This article really should be two articles but since the topics relate to the same problem of repentance in America I will try to integrate them. The question is, would Christian repentance in America heal the land or will national repentance be required to heal the land? Too often I hear teachers and preachers say that if Christians will humble themselves and pray God will heal our nation. Is that really true? We will look at this presumption later but first I want to deal with a related issue.

Often you will hear the slogan that “We must take America back” It sounds good but who do “we” take America back from and to whom do we give America to? The usual answer is that we give America back to “we the people”. Have we the people of America really lost America or did the American people actually create the America that we live in today? I think it is the latter. The American government today really reflects what most Americans wanted from our government over time.

It was the American people that elected the people that took much moral law and God out of the affairs of our nation. Now some people say they want morality back but they will not deal with the sins in their own lives. So how is morality even possible when the majority of people in this nation want evils absolutely identified in the Bible to be allowed in society? They even permit evils to be openly promoted to their own children and expect some moral outcome?

Most Americans could not even agree on what it is that God requires from a people and a nation. Only four percent of Americans have a Christian worldview. So any god brought back into America today would just be an empty suit anyway. He would be somewhat like many of our political leaders and even some of the clergy that claim to believe in God or claim to do His work but display by their actions and words that their god is not God.

It was most of the American people that wanted big government social welfare programs. People in this nation want cradle to grave security provide to them by a government as flawed as themselves. In fact, people in this nation demand so many things to be provided for them by government that the government is continually spending more than they have to give it to them.

Now some have been shocked by the economic downturn and realized that if the nation continually overspends there will be consequences so they are rebelling against the consequences instead of dealing with their own avariciousness and lack of responsibility that helped create a government made in their own image. Now Americans are pointing fingers at the politicians they elected claiming that they have been framed by the image made in their likeness.

Many Americans were living beyond their means and gambling on the come line believing their winning streak would never end. When the dice came up craps they could not believe it and like the spoiled boomer generation they are, they wanted and still want the government they created to bail them out and restore their fortunes.

Many do not even care that the bailouts mean that their children and grandchildren will have to pay the cost for them to continue to live beyond their means. The future generations of Americans will pay for this spoiled boomer generation either through inflation or a systemic collapse of the economic system and a great depression.

Now that many have been hit in the pocketbook they want to stop paying the bills period. That really is the main reason for the rise of the Tea Party Movement. There really is no common agreement among the people in The Tea Party Movement other than they want less spending and lower taxes. But in the spending area don’t dare touch any program like Social Security or Medicare because it impacts the old people that make up most of the movement and don’t cut defense because this movement is make up of American patriots so we need to continue to spend more than the whole rest of the world combined on the military.

The real theme coming from the majority of people in this nation is to tell government to stop spending more than they are going to take in, but don’t cut nothing that I want, and do not tax me to pay for it, and don’t borrow the money to pay for it either?

This entertaining article was written by someone who was at the Tea Party convention. The article should make it clear that the Tea Party Movement is no more united on the issues than are most Americans. It seems the main thing they have in common is that they are fed up with the politicians that most of them elected.

Does anyone really think that electing Sarah Palin or anyone else is going to fix America without a change in Americans? Can evangelical Christians (whatever that means today) actually take over a hedonistic America? Would non Word Faith evangelicals even support Palin when they find out that Rick Joiner would be her prophet Czar giving her direct messages from God? (think about it.) I bring that up because even the Christian evangelicals would not be united against the most popular right wing figures.

Heck, if you could even elect someone from the right wing in America (which is highly doubtful in today’s America with all its government dependents) it will just spawn a new movement from the left to oppose what you are trying to force down their throats. So I think the Tea Party movement is going nowhere because it is going to splinter into factions and even if it succeeds to be sucked into the Republican elephant it will not bring significant change until the majority of people in America actually want that kind of change.

As long as the spoiled Spock babies of the baby boomer generation (that showed their real stuff during the Hippie Movement) are now in the majority change for the better in America is not going to happen.

Let’s say the majority of the country moved conservative and elected conservative leaders would that change the lack of morals of the American people? Would the American people then just negligent the poor dependents that they created in prior administrations? They would do so at the risk of massive riots followed by a police state. So no, you cannot just change all the rules in the middle of the ball game or take the ball and go home and act as if the home team had no part in the nation’s past fiscal irresponsibility when the government has always been the government that the people elected.

Any nation anywhere on the political spectrum is doomed to judgment if evil people prevail. It is more a moral and immoral issue than a Left or Right issue. We should throw both parties out and have a moral and immoral party. One would be based on the truths of the Bible and the other would oppose them. That would make the lines clear to all Americans. Yet, I think when people found out how it will impact their own lives the majority in America would willfully elect the immoral party into power, for we Gentiles living in the flesh are just as rebellious as the people of ancient Israel.

America is a secular country. America in general is using natural means to deal with a world actually controlled by the supernatural. America does not in general try to use spiritual means to war against spiritual forces that have control over the natural world. America does not even acknowledge that these forces exist. So America is powerless when spiritual forces in high places come against her. This nation is only going to bankrupt itself by trying to police evils everywhere else in the world when by our own natural strength we cannot even police the evils going on in our own cities at home. The American empire will soon go into the dustbin of world history like all the empires before it unless there is national repentance and spiritual intercession.

If all  Americas would repent like the people of Nineveh there could be a delay in judgment but that can only come if God sends America a prophet and the people listen.  How about the ongoing message from the Spirit filled Church in America, does it qualify as a prophetic message to this Gentile nation? Are the people of America listening to God’s people and repenting? I think not.

Christians ought to know that our weapons are not carnal. We should not believe that Americans that are still living in the natural could live morally as if they had the Spirit. We Christians need to fight the spiritual war against wickedness in high places through the method outlined by Paul:

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

True Christians in America are only a small majority of the population. We are not going to make America Christian or make Americans less worldly through natural means. The only way we can actually change America at all is by spiritual warfare. There is no reason for God to cure natural problems of a nation that are the result of the sinfulness of the people of that nation unless they repent of their sins.

This brings me to the other issue I first spoke of when I started this article. I know there are many true Christians that think that if true Christians in a nation repent and pray that God will heal the nation. That is false presumption based on a verse ripped out of proper context.

2Ch 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

God was not saying what many well meaning Christians imply. He was talking about the nation of Israel. “My people” at that time was Israel and the statement implies that if the nation of Israel repents God would heal their land. It was not saying that He was going to heal the land of Gentile nations if some Christians in their nations repented. If you read the text in full context God also pronounces judgment on His people and claims that His people will worship other gods and be exiled. If you are going to apply this verse to Christians then apply the rest of the passage to Christians as well.

This really is a prophetic covenant promise to the Nation of Israel at the establishment of the Temple of God in Israel. Most of what is described in the passage occurred to Israel in the history of Israel but the need for repentance before Israel can be restored still applies to Israel today.

God judges nations based on the actions of the people in the nations. Christians can be salt and light in a nation and be spiritual intercessors so the leaders of this nation will make the right decisions for the sake of God’s purposes on earth. But, even in intercession our prayers need to be within God’s will for the nation. Also remember that are real home is in Heaven not here. God certainly is not bound to answer prayers that really amount to being selfish prosperity presumptions for the nation.

If Christians really wanted repentance in America they now would have to be praying for the opposite of prosperity blessings for America. There is no history of repentance coming through more prosperity. That is about as valid a thought as the thought that prosperity comes from spending more and going further in debt.

Actually, if the Church of God repents it will produce works of the Spirit and that indirectly might help a nation to be blessed materially but let’s not get the cart before the horse. The only effective way that Christians can heal and change America is to be used by God to convert unbelievers. It is not the Christians that need to repent to save America. It is the whole nation that needs to repent and believe God. Christians in America need to tell them that.

One of the problems I encounter in the comments on my blogs and in emails are views from Christians that lack a Christian worldview. Often their views originate from world philosophies, ideologies, theologies or human taught sociocultural suppositions rather than the clear teachings of the scriptures. That leads me to believe that these Christians do not know or understand the Christian scriptures and that they are more likely influenced by the world than influencing the world for Christ.

Barma Group – a respected Christian research firm, asked certain questions in a survey to determine how many Americans had Christian worldviews.  They asked the following questions:

• Do absolute moral truths exist?
• Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
• Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
• Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?
• Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?
• Is Satan real?
• Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people?
• Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?

If you answered yes to all of these questions you would be among the only 9 percent of “born again Christians” that did! Only 51 percent of Christian pastors answered yes to all these question and only four percent of Americans.  What becomes of a church and a nation that clams God but does not believe God??

