Revelation TV

I really don’t like saying this, but I’ve gone off watching Rev.TV.   I’d always been a bit choosy about the programmes as I puzzled about their content and direction at times. An example is their ‘Heroes of  Faith’  series. Some of their choices seemed very strange to me as I wouldn’t have regarded them as christian at all.  It all lacked the basic discernment I would have expected from mature , born again Christians.  But hey  -  nobody is perfect and I’m well aware of my own short-comings . We’re all on a learning curve, so I was prepared to believe that over time and with input from viewers they would , by God’s Spirit and grace,  develop the necessary wisdom and discernment needed.  But I’m afraid it was not to be ….  if anything things are worse.

They do not appear to be open to correction and those who try to do that are suddenly made into their enemies, as in the recent debacle with Jacob Prasch.

It was actually seeing the way Howard and Gordon publically dealt with the situation , on air, that was the final eye-opener for me. Their villification and sarcasm took me completely by surprise. To add to that, they refused to read out any dissenting emails,   giving the impression [to me at least] that the bulk of viewers must be in accord with them.  But I subsequently found that there were plenty of Christians who supported Jacob Prasch’s stand,  Bob Mitchell being one of them.  Oh that other Rev tv Presenters would come out of the closet too …. it’s the Devil who likes to hide everything isn’t it?  Doug Harris claimed that nobody was ‘gagged’ and that all presenters were free to say what they liked. In which case the silence proves that they go along with it all.

At first I was very disappointed that Jacob Prasch had decided to go , thinking that his decision may have been hasty – after all he was a shining light in the darkness and wasn’t afraid to speak out . He was definitely needed at Rev TV. But now I see that he did the right thing.  There comes a time to shake off the dust and move on – sadly, even among fellow believers.

In trying to analyse and understand the current apostasy that seems to be sweeping the church , including true born again believers, it seems that TRUTH is taking second place to unity. The majority think that if you tell the truth you are not being loving , not only that, you are presenting a disunited front to the world by not ‘accepting’ differences.  I think this was the basis of Howard and Gordon’s objections to Jacob Prasch. [that is apart from the obvious offence taken by Howard that someone should be trying to tell him how to run his TV station].

But should the truth be compromised for the sake of the appearance of love and unity ? I think not, for that is how deception works . 1 Tim describes the church as the ‘pillar and the ground of truth’. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we don’t defend it, for we will be tossed about with every wind of doctrine that comes along from every source outside that truth.  Our first protection of armour is to ‘stand with your loins girt about with truth’  Eph6:14   We get deceived because we love men more than we love the truth.

Sometimes I wonder if some Christians, by the mere fact that they are Christians,  think they are immune to being deceived  – which is the biggest deception of all. Scripturally, all of the NT warnings are given to the church of course and deception was high on the Saviour’s list of end-time events. I believe that Rev TV doesn’t take this seriously enough – otherwise why oh why would they allow Seventh day Adventism /Roman Catholicism /Kingdom Now  etc etc  air time?  It is all mixed up with  glimpses of the true Gospel of Christ  – such a confused message is being presented.

I still occasionally watch Rev tv and the other evening I saw Howard and Gordon present the Late Show. They discussed the road Rev tv should take and it’s purpose etc. You would have thought, as Christians, their priority would be the presentation of  the Gospel  – to make sure that truth and integrity are paramount. But no – they were more concerned that the broadcasts be presented in an acceptable way to the mainly British audience , rather than the American style.  To Howard’s credit, he has an aversion to the money-making , often fraudulent tele-evangelists. But that makes his decision to allow Jesse Duplantis air time but ban Benny Hinn all the more puzzling  – to me they are in the same camp.

My greatest disappointment has been the continued ecumenism and favour bestowed on the RC church. [See also my post  'Oh Me Oh My'  May 5th 2011]  Now we have ‘Voice in the Wilderness’ presented bya practising RC couple.  Yes  – they are lovely , helpful people , and although I only ever watched bits and pieces , they used the scriptures a lot etc and I couldn’t fault what they said.  But therein lies the subtlety of deception  -  it gives the impression that it’s fine to be a Roman Catholic.  Even Doug Harris said it was ok for a Christian to go to a RC church if that was the only church in the area.

Howard’s reasoning is that they believe in the Trinity and Deity of Christ so that makes them ok. But of course it doesn’t.  The ground of truth is in the Gospel itself.  The Devil and his demons believe in the Trinity too don’t they?  We have entirely different gospels and the Apostle Paul says to refuse anyone who brings a different gospel  to you. RCs need the true gospel message as much as any other unbeliever.

So  – where to next I wonder ?  Well , I can only see matters getting worse if Rev tv continues on the current path of  its ecumenical and religio-political agenda – which obviously will end up being a huge tool of the end-time apostate church.   What a tragedy …..

