Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 12:8-9
May 24th, 2009
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven." "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels with him,"   Rev. 12:8-9.

In verse 7, the war in heaven rages, now we see the results. Satan is cast out of heaven never to return. After 6000 years Satan is finally cast out of heaven, God's purpose for allowing Satan access to heaven is finally complete. Alhough we do not understand all God is doing, it seems evident that God has been at work demonstrating to men and angels and all of creation that sin does not pay but is a disaster for all involved in it. God demonstrates that sin is not an option. The mystery of iniquity is now beginning to be revealed. Why God has tolerated Satan and sin and what His purposes are in doing it.

Jesus said in Luke 10:18, "I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven". Jesus spoke as though Satan's fall was in the past. This emphasizes the certainty of Satan's fall. This also shows that with God there is no past, present or future, God dwells in the eternal present. When God makes a promise or a prophesy it is as good as done.

The designation of Satan as, "that old serpent" takes us back to the garden of Eden. It was there that man's catastrophic experience with sin began. You can sum up man's whole earhly experience with the realization that all blessing comes from the obedience to God and that all man's troubles come from disobedience to God.

Satan's temptation of man in the garden brought man's death, Jesus said that, "He (Satan) was a murderer from the beginning".

"Called the Devil", Devil means slanderer. Job said that Satan is the accuser of the brethern. Today if you are a Christisn, your name has been mentioned at least twice in Heaven. Once as Satan has accused you before the Father, and a second time (probably many times) as Christ your great high priest, has interceded for you. It is thrilling beyond words to know that we have a great high priest who is constantly interceeding for us.

Satan means adversary, he is the adversary of God, he is also our adversary, he hates us and would destroy us if he could, if we were not secure in the Father's hand.

"Which deceiveth the whole world", this is the tribulation scenario, a world deceived by Satan. Man has turned away from God's word and God gives them over to the Devil's deception. We live in a time when men have been and are turning away from every claim that God's word makes upon them. The stage is being set for judicial blindness to fall on this world. Paul said of this coming day, "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" 11 Thess. 2:11. God turns men over to the devil's deception.

"He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him". This is the mid-trib point, now the war between God and Satan comes to a climax. We will now see 3 1/2 years of all out warfare between these two adversaries. Satan will turn all of his fury against God's people, both the tribulation saints and Israel.

It is amazing the long suffering of God, God is not longsuffering with Satan, but he is longsuffering with those men and women whom He is drawing to Himself. Remember the sinners of Noah's day. But God's patience and longsuffering have a limit.

Pm Warns Hizbullah May Control Lebanon
May 24th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed concern during his talks in Washington last week that Hizbullah could gain considerable strength in the upcoming Lebanese elections and possibly put together a Shi'ite bloc that would control the country.

According to government sources, Netanyahu described Hizbullah control of Lebanon as a "dangerous" and "worrisome" possibility that needs to considered very seriously. This is a scenario that Netanyahu has been warning about in private meetings in recent weeks.

Lebanon is scheduled to hold its elections on June 7.

US Vice President Joe Biden went to Lebanon on Friday to reinforce US support for the government ahead of the elections.

Biden is the highest-ranking US official to visit Lebanon in more than 25 years, and the second from the Obama administration in about a month, following in the footsteps of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The attention underscores Washington's concerns about a possible win by Hizbullah.

The White House said Biden's visit was meant "to reinforce the United States' support for an independent and sovereign Lebanon."

Hizbullah has accused the US of interfering in the election in favor of pro-Western factions. The group said Friday that the visits by Biden and Clinton raised "strong suspicion and amounted to a clear and detailed interference in Lebanon's affairs."

US officials have said they would review assistance to Lebanon depending on the composition of the next government, a warning clearly aimed at Hizbullah and its allies.

Washington has provided Lebanon with more than $1 billion in assistance since 2006, including $410 million to the military and police.

Biden flew into Beirut airport from Kosovo, closing a three-day tour of the southeastern European region that also took him to Bosnia and Serbia.

