that they could have fresh bread. I always have Bibles in my car so that children can have Bibles for the bomb shelters and I can distribute to basements where people, ladies and children are hiding themselves. But one lady saw the Bibles in the car and asked to have one.

“There were about 80 or 90 people there and they just came to the car and asked for the Bibles.  One man stood there with bread in one hand and the Bible in the other. He said ‘I think the Bible is more important than the bread. I have never prayed before. I have never been to church.’ He was about 70 years old and had never read the Bible. But he said he knew now was the time to come to God and be closer to God. “We meet so many people like that. Over the last two weeks here in Kyiv we are seeing people who had never had a Bible before, never prayed before, but who are now asking for us to pray for them on the streets, at homes, everywhere. “People are searching for their faith because they know a miracle has to happen to resolve this situation. We don’t see any diplomatic or other solutions, we just know and understand deep inside only God can make some changes and stop this horrible war.”

But even in the amidst of the horrors of war, Raychynets says God is at work and miracles are happening. “We are very grateful to all of you who are standing with us in prayer and solidarity. I want to tell you that with prayer we see so many miracles. I have seen personally many miracles over the last 16 days – when bombs or rockets have fallen but not exploded and lots of lives have been saved because of that. Russian tanks have been left because they were empty of fuel and soldiers have run off. “In Odessa, in the Black Sea, there has been a storm for four days and ships couldn’t come closer to the city to shoot rockets. So prayers are already bringing results and miracles are saving a lot of lives.” Even as a Pastor, Raychynets says it is difficult to see so much pain and suffering.

This difficult situation is already changing our nation and changing our attitude to life. People are standing together, people are helping each other. I see so much of God’s love, in spite of war here. I think that Ukraine will come out of this situation like a real Christian nation that believes in God. It’s very evident that God does use catastrophes for His purposes and sadly they are needed to bring people to understand what is truly important in life. God is in control of His world and only His eternal purposes are of real significance.

KENYA HOUSE CHURCH MISSION TRIP

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Kenya House Church (KHC) mission trip to Osiri (Gold) region. March 9th, 2022 to March 14th, 2022.

The leaders considered the visit successful as another House Church was established with eight members. The Holy spirit’s presence was evident with healing and miracles during the many meetings.

Some of the highlights: we witnessed an elderly man and his wife turning back to Christ Jesus. A young man and his entire household surrendered their lives to Jesus. The sick were healed, and a demon-possessed person was liberated from demonic oppression.

At one point, a man and his wife stood up in the midst of the assembly and testified about the many years they have lived under an ancestral curse, something the couple said hindered them from having children. We laid hands on the couple and prayed for deliverance. We rebuked every evil spirit of ancestral curses.

Many people gave their testimonies and expressed their appreciation for us making the effort to come and visit with them. They hope we will return soon to bring more people in their village to Jesus Christ.

Another highlight was our evangelism team visited a nearby secondary school, and ministered to teachers and students.

A HOUSE CHURCH ESTABLISHED:

As mentioned a new House Church of Eight (8) members was founded at OSIRI gold mine. Mr, Daniel Moi was appointed as the pastoral leader of this new house church.

FORTHCOMING MISSION TRIPS:

KHC has suspended its field mission trip for April as Ron Edwards of Living Eternal Now is visiting Kenya April 13th to April 23rd before travelling to Arusha, in Tanzania, and later to the Republic of Rwanda.

A three-day meeting is planned with up to twenty KHC leaders from Easter Sunday, April 17th to Tuesday, April 19th. It will be a Tent Meeting hosted by Mubachi or Nyarombo house church. Ron has purchased a large TV Screen and a technician will be present to enable a Zoom Meeting with Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Ron can present PowerPoint presentations.

PRAYER REQUEST:  We are appealing to all LEN followers, friends, and KHC leaders to put in their prayers, Ron Edwards’s upcoming trip to Africa and for God’s help to provide him with sufficient funds to enable him to cover all of his trip expenses.

