Bible Teachings

The Nephilim

Richard Dewhurst wrote the book: “The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America  ~  The Missing Skeletons And The Great Smithsonian Cover-Up.”  In this book, he highlights the documentation of nearly two hundred years of American History, and seven to ten foot Pre Columbian Giants/Nephilim bones, that were discovered in the United States.  These bones were discovered coast to coast and in every region.  After they were sent to the Smithsonian museum, they simply vanished!  The following article and series of books by L. A Marzulli further validates the fascinating history of the Giants.  He just released a fifth film/DVD (Axis Mundi) that I purchased, and we will show the entire series of five at the church where we serve.    In His Service, Pastor Steve  <><

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Nephilim In America? This Information Re-Writes History As We Know It!

JUST RELEASED:

On the Trail of the Nephilim Ep 5:

America’s Stonehenge Part 2 The Axis Mundi

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In episode #5 of the On the Trail of the Nephilim series, L.A. continues to investigate the mysteries of America’s Stonehenge.

You will see the connection between America’s Stonehenge and Stonehenge thousands of miles away in England. This is deliberate and could only have been accomplished by ‘triangulation in the air.’

But there’s more! New discoveries revealed for the first time may point to America’s Stonehenge being the axis Mundi – the center of the world!

There is a hidden history and L.A. is on the trail to uncover and reveal it! He’s on the trail!

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Is there a hidden history? A history so explosive and so radically different than what is being taught in school that, should it become known, could completely rewrite history?

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Is this history being deliberately covered up to keep the people – you and me – from finally learning the truth?

L.A. Marzulli has been on a decades-long quest that has taken him around the globe in his quest for answers… and what he has found will tear the cloak of darkness off this hidden history and reveal a past that is almost beyond belief.

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– Who were the mysterious moundbuilders that left massive earthworks throughout North America?

– How did ancient hunter gatherers using primitive tools have time to randomly move millions of tons of dirt to these specific locations?

– How did they keep these structures perfectly level over hundreds and thousands of feet?

– Where did they develop the knowledge of advanced geometry and trigonometry that was necessary to design many of these complex earthworks?

– Why can many of these massive monuments only be seen from the air?

– How is it that every Native American tribe states that the mounds were already present when they arrived and that they were built by giants?

– What would cause a device used to detect paranormal activity to suddenly exhibit behavior never observed before?

– Why would Mayan elders visit these sites and perform ancient rituals with crystal skulls?

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– What is a 4,000 year old stone inscribed ‘To Baal of the Canaanites’ doing in New England?

– Why is it inscribed using an ancient language peculiar to the Phoenicians?

– Why is the site where it was found aligned with such astronomical precision?

– If the ancient Phoenician people were here, why?

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– Where did they develop the ability to navigate the ocean and the knowledge of advanced astronomical alignments without the aid of modern telescopes?

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– What is the purpose of the strange ovoid indention on the top of a rock that looks suspiciously like an ancient altar used for human sacrifice?

– How is it that the site known as the American Stonehenge is aligned precisely with its more popular counterpart in England? And with the massive buildings in ancient Baalbek, Lebanon, home of the ancient Phoenicians?

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Do you want to stay in the dark about our history, or are you ready for the truth? Buckle up as L.A. Marzulli kicks open the door to the past and reveals the shocking and disturbing truth that has been hidden from you.

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A Great Falling Away – 30 Percent Of Evangelicals Don’t Believe Jesus Is God　 　    

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Breaking News Updates – September 03, 2020

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BY MICHAEL SNYDER/END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM SEPTEMBER 03, 2020

A Great Falling Away – 30 Percent Of Evangelicals Don’t Believe Jesus Is God
More than half of American adults, including 30% of evangelicals, say Jesus isn’t God but most agree He was a great teacher, according to results from the 2020 State of Theology survey.

 

Every four years, there is a tremendous amount of discussion about “evangelical voters” and the influence that they will have on the outcome of the presidential election.
Most of the pundits on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News speak of evangelicals as if they were this monolithic group that all generally vote the same way and generally believe the same basic things.  Perhaps that was somewhat true at one time, but now things have dramatically changed.
As you will see below, surveys have found that large numbers of evangelicals are abandoning core evangelical beliefs at a rate that is staggering.  In fact, it has gotten to a point where I am not even sure what an “evangelical Christian” is anymore.
I figured that a good place to look for a definition of “evangelical Christian” in 2020 would be on the official website of the organization that is supposed to be representing us on a national level.

According to the National Association Of Evangelicals, there are certain distinct beliefs that set evangelical Christians apart from the rest of the population…

Evangelicals take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ.
That definition seems quite soft to me, but let’s run with it.
Evangelicals are supposed to believe that Jesus is Lord, but it appears that nearly a third of them do not really understand what that means.  According to one recent survey, a whopping 30 percent of all evangelicals believe that “Jesus isn’t God”…
More than half of American adults, including 30% of evangelicals, say Jesus isn’t God but most agree He was a great teacher, according to results from the 2020 State of Theology survey.
Even though the Bible and traditional teachings of the Christian Church hold that Jesus truly existed as both man and God, among the key findings of the biennial State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries conducted with LifeWay Research, is that 52% of American adults believe that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more.
I don’t understand how this could possibly be happening.
Either evangelical churches are doing an exceedingly poor job of teaching basic theology, or evangelicals are rejecting that teaching in staggering numbers.
Let’s take a look at another issue.
According to a survey that was conducted last year, 61 percent of evangelical Christians want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade…
In a 2019 survey, most Americans (70%) said they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade. But several states have enacted laws designed to challenge the ruling in recent years, including bills passed in seven states (among them Louisiana) that seek to ban almost all abortions.

