Israel Today

The general consensus in Evangelical Christianity today seems to believe that Israel can do no wrong, that we are to lock arms with Israel in a spirit of unity and ecumenicalism. Paul told us they are cut off, but not to glory in ourselves in feelings of superiority about it. Israel has been cut off for a reason.

The Apostle Paul stated in Romans 11 that we are not to be "wise in our own eyes" and "arrogant" about this fact, that Israel is disobedient at the present time just as we were disobedient, so that God can show mercy to all  (Romans 11:31-32) and that the blindness of Israel is only until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25). 

At the present time Israel is still "antichrist" and until the Lord truly opens their eyes, they are against Jesus. That isn't to say that we shouldn't pray for Israel, and evangelize Israel. Paul pleaded with Israelites and Stephen lost his life trying to evangelize Israel. We cannot lock arms with Israel in a "spirit of unity" because Israel (that is to say SECULAR Israel and Israel that is still steeped in Judaism) is still in apostasy. Many Christians I've spoken with think that there is no need to evangelize the Jews because they "get it" through their genetics. There are blessings that Israel has been promised through Abraham (which we also share in) and through Jacob (which is specific to Israel, but it is bound to the present mortal time on earth), however, in order to be saved eternally, it is through being changed by the Holy Spirit, just as we had to be. To not tell Israel about that fact, and to pretend they can "get it" some other way through genetics, isn't honest. But we are not to tell them in such a way that we make ourselves better than they are. We are not any better than they are. We need God's mercy, just as they need God's mercy.


Let us pray for the peace (true peace in Jesus) of Israel.

Spring!

My car thermometer said it was 72 degrees on my way to work!  No more snow (I think!) until at least November...

Spring cleaning! I've already cleaned and vacuumed the car. I need to take some stuff from the extra (junky) room, to storage...and some stuff from storage to either the Salvation Army store, or to the trash...and I need to reorganize my kitchen cupboards....and I need to clean my windows and balcony!

There's also the spiritual spring cleaning. That is through the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 51:10 the Psalmist says: "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit in me!"

AMEN!

Listening or Hearing?

		And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  Matthew 13:14 &15 With all the clamour and noise that is going on today, are we truly listening and hearing God's voice speaking to us? I Kings chapter 19 reminds us of Elijah running away from Jezebel and Ahab, and he just wanted to give up and die. Elijah thought it all was a tremendous waste of time, people were worshiping idols and doing all kinds of wickedness, and he just didn't want to deal with it anymore. He was sick and tired of it. He thought he was the only righteous person left on earth. Several wonderful things happened to Elijah during this time. He learned how to listen to the voice of the Lord. It wasn't in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. It was a “still, small voice”, that didn't cause a lot of commotion and wasn't overwhelming his senses with signs and wonders. The still, small voice of reason gave Elijah back his reason for why God put him where He did. God told him that there were still 7,000 people that were righteous, contrary to himself thinking that he alone was righteous. And then, Elijah meets Elisha! He finds a true friend to accompany him. So often I get a little overwhelmed. I think “Why do I even bother????” I see the noise and stupidity that goes on around me. Sometimes like Elijah I want to give up, or run away and hide. But God's still, small voice reminds me that it “isn't all about me”. It is about Jesus... and He is faithful to accomplish things that He desires to do through me, He has me here for His reasons and has a purpose for my life. It isn't glitzy and glamorous, and earth-shattering like an earthquake. He made me a simple servant that often fails to do what He wants of me. But like with Elijah, He brings me nourishment and refreshment, and the common sense that strengthens me once again to keep on going. Hallelujah! (about the picture that I chose at the top of this entry... I thought it was funny, :) the reason I chose it is because it reminds me of how we---myself included---want to hear all the juicy stuff, and silly stuff, the "Hollywood gossip" kind of stuff. But listening to God's word is so antithetical to all the salacious and tantalizing and vapid garbage that we want to fill our ears with)

Signs and Wonders and Charlatans

Pastor Poss also is a pastor at Bread of Life Ministries. In the following sermon he addresses the problems of a sign seeking generation. Pastor Poss makes some sobering statements about the problems in the "modern church". He has a very thick New York accent, but his words are packed with some heavy indictments. He mentions that God taught us by His Word, not with "signs and wonders".... and the miracles that Jesus did were only done to substantiate and authenticate Who He is, not to appease the whims of a fickled people who desire to be dazzled with lights. I like how he says that the charlatans on t.v. have their signs and wonders occur at certain times appointed when the cameras begin rolling....sad but true, and so many people fall for it.



