Comments….

I want to apologize to those who have had comments waiting to be posted. I was hospitalized for awhile, but am home now (yahoo!). Though still weak I hope to get back to blogging soon.

God bless you all!

Jaunita (PJ)

Road to White House goes through Jerusalem

Always interesting to see how our government works. Most already know this but it’s handy to have it spelled out in black and white.

Article originally posted at the Jerusalem Post, by Douglas Bloomfield. (Secondary source)

Question: why would a well known pro-Israel/Christian Zionist website post this? 

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker just returned from one of the rites of passage for presidential hopefuls: a pilgrimage to Israel. He followed a well-worn path that will be trod several times by his rivals who believe the road to the White House goes through Jerusalem.

Ostensibly Walker, a Republican, and the others are honing their foreign policy credentials, and several will make other stops abroad, but that’s not the real reason.

They will boast of meeting foreign leaders and engaging in (superficial) conversations they will later claim gave them great insight into world affairs.

But the real goal is to win the pro-Israel primary by impressing deep-pocketed Jewish donors like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.

That’s why Walker quickly tweeted his picture shaking hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and another taken at the Western Wall. The unstated inscription on the pictures was, “Dear Sheldon, Hey, look at me here with your boy Bibi.”

Walker echoed Netanyahu’s views about Palestinian statehood – maybe some day but not the foreseeable future – and how radical Islamist terror is the greatest threat facing the nation.

Walker’s trip was paid for by his own PAC and by the Adelson-funded Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), which has been running such trips for years. The group took Texas Governor George W. Bush in 1998, when he got a helicopter tour from Ariel Sharon; Walker also got a chopper tour, with a nephew of Moshe Dayan. Sen. Barack Obama went in 2008 after securing his party’s nomination.

The presidential contender pilgrimages have been going on for months and will continue into next year. Sen.

Marco Rubio (R-Florida) is expected in Israel this summer.

No candidate in either party has been to Israel as often as Mike Huckabee. Other recent visitors include Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham as well as Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Chris Christie and Rick Santorum.

The Gospel of the Kingdom: FORETOLD BY THE PROPHETS

This has turned out to be a very interesting little book. What has grabbed my interest, besides the obvious fact of it being about the Kingdom of God, is Mauro’s early grasp of how dangerous dispensationalism was, even at the early date in which this was written. He foresaw how, if not stopped, it would end up “Judaizing” the Gospel. He was correct; this is what we have today in the West.

I realize these are just sections of the booklet, portions which have caught my attention. But I hope something within a segment may interest you enough to follow the link and continue reading the entire booklet. Below are a few segments from chapter VIII.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE KINGDOM FORETOLD BY THE PROPHETS

THE teaching of dispensationalism concerning the Kingdom is apparently founded upon two mistaken ideas; first, that the Kingdom foretold by the prophets of old–especially when the prophecy related to David or his house–was the earthly kingdom of Israel; second, that “the next thing in order” on the Divine program was the national restoration and earthly supremacy for the Jews. These two suppositions being taken for granted, it is easy to assume further that the Kingdom which the Lord said was at hand was the earthly kingdom.

     But in fact both the ideas set forth above are erroneous; for the Scriptures clearly prove that the Kingdom foretold by the prophets was the very same Kingdom of God based upon the death and resurrection of the Son of David, which was brought into the world by the coming of the Holy Spirit, and which has been extended throughout all the nations of earth, and through all the centuries of this era of grace “by those who have preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.”

And in particular we are able to show that the prophecies which refer to David and his Seed have their fulfilment during this present age. The main facts concerning the Davidic prophecies are:

1. The work which, according to those prophecies, the promised Son of David was to accomplish was the two-fold work of saving sinners from among all nations and building the House of God (the church). Both parts of this two-fold work are presented in the Gospel of Matthew.

2. The “throne” covenanted to David’s Son was the throne of the universe, not the throne of the earthly Israel.

3. The prophecies require for their fulfilment that the promised Son of David should first suffer and die before He could reign, whether in heaven or on earth.

This third point is of special value for our present purposes, in that it makes it quite impossible that the earthly kingdom, even if such a thing were foretold at all, could have been proclaimed, or even contemplated, in the days of the Lord’s earthly ministry. It makes certain that the only kingdom which was, or could have been in view, was the spiritual Kingdom of God which was to be founded upon the death and resurrection of the “Son,” the “Christ” of God, Who also was God’s “King,” spoken of by David in the Second Psalm.

The fact that the expected Son of David must needs have suffered and risen again ere He could reign (whether in heaven or on earth), is clearly set forth by the apostle Peter in Acts 2:25-31; where he quotes Psalm 16 and explains that David was not speaking of himself when he said “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption,” but was speaking of Christ. And then he further explains that David “being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ.”

This gives us plainly the true meaning of God’s word and His oath to David in regard to the Throne, showing that the promise was to be fulfilled in resurrection.

Clearly then the Davidic promise would lead us to expect, not an earthly kingdom at Christ’s coming, but just what happened, namely His death, resurrection and ascension and His enthronement in heaven at God’s right hand, as foretold in Psalm 110, which Peter proceeds immediately to quote and apply (v. 33).

It is appropriate at this point to remind the reader that the Kingdom of Israel is not the Kingdom of God and was never called by that name. Therefore the very terms of the announcement made by Christ and His forerunner (John the Baptist) are proof to all who know the Scriptures that, whatever it was that God was then about to do, it was not the restoration of the earthly glories of Israel’s vanished sovereignty.

And specially is it to be remembered that the true Israel was never at anytime, in the purpose of God, an earthly nation or Kingdom. This being recognized, it will be clearly perceived without any further help from the Scriptures, that the whole rabbinical doctrine of an earthly Kingdom over which the Messiah, the son of David was to reign and to which all the nations of the world were to be tributory, was from top to bottom a work of their carnal imagination.

Turning back to Numbers 23:9 we read the word which Jehovah put in Balaam’s mouth, that ” the people (of Israel) shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” And Moses, speaking to God, had said: “So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Ex. 33:16). For God’s purpose was that Israel should “dwell in safetyalone” (Deut. 33:28). And that is still His will for those who are in His Kingdom today (2 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 3:20).

Therefore, pursuant to this purpose, the Lord Himself became their King, and reigned over them, until, as a punishment for their rebellion against Him, He gave them their own desire and made them into an earthly kingdom, with a human king, “like all the nations.” The record of this transcendently important event is in I Samuel, Chapter 8. There we read (v. 4) that:

“All the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways; now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

This action of the nation by its elders displeased Samuel; but the Lord instructed him to hearken to the voice of the people, and to grant them their petition, in all they had asked; because,–and let the reason be noted and weighed–

“They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM” (v. 7).

Thus Israel formally rejected the Lord as their King; and this, as He proceeds in the succeeding verses to declare, was the culmination of all their unfaithfulness and apostasy from the day He had brought them up out of Egypt even unto that day.

The earthly Kingdom of Israel, therefore, was the expression of God’s high displeasure with that people. As He said to them long afterward, “1 gave thee a king in Mine anger” (Hos. 13:11). And yet this is the Kingdom for whose restoration the rabbis of old were fatuously looking; and which they were so confidently expecting that they made it the foundation of their whole system of doctrine. Is there then anything stranger among the religious vagaries of our times than that the very same fatuous notion should have become the foundation of a strictly novel system of Christian doctrine? And does it not heighten the wonder that the leading teachers of that new system, with its foundation of sand, should be prominent amongst those who have elected to call themselves, Fundamentalists?

It was, of course, to be expected that the Jews of Christ’s day should have seen in the prophecies only what they wished to see–that is to say, the era of Israel’s earthly greatness. It is quite natural that they should have construed the prophecies in accordance with their own carnal desires and thoughts. And we have it on the highest authority that it was because they knew not their expected Messiah, when He came to them, “nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, that they have fulfilled them in condemning Him” (Acts 13:27). Therefore it is not surprising that the coming of Christ should have meant for them nothing more or other than political deliverance from their Roman oppressors. But it is a cause for surprise, and for deep sorrow as well, that learned commentators in our day, men whose views are widely accepted as authoritative, should make the same fatal mistake. And the marvel of it is the greater because the New Testament Scriptures have made it plain to all Christians that the Kingdom foretold by the prophets of Israel and announced by Christ and His servants, is of a spiritual character–“not eating and drinking,” as the earthly minded Jews supposed (and still do), “but righteousness, and peace and joy, in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17).

The two disciples with whom the Lord walked on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27), and who were disappointed and grieved because they had hoped that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel, were rebuked by Him as “Fools (or senseless ones) and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” And thereupon, “beginning at Moses and all the PROPHETS” He proceeded to show them that the entire prophetic word made it necessary that He Who was “the Christ” should suffer those very things and enter into His glory.

Very likely we have felt pity for those foolish disciples, who ignorantly cherished an idea so contrary to the purposes of God as revealed by all His holy prophets since the world began. Yet surely much allowance is to be made for them, seeing that they were Israelites in the flesh, that they were actually under the heel of a despotic heathen power; and especially, seeing that their accredited teachers unanimously construed the prophecies in that sense. But how can we account for the fact that, in spite of the expositions of prophecy by the Lord Himself and by His inspired apostles which dispel completely the thought that the Lord’s first coming had anything whatever to do with the national independence of Israel, learned men of our day have revived that exceedingly “Jewish” idea, and have made it the corner stone of their system of teaching? A discerning servant of Christ has lately said that we have here the most extraordinary phenomenon to be found within the pale of orthodox christianity.

In the present chapter I propose to examine some of the prophecies which refer specifically to David, the object being to ascertain just what was promised in that connection. It is often taken for granted nowadays that, where David’s name is mentioned in a prophecy, the subject thereof is the earthly greatness of the nation Israel. In fact that idea has so completely taken possession of the minds of certain teachers that the very mention of David’s name in a passage of Scripture (as Matthew 1:1) is regarded as sufficient warrant for calling it “Jewish.” But the truth of the matter is that the prophecies linked with the name and history of David have to do specially with the gospel, and with the House of God, that is to say the Church.

What those prophecies really called for was the coming, through David’s line, of One Who should be the Saviour of the world. The gospel of God concerning His Son “which He had promised afore by His prophets” was connected with David as much as, and as closely as, with Abraham. Paul makes this very clear in the beginning of his inspired explanation of the gospel given in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says that “the gospel of God” was “concerning His Son” who was “of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:1-3). And the same apostle recalls this fundamental point of gospel-truth very emphatically in his last message in which he says: “Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2 Tim. 2:8, R.V.).

It is greatly to be regretted that David’s connection with the gospel has been almost wholly lost sight of in our day; for the facts in that regard are necessary to an understanding of the breadth and fulness of the gospel-message. However, it is not a difficult matter for any who are interested to possess themselves of those facts. We have endeavored to set them forth in some detail in a work entitled “Bringing Back the King,” in the section entitled “The Sure Mercies of David.” Hence we will confine ourselves at present to the consideration of only a few prominent points.

