Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 17: 1
Apr 25th, 2010
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

Introduction - The Judgment of the Great Harlot

We come now to chapters 17 and18 and we see the fall of Babylon. These two chapters are not a continuation of chapter 16, they are an amplification of two special judgments. Chapter 17 is the doom of the vast international system of error which is religious in character. It is a religious system which appears to be Christianity. In fact it is so similar that millions are deceived by it. Jesus warned of this last days deception in Matthew 24:24 "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

This religious system is a combination of apostate Protestantism, Romanism and Atheism. It is the huge ecumenical church of the last days! Scripture calls this system the "great whore" and "the Mother of Harlots." This religious system is taking shape before our very eyes. It will not come to full bloom until after the virgin bride of Christ is raptured.

Today this false church is being proclaimed as a great step forward for unity and world peace. But because it is apostate it is doomed and must come under the judgment of God. Rick Warren has announced his own plan for world peace and is breaking the ground for evangelicals to enter this coming Harlot church.

This chapter reveals the judgment that is to come upon the Harlot. A wife who is unfaithful to her husband is an adulterous woman or a harlot. A church which calls itself Christian and courts false religion and compromises with a godless world system, that church commits spiritual fornication, and God calls her a harlot.

Professor Moorehead said, "The harlot is christendom estranged from God and become thoroughly secularized.

In revelation the figure of a woman is used symbolically of religion. Jezebel represents the pagan idolatry of the past. See Revelation 2:20. This Jezebel is symbollic of the woman Jezebel that king Ahab married and brought to Israel from Tyre. She came to Israel with her pagan gods and propigated their worship in Israel.

There are three women in Revelation representing religions.

1 - The Woman clothed with the sun.... in Revelation 12:1, she represents Israel and Judaism.

2 - The Bride of Christ....  In Ephesians 5:25-27, the true church is pictured as the bride of Christ.

3 - The Great Whore....Represents the apostate church. See revelation 19:2.  This judgment upon the Great Whore then is a judgment upon apostate religion.  "Apostasy" - means to turn away from something you once held to.

Three times John is bidden, "come hither", because there were three things God wanted John to examine closely.

1 - "Come hither"- Rev. 4:1  The vision in  heaven, to see the church assembled around the throne in heaven.

2 - "Come hither" - Rev. 17:1  The judgment of the great whore, which is apostate religion, she is utterly destroyed by the judgment of God.

3 - "Come hither" - Rev. 21:9  "I will shew thee the bride, the Lambs wife" John sees the church in its glorious eternal home.

As we make our way through the book of Revelation, before we can see the bride in all of her glory.....we must see the illigitimate woman who is a harlot!

The one who for many centuries has falsely claimed to be the bride of Christ, but is not. The woman and the beast must be judged before the Bride and the Lamb are presented.

The purpose then of chapter 17 is to show John and us the judgment of the Great Harlot.  She claims to be Christ's true church but she has apostasized from the truth and has allied herself with the corrupt world system of the last days. She is Satan's counterfeit religion, an imitation of the true church.

The judgments of 17 and 18 are not history, they are yet future. Chapter 17 takes place at the mid-tribulation point, or shortly after. Chapter 18 takes place near the end of the tribulation period. The true church is taken out of the world before the tribulation begins. It is found in heaven in chapter 4, and is not seen on earth until we see it coming out of heaven with Christ in Rev:19.

 In chapter 16:19, we have a forecast of the judgments of chapters 17 and 18.  "and great Babylon came in rememb0rance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."

Anyone who studies the Bible carefully can see that the Holy Spirit pictures the church of the last days in a state of corruption, degeneration and apostasy. The need of the hour is to separate from the apostasy as it is found in the Laodicean/ Evangelical church today.

