Welcome to Country is controversial. Deeply. It divides Australians by ancestry, not allegiance. And Albanese knows it. He just doesn’t care, which is foolish, and it may cost him dearly.
He called it a “a hand warmly and graciously extended,” a symbol of unity. But how is it unifying to be told, day in and day out, that you need permission to enter your own country? How is it respectful to redefine Australians as tenants on ancestral land they supposedly never had a right to?
This isn’t some harmless courtesy. It’s a rhetorical landmine, paving the way for treaty, reparations, land vetoes, and perpetual grievance. “Always was, always will be.”
That’s how the slogan goes. That the land upon which the nation of Australia was built has forever been and forever will be under Aboriginal ownership.
But that’s not history. Rather, it’s a political claim of ongoing Indigenous sovereignty, directly contradicting High Court precedent and undermining the very legitimacy of the Australian nation-state. The Crown’s sovereignty is the foundation of our law. And yet we now begin our parliamentary business by implying it never existed.
And Albanese calls this uncontroversial?
Australians Have Had Enough
Aboriginal woman and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price put it best: “Everyone’s getting sick of Welcome to Country.” It tells ordinary Australians they’re outsiders in the country they built, defended, and passed down through generations. The public agrees. Polling shows a clear majority now see these rituals as divisive.
A major poll of over 1,000 Australians conducted for the Institute of Public Affairs just last month confirms the shift: 56% of Australians now see Welcome to Country as divisive, while just 17% disagree. Fewer than one in three support the practice at events like ANZAC Day or sporting matches, and even among young Australians who normally support progressive fads, opinion is split.
Yet, despite the majority view, these rituals are conducted everywhere: before sports games, school assemblies, corporate webinars, and even weather forecasts. What used to be occasional is now obligatory. And like all forced rituals, its meaning has rotted into performance.
Let’s not pretend it’s “ancient” either. The modern Welcome to Country, body paint, didgeridoos, and scripted lines, is largely a 1970s invention, created by famous Australian Aboriginal Ernie Dingo and refined during the tourism boom.
And when we do these ceremonies, are we even sure that the so-called “traditional owners” are even the right one? Canberra’s “traditional ownership” is disputed between Ngunnawal and Ngambri groups, proving how shaky the whole edifice is. Look to just about any region in the country and I can show you warring groups of Aboriginals who claim that they are the rightful “traditional owners” over the other mob who claim the same thing.
The Financial — and Spiritual — Cost
If you’re Christian? Tough luck. Smoking ceremonies invoke spirits. They’re religious rites, not “cultural displays.” The Presbyterian Church has told its congregations not to participate. Yet we now open Parliament with them, as if the separation of church and state has been tossed into the firepit along with the gum leaves.
And the cost? It’s not just spiritual. The whole Welcome to Country farce also comes with a financial price tag. Freedom of Information documents show single ceremonies cost up to $6,600. Government departments are burning through taxpayer cash for smoke and theatre while remote schools rot and Indigenous literacy flatlines. One smoking ceremony could air-condition a classroom in Arnhem Land. But priorities, right?
Let’s not forget: Australians already voted on this nonsense. In the 2023 Voice referendum, they overwhelmingly rejected the entire race-based agenda. Sixty percent said no. Every state bar the ACT — the same bubble that hosts Parliament — voted it down.
But none of that matters to the elites. It’s not about truth. It’s about control. This is coercive speech. Refuse to recite it and you’re a bigot. Go along with it, and endorse a racial hierarchy where whitey is right at the bottom.
So when Albanese tells you there’s no controversy, he’s not speaking for you. He’s speaking to Canberra, to the elite, to the bureaucrats and boardrooms who recite the lines without believing them.
What we need is a national reset.
Start our events with this: “We gather as free and equal citizens of one Australia.”
And then acknowledge those who have fought and died for our nation.
No smoke. No spirits. No submission.
That’s unity. That’s patriotism. That’s truth.
And that, Prime Minister, is not controversial.
This post is taken from an article by George Christensen.