The main fact to be grasped is that the special promises of God which He is fulfilling in our day of grace and salvation, were given and covenanted to the two men, Abraham and David. Thus the gospel rests upon these two pedestals; and the promises to David (or concerning David’s Seed) were just as much for all mankind as were the promises to Abraham and his “SEED.” God made His “everlasting covenant” with Abraham (Gen. 17-7), and also with David (2 Sam. 23:5). It was the same covenant; and it was to be established by the death and resurrection of the promised “Seed”; for we read in Hebrews 13:20 of “the blood of the everlasting covenant,” which was shed by Jesus Christ. Moreover, our Lord Himself, in instituting His memorial Supper, said of the cup, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you” (Lu. 22:20).

We might concisely summarize the Gospel of God’s grace as that Divine message which brings to sinners of all nations “The blessing of Abraham” and “The sure mercies of David”; and since the “blessing” and the “mercies” are all secured through Jesus Christ, it is evident that Matthew 1:1 is the opening of this era of grace.

The “everlasting covenant” which God made with those two men was an unconditional covenant, that is to say a covenant of grace. Since God alone was bound by it, there could be no failure in it. That covenant had to do with matters which are infinitely great and of everlasting duration, namely, the Family, the Inheritance, the Blessing, (i.e. the Holy Spirit, Gal. 3:14), the Throne, and the House.Of these five infinitely great things the first three were embraced in God’s promises to Abraham, and the last two in His promises to David.¹ With these simple facts in mind we will be able to arrive at a clear understanding of the main features of the Davidic prophecies.

All the five great things mentioned above are embraced in the “Salvation of God,” which is now proclaimed by the Gospel to sinners of all nations, in the Name of “Jesus Christ of the Seed of Davidraised from the dead.” All of them depend absolutely upon the blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, apart from which there could have been no blessing of any sort whether for Jew or Gentile. Apart from the blood of atonement there was nothing for mankind but condemnation; for at the time of Christ’s first coming “all the world” had become “guilty before God.” It is simply an impossibility that an earthly kingdom could have been announced by God’s servants at that time, if ever.

God’s gospel is, as we have seen, that “which He had promised afore by His PROPHETS”; and therefore we must turn back to the prophets to find out just what the gospel-promises were and are. It is a greatly impoverished gospel when the promises concerning David’s Seed are taken from it, are characterized as “Jewish,” and are “postponed” to another age than this, and to another people than the redeemed of this age. And that is exactly what is being done under our very eyes. Let us therefore awake out of sleep, and realize what is going on.

Paul puts the matter very clearly also in his words recorded in Acts 13:22, 23, where, speaking in a Jewish synagogue concerning the people of Israel, he recalled that God, after removing Saul from the throne, had “raised up unto them David to be their king”; and he said: “Of this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” It was therefore, a Saviour that God had promised to Israel through David’s line; for it was a Saviour that Israel needed as much as other peoples of the world. The restoration of the earthly kingdom would not have met their need; much less would it have met the need of the world. That, however, was not in view at all. For “when the fulness of the time was come” and “God sent forth His Son” it was “to redeem them that were under the law” (Gal. 4:4, 5), not to restore their earthly greatness. And likewise, when Christ Jesus proclaimed with His own lips, “The time is fulfilled, Repent ye and believe the gospel” (Mk. 1:15), it was of “the Kingdom of God” He was speaking, and not of the earthly kingdom and He called it “the gospel.”

The apostle Paul in the discourse from which we have just quoted showed that the “Saviour” Whom God had raised up to Israel from the Seed of David was not for Israel only, but for “all who believe in Him”; and this is in exact agreement with the proclamation made by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night at the time of the Lord’s birth. The angel’s words were “Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

It is strange that this proclamation from heaven, which gives the Lord’s full designation “Christ the Lord,” and His birth “in the city of David,” and the purpose of His coming, as “Saviour” for “all people,” has been so completely ignored in the discussion of the matter in hand; for its decisive bearing thereon is evident. Much is made of the fact that the heathen Magi, who saw the star in the East, came with the query: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Mat. 2:2). That question of the Magi is often referred to as if it proved that Christ had come in connection with the earthly kingdom. It ought not to be necessary to say that the question asked by those Magi proves nothing of the sort. Coming from the East where the memory of Daniel’s and Ezekiel’s prophecies was doubtless preserved, and possibly Balaam’s also (Num. 24:17), they probably had received light in regard thereto. Moreover, the Lord was and is “the King of the Jews”; so that the question of the Magi was an intelligent one. It does not indicate at all that they were expecting the national emancipation of the Jews; for that would have had no special interest for them. The more reasonable explanation of their interest in the birth of Christ, and of the trouble they took to pay homage and “offer gifts” to Him (Psa. 72:10), was that it had been in some way revealed to them that the One who was born “King of the Jews” was to bring blessing also to the Gentiles. Therefore the coming of the Magi “to worship” Christ indicates an event of far greater importance than the birth of an heir to the throne of David. It is recorded that the Magi were “warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod,” from which it appears that they were being divinely guided in their mission.

It is clear, therefore, that the bearing of this incident is not at all what the advocates of the postponement theory make of it.

But the message of the angel to the shepherds at Bethlehem was an authoritative announcement direct from heaven; and it was given in plain words that leave nothing to conjecture. It tells the precise purpose for which Christ had been born; and its terms shut out all possibility that an earthly kingdom was in view. Indeed the purpose for which God sent forth His Son has been repeatedly declared in messages straight from heaven, through angels and men, as Zacharias and Simeon, and later by the inspired apostles, as well as by the Lord Himself. In not one of these declarations concerning the object of His coming is there the slightest hint of an earthly kingdom; but on the contrary they one and all reveal purposes utterly inconsistent with it. Nevertheless, in the interest of dispensationalism all these clear declarations are swept aside, while other passages of Scripture are forced and wrested in order to make them yield to it a semblance of support.

It is a significant fact that while the message brought by the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, who was to be the father of the Lord’s forerunner, was the first communication from heaven to earth after the stream of Old Testament prophecy had ended in Malachi, the first human lips that were opened to prophesy the beginning of the new and long awaited era of blessing were those of the women Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1:41-55). The words uttered by the latter tell clearly that the new era then about to begin was to be–not that of any earthly kingdom whatever, but–that of “the mercy” promised to the fathers, “to Abraham and his seed forever.” And it was subsequently revealed through Paul that the “seed of Abraham” who were to inherit the promises are those who believe the gospel. For we read: “Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7). And again: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. . . . And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Id. 3:26, 29).

In view, therefore of what has been said above I may briefly summarize the various predictions concerning the Seed of David by saying that what God promised to give through David’s line was not an earthly King for the Jews, but a Saviour for all the world.

Matthew records in his first chapter that He Who was born of the virgin of David’s line was a Saviour, and was named “Jehovah-Saviour” before His birth (Matt. 1:21). Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied of the Coming One as being a Saviour, saying that God had raised up an horn of Salvation in the house of His servant David; and further said that this raising up a Saviour in the house of David was in fulfilment of what God had spoken “by the mouth of His holy prophets . . . since the world began” (Lu. 1:68-70). Thus we learn (and many other Scriptures declare the same fact) that what was required for the fulfilment of that which all the prophets foretold was the coming in the house of David–not of an earthly king, but of–a Saviour.

Zacharias further prophesied concerning the ministry of John the Baptist that he was to go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways–not to give notice of an earthly kingdom but–“to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins” (Lu. 1:77).

The angel of the Lord, in announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds on Bethlehem’s plain, spake not a word of His having come to reign over Israel, but proclaimed good tidings of great joy for all people; saying: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ, the Lord” (Lu. 2:10, 11). Here again, in a message brought straight from heaven, the promised One of David’s line is announced as a Saviour for all men! Not an earthly King for the Jews.

Simeon also, being filled with the Holy Ghost, and led by the Holy Ghost to the temple, took the infant Son of David from His virgin mother’s arms and spake of Him as God’s “Salvation” which He had “prepared before the face of all people”; and as “a Light to lighten the Gentiles” (Lu. 2:30-32). Thus the inspired messages through men and angels all testify clearly that the One Who had come of David’s line was the Saviour and Light of the world.

In due time “the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness,” and he preached to all the people of Israel. His message was in perfect accord with the word of all the PROPHETS; for he announced the coming of a Saviour Who should give His life for all men–“the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world”–and declared that “all flesh” (Jew and Gentile) should “see the Salvation of God” (John 1:29; Lu. 3:6).

We have also the testimony of the Lord Himself, the true and faithful Witness, declaring that He came not to be ministered unto” (that is to be served as kings are served) “but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). We have this same testimony from His own lips in many other passages (as Luke 4:18-21). And we have also the “good confession” which He witnessed before Pontius Pilate when falsely accused before him of attempting to set up an earthly throne, saying: “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36; cf. Luke 4:5).

The apostles likewise, after the death and resurrection of Christ and their baptism with the Holy Ghost as promised by John the Baptist, proclaimed the same tidings of a Saviour for all men, Who had been raised up in the house of David. Thus Peter preached concerning David that he “being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on His throne; he (David) seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ”; and Peter continues the explanation of the prophecies concerning Christ, making it clear that the throne which He was to occupy in resurrection, according to God’s oath to David, was the throne of God in heaven (Acts 2:29-36).

And again Peter preached concerning Christ, saying: “Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

Paul also connects God’s salvation for all men with David, saying, “Of this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour” (Acts 13:22, 23). And in his epistle to the Romans, the same apostle unfolds “the gospel of God; which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,” telling us that the promised gospel of God was “concerning His Son, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:1-3). And the last words of this great preacher and apostle of the Gentiles in regard to the gospel proclaimed by himself, is a stirring exhortation to “Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David, raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2 Tim. 2:8, R.V.).

Thus we have the concurrent testimony of PROPHETS, angels, Spirit-filled men (Zacharias and Simeon), the Lord’s forerunner who also was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb (Lu. 1:15), of the Lord Jesus Himself, and of the inspired apostles,–all declaring with one voice that God’s promise and purpose from of old, was to raise up of the seed of David One Who should save His people by the sacrifice of Himself, and should be straightway exalted to the heavenly throne of a heavenly kingdom. The whole voice of Scripture,–both in the Law, the PROPHETS, the Psalms, the Gospels, the preaching of the apostles in the book of Acts, and their teaching in the Epistles,–tells the same clear story of the steadfast purpose of God. In the light of these Scriptures, and of many others of like nature, it is as clear as that divine light can make it, that the Kingdom, promised afore by the prophets to the Son of David, was and is that spiritual and heavenly Kingdom which that (the) promised Son of David first announced, and then introduced by His death and resurrection, by sending down the Holy Ghost after He had been exalted to the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, and by sending forth the gospel into all the world.

NOTES

1. See “Our Liberty in Christ: A Study in Galatians” by P. Mauro, chapter on ‘The Everlasting Covenant.”

VIII – THE KINGDOM FORETOLD BY THE PROPHETS

Bill Johnson and Prophetic “Vibrating Tuning Forks”

Its astounding just how bizarre these teachers are becoming. While I don’t believe any of this will surprise those who have been following the career of Bill Johnson and his ministry, it is interesting to see just how far their new age antics are being carried.

This was emailed out by Andrew Strom today.