Renowned Atheist Offers Good Theology [excerpts]
Apr 25th, 2010
CommentaryTBC - Dr. Ray Pritchard - KeepBelieving.com
Categories: Apologetics;Apostasy

[In] Portland, Oregon, noted atheist Christopher Hitchens laid down some seriously good theology. Most people recognize Hitchens as the author of the bestselling book God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything....In Portland he was interviewed by Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell....The following exchange took place near the start of the interview:
Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian, and I don't take the stories from the Scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Hitchens: I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

Sewell wanted no part of that discussion so her next words are, "Let me go someplace else."

This little snippet demonstrates an important point about religious "God-talk." You can call yourself anything you like, but if you don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for our sins and then rose from the dead, you are not "in any meaningful sense" a Christian.

In one of the delicious ironies of our time, an outspoken atheist grasps the central tenet of Christianity better than many Christians do. What you believe about Jesus Christ really does make a difference.

Outrage Builds Over Graham's Rejection At Pentagon
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsChad Groening and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Pro-family leaders and a U.S. Senator have joined a growing list of conservatives expressing outrage over the Pentagon's decision this week to tell evangelist Franklin Graham that he is barred from taking part in a National Day of Prayer event at the military headquarters.

On Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for the U.S. Army said the Pentagon had rescinded its invitation to Graham -- founder of Samaritan's Purse -- to be the lead speaker at a May 6 Pentagon service held in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer. In a statement, Graham said he regrets the Army's decision and will continue to pray for the troops.
 
The reason for the "dis-invite"? Graham's earlier comments about Islam were "not appropriate," said the Army (see more details below from Associated Press). In 2001, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham described Islam as "evil" following terrorist attacks. More recently, he has said he finds Islam offensive and wants Muslims to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins.

AFA backs Graham
On Friday, the Mississippi-based American Family Association (AFA) sent a letter to Franklin Graham, criticizing the Pentagon for "severely" compromising Graham's First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. In addition, the letter -- signed by AFA president Tim Wildmon -- expresses the organization's staunch support of Graham's "expressions of love for Muslims" as well as his "criticisms of Islam."
 
"We at [AFA] likewise desire that every Muslim may come to faith in Jesus Christ and know the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal that is found in him," the letter states.
 
"We, too, want to see every Muslim come to faith in Jesus Christ," says Bryan Fischer, AFA's director of issues analysis. "We also agree with Reverend Graham that Islam is an evil and wicked religion."
 
In earlier comments, Rev. Graham described Islam as an "evil and wicked religion" that puts its followers in bondage and puts others in danger. AFA's letter to Graham comments that his remarks are supported by a culture that "seems determined to ignore" several aspects of Islam that are in direct opposition to Christian principles.
 
The letter offers as examples: a call by the Koran to kill "infidels"; documented acts of pedophilia by Islam's founder, Muhammad; the religion's intolerance of conversion out of Islam; "blatant and deadly sexism" as expressed in Islam's treatment of women; and "honor killings" -- a practice that AFA points out is "utterly at odds with the Christian teaching that fathers are to nurture and protect their children."
 
Fischer comments specifically on Islam's treatment of women. "[Muslim] husbands are taught that they literally may beat their wives into submission," he notes. "[And] you have the shameful practice of honor killings in many Muslim countries. That practice has come to the United States. A Muslim husband decapitated his wife in New York not too long ago." 
 
AFA's letter to Franklin Graham concludes with a statement that AFA plans to challenge its constituency to contact their members of Congress, asking them if they agree with the "shameful treatment" Graham has received from the White House and the Pentagon.
 
'Political correctness' of the White House
Tony Perkins is a pro-family leader who himself was disinvited from speaking at an Air Force event. He says it's an absolute outrage that the Army has caved to political correctness in disinviting Graham from taking part in an upcoming prayer event.
 
Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), was similarly disinvited from speaking at a luncheon in February at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, DC, after he criticized President Obama's call for lifting the ban on homosexuals serving in the military. He notes that political correctness has struck again.
 
"Radical Islamists operate very much like radical homosexuals in that they don't mind screaming and playing the role of the victim and using special laws to protect them," Perkins comments.
 
