Monday, January 26, 2009

The Last Great Hope on Earth?

Good morning...an interesting article by Peter Hitchens, a popular author in Great Britain...he asks an interesting question at the end...let me answer it for him and you: The answer to his question is and always has been, JESUS!!!! But the article is quite interesting:

What follows is an interesting article written for the London Daily Mail by Peter Hitchens, a famous British author and journalist, and interestingly a political independent. We certainly don't manage our affairs in the US in accordance with Brit opinion, but it's always a good idea to know of the opinion of others previously proven of merit; he prompts valid questions of both liberals and conservatives.

He was in the USA on election night and wrote of his impressions. Like him or laugh at him, Hitchens remains popular throughout the world because many citizens of the globe think as he does. Some of you will nod your heads in agreement as you read it; others will frown; and still others will do both.

Let's all hope that Mr. Hitchens' "wave goodbye to America" is premature.

The night we waved goodbye to America. . . our last best hope on Earth
London Daily Mail

Peter Hitchens
10 November 2008

Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful
replacement for God, with a plan to modernize Heaven and Hell - or that
at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead.

The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the
United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and
swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilization. At
least Mandela-worship - its nearest equivalent - is focused on a man who
actually did something. I really don't see how the Obama devotees can
ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim
to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult like the one
which grew up around Princess Diana, bereft of reason and hostile to
facts.

It already has all the signs of such a thing. The newspapers which
recorded Obama's victory have become valuable relics. You may buy Obama
picture books, and Obama calendars, and if there isn't yet a children's picture version of his story, there soon will be. Proper books, recording his sordid associates, his cowardly voting record, his astonishingly militant commitment to unrestricted abortion and his blundering trip to Africa, are little-read and hard to find.

If you can believe that this undistinguished and conventionally Left-wing machine politician is a sort of secular savior, then you can believe anything. He plainly doesn't believe it himself. His
cliche-stuffed, PC clunker of an acceptance speech suffered badly from nerves. It was what you would expect from someone who knew he'd promised too much and that from now on the easy bit was over.

He needn't worry too much. From now on, the rough boys and girls of America 's Democratic Party apparatus, many recycled from Bill Clinton's stained and crumpled entourage, will crowd round him, to collect the rich spoils of his victory and also tell him what to do, which is what he is used to.
Just look at his sermon by the shores of Lake Michigan He really did talk about a 'new dawn', and a 'timeless creed' (which was 'yes, we can').
He proclaimed that 'change has come'.
He revealed that, despite having edited the Harvard Law Review, he doesn't know what 'enormity' means.
He reached depths of oratorical drivel never even plumbed by our own Mr. Blair, burbling about putting our hands on the arc of history (or was it the ark of history?) and bending it once more > toward the hope of a better day (Don't try this at home!).

I am not making this up. No wonder that awful old hack Jesse Jackson sobbed as he watched. How he must wish he, too, could get away with this sort of stuff.

And it was interesting how the President-elect failed to lift his admiring audience by repeated - but rather hesitant - invocations of the brainless slogan he was forced by his minders to adopt against his will - 'Yes, we can'. They were supposed to thunder 'Yes, we can!' back at him, but they just wouldn't join in. No wonder. Yes we can what exactly? Go home and keep a close eye on the tax rate, is my advice. He'd have been better off bursting into 'I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony' which contains roughly the same message and might have attracted some valuable commercial sponsorship.

Perhaps, being a Chicago crowd, they knew some of the things that 52.5 per cent of America prefers not to know.
They know Obama is the obedient servant of one of the most squalid and unshakeable political machines in America.
They know that one of his alarmingly close associates, a state-subsidized slum landlord called Tony Rezko, has been convicted on fraud and corruption charges.

They also know the US is just as segregated as it was before Martin Luther King - in schools, streets, neighborhoods, holidays, even in its TV-watching habits and its choice of fast-food joints.
The difference is that it is now done by unspoken agreement rather than by law.

If Mr. Obama's election had threatened any of that, his feel-good white supporters would have scuttled off and voted for John McCain, or practically anyone. But it doesn't. Mr. Obama, thanks mainly to the now-departed grandmother he alternately praised as a saint and denounced as a racial bigot, has the huge advantages of an expensive private education. He did not have to grow up in the badlands of useless schools, shattered families and gangs which are the lots of so many young black men of his generation.

If the nonsensical claims made for this election were true, then every positive discrimination program aimed at helping black people into jobs they otherwise wouldn't get should be abandoned forthwith.
Nothing of the kind will happen. On the contrary, there will probably be more of them. And if those who voted for Obama were all proving their anti-racist nobility, that presumably means that those many millions who didn't vote for him were proving themselves to be hopeless bigots.
This is obviously untrue.

I was in Washington, DC the night of the election. America 's beautiful capital has a sad secret. It is perhaps the most racially divided city in the world, with 15th Street - which runs due north from the White House - the unofficial frontier between black and white. But, like so much of America, it also now has a new division, and one, which is in many ways much more important.


I had attended an election-night party in a smart and liberal white area, but was staying the night less than a mile away on the edge of a suburb where Spanish is spoken as much as English, plus a smattering of tongues from such places as Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan. As I walked, I crossed another of Washington 's secret frontiers. There had been a few white people blowing car horns and shouting, as the result became clear. But among the Mexicans,
Salvadorans and the other Third World nationalities, there was something like ecstasy.

They grasped the real significance of this moment.
They knew it meant that America had finally switched sides in a global cultural war. Forget the Cold War, or even the Iraq War. The United States, having for the most part a deeply conservative people, had until now just about stood out against many of the mistakes which have ruined so much of the rest of the world.

Suspicious of welfare addiction, feeble justice and high taxes, totally committed to preserving its own national sovereignty, unabashedly Christian in a world part secular and part Muslim, suspicious of the Great Global Warming panic, it was unique. These strengths had been fading for some time, mainly due to poorly controlled mass immigration and to the march of political correctness. They had also been weakened by the failure of America 's conservative party - the Republicans - to fight on the cultural and moral fronts. They preferred to posture on the world stage.
Scared of confronting Left-wing teachers and sexual revolutionaries at home, they could order soldiers to be brave on their behalf in far-off deserts. And now the US, like Britain before it, has begun the long slow descent into the Third World. How sad. Where now is our last best hope on Earth?

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The President

Good morning...

Well, it didn't take long...as I predicted, along with so many others, the President has reversed an order issued by President Bush that would re-instate monies to go to foreign countries for the express purpose of killing innocent babies in the womb...the order was first given by President Reagan (my personal favorite President!), reversed by President Clinton, restored by President Bush and now once again reversed by President Obama...Our nation will face the wrath of God for this decision...mark my words...a sad day indeed...

Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Election

Good Morning...some final thoughts on the election...the following is from Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Clinton...This is what America will look like in 4 years (not to mention the unfettered abortion industry growth)




The Obama presidency: Here comes socialism

By Dick Morris

Posted: 01/20/09 06:12 PM [ET]

2009-2010 will rank with 1913-14, 1933-36, 1964-65 and 1981-82 as years that will permanently change our government, politics and lives. Just as the stars were aligned for Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson and Reagan, they are aligned for Obama. Simply put, we enter his administration as free-enterprise, market-dominated, laissez-faire America. We will shortly become like Germany, France, the United Kingdom, or Sweden — a socialist democracy in which the government dominates the economy, determines private-sector priorities and offers a vastly expanded range of services to many more people at much higher taxes.


Obama will accomplish his agenda of “reform” under the rubric of “recovery.” Using the electoral mandate bestowed on a Democratic Congress by restless voters and the economic power given his administration by terrified Americans, he will change our country fundamentally in the name of lifting the depression. His stimulus packages won’t do much to shorten the downturn — although they will make it less painful — but they will do a great deal to change our nation.


In implementing his agenda, Barack Obama will emulate the example of Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Not the liberal mythology of the New Deal, but the actuality of what it accomplished.) When FDR took office, he was enormously successful in averting a total collapse of the banking system and the economy. But his New Deal measures only succeeded in lowering the unemployment rate from 23 percent in 1933, when he took office, to 13 percent in the summer of 1937. It never went lower. And his policies of over-regulation generated such business uncertainty that they triggered a second-term recession. Unemployment in 1938 rose to 17 percent and, in 1940, on the verge of the war-driven recovery, stood at 15 percent. (These data and the real story of Hoover’s and Roosevelt’s missteps, uncolored by ideology, are available in The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, copyright 2007.)


But in the name of a largely unsuccessful effort to end the Depression, Roosevelt passed crucial and permanent reforms that have dominated our lives ever since, including Social Security, the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, unionization under the Wagner Act, the federal minimum wage and a host of other fundamental changes.


Obama’s record will be similar, although less wise and more destructive. He will begin by passing every program for which liberals have lusted for decades, from alternative-energy sources to school renovations, infrastructure repairs and technology enhancements. These are all good programs, but they normally would be stretched out for years. But freed of any constraint on the deficit — indeed, empowered by a mandate to raise it as high as possible — Obama will do them all rather quickly.


But it is not his spending that will transform our political system, it is his tax and welfare policies. In the name of short-term stimulus, he will give every American family (who makes less than $200,000) a welfare check of $1,000 euphemistically called a refundable tax credit. And he will so sharply cut taxes on the middle class and the poor that the number of Americans who pay no federal income tax will rise from the current one-third of all households to more than half. In the process, he will create a permanent electoral majority that does not pay taxes, but counts on ever-expanding welfare checks from the government. The dependency on the dole, formerly limited in pre-Clinton days to 14 million women and children on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, will now grow to a clear majority of the American population.


Will he raise taxes? Why should he? With a congressional mandate to run the deficit up as high as need be, there is no reason to raise taxes now and risk aggravating the depression. Instead, Obama will follow the opposite of the Reagan strategy. Reagan cut taxes and increased the deficit so that liberals could not increase spending. Obama will raise spending and increase the deficit so that conservatives cannot cut taxes. And, when the economy is restored, he will raise taxes with impunity, since the only people who will have to pay them would be rich Republicans.


In the name of stabilizing the banking system, Obama will nationalize it. Using Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to write generous checks to needy financial institutions, his administration will demand preferred stock in exchange. Preferred stock gets dividends before common stockholders do. With the massive debt these companies will owe to the government, they will only be able to afford dividends for preferred stockholders — the government, not private investors. So who will buy common stock? And the government will demand that its bills be paid before any profits that might materialize are reinvested in the financial institution, so how will the value of the stocks ever grow? Devoid of private investors, these institutions will fall ever more under government control.


Obama will begin the process by limiting executive compensation. Then he will urge restructuring and lowering of home mortgages in danger of default (as the feds have already done with Citibank).

Then will come guidance on the loans to make and government instructions on the types of enterprises to favor. God grant that some Blagojevich type is not in charge of the program, using his power to line his pockets. The United States will find itself with an economic system comparable to that of Japan, where the all-powerful bureaucracy at MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) manages the economy, often making mistakes like giving mainframe computers priority over the development of laptops.


But it is the healthcare system that will experience the most dramatic and traumatic of changes. The current debate between erecting a Medicare-like governmental single payer or channeling coverage through private insurance misses the essential point. Without a lot more doctors, nurses, clinics, equipment and hospital beds, health resources will be strained to the breaking point. The people and equipment that now serve 250 million Americans and largely neglect all but the emergency needs of the other 50 million will now have to serve everyone. And, as government imposes ever more Draconian price controls and income limits on doctors, the supply of practitioners and equipment will decline as the demand escalates. Price increases will be out of the question, so the government will impose healthcare rationing, denying the older and sicker among us the care they need and even barring them from paying for it themselves. (Rationing based on income and price will be seen as immoral.)


And Obama will move to change permanently the partisan balance in America. He will move quickly to legalize all those who have been in America for five years, albeit illegally, and to smooth their paths to citizenship and voting. He will weaken border controls in an attempt to hike the Latino vote as high as he can in order to make red states like Texas into blue states like California. By the time he is finished, Latinos and African-Americans will cast a combined 30 percent of the vote. If they go by top-heavy margins for the Democrats, as they did in 2008, it will assure Democratic domination (until they move up the economic ladder and become good Republicans).


And he will enact the check-off card system for determining labor union representation, repealing the secret ballot in union elections. The result will be to raise the proportion of the labor force in unions up to the high teens from the current level of about 12 percent.


Finally, he will use the expansive powers of the Federal Communications Commission to impose “local” control and ownership of radio stations and to impose the “fairness doctrine” on talk radio. The effect will be to drive talk radio to the Internet, fundamentally change its economics, and retard its growth for years hence.


But none of these changes will cure the depression. It will end when the private sector works through the high debt levels that triggered the collapse in the first place. And, then, the large stimulus package deficits will likely lead to rapid inflation, probably necessitating a second recession to cure it.


So Obama’s name will be mud by 2012 and probably by 2010 as well. And the Republican Party will make big gains and regain much of its lost power.


But it will be too late to reverse the socialism of much of the economy, the demographic change in the electorate, the rationing of healthcare by the government, the surge of unionization and the crippling of talk radio.



Morris, a former adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, is the author of Outrage. To get all of Dick Morris’s and Eileen McGann’s columns for free by email, go to www.dickmorris.com. To order a signed copy of their new best-selling book, Fleeced, go to dickmorris.com.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The New President

Greetings!