Being Welcomed to Your Own Country Not Controversial, Says PM. on 24/07/2025.
George Christensen is an Australian politician and former journalist who was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, as the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Dawson. He was a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland and sat with the National Party in federal parliament, prior to leaving the party in April 2022, days before the end of his parliamentary term.
The ninth of Av is the Jewish Day of Mourning. Calamitous events occurred on Tisha B’Av. Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av, is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, on which Jews fast, deprive themselves, and pray. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a period during which they mark the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Calamitous events that occurred on the 9th of Av:1. Poised to enter the Promised Land, spies are sent in to check it out, and they return with a bad report resulting in 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. 2. Both temples were destroyed on the 9th of Av. 3. In 133 BC, the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar on the 9th of Av. 4. One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, the nation’s holiest site on the 9th of Av. 5. The Jews were expelled from England and their possession confiscated on the 9th of Av. 6. The Jews were banished from Spain on the 9th of Av. 7. Hitler approved the “final solution” order, which was the Nazi’s death warrant for the Jews of Europe, on the 9th of Av.
The Jews know that these events were judgements from God and that is why they are still Jews, and why we should believe the Bible is God’s Word.
Considering we are in the end times Nelson Walters suggests we watch for what might happen this 9th of Av, on August 13th, 2024.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:1-3
In all of the texts below, the necessity of faith is understood, but the existence of saving faith is credited to the Father’s prior initiative to give only some to the Son. The texts would have us understand that this is a limited number, since none to whom it is given fail to come, but none can come unless enabled by the drawing power of the Father.
“But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:36-37
“And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:39-40
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” John 6:44-45
“But there are some of you who do not believe. This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”John 6:64-64
None are enabled to come to Christ unless it has first been given by the Father, and no one who comes is ever lost.
The following comes from an article on http://www.mysteryofisrael.org entitled The Everlasting Covenantin John 6. I suggest you get your Bible to look at the multitude of verses used by Tom Quinlan.
We know that this drawing is effective in obtaining its goal because it ensures that each one who is drawn by the Father is also “taught of God”, and that “everyone” so taught comes to Jesus, never to be cast out or lost. What follows will show that this is all by Divine enablement that is not only the result but also the effectual cause of faith in those whom the Father has given to the Son from all eternity.
Of that foreordained number, not one is ever lost or cast out but is kept by the unfailing power of Jesus to be raised at the “last day” (Luke 14:14; John 6:39; 17:12; 1 Peter 1:4-5). These chosen ones whom the Father has specifically entrusted to the Son’s secure keeping (compare John 6:39; 10:27-29: 13:18: 15:16; 17:9, 12, 20) are also the special object of His unfailing intercession, most especially to the end that their faith “fail not” in the day of testing (Luke 22:32; John 17:9, 12, 20; with Hebrews 7:25).
Next is an observation that carries the most glorious implications for those who “love God and are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28-29). It is Jesus’ citation and application of Isaiah 54:13 in John 6:45.
Here Jesus extends to His sheep from every nation all the glorious eternal security of Yahweh’s long-promised, long-awaited “covenant of peace” (Isaiah 54:10 with Ezekiel 37:26), which is elsewhere equated with “the everlasting covenant” (compare Isaiah 55:3; 61:8; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60; 37:26).
As you will observe by comparing the following verses, the “everlasting covenant”, as well as “My covenant of peace” are manifestly synonymous with Jeremiah’s “new covenant” (compare Jeremiah 31:31-34 with Jeremiah 32:38-40 & Isaiah 54:10, 13 with Ezekiel 34:25; 37:26).
This is the covenant that includes all the unilateral (some would say, unconditional) promises made to Abraham and to David concerning their seed. It will stand in its most public and plenary fulfillment with a fully renewed Israel in the future “Day of the Lord“.
