Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Fathers House and the Way There
Sep 7th, 2016
CommentaryHarry A. Ironside
Categories: Exhortation

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:1-6)

In these verses, two outstanding truths are emphasized: first, that of the Father’s house, and second, our Lord’s personal return for His own. The Lord Jesus had been giving His last messages to His disciples. He had intimated that soon they would forsake Him and flee. He had told them He was going away, and for the present, they could not come where He was to go. And in verse thirty-six of chapter thirteen we read:

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

He was going, you see, to the Father’s house. He was going home to God by way of the Cross and resurrection, and Peter could not follow immediately. But the Lord says, “Thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” Peter did not understand that, and he said to Him, “Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake” (John 13:37).

“Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied Me thrice” (John 13:38).

And then He immediately adds, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” You see, the Lord Jesus is addressing these words, of course, to all His disciples, but directly to the disciple who was to deny Him in so short a time. And this is surely very comforting for our hearts. Peter was to fail the Lord—Jesus knew he would fail—but deep in Peter’s heart, there was a fervent love for the Lord Jesus. And when he said, “I will lay down my life for Thy sake,” he meant every word of it. But he did not realize how untrustworthy his own heart was. It was a case of the spirit being willing, but the flesh weak. And Jesus knew something of the fearful discouragement that would roll over the soul of Peter when he awoke to the realization of the fact that he had been so utterly faithless in the hour of his Master’s need.

In the very time that Jesus needed someone to stand up for Him and to say boldly, “Yes, I am one of His, and I can bear witness to the purity of His life and to the goodness of His ways”—at that time, Peter, frightened by the soldiers gathered about, denied any knowledge of his Savior. And, oh, the days and nights that would follow, as he would feel that surely he must be utterly cast off, surely the Lord could never put any trust in him again! But if he remembered these words, what a comfort they must have brought to his poor aching heart! For Jesus is practically saying, “I know all about it, Peter. I know how you are going to fail, but I want you to know this; in My Father’s house are many mansions, and you are going to share one of those mansions with Me some day. I am not going to permit you, Peter, to be utterly overcome. I am not going to permit you to go into complete apostasy. You will fall, but you will be lifted up again, and you will share with Me a place in the many mansions.”

When He says, “Let not your heart be troubled,” He does not mean, “Do not be exercised about your failure,” for He Himself sought to exercise the heart of Peter, and in a wonderful way restored him by the Sea of Galilee later on. But He means this, “Do not be cast down. Do not allow the enemy of your soul to make you feel there is no further hope, there is no opportunity for you.”

I wonder if I am speaking to someone who has failed, perhaps, as Peter failed. Under the stress of circumstances you, too, have denied your Lord, denied Him in acts if not in words, and the adversary of your soul is saying to you now, “It is all up with you; your case is hopeless. You knew Christ once, but you have failed so miserably, He would never own you again.” Oh, let me assure you His interest in you is just as deep as it ever was. If you have truly trusted Him as your Savior, the fact that you failed so grievously, and the fact that you mourn over it, only emphasizes the truth that you belong to Him. Still He says, “[Return], O backsliding children, [unto Me]; for I am married unto you” (Jeremiah 3:14)—not, “I am divorced from you.” And therefore He waits for you to come back and confess your failure and your sin, and He has promised complete restoration, for, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And some day for you, too, there will be a place in the Father’s house.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” You see, in the days gone by before Jesus came to them at all, the people of Israel did have faith in the one true and living God. Now they had never seen Him, and Jesus is saying to His disciples, “You have believed in God when you couldn’t see Him, now I am going away in a little while and you won’t be able to see Me, but I want you to trust Me just the same as when I was here. Just as you have believed in the unseen God through the years, I want you to put your faith in Me, the unseen Christ, after I have gone back to the Father.” Do we have that implicit trust and confidence in Him, realizing that He is deeply interested in every detail of our own lives? The Word says, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). There is absolutely nothing that concerns His people about which He Himself is not concerned. And therefore, He would have us put away all the stress and all the anxiety. He says, “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). “Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”

And then He adds, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.” “My Father’s house,” and by that of course He means Heaven, and He is speaking of a place, a place to which He was going, and a place into which some day He will take all His own. I often hear people say, “Heaven is a condition rather than a place.” Heaven is both a place and a condition. It is true we do not read a great deal about Heaven in the Bible. Somebody has said, “Heaven is the land of no more.” We have more in the Bible about what will not be in Heaven than about what will be there.

Remember in the book of Revelation, we read that there will be no more sin, there will be no more tears, there will be no more pain, there will be no more sorrow, there will be no more curse, there will be no more darkness, there will be no more distress of any kind in the Father’s house. The Father’s house is the place where Christ is, and that is the place to which the redeemed are going.

“If it were not so, I would have told you.” What does He mean by that? The Jews had had a belief in a heaven of bliss after death, and Jesus said, “If you had been wrong in that, I would have corrected you.” But because He didn’t correct it but rather affirmed it, we know that it is true, that there is a glorious home beyond the skies for the redeemed which we shall share with Him by-and-by.