Well – I have many other things to say but maybe I will keep that for another post , seeing that I’ve had such a long gap since my previous one. I’m maybe just letting off steam to myself  here – but I don’t mind as too often I talk myself out of posting a blog.  I’m loathe to make any claims whatsoever to being ‘led of the Lord ‘ to do anything. I  can only ‘do’  and then trust that what I write is acceptable to the Lord and does not bring His name into disrepute.  I am very conscious of being a ‘sinner saved by grace’.

God bless you and please leave a comment if you feel so inclined         Eileen

Is Evolution a Mere Convenience?

What is the real ‘truth’ about evolution and the origins of life and our universe? This side of eternity it can never be proved because it was a one off event, none of us were there and it can’t be observed happening now.

Evolutionary scientists change their minds all the time about origins and the evidence before them and often , when they do that, there is never an apology for getting stuff wrong and leading us all astray. Text books containing all sorts of  known errors and false charts are still apparently used to support the idea that we somehow must have evolved from more primitive  life forms. Evolution is now ingrained in populations everywhere as the unquestionable truth, so who cares about a few mistakes ?  It has become a convenience to believe it – the scientists have done your thinking for you.

Scientists are NOT God and we would do well to remember that  -  they are fallible men and women just like the rest of us. They cannot avoid bringing their own biased opinions into the equation however ‘objective’ they like to think they are. That is not to say that I don’t believe in Science – far from it -  my belief  in and appreciation of true Science is enhanced greatly by my belief  in a Creator God.

In spite of  evolution Theory’s obvious faults, gaps and lack of real evidence, evolutionists hang on to their beliefs no matter what, because to believe in special creation by God would be unthinkable – therefore they don’t consider it seriously at all and so the mind remains closed.

What I find so illogical is that they admit to seeing ‘Design’ everywhere !  Some scientists even call it ‘Intelligent Design’, making themselves unpopular with other scientists who can see the logical conclusion of such thinking – namely that ID = GOD.  The likes of Richard Dawkins dismiss it with  ‘it has the appearance of design’  BUT we musn’t let this fool us because it isn’t really !

Why is it that when archaeologists dig up tiny pieces of pottery or jewellery etc, they immediately recognise the hand of a craftsman at work but when they dig up an equally recognisable piece of bone that can even contain information within it – they do not recognise or acknowledge the hand of  the Great Original Craftsman.  Somehow this piece of bone made itself.  My logic tells me – something that looks designed and made = had a designer and maker.

Carrying on with my logical thought  – compare the teaching of evolution eg  that one form of life developed from a previous one , in a gradual way and over millions and millions of years,  with the actual evidence around us and what do we find?  We find that everything in our world is inter dependent and nothing can exist alone. It therefore HAD to come about as a fully functioning self-contained system, with all its parts working in proper coordination. There are actual working LAWS that govern our universe. Distances between planets etc are measured and orbits followed. Nothing is random. How could it all have happened by chance ??   Everything around and within our planet has been designed to support and sustain the life that is  here. There are life cycles and eco systems in place that just couldn’t have functioned randomly in the past if evolution were true. In fact – the more billions of years it took to evolve , the more impossible it becomes.

That old question of   ‘what came first – the chicken or the egg ?’  is easily answered : the chicken, because a mature male and female of the species were needed to produce the chick. The Laws of nature work that way. God created a mature man and woman to begin the Human race with a mature planet to live on. Those who study DNA etc have come to the conclusion that we all had a common ancestor ! The evidence shows it.

The only reason I can see that would make an evolutionist unwilling to face up to the scientific evidence for God is that they don’t want to be beholden to an Authority higher than their own. They are in rebellion against their Creator.

I think the reason God was gracious to me and able to get through to my stubborn brain eventually was because, although I was an atheist, I used to sometimes find myself thinking [ especially after a head-on with someone]  that yes – it would be wonderful if there really was a God who took an interest in our lives and cared about what happening to us. But I reasoned that because evolution was a proven fact, it was just wishful thinking  and believers were just deluded people.

How glad I am that I now know differently and my spiritual journey, once I decided to take it, resulted in a life-changing encounter with our God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

God bless all who read this – believer and non-believer alike  – please feel free to leave any comments, good or otherwise.

Encouragement

Every Christian needs encouragement from time to time when we flag and are not exactly feeling ‘aglow with the Spirit’. This post is I suppose a personal testimony of God’s care and faithfulness, written to those unbelievers who like to think that ‘God’ is a figment of our imagination and wishful thinking. Imagination and wishful thinking can never make something happen  -  but God can and does. Every true Christian knows through Scripture and their personal relationship with God that He accomplishes all things for us and works everything together for our good  – including  the bad things that happen.

After my husband died suddenly four years ago, one of the things I missed most [ and still do of course] was having that special someone to share things with  – Christian things especially. We were very much alike in our tastes and interests as well as our temperaments and sense of humour and did most things together. So it was a huge loss and there was no other person, humanly speaking, who could fill that space.  I know it’s the same for others and it results of course in feeling extremely lonely,  no matter how kind and helpful family, friends and acquaintances try to be.