This is when every penitent Jewish survivor of the final wrath of God (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1) will all “know the Lord from that day and forward” (i.e., the “Day of the Lord“; Ezekiel 39:8. 22), “never again to depart” (Psalms. 89:28-36; Isaiah. 59:21; 66:22; Jeremiah. 31:34; 32:40; Ezekiel. 37:25-27; 39:22, 28-29). Since “all Israel” will be a completely regenerated nation “in that day”, they will no longer stand under the continual threat of covenant judgment, subject always to the potential of curse and recurrent eviction from the Land.
This is made possible because, no longer will there be a mere remnant, at best restraining, but never long preventing the largely blind and backsliding nation from falling back under covenant judgment. In radical, unprecedented contrast, post-“Day of the Lord” Israel will all, without a single exception be righteous with the Lord’s own “everlasting righteousness” (Isaiah 45:17, 24-25; 54:13-14, 17; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Daniel 9:24).
From Jesus’ citation of Isaiah 54:13 in John 6:45, we can see that He is applying the eternal security of this everlasting covenant that will stand with post-wrath Israel to all whom the Father has given Him, now, and in the millennial age (http://www.millennialkingdom.net) to come. To be given by the Father to Jesus is to be secured in the everlasting covenant established with Abraham while he was in a deep sleep, signifying its unconditional surety of certain fulfillment (Psalms 89:35-36; Isaiah 55:3; 66:22).
God’s purpose in putting Abraham into a deep sleep before passing between the pieces was certainly NOT to ignore or circumvent the indispensable conditionality of the inheritance. Rather, it is God’s own pledge of Himself that He would unilaterally engage to meet and fulfill all required conditions, first through the atoning sacrifice of the curse-reversing seed of the woman on behalf of “all the seed” (Psalms 18:50; 89:29, 36; Isaiah 41:8; 45:25; 53:10; 65:23; Jeremiah 33:25-26; Romans 4:16; Hebrews 2:16). Then by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, a new nature will invariably, necessarily bear fruit “after its own kind” (Matthew 13:23).
At the “set time”, “when it pleases God” (Galatians 1:15-16; Psalms 102:13; 110:3), whether for the Jewish remnant at the end of the wrath of God, or the calling of any individual in this age, God will “put” His Spirit into the newly recreated hearts and spirits of the heirs of the everlasting covenant. He retains this free sovereign right to quicken “whom He will” (Matthew 11:27, John 5:21; Romans 9:18), when, at His own sovereign timing, He has prepared the right conditions for the final and everlasting salvation of His elect nation (Isaiah 30:18).
By Jesus’ applying the covenant promise of Isaiah 54:13 to all whom the Father has given Him to save and keep (John 6:37, 39-40, 44-45, 65), He is thereby uniting “the called according to His purpose” of every generation to the same secure covenant inheritance that will come to the “natural (Jewish) branches” in the coming day of their great national deliverance when “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 8:28-29; 11:26-29).
For the elect remnant of Jewish survivors of the final tribulation, covenant failure resulting in more than temporal discipline will be a thing of the past. Scripture is very clear that from this time forward, not one of the heirs of the everlasting covenant will ever again depart (Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah. 32:40; Ezekiel 39:22, 28-30).
Neither can any of the chosen seed of Israel’s race ever fall fatally or finally away from what they have irrevocably and irreversibly become, namely, an everlasting “new creation … born of the indestructible Word of God that lives and abides forever” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).
One can see how the NT writers will often describe personal salvation in all the terms and colours that the prophets use to describe the eschatology of post-wrath Israel. For the apostles, Israel’s eschatology is the model and pattern for the soteriology (doctrine of salvation) of the new/everlasting covenant as applied to the salvation of the individual.
But how might such assurance be mistaken and misused by persons who are yet in the body of this flesh? Wouldn’t this give them a sense of license to misuse their liberty? Well, as believers in the “fight of faith” are reminded to take due diligence to make their calling and election sure (2 Peter 2:10), this danger of presumption is certainly warned against in scripture (Galatians. 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16).
But so far as one may have evidence that they are bearing the fruits that witness to the reality of “the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13), it is also to be understood that the holy fear of God (“my fear”; contrast Jeremiah 2:19; 32:40) is built right into the everlasting covenant. This is what God has promised to “put” into the heart of every heir of new covenant righteousness (Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 31:33; 32:40; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26-27; 37:6, 14).
Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the regenerate seed of Abraham will vigilantly guard their own hearts. This is not because they will be in any doubt of the security of their everlasting inheritance, but because the love of God has been shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and also the sure knowledge that God will faithfully chasten His own, which is the distinguishing badge of true sonship (Psalms 89:30-33; Hebrews 12:7-8).
Not only post-wrath Israel but all of God’s elect are contemplated as the “seed of Abraham” and heirs of His everlasting “covenant of peace” (Isaiah 54:10; Ezekiel 37:26). These things cannot be said of all persons, but only those whom Paul calls, “the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). Indeed, the gift of “everlasting life” (John 6:40) is promised to faith, since unbelief forms the contrast between those to whom it has been given and those to whom it has not been given, in verses 36-37 and 64-65.
But faith is not the basis for God’s sovereign, pre-temporal initiative to this limited number. Rather, faith is the result of the Father’s eternal choice to divinely enable all whom He would give to Christ to both come to Him and be kept forever by Him (John 6:37, 39, 44, 65)
This enablement is preceded, not at first by faith that we supply, but by the Father’s “good pleasure” to “quicken whom He will” (John 5:21; 6:39; Romans 9:18; Ephesians 1:5; Philippians 2:13). This is a Spirit-quickened faith that must invariably and necessarily “overcome the world”, precisely because it is “born of God” since it is a rule that “whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4).
While many, such as Judas (John 6:64, 70; 13:10-11; 17:12) and the tares sown among the wheat, may move undetected among the sheep for a season (“Lord, who is it?”, John 13:22, 25), Jesus said these are “Not of My sheep” (John 10:26; 1 John 2:19). None of God’s true sheep who are truly “born of God”, and thus in living union with the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) can ever fatally or finally fall from the Father’s grip (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:28-39).
This is just one example of a pervasive biblical doctrine taught in many places throughout both testaments, but it is far more than a doctrine among doctrines. In, Romans 9:11, it is called “the purpose of God according to election”.
Paul is clear that for that purpose “to stand”, it must not be influenced by any virtue found or foreseen in one more than another (Romans. 9:11). The only difference distinguishing the two brothers is a difference that is made by God (1 Corinthians 4:7)
According to Paul, and no less John, any difference that is not perceived as given from above is dangerous ground for the pride of presumption (John 3:27; Romans 11:35-36; 1 Corinthians 4:7). In 2 Timothy 2:19, Paul will call this doctrine the very “foundation of God”. That unshakable foundation has “this seal, the Lord knows them who are His”.
It is the knowledge that Jesus has of His own sheep (John 10:14). He warns of those who will count themselves as His sheep whom He “never knew” (Matthew 7:22-23). So 2 Timothy 2:19 is clearly not merely speaking about God’s obvious knowledge of one’s present spiritual condition, but an eternal foreknowledge that reaches back to the covenant that always existed between the persons of the Godhead before creation (Romans 8:28-29; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 13:8).
Not only is this great truth precious to the believer’s comfort; but it is also vital to the upholding of the integrity of the Word and the vindication of the “everlasting covenant” of grace.
John Newton who wrote, “Amazing Grace”, believed this truth, as nothing else so plucks from man any presumption of entitlement, simply because this decision of God, so unbiased by anything in man, cannot be impugned as in any way unjust (Romans 9:14-21). Notably, Paul does not undertake to satisfy all the natural questions that might arise. Rather, he simply answers the anticipated protest with the surprising retort, “Who are you, O man, to reply against God?”(See Romans 9:18-23).
Ironically, it is in the place of greatest offense that God has plainly declared the incomprehensible goodness of a grace that was moved by nothing found or foreseen in man, except this unique love for His own that existed before time. Its source, its working, and its goal begins and ends as wholly the work of God alone, for the glory of Christ alone.
In conclusion, Israel’s eternal covenant is our eternal covenant.
