Month: April 2019
Churches Bombed in Sri Lanka, Clinton and Obama don’t refer to victims as “Christians”
by Seth Dunn · Published April 21, 2019 · Updated April 22, 2019
The Pen
Churches Bombed in Sri Lanka, Clinton and Obama don’t refer to victims as “Christians”
by Seth Dunn · Published April 21, 2019 · Updated April 22, 2019
Today is Easter. As a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a uniquely Christian holiday. This morning, in a horrific turn of events, three Sri Lankan churches were bombed during their Easter worship services. In Twitter condemnations of these vicious and deviously-timed attacks, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama referred to the victims as “Easter Worshippers”.
@HillaryClinton
On this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence. I’m praying for everyone affected by today’s horrific attacks on Easter worshippers and travelers in Sri Lanka.
@BarackObama
The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity. On a day devoted to love, redemption, and renewal, we pray for the victims and stand with the people of Sri Lanka.
While technically true, their very specific descriptions of these terror victims speaks volumes. The victims of these bombings were Christians. * That is who celebrates Easter at church, Christians. Other worshipers don’t celebrate Easter because Jesus is not their God. Yet, Clinton and Obama would not refer to the victims as “Christians.” Rather than speak about “Christians,” these world leaders provided universalistic platitudes. This morning’s bombings were not simply attacks on “humanity” as Obama posits. These attacks were attacks on Christendom (hotels were also targeted) by (suspected) Islamic terrorists. Leftists simply refuse to verbally acknowledge as much. Christians can and should acknowledge the obvious.
Christians should also acknowledge that their ultimate conflict is not with earthly Islamic terrorists but the spiritual forces at work in the Kingdom of Darkness. Sometimes these forces influence Islamic violence. Other times they influence the speech and policy of apostate political elites like Clinton and Obama. The spiritual response to either situation is the same: prayer and gospel proclamation.
Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed.
*Two of the churches targeted were Roman Catholic. Sociologically, the Roman Catholic religion is Christian. Biblically, it is not.
**Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
Tags: ClintonEaster BombingsIslamObamaSri LankaTerror
Pulpit & Pen © 2019. All Rights Reserved.
Why Is The Abomination Of Sodomy Taboo To Address In The Church?
Why are homosexuals given a free pass today, instead of being encouraged to repent?
Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old, married gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is, at the moment, the hottest candidate in the Democratic presidential field — drawing rave reviews everywhere he goes. CNN News
He is the current poster boy, referendum and microcosm for today’s totally anemic Christian Church in our country. Cuba, Russia and Uganda better address the sin of sodomy than does the United States of America. Many consider Fox News to be a conservative news station, but they too are also remiss to ever mention this lifestyle as anything except normal. They have an openly gay news anchor on in the middle of the day. “Gays” are to be accepted in every walk of life. Nearly anyone under fifty years of age would label you a bigot if you do not fully accept this lifestyle. Many pastors are too often afraid to specify this sin. We are quick to specify the sins of fornication, racism, drunkenness, idolatry, witchcraft, etc., and to encourage all participants to repent. This, by the way, is sound theology. But then comes the sin/abomination of sodomy. There is a lot of emphasis and encouragement to accept people engaged in this lifestyle, but much less desire to see the participants repent. Perhaps this is why I hear the despicable term “gay Christian” much more often today.
Due to the fact that Christian leaders have capitulated to stand courageously on the Word of God, the laws of our land have, and are being changed, and the church is now threatened that they must be be more “tolerant.” To not fall in line with our pagan culture, could label one as committing a hate crime.
“All it takes for evil to prevail, is for a few good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
Do you have gay friends? Have you warned them of God’s wrath and their need to repent? Make no mistake, if you have not, then you are not their friend.
Over the years, people have often asked me what God means when He calls sodomy an abomination. Why is the word abomination used? I believe God uses the word abomination when He refers to a sin on steroids. Let me explain. When a couple engages in an adulterous relationship, they are involved in a normal act with the wrong person. When a couple engages in sodomy, they are pursuing strange flesh and a sickening act that God never intended to begin with. It is an unnatural, unholy, wicked and ungodly act.
That is all I have to share on this topic. The remainder will be from a much better source than anything this blog author can offer – the Bible. Blessings, Pastor Steve <><
Bible Verses About Homosexuality (KJV)
Leviticus 18:22 – Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination.