The reason I’m going into all this is that I was necessarily thrown into the position of sole reliance upon God’s grace in my hour of need and I can honestly say that He never failed me once. Every time I cried out to Him in my desperation and grief, He was always faithful to His Word to comfort those that mourn and He gave me the promised ‘peace that passes understanding’, plus the added strength that I needed for day to day living.

Another thing  I miss is that when I’m feeling poorly or, as was the case very recently, in absolute agony with back pain [ a recurring problem], there is nobody  with me now to sympathise and help me feel sorry for myself  [only joking!].  That isn’t to say that family, friends and neighbours wouldn’t help me out – of course they would – but they’re not always there at 3 o’clock in the morning are they ?? Anyway  – everyone has their own life to live with their own problems and anxieties to cope with  – nobody is immune from life’s trials.

So, yet again I was totally reliant upon God to get me through. I’ve a tendency to cry out to the Lord for either healing and deliverance from pain or to ask Him at least to show me how to cope and help myself  – and experience has taught me that to cry out to the Lord is for Him to hear and answer in His own way – and sure enough – He does.

When you’re in pain, all you want is relief from it and it’s so difficult to shift your mind set from thinking about the pain to focussing on God . But usually when I manage to do just that He gives me a scripture to meditate on. During this latest episode it was ‘ Rejoice evermore.Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.’ [1Thess 5:16-18]  And d’you know what ?  It worked !

Not only that  – as I was puzzling with myself over why I keep getting these back things [ complicated by the fact that I have a Hiatus Hernia too !] and what it really was   – the words ‘muscle spasm’ came into my thoughts. So , in spite of still feeling very fragile, I did a Google search on my ipad and low and behold the info fitted me to a T  ….  including the fact that it’s probably the most severe pain you can suffer and that it can be the result of RSI through sitting at the computer too long !  I’d had a back muscle spasm many years previously, but that was caused  by sneezing so I never associated the other episodes with it – although I knew it must be muscle-related. You may be wondering  if I went to the Doctor ? Well, having been often in the past and not getting any particular diagnosis it becomes something you just live with [ plus pain-killers].

So, in spite of the fact that I probably bring these things upon myself through bad habits [ like Blogging]   – the Lord is gracious and makes me more than a ‘conqueror’ again through Him who loves me  … and all who will turn to Him.

Oh Me, Oh My !

Two evenings ago [3rd may]  I watched the Late Show on Revelation tv.  Usually it’s very interesting and I like the presenter Howard’s natural, unassuming style. Even his tendency to ramble a bit is quite endearing and sometimes humorous. However  – this time was an entirely different  thing.

To tell the truth – I really didn’t know what to make of it. On their web site the programme is described as a ‘Roundup of significant breaking news which is relevant to Church without Walls and sharing teaching to edify the Body of Christ’.   Putting it mildly, it just didn’t live up to the brief.

All we had was poor Howard complaining about bullies and various things that had happened in his life – plus a few near-expletives – none of which were very edifying. In fact it came across as almost incoherent at times and it was hard to grasp what he was trying to say, partly because he kept  ‘hinting’ rather than being specific about what exactly had happened to bring on his sad mood.  He came across as someone depressed and in need of ‘counselling’    -  there was absolutely no sense of any overcoming in Christ whatsoever !

I must say at times his descriptions were hilarious [ whether this was his sense of humour kicking in or not I don't know],  but really I question the wisdom of letting Howard loose on us all when he’s in such a mood and suffering goodness knows what !     I know he’s just trying to be himself and honest but there are times when it seems completely inappropriate , in my humble opinion,  but then what do I know ??

I don’t mean this as a personal attack as I like Howard and I know that anyone in the front line as he is, is bound to attract stuff that is hard to bear  – but what an opportunity missed to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in it all   ……  it left me perplexed.  That old adage ‘ if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen’  comes to mind !  I hope I’m not being too harsh on the poor chap ….

PART 2

My next gripe is about Howard’s [ yes  - Howard again I'm afraid]  apparent accommodation of Roman Catholicism.  On one recent programme he stated that he didn’t think it right that people should equate the Pope with the Antichrist because he’s a good man and  for  Christ not against Him and he stands for the moral good [ or that was the gist].

I was very surprised that Howard made such a basic error in his understanding of the word ‘anti’  as I thought the accepted Christian understanding of the word was it meant ‘in place of’ and not ‘against’ [ in this context]. We all know that one of the Pope’s titles is ‘Vicar of Christ’ or the Voice of Christ.  When the Pope speaks – Christ speaks !  This is the deception of the Last Days apostate Church  -  it’s ok to be ecumenical because the Pope is one of us  -  he speaks out about abortion etc so that makes it legitimate for true Christians to be partners with him for whatever ’cause’.  I can’t help but be amazed at the naivety ….

To add to Howard’s endorsment of Roman Catholicism,  his guest on the Late Show last night was a chap called Cyril Smith.  Now  – it didn’t seem a good start to me that Howard’s introduction of him [ if my memory serves me right] as ‘the nearest thing to a Saint’  – or at least – a ‘Saintly man’ didn’t seem to phase the man at all  ….  the warning bells also sounded when he mentioned his ‘Kingdom Faith’ background.   Anyhow  -  this man is a  Christian who has chosen, he believes by God’s call , to remain a Roman Catholic.  He was told by God [ as was Howard] via prophecy that he would be used to reach people who couldn’t be reached by others.