He adds, “I go to prepare a place for you.” What does He mean by that? You see the mansions are different from what they were before He went back there. Before He went back to the Father’s house, the sin question had never been settled. Before He went back to the Father’s house, the veil had not been rent, the blood had not been sprinkled on the mercy-seat. So the saints of old went to Paradise on credit. They did not have the same blessed access into the immediate presence of God that the saints have now. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that we have now come to the spirits of just men made perfect. They were the spirits of just men of all the centuries before the Cross; God had redeemed them and taken them to Paradise, but they were not yet made perfect. They could not be until the precious blood of Jesus was shed on the Cross. Now having settled the sin question, He entered into the holiest with His own blood in antitypical fashion, sprinkled His own blood on the mercy-seat above, and now a place is prepared in the holiest for all of His own, and the spirits of just men of the past have been perfected, and we who believe now are perfected forever. So we are all suited to that place to which we are going. “I go to prepare a place for you.”

And then He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Now I know that a great many people think of this as a word in regard to death, and of course, when a believer dies, that believer goes to be with Christ. But we are never told in Scripture that in the hour of death Christ comes for His people. If we may draw an analogy from something our Lord said when He was here on earth, we gather that that is hardly true. We are told that a dear child of God was dying—he was a beggar, it is true. He was an outcast, lying at the rich man’s gate, but he was a real son of Abraham. He had faith in the God of all grace. And the beggar died, we are told, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. Angels carried the poor beggar—poor no longer—into Paradise. What I rather gather from that, is that the last ministry of angels, who are ever keeping watch over the people of God, will be to usher them into the presence of God. He is yonder in the Father’s house, and His angels usher His saints into His presence.

But He is speaking of something different here. Death is the believer going to be with Christ. That is what the Scripture tells us—”Absent from the body . . . present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8); “To depart, and be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). But a believer going home to be with Christ is spoken of as being unclothed, having laid his body aside. He is there in the presence of the Lord a glorified spirit, but he is there waiting for his redeemed body. When the Lord Jesus fulfills that which is spoken here in the fourteenth chapter of John, then believers will receive their glorified bodies and will be altogether like Him. This coming, referred to here, is developed for us more fully in the fourth chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. There we read in verse thirteen: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep”—that is, saints whose bodies are sleeping in the graves but whose spirits are with Christ—“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). This is the coming our Savior refers to when He says: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself” (John 14:3). It is at that coming that the expectation of our completed redemption will be fulfilled. In Romans eight, the apostle Paul tells us in verse nineteen:

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Verses twenty-two and twenty-three: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption—”What does he mean by that?—”to wit, the redemption of our body.”

Our spirits have already been redeemed, we have already received the salvation of our souls, but we are waiting for the complete salvation of the body, the redemption of the body at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope” (Romans 8:24). What hope is it then? The hope of the coming of our Lord. And to this He refers again in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, where we read in verse twenty: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

About the way there. Will everybody get to the Father’s house? I wish that they would. Richard Baxter used to pray, “Oh, God, for a full Heaven and an empty hell!” But alas, alas, many persist in rebellion against God and so that prayer can never be answered! There is only one way to the Father’s house. And what is that way? I have had people say to me so many times, “We are traveling different roads, but we will all get to Heaven at last.” No, no; I don’t find that in my Bible. My Bible says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:25), and it warns me against taking the broad way that leads to destruction and tells me to take the narrow way that leads to life.

And so here Jesus says, “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him—” Thomas was honest and he was never afraid just to blurt out all the truth. He said, “We don’t know what You are talking about. We have to confess we are ignorant, and we don’t know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

Jesus said unto him—and, oh, dear friends, you get what He said, for it is for you as well as for Thomas—”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Oh, don’t talk about many ways. There is only one—Jesus is the only way. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus. Have you come to Him? Are you trusting Him? If you are, you are on the way to the Father’s house, and now you can wait with equally glad expectation for the hour of His return, for He said, “If I go, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.” When will He come? We can’t tell that, but we are waiting for Him day by day.

I know not when the Lord will come
Or at what hour He may appear,
Whether at midnight or at morn,
Or at what season of the year.
I only know that He is near,
And that His voice I soon shall hear.
I only know that He is near,
And that His voice I soon shall hear.

Smart Cities: Spying is Just the Beginning
Sep 7th, 2016
CommentaryPNW STAFF
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Most people now carry a smartphone in their pockets and other smart devices such as smart watches, smart TV's and smart cars are growing increasingly common. The "smart" concept that defines hundreds of consumer devices is now coming to cities around the world. The wonderfully euphemistic term "smart" refers to the ability of a device or system to connect to a network and operate autonomously. 

A smart TV can learn someone's favorite programs and then record them for watching later, all without human intervention. In what has come to be called the "Internet of things" or IoT, every conceivable device from kitchen appliances to light bulbs is receiving Internet connection. Of course it wasn't long before the endless possibilities for surveillance and control of this level connection were realized by those in government. 

Cities are problematic from a planning perspective. Communications, transportation, zoning, commerce, utilities, waste management and a hundred other issues require coordination in dense urban centers. Cities such as Moscow, London, Beijing and Bogotá are famous for their traffic jams while Delhi suffers from waste management problems and New York City struggles with an antiquated communications infrastructure. 