1 Corinthians Chapter 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Leviticus 20:13 – If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.
Romans Chapter 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Jude 1:7 – Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Genesis 19:1 – 19:38
Now viewing scripture range from the book of Genesis chapter 19:1 through chapter 19:38…
Genesis Chapter 19
1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing [them] rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where [are] the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as [is] good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said [again], This one [fellow] came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, [even] Lot, and came near to break the door.
10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
11 And they smote the men that [were] at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring [them] out of this place:
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
20 Behold now, this city [is] near to flee unto, and it [is] a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, ([is] it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father [is] old, and [there is] not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, [and] lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same [is] the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same [is] the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
Is The Burning Of Notre Dame An Omen?
Why Notre Dame burns: An omen?
American Renewal Project via auth.ccsend.com
My wife Cindy and I have been guests at several of Dennis and Sue Prager’s Shabbat dinners. [Needless to say that the Pragers are Jewish.] Dennis wrote an insightful article concerning the problems facing Europe and Western civilization. It is titled Notre Dame: An Omen and is reprinted in its entirety below.
To the challenge how to put a halt to the secularization of America, 1 Chronicles indicates it ought to be done by “those who have understanding of the times.”1 What is needed for the spiritual renewal of the nation are Issacharian leaders with know-how and mastery, who can recognize and implement Solomon’s directive that “By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just.”2
Dr. Bruce K. Waltke pointed to the virtues begotten in those who have with awareness and perception “sought Wisdom, [and] submitted themselves to her teachings, and so attained the personal, spiritual, and moral knowledge” the contemplation of Scripture gives rise to. Wisdom’s virtues, such as “shrewdness, discretion, counsel, resourcefulness, and heroic strength,” says Waltke, “enable kings to reign and rulers to decree justice.”
The all-pervading confusion about gender that holds sway over the Millennial and Gen Z generations has its origins in the apostasy that started in the late 19th-century and continues unabated to this day. As a case in point, the latest media miracle-man, millennial South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, is running for president on the Democratic ticket. Latterly, Buttigieg pontificated about what he called the way for “developing a closer relationship with God.”
“And yes, Mr. Vice President,” he said in affirmation of his marriage to another man, “it has moved me closer to God.”3
Let’s be clear: Mayor Buttigieg is as hard left as any of the other Democrat presidential candidates, most notably Bernie Sanders. His only chance to come through in the Midwest and the South will be to rewrite the Bible so as to vindicate his lifestyle. Hence, his undue focus on the vice-president.
It didn’t happen overnight what is now taking place in America. The current savagery and ramping up of the Philistine vulgarity of the culture is on full display as the outgrowth of a nation moving away from God. The political, cultural, and personal war that is being waged in the pubic square is spiritual, against the living Biblical God Jehovah. As per the Tytler Cycle in History, each generation, as sin compounds, becomes more worldly and carnal. And then “carries to the third and fourth generations.”4
Unless broken by Christ’s intervention.
State-sponsored immorality codified into law, as exemplified by the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision in 2015, compounds the disconsolate outcome of America’s apostasy over the last century. At long last, Christians will either have to return to the model that Jesus said He would build, of which “the gates of Hades will not prevail against it,” or lose their freedom.5
Praise be to God for the good news that Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to stand.
David Lane
American Renewal Project
1. 1 Chronicles 12:32, “And of the sons of Issachar, two hundred chief men, who had understanding of the times and were wise to know what Israel ought to do; and all their brethren followed their word.”
2. Proverbs 8:15 [English Standard Version].
3. ‘He know better’; article in The Washington Post, April 11, 2019.
4. Numbers 14:18.
5. Mathew 16:18.
Notre Dame: An Omen: Dennis Prager
The symbolism of the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral, the most renowned building in Western civilization, the iconic symbol of Western Christendom, is hard to miss.
It is as if God Himself wanted to warn us in the most unmistakable way that Western Christianity is burning – and with it, Western civilization.
Every major Western [and one major non-Western] social and intellectual force has conspired to rid Europe of Christianity and the civilization it produced.
Within the Western world, the French Enlightenment – the intellectual basis of the French Revolution and the modern West – sought to replace Christianity, and religion in general, with secularism rooted in reason. No God, Bible or Ten Commandments is necessary for morality or meaning: reason [and science] will replace them.