Now  – it may be that Cyril Smith is right when he says that God wants him to stay in order to bring the Gospel to RCs, but I doubt very much that he would counsel them to leave.  If God wanted him  to stay for a season to reap the Harvest of the gospel , followed by  an ‘exodus’ I would be the first to rejoice.  My problem is that there seems to be a confusion surrounding RCs being ‘Baptised in the Holy Spirit’ and being ‘Saved’….  NB  below.   I suggest that if they are genuinely saved, their own conscience would not be able to tolerate the idolotry and blasphemy of the Mass let alone all the the other diabolical heresies of the RC church. Please understand here that I am not judging or trying to be unkind to ordinary members of the RC church  – they are sincere and are ignorant of the Scriptures for the most part. [That's the reason they need the Gospel].  But shame on evangelical Christians who should know better .  I would like to ask Howard and Cyril  – what was the Reformation all about ?  It makes complete nonsense of history to dismiss so lightly the Reformers ‘  stand and in some cases loss of life  for the sake of the truth of God’s Word.  It also negates the stand that ex RC Priests like Richard Bennett take in our own time. The end times apostate Church is here alright  – deceiving even the elect !

NB :       Way back in 1964 I got saved in the Charismatic ‘revival’ going on in the CofE.  While still a young Christian, the Church I belonged to held an ecumenical ‘Mission’ , so we had RC monks and nuns visiting and holding meetings.  It was all exciting and wonderful because we thought it a marvelous work of  the grace of God that He was pouring out his Spirit on Roman Catholics too.  BUT  – the big difference was that I fully expected those who were so blessed to  ‘come out of her’.  However to my eventual dismay I realised it wasn’t going to happen -  they were quite happy, thank you very much,  to go along with the notion that as God had baptised them with the Holy Spirit while they were members of the RC church, then that meant it was also an endorsment of the RC system  – aided and abetted by Evangelical Christians I might add.  The truth of God’s Word and the Gospel didn’t come into it at all !

This throws a huge question mark on their ‘Charismatic’ experience being the focus rather than the Gospel of salvation. The cart comes before the horse it seems. A Roman Catholic is ‘saved’ by the sacraments still.  The big  Error , with ecumenical Christians in tow, goes on.  Those who try to make a stand for Truth are just legalistic trouble makers, out of touch with what God is doing, aren’t they ?

Your comments  – in agreement or not are always welcome.         Eileen

PS  – any secular ‘Links’ below are not mine !

Forgiveness

‘For God so loved the world He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life ‘.  John 3 :16

Several times lately, while chatting with family/ friends about ‘religion’ and without me necessarily touching on the subject – they’ve suddenly said a similar thing  – ‘God will forgive me/  not punish me’

Because that statement has cropped up elsewhere as well,  I’m beginning to wonder if God’s forgiveness has featured in one of the many anti-God tv programmes that have been shown recently  – especially on  BBC.

The assumption seems to be that if they are wrong and God exists after all then He will automatically forgive them because God is love and they are good people, have tried to live a good life and have done what they can for others.

My spur of the moment response to these folk has been a bit inadequate, plus I’m conscious of the fact they want to end the conversation quickly. So this is my attempt at a fuller answer:

Firstly, to casually say that God will forgive anyway, shows a total lack of understanding and grasp of the truly sinful nature we’re all born with and the necessity for Jesus’ death on the cross for us. There is a common tendency – especially among Humanists – to believe we are all basically good.  But that is wishful thinking. We only have to look at the evidence of  our own eyes  -  we have to be taught from a very young age to do what’s right and not what’s wrong  -  we need guidance on not being selfish and thinking of others don’t we  – not the other way round !

Until we grasp this basic truth that we are sinners in need of a Saviour then His sacrifice for sins will remain irrelevant to us. And there-in lies the crux of the matter, because to really have God’s forgiveness we have to do it His way. Jesus said He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no-one can go to the Father except through Him.  Those are strong, uncompromising words. It eliminates all our own ideas and opinions doesn’t it?

Forgiveness is not an automatic thing  -  outside of Jesus there is no forgiveness. Religious rituals too are merely man’s way of trying to earn God’s forgiveness and favour – but they are not God’s way.  His justice requires the death penalty  – the sentence was passed in the garden of Eden and applies to every human being ever born afterwards. That includes physical and spiritual death – the physical comes to us later but we are all born naturally rebellious against the idea of ‘God’.  Romans 5:12 ‘ Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned’  We fall at the first hurdle !

In His justice God is also merciful. His temporary remedy was a system of sacrifces to make atonement or reparation, given to the Jews, His chosen people, so that justice is served and frees the repentant sinner. But the sacrifices needed to be made continually because we sin continually ….