From a city dweller's perspective, the result is a chaotic, dirty and crime filled zone that may offer better work opportunities. Yet for a government intent on the control of a population, the age-old anonymity of city life offers its own challenges. With ten million faces in the crowd, how are the police to know which are guilty of dissent? The answer to all of these problems of modern living and illusory freedom is the absolute control the smart city offers to governments around the world. 

Several municipalities around the world are being converted into smart cities as the communications, policing, transportation and other services become integrated. In other cases, new cities are being built from the ground up with this in mind, such as South Korea's Songdo. 

In every case, the concept is the same: centralize and control every aspect of city life. Every smart phone and car is tracked in real time, every corner is watched by connected CCTV cameras, every transaction is logged and all of the information flows through a central computer. London has been an early adopter with its 422,000 CCTV cameras, or one for every 14 people. 

When GPS isn't used for phone tracking, signal receivers can do the job to within just a few meters as Russia demonstrated during the Olympics, and as Forest City Commercial Management showed recently in shopping malls in California and Virginia. Shoppers' phones track their movement, e. g. logging which stores they enter and for exactly how long and cross reference this to purchase patterns in order to build complete profiles, all with "implied consent." 

Not to be outdone by the millions of CCTV cameras of the British, China has been pouring increasingly more resources into "internal security", which accounted for $25.6 billion per year of its national budget in 2015. 

Once again, the goal is population control through smart cities that connect a vast system of surveillance cameras with the ability to monitor cell phone locations and even to record and analyze calls and text messages. Even with China's reported 2 million Internet censors employed by the government, real time monitoring of billions of pieces of data per day is impossible. 

Luckily for Chinese despots, recent advances in computing power (China now has the top two fastest super computers) allow for artificial intelligence to listen to calls, read texts, watch security cameras, follow transaction history and flag any behavior in a smart system that is being called "precrime" by some.  

While South Korea is constructing its own smart city of Songdo from the ground up to link every aspect of a city dweller's life, Singapore too has adopted the smart city idea on the scale of a country by calling it a "smart nation". 

The island nation is proud now of the fact that the government is carefully integrating mass surveillance, utilities, traffic, education, policing, communications and every other aspect of life. According the Wall Street Journal, the government has already boasted of "using citizens' smartphones to measure the bumpiness of bus rides, which could indicate road maintenance requirements."

In the United States, the White House announced its new Smart Cities Initiative to speed up the conversion of traditional cities to these modern control zones in which communications, utilities and traffic will be connected.

Privacy advocates balked after iPhone users were shocked to find out in 2010 that their iPhones had logged their location data and then uploaded it as easily-captured plain text whenever they docked their phones. Android smart phone users didn't have much time to gloat, however, because it was only one year later when a large scandal broke with the revelation that a data collection program from Carrier IQ had been installed on all cell phones by AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile (Verizon was not involved). 

Beyond just the location data of the iPhone, Carrier IQ monitored texts, calls, websites visited, location data and other usage data. For the privacy minded who turned their GPS off, Carrier IQ secretly activated it just to report their location. 

With this level of control, and through the power of integration, governments and corporations are working together to put a camera, microphone and tracking device in the pocket of every American. Log all of the texts, listen to the calls, run it through a centralized system and 'Big Brother' isn't just watching, he's controlling every 'smart city citizen'.

For those who are still optimistic that the government has the best of intentions in its bid to connect and control every aspect of life in cities, there was the chilling announcement by retired General Michael Hayden that "we kill people based on metadata". 

As former head of both the NSA and CIA, it is hard to ignore Hayden's warning of the dangers of using nothing more than call history to track and ultimately eliminate those the government considers enemies. 

Add to cell phone metadata a network of security cameras, transaction history in a cash-less society, web search history, travel records and a thousand other data points central to the smart cities initiatives taking place across the country, and suddenly the world George Orwell imagined for Winston in Airstrip One springs to life. 

Subjects of a smart city will be just that, subject to the whims and control of those at the top, bereft of privacy and herded into convenient boxes.

Ryan: FBI Acting Like Political Operators for Clinton
Sep 7th, 2016
Daily NewsThe Washington Free Beacon
Categories: Warning

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) slammed the FBI on Tuesday for acting like “political operators” by releasing Hillary Clinton’s FBI report the Friday before Labor Day weekend.

“It’s like the most buried time you could put out stories. I’m surprised. I mean, I can’t believe they would do what is such a patently political move. It makes them look like political operators versus law enforcement officers,” Ryan told Wisconsin’s WRNJ radio station Tuesday morning, according to the Hill.

“The fact that they chose the Friday before Labor Day to put all this out there mystifies me as to why they thought that was a smart thing to do,” Ryan added.

The 58-page report released Friday by the FBI revolved around the bureau’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server and contained notes from its three-hour interview with the Democratic presidential nominee. The documents show Clinton used the phrase does not “recall” or “remember” at least 39 times during her FBI interview.

The Justice Department declined to press charges against the former secretary for mishandling classified material over her server, despite FBI Director James Comey calling Clinton’s actions “extremely careless” in July.