SECOND WARNING – BILL JOHNSON and BETHEL CHURCH

A couple of years ago we sent out a Warning itemizing a number of facts about Bill Johnson’s ministry and Bethel church in Redding. Numerous witnesses and videos from Bethel show that this church is spreading an “anointing” very similar to Todd Bentley – ie. spiritual ‘drunkenness’, jerking, hysterical laughter, “angel orbs”, ‘fire tunnels’, spirit travel, mystical “portals”, etc. Plus constant talk in their ministry school of bizarre angel encounters and trips to the ‘third heaven.’ All of it has an extremely ‘New Age’ feel. And it is still going on today. (But even worse – as we shall see).

Bill Johnson strongly defended Todd Bentley – even after his divorce and remarriage. No wonder, for the ‘anointing’ that both men carry seems almost identical (though their “style” is very different). These facts are beyond dispute and have been confirmed by many witnesses.

But whenever I say such things about Bill Johnson, people rush to defend him, saying what a ‘great guy’ he is, and what a great ministry he has. And yes – he is a very charming man who does say good things. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be so dangerous. Deception always wraps itself in the best “sheep’s wool” it can find. Otherwise it would have no chance of deceiving the sheep! Why do you think the Bible warns of “SEDUCING” spirits in the Last Days – and ‘LYING’ signs and wonders? If the deception was not so ‘seductive’ then nobody would fall for it. And this stuff is very seductive indeed.

THINGS Get WORSE

Several years ago the Bethel crowd put out a book which we only found out about recently. It was co-authored by Bill Johnson’s administrative assistant Judy Franklin with a foreword by Bethel pastor Kris Vallotton. Bill Johnson wrote two of the chapters and his wife Beni wrote another. In other words, it has Bethel’s stamp all over it. (It is still sold on the Bethel website).

So what is this book about? Here is what the blurb says-

“Exploring the mysteries of God in sound, light, vibrations, frequencies, energy, and quantum physics.”

Does that sound ‘New Age’ to you? Yes – and it gets even worse. Please remember that this book has Bill Johnson’s name on it – and Bethel’s strong endorsement and participation.

When you open the book you find chapter headings like this-

“Vibrating in Harmony with God”, ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Quantum Mysticism’ and “The God Vibration”.

And some of the sub-headings are even more astounding:

“Dolphins and Healing Energy,” ‘The Power of Color’, “Human Body Frequencies,” etc.

You might ask, What kind of ‘Christian’ book is this? And the answer is that it is Bethel and Bill Johnson’s kind of Christian
book. It literally has Bill’s name on it. This is a peek into the real Bethel behind the scenes. When you look at this publication,
suddenly you understand why we see all these weird videos and testimonies from Bethel of strange ‘New Age’ terminology and bizarre spiritual practices. Now we know why. We have the evidence in black and white.

We have shown the contents of this book to leaders and people that have been fans and supporters of Bill Johnson. They have verified the source of it. And just reading this content has turned most of them from being a supporter of Bethel into an opponent in a matter of a few hours. It really is that bad. So openly ‘New Age’ you could hardly believe it.

With all this talk of “vibrations” in the book, perhaps we can now better understand why Bill Johnson’s wife Beni wrote in her blog:

“I was talking with Ray Hughes the other day and was telling him about using a 528 HZ tuning fork as a prophetic act. Someone told me that this tuning fork is called the tuning fork of LOVE… the sound of this fork brings healing.” (*Please note that crystals and tuning forks are used in NEW AGE therapy – not Christianity.

And by the way, Beni Johnson for years has been CO-PASTOR of Bethel alongside her husband Bill).

This might also help explain why Beni Johnson recently released a photo of herself “soaking” (lying down) on the grave of a dead Christian leader – and why Bethel students also put out photos of themselves “grave sucking” (as it is called) – trying to “soak up” the anointing from the graves of dead preachers. I am not exaggerating. They actually do this. I hope you can see how dangerous and unbiblical it all is. Somebody needs to confront Bill Johnson about it. That is why I am including a whole new section of these disturbing facts in the 2015 edition of my book ‘Kundalini Warning.’ And it is also why I am writing this article.

When Nadab and Abihu offered “strange fire” before the Lord in the Old Testament, they were consumed by God and died. (Lev 10:1-2). ‘Strange fire’ is still deadly today. The body of Christ needs to be warned.

As one of the graduates of the Bethel ministry school (BSSM) wrote to me:

“There would be all kinds of distracting behavior (random shouting, laughing, etc.) during school sessions and church services. When any guest speaker came to school, students would flock to the front to get as close to the speaker as possible. We were taught that any anointing we wanted could be received by simply “claiming it” for ourselves… The drunken behavior and questionable teachings from some, if not all, of these speakers was shocking at times… I would always hear people talking about their encounters with angels and how they visited heaven. One young woman I knew said she could see angels everywhere, she talked to them all the time, and she would help her friends to do the same.”

In summary, this is a very dangerous movement and the warning needs to be sounded as far and wide as possible.

PLEASE FORWARD this email to your friends. Feedback should be sent to – prophetic@revivalschool.com OR post a comment on our website – http://www.revivalschool.com

God bless you all,

Andrew Strom.

Academics call on State Dept to revise its definition of anti-Semitism, respect criticism of Israel as protected speech

Its about time. This has gotten so out of hand it has become ridiculous. The term itself, anti-semitism, has lost all meaning. If someone questioned you as to the meaning of the term, what would be your answer?

From Mondoweiss

May 18, 2015–An open letter signed by over 250 members of the Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Advisory Council asks the U.S. State Department to revise its definition of anti-Semitism in order to prevent the charge of anti-Semitism from being misused to silence critics of Israel.

In light of recent high-profile stories that have conflated the debates over Israel politics on campus with reports of rising anti-Semitism, the letter asserts the crucial need to distinguish criticism of the state of Israel from real anti-Semitism.

Read the letter which was sent here

Church-Goers Losing Interest in Partisan Religion

Excellent message by Buff Scott Jr. at Apostasy Watch.

If you’re a News addict, as I am, you have heard the report that a large number of church-goers and religious zealots have “given up the ship” and are no longer supporting and promoting partisan religion. Catholicism is losing more ground than her counterpart, Protestantism, as per the report.

The report indicates that many past believers no longer show interest in Christianity, and that churches across the country are feeling the pinch monetarily and in attendance.

Well, I’ve got news for those News reporters and Networks. In general, believers are not surrendering their allegiance to the God of creation or to the Son of God. Nor are they losing their faith. They have begun to think independently and are surrendering their allegiance to the Religious Establishment or Organized Church.

I agree. Continue Reading Here

Are You Prepared?

From Herescope

Reading and watching the video embedded within this article is a wake-up call to the Church in the West. It also bears witness to the ridiculous “non gospel” we dare call The Gospel which is taught and preached in America.  

quote:

While reviewing church history recently I was reminded of some of the things we should learn from history. But before I share those with you, I want to remind you that what normally passes for church history is the history of the apostate church (lower case “c”). The history of the true Church is not normally taught in Bible schools and seminaries except for a passing mention to the little groups of true believers that were a thorn in the side of the institutional churches.

The following are the central truths we learn from Church history:

• Even in the darkest hours of the last 2000 years there have always been true believers and true Churches in this world.
• The real Church has always been small in numbers and poor in political power, finances and popularity.
• True churches and believers have always been persecuted.

It is on this third point I want to dwell. Persecution has come from many different sources, even though the ultimate origin is Satan and his forces.

The Jews, initially under the leadership of Saul of Tarsus, persecuted and killed believers beginning with Stephen. Of course Jesus was the first “Christian martyr,” and before the New Testament era many prophets were also brutally killed by Israel because of their message.

The Roman government persecuted and brutally martyred Christian believers for almost 300 years until Constantine in 312 AD.

Immediately after 312 the Roman church took over from the Roman government and began to persecute believers who did not submit to their authority. Persecution under the Church of Rome continued for the next 1700 years right up to the present, reaching its peak during the Inquisition (c. 1200 to c. 1600). It is very difficult to find an accurate estimate of the numbers of people killed by the Roman church, but the best studies indicate a number of around 80 million Christians, in addition to witches and others, killed by Rome![1]

Even while Rome was killing Protestants, the Reformation leaders were torturing and killing Anabaptists and other believers who disagreed with them. Just one of many to die at the hand of the Reformers was Michael Sattler, a true believer. “He was shamefully mutilated in different parts of the town, then brought to the gate, and what remained of him thrown on the fire, His wife and some other Christian women were drowned, and a number of brethren who were with him in prison were beheaded.”[2] Most of the Protestant leaders, including Luther and Zwingli, engaged in the most severe and cruel torture and murder of anyone who disagreed with them. But the most vicious of all was Calvin. In Geneva, Switzerland, he institutionalized torture and death as a legitimate means to change people’s views and purge the “church” of dissenters.

There have been massive persecutions of Christians all across the world, many still ongoing, by Muslims, Chinese governments, Communists, and all sorts of other unbelievers. Just recently I was shocked to hear that a friend and former colleague, as well as two women, were brutally killed and mutilated by Satanists in South Africa, making them (as far as I know) the first martyrs to die for the faith in South Africa. It is estimated that today[3] more Christians in the world are being persecuted than are free to worship the true God. A comprehensive Pew Forum study found that Christians are persecuted in 131 countries containing 70 percent of the world’s population. Other studies indicate that between 100,000 and 200,000 Christians are being martyred for their faith every year,[4] and that around 200 million Christians are denied fundamental human rights because of their faith. (See: Video: Islamic state threat: ‘A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross’)

All this should not come as a surprise since the New Testament is replete with statements that persecution would be the norm for Christians. In Jesus’ first mention about the Church He spoke of the war that would be brought against His Church: “…[O]n this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”(Matthew 16:18). Paul said: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). And Peter said “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (1 Peter 4:12).

In spite of the evidence of history, and the plain teaching of the Bible, the vast majority of Christians in the so-called “Free World” still believe that it is the right of Christians to be popular, fairly treated and respected, and that a “happy” life should be the norm for believers.

As I have been reminded how most true Christians have been mistreated, and how they lived as vagabonds and fugitives throughout the last two millennia, I began to think about my own life and how easily I complain about the relatively minor inconveniences and rejection I experience because of the Gospel. I feel ashamed that I dare complain when thousands, right now, are experiencing the most extreme physical pain, emotional anguish, and death for the sake of the Gospel of Salvation. Who am I to grumble when I am free to come and go, live in relative comfort, and enjoy the company of my wife, while others are in prison, being tortured and killed?

But I also thought about how easily many stay away from the gathering of believers because it is too hot, too cold, or they are too tired because of watching TV or partying too late on Saturday night. I struggle to reconcile this picture with the one of men and women being torn apart by dogs, their limbs pulled from their bodies on the rack, and the smell of burning human flesh on the fires of the persecutors. I struggle to understand how some are unwilling to give up their sinful pleasures when millions have to give up their very lives.

I struggle to understand how the pleasure-centered and self-centered “Christian” of the West can claim to share a common faith with the martyrs. I struggle to understand how preachers who preach a gospel of happiness, prosperity and popularity believe that their message is the same message that was preached by the faithful minority of the last 2000 years – believers who, like the prophets of old, “…had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:36-38).