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to Him that it might be repaid?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:33-36
We are fast approaching the end of Satan’s rule over planet Earth, next on God’s agenda is Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. Jesus and the resurrected Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron for 1000 years. This world has had 6000 years of Satan’s dominion. It will now have 1000 years with Jesus’ rule from the nation God established for His purposes, Israel. Israel will finally realize her destiny as head of the nations. A new Jerusalem on the highest mountain will be Jesus’ capital city and the leaders of all nations will come to pay homage to Him there. Satan is bound for most of the thousand years but at the end of it he is released and he still raises an army like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. “Fire came down from heaven and consumed them.” Revelation 20:9. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him (Jesus) who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Revelation 20:11-12. “Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.” Revelation 20:13 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,” Revelation 21:1
This is an abbreviated version of the article by Suzanne Bowdey which appeared in The Washington Stand on July 15, 2024 – MikeJohnson (Speaker): Trump ‘Seems to Have a Very Clear View of What This Meant. God Spared His Life.’
Americans woke up Sunday morning to a very different world. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s literal brush with death, campaigns, Congress, and even political conventions seemed secondary to the deep horror at what we’ve become as a nation. And for once, after years of being at each others’ throats, a sober country has stopped to reflect: Is this really who we are?
In the days and hours since the bloody president emerged from the stage, fist in the air, everyone seems to understand the gravity of this moment. America was, as so many have pointed out, less than a quarter of an inch away from a national crisis from which we may never have recovered. “Sometimes the course of history depends on margins just that small,” the editors of the National Review remind us solemnly.
The miracle of his survival was not lost on Trump, who acknowledged, “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.” In an interview less than 24 hours after the assassination attempt, the reality of what might have happened “is just setting in,” the former president told the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. “I rarely look away from the crowd,” he admitted. “Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”
As he boarded a plane for Wisconsin, the former president also clarified that he understands this pivotal moment. “It’s a chance to unite the country,” he said solemnly. “I was given that chance.” God is giving Americans one more chance to repent and acnowledge Him as Lord over the nation. Will they respond? Based on the fact that America is absent from end times Biblical prophecy I doubt it.
Family Research Council, Chairman Tony Perkins, who’s been on the ground as a delegate in Milwaukee, agrees that the weekend’s shocking events have completely “changed the dynamics of the convention.” “It’s time to come together,” he said on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” Monday morning, and “not just for Republicans. It’s time to come together as a nation. It’s time for us to … as Jesus said, [to] love our neighbor. Now, that doesn’t mean that all of a sudden our differences go away,” Perkins underscored. “But you know what? We have an understanding that each and every human being is created in the image … of God. Therefore, they have value regardless of what political party they might be in.”
Trump agreed with Perkins, that democracy is a messy system. Democracy always will be. “[B]ut it’s still the greatest system in the history of the world. And the minute we abandon, try to shut one another down, or stifle debate, the pressure builds.” “You’ve got to allow for that vigorous debate, but it’s got to be within the confines of that system.”
Speaker, Mike Johnson believes the “key”, is to understand that we are all part of the same country. We are all brothers and sisters in that regard. I mean, if you look at it biblically we are supposed to love our enemies, right? Much less our fellow countrymen. You love your neighbor as yourself. If you do that, it solves a lot of problems.” Of course, that doesn’t mean we “change our perspective” or “abandon truths,” he was quick to clarify. “It just means we are civil in our conversation.”
That said, Perkins warned somberly, “I think we’re at a crossroads … a pivotal point. This could be the hinge upon which this nation turns, depending on how … Donald Trump addresses this moment. And he suggested that he’s going to take maybe a path less traveled.”
Frankly, the speaker replied, “I’ve been so heartened to see his thoughts and comments articulated over the last day or so since the assassination attempt. He seems to have a very clear view of what this meant. God spared his life. I mean, it was a miracle. We all saw it. Everyone saw it. It’s hard to deny.” Ironically, Johnson made these statements after very nearly losing his own sons last year after a visit to Mar-a-Lago — something he and the former president discussed at length last Thanksgiving.