Our worldview is the framework from which we view reality it is how we make sense of life and the world. The Christian worldview is a understanding of world reality based on the teachings found in the scripture. Therefore, truths found in the scripture gives Christians the way they should live. So, understanding this, why is it that 9 out of 10 of people that claim to be born again Christians do not know these basic biblical truths? Obviously the survey displays that most people calling themselves Christians in this nation do not understand scriptures well enough to even define the truths preserved for believers.

Is it any wonder then when people claiming to be Christians take positions on this blog that are worldly and are in direct opposition to what true Christianity teaches? They never learned to discern good from evil. According to these surveys many of these worldly worldview Christians not only support sinful practices of others they even take part in the same sinful practices themselves at about the same percentages as the world.

Lets be honest. Many “Christians” embrace worldviews that actually originate from satanic inspired philosophies of, New Age, Marxism, Secular Humanism, Pantheism, Universalism, Hedonism, etc. rather than the scriptures. Instead of taking positions contrary to the world with all its demonic “ism’s” they are trying to fit in with the views of the world around them.

Most Christians go through life not recognizing that their personal worldviews have been deeply affected by the world education system, world media, false teachers in Christianity and any number of other bad influences. If Christians do not believe God’s word and do not use its teachings as a standard of truth then they cannot be effective witnesses to a lost and dying world. Looking at the surveys one has to come to the conclusion that most of the salt of the earth in this nation has lost its savior. So what should we expect to be the fate of “worldly Christians?

“Mt 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

With far less than ten percent of confessing Christians having a Christian worldview is it any wonder why “Christians” sometimes come here to disagree with Christian teachings?

Most people in the world claim to have a religion and they think that keeping the religion offers some reward for them after death. I do not think anyone explains the fallacy of such thinking any better than Mike Gendron in this article, Exchanging Religion for an Eternal Relationship with God. The article is found in his newsletter and it is in PDF format. There are better formats for reading on Internet reposting sites and if you Google that title you will find them. I believe in giving credit to the site of the author so that is why I linked to Gendron’s site rather than a reposting site.

By the way, if you click on the link on his name in the upper right side of the newsletter it will take you to his website homepage. Mike Gendron has written many excellent articles. His ministry is primarily toward reaching Roman Catholics. This article also focus mainly on the practices of Roman Catholics but the message is relevant to all people in the world that are trusting in their religion. That includes Protestants and even Evangelicals

I grew up much like Mike Gendron. I was a Roman Catholic but I really had to fall away from their religious system of bondage to find the only doctrine that will free and save anyone. That doctrine is simply that God’s salvation comes through God’s grace and His grace to mankind was given in His Son. What you have to do is believe in God’s righteousness and trust in the Savior God gave to pay for sin and bridge the gap between God and man. When you do believe (trust) in God Savior; He will raise you to eternal life. Salvation does not come through religion it comes from trusting in God’s promises.

I know, that you know, that you religious people trusting in your own religion to save you, will fail to keep it all anyway. But, if you think you actually did keep all the rules, regulations and traditions of your own religion you would become too self righteous to dwell among those saved by God’s grace anyway. Then God would have to create a special place for all the self righteous beings in the universe. I have news. He did. He named it The Lake of Fire.

No one will ever be saved through their own righteous works or by keeping a religion. For more understanding read the article above and also read my article on salvation through trusting in Jesus Christ.

Some wonder why Bible prophecy is so cryptic? The answer is that understanding of  both parables and Bible prophecy are only for the astute elect. Jesus taught in parables at His first coming so that those wise in their own understanding would not understand the things of God. The Scribes and the Pharisees did know the scriptures but they lacked understanding and could not properly discern the scriptures they knew. They would not see that Jesus was clearly taught in the scriptures because in their own self righteous religious understanding, the Messiah would enable them and not correct them.

It was also obvious from what we have been told in scripture that even the disciples of Jesus did not understand many of the parables. Jesus had to explain them privately to his disciples.  After Jesus rose from the dead one of the first things that Jesus did was to open the understanding of His disciples by showing them the scriptures that taught about Himself (Lk24 25-27). Take note that Jesus taught them from the scriptures rather than just revealing Himself to them in special revelation. It is important that people know the scriptures rather than look for the things of God in some special Revelation. Only in the breaking of the Bread did they finally recognize that the risen Savior had been among them teaching them all this time.

The parables at first were given for the astute elect of Israel that were hungry to know the truths of God. The parables were explained to them by Jesus. When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost the door was opened for all believers to understand the things of God. But nevertheless, not all seek, and not all ask for understanding, and not all hear what the Spirit is saying. Many do not meditate on the words of God because they do not know the word of God.

Furthermore, nobody is really going to understand scripture without the Holy Spirit. So being Baptized into Christ comes before any real understanding. Many remain blinded to the meaning of parables and also Bible prophecy because they either do not know the scriptures or for various reasons they never got understanding from the Holy Spirit.

Those in Christianity blinded by things of the world and dull of hearing about the Lord’s second coming will not see or understand the scriptures where Jesus fulfills future Bible prophecy. Those dull of hearing as it relates to Bible prophecy are those that in practice have given up on any literal future fulfillment of Bible prophecy on earth. Instead of seeking understanding in the scriptures they substitute theories of theology that make prophetic passages conform to their religion.

Satan and all the world blinded by him do not know the future. The best they can do is guess or try to manipulate world events to try to make it come about. Nevertheless, God is in control of all future events not Satan. Those without understanding of Bible prophecy cannot know the future so they often dabble in occult practices to try to figure the future out. We see that happening today.  Those today that mix paganism and Bible prophecy are doing it because they are still blind and they think they found answers about the timing of the second coming of Jesus through pagan methods and theories.  They try to make Bible prophecy conform to the latest pagan theory but one originates from God and the other originates from Satan. You cannot get understanding of what God said about the future by mixing truth and lies.

The sons of Satan continually attempt to make the world system conform to the teaching of their own false prophets who get their message from devils. In recent times we have seen examples of  attempts to bring about a world under the oppression of Satan. There are religions like Islam founded on false prophets. There are the philosophies and worldviews of Fascism, Marxism, Secular humanism and New Age/New Spirituality, they are all founded on false prophets.  With most worldviews outside of Christianity the driving force behind them is the antichrist spirit found in paganism and pantheism.  All of the founders of these world philosophies or worldviews dabbled in the occult. We have seen many attempts of Satanically inspired people trying to bring in a world system that will conform to the teaching of their own false prophets but they all fail in the end. They will continue to fail until God removes the restrainer in His people.

So I think that those that tell me about some Satanic plan to establish a Satanic New world order really miss the whole point. What else is new under the sun? God is still in control of the earth and Satan can do nothing that God does not allow. Satan has been trying to discourage and defeat the Sons of light and bring in his own kingdom for six millenniums but only in God’s timing will Satan be given the power to bring  his counterfeit kingdom on earth. Even then, it is only granted for a very short period in order to deceive those on earth that rejected the love of the truth (2Th 2 7-12).

Jesus taught in Parables to help illustrate spiritual truths to those that have the eyes to see and ears to hear and understand these things.  Why Jesus taught in parables is explained in several passages but I have one that I want you to ponder on. That is the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:18).  The sower is Jesus. The seed is the word of the Kingdom. The ground are the people that the word falls on. The people that can hear the word and that allow the word to take deep root in themselves will produce for the Kingdom. Those that produce much will be given more authority and responsibility as a reward. Those that produce little will have the authority and responsibility they had taken away and the rewards they should have received will be given to those that produced.  Further light on rewards and the taking away of rewards can be found in the Parable of the Pounds in Luke Chapter 19.

Another reason why Jesus taught in parables was so those that sought out the mysteries of the parables would understand (the wise – the astute elect). Bible prophecy is much the same. The world and even some Christians are not looking for the second Coming of Jesus by searching the scriptures. Instead, they are looking for the end of the world through the teachings of false prophets. They will never understand Bible prophecy or know the time of His coming by believing the false prophets of the world. Nevertheless, the wise will understand in the end time (Dan 12:10, Mat 25: 4)

Those Christians with preconceived presumptuous theologies like replacement and supersession theology will not understand Bible prophecy. The religious leaders of Jesus time thought they would recognize the Messiah when the Messiah came and fulfilled there preconceived theology but He came as scripture said He would and the religious leaders did not even know Him. The builders of Judaism rejected the chief cornerstone of their own religion. Had they really understood the scriptures it should have been quite clear to them that Jesus was the Messiah but they were more worried about keeping up religious appearances and lording over men.