Ryan held Comey in high regard during his radio interview, saying he was a credible guy while adding he did not agree with the director’s recommendation to not charge Clinton.

Ryan said Clinton was the last person he wants to see become president.

“I think she has real trust issues, real credibility issues,” he said.

“What she said she did with respect to her emails, her devices, and all the rest versus now the facts as we know them as released in the Friday data dump,” Ryan said.

Clinton used thirteen different devices for her personal email during her tenure as secretary of state, according to the FBI report.

Russia Prepares for Next War
Sep 7th, 2016
CommentaryPNW STAFF
Categories: Warning

In a series of provocative moves that seem designed to threaten war, Russia continues to modernize its military, increase military production capacity, build new atomic bunkers and conduct large-scale military drills. 

Russia's recent invasion of Crimea, which went largely unanswered from the United States and the rest of Europe, must be seen as a stark warning of what is to come.

For neighboring countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, a resurgent Russia building and flexing its military muscle is a grave threat as Putin gradually works to expand Russia's sphere of power.

Though defensive weapons such as fortifications or missile shields are normally non-provocative, in the context of the strategic doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) they imply that the country possessing them intends to safeguard itself while retaining the ability to wipe out its enemies, thus destroying the delicate balance of MAD. 

It is in this context that Western experts now view Russia's construction over the past several years of numerous atomic bunkers near Moscow and elsewhere around the country. 

US intelligence officials refer to dozens of construction projects with one of the largest facilities a vast nuclear command and control bunker still under construction in the Ural Mountains. 

The bunker, which spans some 400 square miles, would be capable of coordinating war efforts far from population centers under Mount Yamantau in the remote wastelands of the Ural Mountains. 

Also of note is the new command and control center a mile and a half from the Kremlin, Russia's answer to the Pentagon, that was recently completed and which was shown directing the air campaign in Syria.

In addition to hardening dozens of vast bunkers against nuclear and conventional attacks, Russia is also expanding and modernizing its offensive nuclear arsenal and implementing changes to its nuclear use doctrine. 

Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, in charge of US European Command, has called Russia's new doctrine on tactical nuclear use "alarming". He went on to say in a recent press conference, "It is clear that Russia is modernizing its strategic forces". 

In addition to modernizing an aging nuclear arsenal, the doctrine calls for the use of tactical nuclear weapons, that is to say short range and low yield nuclear warheads, in response to conventional conflict.

According to US State Department figures released in March, 2016, Russia added 150 new warheads to its arsenal in the past year while the US shrank its stockpile by 57. Russia is not merely building from past designs either. 

Recently leaked plans show submarine drones capable of launching nuclear missiles. Also, a reported new stealth nuclear missile and warhead, called Satan-2, is designed to evade radar detection systems.

Both hint at Russia's intent to bolster its strategic nuclear power. The combination of tactical and strategic nuclear assets is a strong deterrent for NATO that might seek to intervene in the next invasion, perhaps of Estonia or Lithuania, as Russia continues its expansion under the now wildly popular Vladimir Putin.

Numerous extremely large scale military drills that simulate invasions of Eastern Europe have become routine. The creation of a NATO Rapid Response Force of several thousand mechanized soldiers to defend Lithuania and Estonia was met with the Russian deployment of several divisions, more than 35,000 troops, in addition to those already taking part in large combined arms drills. 

Now Russia has begun conducting "snap" drills without prior warning. NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow stated that these large drills without notification number about a dozen over the past two years.

The numerous Russian military actions point to a desire not only to strengthen its position in the event of war but also to drill for potential invasion as a way of threatening and warning off opposition to Russian aims. According to experts, this needs to be viewed from both an international and a domestic standpoint. 

Internationally, Russia is poised to continue seizing territory whenever it can, as it has done in Georgia and Ukraine, and influencing political outcomes when military force is less appropriate. 

Domestically, the show of force has given the Russian people a country of strength again. Putin's approval rating is said to top 80% now, even after the recent financial crisis. 

In a wave of national fervor, even in times of economic hardship, Russia has fallen back on its Cold War image of strength to consolidate the government's position at home as well as abroad. 

The open question is how far Putin will decide to beat the drums of war and test the limits of Western patience before a major conflict breaks out? In this dangerous game of politics, the next invasion may come sooner rather than later

Protecting Your Child from Sexual Predators ? With Prayer & the Word
Sep 7th, 2016
CommentaryPatrick Crough
Categories: Warning

Patrick Crough is a veteran investigative detective who has spent his life advocating for and defending children. He is the author of Seducers Among Our Children.
Raising a child has never been more treacherous than it is right now, and it is only getting worse. I grew up during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s, when the youth turned the social system of this country upside-down. But back then, the country was being built by the generation of World War II. It was far from perfect, but they laid a rock-solid foundation of wholesome morals and religious beliefs that were by and large based upon biblical Christianity. As a result, God blessed this nation with an economy that was second to no other in the world.

