North Korea released three hostages on Wednesday, including a pastor, in a good will gesture after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Franklin Graham recognised who was responsible for this miracle.
Franklin Graham @Franklin_Graham retweeted Donald J. Trump. Thank you Mr. President. Franklin Graham added, Donald J. Trump Verified account@realDonaldTrump
I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health. Also, good meeting with Kim Jong Un. Date & Place set. 7:18 am – 9 May 2018
ABC News reports the hostages Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Kim Sang Duk, who is also known as Tony Kim, have been detained in North Korea for more than a year.
Kim’s family issued a statement through their lawyer, Randall Brandt, after his release was made public.
“We want to thank all of those who have worked toward and contributed to his return home. We also want to thank the president for engaging directly with North Korea. Mostly, we thank God for Tony’s safe return,” the statement said. “We appreciate all of the support and prayers of friends and even strangers during this challenging year. You are dear to our hearts. We ask that you continue to pray for the people of North Korea and for the release of all who are still being held.”
The move brought praises from around the globe, but especially within the Christian community. Some commented on U.S. President Donald Trump’s firm hand toward the dictatorship.
Iranian lawmakers burned a US flag and chanted “death to America” in parliament after Trump’s nuclear deal pullout.
The stage is being set for the prophesied “last days” war of Gog (Leader/Prince/King) of the land of Magog (uttermost parts, north of Israel) outlined in Ezekiel 38 & 39. Gog forms an alliance with Persia (Iran) Ezekiel 38:5 and ” it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land (Israel)” Ezekiel 38:16. The other countries in the alliance to come against Israel are Sudan, Libya, Turkey and some of the -stan countries (Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc) countries (all Muslim).
The lawmakers, including a Shiite cleric, held the flaming flag alight as their colleagues joined their chants. They also burned a piece of paper representing the nuclear deal and stomped on the papers’ ashes. While US flag burning is common in Iran and harsh criticism of America has been a staple of Iranian parliamentary politics for years, it was the first time political observers could remember anything being burned inside the parliament itself.
Wednesday morning after the flag burning, parliament speaker Ali Larijani urged the country’s nuclear department to prepare for “resumption of all aspects of nuclear activities.”
Netanyahu lauded his American counterpart for withdrawing from the Iran deal, declaring that “Israel thanks President Trump for his courageous leadership.”
In a live address on Israeli television after Trump’s announcement of US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Netanyahu expressed “full support” for the president’s decision.
Netanyahu added, “as we exposed last week, since the deal, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret nuclear weapons program. So if you leave all of this unchanged, all this combined is a recipe for disaster, a disaster for our region, a disaster for the peace of the world.”
Dr Michael Brown does a credible job of addressing this critical issue in this 6 1/2 minute video
It’s the question that’s dividing churches and separating family members. It’s the question that must be answered: Can you be gay and Christian?
Well, if you claim to be a Christian, that means Jesus is your Lord and the Bible is your authority, so the real question is: What does Jesus have to say about this? And what does the Bible—God’s Word—have to say? That’s what we need to find out.
Of course, we understand that every Christian struggles in some area, whether it be pride or anger or lust or jealousy or greed. But we also recognize that these desires and attitudes are sinful, and so we say no to them and yes to the Lord.
In the same way, some Christians struggle with same-sex attractions, saying no to those attractions and yes to the Lord. That’s their area of temptation and battle.
But what about those who say, “God made me gay, and if I’m in a committed relationship, the Lord is pleased. After all, God is love, and love wins. What the Bible opposes is abusive relationships like homosexual pederasty and prostitution and promiscuity. That’s what the Scriptures condemn. But the Lord blesses committed same-sex relationships.”
Is this true?
There’s only one way to answer this question. With humility, we must come to God and His Word and say, “Father, whatever You say, we will obey. We only want Your will.”
So, what does God’s Word have to say? Can you practice homosexuality and follow Jesus at the same time?
We’ve put together a six-minute video that answers this head-on, clarifying misunderstandings, dispelling myths and offering hope.
Can you be gay and Christian? You’ll find your answers in this video.
This 11 minute sermon is even more needed to day than when David Wilkerson produced it almost ten years ago. End Times signs are more evident today than back then.
It seems like we are in “fast forward” mode. Last days prophesied “birth pangs” do increase in intensity with time.
David Wilkerson says in the video, that the younger generation has no fear of God, and yet we know the beginning of wisdom is to fear God. No doubt this lack of fear has been brought about by one of Satan’s most effective strategies – evolution, which has destroyed belief in the Bible as God’s inerrant Word. We need to get equipped to share the Gospel effectively with the abundant resources provided by http://www.creation.com.
WASHINGTON — A survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, believes it’s time for Christians to exchange “church Christianity” for “lifestyle Christianity,” and that the mainstream media narrative about “conversion therapy” amounts to “fake news.”
