Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

What You Need to Know About Hanukkah
Dec 13th, 2009
CommentaryWND - Franklin Raff
Categories: Exhortation;Inspirational

Hanukkah is a time for lighting the menorah, for playing games, giving gifts and celebrating G-d's historical blessings and miracles. But it is also a time for sober remembrance, a holiday that calls upon all of us to rededicate ourselves to Him, and to muster and redeploy our prayers, efforts, and assets in the fight against government tyranny, cultural assimilation and secularization.

At Hanukkah we celebrate the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It was desecrated by the forces of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who was obsessed with de-Judaizing the Land of Israel (then part of his Greco-Syrian empire).

Antiochus banned the Jewish religion, forbade circumcision, Shabbat observance and possession of the Torah, disarmed and slaughtered Jews (and their children) as a warning to others, and converted their ancient temple for pagan worship. But in a bloody revolt at around 160 B.C. led by Judah Maccabee ("The Hammer") and his brothers and father, a few remaining unassimilated Jews successfully – some say miraculously – drove Antiochus' forces from Jerusalem and rescued the temple.

Once the city had been secured, imagine what it would have been like as a Jew, as a warrior, to finally stand, caked in blood, in the threshold of the ancient temple. Before you, where the Ark of the Covenant once lay, is now an altar to Zeus, stained with the smoke and fat from burning pigs. None of the ancient, once familiar sounds, the soft hum of prayer and study, the tender singing of passages from the Five Books of Moses. Most of the high priests had been massacred years ago, many cut down by Antiochus' assassins as they sang and prayed in that very spot. Now, only silence, exhaustion, and perhaps, bewilderment.

According to the Bible, the remaining Jews immediately set about cleaning the place up, re-sanctifying and rededicating every inch of the holy temple. It was surely a matter of urgency to rekindle the "eternal flame" of the seven-branched menorah, symbolizing both the eternality of G-d as well as Moses' encounter with the burning bush, that pivotal moment in Jewish history that catalyzed our exodus from slavery.

But there was a problem: Most of the sanctified olive oil used to fuel the menorah had been destroyed or tainted. According to legend, only one cask of oil, sealed by a priest, could be found. It only contained enough oil for one days' flame. It would take eight days to manufacture, purify and bless any additional supply of oil.

Trusting in G-d, and with a sense of worshipful urgency, they lit the menorah anyway, and a miracle ensued: The one days' supply of oil kept the menorah lit for the full eight days needed to replenish the supply and ensure the uninterrupted eternal flame. This is how the festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple came to be known as the "Festival of Lights." A special nine-branched menorah is used on Hanukkah, eight branches to commemorate the eight miraculous days. A ninth branch, the "Shamash" or servant-branch, has a flame that is used to light the other branches and symbolically guard against utilitarian, secular use of the lights.

The Hanukkah menorah is also symbolic of a lesser known event. Both the Talmud and the Book of Maccabees depict the story of the seven sons of Hannah who were tortured and executed in that time because of their refusal to renounce their faith, eat pork and bow to pagan statues. Hannah committed suicide after the death of her sons. The eight lights of the Hanukkah menorah bear witness to the fate of Hannah and her family, their steadfast faith in G-d and their refusal to assimilate.

Hanukkah's observance is linked, inextricably, with a profound reverence for the memory of all those who have fought against impossible odds for the freedom to worship G-d and to preserve the religious traditions which enable us to follow His commandments. It is a time to re-tell the story of the siege of Masada, to remember the Bar Kochba and Great Revolts against Rome, to revere the memory of generations upon generations of martyrs and warriors since who have fought and died in the name of Abraham's legacy – individual liberty (indeed the notion of "individualism" under G-d), self-determination and freedom of worship.

If you love your G-d but fear your government, tell others about the destruction of the Second Temple by the Hitlerian Antiochus Epiphanes, and help your children internalize these lessons of Hanukkah.

If you would be reminded of the importance of preserving second-amendment freedoms, recall this chapter in the long story of the disarmament of the Jews. Honor the memory of Hannah and her sons by kindling the lights of Hanukkah with firm resolve.

If you should ever doubt that righteousness will always prevail so long as we love G-d and fight for his spiritual and physical territory, let your heart be filled with the spirit of Judah and his Maccabees. Put on their armor, symbolically and celebrate the victory that Hanukkah commemorates.

If you believe in individual and religious freedom, if you believe in self-determination, and if you believe in miracles, if you truly have faith in G-d, light the Hanukkah menorah this year, and thank G-d for His enduring faith in us.

Hanukkah is a time in which all of G-d's warriors – ideological, cultural and otherwise – are spiritually united. This, in itself, is cause for contemplation, fraternization and celebration.