 

White evangelical Protestants (61%) are much more likely to say they want the high court to completely overturn Roe v. Wade than are Catholics (28%), white Protestants who are not evangelical (26%) and religious “nones” (10%).

It is great that evangelicals are more likely than any other group to want Roe v. Wade overturned, but why isn’t the number for evangelicals 100 percent?
According to the survey, 35 percent of evangelicals actually want the Supreme Court to keep Roe v. Wade in place.
But those two things should be mutually exclusive.  If you are an evangelical Christian, it should be impossible for you to support Roe v. Wade.
How in the world could more than a third of all evangelicals want to keep abortion legal?
And when it comes to gay marriage, we see numbers that are even more alarming.  The following comes from an article that was authored by Jim Denison…
Two reports caught my eye this week.
One: In 2007, 90 percent of evangelicals said their church forbid (63 percent) or strongly discouraged (27 percent) “homosexual behaviors.” In 2020, that figure has dropped to 65 percent (33.7 percent forbid, while 31.4 percent strongly discourage).
Two: In 2008, 34.4 percent of evangelicals between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five supported same-sex marriage. In 2018, that figure had risen to 56.1 percent.
How are these numbers possible?
In the old days, it was well understood that “evangelical Christians” were against abortion and gay marriage.
But now a new generation of “evangelical Christians” has come along that is changing all of the old definitions.
Like I said, I am not sure that I can even define what an “evangelical Christian” is anymore.
At this point, a lot of “evangelical Christian” young people don’t even like using words that directly relate to evangelism…
For example, 35% of young adults and 38% of teens said the word “convert” tops the list of objectionable mission-related words for them. And 31% of young adults and 30% of teens also rejected the term “winning souls.”
If you don’t believe in “converting” people or “winning souls”, how in the world can you even call yourself an “evangelical”?
I simply don’t understand.
Sadly, this is yet more evidence of the rapid decline of the Christian faith in much of the industrialized world.  According to researcher Ronald F. Inglehart, this decline has really picked up speed since 2007…
But since 2007, things have changed with surprising speed. From about 2007 to 2019, the overwhelming majority of the countries we studied–43 out of 49–became less religious. The decline in belief was not confined to high-income countries and appeared across most of the world.
Growing numbers of people no longer find religion a necessary source of support and meaning in their lives. Even the United States–long cited as proof that an economically advanced society can be strongly religious–has now joined other wealthy countries in moving away from religion.
And the decline in the United States has been particularly noticeable.  According to Inglehart, since 2007 the U.S. has moved away from religion faster than any other country…
From 1981 to 2007, the United States ranked as one of the world’s more religious countries, with religiosity levels changing very little. Since then, the United States has shown the largest move away from religion of any country for which we have data. Near the end of the initial period studied, Americans’ mean rating of the importance of God in their lives was 8.2 on a ten-point scale. In the most recent U.S. survey, from 2017, the figure had dropped to 4.6, an astonishingly sharp decline.
In a recent interview with Dr. Steve Greene, I discussed the fact that God has been trying to call this nation back to himself for a very long time, but we have been racing the other direction.
The numbers that I have just shared with you are evidence that we desperately need revival, and that is what we should be praying for.
Because the only hope for America is a return to God, and right now that is definitely not happening.
Originally published at End Of The American Dream – reposted with permission.

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Lewis’s trilemma

Jesus Christ Is Either Lord, Liar Or Lunatic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lewis’s trilemma is an apologetic argument traditionally used to argue for the divinity of Jesus by arguing that the only alternatives were that he was evil or deluded.[1] One version was popularised by University of Oxford literary scholar and writer C. S. Lewis in a BBC radio talk and in his writings. It is sometimes described as the “Lunatic, Liar, or Lord”, or “Mad, Bad, or God” argument. It takes the form of a trilemma — a choice among three options, each of which is in some way difficult to accept.

This argument is very popular with Christian apologists, although some theologians and biblical scholars[2] do not view Jesus as having claimed to be God.[3][4] Some argue that he identified himself as a divine agent, with a unique relationship to Israel’s God.[5] Others see him as wanting to direct attention to the divine kingdom he proclaimed.[6]

History

This argument has been used in various forms throughout church history.[7] It was used by the American preacher Mark Hopkins in his book Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity (1846), based on lectures delivered in 1844.[8] Another early use of this approach was by the Scots preacher “Rabbi” John Duncan (1796–1870), around 1859–60:[9]

Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. There is no getting out of this trilemma. It is inexorable.