The two final deathblows to Christianity in Europe were the world wars. World War I ended most Westerners’ belief in the nation-state and the West. Christianity, already weakened by the Enlightenment, was further weakened by World War I. German Christians were killing millions of French and English Christians, and French and English Christians were killing millions of German Christians. So the argument and sentiment against Christianity went. Then World War II saw even more death on the Christian continent as well as the failure of Catholic and Protestant churches in Nazi Germany to offer even minimal noncompliance with the Nazis’ Jew-hatred.
With the end of World War II, every internal Western intellectual doctrine was secular. God, the Bible and religion were regarded at best as innocuous nonsense and at worst as noxious nonsense.
Meanwhile, Europeans brought a non-European ideology into Europe, an ideology that, for more than a thousand years, sought to replace Christianity as the world’s dominant religion. The Europeans, believing in nothing distinctly Christian or Western and believing in the moral and intellectual nonsense known as “multiculturalism” – a doctrine that asserts that all cultures are morally equivalent – saw nothing problematic in bringing millions of Muslims into Europe. They had no idea that most of these people actually wanted to replace Christianity with their religion. They had no idea because, in their ignorance and arrogance, they assumed that because they were secular multiculturalists, everybody else was, too – or would be, once they lived in Europe.
They were wrong, of course. And as a result, the two dominant forces in Europe — secular leftism and Islamism – sought the end of Christianity and the West. [The left believes that protecting Western civilization is equivalent to protecting white supremacy.]
This is not producing a pretty picture. Generally speaking, Islam has not been nearly as kind, tolerant, open, medically or scientifically innovative or intellectually curious as Western civilization [and yes, Nazism and communism were born in the West, but they were anti-Western].
Even without tens of millions of Muslims, post-Christian Europe has not produced a pretty picture. This was predicted in 1834, 100 years before Hitler’s rise, by the great German poet Heinrich Heine, a secular Jew [who later converted to Protestantism, “the ticket of admission into European culture”]:
“Christianity – and that is its greatest merit – has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman [the cross] is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then … a play will be performed in Germany that will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll.”
European Christians persecuted European Jews, often brutally. But it took a post-Christian ideology, secular Nazism, to produce Auschwitz – just as it took post-Christian communism to produce the Gulag, the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Ukrainian and Cambodian genocides.
Moreover, Nazism and communism aside, the left’s belief that secular reason can replace God and the Bible turns out to be completely wrong. The alleged citadels of secular reason – the universities – are the most irrational and morally confused institutions in the West.
I don’t know if a worker accident or a radical Muslim set fire to Notre Dame Cathedral [as they have scores of other churches around Europe]. In terms of what the fire represented, it doesn’t much matter. What matters is the omen: Europe is burning, just as Notre Dame was.
http://www.dailywire.com/news/46233/prager-notre-dame-omen-dennis-prager
Video: How to Survive a Church Shooting / Churches Have Become The #1 Target For Hate Attacks
by News Division · Published April 12, 2019 · Updated April 12, 2019
Are you packing to church? If you’re trained, you should be.
Are you packing to church? If you’re trained, you should be.
A movie trailer for Emanuel, the film about the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, was released several days ago. The mass shooter [name purposefully withheld] walked into the church’s Bible study and open fired, killing 9 church members. The film which is produced by NBA star, Stephen Curry, highlights the tragedy and interviews the families of those affected.
Along with the graphic and awful footage released from the New Zealand Mosque shooting several weeks ago, we are reminded that places of worship are often targets of devilish people who are looking for easy targets.
The best thing you can do, in case of such an event, is to have pre-planned the response scenario and have engaged in active shooter training.
This video from the United States Concealed Carry Association (of which I am a card-carrying member) gives some valuable advice to church-goers in relation to active shooter situations.
Try these tips:
Your church needs a security team.
Conceal carry a firearm when you go to church (“no metal detectors, no problem,” as they say).
Talk to your family about an active-shooter situation. It’s important to tell everyone in the church that if they’re not intending to stop the shooter, to get down. This way, if everyone else is down, those who are armed can more easily acquire the target that needs to be eliminated (as shooters typically stand).
Be thinking ahead of time about target-acquisition and line-of-sight issues from where you’re sitting and entrances where gunmen may approach.