As I sit here and watch the swearing in of our new President, amidst all of the celebration and jubilation and joy, that this is not a day of rejoicing but rather a sad day for our nation...why you may ask is it a sad day? Because our nation has elected a man who has no respect for life as he wants to pass and sign the freedom of choice act which will condemn another generation of babies to their doom of never being able to enjoy the freedoms that we all enjoy; he encourages the homosexual agenda that will destroy what is left of the family unit, the foundation of our society...yes, it is a sad day indeed...

I will support him where I can, but fight him when he goes against the teaching of God's Word...yes, a sad day indeed...

Monday, January 19, 2009

The Gaza War

Hello...Joel Rosenberg seems to have his pulse on what is happening in Israel and the middle east and how the things happening there relate to Bible Prophecy...this is facinating so I hope you will take the time to read this post:

BIBLE PROPHECY, GAZA, AND THE EPICENTER

* Could cease-fire make Israel's southern border secure for the next few years?
* Israel makes enormous, "historic" discovery of natural gas off coast of Haifa
* Russia to build naval bases in Libya, Syria

By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Erbil, Iraq, January 19, 2009) --

NOTE: I posted Part One of this article on my weblog on Friday. I posted Part Two last night (Sunday).

PART ONE:

"Is there a connection between Bible prophecy and the war in Gaza?"

I'm getting asked that everywhere I travel here in the epicenter, in Israel and here in Iraq, where I have been for the past several days, working on our INSIDE THE REVOLUTION documentary film, slated for release later this year. It's an intriguing question, and there are two quick answers -- no, and yes.

A.) No, there is no specific passage of Scripture that points to this specific war between Israel and terrorists in Gaza in the "last days," though there are certainly some passages that are evocative of the current conflict. The Lord once said through the Hebrew Prophet Amos, for example, "I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza and it will consume her citadels….I will even unleash My power upon Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish." But this was fulfilled between 760 and 750 B.C.

B.) That said, the current war between Israel and the terrorist leaders and fighters of Hamas in Gaza could be preparing the way for the coming "War of Gog and Magog" described in Ezekiel 38-39. In that prophecy (as well as chapters 36 and 37), Ezekiel says that:

1. The State of Israel will be resurrected in the last days

2. Jews will pour back into the Holy Land after centuries of being scattered in exile all over the world

3. By God's grace, the Jews will rebuild the ancient ruins in the land of Israel

4. By God's grace, the Jews will see the land of Israel blossom and bear fruit like never before

5. Ezekiel also says that prior to the alliance against Israel led by Russia (Magog) and Iran (Persia) to destroy Israel, the people of Israel will be "living securely, all of them." (38:8b). The text, however, never uses the word "shalom," the Hebrew word for peace. So Ezekiel does not seem to be referring to full and complete peace. Rather, he seems to be suggesting that there will be a sense among Israelis that they are safer than they previously had been.

6. In most respects, Israelis are today living more safely and securely than any time since independence in 1948. Consider that Israel has formal and reasonably effective peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Saddam Hussein is gone. Yasser Arafat is gone. Suicide bombers are largely a terror tool of the past. Israel has the most powerful air force in the region. Israel has the most advanced missile defense system in the world. The U.S. is on offense against radical Islamic terrorists in the region. No wonder most Israelis - even today - feel more secure and relaxed than ever before, given the modern history of the Jewish people. They're going to the malls, to the movies, to the beaches. They are getting married and having bar mitzvahs and growing their businesses and sending their kids to college. Normal stuff, like normal people, despite all the wars and rumors of wars that continue to plague the region.

7. In my first novel (written in 2001 before 9/11, but published in November 2002), The Last Jihad, I wrote that in order for Israelis to feel secure enough to set into motion Ezekiel's "War of Gog and Magog," Saddam Hussein could no longer be the ruler of Iraq. After all, Iraq is not mentioned as one of the countries that is part of the Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel. Moreover, how could Israelis feel secure with the "Butcher of Baghdad" in power, a man who fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel and threatened to use chemical weapons to "scorch half of Israel" back in 1990? They couldn't, which is why I wrote about a kamikaze attack by radical Islamic terrorists against an American city that would lead to a war between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein over fears of a link between Iraqi-sponsored terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Remarkably, these events have actually come to pass in real life. In my second novel, The Last Days, I wrote about the death of Arafat and a civil war that would ensue afterwards between the secular nationalist forces of the Palestinians (Fatah) and the Islamic Jihadists in the West Bank and Gaza (Hamas), vying for control in Arafat's absence. That was fiction, but in real life Arafat ended up dying 13 months after the novel was published, and the battle between Fatah and Hamas erupted almost immediately.

8. That said, in The Last Days, a moderate Palestinian rises to power and create real (though temporary) peace with Israel. In real life, a moderate by the name of Mahmoud Abbas (aka, Abu Mazen) has emerged in the West Bank, and the West Bank is very quiet. But Hamas gained control of Gaza in 2006, and Israel has remained threatened by rockets, missiles and mortars coming in from Gaza ever since. According to Ezekiel, all Israelis must be living securelybefore the conditions are set for the "War of Gog and Magog." If that war is to happen in our lifetime - much less in the next few years - that would have to mean that rockets, missiles and mortars are not being fired from Gaza day after day, week after week, year after year at innocent civilians in southern Israel. Thus, this war - if it is truly effective in stopping the rocket barrage - could, in fact, prove to be a precursor to the coming Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel in that it may help create a secure southern border for Israelis for the next year, or the next several years.

9. It is early yet. It is not clear what the lasting effect of this conflict will be. We must first and foremost pray for peace, and pray for Hamas to be crushed and all Gazans to be liberated from their evil tyranny. We must pray for the physical and emotional recovery for Israelis and Palestinians who have been severely affected by this war and by previous terror attacks. And we must pray that the Lord would comfort those on both sides and draw them close to His heart.

10. At the same time, I do believe it is worth watching closely to see if we are getting closer to the events described by Ezekiel.

11. It is noteworthy to me that Egypt is playing a somewhat helpful role in opposing Hamas and offering to do more to stop arms smuggling into Gaza - not for Israel's sake, really, but to make sure Hamas doesn't become a terror force that could destablize Mubarak's regime in Cairo. Ezekiel does not mention Egypt being part of the Russian-Iranian alliance in the last days, and currently Egypt's actions are consistent with the prophecy.

12. Over the past few weeks, Turkey has moved significantly away from Israel and the West and towards Russia and Iran, even calling for Israel to be banned from U.N. meetings. This is noteworthy because Turkey is "Gomer" in the prophecy and is a key player with Russia and Iran against Israel.

13. Let me conclude by reminding my readers that I have no idea when the "War of Gog and Magog" will occur. Many geopolitical events currently look consistent with Ezekiel's writings. But we must be cautious. Let us not overreact or speculate wildly. Let us calmly and prayerfully analyze these present times, and follow our Lord Jesus Christ to do now what we know is right according to the Scriptures.