Other preachers who used this approach included Reuben Archer Torrey (1856–1928)[10] and W. E. Biederwolf (1867–1939).[11] The writer G.K. Chesterton used something similar to the trilemma in his book, The Everlasting Man (1925),[12] which Lewis cited in 1962 as the second book that most influenced him.[13]

Lewis’s formulation

C. S. Lewis was an Oxford medieval Literature scholar, popular writer, Christian apologist, and former atheist. He used the argument outlined below in a series of BBC radio talks later published as the book Mere Christianity.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.[14]

Lewis, who had spoken extensively on Christianity to Royal Air Force personnel, was aware many ordinary people did not believe Jesus was God, but saw him rather as “a ‘great human teacher’ who was deified by his supporters”; his argument is intended to overcome this.[1] It is based on a traditional assumption that, in his words and deeds, Jesus was asserting a claim to be God. For example, in Mere Christianity, Lewis refers to what he says are Jesus’s claims:

  • to have authority to forgive sins — behaving as if he really was “the person chiefly offended in all offences.”[15]
  • to have always existed, and
  • to intend to come back to judge the world at the end of time.[16]

Lewis implies that these amount to a claim to be God and argues that they logically exclude the possibility that Jesus was merely “a great moral teacher”, because he believes no ordinary human making such claims could possibly be rationally or morally reliable. Elsewhere, he refers to this argument as “the aut Deus aut malus homo” (“either God or a bad man”),[17] a reference to an earlier version of the argument used by Henry Parry Liddon in his 1866 Bampton Lectures, in which Liddon argued for the divinity of Jesus based on a number of grounds, including the claims he believed Jesus made.[18]

 

 

 

 

Suffering And Brokenness In The Christian Life ~ Part Twenty Two

This series of entries are taken from a class on brokenness and suffering, at the Southwest Florida Bible Institute, aptly taught during the 2020 pandemic from April through June.  Part Twenty Two below features how the Lord allowed Ann Marie Aponte Cruz to suffer in order to help others.  Ann Marie had a passion for long distance running, yet a plethora of major physical challenges and surgeries limited her activities to a standstill.  When questioned about her experiences, she used these setbacks to give all glory to God.  Enjoy reading this powerful testimony:

Ann Marie Aponte Cruz
May 27, 2020

Personal suffering and how the Lord use it for my benefit. We read in (1 Peter 4:12-13)
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as
Though some strange thing were happening to you, but to the degree that you share the sufferings
Of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice exultation. If you
Are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of Glory and of God rest on you.”
As I read this scripture I can’t help but remember a very difficult season in my life. I had gone from
Being an advent runner who did many races half marathons, six mile runs and training for the New York
City marathon to my health coming to a complete halt.  I was devastated running was the one thing I
loved and now I had a domino affect of circumstance, It was just insane in a matter of four years I had
8 surgeries, 6 spinal surgeries, stents due to a blockage that was 98% in widow maker and open heart
Surgery.
Like Job many Times I would question why this was happening to me so much pain, so much fear, and
So much loneliness but now looking back I realize that every time I was in the hospital I would speak
To everyone who came in contact with me about God. Sometimes the person who shared the room
With me was faithless and I would speak of the Almighty God who is faithful. I would be sharing a room
With someone and have a near to death experience with nurses and doctors running into my room and
Miraculously my vitals would go back to normal all the while me thanking God. One specific experience
That I can remember is when I had my last spinal surgery I had been covered head to toe with
A rash that was due to all of the anesthesia that was given to me, I had taken pictures to show my family
And friends that couldn’t come and visit me in the hospital so they could get a visual of what the
Medication did to me. When I was released from the hospital I went to one of the best dermatologist
In Long Island New York once the doctor examined me he proceeded to tell me that he would prescribe an ointment that would take away the rash but that it would take three weeks for
This medicine induced rash to disappear . not only was the rash painful but It was all over my body
I remember talking to my girlfriend on the phone saying ,I am just happy to be home God will take
Care of it. That night my husband Peter and I prayed fervently and ask God to heal me we prayed for
The Holy Spirit to intervene and I tell you the next day the rash was gone I hadn’t even started the
Medication ointment that the doctor had prescribe it was gone all of it. When people saw this they
Were amazed they knew that only God could have done this .
In the end so many people would say to me:  “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU DID IT” AND MY ANSWER
WOULD ALWAYS BE ALONE I COULD DO NOTHING. But “ I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO
GIVES ME STRENGTH” Philippians (4:13).

Suffering And Brokenness In The Christian Life ~ Part Twenty One

This series of entries are taken from a class on brokenness and suffering, at the Southwest Florida Bible Institute, aptly taught during the 2020 pandemic from April through June.  Part Twenty One below features Molly Comer writing about the Shulammite woman in the Song of Solomon.  Molly expounds on her suffering and intimacy with Jesus Christ:

 

