Many Christians worldwide are being persecuted, and the persecution is growing! In this Studio Elective, Michael Weis, who has ministered to the persecuted Church, gives biblical principles about the reality, expectation, and preparation for “Persevering Through the Coming Persecution.”
Hopefully, it will help prepare you for the coming persecution prophesied in the last days before Jesus returns. Persecution of Christians is certainly growing around the world. Christians are increasingly being accused of hate speech and being intolerant. Why, because of holding God’s values on abortion, marriage, sex and gender.
A powerful sermon on the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. God gives us the desire to know Him. Without God’s grace no one would come to Him.
The Scriptures teach that God is sovereign over all. The Scriptures also teach that man is responsible for his actions. Are the two teachings contradictory? In this session Dr. R.C. Sproul addresses the perennial questions surrounding the relation between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.
Turkey is assembling a multi-national Islamic Army it calls “the West’s Greatest Fear.” Could it end up being the 2nd largest in the world? What is Erdogan’s goal is assembling an army of this size from most of the northern middle east and western Asia? Will this army fulfill Ezekiel 38 and invade Israel? Is that its ultimate destiny. Watch this Nelson Walters video to see who is joining with Turkey to form the world’s most dangerous army. Turkey 2023: Satan’s Throne from Nazi Germany to Caliphate?
I have posted a number of articles on the prophesied coming wars of Daniel 8 involving first Iran (Ram of Daniel 8) and then Turkey (Goat of Daniel 8).This video only confirms that these prophesied events are unfolding in our time.
“I saw the ram (Iran) charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.” Daniel 8:4
This prophecy is already playing out with Iran pushing west with its proxies. The article “Meet the Proxies: How Iran Spreads Its Empire through Terrorist Militias” by Arabic-language research analyst, David Daoud describes how in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere, Tehran has perfected the art of gradually conquering a country without replacing its flag in its efforts to establish a new Persian Empire.
“As I was considering, behold, a male goat (Turkey – a revived Ottoman Empire) came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power.” Daniel 8:5-7
Nelson’s video demonstrates what Turkey (Goat) of Daniel 8) is already doing to re-establish its dominance with a revived Ottoman Empire. It will demolish Iran’s hopes of a new Persian Empire as described above in Daniel :5-7
Other related videos from Nelson Walters on Turkey’s (former Ottoman Empire) prophesied end times role.
It is profoundly wrong that so many Christian institutions seem to be deliberately set up to insulate their leadership, from any private or public criticism, and designed to keep bad news from seeping out. It is past time for our institutions and our institutional leaders to act in ways that demonstrate they recognize and believe that our sinful nature applies to them as well to ordinary people.
Watchdog groups such as MinistryWatch and the Roys Report have extensively noted, many Christian ministries are run like family businesses. Ravi Zacharias’ ministry was a family affair: it was named after him, and his wife and several daughters were on the board or employed by the ministry at six-figure salaries. The same is true at Liberty University, where Jerry Falwell Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and his son is a vice president. I could name many other similar Christian celebrities. The reality is the Christian celebrity culture is toxic.
Ravi Zacharias was the head of an international, $40-million-a-year apologetics ministry devoted to explaining and justifying Christianity to a watching world. The position brought him international fame and fortune. When he died there was an outpouring of hagiographies of him from Christian circles.
But increasingly, evidence shows that Ravi Zacharias was guilty of significant levels of adultery and sexual abuse, and lying. Ravi lied about his academic credentials, claiming degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, along with a fake doctorate. Worse was his years long sexting scandal with a married woman that he repeatedly lied about and, more recently, the discovery that he was a part-owner of a number of “massage clinics” where he sexually abused women.
Zacharias and his ministry apparently spent years denying, obfuscating, and covering up piles of evidence of his misconduct. Finally, after Ravi’s death, the executive committee of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries has admitted that there is credible evidence that he engaged in sexual misconduct for many years. In a statement clearly designed to claim a show of transparency, the board noted: “We are heartbroken at learning this but feel it necessary to be transparent and to inform our staff, donors, and supporters at this time, even while the investigation continues.”
In truth, the board seems to have been far from transparent. Only now, almost a year after Ravi’s death, and after years of obfuscation, has the board finally admitted that the stories about Ravi are true. To its credit, the board hired a law firm that has already investigated and authenticated many of the allegations and has engaged victim-advocate Rachael Denhollander as a consultant and a separate compliance firm to evaluate RZIM’s board. But frankly, for many, this comes far too late.