PART TWO:

It's been a dramatic few days here in the epicenter, especially for those interested in the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39.

Consider the following:

1. "LIVING SECURELY IN THE LAND" -- As I wrote about several days ago, there are intriguing implications of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza for the fulfillment of major Bible prophecies. This war could lead to: A) the toppling of Hamas in favor of a moderate leadership in Gaza (possible, but doubtful at this stage); or B) a cease fire between Israel and a weakened Hamas that truly holds for the next several years, and provides Israeli citizens on the southern border a real measure of safety and security (still too early to say, but increasingly possible given the events of the last 23 days and the last 48 hours). If either of these events happen, then a major precondition of Ezekiel 38-39 could come to pass in the not-too-distant future. The prophecy requires that: A) Israel is reborn as a nation (which happened in 1948); B) Jews are returning to the Holy Land after centuries of exile (this has been happening since the end of the 19th century); and C) Israelis are finally "living securely in the land" - meaning Israelis may not have true, lasting formal peace with all of its neighbors, but Israeli citizens feel more safe and more comfortable and relaxed than ever before. Most Israelis actually already feel this way today, except for those along the Gaza border. Despite all the wars and rumors of wars in the region, the vast majority of Israelis are going to the malls, going to the movies, going to the beaches, going about their daily lives feeling that the Jewish State is more stable and secure today than at any time in the past sixty years. If Israelis in the south begin to feel this level of security, too, things could get quite interesting from the perspective of Bible prophecy.

2. ISRAEL MAKES ENORMOUS AND "HISTORIC" DISCOVERY OF NATURAL GAS OFF HAIFA -- Ezekiel 38-39 has another precondition that has to happen before the "War of Gog and Magog" can begin -- Israel must be notably prosperous. In my first non-fiction book, Epicenter, I noted that Israel is already far more prosperous than her immediate neighbors, the Palestinians, the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Syrians and the Lebanese. But I speculated that it was possible that the Israel will get far more prosperous to fully satisfy this prophetic precondition. I further noted that based on a series of Bible prophecies, Israel will make major discoveries of petroleum in "the last days" (something that was a fictional part of The Last Jihad series, as well). Consider, then, this remarkable story on today's Jerusalem Post website: "Three massive gas reservoirs have been discovered 80 kilometers off the Haifa coast, at the Tamar prospect, Noble Energy Inc. announced on Sunday….Speaking on Army Radio Sunday morning, an exhilarated Yitzhak Tshuva, owner of the Delek Group Ltd, one of the owners of the well, called the discovery 'one of the biggest in the world,' promising that the find would present a historic land mark in the economic independence of Israel. "I have no doubt that this is a holiday for the State of Israel. We will no longer be dependent [on foreign sources] for our gas, and will even export. We are dealing with inconceivably huge quantities; Israel now has a solution for the future generations,' Tshuva added. An ecstatic Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said before the weekly cabinet meeting that the discovery was a 'historic' one and could 'change the face of Israeli industry.'….Following the announcement of the discover, shares of Delek Drilling jumped up 80%, while shares of Isramco Negev 2 skyrocketed by an unprecedented 120 percent. The rest of the Tel Aviv stock market also saw huge gains, with the TA-Index 100 climbing nearly 4 percent." It's too soon to draw any conclusions, but I do think this is a story worth watching closely.

3. RUSSIA IS BUILDING ALLIANCES WITH IRAN, LIBYA, SYRIA AND LEBANON, AS HATRED OF ISRAEL GROWS -- The prophecies found in Ezekiel 38-39 further tell us that Russia (Magog), Iran (Persia), Libya (Put), and Turkey (Gomer) will all form alliances together, before eventually trying to attack Israel from the North. To come from the North, they need to come through Syria and Lebanon, which means either Syria and Lebanon are active members of the coalition against Israel, or they have been overrun by military forces of the Russian-Iranian alliance. Again, I describe all this in detail in Epicenter, but it's worth considering the following headlines in recent days:

* Russia to complete Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2009
* Iran president says Israeli leaders face 'doomed end'
* Iran's Ahmadinejad demands trial of Israeli leaders for "war crimes"
* High-level Iranian cleric calls for shooting Israeli Foreign Minister
* Russia plans navy bases in Libya, Syria
* Russian navy eyes Tartous, Syria as base for Black Sea Fleet
* Russia's Gazprom increases oil holdings in Libya
* Recent Attempts to Form Strategic Regional Bloc: Syria, Turkey and Iran
* Turkey wants Israel barred from the U.N.
* Osama Bin Laden urges Jihad against Israel
* Anti-Israel mood prevails at summit

For me, it still remains too early to draw any definitive conclusions about what all this means. But it is worth noting that clearly several of the key countries that Ezekiel says will form alliances together - and against Israel - are, in fact, currently forming closer and closer ties, even as a wave of profound anti-Israel sentiment is rising throughout the region.

Developing....

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GAZA WAR UPDATE: JOSHUA FUND HELPS SDEROT RESIDENTS LOVE THEIR NEIGHBORS










[PICTURED: A truck load of food, paid for by The Joshua Fund, arrived in the Israeli town of Sderot last Wednesday to help care for elderly shut-ins and other needy Israeli individuals and families.]

Late last year -- before the war in Gaza began -- several Sderot residents approached The Joshua Fund and asked if we would be willing to help them open up a storefront facility where they could stock food and other commodities to be distributed to those Israelis living under the poverty level in their community. After assessing the need and their plan, we readily agreed.

On December 27th, of course, the desire to care for needy Israelis intensified dramatically as Hamas began launching 70 to 100 rockets at day at Sderot and other southern tier towns and cities.

By early January, the storefront facility had been rented, shelves had been built, some cleaning had been done, and basic improvements had been made. On Monday, January 12th, my colleagues -- John Moser, our executive director; and Jeremy Grafman, our director of special projects -- and I had the opportunity to visit Sderot, see the storefront first hand, and meet the team and the volunteers who will run the place. It was clear they were ready to go, so we quickly authorized the purchase of food -- from monies generously donated to The Joshua Fund by faithful friends of the ministry from all over the world -- so that the "Hope For Sderot" team could get to work blessing their neighbors right way. Two days later, the truck of food and other supplies arrived and we had the privilege of helping stock those previously empty shelves. We also had the privilege of praying with this dear group of allies and volunteers that the Lord would truly use their kindness and generosity to touch hearts and lives with His love and let the people of Sderot know they are not forgotten.

What an honor to come alongside Israeli sabras and Jews from abroad and help them in their time of need. We don't deserve any credit for this. We don't want any. We just want to bless the Israelis of Sderot and the southern tier in the name of Jesus with unconditional love and unwavering support. We want them to know that millions of evangelical Christians in the U.S., Canada and around the world are praying for them. We are praying that the Lord grants them peace, that the Lord grants them true security and protection, that the Lord grants them comfort and hope no matter happens in the days and weeks ahead. We are also praying for those innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire, and seeking ways to bless them through Arab evangelical churches. And we are praying for Israel's enemies, too -- for the leaders and fighters of Hamas to turn from their evil ways and find the living God -- because Jesus commanded His disciples to love their neighbors and their enemies, and we want to be faithful to what Jesus taught us.