Happy Hanukkah!

Shadows of the Coming Tribulation Period
Dec 13th, 2009
Weekly CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Persecution

It appears that we are witnessing the setting of the stage for the environment that will prevail during the tribulation period.

We are told that every three minutes a Christian is being tortured in the Muslim world. In 2009 we are told that more than 165,000 Christians will have been killed for their faith in Christ, most of them in Muslim countries. It is estimated that 200-300 million Christians are being persecuted.

We have an example of the intensity of hatred for Christians as we read about Hamas digging up the bodies of Christians in the Gaza claiming that they pollute the earth.

Meanwhile in the western world parents of homeschoolers are sent to jail for homeschooling their children. A proposal before the British Parliament calls for mandatory criminal background checks for parents who want to home school their children. In Germany parents are losing custody of their children for homeschooling them.

An interesting excerpt from the "Herescope" website reveals how apostasy within the church is adding to the persecution of believers. I quote, "While the world faith leaders lead their flocks into an ecumenical global church of massive proportions, there is a tiny remnant within each historical tradition or evangelical group that maintains adherence to the Bible. Increasingly we are getting reports about these believers being censored, ostracized, mocked, ridiculed, slandered, shut down and shut out, threatened, and more. Every possible tactic of persecution, short of suffering in the flesh, is now rapidly coming upon those in America who truly stand on the Word of God." unquote.

This anger and intolerance toward Christians is setting the stage for the climate that will prevail in the tribulation period. During that time multiplied millions of Tribulation believers will be martyrd for their faith in Christ.

The hour is later than you think!

Revelation 14:14-16
Dec 13th, 2009
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

Vision six    A preview of Armeggedon

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth if the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."

This is a judgment scene, the battle of Armeggedon is viewed. The Lord Jesus Christ, the judge of all the earth is about bring judgment that will sweep all of the unrighteous off the face of the earth. At the end of the age when the Lord comes there will be two reapings, the gathering of the wheat into the Kingdom and the gathering of the tares to be burned in the fire. This reaping in our text is the gathering of the tares to be cast into hell.

I would remind you that at the beginning of the tribulation period, after the rapture, there will not be a single believer alive on the earth. Likewise at the end of the tribulation when Christ comes and judges there will not be a single unbeliever alive on the earth. (See Joel 3:11-16)

The devil is sowing his tares today, but when Christ comes the reaping will take place.

In verse 14, we see a glorious picture of Christ, not the meek and mild Christ who humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. This scene is a picture of the Sovereign Lord of the universe in all of His glory and splendor as He prepares to come and judge the earth. His patience has now been exhausted, (Psl. 2:1-3)

Today men are casting aside the bands of God's Word. We will not be restrained by God's Word, today every command God has given to man in His Word in being trampled on. That is the history of man and today man's rebellion is coming to a climax. There will be seven years when man's rebellion against God climax.

The corruption and vileness of man's sin is objectionable to a holy God. We need to be reminded that while the earth awaits the rapture the harvest is ripe unto a harvest of the souls of men. We read in John 4:35, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest."

The goal of teaching and preaching about prophecy is not to just satisfy our curiosity, but to motivate us to witness before our Lord comes and our opportunity to witness is over forever. Now is tne time to win a crown.

"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bring his sheaves with him." Psalm 126:6

These verse represent the climax of the whole day of man, we need to fix our eyes on these verse and remember the end of the story. No matter what happens in the meantime the end result will not change, PRAISE THE LORD i'm on the winnig side, how about you?

Preparations for Sufferings
Dec 13th, 2009
CommentaryHerescope
Categories: Inspirational;Exhortation

The Discernment Research Group has been publishing warnings about heresies and the activities of leaders promoting heresies since 2005. Recently we have been repeatedly asked by many believers to delve into the issue of "how do I prepare for the coming persecution?" While the world faith leaders lead their flocks into an ecumenical global church of massive proportions, there is a tiny remnant within each historical tradition or evangelical group that maintains adherence to the Bible. Increasingly we are getting reports about these believers being censored, ostracized, mocked, ridiculed, slandered, shut down and shut out, threatened, and more. Every possible tactic of persecution, short of suffering in the flesh, is now rapidly coming upon those in America who truly stand on the Word of God.

There are those who still hold out that we can change America (legislation) back to a Christian nation, and that this will somehow change the Church at large. But this is a Dominionist pipe dream, born of the hope that by changing externals it will change the hearts of men. This is neither Scriptural nor facing reality. The truth is that religious leaders are rapidly taking the church into emerging spirituality, as we have so often documented in posts on this blog. In one sense these calls to change America are simply "bread and circus" for the people in the churches, giving them false hopes and entertaining them with something to do.