All about making disciples who in turn will make disciples
Thank goodness for the Francis Chan’s of this world who recognise that Jesus did not want an Institutional Church. He walked away from his church of 5000 to set up Home Churches without paid pastors or buildings. These churches are set up as the church is described in the Book of Acts. Look at the requirements Paul outlines for church leaders there. Also, the ante-Nicene churches were simple and free. They found their unity in wholehearted devotion to Christ, not in a systematic theology or set of doctrines.
The Last Reformation Movement initiated by Torben Sondergaard is a good example of what God is doing in these last days. Take a look at my recent post “Obedience and Listening to the Holy Spirit” and watch the video. It gives two great testimonies of the type of people God is using to complete the Great Commission before Jesus returns.
These interviews and testimonies will help you to acknowledge the necessary actions we need to take to disciple and make a difference in other peoples lives. There is 6 minutes of introductory music so you can do something else while you listen to the delightful music but the testimonies that follow are worth the wait. The TLR movement is being used by God mightily to bring many into God’s Kingdom. The healings and the miracles demonstrate that the power is back in the church as disciples move out into the marketplace totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit to do ministry. For me in Australia it was wonderful to learn what God is doing in Eastern Europe. It is wonderful to see how God was moving in wonderful ways so it was obvious God was doing the work. His children were just doing His will. The testimony of the couple Abraham and Annemarie Levy is powerful. You must listen to them on “love”, Abraham makes three important observations of being a disciple that stand out: “You cannot follow Jesus without sacrifice”, “You must deliberately bury your own life”, “The flesh will always war against the spirit”, tough but exciting when you learn what God has done and is doing with their lives. If you live in Poland make sure you connect with this couple.
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:7
From here on in Christians do not expect the world to embrace you as they have every conceivable abomination. Look what Jesus said,
“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. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14
Be reminded, the main battle going on is in the spiritual realm. The Bible tells us that Satan who has had dominion over this fallen world as a result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion is soon to be overthrown by our Lord Jesus at the same time the Antichrist is defeated at the Battle of Armageddon. At which time, Satan will be bound for a 1000 years in the Abyss. Jesus will then begin His Millennial reign on this earth from a reconstructed Jerusalem with the saints in their transformed bodies. That is the time when the following Scripture is fulfilled.
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
The last seven years on this planet is described as a time of Tribulation leading to Great Tribulation and then a final period when the wrath of God is poured out on an unbelieving world. It terminates with Jesus return with the raptured saints (raptured prior to the Wrath of God being unleashed with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements) to deliver a remnant Israel at the Battle of Armageddon and begin His Millennial reign on this earth.
Christians, God has a role for you to play in these last days to fulfill this Scripture “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” are you in prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit so that you will fulfill your destiny and take up your assigned role to rule and reign with Jesus in the Millennium?
The Judgment at Christ’s Coming “This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonian 1:5-12
In 1951, Nepal reported no Christians in its government census. And by 1961, that number increased to just 458. Today, the World Christian Database ranks the country as the 12th fastest-growing Christian population in the world with 1,285,200 believers, said database co-director Gina Zurlo. The real number might be higher.
Until 2008, Nepal was a Hindu kingdom. For Hindu radicals, being Nepali means being culturally Hindu, Pastor Tanka Subedi told CP. Subedi leads Nepal’s Family of God Church and serves as director of the International Nepal Fellowship. Although most Hindus live in peace with Christians, he said some fiercely oppose the Gospel. “The prime minister himself says he doesn’t believe in God but is Hindu,” said Subedi. “State media and government officials [say] Christianity is coming to Nepal to destroy our culture. It’s challenging to evangelize people who have that mindset.”
The pressure and violence Christians experience from Hindus places the country at No. 34 on Open Doors USA’s global persecution watch list.
Despite rising persecution, Christians continue to share their faith, Subedi said, because the government can’t arrest them all. We come from a persecuted background. We were never free. We are used to it, he said.
People feel eager to become Christians because of the reality of the Christian faith and the healings, Subedi added.
Nepalese Christians Reuters/Shruti Shrestha
Suroj Shakya, a 41 year old church elder in Nepal told CP that he became a Christian at 8 years old after God healed him from food poisoning. When Suroj was 19, his mother Gita Shakya was diagnosed with a painful, paralyzing spinal growth. Doctors told Gita and Suroj, that her best option for healing was a risky, potentially lethal surgery, Suroj shared with The Christian Post. Surgery was expensive, and Gita’s husband, Babukaji, a Buddhist priest, refused to pay his Christian wife’s expenses. Doctors in Singapore gave 19-year-old Suroj two days to decide whether to let his mother live in terrible pain or risk her death.
Suroj prayed, then decided it was best to do the surgery. But he didn’t know what he would tell his family if Gita died, he said. At that time, I felt so alone in Singapore because it was my first visit, and I had nobody to share my problems with besides talking with the Lord in prayer, he added.