While the past fifty years have seen unprecedented, incredible technological advances, the granite foundation built by our parents and grandparents has been reduced to shifting sand. Aside from being fleeced by greedy and unscrupulous high-level executives, much of corporate America appears to be downsizing and outsourcing many traditional and manufacturing jobs to other countries. Additionally, we’ve become a population that places a distortedly high value in entertainment, pouring billions into the sports and gambling, pornography, and drug industries. Personal debt is off the charts. We have evolved into a nation of pleasure-seeking people pursuing a “comfortable” lifestyle at the expense of our own eternal salvation.

This is the legacy we are leaving our children. As a result, our children’s own morals and values are being corrupted. Tragically, many of the people they admire are nothing more than lovers of themselves, indifferent to the world around them. These so-called role models, whom we adults have placed on a pedestal and financially supported, are leading our children down the wide path of self-destruction. Satan, the master deceiver and manipulator, loves every bit of it.

Too many times, I have lain in bed during the desolate night hours worrying about my children. I worry about their health, their personal safety, and their future. When they were younger, I would think about my own mortality, wondering how they would cope without me to love and protect them. I have often stated in exasperation that being a parent feels like I have been sentenced to a life of worrying. As parents, we know that many dangers, both physical and spiritual, surround our children. It is for this very reason we should call upon God’s Holy Spirit to protect our children, comfort us, and take away our needless worry. And we should bury deep within our hearts God’s Word that is a “twoedged sword” that will give us discernment:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

I have learned that replacing worry with prayer is not only good for my children’s sake but it comforts me and gives me a sense of peace that is beyond my ability to attain on my own or from another human being. It fills that void in me that nothing else seems to fill.

Jesus instructed his apostles not to worry and stated that worrying doesn’t help any situation (Matthew 6:27). Easier said than done, but it is true. I can’t think of one instance where worrying assisted me in resolving any issue, especially one involving my children. We must learn to surrender our worries, failures, and lamentations to the Lord every day. This is especially true in the evening when the enemy likes to torment us as we try to rest. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Some of the heaviest burdens I have borne as an adult had to do with my children. The enemy will attack us through our children in an attempt to distract us, weaken our faith, and ultimately separate us from God. Therefore, we must pray unceasingly for strength, wisdom, and comfort. While God does not require us to pray on our knees, I suggest that praying parents take a knee whenever possible to pray for their children. A sincere act of respect and honor toward our Heavenly Father on behalf of our children demonstrates true humility. The Bible teaches us that “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6). For our children’s sake, parents should pray fervently and daily before God. We will worry far less and sleep more soundly as a result.

Consider this Scripture from Colossians as a foundation of daily prayer for your children:

[We] do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. (Colossians 1:9-11)

The Lord desires to protect you and your children. The Bible is so clear about this. If you do not have a relationship with Him or if you do not know whether He even exists, I suggest you begin simply to ask God to reveal Himself to you. The Bible says He will do that to the one who sincerely, with all of his or her heart, seeks after Him.

As for America, we need only look to the history of the Roman Empire to determine our pending fate as a nation. I believe the only way to change our country’s Titanic course for the sake of our children is to pray unceasingly for parental guidance, repentance, and salvation. If we, as parents, repent from our own rebellion and sin and then call upon the Lord with a sincere and humble heart, He will answer (2 Chronicles 7:14). But we need to keep knocking on the Lord’s door every day. Don’t allow unclean spirits to convince you that you are not worthy or good enough to ask the Lord for help. Jesus tells us in the Gospels that He came to cure those who are sick and in need of Him, not the self-proclaimed healthy people (Matthew 9:11-13). We are in the midst of a universal spiritual war. And those who name the name of Jesus Christ can come to God boldly:

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Prayer, with a repentant and humble heart toward the Lord, and God’s holy Word are our best weapons against the Devil and his demonic army. Come together as a married couple, as a family with your children, together with other believing parents, and with brothers and sisters in your church to pray and spend time together in His Word. Jesus told us that where two or more are gathered in His name, He will be present (Matthew 18:20

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 7th, 2016
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

Ryan: FBI Acting Like ‘Political Operators’ for Clinton
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) slammed the FBI on Tuesday for acting like “political operators” by releasing Hillary Clinton’s FBI report the Friday before Labor Day weekend. “It’s like the most buried time you could put out stories. I’m surprised. I mean, I can’t believe they would do what is such a patently political move. It makes them look like political operators versus law enforcement officers,”  

State Letter Reveals Plan for U.S. Legal Commitment to Unratified Nuclear Treaty
The plan was outlined in a letter from the State Department to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who is challenging the administration’s effort to lock in American adherence to the signed but unratified Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT.  

'Grave Damage' About That ‘SECRET’ Email Sidney Blumenthal Sent To Hillary Clinton
A memo Sidney Blumenthal forwarded to his friend Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state contained information classified as SECRET both when he sent it and currently, the FBI’s Clinton email investigation report says. It was already known that about two dozen of the hundreds of emails Blumenthal sent Clinton during her tenure contained classified information.  

Nanotech To Bring Radical Life Extension
This week, in an onstage Q&A at Singularity University's Global Summit, Diamandis elaborated on his vision on how nanotechnologies can lead to techniques to spot disease and even regenerate the body, interface with human mind and bring radical life extension. As time progresses, the entrepreneur see humans and technology interacting to ultimately link the human mind up to machines and bring longer lifespans.  