Many of the religious leaders today are cut from the same cloth. They do not know or teach anything about Bible prophecy and the second coming of Jesus Christ. They have become blinded by worldly worldviews. Since they have little or no understanding of Bible prophecy they just make it allegory. As allegory they can redefine Bible prophecy to say whatever they want. Many today also just make sin and hell and judgment on this evil world allegory as well. They redefine scripture so that God becomes a politically correct being that must obey human reason.

Nobody can understand the true meanings of parables, Bible prophecy, or the deep things of God by human reasoning or through human preconceived theologies. Deep spiritual truths are given to those who can chew the meat of God’s word and build upon it by taking Bible passages and correlating  them with all other scriptures to try to find true understanding. All is done by serious study of scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit. Those that still suck milk are not going to get parables or Bible prophecy correct and those who think they will get enlightenment on Bible prophecy from pagan sources are totally deceived.

As Issiah said:

Isa 28:9   Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

I have found one absolute truth in every evangelical Bible believing church. (I have attended many churches with all the moves that I have made over the years). That absolute truth is that most people that attend these churches have never read through the Bible even once in their entire Christian lives. How do they really know a biblical Jesus without reading the Bible? Apparently some Christians think they know all about  Jesus but they do not know or care that the Bible is the only infallible source that accurately speaks of Him?

I realize that there is Christian teaching in many of these churches where you can find out things about Jesus without reading the Bible for yourself. Nevertheless, how about a little self motivation to read all that God has given us about the Jesus of the Bible rather than waiting for the pastor or teacher to dig something up for you?

I also know that in these churches there always is a core group that do read the Bible but they are most often just a small minority of the membership. Christians might wonder why it is that they have no motivation to learn about the things of Jesus and what that says about them?

I really do not understand Christians that are not driven to find out the words of God. When I first believed I was driven to read the Bible several times in the first couple of years and I also spent many hours listening to many radio teachers and tapes. I was always finding out new things that I did not fully understand before. I Still do. By the time I first attended a church (a few years later) I had more understanding of  the Bible than most people that were attending the church all of their lives. I just do not understand Christians that are not motivated to read the words of God and learn.

How can one really know Jesus without reading the Bible? How can anyone live a fruitful Christian life without knowing the Bible? How do you know you are even saved without reading the Bible?  The Bible is all about the work of Jesus in His creation so if you believe Jesus is God and expect Him to save you why do Christians not want to read what God has to say to them?  How does a Christian even defend their faith without reading the Bible? Obviously they cannot and cults are well aware of this.

Most Pastors and teachers know what I am saying is true. The Bible illiteracy in our Bible churches is deplorable. One of the things I like about Calvary Chapels is that they teach book by book through the Bible. So if you attend regularly in a Calvary Chapel and stay long enough your going to hear the whole Bible and get the pastors educated commentary on the Bible to boot. However, most churches do not teach through the Bible and I am not saying that they should.  The pastors should do what God is telling them to do in the congregation they lead. The ultimate responsibility to know the Bible rests with you alone.

Christians follow “Christian” TV hucksters and book peddlers that tickle their ears with promises of a prosperous life in the flesh because they do not read the Bible. Christians get confused by cults because they do not read the Bible. Christians get sucked into the latest New Age doctrine or successful living fad book because they do not read the Bible. Christians look for answers in pagan theories about the end times because they are not reading the Bible

From the comments on this Christian blog it is clear to me that many people commenting here have never read through or understood the Bible. Don’t take me wrong. Many of the people that come here are the cream of the crop in Christian knowledge and they stand out like a light against the darkness. But how can the biblically illiterate “Christian” come here and discuss Christian topics or claim that I am wrong if they do not even know what God has to say? First read the Bible and see what God says before you tell me I am wrong.

You have “Christians” trying to find a Jesus made up in their own mind through contemplation because they will not read the Bible. You have “Christians” that go to barns on Sunday that have entertainment services because they do not want to hear the truth from a real Bible teacher. You have “Christians” that think that people can be saved outside of Jesus because they do not know the Bible. Every latest heresy of the week is popular with Christians that are not reading the Bible.

I remember listening to a well known Bible commentator that had been commenting on the Bible and Christian topics for years admit that he never had read through the Bible. It took a lot of guts for him to admit that and I am happy to hear that he finally did, but I have to wonder why a Christian radio commentator had not read through the Bible even once. How many others teachers like him are still out there?

Today we have translations of the Bible that are written so anyone can read them yet people were more Bible literate when all we had was the Bible in King James English. The membership of Christian churches are not only dumbed down and apathetic they are caught up with everything in the world but God’s own word. “Christians” find time for the Internet, for talking or texting on cell phones all day, and for watching endless TV but they cannot  find time to read God’s word.

Is it then any wonder why most of America claims to be Christian but hedonism, debauchery, pride and corruption of all sorts reigns in our land.

We recently moved to a very conservative “Christian” area of the United States but I have been told by other Christians here not to trust most “Christian” real estate agents in this area. I should not trust most of the local Bank owners. I am told not to trust many of the “Christian” builders and handymen. I am told not to trust most “Christians” that provided services. My wife has already been defrauded by a “Christian”  con artist running the “Christian” youth center. I am told and am inclined to believe that the “Christian” politicians and prosecutors in this county will take the easy way out. Drugs and all sorts of sex sins and perversion reign in this “Christian” area.

Few “Christians” attend Sunday evening and mid week service in the best of Churches. “Christian” people lie to your face and tell you what they think you want to hear. Pathological liars in this “Christian” area are a plague. I do not know what Bible all these “Christians” are reading that makes them think they can act like heathen and call themselves Christians. But hey! This is “heartland “Christian” America”!

Judgment is coming on “Christians” and on America because  “Christians” obviously lack knowledge about the things of God and what He requires of His people. We should take heed to what God said to Israel as an example for us. All Christians should learn what God says and take heed before this passage happens to the Bible illiterate “Christians” of America.

Hos 4:6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7  As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

Certain Bible prophecy teachers are saying certain things that can only be labeled as dangerous theology.

The dangerous theology I am talking about comes from subjective interpretations of the Parable of the Fig Tree mentioned in three gospels. The problem is that they teach their conjecture as truth and that is what makes it dangerous theology. When they say the Rapture has to occur before the end of next year based on their own subjective interpretation of the Parable of the Fig Tree they are teaching dangerous theology.

I am speaking of  those that say the Rapture has to occur by next year because of their conjecture that the Parable of the Fig Tree has to be talking about Israel’s rebirth in1948 and their conjecture that a generation or a lifespan is seventy years. They go on to say the Rapture would have to occur at least seven years before the seventy years are up so they say the Rapture has to occur by the end of 2011. Even worse are the ones who tie in pagan hype to come up with a 2012 tribulation. When once credible Bible prophecy teachers dogmatically set the final date for the Rapture or the tribulation they are on dangerous ground theologically.

If Christians actually believed what they are teaching as fact, the Church should do no planning for anything after next year. So if you believe them don’t build that church or start that Bible college. Why even go on with your Bible translating since you will never will get it done before next year? Everyone might as well just quit college and stop future planning for anything. Just go wait on a mountain top. Do you get the picture?  This date setting from a flimsy interpretation of the Fig Tree Parable is very dangerous theology. Thank God that most of the Church have not and will not buy into Rapture date setters.

What are those that are saying these things going to do when 2011 comes and goes and there is no Rapture? I already know. They will just change a lifespan or generation to mean 80 years and say the Rapture has to happen by 2021.

It is no skin off their nose because many already claim that a lifespan can be 80 years according to the Bible. But what about the people that actually believed your dogmatic teaching that the Rapture would occur before 2012? What about all those that will give up on Bible prophecy teachers because they once again prove to be wrong. Is it any wonder why in the last days some will mock and say where is the promise of His coming (2 Pt 3:4)? Every time some Bible prophecy teacher cries “Lion” and Jesus does not come at their call the skeptics of Bible prophecy grow in number.

I also have to ask the people that claim to believe these subject interpretations a question? Do you really dogmatically believe that the Rapture has to occur by next year? If you really do I certainly do not see any indication of that. There is no increased activity from Christians to get things completed by next year. Many of the Christians I am in contact with seem to be worrying more about an economic collapse in the United States, and for good reason. Why worry about that if you actually believe the Rapture will happen by next year? If you really believe the Rapture is coming by next year just send me your money you will not be needing it.