True love costs , otherwise it is not proven in action. God proved His love toward us by sending His own Son, Jesus the Christ,  to be the final sacrifice  – putting an end to the sacrificial systems of the Old Covenant for Israel and bringing in a New Covenant for all of mankind. Jesus died as the spotless, innocent Lamb of God – taking the death penalty on our behalf.  Hebrews 10:11,12  ‘And every priest stands daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man [ Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.’

However – it can only be activated by our own personal repentance, acceptance and belief  ‘by faith’  that the gospel is true . That is the way God has chosen it to be.  All of us , faced with the Gospel of Christ, have a choice to make. Are we going to be like the prolific anti-God Richard Dawkins et al and throw God’s gift of eternal life back in His face because, through our spiritual blindness and lack of understanding, we think Christ’s atonement a monstrous , horrible story  – or will we believe and agree with God that our sin is so bad that it deserves His punishment and justice?

Those of us who chose to lay aside our natural pride and  do the latter know the real truth about God’s forgiveness and the resulting new birth and adoption into His family.  God becomes our Father and gives us a peace, joy and love never experienced before. He’s looking out for each one of us – even the hairs on our head are numbered. How different to the pointless, meaningless existence of the unbeliever.

Jesus’ death on the cross was a precious and sweet-smelling sacrifice to God on our behalf. Jesus said He laid down His life willingly for us – He didn’t go kicking and screaming -   John 10: 15,17,18   ‘As the Father knows Me, even so know I the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore does my Father love me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from me but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again’.

Jesus knew what He was doing and what would come afterwards  – His glorious resurrection.  Hebrews 12:2  ‘Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God’.

John 10:27,28 ‘My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow Me:  and I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish  …. ‘

King James Bible Debate

I was hugely disappointed with the KJV Bible debate on Revelation TV on 2nd February, mostly because , as a supporter of said Bible, I felt the cause was very poorly served. Its advocate , Mr J A Moorman, sadly lacked the dynamism and articulation of  Dr J White and sometimes I fear that debates are won by ‘personality’ and not by the truth of argument, especially if that argument isn’t presented as clearly as it could be.

I don’t mean this in any way as a personal criticism of Mr Moorman and anyway – maybe I’m wrong in my perception and the audience ‘out there’  were convinced by his presentation. However – to me he seemed to come over as someone locked in the past , very intellectual, and unable to communicate his case to the ordinary believer. I’m sure he must have had some very good points, but he didn’t quite hit the target as far as I could tell , plus – it didn’t help that he’s a KJ ONLY advocate .

Of course , as I’ve often said before in my Blogs – I’m no scholar or expert – but Bible versions is a subject I’ve striven to read about and tried to understand over some years now because , after all, it’s supposed to be the infallible Word of God isn’t it?  I must say at this point that although I defend the KJV  – it is a ‘translation’ and I think the argument lies more with the original manuscript sources, rather than its [ to some eyes] archaic language  – which I concede can be a barrier to our ease of understanding.

I am not against newer, more up to date translations if they come from the originally ‘accepted’ manuscripts/copies used by the early church.  But most of the versions we have now , from what I’ve read, are from manuscripts that were not accepted as legitimate by the early church. And Dr White admitted there is a lot of  appalling stuff around now.

The argument is made that older manuscripts have been found since the KJV was written so we are now more knowledgeable and wiser,  and older manuscripts must therefore mean they are more reliable. But that plainly can’t be so  – and it worries me that people use this argument to so lightly toss aside the KJV.  So we have a situation where eg the ending of Mark’s gospel [ among other things] is missing from the newer versions .  This is a significant passage doctrinally and if we are saying that it was added later then Christians have been led astray for several hundred years!  That grieves me enormously – especially when I hear Christians say the KJ contains ‘errors’ or ‘mistakes’, when it clearly can be the other way round .

Dr White insisted that he’s a ‘conservative’ and believes implicitly that the Bible is the Word of God  – [ theistic evolutionists say the same but they clearly don't accept Genesis as written]  – but then says he doesn’t believe the KJV is that word in truth and with every new discovery we must of necessity revise our understanding.  But I can’t bear the thought of  the word of God being on such shifting sands  – it surely must be His unerring word and not just partially His word, waiting to be updated, otherwise we we get confused about which parts are genuine and true  eg  – there’s a likelyhood  that the end of Mark’s gospel will not be treated with quite the confidence we would otherwise have had.

In these Last Days, God’s word is under tremendous attack and a lot of it is coming within the church itself    ……  hmm  – ” hath God said ? “   I have this enormous sense of unease  ……

Not Ashamed campaign

Yet again I find myself at odds with what is currently going on in the Church scene. A ‘political’ campaign is being run and the troops being rallied to let the country know that we are ‘not ashamed’ and wish to stand up and declare, among other things, that we want to take the country back to it’s moral Christian roots.

To that end, even a song with the same title ‘Not Ashamed’ is being promoted and played regularly on Revelation TV [ and probably elsewhere] and Christians are being urged to buy the DVD in order to try to manipulate it into the number one spot in the Christmas Charts.