“In Johnson’s telling, Will, who was 13, was drowning; 18-year-old Jack, prepared to give up his own life, tried to push his brother back to the surface. A parasailer happened to spot Will’s head from above. He hurried back to shore and alerted the lifeguards, who went out on jet skis to bring the boys in. Johnson arrived at the beach to find medical personnel hovering over his sons, pumping their chests. They would spend four hours in the emergency room before being cleared to go home,” The Atlantic wrote this spring in the first public telling of the near-loss.
“‘President Trump heard about it somehow, miraculously, this never made the news,’ Johnson recalled. The two got on the phone. ‘He was just so moved by the idea that we almost lost them, and we talked about it at great length. And we talked about the faith aspect of that because he knows that I believe that God spared the lives of my sons. That’s how I understand those events, and we talked about that.” Johnson continued: “And he said, he repeated back to me and said, ‘God — God saved your sons’ lives.’”
Eight months later, the former president has experienced the touch of divine providence for himself, and the young speaker who wondered where those conversations about God would go has a very poignant answer. “He said, ‘God has given me a chance here — and that is to unify the country.’ [Those are] his words, not mine. So I’m really excited to see how he articulates that and how we meet it out.”
Note how the media downplayed the assassination attempt: CNN: “Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally”. Washington Post: “Trump escorted away after loud noises at rally”. USA Today: “Trump removed from stage by Secret Service after loud noises, startle the former president..”
This messaging was meant to diminish and minimize the truth that a shooter attempted to assassinate President Trump.
Christianity is about Christ, who saves the world from sin, disorder, wrong, injustice, and oppression. The law is a God-ordained means to combat those evils in a fallen world.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”Romans 13:1-4
Creation Ministries International (CMI) asked Judge Alberto Boetti about the importance of biblical creation, and the need to defend it in the face of the evolutionary ideas saturating society. Alberto said:
“I’ve come to realize it is essential. I think of myself as very rational, and I can’t accept something which is contradicted by actual evidence. I’m confident that the Bible isn’t disproved by science. It simply isn’t accepted by people holding incompatible philosophies.
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JUDGE ALBERTO Boetti, LL.M., graduated cum laude from the University of Turin (Italian: Università degli Studi di Torino). He entered the Italian judicial bench in 2002. He has worked in many sectors of the legal system but specializes mainly in criminal law. He is currently Judge of the Criminal Investigation Magistrate Section of the Court of Cuneo in northwest Italy.
To finish strong for God’s glory you require patient endurance. You have received the Holy Spirit to enable you if you will only say “Not my will but your will be done today“. Moreover, there is no higher calling, no bigger privilege, no greater joy, and you will be kept from the coming wrath of God.
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.“Revelation 3:10
The following Scripture delivers a tough message but Jesus must be at the top of our pecking order.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26-27
“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” 2 Timothy 2:3
We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:9-14
Each of the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3 represents the church in each of the last seven years (Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy) before Jesus returns first to rapture His church and then to return with the glorified Saints to conquer the Antichrist army at the battle of Armageddon.
The Scripture Revelation 3:7-13 is to the church of Philadelphia, the sixth church in the sixth year.
“Jesus says, I have set before you an open door, no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial (Rapture) which shall come upon the whole earth (wrath of God).” (Revelation 3:7-13)
Just as the six churches represent the church in each of the last seven years, likewise the seven seals also represent what is happening on Earth in each of the last seven years. It is at the sixth seal, the sixth year, that we see the celestial signs that precede Jesus’ return to Earth to rapture the Saints and to begin to pour out His wrath upon the unrepentant.
“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” ” Revelation 6:12-14.
It is at the trumpet blast at the opening of the seventh seal that the rapture takes place and the trumpet and bowl judgments are poured out on an unrepentant world for one year and ten days. Why one year and ten days. The year before a Jubilee year is always one year and ten days and the year following Jesus’ return will be a Jubilee year. It so happens that when God poured out His wrath the first time with Noah’s flood it also was for one year and ten days. Check it out.