Molly Comer
Broken Things
4/30/20

In Song of Solomon, the Shulammite woman can symbolically be seen as the Bride on a spiritual journey
to be drawn to Jesus in intimacy then, to go out in ministry partnering with Jesus and others. She sees
salvation as more than being forgiven and blessed in her circumstances, but as an invitation to make
Jesus the king of her heart.
The Bride speaks, “How handsome you are, my beloved and so pleasant,” 1:16 “I am the rose of Sharon,
The Lily of the valleys.” 2:1 The Bridegroom responds to her, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and
come along.” He is all-knowing, and she is still insecure and young. He meets her behind their wall and
looks through the window and peers through the lattice. He says come from the secret place, let me see
your form, let me hear your voice and again he says, “ Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come
along!” 2:10,13 He gives her so much love and encouragement that she needed, yet her response is
disobedience, she says, “..catch the little foxes that are ruining our garden” 2:15. She wasn’t able to
overcome fear and did not go with him. His extravagant love at this time was not enough for her to
leave her familiar place of comfort. She also says, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” 2:16 Now she
searches for him and does not find him, she goes about the city, asking the watchmen if they have seen
whom her soul loves. She is suffering without his closeness, desperate for him. When she does find him
she doesn’t let go! The Bridegroom showers her with his extravagant love allowing her time to gain an
understanding of how precious she is to him and how she has an identity in how he sees her, and what
he says about her, she begins to awaken to this once unimaginable new place. She says she is ready In
4:16, she declares it! “Awake, O north wind and come, south; make my garden breathe out fragrance,
let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits!” Now she
has said it is his garden, come and have your way in my heart, not only do I love you, but I am known by
you and I trust you. The very next chapter he comes knocking at her heart saying, “open to me, my
sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one!” 5:2 “Now it gets intense, as Mike Bikle puts it. He asks,
“Oh, you want north winds? Are you sure? “Yes.” “Are you sure that you are now my garden? Are you
sure?” “Yes, I am not afraid anymore.” He says, “Okay, let’s see.” The most intense passage of the entire
book. She has cried out for the north winds. She has said, anything goes.” The Lord is not after difficulty
for the sake of difficulty. He wants to prove Himself to us, in times of testing to show Himself as
belonging to us.” He comes as the Jesus of Gethsemane, the Man of sorrows. She responds saying she
had taken off her dirty robes and washed her feet in His grace 5:3. She arose immediately with a heart
yearning for love for Him 5:4. The locks of her heart had myrrh on them, indicating her embrace of
death to self, in pursuit of Jesus. Some say she hesitated to look at herself focusing on her works.
Perhaps it was an inconvenient time for her. Never the less she opened to her beloved, but my beloved
had turned away and was gone. “My heart went out to him as He spoke. I searched for him, but I did not
find him; I called him but he did not answer me.” 5:6 The Lord never leaves us, but his tangible presence
she could not discern, she could not feel him. She is maturing, she doesn’t become offended she
remains lovesick for him and searches for him. In verse 8 She begins public ministry sharing with the
daughters of Jerusalem. “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved as to what you
will tell him: For I am lovesick.” What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women?”

5:8,9 She leads them in a fascinating description of the beauty of her beloved. Now in chapter 6, The
daughters of Jerusalem ask her a question. “Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with
you?” The Bride now says, I am my beloved and my beloved is mine 6:3. Notice this is different than how
she spoke before. The Bridegroom responds to her with praises her obedience after her season of
testing and showered with extravagant love. Now in the final chapter, we read these powerful
scriptures, “Who is coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” This is the posture I’m
reminded of most often throughout my walk with my beloved. Forever leaning into Him. “Set me upon
your heart as a seal of fire forevermore. This living, consuming flame will seal you as my prisoner of love.
My passion is stronger than the chains of death and the grave, all consuming as the very flashes of fire
from the burning heart of God. Place this fierce, unrelenting fire over your entire being. Rivers of pain
and persecution will never extinguish this flame. Endless floods will be unable to quench this raging fire
that burns with you.” 8:6,7 TPT

Suffering And Brokenness In The Christian Life ~ Part Twenty

This series of entries are taken from a class on brokenness and suffering, at the Southwest Florida Bible Institute, aptly taught during the 2020 pandemic from April through June.  Part Twenty below features Leah Beth Mills writing about Esther, and how her courage made a profound difference for the Hebrew people:

Esther: One Person Can Make a Difference by Leah Beth Mills

Having been raised in the Jewish faith, the story of Esther (her Hebrew name was Hadassah)
and the celebration of the holiday of Purim was very much a part of our tradition. Every year,
we would watch or participate in a Purim play commemorating this beautiful story from the Old
Testament. I remember the fun of booing every time the name of the villain Haman was
mentioned. And being totally intrigued by this fascinating story of a young, beautiful Jewish girl
who ultimately saved her own people from annihilation by the evil in their world.
“It seemed like a fairy tale at first; the beautiful orphan girl Esther is chosen to be queen of the
Medo-Persian Empire. The king loves her. Everyone’s happy. But the story suddenly turns
dark. Haman, the king’s second-in-command, issues a royal edict to destroy the Jewish people.
If Queen Esther doesn’t do something, she and all her Jewish people will be annihilated! Her
courage highlights a compelling story, filled with intrigue and ends in marvelous finale.” 1
Esther in 2:8 …was taken to the king’s palace…Taken does not mean she went voluntarily but
possibly was “taken by force.” Some Jewish scholars accept this interpretation. Surely, as a
Jewish woman becoming a concubine or marrying a Gentile was against her religious beliefs.
I imagine that Esther, at first, was scared and overwhelmed at being in the palace with all those
other women each wanting to become queen. But she was a person of dignity and her
character stood out. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, saw in Esther a charm
and elegance far surpassing the other women, and “was pleased with her”. She had something
special that the others did not possess. She had been told by her cousin Mordecai not to let
anyone know her heritage, which showed both restraint and control. When it was Esther’s turn
to go before the king …” she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins” (2:14-15). He made her queen and even though she was probably initially reluctant and possibly
frightened, she maintained the godly character and won over the love of the king.
Another attribute that Esther possessed was that of deep conviction and commitment to her
people. When she was told of Haman’s evil plot again her fellowmen, at first, she was very
fearful because the only way she could stop it would be to approach the king, which by law
could result in her death. But she heard Mordecai’s plea and reconsidered. The text of
Mordecai’s words probably is familiar to us. “Do not think that because you are in the king’s
house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and
deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will
perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
(4:13-14) Esther’s response are words that resonate even today. “Go, assemble all the Jews
who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and
my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus, I will go in to the king, which is not
according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.” (4:15-16) What bravery Esther exhibited in the
face of imminent danger. Yet she knew she needed to be undergirded by the prayers (fasting)
of her people. “Her outlook changed from fear to faith. From reluctance to resolve. From
concern for her personal safety to the concern for the safety of her people.” 2 And what
emerged was a changed woman who became a savior of her people. One person can make a
difference.