Can the faith that results in persecution, torture, and death be the same faith that promises carnal happiness, a new Mercedes and popularity? Can the faith that pursues pleasure, comfort and earthly happiness be the same faith that counts it a privilege to suffer for His name?

Will the hedonist[5] and the martyr share the same heaven?

Endnotes:
1. David A Plaisted. Estimates of the Number Killed by the Papacy in the Middle Ages and Later. 2006.
2. E. H. Broadbent. The Pilgrim Church. Gospel Folio Press. Grand Rapids, MI. 1999. p182.
3. October 2012
4. David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing in their 2009 report in theInternational Bulletin of Missionary Research (Vol. 33, No. 1: 32) say the figure is about 200,000 per year and rising.
5. Hedonist = a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification.

*Adapted from Pastor Anton Bosch’s article titled “Hedonists and Martyrs,” originally published in the Discernment Newsletter, Nov.-Dec 2012:http://www.discernment-ministries.org/Newsletters/NL2012NovDec.pdf. This article will be included in a forthcoming book of devotionals by Pastor Bosch. Stay tuned to Herescope for details.

BE PREPARED! For additional encouragement, see our article series from January 2010, “Preparations for Sufferings,” where we reviewed John Flavel’s dissertation titled “Preparations for Suffering, or The Best Work in the Worst Times” (Volume 6), pages 3-83, found in the Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth Trust (1820, 1968), ISBN 0-85151-060-4.

Part 1: Preparations for Sufferings
Part 2: Are You Prepared?
Part 3: Unanticipated Benefits of Sufferings
Part 4: Prodigious Sottishness
Part 5: Why God Warns
Part 6: Rest in the Day of Evil
Part 7: People-Lovers or God-Pleasers?
Part 8: The Necessity of Foresight
Part 9: The 6 Habits of Readiness
Part 10: Fool’s Gold & Fairweather Faith
Part 11: Sufficient Grace
Part 12: Faith Enough

The Gospel of the Kingdom: THE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

A few points from chapter four of Mauro’s book, The Gospel of the Kingdom:

CHAPTER FOUR

THE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD

THE words of our chapter heading are the first words of the Gospel by Mark. They are enlightening words; and indeed they are quite sufficient in themselves to answer a question that confronts us at this point: When did the Gospel era begin? It is exceedingly important that we should have the right answer to that question; and we know where to seek it.

We have seen that the Bible distinguishes two great eras, and those two eras are closely related, the one to the other, though there are marked differences between them; the first being variously designated as, “the old covenant,” “the law and the prophets,” or simply “the law”; and the second being variously designated as, “the new covenant,” “the kingdom of God,” or simply “the gospel.” Our Scripture tells us we are now at the “beginning” of something; and that that something is “the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Could we have a plainer answer to our question?

And the passage goes on to tell what it was that marked “the beginning of the gospel”; and further to declare that the event that marked it was something that had been foretold in the Scriptures. For we read: “As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” The reference is to Isaiah 40:3; and the prophecy was fulfilled, as this first chapter of Mark’s Gospel declares, in the preaching and ministry of John the Baptist.

This was the very “beginning,” the very first event of that long expected era. “THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.” But John’s ministry (John the Baptist) was of short duration; for the enmity of the Jews was speedily aroused, because of the contradiction between his preaching and their expectations; and he was cast into prison. And then happened another event of transcendent interest; for the public ministry of Christ Himself (whose “way” John had been sent to “prepare”) forthwith began. For it is written:

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (vv. 14, 15).

These words make it evident that “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” and “the gospel of the Kingdom of God” are one and the same. Moreover, the words, “The time is fulfilled” manifestly point to something of exceptional importance whereof promises had been given by the prophets. They refer, of course, to that promised era of victory over sin, that era of the bruising of the serpent’s head, of the salvation of God for all men through the coming of the promised Deliverer, the era of the everlasting covenant and the sure mercies of David; in a word, they referred to the appointed time for the fulfilment of all the glorious things that God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. “The time” for the thing for which all believing hearts had looked and longed, was “fulfilled.” So said Christ; and He also exhorted those who heard the announcement, to repent, and believe the gospel.” Note that the proclamation that the time was fulfilled He calls “the gospel.”

But, in direct contradiction to these statements (which are as plain as is possible for anyone to make) the “Scofield Bible” asserts that the dispensation of the law, with its “pitiless severity” and all the appalling characteristics of condemnation, death and the curse which that publication attributes to it, continued until the crucifixion of Christ; and it further asserts that “the Kingdom of God” (which that dispensational authority takes to mean the earthly kingdom of Jewish expectancy) was not “at hand,” but was in the far distant future.

Here then we have a very serious situation. For if this era of John the Baptist were not “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” then the plainest of plain Bible words, which have been understood for nineteen centuries in accordance with their apparent sense, have a meaning altogether different to what has always been supposed. And if the Kingdom our Lord said was then “at hand,” was not at hand at all, but far away, He certainly caused those who heard Him believingly and all who have listened to His words for nearly two thousand years, to believe what was not true.

We take up first the question:

What Kingdom was it that Christ said was at hand?

In considering this question let it be noted that there was a “Kingdom of God” then at hand; for Christ’s servants shortly thereafter began to preach it as a present reality (Acts 8:12; 14:22; 20:25, etc.); and moreover, the apostle Paul, in his great Gospel letter, gave a definition of it (Rom. 14:17). Are there then two different Kingdoms of God; one of which was at hand, and one afar off in the future? Is God the author of confusion? And if there were two Kingdoms of God, one then close by and the other afar off, is it conceivable that the Kingdom of God which Christ said was then “at hand” was the one that was actually in the remote future?

How is it possible, I ask, for any who undertake to explain the Scriptures to arrive at the conclusion that the “Kingdom of God” which actually was “at hand,” is not the “Kingdom of God” which the Lordsaid to be “at hand”; or, (to state it the other way) that the “Kingdom of God” which the Lord publicly declared at hand, proved to be not at hand at all; whereas, marvelous to relate! another “Kingdom of God” whereof He made no mention, was at hand?

I have carefully examined the notes of the “Scofield Bible” in quest of the explanation of this. I find on one hand that no Scripture is cited to support the editor’s view; for there is not one word in the Bible to the effect that the Kingdom announced by the Lord has been “postponed” or is “in abeyance.” The Lord’s own statement, from first to last, never modified, but proclaimed with ever increasing emphasis, was that the Kingdom was “at hand.”

But the teaching of the Scofield Bible as to the Kingdom of God is founded nevertheless upon the baseless assumption that the prophets of Israel, in predicting the coming of the Messiah and of an era of blessing, salvation and victory for His people, were foretelling the restoration of the earthly greatness of the natural Israel. Therefore the editor of the Scofield Bible, having committed himself thoroughly to this startlingly novel idea, and having lost sight of the many interpretations of those prophecies in the New Testament which show that they referred (in figurative language) to Redemption and to the Spiritual Kingdom based thereon, has attempted in his notes to make the New Testament agree with his mistaken theory.

But the attempt is an impossibility. In fact the editor himself abandons it completely after carrying it partly through the Gospel of Matthew. Anyone can see this for himself who will take a little pains to examine the matter. For we have to begin with the bold but unfounded assumption that the words “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of heaven” on our Lord’s lips meant the earthly kingdom of Israel. Then we have the equally bold and equally unfounded assumption that the supposed “offer” of the earthly kingdom to the Jews of Christ’s day was rejected by them, and that, as the result of such supposed rejection, it was withdrawn and postponed; though there is no trace whatever in the inspired records of any such offer, or rejection, or withdrawal, or postponement; and though there is no hint that God’s purpose to introduce the Kingdom which He had announced (and announced without any qualification whatever) was, or could have been, defeated or postponed by the action of the Jews of Christ’s day.

In the “notes,” the alleged rejection is located at Matthew 11:20, as appears by the following statement:

“The Kingdom of heaven announced as ‘at hand’ by John the Baptist, by the King Himself, and by the twelve, and attested by mighty works, has been morally rejected.”

Then the Lord’s words recorded in Matthew 11:28, 29, are called by the editor, “The new message of Jesus–not the kingdom but rest and service”; and this, we are told, is “the pivotal point in the ministry of Jesus,”–that is to say the point at which He abandoned His message about the Kingdom’s being at hand, and began to substitute a message of entirely different character!

I earnestly protest that these statements are wholly erroneous, and confidently maintain that the Lord had but one message, which was the gospel of God, and that the Kingdom which He preached while on earth and introduced when He sent the Holy Ghost from heaven, is the very “rest and service” which He offered and still offers to all the weary and heavy laden ones.¹

Following this is a note (on Mat. 12:46) which asserts that our Lord, “rejected by Israel,” now intimates the formation of the “new family of faith.” But the fact is that the “new family”–composed of the children of His Father in heaven–had been previously addressed at length and in the most precise terms as to their relationship with God, in the Sermon on the Mount. But inasmuch as it would upset the editor’s theory completely to find any hint of the “new family” in that part of Matthew, he firmly closes his eyes to the conspicuous presentation of it in those chapters, and locates the first“intimation” of it in chapter 12. For it is as plain to any babe in Christ as the sun in the sky at noonday, that in the Sermon on the Mount God, the “Father in heaven,” is speaking to His own “children” on earth, by the lips of His own Son. But that fact, so vital to all the household of God, would, if acknowledged, completely destroy the editor’s theory, so he ignores and even contradicts it.

In order to obtain an appearance of support to his views, the editor states in a note on the Lord’s interview with the woman of Syrophenicia, (Mat. 1:2 that “For the first time the rejected Son of David ministers to a Gentile.” This is necessary to the theory we are examining; for if Christ should be found ministering to a Gentile prior to Matthew 11, that action on His part would destroy the “Jewish” and “legal” character which the editor imputes to that part of the Lord’s ministry; and would demolish the theory completely. How is it possible then that the editor and associate editors and all who have been helping to correct the errors of his edition for more than a score of years, have been blinded to the fact that the Lord healed the centurion’s servant, as recorded in Matthew 8:5-10, and in connection therewith used those remarkable words, “Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith no not in Israel”? And how can we account for the failure on the part of all those learned men to observe the record in Matthew 4:24 that the fame of Jesus went throughout all Syria, and they brought to Him all sick people, and He healed them? And for their failure to observe also that, even before the Lord began to preach publicly in Galilee, He ministered and revealed Himself as “Christ” to the woman of Samaria, and that many of the Samaritans believed on Him? (John 4).²

These are but a few of many instances which show that the advocates of the postponement theory are mysteriously blinded to the plainest facts when those facts are in conflict with that theory; while on the other hand they claim the ability to “see” things in the text of Scripture which support their theory, although others are utterly unable to find a trace of them. But, without dwelling upon this, I would ask particular attention to the fact that, even according to the kind of proof by which our friends seek to maintain their theory, the facts concerning the centurion’s servant and the Lord’s personal ministry of salvation (the “living water”) to the Samaritans, refute that theory completely.