It all makes my little heart troubled – especially when I see the foolish excitement it generates among those caught up in it. It all goes back to the ‘Latter Rain’ , Kingdom Now, heresies which were once recognised as such by the bulk of the Christian church. Sadly not any more. The vision is to ‘Christianise’ the world before Jesus comes back. So the aim is for a morally upright and righteous government for the people, both believer and non-believer alike, in order to receive God’s blessing on the Country.

Unfortunately it’s the exact opposite of what the Bible tells us will happen in the Last Days. The irony of it is that these very sincere but naive believers are unknowingly becoming part of the End Times Antichrist system and way of doing things.

When a political agenda becomes the focus of the church and not the Gospel of saving souls, compromise with the world follows and union with churches and groups who agree on the moral issues but are the enemies of the Gospel of Christ becomes acceptable and the norm -  the main bed-fellow being the Roman Catholic church.  True Christians who know they are saved by grace alone cannot legitimately yoke themselves with others who are ‘working’ for their salvation [2Cor 6:14]  Ecumenism is the Churches’ worst enemy …..

Sincerity is not enough. It all sounds so noble and who could disagree that our Country is floundering in a sea of immorality and wickedness and that Christians are becoming marginalised and more and more under attack?  BUT – our job isn’t to become self-righteous and use the moral high ground to try to defend ourselves and give ourselves a perceived decent higher profile in the media. Surely the Lord told us to expect persecution and hatred. He didn’t say ‘fight for your rights’ but to just carry on preaching His Gospel, meanwhile turning the other cheek and and loving our enemies.

I’ve mentioned before in a previous Post that I’ve nothing against an individual Christian following their own conscience if they feel the Lord is calling them into the political scene  – especially if they are already there when they were saved. But the Church as a whole has never been called to use politics as a power base to change the world. Certain people at certain times in history may well have been used by the Lord to right wrongs and make their world a better place, temporarliy, for the poor etc. But ‘good works’ are not our ‘raison d’etre’  – the Gospel is.

Revelation TV is very popular in the Christian world and has many excellent programmes. However they seem to see nothing wrong in a huge emphasis on advising Christians to get involved in politics and ‘making their voices heard’  -  indeed, almost looking on it as sin if you do not. They imply that Christians who believe the way I do are really burying their heads in the sand and being somewhat useless to society. eg  ‘so heavenly-minded, no earthly good’ .  My reply is that the carnal has always persecuted the spiritual  … but God forbid that I should sound’ holier than thou’  – that isn’t the intention at all.

Even as I write I know that the majority will completely disagree with me – however – the consequences and end result of involvement with the World , it’s Governments and Religious systems can only mean disaster.  The Church will think it is serving God while in reality it will have served  Antichrist. That is why we are told to ‘come out of her’ – but Christians within it are having such a jolly time that they don’t want to.  Who wants to be unloved and persecuted ?  Well – I’m afraid that is the promised lot of the Christian who is faithful to God’s word and the Gospel. They don’t ask for it – they get it by simply ‘being’.

Papal Visit

” Enter in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life and few there be that find it.  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing  ……   Matthew 7:13-15

Those of you who are kind enough to read my bloggings and ramblings here will know that I’m a great fan of Revelation tv [Sky 581].  On the whole the programmes are doctrinally sound and fair and they preach the gospel at every opportunity. They show a love for and defend Israel and are not afraid to speak out against Islam when the need arises.

However  -  when it comes to Roman Catholicism, they are less clear on what their position is. They appear to see no contradiction in identifying Rome as described in the Book of revelation, but also supporting the RC Church in the here and now.

To my pleasant surprise they held a ‘debate’ on the Pope’s visit, which I missed the bulk of, but what I did see was a robust defense of the Protestant position. The Roman Catholics had declined to send much support for their advocate, so it was a bit one-sided.

But yesterday’s Five Alive Programme was a huge disappointment, not least because the Presenter was a young man I like very much and he staunchly supports Israel.  Those of you are familiar with the history of the RC church will know of their persecution of the Jews.   Anyway  – instead of taking the opportunity to show that the RC church is the enemy of the Gospel of Christ, I was staggered to hear that he had no problems with  the Pope’s visit at all  – far from it  – he positively welcomed it,  because he agrees with the Pope’s pronouncements on the ills of our society !  He also did a great public relations job on a live ‘phone interview with a Roman Catholic MP, who he seemed to acknowledge as a brother in Christ.

I also found it strange that there were no emails read out from anyone who opposes the Pope’s visit. It’s hard to believe that none were sent in. Was there a bit of censorship going on here I wonder? Maybe I’m being too suspicious , but I do know of a chap who had the plug pulled on his programme once, so I have grounds for my suspicions.

Roman Catholicism, just like Islam, has always been ‘political’. They believe they are here to build the Kingdom of God on the earth and take over the world. Unfortunately there is  a faction of born again Christians who have been taken captive to this pernicious deception too and it suits the agenda of those ‘evangelical’ Christians who believe they can change society and the world by joining forces with whatever religion  agrees with them in order to gain a bit more political clout.  If this sounds harsh criticism , let me say that I don’t doubt their sincerity or their well- meaning benevolence :  I just don’t believe it’s Biblical. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who will set up His Kingdom when He returns.