And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one…Luke 22:36
To join the USCAA and receive more updates about protecting your houses of worship, click here
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It is a shame that the aforementioned topic must be discussed, but you get what you aim at. If you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it. Also, a good defense is a good offense. Do we protect our flock, or leave them to the wolves? Blessings, Pastor Steve <><
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Churches Have Become The #1 Target For Hate Attacks
Breaking News Updates – April 22
By Michael Snyder/Economic Collapse Blog April 22, 2019
Churches Have Become The #1 Target For Hate Attacks
ARTICLE
Churches Have Become The #1 Target For Hate Attacks
image: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/images/recent/churchlineapril222019.jpg
By Michael Snyder/Economic Collapse Blog April 22, 2019
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The bombings in Sri Lanka have once again put a spotlight on the rising tide of violence against Christians all over the world. According to Open Doors USA, an average of 105 churches and/or Christian buildings are burned or attacked every month.
That is more than three per day, and almost all of those attacks get ignored by the mainstream media in the western world.
In addition, an average of 345 Christians are killed for faith-related reasons every single month.
Of course these numbers will soon be out of date, because violence against Christians continues to escalate all over the globe, and the horrifying attacks that we just witnessed in Sri Lanka are a perfect example. The following comes from CBS News…
A series of eight bombings in Sri Lanka targeting Christian churches and hotels in three cities killed at least 207 people and wounded up to 450 others on Easter Sunday. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene described the coordinated blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists.
More specifically, the attackers were Muslim extremists.
Why does the mainstream media have to be so politically-correct all the time?
Of course this comes right on the heels of the fire that almost destroyed the Notre Dame Cathedral. Authorities are still attempting to determine the cause of that fire, but we do know that many other churches have been hit by vandals and arsonists in France since the beginning of February…
Vandals and arsonists have targeted French churches in a wave of attacks that has lasted nearly two months.
More than 10 churches have been hit since the beginning of February, with some set on fire while others were severely desecrated or damaged.
In an apparent attempt to copy what happened at Notre Dame, a deranged philosophy professor was caught bringing gas cans and lighter fluid to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York…
The man who allegedly brought gas cans and lighter fluid into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City has taught philosophy at different colleges in New York and New Jersey, school officials said.
Marc Lamparello, 37, was arrested on Wednesday night and was charged with attempted arson and reckless endangerment. He was taken into custody after a security guard at the cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan spotted him.
Fortunately a great tragedy was averted in that case, but most churches around the world are very “soft targets” with absolutely no security whatsoever.
And these days, there is literally nowhere that is safe. Attacks on churches are happening literally all over the globe, and sometimes they happen right in the middle of a worship service.
For instance, here is an example from the Philippines that recently made worldwide headlines…
Two suicide attackers detonate two bombs during a Mass in a Roman Catholic cathedral on the largely Muslim island of Jolo in the southern Philippines, killing 23 and wounding about 100 others.
Earlier this year in India, a group of Christians was absolutely horrified when they arrived for worship only to find that their church had burned completely to the ground…
Christians were horrified to see Pentecostal Church in India’s Telangana state completely engulfed by black smoke when they arrived for worship. On closer inspection much of the inside of the church, including furniture, the pulpit, the sound system, fans, carpets, and lights, were burned to ashes during the attack on February 2 at about 11am. The devastating attack on the church, home to 200 worshippers, has left Christians from ten villages without a place to worship.
By a very wide margin, churches are the number one target for hate attacks, and it is only going to get worse.
Sadly, churches in the U.S. are increasingly being attacked as well. You may not have heard about it in the news, but three churches in Louisiana were recently destroyed by arson…
Much of Monica Harris’s identity is tied to the Greater Union Baptist Church, a 129-year-old sanctuary that has been at the center of her family for generations. As a child, she was dunked into a baptismal basin and then paraded like a princess up the aisle in a white dress and white patent leather shoes. She was married at the church, and she said goodbye to her parents there, too.
And so she felt like a piece of her was missing when she set eyes upon the charred remains of Greater Union, one of three predominantly black churches in St. Landry Parish, La., that law enforcement authorities said were set ablaze and destroyed over the stretch of 10 days.
In previous articles, I have argued that all churches are going to need armed security from this point forward. The world has changed, and we need to change with it.