Chapter Four is Continued HERE

She Who Rides On The Beast

An important word for the Church in the West;

She Who Rides On The Beast

The Gospel of the Kingdom

This is an interesting book by Philip Mauro. After ordering it at Amazon I realized a condensed version was available online, so want to post a few portions from it’s contents, as I read it in paperback. Beginning with his intro you can sense by his tone how dangerous he believes this “new” fangled “modernistic” form of theology was. Let’s begin….

The Gospel of the Kingdom (1927)

By Philip Mauro

Introduction:

THROUGH an incident of recent occurrence I was made aware of the extent–far greater than I had imagined–to which the modern system of dispensationalism has found acceptance amongst orthodox christians; and also of the extent–correspondingly great–to which the recently published “Scofield Bible” (which is the main vehicle of the new system of doctrine referred to) has usurped the place of authority that belongs to God’s Bible alone.

The incident alluded to above is what prompted the writing of this book. For it awakened in my soul a sense of responsibility to the people of God to give them, in concise form, the results of the close examination I have been led to make of this novel system of doctrine (dispensationalism).

Let it be understood at the outset that my controversy is solely with the doctrine itself; and not at all with those who hold and teach it, or any of them. Indeed I was myself one of their number for so long a time that I can but feel a tender consideration, and a profound sympathy likewise, for all such.

Moreover, as I said in another place:

“It is obvious that, in a matter involving truth of God so vital to His entire household, personal considerations must needs be disregarded. I greatly regret having to mention by name the “Scofield Reference Bible”; but that cannot be avoided, inasmuch as it is unhappily the case that that publication has been, and is, the chief agency for promulgating the errors against which I feel called upon to protest. I deeply regret having to bring any man’s name into the discussion. But we must deal with conditions as we find them. It is a matter of grief to me that a book should exist wherein the corrupt words of mortal man are printed on the same page with the holy Words of the living God; this mixture of the precious and the vile being made an article of sale, entitled a ‘Bible,‘ and distinguished by a man’s name.”

It is mortifying to remember that I not only held and taught these novelties myself, but that I even enjoyed a complacent sense of superiority because thereof, and regarded with feelings of pity and contempt those who had not received the “new light” and were unacquainted with this up-to-date method of “rightly dividing the word of truth.” For I fully believed what an advertising circular says in presenting “Twelve Reasons why you should use THE SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE,” namely, that:–

“First, the Scofield Bible outlines the Scriptures from the standpoint of DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH, and there can be no adequate understanding or rightly dividing of the Word of God except from the standpoint of dispensational truth.”

What a slur is this upon the spiritual understanding of the ten thousands of men, “mighty in the Scriptures,” whom God gave as teachers to His people during all the Christian centuries before “dispensational truth” (or dispensational error), was discovered! And what an affront to the thousands of men of God of our own day, workmen that need not to be ashamed, who have never accepted the newly invented system! Yet I was among those who eagerly embraced it (upon human authority solely, for there is none other) and who earnestly pressed it upon my fellow Christians. Am deeply thankful, however, that the time came (it was just ten years ago) when the inconsistencies and self-contradictions of the system itself, and above all, the impossibility of reconciling its main positions with the plain statements of the Word of God, became so glaringly evident that I could not do otherwise than renounce it.

At that time I was occupied almost exclusively with the central doctrine of the system; a very radical doctrine indeed concerning the supremely important subject of the Kingdom of God, which our Lord and His forerunner proclaimed as then “at hand,” and which they both identified with the era of the Holy Spirit.¹

According to the new dispensationalism, our Lord and John the Baptist were not proclaiming the near coming of that “Kingdom of God” which actually began shortly thereafter with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and which actually was then “at hand,” but were announcing a kingdom of earthly grandeur for which the carnally minded Jews and their teachers were then (and are still) vainly looking; though the earthly kingdom of Israel is not called in the Scriptures, “the Kingdom of God,” and though (as is now evident enough) it was not “at hand” at all.

As I continued, however, to study this new system of teaching in its various details, I found there were more errors in it, and worse, than I had at first expected; and these, as they became evident to me, I have attempted, by occasional writings subsequently, to expose. The work, however, is not yet finished; and hence the need for the present volume. Indeed, the time is fully ripe for a thorough examination and frank exposure of this new and subtle form of modernism that has been spreading itself among those who have adopted the name “Fundamentalists.” For Evangelical Christianity must purge itself of this leaven of dispensationalism ere it can display its former power and exert its former influence.

Happily, however, there is a positive and constructive side to what I am now seeking to accomplish. For the object is not merely to expose the errors of twentieth century dispensationalism, but also and mainly to set forth the great, and truly “fundamental,” truths of Scripture which that system has, for those who have received it, either completely obliterated or at least greatly obscured.

Finally it is appropriate in these introductory remarks to call attention (as I shall have occasion to do once and again in the pages that follow) to the striking and immensely significant fact that the entire system of “dispensational teaching” is modernistic in the strictest sense; for it first came into existence within the memory of persons now living; and was altogether unknown even in their younger days. It is more recent than Darwinism.

Think what it means that an elaborate, ramified and comprehensive system, which embraces radical teachings concerning such vital subjects as the preaching and ministry of Jesus Christ, the character and “dispensational place” of the four Gospels, the nature and era of the Kingdom of God, the Sermon on the Mount, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and other Bible topics of first importance, a system of doctrine that contradicts what has been held and taught by every Christian expositor and every minister of Christ from the very beginning of the Christian era, should have suddenly made its appearance in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and have been accepted by many who are prominent amongst the most professedly orthodox groups of Christians! It is an amazing phenomenon indeed. For the fact is that dispensationalism is modernism. It is modernism, moreover, of a very pernicious sort, such that it must have a “Bible” of its own for the propagation of its peculiar doctrines, since they are not in the Word of God. Ample proof of this will be given in the pages that follow.

Nevertheless, what I now urge in view thereof is only:–

First, that we have in these historical facts a most cogent reason why we should, each for himself, scrutinize this modern system most carefully in the light of Scripture; and second, that the above stated fact, of the very recent origin of the system, raises the presumption that dispensationalism is not in accord with the truth of God, and is not to be accepted except upon clear and ample proof.

In concluding these introductory remarks I would point out that this modern system of “dispensational teaching” is a cause of division and controversy between those followers of Christ who ought to be, at this time of crisis, solidly united against the mighty forces of unbelief and apostasy; and further that it tends to bring the vital truth of our Lord’s second coming into discredit with many, because it associates that great Bible doctrine with various speculative details for which no scriptural support can be found.

---

NOTES

1. John preached, saying, “Repent Ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and he announced the coming of Christ, saying, “He shall baptize you WITH THE HOLY GHOST” (Mat. 3:1,11). And Christ Himself taught a Jewish rabbi, saying, “Except a man be born of water and of THE SPIRIT, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Compare Paul’s definition of that Kingdom:”For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy, IN THE HOLY GHOST” (Rom. 14:17)

CHAPTER ONE

TWENTIETH CENTURY DISPENSATIONALISM:
WHAT AND WHENCE?

FOR some of our readers a definition of modern dispensationalism will be a necessity, and for all it will be a convenience. It has been defined as “that system of doctrine which divides the history of God’s dealings with the world into periods of time, called “dispensations’.” And it is an essential tenet of the system that “in each dispensation God deals with man upon a plan different from the plan of the other dispensations. . . . Each dispensation is a thing entirely apart from the others, and, when one period succeeds another, there is a radical change of character and governing principles.”(Rock or Sand, Which?, by Matthew Francis).

For example, we are told that the present era is “the dispensation of Grace,” and the last preceding was “the dispensation of Law”; and therefore the teachers of the new system strain their ingenuity to show that there was no grace in the preceding “dispensation,” and there is no law now; whereas in fact there is all the law of God now that there ever was, and there was abundance of the grace of God in the “former times.”

In the elaboration of this crude system of error, the greatest harm has been done to the revealed truth of God concerning this present era of the Gospel. According to the prophecies of the Old Testament and the apostolical scriptures of the New as they have always been understood heretofore, this is the long looked for era of the Kingdom of God, foretold by the prophets. As Peter stated it,“All the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after as many as have spoken, have likewise”–he had just referred to Moses–“spoken OF THESE DAYS” (Acts 3:24); and in his first Epistle he declares that the things now reported by those who preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, are the very things, including the salvation of souls, that were ministered in times past by the prophets; and that it was the very same “Spirit of Christ that was in them,” Who now empowers the gospel preachers (I Pet. 1:9-12).

Likewise Paul emphatically declared that in all his preaching (which even the extremest dispensationalists acknowledge as belonging to this era of grace) he had said “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (Acts 26:22).

But according to “dispensational teaching” this age is “a mystery,” a gap of unmeasured length intervening between the past era of the natural Israel, and a future era in which (so it is taught) that apostate nation will be reconstituted and its earthly glories will be restored and enhanced. We are told that “this gospel era was not in the view of the prophets at all;” and this is maintained despite the plain statements of Scripture just cited above and of others to the same effect.

One of the unhappiest of the results of this violent wrenching of the “things the angels desire to look into” from the place to which the word of God assigns them, is that “the Kingdom of God” in its entirety, including “the gospel of the Kingdom” (Mat. 24:14; Acts 20:25; 28:31) has been transferred bodily from this present age, and “postponed” to an hypothetical and mythical “dispensation” yet to come. This surely is a matter of such importance as to demand the most earnest attention of every saint of God; for it does violence to both the Old Testament and the New.

A RADICAL SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE

It will be readily seen therefore, that we have here to do with a system of teaching which, whether true or false, is of the most radical sort. Hence if true, it is most astonishing that not one of the Godly and spiritual teachers of all the Christian centuries had so much as a glimpse of it; and if false, it is high time its heretical character were exposed and the whole system dealt with accordingly. And inasmuch as it contradicts what every Christian teacher, without a known exception, has held to be the indisputable truth of Scripture concerning the Gospel of God and the Kingdom of God, it clearly belongs in the category of those “divers and strange doctrines,” against which we are specially warned (Heb. 13:9). For it is undeniably diverse from all that has been hitherto taught the people of God, and it is altogether “strange” to their ears. This I deem worthy of special emphasis, and hence would ask the reader to keep constantly in mind the fact of the absolute novelty of dispensationalism. For here is modernism in the strictest sense; and it is all the more to be feared and shunned because it comes to us in the guise and garb of strict orthodoxy.

WHENCE CAME THIS MODERN SYSTEM?

As regards the origin of the system: the beginnings thereof and its leading features are found in the writings of those known as “Brethren” (sometimes called “Plymouth Brethren,” from the name of the English city where the movement first attracted attention) though it is but fair to state that the best known and most spiritual leaders of that movement–as Darby, Kelly, Newberry, Chapman, Mueller and others, “whose names are in the Book of Life” ” never held the “Jewish” character of the Kingdom preached by our Lord and John the Baptist, or the “Jewish” character of the Gospels (especially Matthew), or that the Sermon on the Mount is “law and not grace” and pertains to a future “Jewish” kingdom.