Lebanese military helicopters hovered over the Lebanese capital to provide security as a motorcade of about dozen vehicles sped through the city center on its way to the presidential palace in the suburban hills of Baabda.

During the brief visit, Biden met with President Michel Suleiman, a neutral former army commander elected a year ago by consensus after a nearly two-year political crisis that almost drove the country into another conflict like the 1975-90 civil war.

Biden's visit was seen as a boost to the standing of the Lebanese president and military. Both could play a pivotal role in stabilizing the country after the elections and be partners the US could continue to work with should the Hizbullah-led coalition win.

The situation in Lebanon is expected to be a major item on the agenda when Netanyahu travels to France in the beginning of June for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Although no date for the visit has been set, there is some talk of it occurring on June 3 or 4, which would place Netanyahu in Paris when US President Barack Obama gives his much-touted address to the Arab world in Cairo.

From the Egyptian capital, Obama is scheduled to go to France for D-Day commemorations.

Meanwhile, just days after Netanyahu declared publicly for the first time that he was prepared for negotiations with Syria without preconditions, Syrian President Bashar Assad responded Saturday by threatening "more resistance."

Speaking Saturday in Damascus at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, Assad called Israel the "major obstacle" to peace in the Middle East.

He also blamed it for the breakdown of indirect talks through Turkey that were held last year.

"The failure of the peace process is a blatant demonstration that Israel is the major obstacle to peace," he said in an opening speech. "Our experience with Israel during indirect peace negotiations mediated by Turkey is further proof of this."

The Syrian leader said Damascus continued to consider peace a "strategic goal that must be reached one day," and he blamed Israel for the lack of progress since the launching of the internationally-sponsored peace process in the early 1990s.

"The failure of the process so far showed blatantly that Israel is the greatest obstacle facing the hope for peace," Assad said.

The Syrian leader went on to warn that the failure of negotiations would lead to more acts of rightful "resistance" against Israel.

"Failure of political efforts to regain legitimate rights will give the resistance the right to carry out its duty in order to regain those rights," he concluded.

Senior government sources in Jerusalem slammed Assad for his hypocrisy.

"Someone who has chosen to align himself with the most extreme, violent, anti-peace faction - Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas - should not be preaching to others about moving the peace process forward," one official said.

"When your friends are [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and [Hamas head Khaled] Mashaal, one really has to question if you really want peace," the official said.

On Friday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem responded to recent calls to renew peace negotiations with Jerusalem by saying that such talks were worthless in the absence of an Israeli promise to return the Golan Heights.

Moallem said Friday on Syrian state television that "an Israeli guarantee to withdraw from the Golan Heights is... necessary" for peace.

"If Israel will not honor these needs, there is no point to conduct baseless peace talks," Moallem said.

Negotiations will not succeed if Israel does not show a real intention to achieve peace and without American involvement, Moallem said, adding that Damascus would not return to talks that would only "waste time."

On Monday in Washington, and again on Wednesday when he landed in Israel, Netanyahu announced he was prepared to immediately renew peace negotiations with Syria without any preconditions.

Judicial Blindness
May 24th, 2009
Weekly CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Warning

Our society is changing with lightening speed, the environment of the tribulation period where the saints are targeted, tormented and martyred is quickly taking shape.The following is an item from the current news.

A  San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.

The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.

"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly."

It seemed that the freedom we enjoyed would last forever, then one day we turned around and it was gone.

Hate crimes legislation has taken away the Pastor’s freedom to declare God’s Word. Legislation has made it possible to go to prison for resisting aggression from sexual perverts.

In the confines of that which pretends to be Evangelical,  we note the following statement.

In an April 2009 article in Sojourner's magazine by emerging church leader, Brian McLaren, McLaren clearly has targeted Christians. But not just any Christians. McLaren is talking about Christians who believe Jesus Christ is coming back again, suggesting that these type of Christians are the reason there is no peace in the Middle East. He says what these end-time believing Christians are doing is "terrible," "deadly," and "distorted."McLaren says that he grew up with a dispensational view (the belief that Jesus Christ will return and establish his kingdom on earth) but has come to realize this view is "morally and ethically harmful." He likens this belief system to racism in the 50s and 60s and says: "These doctrinal formulations often use a bogus end-of-the-world scenario to create a kind of death-wish for World War III, which--unless it is confronted more robustly by the rest of us--could too easily create a self-fulfilling prophecy."