When I was growing up, I never imagined that someone might come in to my church and start shooting, but over the last several decades we have seen such a scenario play out numerous times. Just check out this list of fatal church shootings that have happened since Columbine…
1999 Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas
2001 Greater Oak Missionary Baptist Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky
2002 Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Lynbrook, New York
2003 Turner Monumental AME Church in Kirkwood, Georgia
2005 Living Church of God in Brookfield, Wisconsin
2005 World Changers Church in College Park, Georgia
2006 Zion Hope Missionary Baptist in Detroit, Michigan
2006 Ministry of Jesus Christ Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
2007 First Presbyterian Church in Moscow, Idaho
2007 First Congregational Church in Neosho, Missouri
2007 New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado
2008 First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois
2009 Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas
2012 World Changers Church in College Park, Georgia
2015 Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina
2017 Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee
2017 First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas
2017 St. Alphonsus Church in Fresno, Texas
Christian persecution is on the rise all over the world, and it is likely to intensify greatly in the years ahead.
But of course most of the time the mainstream media attempts to ignore this growing trend as much as possible. When there are spectacular attacks with large numbers of deaths like we just witnessed in Sri Lanka they will cover the story, but other than that they try very hard to avoid any stories that would put Christians in a sympathetic light.
They can try to ignore what is happening all they want, but it doesn’t change the fact that hatred for the Christian faith is growing, and what we have been witnessing in recent weeks is just the beginning.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=3141#3G5YWGXGhzSwikdR.99
The Sword Of The Lord ~ Dr. Shelton Smith Editor ~ March 8, 2019
Judges 7:20 King James Version (KJV)
And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.
An Independent Christian Publication, Standing for the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, the Deity of Christ, His Blood Atonement, Salvation by Faith, New Testament Soul Winning and the Premillennial Return of Christ; Opposing Modernism (Liberalism), Worldliness and Formalism.
Amen Corner
God’s Book gives great emphasis to the brevity of human life. It is as a shadow passing quickly across the face of the earth; it is as a vapor, fragile and unstable and soon gone; it is as grass – green a moment, then dry and dead! Man’s life “appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). -Tom Malone
Nothing worse can happen to a church than to be conformed to this world. -Charles Spurgeon
Satan loves to fish in muddy water. Mental confusion is unfriendly to the steady course of piety. -W.S. Plumer
If there be one thing upon earth that men love and admire better than another, it is a brave man – a man who dares look the Devil in the face and tell him he is the Devil. -James A. Garfield (our 20th president)
Faith is trust, a trust without suspicion or fear, trust passing into glad and habitual surrender so that He in whom we trust becomes our Teacher, Guide and Master. Such trust, if intelligently exercised, promotes fixedness of conviction and steadiness of moral purpose – it issues in deliberate fidelity and loyalty. And when this trust is challenged by the reason – either the reason in me or the reason in others – the answer forms a body of truth which takes the name of “faith,” because it represents the rational basis of trust or conviction. Faith as a system of doctrine simply states what I believe or why I trust. -A.J.F. Behrends
Personal Work…
All can do it.
It can be done anywhere.
It can be done anytime.
It reaches all classes.
It hits the mark.
It provides large results.
-R. A. Torrey
The Devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to steal, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery; he tempted them to live independent of God. -Bob Jones, Sr.
Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion. -Noah Webster
God is at home; it is we who have gone out for a walk. -Eckhart von Hochheim
I have never met a man who has given me as much trouble as myself. -D.L. Moody
No man who thinks contentedly in terms of catching mice will ever catch lions.
Holy Week 2019 ~ Entry #10
There Is A Redeemer | Day 10: At Home with Jesus
Our Daily Bread Ministries <donotreply@email.rbc.org>
How might Jesus’s love and peace help me in my circumstances?
Day 10
At Home with Jesus
By: Amy Boucher Pye
Today’s Reading: John 14:1–4
I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me.
John 14:3
“There’s no place like home.” The phrase reflects a deeply rooted yearning within us to have a place to rest, be, and belong. Jesus addressed this desire for rootedness when, after He and His friends had their last supper together, He spoke about His impending death and resurrection. He promised that although He would go away, He would come back for them. And He would prepare a room for them. A dwelling-place. A home.
He made this place for them—and us—through fulfilling the requirements of God’s law when He died on the cross as the sinless man. He assured His disciples that if He went to the trouble of creating this home, that of course He would come back for them and not leave them alone (John 14:2–3). They didn’t need to fear or be worried about their lives, whether on earth or in heaven.