In contrast to this, and in the spirit of exhortation, the following are words of encouragement that tell us how to face the coming persecution without fear or dismay. Below is the first post in a series where we will excerpt, review, and summary discussing in our modern context the classic work of John Flavel "Preparations for Sufferings: or the Best Work in the Worst Times."[2] It is our hope and prayer that we will all stand firm in the days to come. May we be a light shining in darkness, living and preaching the true hope of the Gospel message of salvation in Jesus Christ.


Preparing the Heart

Flavel launches his exhortation on "Preparations for Sufferings" with the following verse:

We know from the words that Paul speaks immediately preceding this, recorded in Acts 20, that the Lord had prepared his heart for what was to come, for he testified to the disciples at Ephesus that

Commenting on God's providence to Paul in his impending persecution, Flavel notes that

"indeed it was his great advantage, that the will of God was so plainly and convincingly revealed to him touching this matter; for no sooner did he employ himself to obey this call of God, but he is presently assaulted by many strong temptations to decline it.

"The first rub he met in his way was from the disciples of Tyre, who pretending to speak by the Spirit, said unto Paul, that he should not go up to Jerusalem (Acts 21:4). The Lord by this trying the spirit of his apostle much, as He did the young prophet coming from Judea to Bethel (1 Kings 13:18), but not with like success.
"The next discouragement was at Caesaria, where Agabus... takes Paul's girdle, and binding his own hands and feet with it, said, 'Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver [him] into the hands of the Gentiles.' (Acts 21:11)....

In our modern era we would recognize these various temptations as being forms of peer pressure. Seeing that Paul's friends were attempting to dissuade him from following the path that God had set out for him, Flavel notes that it is our duty to obey God. He states emphatically that 1) "divine precept, not providence, is to rule out our way of duty" and 2) "no hindrances or discouragements whatsoever will justify our neglect of a known duty."

Paul's response to these entreaties was simply that "I am ready." Flavel observes that Paul is saying that "God hath fitted and prepared my heart," and that it is a matter of his "will and resolution," that nothing can alter his fixed purpose. God has said, and he must obey.

How do we get to this point where we can stand ready and fitted, and with a fixed purpose of heart? Our prayer is that this series will edify and encourage you in these darkening days.


The Truth:

"And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:" (Hebrews 6:11)

Ngos: Hamas Disinters Christians in Gaza
Dec 13th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - Matthew Wagner
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Every three minutes a Christian is being tortured in the Muslim world, and in 2009 more than 165,000 Christians will have been killed because of their faith, most of them in Muslim countries, according to a human rights organization that is visiting Israel starting Sunday.

"Hamas digs up the bodies of Christians from Christian burial sites in the Gaza Strip claiming that they pollute the earth," said Reverend Majed El Shafie, President of One Free World International (OFWI), who will head a delegation of human rights activists, members of parliament from Canada and religious personalities.

During their visit to Israel the delegation will hold a conference on human rights and persecuted minorities at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. The conference will provide new statistics on the persecution of minorities in Muslim countries.

El Shafie said that between 200-300 million Christians are being persecuted in the world, 80 percent of whom lived in Muslim countries and the rest in communist and other countries.

Members of the delegation will meet with Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon and Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat in the hope of enlisting Israel to champion their cause.

OFWI is a human rights organization whose headquarters are located in Toronto, Canada. The organization numbers some 3,000 members, divided into 28 branches that are active in countries all over the world, including Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and even Iran.

El Shafie, 32, was born in Cairo to a distinguished Muslim family of lawyers and judges. Through a Christian friend he was exposed at an early age to hatred toward the Christian minority in Egypt.

He decided to convert to Christianity, wrote a book about it and as a result became an outcast and a victim of oppression.

In 1998 he was arrested, imprisoned, tortured and condemned to death.

El Shafie managed to escape, fled to the Sinai, where a Beduin family hid him for two months, and crossed the Israeli border on a jet-ski. He was arrested in Israel and was imprisoned for over a year in Beersheba, until he was released through the assistance of the UN, Amnesty International and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which managed to obtain political asylum for El Shafie in Canada, where he emigrated. He founded OFWI in 2004.

Criminal Background Checks Proposed for Homeschoolers
Dec 13th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Plan called most 'overbearing law in the English-speaking world'

A proposal in the British Parliament calling for mandatory criminal background checks for parents who want to homeschool their children is the most "overbearing law in the English-speaking world," charges a U.S. advocacy group.

"This bill is breathtaking in its scope and reflects a perverse level of suspicion towards parents who home-educate their children," said Michael Donnelly, a staff attorney and director of international relations for the Home School Legal Defense Association.