Iran president calls on Muslims to punish Saudi ‘crimes’
Hassan Rouhani accuses Riyadh of supporting terrorism ahead of upcoming hajj pilgrimage, which has been blocked to Iranians  

Russia, Abbas, Pushing for Moscow Summit with Netanyahu
The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday pointed out the importance of Russia’s role in organizing the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the meeting of President Putin’s special envoy to the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, with high-ranking PA and PLO officials.  

AURORAS ON JUPITER
On Aug. 27th, for the first time ever, NASA's Juno spacecraft swooped over Jupiter's south pole. The flyby revealed an astonishing vortex of infra-red light: "While we knew that the flyby of Jupiter's south pole might reveal the planet's southern aurora, we were still amazed to see it for the first time,"  

Congressional report warns of 'growing' war threat
seven-plus years into the administration of President Obama, a congressional report warns of a “low but growing” threat the nation will be plunged into “war with another great power,” according to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. The assessment comes in a Congressional Research Service report titled “How Big Should the Army Be? Considerations for Congress.”  

‘I will eat you alive’: Philippines leader Duterte vows revenge on ISIS affiliate  The statement comes in response to a bombing that took place last week at a crowded market in Duterte’s hometown, Davao City, which killed 14 people and injured 68 others. The government blamed Islamic State-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf for the blast.  

Saudi Grand Mufti: Iranians aren't Muslims
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia exacerbated already serious tensions with Iran when he claimed that the leaders of the Shi'ite country aren't Muslims yesterday (Tuesday).  

88 U.S. Generals, Including Holocaust Survivor, Sign Letter of Trump Support
A group of 88 U.S. military generals, including the only Holocaust survivor to become an American general, signed an open letter supporting Donald J. Trump for president on Tuesday. The letter, which includes four four-star and 14 three-star flag officers, was organized by Major Gen. Sidney Shachnow and Rear Admiral Charles Williams. The two major issues that spurred the letter are opposition to the temperament accusation and national security.  

Magnitude-4.0 earthquake beneath Mauna Loa
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) recorded a magnitude-4.0 earthquake beneath the Island of Hawaii at 4:25 a.m. Tuesday. According HVO, the earthquake occurred underneath Mokuaweoweo, Mauna Loa’s summit caldera, at a depth of 1.2 km (0.74 mi).  

Minor earthquake in the State of Washington rattles homes
A 3.2 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest of the State of Washington on Tuesday night, the United States Geological Survey reported, briefly shaking homes and rattling residents. The quake hit the Sudden Valley area at 11:50 p.m. local time, the USGS said.  

Tokyo shaken by magnitude 4.9 earthquake; no tsunami warning
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 shook buildings in Tokyo on Wednesday, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.  

Iran vessel 'harasses,' sails close to U.S. Navy ship in Gulf: U.S. officials
A U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after a fast-attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards (91 meters) of it in the central Gulf on Sunday, U.S. Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. It was at least the fourth such incident in less than a month. U.S. officials are concerned that these actions by Iran could lead to mistakes.  

UN: Palestinian economy could double without Israeli occupation
The Palestinian economy could easily double, while sky-high unemployment and poverty would plummet if the Israeli occupation were lifted, the United Nations development agency said Tuesday. In a new report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) pointed to a long list of ways the Israeli occupation stifled the economies of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...  

The cloak-and-dagger US payments to Iran: planes, cash and Swiss banks
The Obama administration disclosed to Congress on Tuesday that it transferred a total of $1.7 billion in cash through Swiss banks to Iran around the time American hostages were released this year, about four times the amount originally disclosed to the public, sources told Circa. The news was delivered by the State, Defense and Treasury Departments in a private briefing to congressional staff...  

Jerusalem Biblical Temple floor designs 'restored'
Archaeologists in Jerusalem say they have for the first time reconstructed likely designs of a Biblical Jewish temple floor using original fragments. Experts reassembled pieces of tiles found amid tons of earth from the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif. They say the tiles date from the period of the Second Temple, during the time of King Herod about 2,000 years ago.  

Calais migrants: Work to start on UK-funded wall
Construction of a UK-funded wall near Calais' so-called Jungle migrant camp will begin very soon, a minister says. Dubbed the "Great Wall of Calais" by some media, the 4m (13ft) wall will run for 1km (0.6 miles) along both sides of the main road to Calais port. Home Office minister Robert Goodwill said security around the port was being "stepped up with better equipment".  

WHO strengthens Zika safe sex guidance
Men and women returning from any area where the Zika virus is circulating should practise safe sex for at least six months to avoid the risk of spreading the disease, says the World Health Organization. The advice applies even if a person has no symptoms. It comes a few weeks after doctors discovered the virus in the sperm of an Italian man six months after he first had Zika symptoms.  

Children left gasping for air after suspected gas attack in Aleppo
More than 80 people were suffering severe breathing difficulties in Syria's embattled city of Aleppo after another chemical attack Tuesday on a rebel-held neighborhood, said the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer rescue group.  