1/2 Esther: A Woman of Strength &amp; Dignity by Charles R. Swindoll

Tornadoes, Heatwaves & Hurricanes – America’s Natural Disasters On The Rise 🌀

Oh, is this suppose to surprise us?  Perhaps these are only the beginning of sorrows until if/when we repent from sin.  Sixty plus million abortions, i.e. the butchering of the unborn.  Is God suppose to remain silent as their blood cries out from the ground?  And dare we omit the oxymoron of the historically nonexistent (until today) “gay marriage.”  How about the alphabet soup of every sexual perversion you can think of under the sun- such as LGBTQ, polyamory, sodomy, etc., etc., etc.  I believe these national disasters are what we call God’s judgment, designed to get the attention of a people who no longer fear Him.  We may desire to even refer to them as a wake up call, since our nation has been out to lunch and performing a spiritual Rip Van Winkle for well over an entire generation.  Why we even have new names for unprecedented storms in America called “derechos”.  Now extensive hurricane winds can strike Iowa at full impact!  (see article below)  The United States of America is a case study of how and why the Lord has eliminated nations in the past.  God refers to nations as a “drop in the bucket.”  (Isaiah 40:15)  May the Lord see fit to once again bless this sin sick nation, and may repentance start with you and me.

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Live for Christ and pray without ceasing for this sin sick nation.  I can hear the hoofbeats of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.  Pastor Steve  <><

 

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Breaking News Updates – August 25, 2020

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BY MICHAEL SNYDER/END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM AUGUST 25, 2020

It has just been one thing after another in 2020.  First, the COVID-19 pandemic erupted and quickly spread all over the globe.  At this point more than 800,000 people have died globally, and authorities are warning us to brace ourselves for another wave of the pandemic in the fall.
Of course many would argue that fear of the virus has been even worse than the disease itself, and it is undeniable that the COVID-19 shutdowns were the primary reason why we have plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
More than 57 million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits so far this year, and that number just keeps rising with each passing week.  On top of all that, the tragic death of George Floyd caused an unprecedented wave of civil unrest to erupt in major cities all across America, and many are anticipating a fresh outburst of unrest as we head toward election day in November.
So coming into this month we had already faced far more trouble than we do in a typical year, and now a very strange series of natural disasters is making things even worse.

For example, earlier this month an absolutely massive storm known as a “derecho” with winds of up to 112 mph came roaring through the Midwest.  Millions upon millions of acres of crops were destroyed, and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has described this storm as a “40-mile-wide tornado that went through the state of Iowa”…

The damage was so bad that the New York Times reported that Iowa state officials estimate that at least 14 million acres of necessary farmland were damaged by the storm. Not only were crops destroyed but hundreds of millions of bushels of commercial storage grain, as well as tens of millions of bushels of on-farm storage grain, were also lost.
Shannon Textor, who is a spokesperson for the Iowa Corn Growers Association, reported that it may be weeks to determine the monetary loss as a result of the storm. “It’s really hard to get your arms around the devastation at this point,” Textor admitted.
President Donald Trump took notice of the destruction and on Tuesday discussed the damage and promised Iowans the “full support of the federal government in recovery. According to Iowa Governor. Kim Reynolds, the devastation caused an estimated $4 billion in damages from the storm. During a briefing with the president, Reynolds described the storm as a “40-mile-wide tornado that went through the state of Iowa.”
Shortly after that historic storm ripped a giant scar across the Midwest, the western half of the nation was gripped by a historic heatwave.
The highest temperature ever captured by modern instruments was recorded in Death Valley, California, many other all-time records were shattered all over the Southwest, and the city of Phoenix actually broke their record for most days in a year in which the high temperature reached at least 115 degrees.
Of course that heatwave set the stage for the nightmarish wildfires that we are witnessing in the state of California right now.