So, obviously such conjecture by Bible prophecy teachers do not really impact the lives of Christians anyway. So what is the point for giving gullible people false hope of an early escape? On some Bible prophecy forums all troubled people do all day is talk about their hope of escaping in the Rapture by next year. The need for escape even borders on faithlessness in my opinion.

Anyone see a parallel here with 88 reasons why the Rapture will occur in 1988? That well meaning but very wrong Bible prophecy teacher thought a generation was forty years. The fact of the matter is that we do not know that Jesus was talking about the birth of secular Israel in 1948 in the Parable of the Fig Tree .

A word to the wise should be sufficient, but will it be?

Bible prophecy and discernment websites attract a large number of bottom feeding scum suckers whose only purpose seem to be to muddy the waters for others. Their purpose in life is to swim from site to site to argue against orthodox Christian theologies that they have a problem with. In the last few days I had a number of these coming in through this blog or emailing me. If you have a Christian site on the Internet you know that this happens regularly. I am not talking about non believers they are not nearly the problem as are the bottom feeding scum suckers that identify with Christianity.

There are differences in theology among honest Christians but I do not go on preterist, amillennial or post tribulation blogs to argue my Premillennial Theology with them and there lies the difference the scum suckers do exactly that. They are wolves in fish clothing that try to find a clear pond so they can muddy the waters with whatever new scum is stuck in their mouth. Often they just gurgle Christian identity concepts and not true Christianity.

When you catch them in your waters they scream and demand to be released so they can continue to muck up your waters. When you cast them out they continue to try to come in through some backwaters.  Ban them and they change their ISP or they change their email address and act like they are someone other than the scum suckers that they are.  But their scum sucking mouths always gives them away.

I do not know what motivates religious scum suckers to muddy clear waters but it certainly is not Jesus.  I understand why “Christians” have different views on theology but I do not understand why “Christians” go to other Christian internet sites to attack the theology of those that do not agree with theirs. They seem to want to force their own narrow views of certain passages often taken out of context on everyone else. Their whole existence seems to be to find one gullible convert to agree with them.

They often email me with a thousand points copied off the Internet that they think supports the cesspool they often swim in. They believe I should take all day responding to every argument they dredge up as if it has not already been answered elsewhere. When I have responded they did not read or answer what I said and just sent me more points in reply. In other words, they are not asking me questions or trying to find out my views. They are just trying to lecture me. Then when I do not see things their way they resort to name calling (or this is a good one “I will pray the Lord opens your closed mind”).

You scum suckers really need to get a life.  Believe it or not some of us Internet Christians teachers have work to do and our lives do not revolve around answering just your emails.

Most of these scum suckers seem to sit around all day reading and listing to other scum suckers that tickle their ears and then they see it as their mission in life to seek a water hole to muddy.

• They lecture me that America fulfills Bible prophecy on Babylon (it does not).
• They lecture me why the sitting president is the Antichrist (I have heard this stuff since JFK).
• They lecture me why the Antichrist must be a Muslim and Islam is the Beast (it is not).
• They lecture me on the identity of the Antichrist (they have it all figured out).
• They lecture me on dozens of  other obscure points of Bible prophecy.
• They lecture me why the tribulation already started.
• They lecture me that our government played a role in the 9/11 attack (lunatics).
• They lecture me on various other conspiracy theories.
• They lecture me that teaching Rapture Theology will cause Christians to lose their faith in the tribulation and send them to hell (total nonsense, real Christians do not lose their salvation)
• They lecture me why Israel is now the Church.
• They lecture me on mathematical calculations and codes that pinpoint the date of the return of Christ (always this decade).
• They lecture me on the prophecies of the various false prophets that they follow.
• They lecture me that the Trinity is not in the Bible.
• They lecture me that all Christian denominations have been corrupted and only they have the truth.
• They lecture me that they are one of the two witnesses. One last week even claimed to be the return of the Son in Ireland. (When I did not agree with his delusion. He says he warned people about me and about my website in his book). In his emails he even put curses on me (Gee…I am so frightened).
• They lecture me on scores of other issues that has nothing to do with Christianity and the mission of the Church on earth.

To all of you scum suckers I say  G E T  A  C H R I S T I A N  L I F E. This stuff is not being motivated by the Holy Spirit. You are doing nothing useful in your life when you spend all your time on aberrant fringe theories or worse. You that do this are only muddying the waters for those that really want to learn. Guess what spirit is the real motivator behind you?

Most scum suckers seem to be looking for a fight with our government and the NWO as if the Antichrist and the great tribulation has already arrived and if  we teachers do not agree with them them then we are leading people astray and need to be publicly rebuked.

I think the only reason these people have so much time to muddy the waters of Bible prophecy and discernment websites is because they are idol or even institutionalized. Get a Job! Take your lithium!

The bottom line is that all who come on my blog (or email me) to argue against Premillennial Theology or against the imminent return of Christ or that want to muddy the waters on my blog with Christian identity rhetoric or that want to promote false prophets are not going to be welcomed to comment on my blog at all.

Go swim elsewhere and send your belligerent emails to someone who really cares. I am not going to change my theology just because you can cut and paste Internet scum. So next time I encounter one of these scum suckers I probably will just give them a link to this post made just for them rather than waste any of my time.

In other words all you scum suckers – G O  F I S H!

Just reading about what is going on in this nation and the world and churches each day is enough to make the blood boil of real Christians and real American patriots.  I am learning how Lot felt when the Sodomites took over the land and how Martin Luther felt when he came to realize that the Roman Church was run by the same den of vipers that crucified his Lord. I am also beginning to understand the feelings of Patrick Henry that said, “give me Liberty or give me Death”. He would be saying the same thing today to our government of pimps and queens that want to run a collective communist Borg ant farm here. But do the the people of this nation say give us liberty? Nooooo. They say give us a king! We want “O” king like all the other slave nations.

Does a day go by where some pimp of Satan does not attack the very foundations of Christianity and still claim to be one of us? Go to most “Christian” book stores and see what kind of books are on display.  People cannot get enough of the words of Emergent and Word Faith pimps and those pimps who tell them how to woo the world.  The Christian book store has become The Shack filled with books on pop psychobabble and  postmodern deceptions. Most “Christians”  buying these books obviously are not looking for truth they want a book that will tell them what they want to hear. Mostly they want  to follow a king of their own imagination even if they call him Jesus.

What pimps let the Word Faith hucksters, healing clowns and false prophets take over Christian TV? It is the people that send in their seed faith money and give to get and think some trinket sent to them will actually bring them a blessing from God.  Those who do this are worse than the Christian apathetic. You people have become pimps of con artists that are actually mocking true Christianity in front of the world but many of you are supporting them because you are greedy yourself. Your motivation to give is to get. Praying to God for your lusts did not work so you think you can appease God with abominable offerings given to the latest high priests that are very likely Satanic. These hucksters see Christianity as a means of wordily gain and you pimps enable them to continue to fleece the flock because you believe the King can be bribed or manipulated to do your will. I do realize that Christian sheep can be gullible but after decades of these blowhards doing the same things over and over you have to wonder why certain Christians never acquire any discernment at all. They even put the king of cons Jim Bakker back on his throne and he is proving that a dog returns to his vomit, but the people say give us a king! Next, you same people will go to a Todd Bentley rerun.

At the political brothel I see that Obama gave himself a B+ for his performance in office so far and he said he will change that to a A- if a health bill passes. What kind of loon grades himself? Obama gets a F+ in my school of thought. That is Probably closer to the grades he will not disclose before the elite located Rosemary baby and sent him off to Harvard. He is well on his way to destroying this nation. But hey, you can’t just blame Obama. The majority of American people were gullible or apathetic enough to vote for him to destroy their own nation. Many just voted for him because he is brown (real depth in these people). So if a nation chooses to commit suicide by saying, give us a a minority King even if he is not qualified! That is the choice they made.

Have you read about the new rules for our solders in Afghanistan? Seems Obama and staff are going to make sure that more of our men  get killed by making them fight with one hand tied behind their back. Why do we keep repeating the mistakes of Vietnam all over again? Could it be it is because the lefties that are now in charge never fought that war and never learned anything? Most of them were hiding in Universities and in Canada.  So now our nation becomes more likely to prosecute our own soldiers then terrorists. How much longer will our military put up with this administration? If the commander-in-chief were a real king instead of a pimp for the globalist communist elite he would be leading the charge and not tying his men’s hands. It is almost like they want to lose the war on terrorism while putting on some facade for the American people.