Mr. William with his wife, the couple who have lived under an ancestral curse and are unable to have children. They have been married for 25 yrs.
The praise and worship were sincere and changed lives were evident to all.
Mrs Anjeline Opiyo and other family members remorsefully testified of the many years of living without acknowledging Christ in their lives. This family of five surrendered their lives to Christ.
KHC evangelism team ministering in a nearby secondary school. Led by pastor Jacob & Julius, the team ministered the gospel message of salvation and Jesus second coming to rapture the church, to school teachers.
Members of Osiri House Church are attentively listening to the gospel message of the Millennial Kingdom and Jesus’ soon second coming.
Pastor Charles meeting with a good-sized house group.

If you would like to make a donation to support Ron’s Africa Trip please do so on the Home Page by clicking on the Donation icon.

TRUE HAPPINESS IS FOUND IN JESUS

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To be holy is to see God as He is and to become like Him, covered in Christ’s righteousness. And since God’s nature is to be happy, the more like Him we become in our sanctification, the happier we will be. When did you last hear that message?

Forcing a choice between happiness and holiness is utterly foreign to Scripture. If it were true that God wants us to be only holy, wouldn’t we expect Philippians 4:4 to say, “Be holy in the Lord always” instead of “Rejoice in the Lord always”?

“Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases.” Psalms 115:2-3

God is decidedly and unapologetically anti-sin, but he is in no sense anti-happiness. Indeed, holiness is exactly what secures our happiness. Charles Spurgeon said,

“Holiness is the royal road to happiness. The death of sin is the life of joy.”

It’s common to hear objections to the word happy based on its etymology, or history. One commentator says that “Happy comes from the word ‘hap,’ meaning ‘chance.’ It is therefore incorrect to translate [the Greek word makarios] as ‘happy’”

When people say they want to be happy, they are typically making no statement whatsoever about chance. D.A. Carson argues in Exegetical Fallacies, “The meaning of a word cannot be reliably determined by etymology” (32). King James Version translators wouldn’t have used happy and other forms of the root word happiness thirty-six times or translated makarios as some form of happy seventeen times if they thought its word history disqualified happy as a credible biblical word.

Unfortunately, because Bible teachers such as Oswald Chambers saw people trying to find happiness in sin, they came to think that pursuing happiness is sinful. Chambers said, “Joy is not happiness,” and continued, “There is no mention in the Bible of happiness for a Christian, but there is plenty said about joy” (God’s Workmanship, and He Shall Glorify Me, 346).

That simply is not true. In the King James Version, which Chambers used, Jesus tells his disciples, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17). Speaking of faithful Christians, James said, “We count them happy which endure” (James 5:11). Peter said to fellow believers, “If ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye” (1 Peter 3:14 ) and “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye” (1 Peter 4:14).

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness. (Isaiah 52:7)

It’s hard for me to conceive of a greater insult to Jesus than to effectively deny what Hebrews reveals about his happy nature: “God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions” (Hebrews 1:9 NASB).

It also seems insulting to say that the best Father in the universe doesn’t want his children to be happy. In reality, the Bible is a vast reservoir containing, not dozens, but hundreds of passages conveying happiness. I’ve found more than 2,700 Scripture passages where words such as joy, happiness, gladness, merriment, pleasure, celebration, cheer, laughter, delight, jubilation, feasting, exultation, and celebration are used. Throw in the words blessed and blessing, which often connotes happiness, and the number increases.

Our message to the world should not be “Don’t seek happiness,” but “You’ll find in Jesus the happiness you have always been seeking.”

Adapted from the article “Common Christian Myths About Happiness” by Randy Alcorn March 11th, 2021 in Patheos.