 

Yes, we see wildfires in California every year, but we have never seen anything quite like this.  Just consider the following facts…

-12,000 lightning strikes have hit the state over the past week, and many more are expected this week.
-More than a million acres have been destroyed by fire so far.
-Two of the five largest fires in the history of the state are burning in northern California right now.
-Wildfires in California have already caused more death and destruction in 2020 than they did in all of 2019.
-A “red flag” warning has been issued for Monday.  Authorities are anticipating that winds of up to 65 mph and widespread lightning strikes will make this crisis even worse.
As if everything that I have shared so far wasn’t enough, two very dangerous storms are headed toward the Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Marco is likely to make landfall first, and residents of the Gulf Coast will begin to feel Marco’s fury as early as Monday morning…
At 5 p.m. CDT on Sunday, Marco strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was moving to the north-northwest at 13 mph.
Forecasters warn that time is running out for residents along the central Gulf Coast to make preparations, as impacts will start to be felt early Monday morning. Marco is expected to continue intensifying through Sunday.
Following closely on the heels of Hurricane Marco is Tropical Storm Laura.
Laura will likely enter the Gulf of Mexico early this week, and forecasters fully expect it to also develop into a hurricane…
Tropical Storm Laura is forecast to reach the Gulf of Mexico early this week, where significant intensification into a hurricane is expected. The area with the highest chance of seeing a hurricane strike from Laura by midweek is along parts of the northern and western Gulf Coast, but this forecast is still uncertain.
At this point, many are anticipating that Laura will end up being the stronger of the two storms, but we shall have to wait and see how everything plays out.
Meanwhile, much of the other side of the globe continues to wrestle with a historic plague of locusts.  Some of these swarms of locusts are the size of major cities, and it would be difficult to overstate the crop devastation that we have been witnessing in many countries.
When combined with the tremendous impact that COVID-19 has been having on global food distribution systems, these two factors have created a tremendous worldwide crisis.  In fact, the head of the UN World Food Program has once again used the word “biblical” to describe the famine that the planet is potentially facing…
The Covid-19 pandemic may lead to a calamity of epic scale, with millions facing starvation worldwide, the head of the UN’s hunger-fighting body has warned.
“All the data we have, including WFP forecast that the number of people experiencing malnutrition will grow by 80 percent by the end of the year, … points to a real disaster,” David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), said.
“We are risking a famine of biblical proportions.”
2020 has truly been a year like no other, and it is imperative for everyone to understand that the “perfect storm” that we are now facing is just getting started.
All of a sudden, the U.S. is being hit by one major crisis after another, and to many people it seems quite unlikely that so many nightmarish events would happen so closely together by random chance.
So what do you think?
Could it be possible that someone is trying to get our attention?  (Duuuuuh / Pastor Steve).
It would be a major understatement to say that 2020 has been a “crazy” year so far, and I have a feeling that quite a few more surprises are in store for us before this year is over.
Originally published at End Of The American Dream – reposted with permission.

 

 

 

Suffering And Brokenness In The Christian Life ~ Part Nineteen

This series of entries are taken from a class on brokenness and suffering, at the Southwest Florida Bible Institute, aptly taught during the 2020 pandemic from April through June.  Part Nineteen below features student D.C.; assignment #2 tells about his salvation and assignment #3 expounds on how D.C.’s suffering helped other people:

D. C. Theology Degree Program
Brokenness

Assignment #2

PERSONAL SUFFERING &amp; HOW THE LORD USED IT FOR HIS AND MY BENEFIT

My salvation story:
My salvation came from my total brokenness. When you are so deep down in a whole, you have no
where else to look but up, all you can see is the light of God in Heaven, because I sure didn’t recognize
Him when I was walking around on the topside of my life.
I was raised a Catholic. I always went to church and always did good in my catechism classes. I went to
a Catholic high school and always thought I would want to become a priest. I have never questioned my
belief system laid out in front of me, even though I could see some of the blaring contradictions of the
church belief system verse the Bible writings. I never really knew if was was going to go to heaven or
hell. I knew I was not that bad to go to hell, but I also wasn’t good enough to get to heaven. I always
wanted to read my Bible from cover to cover but was always told by the Catholic sisters and brothers
that was not the way to read it. They told me it would be confusing and that was never the intent of the
Book.
I am the youngest of three kids. Our parents divorced when I was in my early teens. By the time I was
15 my brother and sister had moved out and both our parents have checked out on being parents. I was
left to fend for myself in the house until I was 17. My mother came home late one night from the bars
with her boyfriend, drunk and demanding that I go out and shovel the snow that was still coming down
so her boyfriend could leave on time in the morning to get to work. I told her I had school in the
morning and would get up early and do it then. She told me to do it now or get out. I’ve been on my
own ever since.
After high school, I joined the Navy and for the first time ever, I read the New Testament. Four years
later I came back to Minnesota with a wife and a child. We went to church often and still had the same
draw to God.
Even with all of that, I still thought I had a typical upbringing.
When we go through life, we gather an array of events and experiences, some good and some not so
good. It is these experiences that help shape who we are and who we will become. One such event was
a house fire in 1994. The fire was started by a gang member and it killed 5 children from the ages of 22
months to 12 years. My captain and I were the ones that found 3 of the 5 children. That event changed
the life’s of over 30 firefighters that night.
I had already had a world of garbage in my baggage of life’s experiences, this one caused my baggage to
explode and really started to affect me and the people around me. I became a very angry, mean and a
prideful individual. The difference between right and wrong was totally to my judgment, ONLY. It
would eventually cause me my marriage and the relationship with my children.
When I was going through my divorce I lived with my mother. She convinced me to go to her church.
This was the first time I have ever gone to any church other than a Catholic Church. After the service,
my mother asked me what I thought. I told her I could tell the pastor was raised Catholic and came from
broken home of some type. She said I was right, he was raised Catholic, his mother died when he was 9

D. C. Theology Degree Program
Brokenness

and his father remarried. He did not get along with his stepmother at all, to the point that she would
beat him if he were to do anything wrong. I really connected with him and his message about our
relationship with God and Jesus. I had learned a lot from this pastor, especially what it means to give
your life over to Christ. This was the first time I have ever heard the true Salvation Gospel.
That was the start of my salvation story, but still did nothing for my healing of my past experiences. I
still dealt with severe depression.

