Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Stones - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Stones

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

'These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.” (Zechariah 8:16-7, NASU)

Have you ever been hit by a stone? Hurts doesn’t it. As a little kid, we’d throw smooth, flat stones across the still pond, hoping to skip them two or three times. If we ever made over five skips, that was a bit deal. But if you accidentally threw one amiss, and it hit someone, then the scream came. Yes, it hurts.

As grownups, we tend not to throw literal stones anymore, unless the scarecrow is trying to eat the vegetables out of the backyard garden. But we do still throw stones, only these ones can hurt more than a real one when it hits another. These are the verbal or written “stones” that can be very harmful, even deadly when viciously tossed at another. Bullying has received more attention in these days, given the predominance of social media. Even fake news has gotten into the picture, especially in our political climate. Some very vicious stones are being thrown wide and far.

Now I know that it has been the attitude of church leaders over the past decades not to get involved in local, state and national politics, primarily out of fear. Fear of whom? Those in our government politics. And yet we are told to be involved, as Jesus commanded us to be “lights in the world”. So yes, we must get involved.

Letting our voices be heard is necessary, going outside our four church walls, if we are to be as salt or light in anything we move about in, within the society we live in. Christians must speak up. We must let our truthful words be spoken and heard before we are silenced for good.

Coupled with prayer, which is of vital importance, we are to be involved, for the sake of all in authority, and for those they rule over.

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2, NASU)

With prayer as the first action in lifting up those serving in politics, the next step is to put action to those words of supplications.

The many battles going on in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., involves all of us, whether we want to admit it or not. The actions of the elected, and even those appointed must be noted and paid attention to by Christians. We cannot sit idly by and let the ungodly, unrighteous, or unlawful ones take over. We have been given the responsibility to know and be about the Father’s business, in seeing His kingdom come about in all the realms. We have the truth. Let us speak it boldly and confidently.

As stones are being thrown every which way in the chambers and halls of our government institutions, let us stand against the lies being slung at the righteous seeking to represent the good of our nation and the people. With the Holy Spirit working in and through us, let us speak up and make our influence known while we yet can.

We are called to be living stones, ones that build up and not tear down. May our actions bring life and protection to those who are having hurtful stones slung at their character and honor. May we speak up with the wisdom and knowledge we have been given through our Lord’s Word, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

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Now Think On This #352 - in the year of our Lord 09.18.18 – “Stones”, Tuesday, 11:30 am

Netanyahu: ‘Heroic’ Terror Victim ‘Prevented a Greater Tragedy’; Ari Fuld’s Murderer Raised on Palestinian Authority Values - United with Israel

US Expels Palestinian Envoy; How Israel Gave Syrians Hope During the Civil War; The Grim Outcome and Cost of the Oslo Peace Accords; A Jewish Refugee’s Harrowing Escape from Iraq

Netanyahu: ‘Heroic’ Terror Victim Ari Fuld ‘Prevented a Greater Tragedy’

Ari Fuld’s Murderer Was Raised on Palestinian Authority Values

Israel Places Syrian Dictator in Sights with New Satellite Photos

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OUR GREAT GOD - Pastor Sunday Abel Oyewale, Nigeria

OUR GREAT GOD

Pastor Sunday Abel Oyewale, Nigeria

"Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven." Psalm 148:13

READ: Job 38: 3-12

3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

MESSAGE

A name is not just a label; more importantly, it is an identity. Names are very important to God, and this is why it is important to search the scriptures to discover more about God’s identity through His Names. Those who know his Names and praise Him with these names are dear to God’s heart.

In Revelations 1:8, He Himself revealed some of his Name to us saying: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

Furthermore, in God’s dialogue with Job in Job Chapter 38, He asked him some frightening questions which reveal that He truly is the Alpha and the Omega. It goes without saying that He is the one who made the mountains, the oceans and all the other big and small things we see in nature. We also understand that He is older that the oldest because by Him were all things created. He saw the beginning of everything on earth, good and bad, and He will also see their end because He is the Omega. He will end every bad experience in your life as you praise Him today as Alpha and Omega in Jesus’ Name.

In 1 Samuel 1:3, the Almighty is called the Lord of Host. In the past, I used to think this name that He is the Lord of Hosts’ means the Lord of all hosts, whether in heaven, hell, the earth, the seas, underneath the earth, and even other galaxies in the universe. Nobody can oppress His children because one command from Him can make life unbearable for even the greatest king on earth. If you don’t believe me, ask Pharaoh (Exodus 5-11).

According to Proverbs 21:1, my God has the heart of kings in His hands, and He turns their heart wherever He pleases. If He has control over the commanders-in-chief of all armed forces, then He can also direct the armed forces of different nations as He pleases.

Isaiah 9:6 calls Him the Prince of Peace. The first thing a person experiences after giving his or her life to Christ is peace, because the Prince of Peace now lives within. My God can calm every storm, and I mean any storm. He calmed several storms when He was here on earth (Mark 4:39, Matthew 14:24-32), and there is no storm in your life that He cannot calm.

Some years ago, I was invited to speak at a United Nations Summit, and I told the delegates there that it was good they were all trying to solve the problems of war around the world. I let them know that if they really wanted peace, the only way they could get it was if they involved the Prince of Peace. In this world of war and turbulence, you can have peace if you surrender to Him indeed.

May the peace of the Lord continually be with you in Jesus’ Name.

Pastor Sunday Abel Oyewale

Prophesied End-Times Persecution Is Here - MICHAEL SNYDER CHARISMA NEWS

Around the world, people are burning Bibles. (Pixabay)

Prophesied End-Times Persecution Is Here

9/17/2018 MICHAEL SNYDER CHARISMA NEWS

Many Christians in the Western world don't even realize that the persecution of the end times has already started.

