FRANKLIN GRAHAM’S U.K. “GOD LOVES YOU” TOUR

Over 8,000 people traveled from around the U.K. to hear Franklin Graham preach in Birmingham on Saturday night. It was the American evangelist’s first time in the Midlands, with his visit coming 40 years since his late father, world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, preached the Gospel in nearby Villa Park.

“Jesus Christ is not dead. He’s alive and He’s here tonight,” said Graham to cheers and applause inside the Birmingham Resorts World Arena.

Graham is back in the U.K. to continue his God Loves You Tour, with another night coming up in Glasgow on June 22.

His thoughts turning momentarily to his father, who preached many times in the U.K., Graham said, “I miss him and every time I come to this country I think of him because he loved this nation, he loved the people of this country.”

Birmingham was one of the eight cities that Graham had originally planned to visit in 2020, but it was postponed due to legal action against seven venues that canceled their legally binding contracts. The tour was eventually able to go ahead after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association took successful legal action against the venues.

Last night, Graham preached from Luke 19, which tells the story of the salvation of Zacchaeus, a wealthy chief tax collector who put his faith in Christ and vowed to pay back fourfold anyone he had robbed.

The event was prayerfully supported by 500 churches around the U.K., with worship led by Michael W. Smith and former Hillsong worship leader Taya.

Graham heads to Glasgow, Scotland, next weekend and will be in London in 2025 for another stop on his God Loves You Tour. More details can be found at https://godlovesyoutour.org.uk/

MY TRUTH OR THE TRUTH

What are our psychologists teaching us about life? The latest is the “identity theory of life“. It is entirely subjective. It emerges from how we feel, what we think, and what we want. It is not beholden to our Creator, to any fixed standard outside of us. It is my truth, not the truth.

What does God tell us about life? he starts with “In the beginning, God...” Then when He has anything to say about human beings, He says, ““Let us make man in our image, after our likeness

There is a truth outside of us that we cannot escape. It determines what we are and who we are. And yet the world rebels against that truth. Why? The Prince of this World deceived Eve:

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.Genesis 3:4-5

We want to be God and determine how we will live our lives. We do not want to live according to our Creator’s commandments.

We are made in the image of God. What does that mean? Martyn Isles in his book Who Am I? Solving the identity Puzzle says the following:

Scripture tells us that the whole of God’s nature may be summarised in that sacred word “holy”. First, it means sinless and perfect. So Adam and Eve were made sinless and perfect. But holiness is also a short way of referring to all of who God is. It includes all aspects of His perfection – all of His character traits. So, God’s character traits were able to be demonstrated by mankind in creation because of their holiness, to radiantly image Him and reflect His glory this includes things like His love, grace, mercy, righteousness, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and so forth. Wow!

God made it possible for us to get right with Him and return to the right relationship. It could only be achieved by Jesus (God the Son) paying the price of our rebellion which was death. Jesus died so that we might live. He rose again from the dead and so will we to eternal life, first to reign with Jesus on this Earth during His Millennial reign, and then after the White Throne judgement, on a new Earth where only the righteous will dwell.

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 20:5-6

The Millennial Kingdom is next on God’s agenda for mankind. Are you prepared for what is coming? I was not and God narrowed my focus for a while so I could prepare the website http://www.millennialkingdom.net. May I suggest you go take a look and get prepared?

MORE EVIDENCE FOR A YOUNG COSMOS

DEAD. COLD. DARK. SMALL. OLD, VERY OLD. Many such words have been used to describe the dwarf planet Pluto, which orbits the sun very far away. About 40 times as far from the sun as Earth. Pluto is much smaller than other planets and was ‘demoted’ from planet status in 2006. Secular scientists believe Pluto is 4.5 billion years (Ga) old. They also believed Pluto was dead, meaning geologically inactive. This is because, by being so small and far from the sun, if it were anywhere near that old, it would have lost all its internal heat long, long ago.

New Orions spacecraft and Pluto

In 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft finally reached its destination to study what NASA called “a relic from the formation of the solar system”. This was the first mission designed to study Pluto, its moons, and other objects in the Kuiper Belt. This belt is a vast region of space beyond Neptune’s orbit, containing icy bodies including Pluto.