Assignment #3

HOW MY SUFFERING IS BEING USED TO HELP OTHERS DURING THEIR SUFFERING
I later remarried but my past issues were still deeply rooted into my life. I still had major pride, anger,
control issues and now depression. I had an ex-wife that was trying her hardest to place a wedge
between me and our children. They were all upset with me for leaving the Catholic Church and wouldn’t
allow me to go to any of the school/church functions. If I did, I wasn’t allowed to participate in any of
the church offerings, except of course to pay for their tuition.
After about 8 years of marriage with my new/current wife, she told me that if I did not get some help
with my issues, she would leave me. Not wanting to go through another divorce, I decided to get some
counseling, not because I needed it, but to prove her wrong, the issue wasn’t me, it was her and the rest
of the world.
What a difference a loving God, a supporting wife and a great counselor can be. My third meeting with
my counselor, he told me that what I was dealing with was PTSD. After about a year of counseling and
making a personal commitment to stop reading my Bible and actually start studying and living it, my
progression to be a better person started to take root.
I had retired from the fire department six years ago. I have spent 22 years on the street working as a
fireman and working on medic ambulances. I have seen people come into this world in such wonderful
ways and leave this world in not so wonderful ways. These experiences are quite drastic from one
another. The stress and tolls these places on a person is life altering. Some people can handle these
events very well, others not so much. During my career I have lost 4 of my very close brothers in the fire
service to suicide. I too have reached the depths where I had even planned my exit. If it wasn’t for the
grace of God and the salvation given to us by His Son, along with a loving and supporting wife to guide
me, I don’t know where I would be today.
I am currently working on my Theology degree and my Fire Chaplain certification. I teach Emergency
Medical Technicians recertifications classes online and a couple of times a month I speak to them on the
risks of PTSD in our profession and the affects it has on me today. Moving forward, I would like to work
on the local and national level of helping to not only minister to other firefighters and EMT’s with the
stress of the job and the wonderful healing effects of God’s salvation, but to also help others to work as
fire chaplains. Most fire departments only have one chaplain, if they have any. There is too much work
for one person to properly minister a full department. We need fire chaplains to help make fire
chaplains.

D. C. Theology Degree Program
Brokenness

This suffering that I had gone through, and still deal with, has shown me the awesome powers of God
and keeps me striving to stay focused on Him and to help other emergency responders to avoid the
wholes that I had fallen into. I always look at my past events as necessary ugly but true blessing.

The Coming Monetary Collapse & Rise Of A New Economic Order 🚨

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Breaking News Updates – August 20, 2020

currency

BY BRITT GILLETTE/END TIMES BIBLE PROPHECY AUGUST 20, 2020

The Coming Monetary Collapse & Rise Of A New Economic Order
Once the world experiences a massive inflationary spiral, the current monetary system will come to an end. A new monetary system will rise from the ashes. What will it look like? In all likelihood, it will be built upon some sort of digital currency.
Since the arrival of COVID-19 and the subsequent decision to lockdown entire cities and nations, world economic activity has significantly decreased. When normal recessions strike, they typically involve only one nation or a single region.
But the COVID Recession has hit the whole world at once. This is the first time every nation has simultaneously seen a decline in output since the Great Depression.
Despite the scale of this economic disaster, many economists are calling for a quick V-shaped recovery once the coronavirus is brought under control. But is this likely? No. Even if the virus disappears tomorrow, we won’t see a V-shaped recovery. Why? Because of central bank policies and unrestrained government spending.
The world’s central banks (the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and others) have made reckless policy decisions for decades. But their bad policy decisions kicked into overdrive following the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
After September 11th, central banks pushed out artificially low interest rates. These low rates, along with other poorly thought out government policies, blew a massive housing bubble. When the bubble burst, central bankers and politicians rewarded corrupt and incompetent bankers and business executives with huge bailouts.

Unrestrained by a gold standard, they created new currency to fill the holes created by bad decisions, mismanagement, and misallocation of resources. They propped up a broken financial system and blew yet another asset bubble in the process.