How can such a dramatic change take place so quickly?

I believe the answer to that question is to be found in the fact that men who continue in rebellion against God and His Word will ultimately find themselves under the curse of judicial blindness. It seems that America has closed its eyes to much of what is happening during these days, or has God closed the eyes of America?

Home: No Place for Bible Study
May 24th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Drew Zahn
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Church;Persecution

A  San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.

The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.

"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly."

Dean Broyles of the Western Center for Law & Policy, which has been retained to represent the couple, told WND the county's action not only violates religious land-use laws but also assaults both the First Amendment's freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.

"The First Amendment, in part, reads, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'" Broyles said. "And that's the key part: 'prohibiting the free exercise.' We believe this is a substantial government burden on the free exercise of religion."

He continued, "If one's home is one's castle, certainly you would the think the free exercise of religion, of all places, could occur in the home."

Half of Israelis Back Immediate Strike on Iran
May 24th, 2009
Daily NewsBreitbart.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

Just over half of Israelis back an immediate attack on the nuclear facilities of arch-foe Iran but the rest want to wait and see the results of US diplomacy, according to a poll released on Sunday.

Fifty-one percent support an immediate Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites, while 49 percent believe the Jewish state should await the outcome of efforts by the US administration to engage with the Islamic republic, said the survey published by Tel Aviv University.

But 74 percent of those questioned said they believe that new US President Barack Obama's efforts will not stop the Islamic republic from acquiring atomic weapons.

Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its arch-foe after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."

Israel and Washington accuse Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.

Opinion is split among left- and right-wingers about whether to attack Iran's nuclear sites, with 63 percent of those leaning to the right favouring a strike, compared with 38 percent of those leaning to the left, the poll said.

It was carried out by Tel Aviv University's Centre for Iranian Studies among 509 Israeli adults and had a 4.5-percent margin of error.

Church of Scotland Backs Gay Minister
May 24th, 2009
Daily NewsAP
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Church;Apostasy

LONDON – The Church of Scotland has rejected an attempt to block the appointment of an openly gay minister — the latest case of tensions over sexuality to prompt division in the Anglican Communion.

The church's ruling body voted Saturday by 326 to 267 to support the appointment of the Rev. Scott Rennie, 37, who was previously married to a woman and is now in a relationship with a man.

Rennie was first appointed as a minister 10 years ago, but has faced opposition from some critics since he moved to a church in Aberdeen, Scotland, last year.

Protesters had lobbied the Kirk — the Church of Scotland's ruling executive — over Rennie's case, saying his appointment was not consistent with the teachings of the Bible.

"We are absolutely opposed to that on the basis of what God has to say about homosexuality in the Bible," one opponent, Pastor Jack Bell of the Zion Baptist Church in Glasgow, Scotland, said.

The case threatens to divide Scottish religious leaders and follows tensions within the worldwide 77 million-member Anglican Communion. About 900 elders and ministers took part in a debate on Rennie's case, but many chose to abstain from casting a vote.

Beyond Empty Profession
May 24th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Exhortation;Inspirational

Preaching from the pulpit about the Christian "deeper life" does not automatically produce a deeper life church and congregation. The profession of men and women that they believe in "the deeper Christian life" is no assurance that their fellowship is actually a deeper life church. The deeper spiritual life many people say they want is not a message; it is not a sermon; it is not a profession. I am a pastor and I think I major in telling the truth. It is true that it is about time we stop coddling and apologizing for congregations that have reputations for being deeper life churches. The deeper spiritual life is not something just to be talked about - it is a quiet enjoyment of daily blessing and peace and victory that is lived day by day; beyond empty profession and without any two-faced circumstances!