Saudi Mufti: Iran leaders not Muslim, Iran decries Saudi 'extremism'
Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, said in remarks published on Wednesday that the leaders of regional rival Iran were not Muslims and saw Sunni Muslims as their enemy. Al al-Sheikh was reacting to comments by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticizing Saudi management of the haj and suggesting Muslim countries think about ending Saudi control of the annual pilgrimage.  

Obama suffers the slings and arrows of a restive world
President Barack Obama bade farewell to G20 leaders in Hangzhou, China, on Monday by reminding them they're living in "turbulent" times -- and he wasn't kidding. His valedictory Asia tour, which moved on to Laos later in the day, is unfolding amid diplomatic slights and great power rivalries that reflect the unstable nature of the world Obama will bequeath to his successor in January.  

This Is How North Korea Will Get Its Nukes Past American Missile Defense Systems
When North Korea launched three ballistic missiles this week, it wasn’t just a show of force toward the world leaders gathered in China for a meeting of the G-20. It was also a test of what may be new technology to thwart missile defense systems and provide Pyongyang with an edge in an eventual conflict with the United States

New York City September 19th, 2016
The Triumphal Arch, a symbol of resilience in the face of loss, will be a fitting tribute to America's great metropolis. The arch will stand in Manhattan, surrounded by buildings adorned with classical features suggesting the common cultural roots of East and West.  

Strong aftershocks rattle East Coast
More strong aftershocks have rattled the East Coast with a 5.7 tremor among the shakes in the early hours of the morning.  

Hillary Has Second Coughing Spell of Day During In-Flight Presser
It was the second time Monday that Clinton had a coughing spell, having coughed her way through two minutes of a campaign speech in Cleveland earlier. But the cough has been a point of speculation among some of Clinton's critics who say it points to evidence she is in poor health. 

Iran: the Return of Ahmadinejad
Sep 7th, 2016
CommentaryBY MAJID RAFIZADEH/GATESTONE INSTITUTE
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Iran's former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying he wants to "redefine revolutionary ideals" set up by the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, appears to be launching a campaign to run in the upcoming Iranian presidential elections, in February, 2017.

Ahmadinejad was well-known for his incendiary and provocative speeches, which included denying the Holocaust. At the end of his presidential term, from 2005 to 2013, his approval rating was extremely low, and he managed to drive away most constituents across political spectrum, including the topmost hardline leaders. He also became the first Iranian president since 1979 to be summoned by the parliament (Majlis) to answer questions regarding his activities and policies.

After all of this, the common conception among politicians, scholars and policy analysts was that Ahmadinejad would never return to politics. It seemed that his retirement plan focused on founding a university and teaching, but his plan to open a university failed. 

Despite his low popularity among people, however, the "principalists" (ultra-conservatives) were still on his side, due to his fierce anti-US, anti-Western and anti-Israel policies and rhetoric, as well as the fact that he remains a major figure in the coalition of several conservative groups, the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran.

After Ahmadinejad's presidency, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appointed him to the Expediency Council, Iran's highest political arbitration body, which arbitrates between the Guardian Council (the supervisory body over the parliament and elections) and the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament). The Expediency Council is predominantly made up of Iran's hardline clerics, and functions as an advisory institution to the Supreme Leader.

Although it seems that Ahmadinejad did not have any intention of returning after being out of the international spotlight for two years, other factors show that he never really left. Domestically, Ahmadinejad remained politically active, trying to unify and lead the hardliners. Since he left office, he has continued holding meetings with former ministers in Tehran.

In the last few months, however, Ahmadinejad's desire to launch his campaign more forcefully and determinedly has become clearer as, once again, he began attracting the international spotlight, such as when he wrote an open letter to US President Barack Obama, demanding the transfer of $2 billion to Iran.

To capitalize on the popular vote and the presidential elections of 2017, Ahmadinejad has been focusing on attracting constituents from around Iran by traveling to smaller cities and towns, giving lectures and speeches; supporters of Ahmadinejad have called for his return.

During his presidency, people enjoyed subsidies on items including petrol, natural gas and electricity, and his government distributed monthly cash handouts of about $17 to every person. These, as well as criticism of corruption, injustice, and capitalism, were appealing to the rural population and the less affluent.

Ahmadinejad has also been vehemently criticizing Hassan Rouhani, the current Iranian president, as incompetent, and questioning his economic and foreign policies, and pointing out that, "There will be bumps and satanic obstacles in our path... One should not forget that the US is our enemy."

The latest poll by the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland revealed that "Ahmadinejad now represents the single largest threat to Rouhani's re-election, and trails the once-popular incumbent by only eight points. Suddenly, the ex-president seems once again to be a real political contender."

This is a ripe environment for him for several reasons.

First of all, the nuclear deal has become a popular issue among the hardliners. The Supreme Leader and senior cadre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been vocally critical of the nuclear deal. They fear further diplomatic and political rapprochement between the US and Iran, now that they have already achieved their objectives of the lifting of the four major rounds of the United Nations Security Council's sanctions.

Ayatollah Khamenei warned against any relations with the US, and he also questioned the economic benefits of the nuclear agreement: "Weren't the oppressive sanctions lifted so that the people would feel a change in their lives? Has there been a tangible effect on the people's lives in the past six months?"