The spacecraft took the first detailed, close-up images of the surface of Pluto and its moon, Charon, while studying the composition of the dwarf planet. What it has found and continues to find has been surprising, inspiring, intriguing, and mind-blowing. Pluto is shocking the science world by not being cold, dark, dead, and all the similar adjectives used to describe it. The greatest surprise is that Pluto does not appear to be old.

Several areas of Pluto studied are believed to be recently active cryovolcanoes. Among these areas are Virgil Fossae and Viking Terra. Similar icy volcanoes have also been discovered on the planetary moons Enceladus (orbiting Saturn) and Triton (orbiting Neptune). The question is then, how? How can a cold, dead planet still have volcanoes? How can a very old, small planet be active? Where would the energy come from, if not from internal heat? But how can Pluto be so small and still have internal heat? The Bible. God’s inerrant word gives us the answer it is about 6,000 years old not billions.

CHRISTIANITY IN EUROPE: GOOD NEWS FIRST, REALITY CHECK SECOND

GOD IS MOVING ACROSS EUROPE – IN FRANCE, HUNGARY & ITALY

FRANCE: Praise, prayer, and the Word of God filled the streets of Paris recently as more than 25,000 people participated in the March for Jesus in France. The massive gathering of believers across Paris on May 25th reportedly broke record participation when attendees gathered together under the banner “Let’s bear witness publicly and in unity” about our faith in Jesus Christ.

A coalition of ministries organized the event which took place in Paris and four other cities including Lille, Nantes, Metz, and Strasbourg. The organizers said that the gathering “allowed Christians of all denominations to raise the name of Jesus above their theological differences.” “We opened ourselves to the entire evangelical Protestant spectrum thanks to the participation of several churches such as MLK, Hillsong, ICC, and also Baptist, charismatic, and more traditional Protestant churches. My role, as coordinator is to keep unity and unite around Jesus,” Gilbert Leonian, the pastor in charge of the Paris march said. He also said, “If we are here, it is not for a religion or to promote our church, but because there is someone who has touched us deeply – Jesus,

HUNGARY & ITALY: Another wave of massive gatherings has taken place across Europe since the Paris March with more than a thousand people making decisions to follow Jesus Christ – this time in Hungary and Italy. International evangelist Jean-Luc Trachsel says “the power of the Lord” moved at two huge conferences in Hungary and Italy as people were saved, healed, and delivered. “Everywhere in Europe there are hungry and thirsty people,” he wrote on social media.  Trachsel is the founder of Jean-Luc Trachsel Ministries which works to “bring unity among Christians and to proclaim the Gospel to this generation with mercy and compassion.” Recently Trachsel delivered a message in Paris, for the “March For Jesus”. Trachsel shared about a worship event called “This is the Day” in Miskolc, Hungary. That stadium can hold more than 15,000 people, and it was filled with souls hungry for God. Trachsel reports 1,300 people gave their lives to Christ.

Trachsel also shared a message on the power of the Holy Spirit at the Apostolic Conference 2024 hosted by the “Apostolic Church in Italy” in Rome. The three-day conference brought together a network of Italian churches with 11,000 members. A massive Protestant gathering like this is seen as unusual in the seat of Roman Catholicism. Trachsel recounts that “miracles and healings” took place at the conference including someone who was born deaf and left the conference able to hear and another person who had “blind twisted eyes” could see normally after receiving prayer.

REALITY CHECK: He added that the greatest “miracle” was the souls saved. Much of Europe has abandoned the Christian faith, embraced secularism, and returned to its pagan roots. The number of European Christians is expected to drop by about 100 million, falling from 553 million in 2010 to 454 million in 2050. Meanwhile, Europe’s Muslim population is expected to increase by 63% in the same time frame. Trachsel said he is seeing the decline firsthand in Switzerland where only 3 to 5% of the seven million people are born-again Christians. I feel the time is coming in Europe when real Christians will have to be underground,” he said

Trachsel is correct, the church in Europe will be underground as it is in China, Iran, and other Muslim countries. We need to take Jesus warning to heart:

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

EVIDENCE FOR WORLDWIDE FLOOD OF NOAH’S DAY

Dinosaur fossils show strong evidence that they were formed by Noah’s Flood. A worldwide flood best explains their formation processes, their death postures, and the surrounding sediments.