As the Lord spoke through His servant Moses: "If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land with the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks....You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore, I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.'" (Deuteronomy 15:7-11)

And as we read in the Gospel According to Mark: "In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said, 'I feel compassion for the people because they...have nothing to eat.'....And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people. They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. And they ate and were satisfied....About four thousand were there." (Mark 8:1-9)

As always, we will do our best to keep you up-to-date on the kinds of projects we are doing, and brief you on how those projects are proceeding. We will also let you know about the kinds of projects we are developing for the future. In no way do we want to pressure anyone to give financially. We fully believe the Lord will provide for the needs of the people we seek to serve. But if you or others wish to help, we welcome your support, and all financial gifts are tax-deductible.

If you would like to make a year-end contribution to the on-going work of The Joshua Fund please make your check payable to "The Joshua Fund" and send to:

The Joshua Fund
18950 Base Camp Road
Monument, Colorado 80132-8009

Thanks so much and may the Lord richly bless you and your family as you bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus -- especially at critical moment in history of the epicenter.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Rapture

Good Morning!

The next great event in the life of the church of Jesus Christ is the Rapture...the great "snatching away" of those who have placed the faith and trust in Jesus Christ, asked for forgiveness of sin, repented of sin and received the gift from God of salvation and eternal life. There is always a question of when this might take place. Some say it will occur during the half-way point of the Tribulation period; others claim at the end of the Tribulation period. However, the only view that makes sense Biblically is a Pre-tribulation Rapture. The doctrine taught in the Bible is one of an imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Note the following:


by Todd Strandberg


What Is Imminency?
In doing some research on the doctrine of imminency, I noticed few people take the time to actually define what prophetic imminency means. First, let us look at the general definition of the key word “imminent”: "The quality or condition of being about to occur."

Imminency, as it relates to Bible prophecy, simply means that the return of Jesus Christ for the Church can happen at any moment. No warning signs will indicate a short-term countdown. We as Christians remain on alert 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If a wife knows her husband normally gets home from work shortly after 4:00 PM, she knows that beginning at 4:00 PM, his arrival is imminent. If the woman knows her husband has to work overtime, the imminency of his 4:00 PM return is then in doubt.

The only way for the rapture to be truly imminent is to have it transpire before the tribulation. If the Church were required to wait until after the manifestation of certain events, then there would be no doctrine of imminency.




The Granddaddy Of Proofs
The pretribulation rapture is the only view that allows for the rapture to be imminent in its timing. All the other views require a number of prophetic occurrences to take place before the rapture can be declared imminent. To be looking for the imminent return of Christ, you have to believe in a pre-trib rapture.

Jesus repeatedly said that His return for the Church would be a surprise. The Lord even went beyond that by saying He would return “as a thief” when believers generally won't be expecting Him to come for them.


"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Matthew 24:36).
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing" (Matthew 24:42-46 KJV).

"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 25:13).

"And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7).

Because we have no way to refute the fact that we will not know the timing of our Lord's return, the tribulation is a barrier to the rapture. No wonder the late John Walvoord called imminency "the heart of Pretribulationism."

This type of “any-moment” language doesn't fit a post-trib rapture. If Jesus were prevented from coming until after the battle of Magog, the rise of Antichrist, and the Mark of the Beast, we would have no need to watch for Him before the tribulation.

If the Church were required to go through the seven-year tribulation, you would expect the New Testament writers to have warned us to be prepared for trying times. On the contrary, the New Testament writers repeatedly tell the Church to be comforted by the "coming of the Lord" (1 Thes 4:18). The word "comfort" alone strongly implies the rapture will take place before the tribulation.

Some anti-imminency folks try to solve the problem they have with the rapture's any-moment occurrence by redefining it as merely indicating that Christ will return soon. The speed of Christ's advent is not the issue. If an event is required to take place before the Lord can return, there is no need to remain watchful.

If a person should make it through the tribulation until the point when the mid-trib, pre-wrath, and post-trib folks expect the rapture to occur, it would then become possible for the rapture to be classified as “imminent.” However, once you solve the problem of imminency, you create another one regarding the restrictions against knowing the timing of the rapture.

Because the duration of the tribulation is already known, post-tribbers have the hardest time dealing with the rapture's timing. Some of them have tried to suggest that believers who make it through the tribulation will lazily lose track of the nearness of Christ's second coming.

If a Christian has been lucky enough to survive a host of apocalyptic calamities and elude the Antichrist's secret police for at least 3 1/2 years, I cannot imagine that he would be oblivious to the nearness of the Lord's return at the 7-year mark. If I were reduced to the point of having to hide in a forest and forage through dead tree bark to find beetles and grubs to sustain myself, I'm certain my every thought would be focused on the Lord's return.



Maranatha
One the strongest cases one can make for the early Church expecting an imminent return of Christ is to note their use of the word maranatha, which was used as a greeting in those days. When believers gathered or parted, they didn't say "hello" or "goodbye"; they would say "Maranatha!"

I've encountered some writings that say Maranatha is Hebrew and Greek, but it is actually an Aramaic expression. In fact, it is made up of three Aramaic words: Mar, which means "Lord”; ana, which means "our"; and tha, which means "come."

So when you put it together, maranatha means "Our Lord, come." It perfectly conveys the concept that the Lord could come at any moment. Maranatha is used once in the Bible by Paul as part of a curse. In 1 Corinthians 16:22, Paul said, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema. Maranatha." The word “anathema” means “banned,” so Paul was saying, “Let him be banned from our Lord's coming.”

The interesting thing about maranatha is that it comes in the form of a petition. When a Christian in the early Church would make this statement, he was actually petitioning the Lord to come. This obviously implies the belief that it was possible for Jesus to answer the appeal.

If members of the first-century Church believed that certain events needed to take place before the Savior could return, they would have been silly to greet each other with “maranatha.” They lived nearly 2,000 years ago, and yet they seem to have had a deeper awareness of imminency than many of today's Christians.




The Historical Record
Many of the contemporary writers who attack imminency try to promote the idea that this doctrine was recently dreamed up by men who were ignorant of the true meaning of Scripture.

One detractor states, "This frenzy [imminency] continues to survive today because of modern misconceptions about the purpose of these prophetic events and the time frame for their occurrence."

Post-trib believers are the most vocal in their claim that the concepts of imminency and the pre-trib rapture only date back to the early 1800s. For several years, their charges went unanswered, but recently a number of men have dusted off old manuscripts and found several early Church fathers who were clearly looking for an imminent return of the Lord Jesus.