Second, the popularity of the nuclear deal has been on a decline among the population as well. After the nuclear deal was implemented, polls showed that 63% of Iranians expected to see improvements in the economy and living standards within a year. But currently, in a new poll, 74%of Iranians said there had been no economic improvements in the past year. 

Ahmadinejad can indeed be a viable contender against Hassan Rouhani, and is more likely the choice of the Supreme Leader and the IRGC leaders, and the candidate favored by the hardliners and principalists.

Committing to Personal Revival
Sep 7th, 2016
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Exhortation

One consequence of our failure to see clearly the true nature of revival is that we wait for years for some supernatural manifestation that never comes, overlooking completely our own individual place in the desired awakening. Whatever God may do for a church must be done in the single unit, the one certain man or woman. Some things can happen only to the isolated, single person; they cannot be experienced en masse. Statistics show, for instance, that 100 babies are born in a certain city on a given day. Yet the birth of each baby is for that baby a unique experience, an isolated, personal thing. Fifty people die in a plane crash; while they die together they die separately, one at a time, each one undergoing the act of death in a loneliness of soul as utter as if he alone had died. Both birth and death are experienced by the individual in a loneness as complete as if only that one person had ever known them.
Three thousand persons were converted at Pentecost, but each one met his sin and his Savior alone. The spiritual birth, like the natural one, is for each one a unique, separate experience shared in by no one. And so with that uprush of resurgent life we call revival. It can come to the individual only. Though a visitation of divine life reaches seventy five persons at once (as among the Moravian Brethren at Dusseldorf), yet it comes to each one singly. There can exist no collective body of believers that can be revived apart from the units that compose the body.

Understood aright these are truths full of great encouragement and good hope. Nothing can hinder you or me from experiencing the revival we need. It is a matter for God and the solitary heart. Nothing can prevent the spiritual rejuvenation of the soul that insists upon having it. Though that solitary man must live and walk among persons religiously dead, he may experience the great transformation as certainly and as quickly as if he were in the most spiritual church in the world.

Anti - BDS Activists Decry Lutherans Obsession With Israel
Sep 7th, 2016
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

While some pro-Israel groups are decrying the Lutheran church’s “scapegoating of Israel” and its apparent movement towards embracing divestment, other Jewish leaders detect hopeful signs with the church’s most recent positions.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), the largest Lutheran denomination in the US, passed two Israel-related resolutions earlier this month at its triennial assembly in New Orleans. One resolution established an “investment screen” that will recommend where Lutherans should invest their money with regard to Israel and the Palestinians. The other urged a cutoff of US aid to Israel unless Israel meets a series of conditions, and calls for the immediate US recognition of “the state of Palestine.”

“The Lutheran Church has an outrageous obsession with Israel,” said Dexter Van Zile, a Catholic pro-Israel activist who monitors and analyzes the Christian media for the Committee on Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).

88 U.S. Generals, Including Holocaust Survivor, Sign Letter of Trump Support
Sep 7th, 2016
Daily NewsIsrael Breaking News
Categories: Contemporary Issues

A group of 88 U.S. military generals, including the only Holocaust survivor to become an American general, signed an open letter supporting Donald J. Trump for president on Tuesday.

The letter, which includes four four-star and 14 three-star flag officers, was organized by Major Gen. Sidney Shachnow and Rear Admiral Charles Williams. The two major issues that spurred the letter are opposition to the temperament accusation and national security.

“The beating that Trump is taking [by Hillary Clinton’s campaign] that he doesn’t have the temperament to be the commander-in-chief is erroneous,” Williams told JNS.org. “We wanted to get this out right now.”

Shachnow, a 40-year Army veteran, escaped a Lithuanian concentration camp before joining the US military . He served as a Green Beret, was Commanding General of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command Airborne at Ft. Bragg. He’s the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal.

Williams served as Commanding Officer of five organizations throughout his career and received the Legion of Merit.

Williams’ colleagues, who have advised Trump privately, say the billionaire businessman listens 90 percent of the time and asks questions 10 percent. “He grasps the concept then moves onto the next issue, which is what a CEO and leader does,” Williams said.

For many in the military community, national security is the biggest concern and in conversations with numerous peers, Williams said many were willing, and continue to be willing, to sign their names to the open letter supporting Trump.

“If you don’t have national security, you don’t have anything,” Williams said. “These guys have spent their lives in national security, the military is an extension of the State Department. They’ve been on the front lines. When you look at the world and what’s gone wrong, Hillary Clinton didn’t make the world any better. More of the same is not the answer.”

So far, Williams contacted 170 out of over 3,000 living retired admirals and generals. While nearly 90 people have agreed to sign onto the letter so far, Williams said others told him they will vote for Trump but didn’t want to sign a public statement. Few expressed criticism of the letter, he said.

The group may do a second announcement after reaching out to more in the military community, Williams added. Tuesday’s letter is ahead of the Sept. 7 event where Clinton and Trump will appear in a first-ever “Commander-in-Chief Forum,” hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in New York City. It will feature questions from NBC News and an audience made up of mostly military veterans and active service members.