At the Freedom March, a gathering of men and women who shared their stories of abandoning the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer lifestyles and identity labels, which occurred at the Sylvan Theatre next to the Washington Monument Saturday, Luis Javier Ruiz, who survived the June 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub, began his speech by kneeling and proclaiming forgiveness.
“I come as a pastor’s child to ask forgiveness of the Church. Because we have kicked out, we have thrown [LGBTQ persons] out, including myself, and I want to ask [for] forgiveness, and I want to welcome the LGBTQ, I want to welcome anybody to come into the Church, to come worship in a safe place.”
“Maybe we didn’t know how to do it back in the days, but we sure do now. The Holy Spirit is pouring out. And He is raising up a generation with boldness. And I just want to thank Him … my identity is Jesus.”
Ruiz no longer lives or identifies as a homosexual. He explained that he lost many friends at the Pulse nightclub that night in Orlando, and described the massacre as one of the scariest events of his life. Ruiz stressed that those who hold hateful signs and express hate for homosexuals are “not us.”
“We love,” he said, “and the same love that Jesus gave us when He forgives us on the cross, He also does the same for anybody.”
Those in attendance were marching to proclaim their freedom from all kinds of issues, not just from homosexuality, he went on to say. Ruiz then prayed for God to raise up a generation who will be bold, for men and women who would not compromise nor water down the Word of God, for people to love others radically, and for a revival to be ignited in Washington, D.C.
He told The Christian Post in an interview following his talk that life in Christ is about “falling in love with Him in that secret place and allowing Him to take things off of you, whatever they may be, however they may look.”
“The Holy Spirit and Jesus will be the only ones to tell you what you can and cannot do. And of course, reading the Word, because He is the Word,” he said.
When asked what he would like to communicate most and what God’s heart is for the LBGT community, he said: “I feel like God’s heart right now is that he wants your heart. He wants to fall in love with you.”
“You are His creation, you are His child, no matter what you’re going through. And I believe that as soon as you forget about everything and fall in love with Christ deeply, everything is going to change. It’s going to cause you to come out [of the LGBTQ life], and His perfect love that will cast out fear, and boldness.”
He added that too many Christians tend to live a “church kind” of Christian faith, “but God is calling us to lifestyle Christianity, and you can only find that and only do that through Christ.”
CP asked Ruiz what he makes of the media coverage about him no longer identifying as gay, particularly the reports emphasising the harms of what is often referred to as “conversion therapy.”
“What’s that?” he replied with a laugh. “Honestly, I don’t know what that is. I’ve never been through conversion therapy. I’ve been through Holy Spirit therapy. That’s the only [kind] I know. All they are trying to do is, I think, it’s lies. It’s fake people and fake news.”
“Jesus said ‘Follow me.’ He didn’t give you a list of rules. He said: ‘Follow me. So trust Him to do the rest.”
Freedom March organizer Jeffrey McCall, who once lived as a gay male prostitute and then as a transwoman named Scarlett, commented to CP following the event that the Freedom March was “a public declaration, a public pushback against darkness in not only our capital but our country,” in the spiritual realm.
“It was a public push back that people can be free not only from homosexuality and transgender lives but from anything. That it is through the power of the Holy Spirit, and it’s through the grace of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.”
“The heart of God for LGBTQ people is the same that it is for all people. His heart loves them, and He wants all of them. And [what] I want to say to them is: you’re so special, you are worth more than rubies and jewels and diamonds.” “This is the Gospel for all people.”
Author and artist Janet L. Willis has recently had her children’s book published on the coming New Jerusalem, God’s Got a House and It’s Coming to Earth. It is full of beautiful artwork and more importantly an accurate portrayal of biblical truth of the coming kingdom. It is also consistent with the prewrath view on the day of the Lord as you can see in the video below. It is wonderful how God raises up His people to provide the resources needed for this time in history. Get your children excited about God and what He has in store for them. Eternity with Him on a new earth.
God has revealed much about the future! He gives great comfort when you pay attention to the details He has graciously provided. Jesus said when He comes back, He will bring His Father’s house with Him (John 14:1-3). We are told that after the final White Throne judgement, John saw God’s heavenly city, New Jerusalem land on a new earth. It will be the future home of all those who put their faith and trust in God’s Messiah (Romans 10:13). And it will be the capital city of King Jesus on the new earth. Let the rhyme and rhythm carry you through this visual overview of the plan of God. Bible references give background, and stir the mind to think deeper. For a fuller treatment of this subject, you can examine the author’s research in What on Earth Is Heaven Like? (2015).
This video reveals what happens when you stand up for the authority of Scripture particularly when it challenges the church about going out to preach the Gospel – disciples making new disciples.