"All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins" (Pseudo-Ephraem (374-627 AD).
The First Epistle of Clement, 23 (written around 96 A.D. by Clement, a prominent leader of the church at Rome who knew some of the apostles personally and probably is the Clement referred to in Phil. 4:3): "Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the Scripture also bears witness, saying, 'speedily will He come, and will not tarry.'"

As early as 70 - 180 AD, The Didache, chapter 16, section 1, says, "'Be vigilant over your life; let your lamps not be extinguished, or your loins ungirded, but be prepared, for you know not the hour in which our Lord will come."

"But what a spectacle is that fast-approaching advent of our Lord, now owned by all, now highly exalted, now a triumphant One!" (Tertullian 155 - 245 AD).

John Calvin, the reformer at Geneva during the 1500s and founder of the Presbyterian Church, made the following statements in some of his commentaries on books of the Bible: "Be prepared to expect Him every day, or rather every moment." "As He has promised that He will return to us, we ought to hold ourselves prepared, at every moment to receive Him.” "Today we must be alert to grasp the imminent return of Christ." Commenting on 1 Thessalonians 4, the "Rapture passage,” Calvin said that Paul "means by this to arouse the Thessalonians to wait for it, nay more, to hold all believers in suspense, that they may not promise themselves some particular time . . . that believers might be prepared at all times."

The Westminster Confession, written by the Puritans of England during the 1600s, declared that men should "shake off all carnal security and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come."

"I say, somewhat more because the dead saints will be raised, and the living changed at Christ's 'appearing in the air' (1 Thess 4:17); and this will be about three years and a half before the millennium, as we shall see hereafter: but will he and they abide in the air all that time? No: they will ascend to paradise, or to some one of those many 'mansions in the father's house' (John 14:2), and so disappear during the foresaid period of time." (Morgan Edwards 1742-44).

I'm not much of a fan of relying on what scholarly men write about the Bible. I agree with the quotes I just cited, but I don't really need a bunch of dead guys to tell me what is truth. I have over a dozen copies of the Good Book lying around the house, and I have the ability to read and understand each of them for myself.

History has proven that mankind is a dreadful biblical guide. The apostasy that swept over the Church caused a lack of prophecy commentary from about 450 AD until the 1600s. People stopped thinking for themselves. Their interpretation of the Bible became what the institutional church spoon-fed them.

Premillennialism largely disappeared after it was condemned as heretical by the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. It wasn't until the reform movement of the early seventeenth century that we see a rebound in the number of statements that reflect the pretribulational view.



Scripture Galore
A host of Scriptures indicate the Church should expect an imminent return of their Lord. The opponents of imminency constantly try to pick apart each individual reference, but they should look at the big picture. An overwhelming number of verses in the Bible support imminency.

I've been able to easily locate 22 passages that imply that the coming of Christ remains an imminent event. All you really need is one verse to prove a point, but the weight of evidence should cause even the most hard-core imminency foes to rethink their stance.

I seriously doubt any scholar or layman could find 22 passages of Scripture that clearly indicate the tribulation or the rule of the Antichrist is the next imminent event facing the Church.


"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Mat 24:36).
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Mat 25:1-6)

"Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:33-37).

"Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light" (Rom 13:11-12).

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom 16:20).

"So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1:7).

"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil 3:20).

"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand" (Phil 4:5).

"And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess 1:10).

"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (1 Thess 5:6).

“That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim 6:14).

"Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (Titus 2:13).

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb 9:28).

"Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the Day approaching" (Heb 10:24-25).

"For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Heb 10:37).

"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door" (James 5:7-9).

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).

"But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer" (1 Peter 4:7).

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 1:21).

"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Rev 3:11).

"Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (Rev 22:7).

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20).

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

2008 In Review

Good Morning...2008 will be a year that we all remember! Financial crisis, historic election...etc...How does it stand up Prophecy-Wise? the following is from Jan Markel of Olive Tree Ministries:

The Story of 2008

By Jan Markell


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A one-world system in my lifetime? Never! Yet my frequent radio guest and one of our “Understanding the Times 2009” speakers, Gary Kah, has said this to me for years: “We are just one global crisis away from global government.”

Think this is raging foolishness for those who hold to my eschatology? Here are some secular headlines from 2008: “G20 Leaders Struggle to Reshape Global Economy”; “Global Governance, Here we Come!”; “And Now for Global Government”; “Time to Build a Global Society.” They are spurred on by a global financial crisis, so-called man-made global warming crisis, and the global war on terror. It’s time for change! Where have we heard that in 2008? Make that “global change.”

A financial tsunami hit America and the world in 2008. After leaders in America, including President Bush, sized up the situation, America was largely “bailed out.” We were told there was no other option. Credit had dried up. American establishments were going broke. Unemployment would reach 10% if the government didn’t step in and offer a solution. The only problem is, the solution left capitalism gasping in America and placed socialism on center stage. This set the merry-go-round spinning for the cheerleaders of global government.

Sure, I knew this would happen—someday. The book of Revelation outlines it perfectly for those of us who take that book literally. So in 2008 we saw the prophetic clock go on fast-forward in all categories. But the worldwide cry for global governance almost overnight?

Then global panic set in. The Washington Times led the chorus by saying, “Leaders and economists from Western Europe to East Asia urged that America go beyond reviving a failed domestic bailout and start working on a new global financial system. The next U.S. president should immediately call for a second ‘Bretton Woods’ conference to devise a new doctrine of international finance.” Could “international finance” be another term for a cashless society also predicted in Revelation?

Since the U.S. government is almost as broke as the institutions it is trying to assist, won’t minds be more open now to this idea? Yes! Who is going to bail out the U.S. government when it goes broke, which will surely happen? With America crippled with so much debt, it will clearly take a global solution or global government to fix the American and world economy. It will be presented as the healing balm. When unemployment hits 10% or higher and when it appears people’s retirement savings are wiped out, the world will accept any kind of magic plan. And all this is coming together with rapid speed!

At the same time in 2008 we saw one man captivate global headlines. Newsweek magazine calls President-elect Barack Obama “The President of the World.” The Bible says a man-with-a-plan will come along to dazzle the world. I am not suggesting Barack Obama is the antichrist. We cannot know such things and he lacks some qualifications. The point is the world grabbed hold of one man who promised he would “fix things” and create “change” in desperate times. Hundreds of Web sites called him “the messiah.”

The world has never watched any vote, in any nation, so closely. In country after country, polls show record-high fascination with the outcome. The Voice of America, which broadcasts in 45 languages to a worldwide audience of 134 million, saw "unprecedented interest." In Pakistan there was so much interest in the first presidential debate, the VOA changed its initial plans and broadcast the next two as well. And many in other countries said Barack Obama would fix all the world’s problems.