We can take comfort and assurance from Jesus’s words, for we believe and trust that He makes a home for us; that He makes His home within us (see John 14:23); and that He has gone ahead of us to prepare our heavenly home. Whatever sort of physical place we live in, we belong with Jesus, upheld by His love and surrounded in His peace. With Him, there’s no place like home.
Jesus prepares a place for us to live forever.
Wishing You Easter Blessings!
Matthew 28:1-6 (KJV)
1. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
3. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
4. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
John 14:3 (KJV)
3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Holy Week 2019 ~ Entry #9
Has Jesus’s promise of eternal life become personal to me?
There Is A Redeemer | Day 9: Our Living Hope
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Has Jesus’s promise of eternal life become personal to me?
Day 9
Our Living Hope
By: Anne Cetas
Today’s Reading: John 6:39–54
It is by [God’s] great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3
The morning after my mother died, I was reading John 6 and talking to God about my sadness. When I came to verse 39, the Lord whispered comfort to my sad heart: “This is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.” Mom’s spirit was with God already, but I knew that one day she would be raised and given a new body.
As I continued reading, I noticed three other times in John 6 that Jesus said He will raise His people from the dead at the last day (vv. 40, 43, 54). He was repeating this truth to those who were listening long ago as well as to my heart that day.
Our hope of resurrection will be realized when Jesus returns. “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). After the resurrection, believers in Jesus will receive their new bodies and rewards for their faithful service (1 Corinthians 3:12–15; 2 Corinthians 5:9–11).
The resurrection is the living hope of the Christian. Do you have that hope?
The risen Christ will come from heaven to take His own to heaven.
This Easter encourage a hurting friend to keep trusting in God.
Holy Week 2019 ~ Entry #8
How important is it to remember God’s powerful grace?
There Is A Redeemer | Day 8: Much More!
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How important is it to remember God’s powerful grace?
Day 8
Much More!
By: David McCasland
Today’s Reading: Romans 5:12–21
As people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
Romans 5:20
A statement I heard at an Easter service stays with me: “More has been gained in the resurrection of Jesus than was lost in the fall.” More gained than lost? Can it be true?
Each day we experience the damage caused by sin entering our world. Greed, injustice, and cruelty all trace their origins back to Adam and Eve’s decision to follow their own path rather than God’s (Genesis 3). The legacy of their disobedience is passed down to every generation. Without God’s intervention, we would be in a hopeless situation. But Jesus overpowered sin through His cross and conquered death through His resurrection.
The victory of Christ is celebrated in Romans 5, often called the “much more” chapter of the New Testament, where Paul contrasts the devastation caused by sin with the restoring power of God’s grace. In every case, grace overpowers the consequences of sin. In a grand conclusion, Paul says: “But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (5:20–21).
No matter how much we have personally lost because of sin, we have gained far more through the resurrection victory of Christ.
Our sin is great—God’s grace is greater
Holy Week 2019 ~ Entry #7
There Is A Redeemer | Day 7: Goodbye for Now
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How does Jesus’s resurrection give me eternal hope?
Day 7
Goodbye for Now
By: Cindy Hess Kasper
Today’s Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
We want you . . . [not] to grieve like people who have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
My granddaughter Allyssa and I have a regular routine we go through when we say goodbye. We wrap our arms around each other and begin to loudly wail with dramatic sobs for about twenty seconds. Then we step back and casually say, “See ya,” and turn away. Despite our silly practice, we always expect that we will see each other again—soon.
But sometimes the pain of separation from those we care about can be difficult. When the apostle Paul said farewell to the elders from Ephesus, “They all cried as they embraced and kissed him good-bye. They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again” (Acts 20:37–38).
The deepest sorrow, however, comes when we are parted by death and say goodbye for the last time in this life. That separation seems unthinkable. We mourn. We weep. How can we face the heartbreak of never again embracing the ones we have loved?
Still . . . we do not grieve like those who have no hope. Paul writes of a future reunion for those who “believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). He declares: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God” (v. 16), and those who have died, along with those who are still alive, will be united with our Lord. What a reunion!
And—best of all—we will be forever with Jesus. That’s an eternal hope.
At death, God’s people don’t say “goodbye,” but “we’ll see you later.”
This Easter encourage a hurting friend to keep trusting in God.
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Thought for the day …
Even Steven 