From what I have been able to gather by inquiry of others, (who were “in Christ before me”) the new system of doctrine we are now discussing was first brought to the vicinity of New York by a very gifted and godly man, Mr. Malachi Taylor, (one of the “Brethren”) who taught it with much earnestness and plausibility. That was near the beginning of the present century, either a little before or a little after. And among those who heard and were captivated by it (for truly there is some strange fascination inherent in it) was the late Dr. C. I. Scofield, who was so infatuated with it that he proceeded forthwith to bring out a new edition of the entire Bible, having for its distinctive feature that the peculiar doctrines of this new dispensationalism are woven into the very warp and woof thereof, in the form of notes, headings, subheadings and summaries. There is no doubt whatever that it is mainly to this cleverly executed work that dispensationalism owes its present vogue. For without that aid it doubtless would be clearly seen by all who give close attention to the doctrine, that it is a humanly contrived system that has been imposed upon the Bible, and not a scheme of doctrine derived from it.

A REVIVAL OF ANCIENT RABBINISM

Then as to what this modern system of teaching is, it will be a surprise to most of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ to learn that, in respect to the central and vitally important subject of theKingdom of God, twentieth century dispensationalism is practically identical with first century rabbinism. For the cardinal doctrine of the Jewish rabbis of Christ’s day was that, according to the predictions of the prophets of Israel, the purpose and result of the Messiah’s mission would be the re-constituting of the Jewish nation; the re-occupation by them of the land of Palestine; the setting up again of the earthly throne of David; and the exaltation of the people of Israel to the place of supremacy in the world.

Now, seeing that a doctrine is known by its fruits, let us recall what effect this doctrine concerning the Kingdom of God had upon the orthodox Jews who so earnestly believed it in that day. And in view of what it impelled those zealous men to do, let us ask ourselves if there is not grave reason to fear its effect upon the orthodox Christians who hold and zealously teach it in our day? The effect then was that, when Christ came to His own people, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was at hand, but making it known that that Kingdom did not correspond at all to their idea of it; when He said, “My Kingdom is not of this world,” and taught that, so far from being Jewish, it was of such sort that a man must be born of the Spirit in order to enter it, then they rejected Him (“received Him not”) hated Him, betrayed Him and caused Him to be put to death.

Now let it be carefully noted in this connection, that the apostle Paul, referring to what had been done to Jesus by them “that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers,” said that the reason for their murderous act was “because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day”, and furthermore, that “they have fulfilled them in condemning Him” (Acts 13:27). This plainly declares that it was because the Jewish teachers had misinterpreted the messages of the prophets, that they were looking for the restoration of their national greatness, instead of that which the prophets had really foretold, a spiritual Kingdom ruled by “Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead” (2 Tim. 2:18).

Have we not therefore, good reason to fear disastrous consequences from the fact that the teachers of the new dispensationalism say the Jewish rabbis were right in their interpretation of the prophecies, that the kingdom foretold by the prophets is an earthly kingdom of Jewish character, and that in fact Christ’s mission at that very time was to restore again the earthly Kingdom to Israel? And why then did He not do it? The answer the dispensationalists give to this crucial question is one of the strangest features of the whole system. They say, in effect, that Christ was ready to do it, and that He would have done it, but that when He “offered” them the very thing they were ardently expecting, they (most inconsistently, it would appear) “refused the offer,” whereupon it was “withdrawn” and the kingdom “postponed to a future dispensation.” And when we ask for the citation of a single Scripture that mentions the alleged “offer,” or its “refusal,” or the alleged “withdrawal” and “postponement,” not a reference is produced. And particularly, when we press the vital question, what, in case the offer had been accepted, would have become of the Cross of Calvary, and the atonement for the sin of the World, the best answer we get is that in that event, “atonement would have been made some other way.” Think of it! “Some other way” than by the Cross!

Now, in view of the above facts, I do most positively insist that, whatever the conclusion one may reach after an examination of the whole subject, there is to begin with, and because of the facts just stated, a very heavy “burden of proof” resting upon those who advocate this novel and radical system of teaching. And specially I insist that, as regards the doctrine of a future restoration of national Israel, with the accompaniment of supreme earthly greatness and dominion, there are two relevant facts that should receive our most serious attention: first, that that doctrine was the very cornerstone of the creed of apostate Judaism in its last stage, and the prime cause of their rejection and crucifixion of Christ; and second, that it made its first appearance among Christians near the end of the nineteenth century. These facts may not settle anything; but certainly they do impose a heavy “burden of proof” upon those who now teach that the apostate Jews were right in their interpretation of the prophets (whose “voices,” the apostle declares, “they knew not,” Ac. 13:27) and that christian teachers and expositors for nineteen centuries were all wrong.

SOME PRESSING QUESTIONS

Moreover, because of the springing up in our midst of this new system of doctrine, certain questions of the deepest interest to the people of God are pressing for an answer at this time. Among them are the following:

Was it any part of the work of Christ to revive and reconstitute the Jewish nation? to re-establish that people in the land that was once theirs? to revive their system of worship, etc.? Did He come to reinstate the bondwoman and her son in the family of Abraham? and to make the son of the bondwoman to be heir with the son of the free woman? Did He come to raise up again, and to make permanent, that “middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile, or to take it away entirely and forever? Did He come to restore the “shadows” of the old covenant, or to abolish them? These are questions of surpassing importance, and they press for settlement at the present time. We are deeply convinced that one of the most urgent matters for the Lord’s servants and people in these last days is to grasp the truth that there is absolutely no salvation of any sort whatever, no hope for any human being, except “through the blood of the everlasting covenant;” that there is nothing but the abiding wrath of God for those who do not stand upon the terms of that covenant; and especially that there is absolutely “no difference” in God’s sight, and in His future plans, between Jew and Gentile.

The Gospel of the Kingdom

To be continued….

The plot to kill our Lord was evil and made by evil men

Good message from Mike Ratliff at Possessing the Treasure.

The persecution of Christians in these last days will most probably be at the hands of professing christians. This is nothing new. Just look at what happened to those who led the way into the Protestant Reformation. In any case, be encouraged my brethren. Stay focused on our Lord and doing His will in all things. Forget about following men. Seek our Lord’s will and do it. Never forget, God is Sovereign and no matter how difficult or hard our travail, He is there with us in the midst.

Read Here

I Don’t Regret a Mile

Heard this a few days ago. It was the first time I’d heard it in many years and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. I have many regrets folks….but all the years of miles I’ve walked with the Lord (35 now) is not one of them. Only wish I had come to Jesus earlier in my life and my journey had been a much longer one…

Israel and the Church: See the Difference?

What do you see?

Post and graphic at Pursuing Truth: Israel and the Church: See the Difference?

30 AD – 70 AD: “The Crimson Thread Remained Crimson”

Fascinating message from Adam at Pursuing Truth.

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In about 30 AD, Jesus said something to the scribes, Pharisees, and people of Jerusalem which must have been earth-shattering to His audience at the time: “See! Your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:38).  This mirrors what happened in the days of Jeremiah: “I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hands of her enemies” (Jer. 12:7).

Notice that Jesus didn’t say the temple belonged to His Father, but instead He referred to it as “your” house (speaking to the people of Jerusalem). As we will see, even secular history provides a stark depiction of the desolation of the temple and the once holy city of Jerusalem during the next 40 years, before they were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

The Talmud is an important text within Rabbinic Judaism, made up of both oral teachings and interpretations of these teachings. The earlier collection is known as the Jerusalem Talmud and the later collection, compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, is known as the Babylonian Talmud. Both of them have fascinating things to say about the 40 year period between Jesus’ ascension and the temple’s destruction in 70 AD:

[1] Jerusalem Talmud:

“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open” (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157).

[2] Babylonian Talmud:

“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot ‘For the Lord’ did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves” (Soncino version, Yoma 39b).

Continue Reading Here

New Poll: Almost half of all Americans would support Israel even if its interests diverge from those of The United States

This latest poll/article doesn’t surprise me in the least, for we see it within our own Congress and Senate. Plus I have never forgotten Evangelical author and teacher Kay Arthur’s statement from yrs back, in which she said her loyalty was and will always be with Israel over that of the United States. 

Still yet, it’s an interesting article and poll….

I recently read a book written by Robert O. Smith, “More Desired than Our Owne Salvation“, which backs up (historically) the results of this poll and the author’s observations.

A new poll from Bloomberg Politics contains a finding that, if you really think about it, is quite remarkable

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Almost half of all Americans want to support Israel even if its interests diverge from the interests of their own country. Only a minority of Americans (47 percent) say that their country should pursue their own interests over supporting Israel’s when the two choices collide. It’s the ultimate violation of George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address warning that “nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded. … The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.”

It is inconceivable that a substantial portion of Americans would want to support any other foreign country even where doing so was contrary to U.S. interests. Only Israel commands anything near that level of devoted, self-sacrificing fervor on the part of Americans. So it’s certainly worth asking what accounts for this bizarre aspect of American public opinion.

The answer should make everyone quite uncomfortable: it’s religious fanaticism. The U.S. media loves to mock adversary nations, especially Muslim ones, for being driven by religious extremism, but that is undeniably a major factor, arguably the most significant one, in explaining fervent support for Israel among the American populace. In reporting its poll findings, Bloomberg observed:

Religion appears to play an important role in shaping the numbers. Born-again Christians are more likely than overall poll respondents, 58 percent to 35 percent, to back Israel regardless of U.S. interests. Americans with no religious affiliation were the least likely to feel this way, at 26 percent.

Read more of this interesting article and view the graphs at The Intercept

 

Caught Between ISIS And Assad, A Palestinian Refugee Camp Is Starving To Death

As the Islamic State has seized most of the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and trapped about 18,000 civilians, those who were lucky enough to escape have told of the ISIS atrocities they witnessed and one even described the barbaric nature in which militants used a person’s decapitated head.

As ISIS militants descended on the Yarmouk refugee camp in the nation’s capital city of Damascus last Wednesday, thousands of civilians were trapped between the brutal extremist group and the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s with little to no food, water or medicine.

Although the death and casualty toll among Palestinian civilians at the camp is not certain, an official from the Palestinian Liberation Organization said earlier this week that at least 27 Palestinian camp residents have been killed since ISIS entered the camp, while an estimated 75 to 200 Palestinians have been abducted by ISIS during that time.

“Accurate information on casualties is difficult to obtain due to the tragic conditions inside the camp,” Ahmed Majdalani, an official for the PLO, told Palestine’s official radio station.

One 55-year-old refugee named Abdel Fatah, who is one of about 2,500 people who have fled the camp due to ISIS’ takeover, described the appalling nature of ISIS’ brutality in an interview with AFP earlier this week.

“I saw severed heads. They killed children in front of their parents. We were terrorised,” Fatah explained.
*Read more at christianpost

About Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp

The Islamic State militant group moved into Yarmouk, a refugee camp for Palestinians on the outskirts of the Syrian capital city of Damascus, last week. Since then, hundreds of the group’s fighters have been battling rival armed groups for control of the camp. IS militants currently appear to hold most of Yarmouk, resisting bombardments by the Syrian army as well as attacks from militias.

The fighting has reduced Yarmouk into a ghost town, with its civilians trapped inside by constant sniper fire and bombardments. Video footage purportedly from Yarmouk residents, collected by Reuters and other media outlets this week, showed the streets near-deserted and bombed to pieces.