Speaking about wars, Are you ready for the carbon wars that are coming? That is the war of the near future when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with or without congressional blessings starts regulating all carbon (CO2) in the United States.  EPA now tells us that carbon dioxide is a deadly gas. Nevermind, that we need more of it if we want a greener plant. Nevermind, that there is absolutely nothing that we can do about 97 percent of it because it occurs naturally. Termites produce more CO2 then humans. But are they going  to war against termites? Noooo. They are going after humans and cows. Lets get real! All this global warming hype is nothing more that a scam to bring in total government regulation of everything on the planet and scientists and bureaucrats pimp it because they profit from it. Nevermind, that it is a crock! Nevermind, that when the EPA starts enforcement with the loony carbon regulations that they are now drafting that the few jobs that remain in this nation will depart for the third world. The only people in our nation that will benefit from carbon regulations will be government and lawyers, or in other words, the “O” king the pimps and his court.

Did you know that no matter what Congress does on global warming that the EPA already has a mandate to regulate everything that emits more than 250 tons of carbon a year. Then EPA says out of one side of their mouth that they have no intentions to regulate anything under 25,000 tons when they really mean they will not get down to the 250 tons unless they get the money and staff to regulate the rest. You can be sure that Government will be involved in everything since 85 percent of everything bought and sold has carbon. What will you get out of this? Cleaner air? Noooo…, how about much higher costs for everything that you buy. You might as well start burning your money because when global warming regulations kick in the government will just give away your money to corporations in India or somewhere else. The real goal of these communists (and that is what they really are) is a level playing field where everyone in the world has the same income and global government rules over all. They really could give a cow’s fart over global warming, it is just a means to an end. Globalists are communists that think that everyone on earth in the collective ant farm should work for the Queens and the workers should only exist for the queen’s pleasure and only live at her pleasure. So now you know why they have secret meetings open only to the globalist communist elite queens and their pimps.

So keep living in mindless apathy and you can be sure that George Orwell will soon be regarded as a prophet. A few see where all this is heading and are warning others but what could the prophet Samuel of the Bible do when the people said give us a king instead of give me liberty under God? Many people today are the same. They want to be like all the other nations (Godless). In today’s world that means they will become ruled by the elite communist queens in the collective Borg until Jim Kirk and the aliens comes to the rescue.

1 Sa 8:4   Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
6  But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
9  Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
11  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
19  Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
20  That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

I believe there are seven separate subdivisions within in the Gentile Church Age and that Jesus identifies each era by a certain church type. Jesus has messages to each of them in the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. I also believe the letters had meanings to  seven historical literal churches to whom the letters were given and the prophecy also gives instruction to all in Christianity.

But for the purpose of this post I will reflect on the prophetic applications where this Bible prophecy in Revelation is of Jesus dealing with the church types that identify with Him throughout the Church Age on earth. One might even call the letters Book of Acts 2. Seven letters that speak about the Church through time by Jesus before the prophetic message even happened. (The instruction in sequence to the seven churches is how I believe it did play out in history.)

The seven churches in Revelation are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. I give a full explanations of these churches  in Chapters 2 and 3 of my Revelation commentary. In short, the seven churches and church ages are:

• Ephesus – The apostolic church
• Smyrna – The persecuted church
• Pergamos – The church goes into harlotry with the world
• Thyatria – The reign of the Papacy in this harlotry
• Sardis – Protestantism separates from Rome into denominations but nearly dies as it questions the infallibility of the Bible and becomes occupied by many living in almost dead religion and ritual
• Philadelphia – The missionary orientated church preaches the good news to the world and looks for the Lord’s soon coming
• Laodicea – The rich lukewarm apathetic churches of modern times living like life on earth today is their main hope and thus living in false security.

I firmly believe that the church type that represents most Christianity today is Laodicea. It is true that Thyatria, Sardis and Philadelphia still represent many Christians on earth today but we saw them peak and many in these churches are rapidly moving toward the Laodicean example.

For example, many Catholics (identified with Thyatria) have abandoned the teachings of Catholicism for doing what is right in their own eyes. For many the religion is nothing more than a ritual, tradition or a way to appease their own sin guilt. They largely pick and choose which Catholic doctrines they will follow and reject whatever does not suit there fancy.

A Second example, is the liberal mainstream old protestant denominations (Sardis). These churches are declining in members and dying because they just go through rituals and usually teach some social gospel. Many members that were going to these churches were joining the Bible churches but now they most often they are joining with the Laodicean seeker and prosperity mega churches.

The next example is the Philadelphia missionary Bible churches. They are still alive and well, but I think its best days have now peaked.  Most here are now focusing on the soon return of Jesus Christ and for good reason. Jesus implied they would in his letter to them in Revelation.

Laodicea is the real church age that we  live in today and it is the last church age before Jesus returns. I wrote an article on the Laodicean age a couple of years ago and it still applies. Although I think Laodicea is the church era of today I do not think that the whole Church will be identified with it, but there is a rapid influx from the other three latter day church types into an obvious Laodicean Christianity. They are largely the seeker friendly and the emergent churches that are conforming to the world, watering down doctrine and introducing deceptions in order to attract large numbers of questionable believers.

Since many people love twelve steps to almost everything these days. I will give a twelve step program into apathetic Laodicea. The hope is that you take heed and do not travel down that stairway because Jesus barfs up this latter day lukewarm church.

12 steps that will bring Christians to Laodicea

1. Choosing to reject fellowship with a local body of Bible believers
2. Become too lazy and undisciplined to read the Bible on your own on a regular basis
3. Not taking regular time to get alone to communicate with God (rote prayer does not count)
4. Choosing to attend a church where the gospel of salvation is not taught and there is no equipping or maturing of the saints
5. Believing that emotional trips or obsessions over disputed doctrines brings about Christian maturity (even Bible prophecy)
6. Doing nothing for nobody – not giving offerings for the work of Christ on earth
7. Believing those who claim that God must give you riches on earth if you follow their teachings
8. Believing that you can have a better relationship with God through certain mystical techniques
9. Choosing not to learn from more mature Christians
10. Allowing evil to reign on earth because you think you should be doing nothing to protect others
11. Never talking about or displaying your Christian beliefs to others
12. Expecting any interfaith 12 step program to actually bring you to spiritual maturity

Top Christian subversive, Richard Foster, leads the Spiritual Reformation Movement and Richard Foster is also held in high esteem in the emergent subversive church movement. So whats the big deal about the Spiritual Reformation Movement and the Emergent Church? Only that spiritual reformation concepts and the contemplative prayer concepts of the Emergent Church Movement are much the same. This, “get in touch with your own spirituality movement” really comes from practices found in Buddhism, Hinduism and and Roman Catholic mysticism. They all descended from the practices of ancient Babylon. It has nothing to do with concepts taught in Christianity and the Bible.

The concept of spiritual reformation as I understand it, is that they believe one can become closer to God by meditating on their own inner spirituality or god feelings.  Jesus may not even be required by these emergent subversives because they think some Buddhists and Hindus have developed spiritual reformation without Jesus.  Most “Christians” that are into this conjure up a Jesus of their own liking rather than the one revealed in the Bible since most either never read the Bible or they have not understood that the whole Bible is about God’s salvation through Jesus. Thus, they mediate on some Jesus of their very own making that will mystically whisper things they want to hear in their minds eye while in an altered state of conscientiousness.

But, I have emerging news for those emergent’s that are doing this. You cannot become more like God by meditating on your own concept of god. There are no mystical short cuts to Christian spirituality. You only get Christian spirituality through being born of the Spirit and then you grow toward spiritual maturity by living out your faith in practice. You cannot  become more spiritual by trying to become more spiritual any more than you can develop faith by claiming faith. You cannot become closer to God if you are still dead in your sins. Other religions have never come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness of their sins so they cannot have a path to God, they only have a path to their own self deception.

What they never tell you in all the spiritual reformation and contemplative prayer teachings and seminars is that you are a sinner separated from God and you must repent of your ways and be saved through the blood of  Jesus Christ.

Some of what is going on in the Emergent Church Movement reminds me of the old Charismatic Church Movement that thought they could attain a higher spiritual level by just making up their own reality. They called it a “second baptism”.  So what new levels of spiritual maturity have they achieved over the years over other Christians that never bought into their “second baptism” delusions? They thought this would bring them into a relationship with God where they could heal, do miracles and tell each other the future. Instead they often believed false presumptions that are still being displayed to the world with healing circus performances, laughing hyenas and false prophets. Some still think they are “Joel’s Army” or the “Third Wave” and they are going to take the world for Christ by spiritual force, but they display that they do not even have the weapons of spiritual warfare to defeat the devils in their own lives and in their own local congregations. There are no short cuts or mystical paths to spiritual maturity. You do not develop spiritual maturity though a ritual or by believing false presumptions and you do not get spiritual maturity through contemplative prayer and spiritual reformation.