WE MUST SHOW OUR CHRISTIAN COLOURS

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Cooper Kupp’s team, the Los Angeles Rams, ended up winning the Super Bowl, and Kupp was named Most Valuable Player. But regardless of that, even if they’d lost and Kupp had not played well, he says it would have still been his best year in football ever. In fact, in the interview, Kupp says that because of his growth in his walk with Christ, even if his team hadn’t won a single game it still would have been his best year in football ever! (Here’s an article) about Cooper Kupp and his wife Anna Marie. She says, “We have prayed for a season to glorify our Savior Jesus Christ and you are doing just that my lovey.)

C. S. Lewis wrote, “We must show our Christian colours if we are to be true to Jesus Christ.

We cannot remain silent or concede everything away.” Even the Apostle Paul requested that the Ephesian believers “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (Ephesians 6:19–20, NIV)

If Paul needed prayer for boldness, who doesn’t? When he was given the MVP award Kupp said, “I don’t feel deserving of this. God is just so good…”

In these last days may we be fearless in making the gospel of Christ known so that we may bring glory to God just as Cooper Kupp and his wife Anne Marie are doing.

PRAYING AND MEDITATING ON SCRIPTURE WILL IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH

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Gone are the days when gun-shy theologians bowed to the god of science. Reliable scientists are now affirming how ingenious God is and how His principles hold up under the piercing light of scientific scrutiny.

Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, MD, who studies the relationship between spiritual phenomena and the brain, has demonstrated that we were designed physically and mentally to interact with God through prayer and Scripture. It’s a known fact that there are centres in the human brain that respond positively to prayer, reading and meditating on God’s Word, group worship, hymn singing, and empathy for other people. And Dr Newberg believes that practising a personal religious faith is the most powerful way to maintain a healthy brain.

The brain’s frontal lobe is used in focusing attention, rational thinking, and decision-making. It responds to prayer and meditation by helping to reduce stress, strengthen our immune system, enhance memory, and increase our capacity for compassion. It helps us ward off age-related brain deterioration and live longer! Newberg’s research indicates that praying for at least twelve minutes a day slows age-related brain decline. Prayer and reading Scripture also deactivates areas in the brain associated with anger, guilt, anxiety, depression, fear, resentment, and pessimism. It seems that finally, twenty-first-century science has joined ancient Scripture in echoing what the psalmist said: “Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous.’”

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalms 139:13-14

Can you think of a better reason to ‘let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly’?

“And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

Source:Vision Christian Media

THE GOSPEL CHANGES LIVES FOR ETERNITY

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These three men started 33 churches despite persecution.  Brahim, his son Wararni and his cousin Usaden, who serves as chief of his village.

Soon after hearing the gospel and witnessing the love of Jesus Christ in the lives of Christians, Brahim decided to leave Islam and put his faith in Christ. After doing so, he felt compelled to share the Good News with others in his Tuareg tribe, starting with his family.

Brahim first led his wife and seven adult children to Christ. Then he shared the gospel with other relatives, most of whom came to faith in Christ immediately.

When he shared the gospel with a tribal leader in his region, the man refused to leave Islam. However, he gave Brahim permission to continue sharing his faith in the more than 100 villages the leader oversaw. After telling a large gathering of Tuareg villagers that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life,” Brahim and another pastor led more than 400 of them to Christ in a single day.

Two of Brahim’s family members — his son Wararni and his cousin Usaden, who serves as chief of his village — soon joined him in his ministry work. Like Brahim, they both had a strong desire to share the gospel with other Tuaregs.

“The understanding I got on the day I accepted Jesus is that this work has to be my life,” Wararni said. “The work is not for me only; the work is for more people to hear.”

Since 2018, when the three men began sharing the gospel, they have seen hundreds of people come to faith in Christ each time they preach. And together, they have helped start 33 churches. VOM supports the evangelists by providing them with print and audio Bibles as well as other ministry tools.

The reason so many are coming to Christ at once, a front-line worker explained, is that the tribe has the characteristics of a close family. When members of a tribe see a leader accept Christ, they don’t question his decision.