The coming together of these two issues is no coincidence, and it may be the most significant end-time event since the rebirth of Israel. It was the perfect storm. As prophecy writer Terry James says, “So obvious are the tremendous forces pushing the nations of earth toward one world that journalists who have little to no interest in or knowledge of Bible prophecy are making the connection. This world is changing dynamically, dramatically, astonishingly, even before the much ballyhooed coming administration of Barack Obama . . . “

There has been a misperception that government solves everything when in reality, big government is the problem. The average man on the street is sure that political regimes can save the world. The pump is now primed. The world is wide open to receive a “Mr. Fix-it.” It is also very nearly ready to accept a world without borders. At the very least, it will first accept regionalism and then globalism.

There are no other human options to make the world right again. And none will work until we are under a perfect Theocracy with King Jesus on the throne in Jerusalem! In the meantime, fasten your seat belt. We are in for a bumpy ride in 2009. Those who have an eye on the sky to discern the times will never be bored!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

If you don't believe in God, then what do you believe in?

Happy New Year! 2009 is finally here and the challenges that await us are probably hold-overs from 2008! I pray that you will have a prosperous New Year...begin the New Year right by committing your life to Jesus Christ...the time is drawing nearer to His return!

I have often wondered at why atheist say and do what they do...why they claim no belief in God and so forth...the following article will provide some unique insights:

What Atheists Believe and The Elephant Joke

by Jason Lovelace


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Key Scripture:

Psalm 69.4 – “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.”



Psalm 14.1 – “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”



Psalm 53.1 – “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.”



Matthew 7.13-20 – “13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”



John 4.24 – “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”



John 5.37-38 – “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”



Hebrews 11.6 – “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently.



Hebrews 11.13 – “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”



1st John 5.10 – “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”



Probably everyone in the world today has heard one childhood joke or another. They vary in type and in make-up, but probably everyone in the world knows at least one. Upon reading the title to this lesson, a question may have formed, “Just what does an elephant joke have to do with what Atheists believe?” This begs the question, “What do Atheists truly believe?” Let’s take a look.



Atheist = Someone who Does Not Believe God Exists (Really?)

Webster’s Dictionary (www.merriam-webster.com) defines the word “Atheist” this way:



one who believes there is no deity. (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Atheist).



However, when talking to an atheist, do they really and truly believe that there is no God at all in the entirety of the universe or in life? On the surface, most Atheists do say that they think that there is no God; that God doesn’t exist; that Jesus Christ was merely a man (maybe they’ll say good; maybe not). Very likely the Atheist in question will point to some particular instance where they, at one time, may have believed in God, may have prayed to Him, yet, their prayer wasn’t answered in the way that was desired or desirable. They may point to a tragedy, such as the December 26th, 2004 Sumatran Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami in which hundreds of thousands were killed. Perhaps they will point one to the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. Perhaps the Atheist in question will call back to a time when a loved one passed away, despite the prayers of him/herself and/or of others. Maybe the Atheist in question will talk about a home and a family where one or both parents were abusive, were abused, and despite calling out to God to help, the prayer was not answered in the way that was deemed beneficial. In just about every case, Atheists likely deemed God as non-existent thanks to a past experience in which God didn’t reveal himself in the desired fashion. Further, Atheists also often disbelieve in God out of rebellion to Godly parents. This writer knows several such Atheists here in Japan who became such because they were “tired of having the Bible shoved down” their “throats” or in their “face”. Whatever the case, most people who choose to become Atheists do so as a result of a reaction to some unsavory experience in which God either did not do what the Atheist wanted, or because someone who claimed Christ did something horrible to them. However, do Atheists believe that God doesn’t exist totally and 100%, or do they merely believe that God doesn’t exist in their lives?



The Elephant Joke and Atheistic Beliefs

Probably everyone has heard this rendering of the Elephant Joke, though in a different version. The Joke goes this way:



A. Why do Elephants paint their toenails red?

B. I don’t know, why?

A. So they can hide in strawberry patches!

B. That’s not true!

A. Have you ever seen an Elephant in a strawberry patch?

B. Well, no!

A. Then it must work!



The question may arise, “What does this joke have to do with the beliefs of Atheists?” Change a few words, and basically we have what Atheists believe.



A. God doesn’t exist.

B. How do you know?

A. I’ve never seen God.

B. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist!

A. Have you ever seen God?

B. Well, no!

A. Then he must not exist!!!



This, truly, is the kernel of what Atheists believe. In one way or another, there came a point in Atheists’ lives, and because they did not “see” God, they dismissed him as not ever having existed. But again, is this only in the Atheists’ lives, or over the entire world? Though many Atheists will claim loudly and proudly that they believe God does not exist, when diving deeper into discussion with Atheists, their true beliefs, with unanimity, come shining through their outward words.



Atheists Are Really Agnostics

This is a quote spoken by an evangelist this writer heard during his college days. The Evangelist in question went on to explain his meaning, and much of what he said is reflected in this point below. In reality, Atheists tend more to be Agnostics than to truly be an Atheist. What is an Agnostic? Webster’s defines an Agnostic in the following way:



a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly: one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Agnostic).



Agnostics further believe that God exists, but either (a.) not in their lives, (b.) in the world as a whole, or (c.) both (a.) and (b.) God exists, but to Agnostics, he does not interact with the world, does not bother himself with its problems, and basically, after creating the world, left it and its inhabitants to themselves. Most Atheists, when diving into deeper discussion with them about their beliefs, reveal this belief as the kernel and core of their beliefs with unanimity. Does God exist? Maybe he does for you, but he doesn’t in the Atheist’s life. Does God interact in the world today? He doesn’t in the Atheist’s life (at least, this is the claim). In reality, Atheists are really Agnostics.



Freedom From Religion?

What has been entirely compelling, not to mention quite humorous, is to watch Atheists and their actions in the current Culture War. Most recently, in the States of Washington and Wisconsin on both States’ Capitol Grounds respectively, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (www.ffrf.org) erected a sign prior to Christmas, which states the following:



At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail.

There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell.

There is only our natural world.

Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.



The interesting thing here is that Winter Solstice – while being claimed in the signs erected by FFRF as atheistic in nature – is actually a date which his observed by 34 cultures as a religious day. In fact, the first known observances of Winter Solstice happened in the time of the Celts in Europe, later being adopted as a religious holiday by the Romans. It was further viewed religiously by the early Guatemalan Natives as early as 1800 BC. It is interesting, and yet, quite ironic, that a group claiming that God doesn’t exist would use terminology deemed religious in nature by several religions. Could this slip of print on a sign designed to propagate Atheism is actually telling the world that Atheists are, in fact, Agnostics?