All these new movements are really just putting fancy new covers on the same old book of mystical lies. The Spiritual Reformation Movement and the Emergent’s are just finding common ground to become part of the larger Interfaith Movement. The Interfaith movement is being pushed by people like Tony Blair that recently converted to Catholicism, and then started a Interfaith foundation to find common ground among world religions. Tony Blair also wants to be head of the EEU. This almost sounds like something out of Bible prophecy. The woman (interfaith harlot religion) rides the Beast (That come out of the area of the Roman Empire)

Here is something I found in Jan Markell’s article:

The East is Seducing the West.

Pastor Bob DeWaay writes in his Critical Issues Commentary, “I met a lady who attends a Christian college. As part of her study program, she was required to take a course on spiritual formation. Spiritual formation in her class also concerned the study of Roman Catholic mystics and the search for techniques to help those who implement them feel closer to God. This study also explored ’spiritual disciplines’ which promised to make those who practiced them more Christlike. After she finished the class, she shared her text books with me.”

He continues, “To hear evangelicals like Dallas Willard and Richard Foster tell us that we need practices that were never spelled out in the Bible to become more like Christ or to get closer to God is astonishing. What is more astonishing is that evangelical colleges, seminaries, and church denominations are requiring their students and members to study practices that are relics of Medieval Rome, not found in the Bible, and closely akin to the practices of manry pagan societies.”

You need to understand that this spiritual reformation garbage is being pushed by many Bible colleges. So is it any wonder that so many young pastors teach this stuff to their congregations? By the way, while I am on that subject, why do churches hire pastors (elders) right out of Bible college to be the elder of their church? How did Bible colleges become the proving ground for spiritual qualifications to be the elders of the local Church? Now you know why there is more and more error being introduced into western Christianity. The spiritually immature are put in positions to teach and mislead, all the way from Seminaries and Bible colleges to our local congregations and small groups. Everyone thinks they have a young Timothy leading them but more likely their leader could be named “Trial” or “Error”.

In the same article quoted above Jan Markell gets it correct when she says:

So while the term spiritual formation sounds like a good concept as we all want to grow spiritually, it comes with questionable baggage that is, once again, mystical and hardly sound. Ask questions of your church leadership or college staff. Challenge the issue by pointing out that much of this foundation has been laid by mystics and Catholicism – and throw in some Buddhism and Hinduism as well.  You will then conclude that when the term spiritual formation comes up as it does more and more frequently, it should have a “buyer-beware” label on it. If you see your church bulletin announcing its arrival, don’t just sit there — do something. Confront your leadership!

Such things as the Bethel University symposium on “meditation” and the spiritual formation movement are driven by what is known as “contemplative prayer.” Contemplative  (mystical spirituality) is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement.  It is more likely to derail you spiritually than draw you closer to God.  Don’t believe them when promoters of spiritual formation tell you that this will take you to a higher level of Christianity and to a new level of spirituality. New spiritual programs aren’t necessary;  rather, hearts yearning to grow in the knowledge of the Lord simply from reading the Bible. We cannot get any “closer to God” than Jesus Christ indwelling us through His Holy Spirit!

On the same subject look what Jan has to say about her own school in her article “When Students are Left to the Wolves”

I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to hear the evening of November 3. My alma mater, Bethel University in St. Paul, MN, sponsored an Interreligious Symposium promoting some kind of “common ground” between Buddhism and Christianity. One would think if a Christian had an ounce of discernment, they would deduce that Christianity has nothing to do with Buddhism and such unions are playing with fire. But a panel concluded that there was “common ground” when it came to “meditation.” Granted, this kind of meditation could put one in a dangerous altered state of consciousness, but maybe that’s ok as long as we can find a bit of unity here! Some would call this common bond of meditation “contemplative prayer.”

About 200 students and a few adults were crammed into the symposium auditorium. Attendance by the students was mandatory. The three main presenters were Buddhist monk Witiyala Seewalie from Sri Lanka, Bethel professor Paul Reasoner who is a part of the “Christian Zen” movement, and Ted Meissner, an active Buddhist layman and meditator in Zen, although he grew up in a Christian home.

The push was “meditation.”  But being a Buddhist means becoming conscious of one’s own divinity. This was not clarified. Had it been clarified, it could have sent out a huge red flag to questioning students at Bethel.  So why would Christians get on board with this kind of meditative enlightenment when acknowledging one’s own divinity for a Christian would be idolatry and an abomination to the one true God?

The students were encouraged to do meditation that would silence or empty their minds. Keep in mind that some who promote this kind of meditation such as Richard Foster, actually tell you to pray a prayer of protection over yourself before you begin! Yet there was no warning to innocent and naïve students and again, attendance for most there was mandatory.

We heard a lot about those ancient mystics and desert fathers. Here we go with the mystical again, and mysticism always trumps doctrine. Bring on “experience”!! Another panelist talked about the Jesuits he studied under. Is Bethel a Baptist-rooted university or Catholic-rooted? Try the former.

A symposium like this is leading these kids straight to the Emergent Church which goes along with all of the above. And if anything will bring spiritual death, it is all things Emergent. The step beyond that is the one-world religion.

Brannon Howse also has a defining view of this emerging church threat in this article promoting his book.

The Emerging Third Way of Apostate Pastors and Globalist Leaders

The pastors and authors of one of America’s fastest growing spiritual movements, the Emergent Church, sing the praises of socialism. As I’ll explain in more detail later, the Emergent Church champions the neo-Marxist call for a utopian society through spiritual evolution where good and evil merge to form a “better” third option. This idea derives from the belief system of philosophers such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and finds its contemporary manifestation in the “Third Way” movement of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. In the Third Way, capitalism, socialism, and communism merge to form a misanthropic combination of the three. This blending is now represented in the terms “the New World Order” and “the new enlightenment.”

The Third Way promotes Communitarianism, a toxic blend of communism, socialism, atheism, and Cosmic Humanism. Communitarians believe in universal health care, government-subsidized housing and education, radical environmentalism,Fabian socialism, and the like.

The bottom line is that the Interfaith Movement, The Emergent Movement, and the Spiritual Reformation Movement is leading to the Harlot of Revelation chapter 17. We see that one pied piper named Tony Blair converts to Roman Catholicism, starts an interfaith foundation and also wants to be the head of the EEU and meanwhile the emergent rats just follow his tune and march over the cliff to spiritual malformation.

After You read this article you will simply know why I had to post it. I did not want to steal all of Coach Dave Daubenmire’s words here so you will have to read the full article to get the full impact of the new offensive line that he proposes. Too bad my home team, the Buffalo Bills, don’t get it, or most sissified Christians for that matter. Its time for Christians to march on all the left leaning houses in the land singing Hey Hey, Ho Ho, the far left radicals have to go!

• De-sissified Christians should be more like a Fox when it comes to presenting the good news.
• De-sissified Christians should place their money on God’s home team.
• De-sissified Christians need to take their churches back from the sissies that feminized Christianity.
• De-sissified Christians need to be Oath Keepers.
• De-sissified Christians need to get rid of the girlie tunes in their churches.
• De-sissified Christians need to get out of their comfort zone (the pews with their names on it)
• De-sissified Christians need to take a yard here and ten yards over there, maybe across their own street -  forget the Hail Mary.
• De-sissified Christians need to throw the bums out. That might start with your church leaders and your local politicians and end with the President.
• De-sissified Christians need to keep others accountable for their actions. WE DO NOT ALLOW PREDATORS to prey on our woman and children, sexual predators or otherwise!
• De-sissified Christians need to have an offensive line and I don’t mean just – Hey Hey, Ho Ho, the far left radicals have to go.

I could go on but I think you get the idea.

Dave Daubenmire — Let’s Try Something Different

By Coach Dave Daubenmire
October 22, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

WARNING: May contain language too harsh for sissified Christians.

Silence isn’t golden…it is yellow. –Zell Miller

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” — Martin Luther

From Timothy Leary to Jerry Ruben, Bill Ayers to the Beatles, Cassius Clay to The Chicago Seven, Harvard Divinity School to Journalism Schools, “leftists” pledged themselves to the “religion” that dominated their lives. “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Western Civ has got to go.” Our parents laughed them off as rebellious children…dirty misfits who would eventually come to their senses.