There are many dinosaur mass graveyards, which show that the rock layers involved were laid down quickly. The bones in them are frequently mixed with marine fossils, showing that something brought the remains of sea and land creatures together.

The ‘dinosaur death pose’, with necks and tails bent backward, is evidence of water submersion around the time of death.

Armoured dinosaur fossils found upside-down indicate that, shortly after death, the carcasses were floating, capsized (heavy side down), and were abruptly buried in that position. Dinosaurs petrified in fighting poses also point to a cataclysmic watery burial. Also, these rock layers are often very wide, even spanning continents. Therefore, the cause of these layers was worldwide.

Enlightment philosophers began to take over the earth sciences beginning in the late 1700’s. They established naturalism as the basis of knowledge. The supernatural was excluded from science. Uniformitarianism became the axiom for earth sciences and creation and Noah’s Flood were relegated to the category: myths and legends. Fortunately in the 1960’s, Drs John Whitcomb (1924-2020) and Henry Morris (1918-2006), as well as many other scientists, began seriously looking to see if scientific obseervations realy did contradict the Bible. They discovered much data supporting the straightforward reading of Scripture, epecially the Creation, Flood, and Babel accounts in Genesis 1-11.

Biblical scientists realise that the assumptions of evolution and creation are based on the scientists worldview and are examples of historical science. Using the Biblical Flood Model they made many exciting discoveries about what the earth was like before the Flood, what the Flood accomplished, and the long-term results of the Flood. A creation scientist would say that the Bible is the key to the past, and they would have a lot of material to back that up. Can I suggest the book Biblical Geology 101 by Michael Oard and Dr Robert Carter. It is an easy to read book with many pictures. You will learn how rocks are formed, how they change over time, and how Noah’s Flood impacted the world.

The beginning of wisdom is to fear God so hopefully the reality of Noah’s Flood when God destroyed all of mankind except one family will make you reconsider your worldview.

JESUS TAUGHT: NOT PEACE, BUT A SWORD

The following is a tough Scripture we would all like to overlook but that is impossible. God requires total commitment.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.Matthew 10:34-39

“And Jesus said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag, knapsack, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one with a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For, I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” Luke 22:35-37

Our greatest weapon is always the Gospel. But there may be a time to heed all of Jesus’ instructions, even to buy a sword.

All authority… on earth has been given unto Me, therefore go and make disciple of all nations… and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus did not say disciple churches or disciple disciples but rather disciple “nations” – civil rule, civil governance. For this reason and mission, Jesus said – I am with you! Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to guide our every step.

For what excuse will we give King Jesus for not completing the great commission?

The Bible does not teach us to pray and hope things get better. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22). We must be “doers” – like the leaders of Issachar who understood the times and what God’s people should do (1 Chronicles 12:32).

Note God does not use those who think they are wise by worldly standards.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

We must keep God’s commandments and get God’s vision for His King and Kingdom! “Where there is no vision, the people perish. But happy are those who keep God’s Law! Proverbs 29:18

Also, if not you, who? If not now, when? We must unite and go forth – “For the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness! Psalms 45:4

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DO YOU WANT TO HAVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS?

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 2:26-27

God has responsibilities in store for you in the Millennial Age to Come that you cannot imagine. You could literally end up being a general in the Lord’s army. You could literally end up subduing entire nations.

But make no mistake God is training His army now if you allow the Holy Spirit to direct your steps.. When He asks us to overcome various obstacles today, He is not only preparing us for our next “season” of life. At a more fundamental level He is also preparing us to wage war with Him and reign with Him in His Millennial Kingdom.

How we respond to adversity, hardships, disappointment, persecution, temptation, and unanswered prayers will determine our rank, position, and responsibilities in the kingdom of God. Don’t be surprised by adversity. This life is your job interview for the future.

Let us strive to be faithful and worthy of the honor the Lord will bestow upon us in His coming Millennial Kingdom. Let us seek His grace and keep His deeds until the end. Please pray for me, and I will pray for you.

Let us all start Living Eternal Now – Ready for Jesus’ Return. My book is available on Amazon as an ebook or trade paperback, or you can email me at ron.careshare@gmail.com and I will send you an autographed copy for US$20 including postage to anywhere in the world.