"We don't even have many of those laws in place yet in this country like they do in Europe, but we have seen this environment of political correctness created by this administration -- and clearly the White House could step in at any time in any of these decisions that the military has made to disinvite Christian leaders, and they have not."
 
The FRC president believes this treatment of Franklin Graham clearly illustrates that the Obama administration is creating a hostile environment toward Christianity.

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, concurs with Perkins' observation.

"Franklin Graham is being barred [from the event] for publicly stating nothing more than [what] Christian evangelists have preached for centuries," Wicker says in a press release. "To ban from an ecumenical service every person who believes their faith is the true religion is taking political correctness several steps too far." Ministers who have "fervently advocated their own religious beliefs in an entirely different context" should not be prohibited from participating in ecumenical events, the senator continues.

"What they're saying is that a Christian evangelist who has basically given his message publicly to the exclusion of other religions is somehow now unfit to go to an evangelical prayer event. If you take it to that extreme, any preacher who'd ever preached revival [or] brought the message of Jesus dying for our sins would now be excluded from being invited to a prayer event at a defense facility because they're being exclusive," he concludes.

The Council on American Islamic Relations, a group with ties to terrorism, had called on the Pentagon to disinvite Graham.

Art's Commentary.....The issue here is not Franklin Graham, but rather that Islam now has greater influence in America than Christianity. Criticism of Christianity is accepted as legitimate, bur criticism of Islam will not be tolerated. There will  be an awful price to pay for this policy as Islam continues to gain acceptance and influence. Look at the world, and take note of those areas where Islam has gained the upper hand, all freedom has been repressed in those areas.

Nuclear Scientist Seeks Asylum in Israel
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Iranian scientist awaits a decision in a “friendly country.”

Speaking at a cultural event in Ramat Gan on Saturday, Deputy Negev and Galilee Development Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud) said that an Iranian nuclear scientist had broken ranks with the Islamic regime and requested political asylum in Israel.

While Kara refused to reveal the identity of the scientist, he did say that the Iranian national was currently awaiting a decision on the matter in a “friendly country.”

Kara added that the scientist had passed his message to Israeli sources through a Jewish woman of Iranian descent, and that he would do all he could to advance the request.

“I will support any source with the goal of removing the strategic and nuclear threat posed to Israel and posed to the enlightened, democratic world [by Iran],” Kara said during Saturday’s event

Israel Saves Life of Top Hamas Official's Daughter
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

Israel at the weekend saved the life of the three-year-old daughter of a top Gaza-based Hamas leader, though the act of kindness was completely ignored by the terrorist group and regional Arab media.

The girl, daughter of Hamas Interior Minister Elham Fathi Hammad, was the victim of a unsuccessful heart operation in Gaza. She was in critical condition when Jordan's King Abdullah II requested that Israel allow her immediate transport to Amman for emergency surgery.

Israel agreed to the transfer, but the girl was in no condition to travel such a distance, so was first rushed to Barzilai Hospital in the nearby Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, where doctors worked for hours to repair the damage of her earlier surgery and stabilize her.

A Jordanian helicopter was later escorted through Israeli airspace to pick up the girl and move her to Amman.

Jordanian media later reported on the incident, but completely cut out the portion where the girl's life was saved by Israeli doctors or that Israel has not hesitated to allow the unfettered transport through its territory of a family member of one of its most dedicated enemies.

Hammad later issued a public statement thanking Jordan and King Abdullah. He did not mention Israel at all.

Iran Trades Oil for Enriched Uranium from Zimbabwe
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Iran last month sealed a secret deal to trade oil for enriched uranium from Zimbabwe, which hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week, according to the London Telegraph. The deal was signed last month “away from the media glare” when an Iranian minister visited Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, a source from the African country told the newspaper.

The oil-for uranium agreement gives Zimbabwe badly needed oil and allows Iran free and unsupervised access to material that can be used to produce a nuclear weapon. Israel, the United States and several Western countries have assumed that Iran is lying in claiming it has no intentions of building a nuclear weapon, which it presumably would try to use to carry out its repeated threat to “wipe Israel off the map.”

