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RECAP NEWSLETTER - 11/9/5 Issue 46
"UNDERSTANDING" "...of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do..." When the kingdom of Saul was finally handed over to David, many, many armed and mighty men of valor came to his side to help him. However, it is of interesting to note that listed among the soldiers were also the men of Issachar. They are described as men that "had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." David was going to need these men. Several great men in the Bible had wise men at their side. Pharaoh had his Joseph, Moses his Joshua, David his Jonathan, Ahithophel, and Hushai. Several kings valued the counsel of Daniel and the three Hebrews.
Nations rise and fall not just by coup, war, and overthrow. Nations
can be decimated by their own leaders. Isaiah 3:1-12 decries how the
children of Israel had fallen: "For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the
whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, The mighty man, and the
man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the
cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children
to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.... For
Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their
doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The
shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare
their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have
rewarded evil unto themselves. Say ye to the righteous, that it
shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. I cannot help but think that He is also describing the state of our nation today! America is ruined because our doings provoke the eyes of God. The sin of abortion and sodomy is openly flaunted and not hid. Our nation has rewarded itself with evil. Our leaders, void of the fear of God, lead us to the way of destruction. In Deut. 32:28-30, God describes the heathen nations that long ago forsook the God of their fathers. "For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?" Would that America repent! How is it that we have exponentially increasing calamities in our nation, and people do not even consider that our Rock has sold us!!
The problems in any nation can be traced back to their leaders and their
houses of government - to a limited degree. The people of Israel
transgressed against God, and God gave them wicked leaders to destroy
them. But, there is still much to be said for the leader, king, or
president setting the stage for the country. I Kings 3:9-10, Solomon
asked of the Lord one request: "Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good
and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And
the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing." God
still desires the same thing today! Our President, representatives,
judges, mayors, and rulers need understanding that comes from a reverent
desire to serve God and discern between good and evil. When an
individual in a position of power gets to the point of viewing it as a
gravy train instead of a vast responsibility handed down from God, their
desire for proper discernment goes out the window! Proverbs 28:2
"For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a
man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged."
The Bible states pretty clearly that a nation that transgresses against
God will get a larger and larger bureaucracy! Sound familiar?!
The state of our government is just one thermometer for our nation's
spiritual state! That then brings us to an important question. If you desire God to give you an understanding heart, one that can discern between good and evil, what spiritual leaders are you giving attendance to? You may think that you are discerning; but if you stay in the way of teachers who do cannot discern between good and evil, they "which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." I Timothy 1:5-8 exhorts, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully." How many ignorant self-professing "preachers of the Word" blithely endorse the Purpose-Driven drivel or pour the poison of the Passion down their flock's open mouths?! They have no discernment. Most of them do not care, either! They are turned "aside unto vain jangling." In their rush to be popular, and to have large mega followers, they ignorantly endorse such heresy without knowing a thing about it! They affirm it without understanding or discerning it! Are you still in a social club whose 'pastor' fits this description? Or does he hold everything up to the revealing fire of God's Word like the faithful Bereans? Ephesians 5:14-17 "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
QUOTES and THOUGHTS "How can it be right to look at the things that are wrong to do? How can those things which defile a man when they go out of his mouth not defile him when going in through his eyes and ears?" - Tertullian "Christians today frequently pride themselves on being different from the world, but in reality they are usually only different from a particular segment of the world." "He who chooses to live well for eternity, will live in discomfort for the present. He will be subjected to all types of troubles and burdens as long as he is on earth, so that in the end he will have divine and heavenly consolation. On the other hand, he who chooses to live well for the present will fare badly in eternity." "The prison does the same service for the Christian that the desert did for the prophet. Our Lord himself spent much time in seclusion so he would have greater freedom to pray and so he would be away from the world. ...The leg does not feel the chains when the mind is in heaven." - Tertullian "That many of us are called poor, this is not our disgrace, but our glory. As our mind is relaxed by luxury, it is strengthened by poverty. Yet who can be poor if he does not long for anything? If he does not crave the possessions of others? If he is rich toward God? He rather is poor, who although he has much, desires more." "The early Christians readily accepted the message of suffering because their eyes were set on eternity. They didn't think in terms of suffering 'for the rest of their lives,' but as suffering for fifty or sixty years, at the most. The 'rest of their lives' would be spent in eternity with Jesus."