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 Thessalonians 1:10-12

NO REASONABLE PERSON DISPUTES THAT JESUS HEALED HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE

During His earthly ministry, “Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them. The people were amazed when they saw people raised from the dead, dumb speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of IsraelMatthew 15:30-31

Earlier in the previous century, even the New Testament skeptical scholar Rudolf Bultmann acknowledged that there could be no doubt that Jesus healed sick individuals and expelled demons. More recently, Jarl Fossum notes: “That Jesus was a miracle worker is central to the Christology of the New Testament Gospels and Acts.” Perhaps surprisingly, prominent Jesus Seminar member Marcus Borg attested quite strongly, “Despite the difficulty which miracles pose for the modern mind, on historical grounds it is virtually indisputable that Jesus was a healer and exorcist.” Further, Jesus’s healing cases cannot all be accounted for simply as “faith healings” alone, for we do not know how far Jesus’s powers actually extended. Prominent historical Jesus researcher John Meier states, “In sum, the statement that Jesus acted as and was viewed as an exorcist and healer during his public ministry has as much historical corroboration as almost any other statement we can make about the Jesus of history.”

Even Jesus’ opponents did not contest the proclamations that He did healings and exorcisms, but “they claimed that his powers came from the lord of the evil spirits,” thereby admitting the existence of the events themselves by their very criticism. In this way, Jesus’s disciples, the crowds of people who heard and saw Jesus, and even His adversaries all agreed to what happened and that at least these healings and exorcisms were due to Jesus’s skills and power.

What about you? Do you praise the Lord because of the mighty miracles Jesus performed? Or do you ignore Jesus and live life as your own god? It is easy to ignore the Lord while loving the world and loving your sin. None of us would ever turn to God apart from the power of the Holy Spirit who produces repentance and faith in a man’s heart.

So, are you resisting the Holy Spirit even as you read these words? Or are you open to the idea that you need Jesus and the forgiveness only He can give you? Do you realize why Jesus endured the agony of the cross? He did it to pay for your sins so that you do not suffer the consequences of your sins. You will face Jesus at the White Throne judgment and you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for punishment and a second death.

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8 Also, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 20:6, and Revelation 20:14

Did you ignore the cross once again this Easter? When will you finally get serious about your sin and your need for the Savior?

Like everyone, a day will come when you experience tremendous storms in your life. Perhaps you are going through a terrible storm right now. Jesus has the power and authority to calm storms, just like He did when His disciples encountered a “furious squall” one day while out in a boat (see Mark 4:35-41. Jesus rebuked the wind, and it became completely calm, His disciples were “terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!’”  

Who will you turn to during the personal storms ahead of you? The longer you ignore the Messiah, the harder your heart will become toward the Savior. On the other hand, the miracle-working Messiah will save your soul the moment you come to Christ in faith. The Apostle John explained it beautifully:

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life (eternal life) in His name.” John 20:30-31

One day “the Jews demanded of Jesus, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days’” (John 2:19). The miracle of miracles was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Messiah who had raised Lazarus (see John 11:38-44) and others from the dead (see Matthew 9:23-25; Luke 7:11-17) would Himself come back to life after His crucifixion.

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to many of His followers, including “more than 500 of the brothers at the same time” (1 Corinthians 15:6). Why else would the apostles have laid down their lives for the Gospel? If they had not seen and touched the risen Christ, Christianity would never have gotten off the ground (see John 20:24-31). Christ’s enemies couldn’t track down His body because Jesus did in fact rise from the dead.

So, are you spiritually dead, or spiritually alive? Have you risen from your tomb of unbelief? You can either ignore the miracle-working Messiah or trust Him to forgive your sins and perform the miracle of the new birth within your soul (see John 3:1-8; 1 Peter 1:3-5). You will never know what you have been missing until you give your life to Christ and become one of His followers. Whatever you do, please don’t ignore this soul-saving invitation: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Adapted from an article in Christian Post “Why Multitudes Ignore the miracle-working Messiah” by Dan Delzell and excerpts from On the Resurrection, Volume 1: Evidences by Gary R. Habermas (B&H Academic, 2024).

THE TRUTH OF IT

God’s existence confronts us with the reality that there is an ultimate, secure truth from outside ourselves that has something decisive to say about who each of us is. We cannot escape this truth. We can only submit to it or rebel against it.