The reported deal with Zimbabwe would violate United Nations sanctions on Iran, which suddenly stated last week that it is willing to let U.N. nuclear watchdogs inspect its nuclear facilities.

Ahmadinejad last week visited Zimbabwe, whose Muslim population accounts for only one percent of its citizens. He showed support for Mugabe against “expansionist countries’ satanic pressures on the people of Zimbabwe” by allegedly trying to manage the country’s natural resources.

Mugabe responded, "We remain resolute in defending Zimbabwe's right to exercise its sovereignty over its natural resources. We have equally supported Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear energy as enshrined in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.”

Zimbabwe is estimated to have nearly half a million tons of uranium, five percent of which can be extracted.

Ahmadinejad was the first leader outside of Africa to open the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, where Iran was the biggest foreign exhibitor.

Diplomatic Coup for PA: Obama Invites Abbas
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has scored a diplomatic coup with an invitation from U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Washington as media analysts conclude that the president is toning down his criticism of Israel.

One day after the invitation reportedly was delivered, Abbas urged President Obama on Saturday to impose on Israel the acceptance of a new PA state based on its demands. Meanwhile, U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday morning, both of whom issued positive statements on the background of no real achievements except to agree to further talks.

Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the PA said that Abbas will visit Washington next month, but other PA officials said that the trip depends on Israel’s accepting American-backed PA demands.

President Obama officially has not imposed on Israel the conditions for the establishment of a new Arab state within the current borders of the Jewish State. However, his administration in the past year has gradually adopted most of the PA's demands, bypassed PA commitments to halt incitement and violence against Israel, and demanded that Israel stop building for Jews in united Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Israel fears that doing so would be a de facto division of the capital.

In a speech to Fatah party officials in Ramallah on Saturday, Abbas said, "Mr. President and members of the American administration, since you believe in [an independent PA state], it is your duty to take steps toward a solution and to impose this solution.”

The U.S. State Department has stated that the United States would not impose its own solution “for the time being.”

Israel continues to be on the defensive in the PA-American diplomatic maneuvers. Following several weeks of unprecedented public condemnation of Israel by the Obama administration, Mitchell called Sunday morning’s discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu “productive and positive. He added that he will return to the region next week for more discussions.

Reporters covering the State Department have grown increasingly skeptical of American efforts to bring the PA and Israel together. One journalist sarcastically asked U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley on Friday, “So what grand accomplishments has he [Mitchell] come up with in his meetings so far?”

Crowley responded with the routine answer that “we [are] trying to move the parties to a point where they agree to proximity talks and to begin to address the substance, the core issues of the process, but there’s still work to do.”

He added, “If you’re signaling are we expecting a breakthrough through on this visit, probably not.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu told the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning that Israel has been and continues to be prepared to begin direct talks with the PA immediately. Abbas has held out for acceptance of a halt to building for Jews in parts of Jerusalem where it claims sovereignty. The areas include the Temple Mount area and Western Wall, as well as the neighborhoods of Ramot, French Hill among others.

Confessing Our Love
Apr 25th, 2010
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer (1897-1963 )
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Exhortation

Consider with me the appealing Old Testament story of the beautiful young woman in the Song of Solomon. Deeply in love with the young shepherd, she is also actively sought out by the king, who demands her favor. She remains loyal to the simple shepherd, who gathers lilies and comes to seek her and calls to her through the lattice. In many ways, this is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, of His love and care for His Bride, the Church. In the scriptural account, she does turn her loved one away with simple excuses. But condemned in heart, she rises to go out and search for him. As she seeks, she is asked: "What is he above others that you should seek him?" "Oh, he is altogether lovely," she replies. "He came and called for me, and I had not the heart to go!" But at last she is able to confess, "I have found him whom my soul loveth!" He had been grieved but He was not far away. So it is with our Beloved-He is very near to us and He awaits our seeking!