Check out his sermon here it's an hour long, and maybe this might hit some of us where it hurts...I admit that I was confused by it (false "signs and wonders") for a while and didn't want to believe that those guys were con men. Pastor Poss calls them exactly what they are, he pulls no punches. It is truth that we need to hear, definitely not a "fluffy" sermon.

Crushed

I love Joseph Losardo's sermons. Paster LoSardo is a "completed Jew" who loves Jesus with all his heart and soul and mind. I've had some computer problems that haven't fully been resolved (don't have a media player installed yet) so I haven't heard this message. I hope your comments will help to fill me in until I'm able to hear the message (soon, I hope) for myself. This was the "Good Friday" message.

Meh, so I'm off by a couple days... :-)

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=422111158444



Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Happy First Fruits!

Snowing part two...

Well, sort of...it's really gorgeous out now. Spring has finally sprung here. I wanted to put up pictures of Winters last assault, but my computer was challenging all my efforts. But now I have a second chance to put up a few pictures...

The first two were taken by a friend that lives about a half hour north of me, and were taken about five weeks ago , and the last two were taken from my apartment last Monday:

It's hard to believe those last two pictures were taken only earlier this week! Today it is sunny and warm, and all signs of snow are gone! What a gorgeous day...and I've got to get ready for work, lol....

I Can't Believe It's Snowing!!!

It's almost May, and the robins have been out and about, and I thought we'd seen the last of snow, but I looked outside and there's about 3-4 inches of snow on my balcony, and it's still snowing...I'd post a picture, but I can't get the pictures to load onto my computer....what happened to spring???? Waaahhh!

"Beginning of Sorrows" Steve Quayle

I'm not so sure about what he says about the military vehicles in China because I don't see how his source could have counted 100 wide by 100 deep (not sure I understood what he was saying about that, have to listen again) but there's alot that he says that I'm in full agreement with him about, such as that the Chinese and the Arabs own alot of American's debts, which should have us VERY concerned. Also, I work in a field where I have to know a little about radiation exposure, and what he says about cumulative exposure is correct:

I don't hold to the same survivalist ideas that Steve Quayle has, buying silver and gold and a water filter won't save me when the time comes...the preparedness I feel is needed is the spiritual kind, being confident of my salvation and knowing God will see me through the bad times no matter how bad they get. Knowing that God will see me through is no excuse to then therefore be like the proverbial ostrich that sticks it's head in the sand. Jesus said to watch and to pray. There is a need to be aware of what is coming at us, and to also know that our redemption draweth nigh, as things grow worse and worse, the time of His return is also drawing closer and closer.

Remember the saying "It's always darkest just before the dawn".

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Celtic Woman

I love, love, LOVE Celtic Woman! I realize that some of the music (it being Celtic) has some pagan elements to it, because it is inherent in Irish folk music which is what Celtic music is...their music is mostly Irish folk and also bordering on a classical music style. These girls have crystal clear and so beautiful, in my opinion "angelic", voices.

I enjoy their music very much. Here are a few of their Christian selections:

And check out little spunky Mairead!!! She is an exceptional violinist!!!

And since this blog has butterflies in the title, this next one by Mairead is also appropriate here ;-)

Jesus's Tomb

Every now and then someone comes up with the "fact" that Jesus isn't who he said he was. A few weeks ago I read the book "The Jesus Family Tomb" by Simcha Jacobovici. It was a difficult read for me because my mind was screaming in protest at all the errors in their assumptions  (or "deductions") the whole time I was reading it, lol. Imagine trying to read with all that screaming going on, sheesh. Anyway, I've been seeing this theme of Jesus having been married and having had a flesh and blood son through sexual relations with Mary Magdalene come up from time to time, and this book makes the claim that they have found the evidence for it.They also made a movie about their "archeological discovery": See their website

I read part of the Wikipedia article about it. See also this one. What I love about Wikipedia is you can find a wealth of sources and links to search this out further. I think Wikipedia has gotten a bad rap. Like anything else, it does of course have some errors, but you can search it out for yourself by following their sources. I like what the Wikipedia article says about the Christian response.