But while the utter devastation portrayed in recent images of the camp may come as a shock to many, Yarmouk’s descent into ruin actually started years ago. The latest round of fighting brings an already disastrous humanitarian situation in the refugee camp one step closer to full collapse.

“Yarmouk was already a place where women had died in childbirth for lack of medicine, where children had reportedly died of malnutrition. So things were already appalling,” Chris Gunnes of UNRWA, the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, told German news broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “Yarmouk was a hell hole frankly. And with the eruption of this intense fighting, things got dramatically worse.”

Yarmouk is located about five miles south of the Damascus city center. Established in 1957, the camp served as the main refuge for tens of thousands of Palestinians who had fled their homes during and after the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, which resulted in Israel’s independence. Over the years, Yarmouk grew into a densely populated neighborhood outside the Syrian capital, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians and Syrians.

In the spring of 2011, Syrians took to the streets to demand reform from President Bashar Assad — the start of the Syrian uprising. Around the country and in Yarmouk, Palestinian refugees initially tried to remain neutral. They were divided on the anti-government protests: Some identified with the rebels, while others supported the Assad government.

Eventually, pro- and anti-Assad factions of Palestinians in Yarmouk began to clash. On Dec. 16, 2012, amid the fighting, the Syrian air force hit several civilian targets in the area, prompting hundreds of the camp’s residents to leave their homes and cross into neighboring countries for safety.

Things quickly went from bad to worse. The Syrian military put the camp on lockdown in the spring of 2013 and systematically tightened its control over the influx of people, goods and food. Yarmouk starved.

THE SIEGE

“I eat anything that I can get my hands on. I eat on average one meal every 30 hours, ”one Yarmouk resident told Amnesty International in a report published in early 2014.

Amnesty’s report detailed the deteriorating conditions in the camp after Syria’s military began cracking down. By July 2013, the blockade was complete, and all people, goods and foods were barred from entering the camp.

Residents had to resort to desperate measures. Many were forced to forage for food. Reports circulated of civilians eating herbs and drinking water with spices in place of a meal.

According to Amnesty:

For months residents survived scouring the area for anything that might be edible, including cactus leaves, dandelion leaves and other plants. Hunger has driven many to expose themselves to government snipers while searching for food.

The United Nations said last month that more than a hundred people in Yarmouk have died of hunger or from illnesses made worse by hunger or lack of medical care.

Those who remained behind became completely dependent on aid from outside, but more often than not, the regime denied aid organizations access to the camp. In January 2014, UNRWA was finally allowed in. Shortly after, a photo showing thousands of residents lining up for aid distributions made headlines around the world.

Even after it was permitted to access the camp in January 2014, however, UNRWA says it was only able to distribute aid 131 days out of the year. “Clearly not enough,”UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in March. The food and medicine that got delivered did not come close to meeting the needs of all those remaining in the camp. The agency has continued to face difficulties working in Yarmouk.

“My kids get up in the morning asking for a glass of milk or a piece of bread. I can only give them a radish or vegetables, and sometimes even this is not available,” one father told UNRWA earlier this year.

THE REFUGEES

Yarmouk was once home to more than 150,000 Palestinian refugees, but aid agencies estimate that the population has been reduced to about 18,000 residents since the Syrian government’s siege began in 2013. According to Amnesty’s 2014 report, most of those left behind are too weak or too poor to seek shelter elsewhere.

Many who did make it out ended up in refugee camps in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. They have became refugees for a second time — first, they fled their homes in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and now they have been forced to leave Yarmouk as well.

*Read More at HuffingtonPost

NAR prophet Chuck Pierce gives ‘mantle’ to Mormon Glenn Beck

Nothing surprises me any more. 

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On Sunday, Chuck Pierce–an influential prophet in the New Apostolic Reformation–presented a “new mantle for the future” to television and radio host Glenn Beck, a Mormon. The mantle was presented to Beck at Pierce’s Global Spheres Center in Corinth, Texas, during a church service Beck attended with his family.

Some of Pierce’s followers expressed concern that Pierce would present a mantle to a Mormon. Pierce responded Sunday by posting a brief comment on Facebook defending his action. In short, Pierce distanced himself from the mantle by claiming that “Glenn Beck is devoted to Israel. The mantle was given from Israel.” It appears–from the other comments posted on Pierce’s Facebook page–many of his followers are buying his explanation. But I’m not. Here’s why.

What’s a “mantle”?

Anyone who is deeply involved in the NARunderstands what it means when a prophet presents a “mantle” to someone. This practice is an allusion to a story in 1 Kings 19:19, when the prophet Elijah gives to the prophet Elisha his cloak–or “mantle,” as the word is rendered in the King James Version. This biblical story is interpreted by people in the NARas a symbolic action, showing that the prophet Elijah was naming the prophet Elisha as his prophetic successor.

So when Pierce presented a mantle to Beck, people in the audience–who regard Pierce as a prophet–understood that their prophet was conferring some type of prophetic status on Beck. This should trouble Christians. Why? Because a leading prophet in the NAR is recognizing a member of the Mormon church–a cult of Christianity, which rejects essential doctrines of the Christian faith– as a true messenger of God. A true prophet of God would do no such thing.

Pierce apparently felt the need to offer a further justification for his action. Yesterday he posted a lengthier comment in which he acknowledged that Beck is a Mormon–though he also hinted that Beck may be on the path to becoming fully Christian. (And take notice that he referred to Beck as a specific individual’s “son in the Lord”–language that is typically used by Christians to describe a true Christian believer.) Certainly, many of Pierce’s followers have interpreted Pierce’s action to mean that he recognizes Beck as a fellow Christian.

Read MORE HERE

Meet Bibi’s New Friends: The New Apostolic Reformation

Interesting…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been one of the most beloved Israeli politicians in the history of Christian Zionism. It has been a religio-political match made in heaven, with Christian Right leaders providing Netanyahu with money in Israel and political clout in the U.S., and the Israeli leader putting up with an Evangelical end-times theology.

But while Netanyahu is still in office, his Christian Zionist dance partners have changed. They no longer adhere to the fantastical, but generally passive end-times theology from which Christian Zionism emerged. Today’s Christian Zionists hail from apostolic and prophetic movements such as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a demon-haunted new generation of American religio-politics, which may change the terms of the American-Israeli right-wing partnership in the bargain…

Christian Zionism has recently been transformed by a new generation with a radically different theology that actively seeks to proselytize in Israel, Eastern Europe, and South America, and which promotes an aggressive Christian nationalism in the U.S. Today’s Christian Zionism is dominated by the Charismatic/Pentecostal sector of Christianity, with the NAR first and foremost. Several CUFI directors, past and present, are part of the NAR leadership, and NAR spokespeople have gained prominence in Christian Zionist circles.

Get to know the NAR: they are the future of the Christian Right. Their leaders describe themselves as modern day “apostles and prophets,” anointed by God to reform the church in preparation for the end times. This is a triumphalist theology, one in which the adherents believe they will exercise “dominion” over all of American society, be victorious over their opponents on earth…

TheDailyBeast

Related: Mike Huckabee Stands Willing To ‘Call Fire Down From Heaven’

Israel chooses the path to apartheid

Good article at Haaretz

I must add last weeks Israeli election opened my eyes. For years my belief (noted by the many posts I’ve put up over those years) was the problem in Israel was their government, their leaders. After last week I now realize while that may be true, it’s only true in part: actually, it is the majority of the citizens. After reading and watching a clip containing the “Jim Crow like” statements from Netanyahu (see: An American translation of Netanyahu’s racist get out the vote speech) and reading his statement (“NO two State solution, ever!”), which resulted in the landside victory of Netanyahu, I admit to being duped. I understand now, the majority of the citizenry of Israel do not want peace and care not in the least, about the welfare of those which they treat as prisoners…less then human.   

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It was once possible to argue that Israel’s policies were not the same as apartheid because their stated goal, however imperfectly pursued, was to end the occupation. After Netanyahu’s reelection, this is no longer the case.

In my quarter century as Washington correspondent for Jewish newspapers, I frequently defended Israel against charges that it had created an apartheid system in the West Bank. But this week’s election, with Benjamin Netanyahu poised to serve another term with an even more hardline coalition, means that apartheid is the path Israeli voters have chosen. The inevitable results will include even greater international isolation for the Jewish state, a boost to efforts to apply boycotts and sanctions, diminished support from American Jews and endlessly intensifying cycles of violence.

Since the Madrid peace process began in 1991, it was possible – though sometimes with great difficulty – to argue that Israel wanted to find some route to accommodation with the Palestinians. Sure, there were huge obstacles to overcome, not the least of which was a shortsighted Palestinian leadership and a volatile, nervous electorate in Israel.

 

But government after government at least said the right things about the need to create a Palestinian state and to make painful compromises, even if action lagged far behind the words.

It was possible to accept journalist Gershom Gorenberg’s thesis that the occupation was an “accidental empire,” its endurance shaped less by determined policies than by inertia and political cowardice. It was awful to watch even progressive governments cringe before an aggressive settlers movement, but it was understandable, especially for Americans accustomed to the timidity of our own leaders in the face of aggressive extremists.

The idea of apartheid suggests the intent to make separation and unequal treatment permanent, and in the past it was possible to argue that for all the expansion of settlements, Israel was still looking for ways to end the occupation.

No more.

Frightened by the last minute rise of the Zionist Union list in polls, Netanyahu unambiguously expressed what critics have long asserted was his core ideology: no Palestinian state. No territorial concessions. None. Period.

And Israel’s voters returned him to office, in what was widely reported as a resounding victory.

He was returned to power despite his attempt to shore up support on his political right by coming to Washington and undermining the relationship with Israel’s most critical ally, the United States, and by giving a huge boost to Republican efforts to make support for Israel a political wedge issue instead of the bipartisan cause it has always been.

He was returned to power despite the ugly attempt to scare voters with the specter of a big turnout of Israeli Arabs.

 

And he was returned to power after his crystal clear rejection of Palestinian statehood and the territorial compromise that most of the world believes is the only way to ensure a peaceful future for a democratic Jewish state. There were reports this week that Netanyahu was attempting to walk those comments back, but his credibility on the issue of Palestinian statehood, never strong, is nonexistent.

In the absence of any willingness to work toward a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the future is clear: continuing occupation with no effort to find a way to end it, accelerating settlement construction and a hardening of policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank.

In other words, apartheid.

Once, it was possible to argue that Israel’s policies were not the same as apartheid because their stated goal, however imperfectly pursued, was to end the occupation. No more: Bibi’s reelection makes it clear that Israeli voters, more clearly aware of Netanyahu’s intent than ever, have chosen the apartheid path, and will now have to live with the consequences.

(more)

Iran’s Khamenei: GOP letter points to U.S. ‘disintegration

Never thought I’d be publicly agreeing with (the) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but in this instance I believe he is correct. The two fiascos (alone) we have witnessed in Washington DC the past couple weeks prove his point. 

‘Isn’t this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration?’ the Iranian leader said.

Iran‘s supreme leader said Thursday that a letter from Republican lawmakers warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped by the next U.S. president is a sign of “disintegration” in Washington.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the letter a sign of “the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration,” according to the official IRNA news agency. It was the first reaction to the letter by Khamenei, who has the final say over all major policies.