Suroj heard a knock at the door. It was a group of local church members who wanted to pray for Gita. After 20 minutes of prayer, a miracle happened, he said. Gita stood up. She kicked out with her left foot, which hadn’t moved for years. She punched out with her left arm. Suddenly, she could move. Gita started to weep and praise God, Suroj recalled. “There was no pain and sadness, which she had before. Her face was changed into joy and happiness,” he said.
Afterward, Suroj said doctors didn’t believe Gita was the same woman. Babukaji didn’t believe his wife had been healed without surgery until he saw she had no scars. Then along with his son, Suman, he became a Christian.
Such stories happen often in Nepal, said Suroj. Despite persecution and poverty, the Nepalese church has grown incredibly quickly. The South Asian country has one of the fastest-growing Christian populations in the world. To secular Westerners, it might seem impossible. But the mountains of Nepal have witnessed incredibly fast church growth in part because of miraculous healings.
The church growth is because of miracles, Suroj asserted. “[If] people don’t [get healed] from the hospital, they go to the church and ask for prayer from the church leaders. When the church family and church leaders pray for the sick people, they are getting healed.”
I believe as persecution of Christians intensifies in the West the Christian remnant will be more like the church described in the Book of Acts. Healings and miracles will be normal and an important part of church growth just as it is in Nepal.
Just because uniformitarian scientists accept there was an Ice Age, or many ice ages, does not mean they can explain its origin. They realize that an ice age requires much cooler summers, much more snow, and a climate change that persists for hundreds of years.
Heat trapped in the oceans after the Flood promoted high evaporation, which precipitated as snow and sleet on the continents. Ice continued to build up on the land for hundreds of years until the oceans cooled. This lessened the evaporation and so the ice sheets on the land melted back.
What would cause these factors to come together? It has been repeatedly shown that the disruption caused by the global Flood would lead naturally to this confluence.4 However, those who reject the Flood continue to extrapolate present processes millions of years into the past, processes such as climate change and variations in Earth’s orbital geometry. Over the years more than 60 theories have been proposed. Secular Ice Age expert J.K. Charlesworth said about Ice Age theories: “Pleistocene [Ice Age] phenomena have produced an absolute riot of theories ranging ‘from the remotely possible to the mutually contradictory and the palpably inadequate.”5
That was back in 1957, however, and many people believe we have made great progress since then. However, the cause of the Ice Age still is unknown, as ice age expert David Alt stated: “Although theories abound, no one really knows what causes ice ages.”6
One of the main challenges for the secular model is that colder air is also drier air. Even if they discover a cooling mechanism, the air would be too dry for enough snow to fall for an ice age. As an example, if the average summer temperature of Canada were to fall 120C (220F), the air would become 60% drier.7 But this is not a problem for the biblical model because the warm waters just after the Flood would lead to large amounts of evaporation and precipitation.
When secular scientists run their computer models to explore the Ice Age, they find it difficult for any of their models to develop an ice age. But when they force their models to decrease the amount of sunshine by 6%, snow and ice begins to build up. However, the snow and ice sometimes grows over areas that have never been glaciated, such as Tibet and the lowlands of the far north: “We now have glaciation [in their climate model], but mainly outside the area where it existed during the last ice age.”13 In stark contrast, the biblical model easily explains the lack of glaciation in these lowlands. The oceans were warm at the beginning of the Ice Age, so the land near them was too warm for glaciation, except in the high mountains.
Because secular Ice Age models ignore the effects of Noah’s Flood, they have numerous difficulties, only some of which are mentioned here. These models are unable to explain either the distribution of large ice sheets or how they developed, demonstrating that their foundational assumptions—uniformitarianism and millions of years—are flawed. However, the biblical post-Flood model provides very plausible explanations and mechanisms for the various Ice Age phenomena.
Noah’s worldwide flood also provides the explanation for dead things buried all over the world ie. the fossils, fossil fuels – oil and coal. As a result, it provides the right answer to the age of the earth. It is thousands not billions of years old. It also demonstrates God does control events on His planet and that He judged and destroyed a lawless humanity just 4000 years ago (all but eight people).
God’s word reveals that in the “last days” before Jesus returns the world will ridicule those that believe Noah’s Flood was a real event when God judged the world. Scripture reveals Jesus will return to judge the nations and He will rule and reign with the resurrected saints on this earth for 1000 years. At the end of His Millennial reign this fallen earth will be destroyed by fire. This immediately precedes the White Throne judgement of the ungodly. God then creates a new heaven and a new earth where the saints will live on for eternity. The ungodly end up in the Lake of Fire which is the second death.
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.2 Peter 3:3-7.