We may feel called as an individual Christian to go into the world of politics in order to serve our community or try to right wrongs, and that’s as it should be,  but the Lord Jesus Christ never called His Church as a Body, to be a worldly political power. The true Church’s mission is to preach the Gospel of Christ to save souls and yes – the more souls saved the more impact there will be on our society by default. But, realistically and comparitively, true believers are always few in number.

However frustrated we are or however strongly we feel [and what true Christian doesn't?]  about the horrible things that go on because our society has fallen away from it’s Judeo/Christian roots  -  joining together with a false religion to combat those wrongs will never be the right thing to do  -  at it’s mildest , it gives the trumpet an uncertain sound and every fibre of my being wants to cry out that this ecumenism is driving believers along the broad road that leads to the end times false church and destruction.

At the end of his programme the Presenter and young lady with him summed up by saying [loosely paraphrased] they welcomed the Pope’s visit because it was ‘bringing Christianity to the forefront’ and ‘we should be getting involved in politics more and get beyond Doctrines’  …. this is classic Ecumenism is it not?

Personally , if I were an unbeliever witnessing the Pope’s visit and hearing his pontifications on the ills of society, I would most certainly resent the hypocrisy in the light of the current paedophile scandals. It certainly wouldn’t attract me to the Christian cause !  What happened to humility and shame?

In case this is coming across as ‘hostile’ to some people – let me say that I realise there may be genuine born again believers among the millions of  R Catholics out there. However – they are obviously either placing church tradition above the Bible or maybe they think they can change things from the inside ? On the other hand they may be among the many who claim to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and therefore, God is happy with them staying in the RC church. Well  -  I can only leave that with their own conscience when you consider the awfulness of the Mass, the monstrance etc.   The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth when we are ‘lovers of the truth’  ……

I hope that someone will be bold enough to speak the truth in love on Revelation tv. Maybe I will ask them if they would do a debate on the  ‘Kingdom’ . So far whenever I’ve emailed them [ which isn't too often] I’ve had an acknowledgement but no replies.

My prayer is that Revelation tv overall will have a spirit of discernment . I realise they walk a tight-rope sometimes on what they can say in our Politically Correct world, but they could have just politely ignored the Pope’s visit rather than openly endorsing it as they have done, which can only have brought confusion into the minds of Christians especially new ones.

NB If you are interested in reading about the RC church I would recommend these :

www.bereanbeacon.org                www.understand the times.com

Faith Schools

Luke 18:16,17 But Jesus called them unto Him and said ” suffer little children to come unto Me and forbid them not , for of such is the Kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”

Luke 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said ” I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes …..”.

I made myself watch the Richard Dawkins’ programme  ‘Faith Schools Menace’ last night and it was predictably biased and prejudiced I thought. I find it ironic that the things he accuses ‘religious’ people of are the very traits he exhibits himself. There was only one man who stood up to him and pointed that out on the programme.

As usual Richard Dawkins made a couple of dismissive, sweeping statements  – the first when he asked a Muslim school representative why they couldn’t reconcile evolution with their scriptures like the Christians do and the second when he said that the ‘entire scientific community’ knows that evolution is a fact [ or words to that effect]. I would like to point out that both these statements are untrue.

In the first instance – he has himself debated with Creationist Christians who most certainly can’t reconcile evolution with the Scriptures and secondly – there are hundreds of scientists who recognise an ‘Intelligence’ at work in our universe and there are also hundreds of scientists who go further and  believe a Creator God made everything.  You never hear about them or see the work they do because they are ostracised by those who hold the power [evolutionists] and their work is never accepted or published, apart from within the Christian community. There are some excellent Scientific Creationist web sites out there with many informative and interesting articles to peruse. If you read them you will realise what flimsy foundations evolution stands on.

So  – back to the programme. After telling an assembly of children not to believe what they are told and to question everything, he invites questions from his very young audience. The inevitable ‘ what happened to the Dinosaurs ?’ question came up and RD proceeds to tell them what he thinks happened but then goes on to say he doesn’t really know ! So that begs the questions – isn’t the Creationist view of things equally valid in that case? Incidently , the mere fact that this question was asked is evidence that they are already well-versed in evolution.

Evolutionists have to excercise as much faith, if not more, than the ‘religious’ people they deride and deprecate so ferociously. Indeed it IS a religion, the object of their worship being the Universe, the Earth and all that in them is. Romans 1:19-23

RD majored on that old chestnut of ‘religion’ causing all the wars, conflicts and divisions in our world and chose Ireland as his example, with some ugly clips of film to illustrate.  Does he seriously think that if all religion was removed and Faith Schools were extinct that everyone would live in peace and harmony ??  The root of the problem lies in fallen human nature and SIN not in ‘religion’ per se.  What about Communist Russia and Revolutionary France  -  they’re a great advert for God-less societies aren’t they ? The basic philosophy of Evolutionism is one of pointless existence, no responsibilties towards a Higher Being and therefore societies reap what has been sown.