Khamenei said states typically remain loyal to their commitments even if governments change, ” but American senators officially announced the commitment will be null and void after this government leaves office. Isn’t this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration?”

 

Source: Haaretz 

Anyone who reads here knows I believe we are seeing God’s judgment upon this Nation. There can be no other explanation for the obvious desire by many of our elected officials to destroy this Nation, and their actions to ensure this comes about.

Related: The Self-Destruction of America by David Wilkerson | Published, February 25, 1993

Prayer Needed: American Missionary Phyllis Sortor Kidnapped in Nigeria

The Free Methodist Church in the U.S. is now calling for prayers after one of their working missionaries, the Rev. Phyllis Sortor, was abducted by masked and armed men in Nigeria Monday morning who’ve demanded a $300,000 ransom for her safe return. Her distraught family, however, say they cannot afford it.

“Early this morning we received a report that Rev. Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in Nigeria, was abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi State, Nigeria, by several persons. The U.S. Embassy has been notified, and the State Department and the FBI are working with local authorities to find and rescue her. We are calling on the U.S. church to join together in prayer for Phyllis’ safety and speedy release,” the church noted in a statement posted on its website Monday.

The Christian Post reached out to Free Methodist World Missions for further comment on Tuesday but one was not available at the time of publication.

Sortor was reportedly taken by a gang of five armed men after they jumped the walls of the Hope Academy compound in Kogi state in Nigeria and fired shots at about 4:30 a.m. Sortor is the financial administrator for Hope Academy, according to the church’s website.

Kogi State Police Commissioner Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi told NBC News that he believes Sortor was targeted by her abductors because no one else was taken or injured and they are now demanding $300,000 to release her.

“We will do all within the available resources to ensure the safe rescue of the victim,” said Ogunjemilusi.

The missionary’s stepson, Richard Sortor, told Q13 Fox that her family in the U.S. haven’t been told much about what happened to her but they are clamoring for her speedy return.

“She was taken in front of her house by three guys with machine guns,” said Sortor, outside the Free Methodist Churchin Seattle, Washington, where parishioners prayed for the abducted missionary’s safe return Monday night.

We are just a working-class family, we don’t have money. That’s not a huge church, they don’t have money. Why they took her, who knows? The people that are doing this stuff, these guys have no backing — they’re just cowards,” he added.

More of this news release with photos at The Christian Post

UN Report Reveals Israel is Coordinating with ISIS Militants Inside Syria

There is much we poor ignorant American citizens are not in the ‘know’ about. Frankly I’m somewhat glad to be kept in the dark….ignorance can indeed be bliss when the alternative is the realization the world and world’s leaders are insane. This news item is one example.

This story has been completely blacked out in the US and UK English-speaking corporate media, even though the Israeli press has actually reported this numerous times (see multiple links below).

See: UN Report Reveals How Israel is Coordinating with ISIS Militants Inside Syria

EXPLAINING CHRISTIAN ZIONISM TO ISRAELIS

Interesting article and turn of events. It appears an Israeli “think tank” (Molad) has been quietly investigating the influence American Christian Zionist groups have had (and continue to have) on Israeli politics and politicians, and has now published a full report.

quote,

To many Israelis, the world of Christian Zionism is largely hidden from public view. But a new report out from the Israeli progressive think tank, Molad, aims to change that, casting a bright light on the oddly symbiotic alliances between Christian Zionist activists and Israeli leaders. The investigative report, released Friday, documents these relationships, as well as those between Christian Zionists and the settler movement, which benefits from their largesse.

Christian Zionists, says Liat Schlesinger, Molad’s researcher for the report, are routinely referred to in the Israeli press as “Christians who love Israel.” But that description obscures their theology. “It doesn’t allow a critical look into their theology, what is their purpose, what is their interest in Israel,” she said in an interview in which she shared many of the report’s findings.

The term Christian Zionist, said Schlesinger, “is very confusing” to Israelis. “What we’re showing in the report is they’re not Zionists if they wish for the destruction of the Israeli state. Zionism is one thing and their religious motive is something else.”

The narrative is familiar to Americans who follow religion, politics, and the Middle East: Christian Zionists support Israel. When in Washington, they will frame this support—frequently described as biblically mandated love—in political and policy terms, such as opposing a nuclear deal with Iran or negotiations with the Palestinians. (Or, more recently, supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress.) But at church, on religious television, in books, and at religious conferences, this love for Israel and Jews is unabashedly presented as biblical prophecy come to life…

While Christian Zionists (and Messianic Jews, and evangelicals who straddle both) remain largely outside the orbit of the average Israeli, these activists from around the world have made themselves crucial allies to Israeli lawmakers. The Molad report, which is currently available only in Hebrew, aims to show Israelis the role Christian Zionists play in the country’s politics, and how Israeli politicians dismiss violent end-times prophecies as mild theological differences among friends. Schlesinger noted that the Israeli right wing often accuses the left of accepting foreign money, but there is “secret funding that comes to right-wing parties from evangelicals that is completely hidden from the public.”

Mining public documents, Schlesinger uncovered at least 69 trips Knesset members took around the world—including some to attractive destinations seemingly divorced from the turmoil of the Middle East, like the Caribbean, Barbados, and Rome—paid for by Christian Zionist organizations, and one, even, by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. Many of the Christian Zionist organizations are hardly household names, even in the U.S., highlighting that many small, obscure Christian Zionist organizations together make up a subculture invisible to Israelis yet deeply influential to their country’s politics….

While U.S. ethics requirements mandate that members of Congress disclose the funders and purpose of foreign travel, including specific locations visited and meetings held, Israeli law only requires disclosure of the funder and destination. (Because of those requirements in the U.S., the American public can discover more details about Christian Zionist-funded trips American lawmakers take to Israel and the occupied territories.)

In turn, Schlesinger said, MKs provide the flourishing Christian tourism business in Israel with special treatment: VIP meetings with members of the Knesset, officially sanctioned awards to prominent Christian Zionists, MK endorsements of the Christian ministries, useful for the ministries’ fundraising activities, and Christian worship services featuring Israeli soldiers, and even one in the Knesset. Israeli MKs look the other way when Christian Zionists attempt to import the American culture wars, by opening crisis pregnancy centers or bringing anti-gay rhetoric to Israel.

The Israeli right wing, said Schlesinger, “is promoting the idea that Christian Zionists love Israel, so it’s free. We take their money and we don’t convert.” ….

While the prospect of evangelicals influencing Israeli law or policy on LGBT issues or abortion seems remote, their influence on settlements, the occupation, and opposition to a peace deal with the Palestinians has a far more profound impact. (Christian Zionists, for example, are big supporters of continued settlement growth and of what they call an “undivided Jerusalem,” which would negate the possibility of a Palestinian capital there and thus a two-state solution.)

Schlesinger said the relationship between Christian Zionists and settlers has also spawned a shadow tourism industry in the occupied territories. Evangelicals, said Schlesinger, enjoy visiting the West Bank, “they like to come to Ariel and ride in armored cars.” American evangelicals harvest grapes for wine made in the West Bank, and they fund a range of services from kindergartens and libraries to security equipment.

The Molad report has already been featured in an Israeli television broadcast focusing on the relationships between Christian Zionists and Israeli and settler leaders….

The reporter asks Revivi if rabbis would say not to take money from Christian Zionists. Most, says Revivi, advise taking it. Money, he says, has power.

Source

*Also interesting reading at a few of the links included.

The Promise of His Coming

“God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over.

“God is going to invade, all right, but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else–something it never entered your head to conceive–comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choices left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side… That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have already chosen, whether we realized it before or not.

“Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.”

~ C.S.Lewis

This is now the second letter that I have written to you, beloved, and in both of them I have aroused your sincere mind by way of reminder; ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. ³ First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water,⁶ through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

⁸ But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

¹¹ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ¹² waiting for and hastening^[b] the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! ¹³ But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  2Peter 3:1-13 

Remembering our Brethren

In the midst of our own trials and tribulations, let us not forget our brethren who are facing death daily in the middle-east. 

(CNN)Egyptian warplanes staged a second wave of airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya on Monday in retaliation for the slaughter of 21 Egyptian Christians by ISIS militants, Egypt’s state-run Ahram Online reported, citing security officials…

The bombing raids came after ISIS released a gruesome video Sunday that appeared to show ISIS militants beheading men they said were Christians on a beach.

Threats from English-speaking jihadi

The footage, bearing many of the hallmarks of previous ISIS videos of the killing of hostages, has intensified international concerns about ISIS’ deepening reach into countries far beyond its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

The slickly produced video shows the apparent mass killing, with jihadists in black standing behind each of the victims, who are all dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands cuffed behind them.

Twenty-one Egyptian Christians were kidnapped in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December and January. They were reportedly from impoverished villages and went to Libya looking for work.

Although the ISIS video showed around a dozen men being beheaded, Egyptian officials said that all 21 Christians were believed to have been killed.

Some of the hostages cry out “Oh God” and “Oh Jesus” as they are pushed to their knees..

Source: CNN

Read the below news item last night which seems to confirm what many of the experts have been saying recently. 

The hacktivist collective known as Anonymous hacked into hundreds of ISIS Twitter accounts and email addresses in a major strike called #OpISIS.

In a statement issued by Anonymous, the group which describes itself as “Muslims, Christians, Jews …” and said they “come from all races, countries, religions, and ethnicity” declared that ISIS militants are not Muslims.

Source: CPost (see full article if time allows)

Why evangelicals should think twice about equating modern Israel with Israel of the Bible

Steve Lumbley (Apostasy Watch) posted this both at Facebook and at his website. I found it very interesting, but that could be because until last year, questions concerning modern-day Israel plagued me. They no longer do, as I can no longer equate the modern State called Israel today, with the Israel of the Bible. The author of this message brings forth one of the reasons I found also during my studies. Adam, at Pursuing Truth, if I’m not mistaken, has at least one or more posts on the topic (of modern-day Israel–who, what, etc) as well. If anyone is interested I’ll be happy to locate them for you. 

From the website of BEN IRWIN

The other day, I raised a question for evangelicals who think standing with Israel means supporting them no matter what. How do you reconcile a “never criticize Israel” mentality with the overwhelming witness of the biblical prophets?

If you’ve been told that unconditional support for Israel is the only “biblical” position, that the modern-day state enjoys the same kind of “most favored nation” status with God as ancient Israel did, then here’s another question. If Israel today is entitled to the covenant blessings spoken by the Old Testament, what about their covenant obligations?

The Bible never spoke of Israel’s covenant blessings apart from their obligations. It’s no use trying to have one without the other. And at least one of these obligations poses a bit of a problem for the modern state of Israel, if it is indeed the same nation as the one in the Bible.

Ancient Israel was not supposed to have a standing army. They weren’t supposed to stockpile weapons. There were no taxes to fund a permanent military. Israel’s rulers were forbidden from amassing large numbers of horses (Deuteronomy 17:16-17)—which was about as close as you could get to an arms race in the ancient Near East. Israel’s king was not supposed to make foreign military alliances. God stipulated that Israel should remain militarily weak so they would learn to trust him for protection.

See More Here