  1. We are made by God (Genesis 1:26). Nothing makes itself, particularly a Cosmos as intricately designed as it is to sustain all forms of life.
  2. We are made to bear God’s image (Genesis 1:27). There is a high calling for our lives, which involves putting God’s character on display through a holy life and righteous actions.
  3. We are made with a breath of life from God (Genesis 2:7): “The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
  4. We have a spirit:Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him” (Zechariah 12:1), “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? (1 Corinth. 2:11). This is an important verse: human self-awareness, intellect, creativity, personality, and temperament – everything that enables human accomplishment come through the unseen presence of the human spirit. “Man is going to his eternal home… and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7), “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.(Proverbs 20:27). When a person accepts Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, they receive the Holy Spirit from our Heavenly Father so that the spirit of man can truly be the lamp of the Lord. A lamp cannot function without oil (Holy Spirit). Our spirit was always meant to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
  5. We are made from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). This means that even though we were made in God’s image, we are not gods. We are creatures—finite, lacking certain power and knowledge, and wholly dependent. We are not immortal. “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality,” (1 Timothy 6:15-16)
  6. We were made for dominion (Genesis 1:26)—to bring God’s will to God’s world.
  7. We were made to live up to a design as either a male or a female (Genesis 1:27). This is the calling for our lives.
  8. We are fallen in Adam (Genesis 3, 5:1–3Romans 5:12). Because of the fall, our identity contains sin and death. Our inner selves are corrupt. Our eternity is an eternal second death. This is the great tragedy of the modern identity worldview. It traps people in themselves. It traps us in our sin.
  9. We can be restored to glory and eternity through the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:49), the true image of God in the “dust” of human flesh (Colossians 1:15). When we accept Jesus as our Saviour and Lord our Heavenly Father sends the Holy Spirit to indwell our spirit, so it can once again be the lamp of the Lord.

MAN’S WORD VERSUS GOD’S WORD

Churches need to teach foundationally, and Christians need to understand our thinking must start with God’s Word, Genesis chapters 1–11, the foundation for everything. Because so many Christian leaders have compromised Genesis 1–11 with evolution and millions of years, most Christians have not been taught the foundational doctrines and therefore a true biblical worldview.

Many Christians just look at what they perceive as the “problems” and try to figure out how to take these to the Bible to understand what to do. But those with a true biblical worldview know that God’s Word beginning in Genesis is the foundation for that worldview. They also know there are ultimately only two foundations for people’s worldviews—God’s Word or man’s word.

For those who build their thinking on man’s word (the foundation of the secular education system), a worldview of moral relativism results. Thus, marriage is how they define it. Because man is seen as just an animal, abortion is no different than killing an animal. People who are aged and infirm are seen as a drain on the health system and therefore euthanasia should be used to stop their suffering and costly care. Gender is plastic and one can (try to) change gender using drugs and surgery if they want.

When a person builds their thinking on God’s Word, their worldview is determined by God our Creator. Thus, God created marriage, so there’s only one marriage—one man and one woman. Humans are made in the image of God, so abortion (at any stage) is murder. God made only two genders of humans: male and female.

Two foundations with two very different worldviews. The clash we see happening in our culture is one between two totally opposite worldviews, and at a foundational level, it’s a battle between God’s Word and man’s word.

Once we understand the real battle is at the foundational level, we understand that to battle all the social issues (abortion, gender, gay “marriage,” racism, etc.), one must recognize them as symptoms of a foundational problem. The problem is that people have built their worldview on the wrong foundation of man’s word.

Now, if all those social issues are the same ultimate problem, they must have the same solution. And they do. The solution has always been the truth of God’s Word and the saving gospel. Many, though, have been indoctrinated to think the Bible is an outdated book of mythology and that science proves it can’t be trusted, particularly in its history in Genesis 1–11. That’s where apologetics answers the attacks on God’s Word and shows we can defend the Christian faith. That’s why Answers in Genesis provides scientific and biblical answers to the questions of our day that are used to attack and undermine God’s Word. So the solution to the social issues is to battle at a foundation level. To do that, we need to raise up generations who know how to think foundationally and are equipped with apologetics.

Go to http://www.answersingenesis.org and http://www.creation.com for resources to equip you with answers to young people’s questions on origins.