The group is the world's premiere advocate for homeschooling and has been active in cases in Europe as well as the U.S.

Donnelly said the bill "places total discretion in the hands of local education officials to determine whether or not they will 'register' a home education program and would require criminal background checks for parents before they could begin homeschool their own children."

Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, which promotes stable family life and children's welfare, told HSLDA the background checks wouldn't make any sense.

"If it is deemed unsafe for children to be with their parents during normal school hours, it is equally unsafe for them to be with their parents in the evenings, at weekends and during the school holidays," he said

"To impose a system of routine monitoring home-educating families would represent a breach of their right to a private and family life and constitute a waste of public resources," he continued. "Furthermore, the proposal to grant the local authority a statutory right of access to the homes of home-educated children is in effect reversing the presumption of innocence in British law and treats parents with suspicion until they have proven themselves innocent."

The HSLDA said the British proposal, which already has had its first reading in Parliament, stems from the Badman Report, issued last summer.

WND reported the June 11 report from Graham Badman, a former managing director of Children, Families and Education in Kent, was accepted by the British Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

HSLDA said at the time the report advocated the "extensive" regulation of homeschooling across the United Kingdom.

It keyed on the United Nations concept that children should be granted rights to make decisions for themselves about education, religion and their lives.

That's the belief expressed in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, a document the HSLDA has been warning about for a number of years. It has been adopted in the U.K. and might be on its way toward approval in the United States, lacking mainly the approval of two-thirds of the U.S. Senate.

The document, however, grants dozens of "rights" to children, sometimes running roughshod over conflicting parental rights, the organization said.

For example, under the international document parents no longer would be allowed to administer reasonable spankings to their children, children would be granted the authority by the state to choose their own religion, the "best interest of the child" would govern all decisions and give the government the authority to override any parental decision, children would have a legally enforceable "right to leisure" and parents would be required to have their children attend state-sponsored sex education courses.

In the U.S., ParentalRights.org is pursuing a campaign to amend the Constitution to include a specific endorsement of parental rights.

The new legislation in the U.K., according to Wells, would "require local education authorities to solicit the views of a child regarding home education, to visit them and interview them alone."

The plan would allow government officials simply to terminate the registration of parents who want to homeschool if they do not "cooperate."

Donnelly said his organization will work with British homeschoolers.

"We are standing with European homeschoolers threatened by authorities who are either trying to 'stamp out homeschooling' – as in Germany – or to restrict it to the point of extinction, as in Britain," he said. "We are grateful to our members and friends who support our work and our ability to invest in fighting for freedom for parents under fire."

Paul Farris, chief of the HSLDA in Canada, said the U.K. proposal is based on faulty assumptions, including that there is "systematic monitoring" of homeschoolers around the globe.

"The Badman Report and this bill shows real ignorance of homeschooling and will not facilitate success in home education but will rather interfere with home education," he told HSLDA.

Such proposals should be of concern to U.S. parents, too, according to Michael Farris, chief of the Parental Rights organization.

"Any nation that severely restricts the ability of parents to choose alternative forms of education, including home education, in the name of creating national unity, cannot call itself a free nation. Freedom necessarily requires the individual to have the liberty to think differently and believe differently than programs instituted by the current rulers of any nation. Educational freedom is the cornerstone for all freedom of thought and conscience," he said.

Farris cited other European nations, such as Germany and Sweden, where officials have cracked down on homeschooling, and warned Britain now is following the same "dangerous path."

In Germany, the government prosecutes parents who homeschool their children with fines and jail terms. In fact, a German family has applied for political asylum in the U.S. because of the harsh treatment German authorities dispensed, and a hearing is scheduled in Memphis, Tenn., in January.

If the U.K. law is adopted, there could be serious ramifications, according to Mike Smith, chief of the HSLDA.

"The experience in Germany suggests that [British homeschoolers] will lose custody of their children, be fined and potentially be jailed," he said. "We hope and pray that this legislation will not become law because it will turn a nation that was once a free country into one which has become a shadow of its former self."

Art's Commentary........This appears to be the setting of the stage for the environment that will prevail during the tribulation period, its latter than you think!

Christ the Sacrifice Receiver
Dec 13th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA.W, Tozer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational

In the New Testament, John tried to tell us about God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14). John the Mystic tried to tell us how great God is. The Apostle Paul also gave us insight on who God is. . . . And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:15-17). Why am I giving you all these passages of Scripture? Because I want to tell you who it is who says, "Present your bodies to me. Take your cross and follow me. Give yourself wholly to me. Surrender to me. Concentrate upon me and learn to be fascinated by me." He is the only One who can say it.