Jesus clearly says that new wine in old wine skins doesn’t work (Mark 2:22). It will burst the wine skins and the wine is spilled. What we are seeing now is that churches are splitting. It is the work of the Holy Spirit and we will see much more of it in the future. The more the kingdom of God grows, the more families and churches will be divided.
We hope this video will bless you, encourage you and help you to not compromise for the sake of a false peace, but stand firm on the truth and on the word of God. You can see that Joel and Torben love the church, but there is a church system and a compromise that is not from God. Joël – a senior pastor – tells about how he got fired from his church after trying to reform it. Torben Søndergaard is also telling about how Christian leaders in Denmark are warning against and spreading lies about him and The Last Reformation. There are really a lot of lies and manipulation going on in churches. Let’s work together in the name of Jesus.
We have just had two outstanding Christian movie productions I Can Only Imagine and Paul: Apostle for Christ in the lead up to Easter. Movies change people and people change their world. Hope you took your unbelieving friends to see these life changing movies.
Well it’s not over, God is at work like never before in Hollywood and we now have another great movie to reach out to non believers. The films title is very appropriate for the time we live in – GOD’S NOT DEAD: A LIGHT IN DARKNESS. It is starting in cinemas across Australia today. This third GOD’s NOT DEAD movie is a powerful and timely reminder that in all circumstances, we are called to be a light for Jesus.
We live in a world in desperate need of hope. Some reviewers say it is the best yet. Don’t miss this opportunity.
JESUS FINAL WORDS WERE: “ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME. THEREFORE GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS …
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Gotherefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
It was clearly a command to HIS followers. Will we be obedient to that command?
HE HAS GIVEN US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION. WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Time is short, start living eternal now with a focus on Jesus return. Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to be your counsellor, teacher and comforter. He will guide you into all truth, He will direct your paths, but it must be with a humble and contrite heart that says, not my will but Your will be done from this day forward.
Listen to Floyd McClung give excellent teaching on being an obedient disciple of Christ using the Parable of the Sower.
One Day with YHWH is as a Thousand Years “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”2 Peter 3:8
Peter’s statement of “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” is sandwiched between the scoffers’ question of “where is the promise of his coming” and Peter’s reassurance that “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise” but rather He is “long suffering to us-ward”.
In other words, YHWH’s delay in coming to restore his people is due to His love towards the Jewish people and His unwillingness that any of those called should perish.
As you can see from this context, It’s unlikely that Peter believed in the immanency of Christ’s return. He understood, that the period of time between Yeshua’s first and second coming was a period of time during which YHWH’s long suffering purpose was worked out toward the Jewish people as well as the gentiles.
Do you see, Peter’s statement here is not an enigma nor is it some metaphysical statement about the relativity of time? It is a clear statement to the Jewish people, a statement that Peter unequivocally states that they should not be “ignorant” of.
The reason they should not be ignorant of this statement is because, it comes from one of their most important prophetic books (in the Bible) which speaks to the Jewish people’s restoration. That book was the book of Hosea and as we have already seen, both Peter and Paul referenced it when discussing the current status of the Jewish people and their promised restoration. Further, this period was linked to the “two days” of Hosea and his people’s promised restoration.
Impending judgement on Israel and Judah Hosea Chapter 5
I have chosen just a few verses but read all chapters 5 and 6.
“Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
“The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by human precept.
Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah like rottenness. Hosea 5:9-12
A Call to Repentance Chapter 6
Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.Hosea 6:1-3
Hosea’s Two Days are 2000 Years
Some will try to set dates based upon this information, but frankly that is not possible or fruitful. Peter’s allusion to two days of Hosea provides no basis for us to calculate the day, hour, or frankly even the year of Yeshua’s return. The prophecy of Hosea simply states that Israel will be revived on “the third day”. When on the third day is conjecture.
It is enough for us to understand that we are living at the very end of the “two days” since Yeshua’s death and resurrection. That we have had the awesome privilege to witness the “dry bones” of Ezekiel 37 coming back together as the final century of those “two days” of Hosea runs its course.
Also. the dispersion and regathering of Israel has an amazing symbolic parallel to the death and resurrection of Yeshua. What happens to Israel’s king happens to Israel. As Yeshua was killed by the Romans and His soul left His body for two days, so was the people of Israel exiled out of their land for two thousand years. As Yeshua returned into His body after two days to be resurrected, so has the people returned to their land to be restored after two millennia.
As Yeshua’s return draws near, let’s intercede with YHWH on behalf of the Jewish people who have not yet turned their hearts towards Yeshua. Now is the time to be looking up, for our Salvation of Yahweh – our Yeshua draws near.
Post used information from William Struse’s article, “Did the apostle Peter believe in the imminence of Christ’s return.” http://www.the13thinnumeration.com