If the rapture happens at the start of the seventh year it means that the seventh church. the church of Laodicea (Laodicea is a combination of two Greek words (LAO, meaning “God’s people”; and DIKE, meaning “justice or judgment”) Judgement of God’s people)
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:15-19
Do you belong to a church that says we are rich, have prospered, and are in need of nothing? Or are you in a church like the church of Philadelphia?
“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial (Rapture) which shall come upon the whole earth (wrath of God).” Revelation 3:8,10
Here’s what society desperately NEEDS to realize about identity and sexual orientation. In this presentation, Martyn Iles shares important truths about our identities according to the Word of God.
In this ever-shifting world, we can safely anchor ourselves to the solid, unmoving, unchanging Word of God!
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8
“Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” Psalms 119:89
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.” Luke 16:16
“Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” 1 Peter 1:23-25
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” Matthew 7:24-25
“So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” Ephesians 4:14-15
Satan has done his utmost to destroy Jerusalem as it was established by God for His purposes. We know from Biblical prophecy that when Satan is cast down to Earth he will take possession of the Antichrist’s body and declare himself to be God in the temple in Jerusalem
ETERNAL JERUSALEM
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:2-4
However, before the Eternal Jerusalem, there will be a Jerusalem in Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. It is very different from the Eternal Jerusalem. In the next post, I will show the Biblical differences. They are many and they are glorious.
How do you line up with Paul’s assessment of people living in his day? Has God given you up “in the lusts of your heart to impurity” If you continue to deny Him and HisgoodnessHe will. Look around you at the beauty of the world He created. You do not take your next breath without Him making it possible. How can you deny His existence? Moreover, your Creator God sent His son, Jesus to become a man to not only reveal the truth about God but also pay the price for the original man and woman’s rebellion (SIN) against God. If this does not reveal His goodness to you nothing will.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became foolsand exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:21-32
God tells us in His Word (Bible): “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But are you also aware that one day God will destroy the heavens and the earth with fire?
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:11-12
Shocking? Absolutely. Unbelievable? Not at all.
The Apostle Peter, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, delivered this staggering news to God’s people: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up … That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat” (2 Peter 3:10,12).
Yes, you read that correctly. The heavens will be dissolved, and the earth will literally melt in the heat.
A few verses earlier Peter described how in the last days before Jesus returns scoffers will deny that God judged the world previously with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day.
“Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing… For theydeliberately forget that long ago by God’s Word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and with water. By water also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:5-7).
The coming day of judgment is just as certain as God’s creation of the universe, and just as sure as the great flood in Noah’s day. The worldwide flood that buried millions of dead creatures all over the world, fossils, including fossil fuels (decayed vegetation under pressure), adequate evidence it occurred.
The good news: the Apostle John was given a vision of what will happen after God burns up the earth.
“Then I saw a new Heaven and a new earth, for the first Heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ’Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:1-5).
Every child of God will inhabit the New Heaven and New Earth with a perfect body that is incorruptible.
“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
Talk about an upgrade! If you could choose today between going to Heaven or going to Hell, you would certainly choose Heaven, right? After all, who wants to go to Hell? But do you realize that there is only one way to be forgiven of your sins and get into Heaven?
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Peter proclaimed: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Saved from what? 1. Sin, 2. Death, and 3. Hell. The final chapter of the Bible makes things crystal clear:
“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end… The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 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 21:5-8
Those who have deliberately and persistently pursued their sinful desires will find themselves in the Lake of Fire where there is punishment and the second death.
Your good works cannot remove a single stain from your soul. Like everyone else, you need the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross 2,000 years ago. When you turn to Christ in faith and rely upon His death for your salvation, your robe is instantly washed clean and made white in the blood of the Lamb.
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
Peter informed believers: “In keeping with God’s promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).
The day God burns up the earth will be terribly frightening, to say the least, but this global upheaval must take place before the Lord ushers in a New Heaven and a New Earth.
In the meantime, “God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:4), and “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
I have adapted this post from an article by Dan Delzell, The Day God Burns Up The Earth, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 