Some did, but many were true believers, committed to proving to the rest of us that “God is dead”, and proselytizing a moral anarchy called liberation. We couldn’t see it happening, or didn’t want to, as they infested America with the original swine flu that turned American children into hedonistic pigs.

The radical Left was a fringe movement in the 60s, comprised of politically marginalized and socially outcast hippies. Their joke-of-an army consisted of racial minorities, militant feminists, out-of-the-closet homosexuals, environmentalists, student radicals, atheistic intellectuals, counter-cultural revolutionaries and the antiwar movement. Now, four decades later, their once marginal far-left views are normal, mainstream, a cultural majority, and the philosophy of the Obama White House. How did they do it?

They were more faithful to no god than we were to our God. They gained power through persistence and resistance, perversion and conversion, indoctrination and inoculation, organizing and mobilizing, imitation and humiliation, elections and defections, associations and regulations, and infiltration and manipulation. While the “right” voted for candidates, the left became candidates. While the religious argued over Truth, the left re-wrote the truth. While “conservatives” gave to their kids, liberals gave to their causes. The election of Barack Hussein Obama symbolizes the long march of 60’s anti-Americanism sold as “change.” The radical left, birthed from the idea that you couldn’t trust those in power, have seized power.

In April of 2009, James Dobson of Focus on the Family admitted that the cultural war had been lost. “We are awash in evil and the battle is still to be waged. We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles.” All one need do is view the evidence of the 60’s outcasts’ effectiveness.

Had enough yet? Are you ready to trade in the old defense for a new offense?

First, get our Christian leadership to get rid of the nicer-than-Jesus image. Clean out the pulpit and get rid of the hirelings who are more concerned about butts and bucks than they are about truth and justice. Demand that your churches begin to organize politically…across denominational lines and raise up, run, and support men of character and integrity who will put an end to the self-serving foolishness going on in America today. I say enough already of the effeminized Christianity.

Bring back the tell-it-like-it-is mentality. No more pussy footing around the issues for fear of “offending” somebody. Silence is the muzzle of dissent. Bring back that “old time language” because words are the weapons in this new “sanitized” warfare. Start speaking the words “homo, communist, pervert, liar, thief, border jumper, sissy, traitor, sodomite, idiot, bum, queer,” and the rest of the words that the NEA and their mafia has declared illegal. Do it often and in public.

Take it to the streets. Every anti-American deviant lifestyle proudly marches down our streets in their latest version of perversion on parade. It is time for the new “counter culture” to flood the streets with gun-toting concealed-carry holders, flag waving veterans, and home school moms chanting “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Political Correctness has to go.”

I appreciate Dr Dobson and his buddies and all that they tried to do. I’m sorry the team he was coaching lost. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

But I’ll be damn if I am ready to quit. Defeat only hardens my resolve. The way I see it the 2nd half kickoff is just getting ready to start and this time our offense is going to take the field. Let’s get rid of all of the Republican cheerleaders and their Pom Poms. The boys are back in town…

Full Article

King James only and Gail Riplinger’s “New Age Bible Versions” has more than once been brought up on this Blog and elsewhere. I find it incredible that a woman with degrees in Interior design, with no formal training on the Bible, a woman that cannot even read Hebrew or Greek can set herself up as some authority over the best trained Bible translators in the world. I find it dumbfounding that Christians and even some “discernment ministries” would actually take what she says seriously without even reading what the experts say about her bazaar claims.

I can only surmise that her distortions of the truth appeal to those with a wooden head that somehow became a treasure chest full of conspiracy theories. They want to believe  conspiracy theories so bad that they grasp at anything at all if it seems to support their conspiracy concepts. Nevermind, that Gail Riplinger’s sad works have divided Christians and churches for no reason and discredited good Bible translations and translators. Nevermind, that she would not be allowed to teach a Sunday school to the men in most of the churches where she is held in highest esteem. However, in their wooden minds her books support their King James Only beliefs, so she gets a free pass from them to twist the truth in front of the whole world. 

I think all that are promoting Gail Riplingers books should take what James White said below very seriously. It is understandable that certain people like Riplinger would write books on topics that they really do not have the qualification to write, but why are some Christians, churches and forums promoting her? Where is is thy discernment that many doing this claim to have??

I think James White says it best in this summery from his review and his debates on Riplinger’s book and claims. If you want to know why Gail Riplinger views are deceptive, silly and lack discernment read the full article.

Why Respond to Gail Riplinger? | Bible.org | Home of NET Bible on-line, Bible Study tools, Free Bible

Gail Riplinger’s works have been reviewed, and rejected, by numerous Christian leaders and scholars. For most, it’s a waste of time to even discuss the issue, since it’s so obvious that she is a troubler of the brethren, a woman who is out of control, setting herself up as an expert on topics about which she knows nothing at all. Her inability to function as a scholar is plain to anyone who wishes to see. The impact she has had in disrupting churches, damaging missions work, and in generally causing trouble, is hers to answer for.

In closing, though, we should actually be more troubled about what Gail Riplinger’s work says about the church as a whole. Where has discernment gone? Why didn’t someone sit her down a long time ago and try to straighten her out? And what is worse, why are men to this day letting her go on her merry way, spreading falsehoods, and even encouraging her in such activities? I have been informed (but have not taken the time to verify) that Mrs. Riplinger was recently granted an honorary doctorate by Jack Hyles for her work, New Age Bible Versions. Can someone explain how a person who doesn’t even have the first bit of undergraduate training in any of the fields relating to Bible translation can be given an honorary doctorate for having produced the most error-filled volume on the topic ever to grace the planet? Is “acrostic algebra” the stuff of doctorates? One may well forgive Gail, for she is obviously deceived; but what of the many others who encourage her to continue on in her path of disturbing the work of the Church? Might not they be even more liable? It would seem so.

Full article

I really love these people who tell me that they really believe the world is coming to an end in 2012, or they are certain that the Rapture has to happen within a year or two, or that they have the date of the second coming all figured out, or that Jesus has to come before 2019 because of their interpretation of the “Fig Tree Parable”, or based on some pagan prophecy, or the sayings of  Jack Van Impe, etc., etc., but they continue to retain all their wealth like they are going to live here forever or take it with them.

If you really believe what you say you believe on the Internet and in your emails, what need will you have for all your money? Give it to someone who will use it for Christian ministry in the couple of years that you are certain that we only have left.

I certainly could use a million bucks to hire a staff and to set up a modern office and expand this ministry. I would use your money to help get the message out that Jesus is coming soon and warn Christians about all the latest heresies, and warn about the wolves in sheep’s clothing running around seeking wheat to sell baloney to, so the wolves can devour them (with mustard) before Jesus even gets here for supper.

Not to mention, that the average attender in most congregations today is brain dead when it comes to biblical knowledge and understanding, and they really needs to read my shock courses on basic Christian doctrine so they don’t get Jesus mixed up with the Mahdi or some stain on a coffee table.

Others just need to hear what I want to ramble on about (like here) but I can’t be doing much rambling on if I am busy with other tasks that go along with keeping up a website and Blog and also keeping an abode in the deepest darkest jungles of the Ozark wilderness. (We still have to appease and fight off leprechauns and trolls here, not to mention, the government wilderness control freaks).

So if you are so certain that Jesus must return before 2012 or thereabouts just send me one of those spare millions that you know you won’t ever be needing and help expand this ministry. You will not get a tax deduction because I am not on the list of IRS approved charities and probably never will be with my constitution. But what do you need a tax deduction for anyway?

Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking for small donations from anyone reading this or from those who have any doubts about the Lord coming before 2019. I can’t expand a ministry on a thousand bucks here and there, and certainly can’t on your spare change. Send your seed faith change to the TV hucksters. I need really big bucks, like a million or so from the faithful that have no doubt in their mind that Jesus must return before 2019 and so are certain they will not ever need the million bucks. I give no refunds, if you change your mind or Jesus does not return before your date, your just out a million bucks and probably used it for a better cause than you would have. You probably would have just bought more gadgets like one that will allow you to text with your toes while driving  (now don’t ask me where to buy it).

If you do not want to send the million to me then give it to the ministry of your choice or the poor. So, as the saying goes, put up or shut up!