Evolution and Atheism – Like a Hand in a Glove

The reason why Darwin’s Idea of Evolution is so appealing to Atheists and Atheism is precisely because it makes no mention, no allusion, nor gives any credit to God. Much similarly to Atheism, Evolution bases itself on nothing. Yes, it is called a Scientific Theory, and a myriad of scientists attest to books and volumes of data, “experimentation”, findings, research, and other so-called scientific documentation to “prove” Evolution as some sort of fact, but in reality, Evolution is a religion. All the data, experimentation, findings, research, and documentation is basically faith and hope based upon more faith and hope in the idea that a man’s faith and hope (that of Charles Darwin) is correct. As God is totally excluded from Evolution, it, in a sense, is Atheism repackaged with “scientific” wording and terminology. This is why the vast majority of self-professing atheists give full support to Evolution at every turn, using it as much as a crutch as Atheists claim Christians use the Bible. Atheism and Evolution go together like a hand in a glove and are, in fact, two hands of the same belief system of Atheistic Agnosticism.



Pick and Choose

In recent history of the United States of America, it has further been compelling to see the energy, viciousness, and zeal with which Atheists attack Christianity. From the Scopes Trial in 1925, in which Evolution was made legal to teach, all the way to Michael Newdow’s assaults on the U.S .Motto as printed on U.S. Currency “In God We Trust” and the Pledge of Allegiance’s “One Nation Under God”, Atheists have made themselves loud and proud in their assaults on anything that involves Christianity. The Most famous Atheist attack and assault on Christianity in the Public Sector came from the late Madalyn Murray O’Hare, who – in the 1960s – campaigned to have the Bible and Prayer banned from public school. Atheists have been in the forefront ever since in an effort to strip Public School and Public Education, yea, even the public sector itself, of anything that has to do with the Biblical Definition of God and Jesus Christ. However, an interesting silence has come from Atheists ever since September 11th 2001. Since that fateful day, public school has received flooding influx of Islam and Muslim teachings. From the All-Arabic Madras School in New York City to required classes in Islam at State Universities (such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) to Arabic and Islamic Teachings being introduced in public elementary, junior high, and senior high schools (even required classes in the study of the Qur’an and Islamic Prayer Classes), Islam has been welcomed in the Public Education Sector and in Public School with open arms. The interesting thing is the deafening silence form Atheist Groups. Since the first required classes in Islam and Muslim Belief were first instituted at UNC-Chapel Hill, not one word of protest, not one picket line, not one court case against the public and taxpayer funding of Islam in Public School has been raised by Atheists. While the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Atheists Organization and Political Action Committee have been vigorous in cases where Christianity and the Bible were introduced into the public education sector, both the FFRF and the AAO – not to mention other Atheists groups and Political Actions Committees, such as GAPAC – have been eerily silent with regards to Islam being taught in Public School. The same can be said for recent New Age Methodology – Such as Transcendental Meditation (TM) – that has been in practice in Public Schools in the last few decades. Only with Christianity have Atheists and atheistic organizations been rabid, zealous, and pointed in their desire to rid the public forum of “religion” or God, namely the Name of Jesus Christ.



What Atheism REALLY Is

We need to understand that Atheism is a religion in and of itself. Though Atheists may disagree, their beliefs are just one more lane in the Wide Gate and Broad Way that leads to Destruction (Matthew 7.13). In essence, Atheism is really Satanism in disguise. Anything that the Devil can use to lead people away from Jesus Christ and from Eternal Salvation, he will (and does) use. Atheism, in its rabid opposition to Christianity yet eerie silence towards Islam, New Age, and other world religions, is showing its true colors that it is nothing more than Satanism in better looking terminology. The Bible makes it clear that anything that denies Jesus Christ his rightful place as God is of the devil. This, sadly enough, includes Atheism.



Conclusion – Is The Joke On You?

Atheist and Agnostic Friends, and anyone else who may happen to read this lesson, may I ask a question? Is the Joke on you? In reality, Atheism, Agnosticism, New Age, and any other belief and religion that deny Jesus Christ, which seek to eradicate the Bible as it is known, and deny or modify the existence of God is a shill of the Devil, designed to lead people astray. Even many so-called Christian Churches, such as Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness/Watchtower Society, and the Unity Church all modify Jesus Christ form Who He Really Is. The sad fact is the devil uses Atheism and Atheistic belief to draw people astray, and lead them away from the Truth that can save. If you are an Atheist, an Agnostic, or are having doubts about God’s “existence”, then I challenge you to seek for God, for his word declares that anyone who seeks him in truth will find him. If you knock on God’s Door, he will open it. If you ask for God you will receive him. Seek God and he will be found: that is a promise straight from his inerrant, written Word (see Matthew 6.33; 7.8-27; Jeremiah 29.11-13).



A Note to Christian Brethren

Brethren, this is final word is to you, today. When encountering an Atheist, remember that he or she is not the one you are struggling against (Ephesians 6.12). Remember to keep the debate and argument out of the personal realm, no matter how viciously you may be attacked or how greatly your values, beliefs, and ideas are challenged (and this will likely happen when debating and discussing Jesus Christ and the Bible with Atheists). Remember that turning the other cheek, as spoken of in Matthew 5, isn’t just the physical punch, but the verbal one as well. At the end of the day, it is not you who will be convincing Atheists, or any other unbeliever, of the truth of Jesus Christ, it will be Jesus Christ Himself. Keep it real, but keep it in the debating arena. If an Atheist pushes buttons (and likely they will), find a way to blow off steam that is beneficial for the both of you (this writer has found bicycling, weight lifting, and boxing training to be quite effective), and last, but certainly not least, pray: pray for yourself to have the Spirit of the LORD with you when you talk to an Atheist. Yes, Jesus had some hard things to say to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other Atheists of his day, but he always spoke the truth in love. Pray that your words, while having the cleansing salt of the Truth of Jesus Christ, will be bound in love. An Atheist who talks to you about God is seeking God, and you may be the only Bible he is able to read before making a decision for Christ. Pray for yourself. Finally, pray for the Atheist. If one truly carries out his or her life as Jesus Christ did (and he said he would always be with us, and give us words through his Spirit), it will make a huge impact on the Atheist. Pray for him or her, and fast as the Holy Ghost leads you.



Prayer – Heavenly Father, there are a lot of people out there who say that you do not exist. Really, Father, we know what they mean. Help us, LORD, to deal with them as friends, not as foes, to debate and argue with them in a civilized manner, yet give no ground in our convictions and beliefs in you. We bless thee today, Father, and we pray for salvation for each and every Atheist – self-proclaimed or otherwise – that we come into contact with. Reveal yourself to them, LORD, in your way and in your hour, and, if it’s possible, let us be of use, as well, LORD, will you please? Thank you for this day, thank you for this time, and we praise Thee, Father, for saving us when we came as unbelievers and asked for your forgiveness. We pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s Precious Name, Amen.



Verse to Remember

“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.”

– Ephesians 6.12