Buddhist Extremists in Bangladesh Beat, Take Christians Captive
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsCompass Direct News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

DHAKA, Bangladesh, April 23  – Buddhist members of an armed rebel group and their sympathizers are holding three tribal Christians captive in a pagoda in southeastern Bangladesh after severely beating them in an attempt to force them to return to Buddhism, Christian sources said. Held captive since April 16 are Pastor Shushil Jibon Talukder, 55; Bimol Kanti Chakma, 50; and Laksmi Bilas Chakma, 40, of Maddha Lemuchari Baptist Church in Lemuchari village, in Mohalchari sub-district of the mountainous Khagrachari district, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Dhaka. They are to be kept in the pagoda for 15 to 20 days as punishment for having left the Buddhist religion, the sources said. Local Buddhists are considered powerful as they have ties with the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), an armed group in the hill districts. After taking the Christians captive on April 16, the sources said, the next day the armed Buddhist extremists forced other Christians of Maddha Lemuchari Baptist Church to demolish their church building by their own hands. The sources said Pastor Talukder was bludgeoned nearly to death and had to be taken by wooden stretcher to the pagoda. Regional Sub-district Chairman Sona Ratan Chakma told Compass that the “three renegade Buddhists” are being kept in the pagoda for religious indoctrination. “They became Christian, and they were breaking the rules and customs of the Buddhist society, so elders of the society were angry with them,” Chakma said. “That is why they were sent to a pagoda for 15 to 20 days for their spiritual enlightenment, so that they can come back to their previous place [Buddhism].”

'Break the Silence' Speaker: Obama's 'alice - In-wonderland' Gov't
Apr 25th, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hana Levi Julian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

A former aide to New York State Governor George Pataki slammed the Obama administration's treatment of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the State of Israel in a prelude to Sunday's “Break the Silence' rally, set to begin at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) outside the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan.

The event will take place rain or shine, according to organizer Beth Gilinsky, head of the Jewish Action Alliance.

Among those on the podium will be Jeff Weisenfeld of Bernstein Global Wealth Management, a long-time leader in New York's “mainstream” Jewish community who for years was also active in the National Committee for Jewish Education. Weisenfeld spent four years as chief of staff in the city administration of former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat before becoming an aide to Governor George Pataki, another Republican.

Speaking late Friday afternoon in an interview with Israel National News, Weisenfeld called the current diplomatic crisis “the biggest accidental or deliberate miscalculation in American-Israeli relations made by any American president.” He added that the Obama administration's overtures to the Muslim world, and the contrast with its hostility to the State of Israel, had transformed the U.S. executive branch into a “complete Alice-in-Wonderland government. I don't want to make light of it here,” Weisenfeld said with some sarcasm, “but it's like Purim, when Mordechai becomes Haman, and Haman becomes Mordechai.”

He reserved special criticism for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Special Presidential Adviser David Axelrod, both traditonal Jews in the Obama administration who are among the president's closest aides. “I had positions like theirs, I worked for a governor, a senator... I always made sure that I was representing the Jewish community to the governor, and the governor to them. But there are some who see their power as an end in itself. They don't want to tell the boss when he's wrong. And they are the worst kind of people to have in government,” Weisenfeld said.

“Islam has evolved backwards, has become more violent than perhaps it was even in its inception, since they did not have the weapons then, that they have today. And you have Emanuel and Axelrod, who have bad judgment, and who do not see the need to fight this moral equivalency.”

Weisenfeld also noted that most “mainstream” Jewish community organizations did not – and could not – officially sign on to sponsor Sunday's rally for fear of retribution from the Obama administration. “The mainstream groups are about access and response to a direct threat from the White House.

“The [Jewish] Federations and their beneficiaries and subsidiaries have been warned by Rahm Emanuel to stay away from public criticism of the president on Israel. But unless the weather is horrendous,” he added, “there will be an abundance of “establishment-affiliated” people. Maybe we can wake up this president and pull him back from the abyss.”