People spouting this stuff about Jesus coming in 2012 etc., really need to put their money where there mouth is and not be hypocrites or else they should tone down their date speculations. That includes the authors that are banking money from selling 2012 new aged baloney.
You can send those million dollar donations to Don Koenig, PO Box 234, Summersville Mo, 65571.

In return I will send you a semiannual picture of my well fed (thanks to you) six dogs and six cats. Sorry, they cannot write you letters. As a bonus you will receive a envelope of fairy dust from the local leprechauns. I think if you sprinkle the dirt… er…I mean dust.. on your upside down St Joseph statue your multi-million dollar mansion will be the first one to sell on your block (not valid in California, Nevada, Arizona, or Florida).

Certain Internet Christian webmasters, websites and Blogs are doing barbaric practices on the Internet and they seem to have no intention of changing their barbarian ways. I believe I can say that from the negative response I get when I complain to them. Therefore, I think it is time to expose and identify some of the practices of these Internet Christian barbarians.

You may qualify as one of the Internet Christian barbarians if you claim to be a Christian ministry and then try to charge people for almost all basic Christian information on your website.  In my opinion, this is like charging people at the door of a church. If almost everything on your Christian website can only be viewed for a price you are not allowing the poor in the door. That seems like a rather barbarian Internet practice to me. I am not saying you should not charge for books or  newsletters or that you should not advertise or ask for donations. Those working full time in the Christian ministry do need to make a living. However, civilized Christian websites should also remember the poor.

You qualify as one of the Internet Christian barbarians if material on your website is blocked by some moving box that blocks our view in order to try to force us to click on it before we can even read your information. I will go elsewhere for information before I will appease these barbarians using these very annoying  and intrusive practices on the Internet.

You qualify as one of the Christian barbarians if you do not abide by proper Internet protocol and do the barbaric practice of  just re-posting articles of other Christian authors taken from the author’s own websites without permission. Don’t you barbarians understand that you are creating duplicate context in the Internet indexes? Have you webmasters never heard of the proper Internet protocol of clipping a portion of an article and providing a link to the rest? At least if you must copy the entire article that someone else wrote and posted learn how to use  the “noindex” command  so the author’s article will not get dropped out of the main Internet indexes and replaced with yours because you created duplicate content. Also give the author’s website a link from the article. Seems that some Christian  webmasters can learn the latest about how to make their websites look great but they can’t learn basic proper Internet protocol.

You qualify as  an Internet Christian Barbarian if you hot link or allow hot linking on your blog. This is all to common on some Christian Blogs. Don’t you people doing this know that that is bandwidth theft? It is stealing. If you see a image on a website that you want to use and if it is in the public domain then just download the image and upload the image to the blog where you want to put it. Don’t just hot link to a image on another website so that website has to provide the download each time someone clicks on that blog.

You may qualify for being one of the Internet barbarian Christian websites if you frame articles on other websites through links on your website. When you do that nobody can get off your website without closing their browser. So why do you do it? These Christian barbarians probably want to dishonestly run up their statistics so they can use inflated figures to bilk those who advertise on their website.

You qualify as one of the Internet Christian barbarians if the wording in your link misleads people to think they are clicking on some new information when you really are just using deceptive headlines to direct them to a place where you are trying to sell them something.

You certainly do qualify as  one of the Christian Internet barbarians if you search the Internet for website email addresses so that you can add them to your own email list. If I wanted to sign up for your latest news letter or article I will do it myself. I should not have to take time to send you an email to get off a mailing list that I never signed up for

These are just some of the barbaric practices done by Christians on the Internet there are others. But, unless these Christians are total dummies about Internet protocol they probably already know they use barbaric ways. They obviously like being members of the Internet Christian Barbarian Club (ICBC).

Here are a couple of good articles for people that are part of, promoting, or want to know more about the rapidly growing 2012 cult that is fueling end of the world hysteria.

2012: Tsunami of Stupidity why the latest apocalyptic cult is a silly scam, by Ron Rosenbaum

The article is good but especially follow the links in the article if you wish to be deprogrammed from the 2012 cult.

Jan Markell, of Olive Tree Ministries has her own perspective on this 2012 hysteria in an article called Is time running out?

My own perspective of this 2012 cult is that it is a sinister deception from Satan. There are just two many spokes on this 2012 wheel for this not to be a deception from Satan. The 2012 cult and end of the world hysteria also originates from Satan because all the pagan and “New Age” tie-in’s certainly cannot come from God.

Let’s look at some of the spokes of the 2012 cult wheel of deception.

• The Mayan long calender cycle that ends on December 21, 2012
• Supposed Nostradamus predictions about 2012
• The return of Planet X in 2012
• Bible code predictions
• Time distance code theory
• St Malachi predicts apocalypse in reign of next Pope
• Muslim Mahdi Antichrist theories
• Hopi prophecies
• False modern secular prophets
• False modern religious prophets
• Illuminati conspiracy theories
• Various ufology theories
• Bible prophecy teachers with subjective date setting and interpretations

I am sure I missed some and there are others that point to the same general time period. For example, those that see a imminent paradigm shift into the age of Aquarius that will bring the world to collective higher consciousness with the help of  various ascended masters. Then there are also the Marian messages with its demonic deceptions.

All of the things I listed might be enough proof to some that there is some validity to the 2012 end of the world hysteria. Nevertheless, those who see any direction for their future by climbing on this wheel of deception will get run over by it.

So what is the real purpose of this 2012 deception?

That of course is the million dollar question. I do not think anyone knows where all this will lead in the short term. In the long term all this deception will help lead the world to the Antichrist. However, I think 2012 will be at least a decade before his time. This deception is not the great deception or strong delusion spoken of in the Bible. This deception has another purpose and the best I can do is speculate on what that is. I believe it really is just setting the world stage for a much greater deception.

First, let me say that none of what I listed above has any support from real science or from Bible prophecy. All false prophets have one purpose and that is to deceive.  God is not the author of confusion. He does not use pagan and occult sources to get out a message about the future or even to supplement His written message. God knows the end from the beginning. If He wanted to tell the world something it is already recorded in His written word.  So do not expect to find truth in deceptive lies that originate from Satan. One of the great problems I see coming from some Bible prophecy teachers today is that they use these pagan sources to support their Bible prophecy theories.

I have no doubt that this 2012 cult is going to grow into a full blown hysteria. People are making money on this and they will hype it for all its worth. We already have a major motion picture in the works named “2012″. All the major news channels are reporting on 2012 and these theories. I understand that the History Channel just did their bit to promote this deception. Expect this hype to continue and to dramatically increase as we get closer to the end of 2012.

I can only speculate on this deception from Satan and the purpose of this 2012 cult.  I think the West will be in a major world war with radical Islam by 2012. The signs are all in place right now. We are losing Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hezbollah has 40,000 rockets to use against Israel. Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran and Iran will not tolerate Israel. Europe is becoming increasingly polarized because of its large increasing Islamic populations and it is certain that this will soon bring a nationalist backlash from the natives. That will result in civil war in Europe.  I think the war against Islamic terrorism will expand after 2010 because of  Iran and/or major terrorist activities against the West. So by 2012 it will be defined as a major world war and all countries aiding the radial Muslims will become the enemy. So I am 90 percent certain that by the end of 2012 many people will think they have arrived to the Apocalypse . The Dec 21, 2012 hype will only increase the Apocalypse hysteria.

If the world war occurs like I suggest it will, Muslim Antichrist proponents will have a field day speculating on who is fulfilling the role of the Mahdi Antichrist and telling everyone that we are in the midst of the tribulation. Then as the war goes on there will be those looking for some sign to bring it to an end (perhaps a Marian deception). I would think that certain people will spin all these various theories and claim mankind can now achieve the new age of peace if they just stop killing each other and try to get along.  Then in the name of world peace Islam and all religion will become greatly modified into an all-paths concept.

Many in the world will probably think that they went through the biblical tribulation during this world war and that they have arrived on the other side in a new age of enlightenment. However, the reality will be that there will only be a short period of world peace followed by the real tribulation outlined in the trumpet and bowl judgments of Revelation.

Here lies the real deception that will result out of the aftermath of this 2012 cult. Those that understand that the war, the  peace plan, and the religious pluralism are just facades for stopping Christian evangelism and for setting up tyrannical world government will be persecuted as dangers to world peace. Most of those who are led to believe that  the Mahdi myth of Islam was the Antichrist will soon embrace the real Western Antichrist as a world hero.

Many just do not understand that Jesus is not coming when the world expects Him. Expect Jesus when the world thinks they no longer need His coming.

Mt 24:44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.