But as word spread that hundreds of people in multiple villages were leaving Islam for Christ, local Islamic leaders grew angry. Once, a group of men came to Brahim’s house threatening to kill him and his family if he didn’t stop his ministry work. Their threats didn’t faze him, however, because he knows where he’s going when he dies. “I know if you touch me, you are declaring war with heaven,” Brahim said.

Brahim hopes to share the gospel with each member of the Tuareg tribe in his region of Niger, which covers hundreds of miles. His goal is to complete this by 2025, no matter the cost. “I am looking for 100 percent,” he said. “The objective is to take the gospel to everybody, not just a few.”

You can partner with front-line workers like Brahim as they work to advance God’s kingdom. And with any monthly gift, you will receive VOM’s Global Prayer Journal.

PRO-LIFE AND PRO-GOD EFFORTS ARE ADMIRABLE

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Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a “Texas-style” ban on abortion after watching the abortion rate plummet in the Lone Star State. Sadly, we know that these efforts will not alter the prophesied persecution of Christians, “a time of tribulation even great tribulation” during the reign of the Antichrist in the last days before Jesus returns.

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” Matthew 24:21-22

“This bill is modeled directly after the legislation passed in Texas last year,” Tennessee state Rep. Rebecca Alexander (R), who sponsored the bill, told a subcommittee for the state’s House of Representatives. “Abortions, since that bill has been passed, have dropped 60% in Texas.”

“If this bill is allowed to go into effect, people who need abortions will be forced to either travel out of state, not receive the health care that they need, or seek abortions in unsafe situations,” read a statement from CHOICES Memphis Center for Reproductive Health. “This is a heartbreaking decision and one that sets Tennesseans back decades.”

News of the pro-life bill in the Volunteer State comes on the heels of a decision by the Texas Supreme Court, ruling state officials do not have a role in enforcing the six-week abortion ban, meaning they are not appropriate targets for lawsuits, which is a major blow to abortion providers.

Texas Justice Jeffrey Boyd wrote that the law — Senate Bill 8 — includes “emphatic, unambiguous, and repeated provisions” stating civil litigation “is the ‘exclusive’ method for enforcing the act’s requirements,” USA Today reported.

Since the state’s high court ruled licensing officials are not responsible for enforcing the near-ban on abortion, the case brought by abortion providers is all but over. The law’s unique focus on private citizens’ right to file civil lawsuits — rather than establish a criminal penalty — has allowed the legislation to evade constitutional challenges.

“There is nothing left,” said Marc Hearron, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which led the challenge against the pro-life bill. “This case is effectively over with respect to our challenge to the abortion ban.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the court’s ruling, calling it a “major victory.”

“This measure, which has saved thousands of unborn babies, remains fully in effect, and the pro-abortion plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the state is essentially finished,” he said.

HEADING TOWARDS THE MARK OF THE BEAST

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Globalists like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum which is controlled by billionaires like Bill Gates, are now openly proclaiming transhumanism as if it’s a good thing. Saying it will eliminate free will and the concept of human souls. This of course means such a person loses the ability to be saved by Jesus. Watch this episode of Last Days Breaking News with Nelson Walters to see actual video footage of a leading expert and advisor of the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab freely describe how AI and brain to computer implants will forever change the world – and how this matches up with Bible Prophecy.

So much of end times, Bible prophecy is lining up in our day whether it be floods, droughts, famine, pestilence, apostasy. wars and rumours of wars. The Apostle, John must have wondered about what the mark of the Beast would be and it is only in our day that the technology is available to make it a reality.

ISRAEL SEES ALL-TIME HIGH IN EXPORTS

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Israeli exports increased to about $140 billion in 2021 and hit a record high, an increase of close to 20% compared to about $114.3 billion in 2020, according to estimates by the Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy and Industry.

For the first time in Israel’s economic history, exports of services exceed exports of goods with a 51% to 49% ratio, while the exports of goods are also on the rise.

Despite pandemic, Israel sees all-time high in exports
Industrial container yard at Haifa Port

The leading sectors in the export of goods are automation and electronic equipment, products of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and optical and medical equipment.