All over the world, Christians are being attacked, Bibles are being burned and churches are being shut down. This persecution has been escalating for quite some time, but what prompted me to write this article today was the dramatic change that we have witnessed in China this year. Up to this point, the Chinese government has largely tolerated the booming house church movement, but now that era of toleration is officially over.

New religious regulations that went into effect in February are being brutally enforced, and this is causing some to point out the frightening parallels between Communist China and Nazi Germany.

According to Fox News, during this new crackdown Chinese government officials have been "destroying crosses, burning Bibles, closing churches and forcing Christian believers to sign papers renouncing their faith"...

The Chinese government is destroying crosses, burning Bibles, closing churches and forcing Christian believers to sign papers renouncing their faith as the crackdown on religious congregations in Beijing and several provinces intensifies.

The suppression of religious freedoms is part of an official campaign to "Sinicize" religion by demanding loyalty to the atheist Communist party and removing any potential challenge to the party's power in the country.

Doesn't that sound quite similar to Nazi Germany and other tyrannical regimes?

If Christians refuse to sign these papers, they could lose their jobs or be cut off from all government benefits.

So let us pray for strength for our brothers and sisters in China, because many of them will be confronted with some very hard choices.

According to the Express, authorities have also "raided Christian homes to remove religious symbols, arrested church members and seized churches". In Henan province alone, more than 7,000 crosses have been destroyed, but other than Fox News most of the mainstream media outlets in the United States have been completely silent about this very important story.

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You can see some footage of Bibles being burned in China on Twitter right here. This is evil on a level that is hard to describe, and it seems to be getting worse with each passing month.

Earlier this month, one pastor was heartbroken after authorities burned crosses, Bibles and furniture after a raid on his church...

A Christian pastor in the Henan city of Nanyang, whose name was not identified out of fear of retaliation by the authorities, reportedly confirmed that crosses, Bibles and furniture were burned during a raid on his church on Sept. 5.

He added that local authorities were in discussions with the church about reforming it, but no agreement had been reached.

According to Chinese laws, religious believers are allowed to worship only in government-sanctioned congregations. But many millions of Christians belong to underground or house churches that ignore government regulations.

So exactly what kind of "reform" did the authorities have in mind?

Basically, China wants churches to look like something out of a George Orwell novel. The following comes from CBN...

Chinese Christians report authorities have urged church leaders to remove pictures of Jesus from their sanctuaries and replace them with patriotic posters or posters of President Xi instead. They've suggested hymns be replaced with patriotic songs about the "wonderfulness of the Chinese Communist Party."

Nettleton also said Chinese authorities are using advanced artificial intelligence software to monitor church attendees.

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"One pastor in Beijing not long ago was told by the government, "Pastor, we don't mind if you continue holding your services, we just want to put this camera on your platform looking out at the audience and it's attached to facial recognition software so that we can tell who comes to church on Sunday and who's there and what they are doing and how involved they are,'" he said.

Could you imagine going to a church like that?

I couldn't.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is it.

This is the persecution of the last days, and it is only going to get worse.

In addition to everything else, the Chinese government is banning just about all expressions of faith on the Internet:

In addition to these attacks, the Chinese government is implementing tight restrictions on online content related to religion. Images and descriptions of religious activities will be largely prohibited, with exceptions for organizations that have obtained licenses from the government—and even then, what kinds of religious content they may share is restricted. As the Telegraph reports, "Individuals would be forbidden from posting photos, videos and even text related to religious activities, or sharing links related to preaching."

This will happen here in the United States too eventually if we don't fight it.

And of course it isn't just in China that we are seeing a rise in persecution.

Just a couple weeks ago, Islamic radicals viciously attacked home churches in Egypt:

Homes of Copts in the Minya region were attacked by hundreds of furious locals, leaving two Christians with knife wounds in the head and face, World Watch Monitor reports.

Four homes were ransacked, looted and partially set on fire by a Muslim mob during the three-hour-long attack, which was reportedly in protest of one of the properties being used as a home church.

A local source for Christian persecution watchdog World Watch Monitor said the small Coptic community had been warned about the attack on Aug. 31, a few days before it took place.

And earlier this year in Ethiopia, a total of 69 churches were torched by radical Islamists:

On March 2, Muslims went on a rampage in an Islamic area of Ethiopia, beginning with an assault on churches in Asendabo. ICC and others alerted the world and called on the Ethiopian government to intervene. Unfortunately, the local government did not intervene and the attacks continued for a week. When the smoke cleared, the damage was evident. The Muslims had burned down the homes of 30 Christian leaders, they had killed one Christian, wounded several others, and torched 69 churches, a Bible school and a Christian orphanage. One of the many wounded in these attacks was the grandson of a church elder who put himself in between the Muslim militants and his grandfather when they arrived to kill the elderly man. The Islamists attacked the young man with machetes—seriously wounding his head and hand and leaving him for dead. His family was forced to make a three-hour journey on foot to bring him to a hospital in a nearby city.

Hatred for Christians and the Christian faith is rapidly rising all over the planet, and this was something that I warned about in my book about Bible prophecy. We should do all that we can to put pressure on governments to stop persecuting Christians, but if we really are in the end times, ultimately the persecution is just going to continue to escalate.

The good news is that persecution always brings out the best in the people of God, and I believe that the greatest chapters of the church are still ahead.

So let us pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters all over the world, and let us also prepare ourselves for the immense persecution that is on the horizon for all of us.