When COVID popped that bubble, we saw a new round of bailouts and central bank schemes to elevate financial markets and avoid the inevitable. We also saw direct government payments to individuals in the hope of “stimulating” the economy. This is only possible because governments can create new currency at will.
The U.S. dollar and every other national currency in the world is a fiat currency. This means they aren’t backed by anything but a government promise. They only have value because governments say they do. They’re nothing but pieces of paper or ones and zeros in a computer, and that means governments can create as much currency as they want to with the click of a button.
Fiat currencies don’t have the value of those backed by gold, silver, or other hard assets. This means politicians and central bankers can create new currency out of thin air to fund an endless array of stimulus programs, welfare benefits, and schemes to bailout and enrich their friends.
For decades, and especially since the Great Recession, these politicians and central bankers have done everything in their power to avoid the pain of a recession or even a protracted stock market decline. But no matter how hard they try to avoid the inevitable, a day of reckoning is coming.
They’ve distorted the free market, and they can’t hold off the consequences forever. The bill will soon come due. COVID didn’t cause the coming crisis. It only accelerated it.
The Road Before Us
All these foolish government policies have put the global economy in a no-win situation. As a result, only two options are left:
Option #1): Deflation – The Great Depression is the most famous example of economic deflation. In a deflationary spiral, credit contracts and the overall money supply shrinks. People cut spending, and workers lose their jobs. Debt levels become a massive burden. Businesses fail and bankruptcies rise. Unemployment spikes and breadlines form.
A deflationary spiral is a painful event for all of society. It foments riots and calls for revolution. The pain of deflation is necessary to clear the economy of bad debt and poorly managed companies. Nevertheless, central bankers and politicians try to avoid deflation at all costs. Why? Because the temporary and necessary economic pain threatens their power.
Option #2): Big Inflation or Hyperinflation – The Weimar Republic gave us the most famous example of hyperinflation. Crushed under a mountain of post-war debt and reparations, the German republic printed more and more currency to meet its obligations. The result was a massive loss of purchasing power for Germany’s currency – the mark.
Prices rose quickly to reflect the new reality. A 160 mark loaf of bread at the end of 1922 cost over 200 billion marks less than a year later. In one story from that time, a woman carried a wheelbarrow of marks to the bakery just to buy a loaf of bread. When she went into the bakery, a thief stole her wheelbarrow, but he left the pile of worthless marks. That’s how quickly the currency lost its value.

 

All this happened because an unrestrained government vastly increased the supply of its currency, and basic economics says when supply increases without an increase in demand, price falls. In other words, the citizens of Germany quickly figured out that what they thought was “money” was nothing more than worthless pieces of paper.
The mark wasn’t anchored to gold or silver or anything of real value. Once this reality came to light, the world lost all faith in the mark, and its purchasing power plummeted. Eventually, it became worthless.
In the last few months, central bankers and politicians have flooded the world with trillions of dollars in new currency. Their answer to every financial problem is to throw more and more currency at an ever-expanding list of government aid programs and targeted bailouts. Like Weimar Germany, the world is simply printing more and more currency to in an effort to solve its financial problems.
At best, the result will be a 1970’s-style stagflation with high unemployment and runaway inflation. At worst, we’ll see a total collapse of the purchasing power of all fiat currencies relative to gold, silver, and other hard assets. Once again, it will cost wheelbarrows of dollars, euros, or yen to buy a single loaf of bread. Unsurprisingly, the Bible says such a time will come – a time when an entire day’s wages will buy nothing more than a loaf of bread (Revelation 6:6).
Which Road Will We Choose?
Politicians and central bankers will never accept Option #1. This is because deflation poses an immediate threat to their power and position. Clearing the system of bad debt is necessary for a healthy economy. However, the pain it creates will lead voters to demand new leadership. That frightens the politicians and central bankers who love their positions of power and prestige.
Faced with a deflationary spiral, Option #2 will seduce them. They’ll buy into the belief they can “engineer” a recovery while managing and controlling inflation. However, history has proven central planning doesn’t work. In the end, they’ll lose control, and all the world’s fiat currencies will collapse.
We’re already seeing the early stages of this crisis. As governments around the world call for bailouts of businesses, local governments, and the unemployed, we see the cost of their big government policies reflected in the surging prices of gold and silver. The chances of a global Weimar-style hyperinflation are much more serious than the public believes.
What’s Next?
Once the world experiences a massive inflationary spiral, the current monetary system (in place since 1971) will come to an end. A new monetary system will rise from the ashes. What will it look like? We don’t know for sure. But in all likelihood, it will be built upon some sort of digital currency. Already the world’s central banks are lining up to launch their own cryptocurrencies.
China is currently testing its own state-sponsored cryptocurrency, and dozens of other nations have already announced plans to launch their own. Just last week, news broke of the U.S. Federal Reserve partnering with MIT to develop its own digital currency.
If government cryptocurrency replaces paper currency, individual freedom and liberty will disappear. Governments will be able to “turn off” an individual’s cryptocurrency. That means if you do something the government doesn’t approve of, they’ll be able to shut down your ability to buy and sell. This shouldn’t surprise you either.
The Bible says this is precisely what will happen in the end times. The Antichrist will establish a global system of commerce. His system will play a part in every economic transaction on earth. It will be so dominant, no one will be able to buy or sell anything without approval from the Antichrist (Revelation 13:17).
We’re fast approaching a time the prophets warned about. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic (Luke 21:11). Israel is back in the land (Jeremiah 23:7-8). The Jewish people are back in Jerusalem (Luke 21:24-28). And the Gospel is being preached throughout the world (Matthew 24:14).
The end times are drawing near. The tribulation, the Antichrist, and global government are part of the world’s immediate future. But don’t despair, this also means Jesus is on the brink of return (Revelation 22:20). He will establish an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 2:44) with no more death or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). So keep your eyes fixed on Him!
Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming & Racing Toward Armageddon.

 

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