Israel’s top exporting destinations are the U.S., China, Netherlands, Turkey, and Germany.

The two most significant trends that contributed to the change in the balance of power between goods and services are a significant increase in the high-tech industries in Israeli exports – exports of programming services and research and development services that are not start-ups, which grew by 25% and 15% respectively, and the significant increase in transportation services exports that jumped this year by 138% percent. Exports resulting from the sale of start-up companies also jumped by 257% and these trends led to the overall growth of about 30% in the export of services.

The majority of exports, 39%, are directed to European markets, 33% to American markets, and about 25% to Asian markets.

Ohad Cohen, Director of Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, stated Monday that “the year 2021 will break records in Israeli exports and its components. Whether we reach the $140 billion threshold or not, this is an all-time high in exports, which was slightly halted in 2020 due to the Corona pandemic.”

He noted that the exporting sector showed “an impressive recovery” in late 2020 and even more so in 2021, both in the export of goods and services.

This nation which God established for His purposes to be a blessing to the world is being a blessing to the world in the development of high-tech products and services but sadly it will not fulfill God’s purpose until its Messiah Jesus returns to establish His Millennial Kingdom. In fact, we are told in God’s Word only one-third will survive the coming reign of the Antichrist.

“In the whole land, declares the Lord ‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people, and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” Zechariah 13:8-9

•The prince-of-preachers Charles Spurgeon preached: “I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough about it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this. I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the Children of Israel . . . For when the Jews are restored, the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in; and as soon as they return, then Jesus will come upon Mount Zion with his ancients gloriously, and the halcyon days of the Millennium shall then dawn; we shall then know every man to be a brother and a friend; Christ shall rule with universal sway.”

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS INTENSIFIES

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March 6th, 2022 China (International Christian Concern) – A Christian woman in China, named Zhou Jinxia was detained for her repeated attempt to share the good news of Jesus Christ with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan.

Using placards filled with Gospel messages, Zhou regularly stands outside a gated area in Beijing where top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials reside. Last month, she did so to greet President Xi when he returned from the Winter Olympics, leading to her arrest for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Authorities ordered Zhou to return to her hometown of Dalian, where her beef with the government began.

In 2009, local authorities seized and demolished Zhou’s house in Dalian without her consent, later turning it into a city square. According to the group China Aid, Zhou and her family members have spent years seeking justice, only to be detained and lose their jobs.

Religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter explains that Zhou “took seriously [President] Xi’s statements he would fight corruption.” So after his 2013 inauguration, she repeatedly wrote to him about her unjust eviction. Because Xi never replied, Zhou “concluded that no solution to China’s problem would be possible unless [the president and his wife] would receive Jesus in their hearts.”

The Dalian native was sent back to Liaoning province by the police after her action in Beijing. She was subsequently detained. On Feb. 20, Zhou went to Zhongnanhai in Beijing, the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council of China, holding up a sign asking Xi Jinping to believe in Jesus.

The police in charge arrested her before Dalian police brought her back to Dalian. She was criminally detained and charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on February 21. Her family received the notice of her criminal detention from Dalian’s Public Security Bureau’s Xigang Branch on March 1.

According to China Aid, in recent years, Zhou has attempted to share the good news with her Chinese leader more than 50 times. As early as March 2015, Zhou was detained for ten days for her evangelism activities. In March 2016 and March 2018, she was detained again for the same charge.

Beginning October 2020, Zhou has resided in Fengtai district’s Xiaobailou village in Beijing. She actively shares the gospel and is involved in her church. On June 27, 2021, she was driven away by local leaders and police, while her amenities of daily life were confiscated. As someone whose house was forcibly demolished by the government, Zhou is not unfamiliar with the injustice in China.

We need to pray for Zhou Jinxia and the many like her in China and other countries where Christians are persecuted. Moreover, we should ask God to give us the courage to be like her in the face of intense persecution that we will see intensify across the globe in these prophesied “last days” before Jesus returns.