Part of that response:

"Simcha has no credibility whatsoever," says Joe Zias, who was the curator for anthropology and archeology at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem from 1972 to 1997 and personally numbered the Talpiot ossuaries. "He's pimping off the Bible … He got this guy Cameron, who made 'Titanic' or something like that—what does this guy know about archeology? I am an archeologist, but if I were to write a book about brain surgery, you would say, 'Who is this guy?' People want signs and wonders. Projects like these make a mockery of the archeological profession."<sup>[41]

and this one:</sup>
  
The Washington Post reports that William G. Dever (mentioned above as excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years) offered the following:

"I've known about these ossuaries for many years and so have many other archaeologists, and none of us thought it was much of a story, because these are rather common Jewish names from that period. It's a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich, and it will upset millions of innocent people because they don't know enough to separate fact from fiction."^[11]  (emphasis by bolding and underlining mine)

We need to be on our guard and sound the warning to anyone who will listen. The deceptions are deepening and when "they" make a documentary that seems so authoritative, many people accept it as fact. Fictions like The DaVinci Code has many people already convinced of the lies that these "archeological finds" are supposedly now substantiating.

How this is going to lead into the antichrist's rise to power is still something I haven't quite put together, but I think it is one of the pieces of the puzzle.

Revolution

I keep seeing and hearing the theme "Revolution". I see it in movies like "I Robot" and hear it in popular music, and in commentaries like those from Alex Jones and Gerald Celente. Am I worried? No. Do I think it will happen? Maybe not this year or next (and then again, it may happen that soon), but it will happen and we need to be strong in the Lord, not strong in our own strength. We need to be fully at rest in Jesus no matter how terrible our circumstances become. We need to be able to say, as Jesus said: "not my will, but Thine be done" even if that means we experience extreme hardship, perhaps even death (by beheading? It no longer seems so far fetched to me).

The followers of Jesus in the first century went through horrendous hardships, and we need to be ready to do the same, if need be. Let's be strong in the power of the Lord, in trusting Him no matter what. He is able to take us through any storm, no matter how difficult and terrifying. I'm sure those Christians who were fed to the lions weren't exactly happy about it...but it increased their love of God, and it made them happier to leave this sinful world.

The Apostle Paul said:

2Co 11:24  Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
2Co 11:25  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
2Co 11:26  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
2Co 11:27  In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 




and the Apostle Paul also said:


Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

 

Feet

Luk 10:38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. Luk 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
Luk 10:40 But Martha was encumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
Luk 10:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
Luk 10:42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

I've been thinking about feet lately....about the woman with the issue of blood who grasps the hem of Jesus's garment (by His feet) and gets healed by "stealing" some of His virtue. About the woman that kissed Jesus feet as she wiped them with her tears, tears of joy because of the tremendous love He had for her to forgive her all her many sins. About Jesus's feet pierced with the nails through them as He hung on the cross, weeping and dying.

Mary was close to Jesus and loved sitting at Jesus feet to hear His word. I tend to be more like Martha, and get angry when others aren't doing enough of their share of the work that needs to be done. I need to be more like Mary. "One thing is needful..." Lord help me to desire only that one thing and not be so troubled in my spirit about the things that won't amount to anything in the eternity.

Isa 52:7

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

The Battlefield of Our Minds

 Source

I've been seeing alot of confused and angry people lately. Granted, working in a very busy E.R. in a large city I will see a disproportionately higher percentage of  people that are unbalanced or out of control, so my sense of it might be disproportionately higher than most "ordinary" people. Be that as it may, I have been seeing tensions mounting.  People that I work with have been "losing it" more frequently lately, or so it seems to me. I've also noticed it within myself, wanting to "stand up for myself" against my perceived injustices against me. I so wanted to put a coworker "in her place" when she ordered me around like I was her minion slave, and took it to the Lord and told the Lord what I wanted to say to her...kinda "run it by Him"...sigh.

He told me to wait....

"But...But....no! There's so much I want to say, I want to tell her exactly how I feel so she'll know...."

and the thought came back: "Do you really believe that telling her these things will help her?"

.....me: "mutter, mutter, mumble....well, no, but....I'll feel better about it..."

Then the thought: "Do you REALLY think you will feel better about it?"

me: "Well....no...but....sigh, well, but....ok...I know You, Lord, handle things much better than I can....but can I say SOMETHING....?....sigh....no, I guess you're right, I better bite my tongue..."

****************************************

But many around me aren't biting their tongues, but are lashing out whenever they feel stepped on.