RD is not being honest when he says he wants children to grow up open- minded and questioning everything,  because he wants them to accept, unquestioningly the Theory of Evolution as Fact and close their minds to Creationism. And Oh Boy ! – his next programme is The God Delusion. You can bet he won’t be presenting the ‘fact’s’ open- mindedly in that either.

I thought his interview with the child psychologist was very revealing. It seems the natural inclination of all young children is to be ‘creationist’ in their thinking. Why? – Because surprise, surprise – they see things around them that have been made and have a purpose !!  But oh, hang on a minute – this is BAD  -  understandable because of their limited knowledge, but BAD. In other words – children don’t know about ‘evolution’ yet , so we must educate them to ignore the logical evidence around them and get these silly creationist ideas out of them.  Does the word ‘brainwashing’ spring  to mind??

Personally I believe God has given children this ‘natural’ creationism  – in their childish innocence they see and accept the obvious evidence around them and interpret it correctly – our world was designed, created and has a purpose.  No wonder Jesus said these words recorded in Matthew 18:2-7

‘ And Jesus called a little child unto Him and set him in the midst of them , and said  ” verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven and whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth Me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better if a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh !”

How sad that Richard Dawkins, as a child, believed in God, can still read his Bible and appears to have an affection for it and yet misses the whole point. Do the words of Jesus mean anything at all to him I wonder?

Israel in Bible Prophecy

My childhood years were disrupted by absences from home, but a lot of it was spent growing up in East London. I therefore was aware of Jewish people as they seemed to my family, who didn’t really have a high opinion of them. It wasn’t outright prejudice , but I think there was a certain resentment at what they percieved to be ‘miserliness’ and an aim in life to make money. In other words I grew up with a ‘stereotype’ of them.

Along with that I was also aware that they were ‘God’s Chosen People’, although I hadn’t a clue what that meant. It seemed to be a source of bafflement to everyone why the Jews had been so persecuted and singled out for such hatred the world over. The war years were only recently over so a certain amount of pity existed too. Deuteronomy 28:37 speaking about Israel reads : ” And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.”

One of the amazing things that happened when I became a Christian was that I found I had an immediate love for  Jewish people  -  my new-found Saviour was a Jew and their unrecognised Messiah !  They were indeed God’s people, chosen in history to be custodians of  His Word and Law, although I believe that custody is temporarily transferred to the Church because of their failure to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. I should point out here that of course the early church consisted of believing Jews, but as a nation they did reject Him.

However God has not rejected them and His promises of future blessing for them still stands and will eventually culminate in their recognition of  ‘the One who they pierced’  and they will be in mourning for Him Zechariah 12:9-11 It is also recorded several times in the Old testament that God will bless those who are good to Israel but will not be happy with those who curse Israel [eg  Herr Hitler].

There can be no greater proof that the Bible is the Word of God than the fulfillment of the many  prophecies about Israel and the coming of  Jesus Christ into this world. The evidence is before our very eyes.

In discussions I’ve had with atheists etc the only ‘defense’ they offer is that the prophecies were written after the events ocurred !!  I’m no Bible ‘expert/scholar but those who are  , are well-versed in Bible history and can easily show that this is not the case. In any case – the one big proof  is Israel’s return to their own land in our own times.

It’s a fact of history that the Jewish people lost their Land and were scattered all over the world for nearly  2000 years.  Jesus’ own words in Luke 21:24 tell of this event : ” And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”.

Deuteronomy 28: 64-66   ” And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have none assurance of thy life. “

But for all His pronouncements of judgement, God also promised to bring the Jews back to their own Land again and from those of my generation in 1948 and on to this day we are witnesses to this fact.  There is a Scripture    Isaiah 66:8 which says :  ” Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children”

The “Israeli Declaration of Independence” was announced on 14th may 1948 and newspapers of the time had headlines ‘ State Of Israel is Born’.

In the Old testament the Land was divided into two Kingdoms – Israel and Judah. In Isaiah 11:12  we read:   ” And he shall set up an ensign for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah  from the four corners of the earth”    and in  Ezekiel 37:21-22  -  ” And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen , whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land:  and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all”      You can’t get more specific than that can you ?

To all intents and purposes the Jews should have been extinct by now seeing the efforts that have been made to destroy them. But God has His purposes and has preserved the nation of Israel as a testimony to His existence and the truth and reliability of His Word – the Bible.  See Isaiah 43:5-15 & 18-21

This isn’t a great and comprehensive treatise on the subject but if you are someone who doesn’t take the Bible seriously I hope you will reconsider and begin to look into these things yourself. There is a lot of historical info on Israel on Wikipedia if it interests you  and a Bible Concordance will help with looking up and locating relevant verses.  Happy hunting !           Please don’t hesitate to put me right if you spot mistakes.  God bless you.