CURRENT EVENT RECAP Earlier this month, Chertoff reminded people that preparedness is a civic duty. Well, I'm glad he waited after two major hurricanes flooded a city and erased several towns before he thought to put a quick quip about it on the news. I did find it interesting that he mentioned the fact that our nation is very, very, very dependent on interconnected systems. Just-in-time food and goods delivery systems keep our energy-dependent country humming. Any disruption in transportation and the flow of goods and utilities through major pipelines and power corridors shuts large sections of our nation down. Chertoff almost gave a self-fulfilling prophecy when he continued to say, "Everybody has their role to play, and if people fail in their role, it's going to have a cascading effect." When President Bush outlined his $7.1 billion dollar flu-fighting strategy, it was also the time when Homeland Security reminded Americans that there might be quarantines. "People think, 'Oh, if I get sick, I'll stay home,'" said Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle. 'But what happens when schools are closed for four months? Will truck drivers want to deliver food?'" I can guarantee you that there will be cascading effect like the world has never seen because our bureaucracy has ballooned to such levels that a great number in our nation depend on Uncle Sugar instead of themselves. Most men and fathers do not know their role as provider and defender, because they are weaned on the government. Many people think that their role is to shut up and and not take care of themselves, that the government knows best. If anything, this summer has gone down in history as an example how inept a bureaucracy can be! Remember from the verse that the Bible says a nation that transgresses against God not only will have a bureaucracy, but it will be short-lived! When I write in these RECAPs that our nation is headed for a financial disaster, it is not because there is some clear word of prophecy saying so. The Bible says that nations that get to the point where our nation is - they have a short life span! The verse contrasts the bureaucracy with "but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged." I suggest you read Proverbs 22:3 and Proverbs 27:12.
It should be alerting and alarming to Christians that the following are on
the top ten list for the TIME person of the year: J.K. Rowling (Harry
Potter witch), Rick Warren (Satan's Purpose Promoter), and Mother Nature
(the goddess Gaia). While the "list" has the usually role of
politicians, businessmen, humanitarians, etc., the endorsement of any one
of the listed three will generate greater public interest in that area.
It would be a very sad day for our world to have a witch named as person
of the year, or to have our nation's most influential heretic become
person of the year. The pick of Mother Nature would be interesting
as it would give more impetus to radical environmental accords to
counteract 'global warming', get more people to study 'mother nature' as a
religion, and boost New Age resource sales and propagation. Of
course, the Person of the Year is just another influencing tool, but it
does have high visibility. It was really interesting that for the
webpage explaining TIME's choice of the newsworthy Adolf Hitler in 1938,
the only quote it lists from him is "The great masses of the people ...
will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one." — Adolf
Hitler (www.time.com). In the Sunday 9/26/6 RECAP, we looked at how military responses under the guise of humanitarian and disaster-relief efforts were being used as a test run for what appears to be a heavy-handed police state response to a future event. Several weeks ago, when that cruise ship fended off a pathetic small boat of pirates, it mentioned that it was equipped with a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). Several articles mentioned that the device had also been used for crowd control in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. That caught my attention because I had not seen any news articles at the time mentioning use of such a type of device against any crowds. Perhaps I just missed the article, the meager media coverage at the time was easier to filter, or who knows what else. What is notable is that there is a lot more 'testing' of technique and technology going on than gets out. Speaking of crowd control, let us look briefly at the riots in France. You can spare the jokes about the French always surrendering and being weak, etc. That is a ruse and excuse of the uninformed. While I do not doubt there were agent provocateurs involved as an excuse to extend state policing powers, there were many same elements that America saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Granted, it was almost good that New Orleans was flooded, as it impeded a rapid surge of crime, looting, and lawlessness. However, if it had run unchecked, it would have resembled the riots in France. You had the same zeal, frustration, attitude of being owed something, lack of personal responsibility. France was reaping the consequences of a welfare generation raised in a secular nation. Sure, the Muslims were again painted as the scapegoats. Yes, their lack of integration with the French culture and society certainly acerbated tensions, but they were a minority in this event. In general, the youth was lawless - they lacked a moral code, and thus did what was right in their own eyes. They viewed themselves as justified in burning, beating, and rioting. Individuals who have a lax moral code of values are easier for people to manipulate and fire up. People who feel like they deserve something (whether goods or services), and who make up their rules of right and wrong, are a dangerous group in any country. Could the same thing happen in America? Hmm.. well, let's take