I believe there is a revolution coming, and I personally believe that it is being orchestrated. That is just how my "conspiracy theory" mind works, lol...I won't be able to stop it. I can refuse to participate in it, in God's strength.

Here is a video clip that gives just a tiny part of the game that is being played by tptb, the game is on the battlefield of our minds:

Jesus said:

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The peace Jesus gives is different from the peace the world offers to us. The peace of the world is an illusion, because Jesus said there will always be "wars and rumours of wars". The peace Jesus gives defies understanding. His peace doesn't rely on getting what we want, or having things always go the way we want them to. His peace doesn't depend on me "having my cake and eating it too". His peace is given in spite of any attacks, perceived or real, against me. His peace is dependent on Him, and His virtues, not on mine and the lack of my virtues (thankfully). He keeps me in the eye of the storm, while trouble rages all around me, I can still be at peace, in Him.

Woman in a Wheat Field

The Gospel

2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:9  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power

 This is one of those "trouble passages" for a TULIP Calvinist like me, and one that Arminians love to "use against me". With the word "obey" right there "in my face", how can I say that being saved does not involve something that I do and keep on doing to keep myself there? Hmmm....?

"Obey not THE GOSPEL"....

What is the gospel? What is the "good news" and how do we "obey" it?

From what Jesus has taught me in His word, THE GOSPEL is the good news that He paid the price for my sin, and I am to trust in Him and His finished work. I am supposed to REST IN JESUS, but without His help in this, it is something I cannot do...and I confess that I cannot do it, and REST in the fact that Jesus can, and does, and already did everything to secure that for me, and that is GOOD NEWS (gospel) indeed!

EDITED TO ADD

Gregg at Gospel Driven Disciples has the word GOSPEL for his A to Z challenge word for today. He has some excellent info on that excellent word here

A History Lesson :-)

The book "We Two" is about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I purchased it on a recent visit to Canada after seeing the movie "The Young Victoria". Victoria wrote profusely, and although alot of what she had written was destroyed by one of her daughters who followed her mum's desire for them not to reach anyone else's hands, some of them did escape destruction. We also have letters that were written by Prince Albert, and also history that was generally known of events that occurred during Queen Victoria's reign.

In looking for more info on "Queen Vickie" I found this interesting bit (6 Youtube videos) on "The Jubilee Plot":

The Jubilee Plot was a failed assignation (sic: assassination) attempt on Queen Victoria during her Golden Jubilee which was held on June 20th 1887. It was intended to blow up Westminster Abbey, Queen Victoria and half the British Cabinet. The organizer of the assassination attempt was later said to be Francis Millen of Clan na Gael. However, he had been a spy in the service of the British authorities for several years (from 1885 under Edward Jenkinson of the of the Home Office with the approval of the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury), and was encouraged by them to draw in more Fenians, who could be captured. A bombing attempt of this order could also be used to discredit the increasingly troublesome (from the British governments point of view) Irish Parliamentary Party and other Irish Nationalists.
In June various newspapers reported that a plot to assassinate the Queen with bombs planted in Westminster Abbey had been discovered. In the following October a recently-deceased American was declared by the Assistant Commissioner of the police, James Monro, to have been the financier of the plot. Two Irishmen who visited Cohen, Callan and Harkins were arrested and charged with bringing dynamite into the country. In fact, both of them had been followed by police ever since their arrival in Britain in June. After their trial, Monro exposed Millen as the organizer of the plot but Millen was allowed to escape to the United States where he died in mysterious circumstances. Callan and Harkins were sentenced to fifteen years each in prison.
Earlier in the year The Times had begun publishing a series of features called Parnellism and Crime. All the letters had been supplied by Dublin journalist Richard Pigott and purported to show that Charles Stewart Parnell approved of violence by Nationalists. The letters were shown to be forgeries, written by Pigott and sold to The Times. The case against Parnell collapsed. Pigott committed suicide and in a subsequent libel action The Times had to pay Parnell £5,000 damages.

MumblesOg 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Rick Warren Part 2

I found a few videos that I put forward for our prayer and consideration. This one is by John MacArthur, giving his thoughts on "The Purpose Driven Life" gospel:

This one explores the "purpose of" The Purpose Driven Life (there is no TRUE purpose to it):

This is an interview with between Lane (from Lane's Channel on YouTube) and Michael Horton (from The Whitehorse Inn) This is excellent, and one that I want to visit often for the reminders. Michael Horton nails it, telling the reason for right doctrine, and how important it is to get it right, and how easy it is to blur the line of right doctrine. It needs to be solidly Christ centered, not "me" or "us" centered:

Now keeping what Michael Horton says firmly in mind, carefully watch what John Piper says about joining arms with Rick Warren:

Rick Warren

 Rick Warren

I've never been one to follow Rick Warren, but I have heard alot of people speak up about his unbiblical teachings on various forums and blogs.