4. Oard, M.J., What caused the Ice Age?Creation36(3):52–55, 2014; creation.com/ice-age-cause. 5. Charlesworth, J.K., The Quaternary Era, Edward Arnold, London, UK, p. 1,532, 1957. 6. Alt, D., Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods, Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, MT, p. 180, 2001.
This article by Michael Oard was taken from Creation Magazine 36 (3) pages 52-55, July 2014 http://www.creation.com
Fans of DeFi (Decentralised Finance) are so ardent, they have a description for the “old world” of banking that most people use today… Traditional Finance (TradFi). Will DeFi eventually replace TradeFi? It certainly looks that way.
When I transfer dollars to you, we either have to do it in person – with me handing you cash – or through the banking system, which involves me telling my bank to send money to your bank account.
Blockchain technology gives us capabilities that simply were not possible before. The Bitcoin blockchain allows us to transfer bitcoin person to person (or “peer to peer”) without any intermediary. (Bitcoin with a capital “B” refers to the blockchain, whereas bitcoin with a lowercase “b” refers to the cryptocurrency.)
A simple way to explain how it works, is to think of the Bitcoin blockchain as a giant Excel spreadsheet that shows the complete transaction history and location of every bitcoin. Every 10 minutes, the spreadsheet gets updated as an additional “block” of new transactions is permanently added to the spreadsheet. Everyone can have their own copy of the spreadsheet. It’s completely transparent.
Rather than locking all the information away for a certain person or group to use, the data stored on a blockchain are done in plain view on computers all around the world. In the simplest terms, this is precisely what a decentralized blockchain is… data that anyone can see and verify at any time.
Bitcoin has been around since 2009 and it is only now that it is entering mainstream with Paypal, Ebay and other major organisations accepting Bitcoin. Just a few weeks ago, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – basically the U.S. Treasury – told U.S. banks it can use blockchains to store and transfer funds.
Banks, social media networks, and payment processors are about to give billions of their existing users simple ways to use crypto, too. In some cases, those users won’t even know they’re using crypto. A bank could, for example, convert dollars to a dollar-pegged crypto to process a payment instantly – instead of the traditional two to three days for an automated clearinghouse to do it.
Now DeFi (decentralised finance) mostly using Ethereum is just coming into its own. It will enable transactions such as I could write a program that says if any account has more than $10,000, I’ll lend the account $5,000 in, say, Ethereum (ETH) tokens, at an interest rate of 5%. In this scenario, consider if Account-X applies for a loan… The software could simply verify that the account has the appropriate balance, put a hold on $10,000 of those funds, and transfer the $5,000 in Ethereum instantly. No middleman or human would need to be involved.
If you are not already involved with Bitcoin and Blockchain technology then let me tell you that are missing out on a great opportunity to bless your family. I believe Blockchain will be important for Christians as persecution intensifies and existing sources of funds dry up Christians will be able to transfer funds with DeFi to other Christians either as a donation or loan with an agreed on interest rate and governments cannot interfere with the transaction at least at the moment.
Roughly 2,600 years ago, the most dominant and deadly superpower on the earth was Babylon, which is modern day Iraq. Their tyrant king Nebuchadnezzar set up a gigantic golden image of himself. The Jews which he had appointed to rule with Daniel over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down and worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image.
“Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Daniel 3:13-15
God delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace and this was Nebuchadnezzar’s response
“King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to generation.” Daniel 4:1-3
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God but in a second dream which Daniel also interpreted God had not finished humbling him, Nebuchadnezzar was warned by God that if he did not humble himself and repent of his sin within one year, he would lose his mind.
“It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Daniel 4:24
That very thing happened and, returning to the throne after wandering around the yard eating grass and sleeping outside for seven years, he sent forth an official state letter explaining this complex and confusing season of his life and acknowledging God’s sovereignty over the earth.
“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say to Him, “What have you done?” Daniel 4:34-35
From Nebuchadnezzar’s experience three big questions arise that everyone needs to answer,
Are you really and truly investing your life to build God’s Kingdom, or some other empire like your business, family, or even ministry that are not truly for God?
2. Do you worship the “Most High God” alone, or do other rulers like people, pleasure, power, prestige, or peace get the best of your time, energy, and money?
3. Who gets the glory in your life story? If you get the glory in your life story, then it’s a biography. If God gets the glory in your life story, then it’s a testimony. The reason Nebuchadnezzar went crazy for seven years is because he took the credit/glory for all the success in his life. It took a catastrophic experience in Nebuchadnezzar’s life in order for him to talk about God in a grateful and humble way. Sadly, for most of us, it will take a catastrophe in our life before we repent and acknowledge God’s sovereignty.