away their flow of goods and utilities, say, by a cascading event... what do you think will happen? I can guarantee you that the public outcry here will demand, yes demand, a harsher response and crackdown than France did. Of course, it will be seen as excusable if other liberties and people are run roughshod over in the process. If you remember, guns were confiscated in New Orleans. They were also targeted in the French riots. The police were given temporary power to conduct raids against people they suspected of stockpiling weapons. When the general populace of America sees a rioting, lawless group of people brandishing weapons, they will demand that the police take them from everybody. Well, we've looked at various scenarios for you to consider. We find many of them predicted in Scripture. Any nation that transgresses against God will come to a dishonorable end. While you may already know that America is almost there, it saves us from blaming God when we see why we are being judged. It also fires us up to exhort others to live for Christ, to win the lost around us, to be disgusted with supposed teachers of the Word who cannot even exercise simple discernment and understanding. It stirs the fire of our prayer life as we grab a hold of the horns of the altar and beg forgiveness for our own complacency and lack of adherence to Him and His Word. I was actually saddened when the Texas Southern Baptists signed a resolution to investigate homosexual activism in public schools where their children went. I was disgusted by the fact that it took them so long. What were they waiting for? They missed the boat! Those Christian children have been taught more about fornication and acceptance of world values in the public school than they have about the Bible at home and at church. They have your children - your responsibility - under their tutoring each week, more than you spend with them. Who do you think is going to win in your child's heart and mind? The public school is NOT the place for your children. And if you think that your unequipped child (mentally and spiritually) can fend off the well-designed onslaught of Satan's subtle garbage and indoctrination, you are lacking discernment and understanding! Do not use the mantra that they can be 'salt and light'. That battle is yours as a parent. And if you are not being the salt in your own child's life, preserving against corruption, don't expect them to be! The TSB should have railed against the parent that kept their child in Satan's school long ago! There are plenty of options for parents. The best option is isolate. Get them out of the artificial culture and world of public schools. Our nation and world as a whole is transgressing against God, readying for His final judgments. America, where with 20,000,000 affected with sexually-transmitted diseases, new infections are occurring at a rate of 5.5 million per year. America, where over two hundred openly homosexual government officials met in Seattle to encourage other gay officials to go public. America, where there is twice as many sex scenes (not included innuendos, jokes, and other forms of fornication) as seven years ago. America, where more 'christian' denominations are openly ordaining homosexuals. America, where city after city financially supports same-sex partners, and lauds their 'diversity'. America, where public school children have descriptive and graphic classes in fornication. America, where homosexual-themed mainstream-theater movies number enough to watch "one such movie for every week between now [Nov. 5th] and Christmas." America, where pornography is over abundant and ravenously consumed. America, where on the first day of sale for the new video iPod, just one pornography network registered over 500,000 downloads for it. Our world, where major world cities desire to host the Gay Games. "The Gay Games has become one of the most sought -- after international events by cities around the world as it signifies a city's inclusiveness, diversity and creative spirit by welcoming tens of thousands of athletes, artists and their friends and families."
I suggest you read the following verses aloud, slowly, and prayerfully.
Nehemiah 1:4-7 "And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that
I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed
before the God of heaven, And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven,
the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that
love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and
thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I
pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy
servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have
sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have
dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor
the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst..."
Daniel 9:3-16 "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by
prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: Daniel 9:18-19 "...we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive..."
REMINDERS & PRAYER REQUESTS Have family devotions instead of watching television. Pray that missionaries in foreign fields will get their support increases, due to the rising inflation discrepancies with the US dollar. Pray that missionaries will have the grace, support, protection, personnel, and health to win the lost in their area. Pray that we will have the boldness that we need to share the Gospel. Pray for the churches affected by the Hurricanes, that they will be able to find facilities or areas where they can meet, and also ways in which they can uniquely minister in light of their circumstances. Pray for the requests in PrayerList, and also in iChurches.
Pray for us here at informedchristians.com for wisdom, guidance, time,
resources, and
energy
May God richly bless, |