Lately Rick Warren has been showing up at Reformed conferences, and it is causing people to wonder if he has forsaken his former waywardness and taken up a more orthodox view.

This article says an absolute and resounding "NO!" , and that the lines between what is true and what is false are continuing to be more and more blurry. Please read it and decide for yourself.

Nothing New Under the Sun

From: Curious Presbyterian

 The past few days there has been alot of hoopla over some metal plates that were found in Jordan..(or was it Egypt?) a few years ago (or was it 100 years ago?) It seems those who are leaking this "news story" can't get their facts in order.

I want to thank Matermuse for getting me started in the right direction on this. Her thoughts and links led me to more links. I share her Youtube video at the bottom of this blog entry.


According to "Curious Presbyterian", David Elinkgton wrote to Dr Thonemann this letter
which CP got at this link 

That Dr Thonemann letter is also here, with added comments at the bottom that are worth the read, if you are truly interested in this topic.

Christianity Today quoted  Larry Hurtado who is Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh:

"I'm impatient with people who go to the press and claim that they have something of enormous scholarly value and do not provide the materials for independent scholarly analysis. Controlling access to information is not how we do business in scholarship." (emphasis in bold added by me)
Christianity Today link

Seattle Examiner also suspects these to be forgeries: Examiner article link

This blogger thinks it was a very funny April Fool's joke: Lead tablets deciphered



 ...and here's another link:forgeries

Sigh....remember the P.T. Barnum saying? "There's a sucker born every minute"

P.T. Barnum (now dead) isn't the only one who has counted on making money on that fact. As the time of Jesus return draws nearer there will be plenty of deceptions to try to draw us away from keeping our eyes on the truth...and many people will fall for it, unfortunately.

Religion or Relationship?

It's been on my mind alot lately, the difference between these two. Many people see no difference at all, and view being "religious" being the same thing as being "saved". And many people believe all that is required is to just simply "be good". Really? And what does being "good" really involve? That is so vague because "good" is a word that means something different to each of us individually.

Jesus said: "none is good, save one, that is, God. " (Luke 18:19)

Do we accept what Jesus says on that topic of "good"ness? Even though I know Jesus speaks the Truth, I still swerve in and out of what I think about the word "good" . I want to be "good". I try to be "good". Am I "good"? I want to think that I am, but the truth is Jesus says I'm not. The only "good" in me is any goodness He has put there.

So what about religion...is religion "good". Many would say "Not just ANY religion, but MY religion is good."

Really? Why is YOUR religion "good"?

The New Testament says this about religion:

Jam 1:26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Jam 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
1.To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
and
2. to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The first part of James recommendation is easy enough to do...and yet how many of us do that every day....or even once a week? The second part of that is, well, it's impossible I reckon...without constant washing in Christ's blood (which was shed once for all sin). I know I continually get dirty, so based on MY WORKS, I am doomed.

But, you might say, if it's CHRISTIAN it must be "good" ...right? Well, if you think that going to church saves you, maybe your church is not as "good" as you think!  No church is able to save you, only Jesus can do that...and if your church has you thinking that by attending there you are guaranteed salvation through your working it out with them....think again.

So then where do you think all the religious rules on how to become "good" came from? If they didn't come from God, I'll let you figure out where they DID come from.

The Sinister Side of Butterflies II: Monarch Programming

Silence of the Lambs Movie Poster

What kind of symbolism can you glean from the above movie poster? There is so much there that I don't even know how to begin...

Vigilant Citizen has lots of info on Monarch Programming. A few days ago he offered an article about Britney Spears.....ok, I know, "WHO CARES!!!" LoL, I think it would be a good idea to care, and to pay attention to what is happening.

click for Vigilant Citizen Article here

Let's be AWAKE, Jesus said to WATCH and pray. It's easy to allow ourselves to get lulled to sleep and pretend it doesn't touch us.
I pray that we do care enough to let it touch us. We need to be concerned about what is happening to people like Britney. It breaks my heart. :-(