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162 comments:
Missy,
Interesting article, I to have been looking for signs in the sky as well after seeing the "Star of Bethlehem" over Christmas.
Sky and Telescopes web site has this to say about the next couple of weeks.
This week in the night sky
Mike
Missy, Shalom!
I agree with Mike -- very interesting article. I find myself wondering how America could be divided the way we're trying to divide Israel. I'm wondering if this is where the New Madrid Fault acts up. If most of the bridges across the Mississippi collapse, that would certainly divide this nation in two.
<><
Alesia, I think you're right about the anonymous grandfather being Ari. He was one of the reasons why I allowed anonymous posting here. It has been disabled at Joel's which, perhaps, is one reason why it's a little quieter there. I'm wondering whether I shouldn't leave a message for him to email "mac".
Good idea - he made me smile!
Sorry for the derelict of duty - I've been swamped today. (I even had scripture picked out)
Texanforchrist,
I have been seeing a lot of articles and also, TV programs about the incident of sightings in Texas of UFO's just this month. Have you heard anything about them. I was watching History Channel last night and there was really a long program on it. I am going to check out their web site and see if they have anything there to read or see.
You guys are freaking me out with your Neph's and such. My kitty kat even got scared last night. Or maybe she got cold instead. She dove under the quilt like someone was going to get her and stayed there.
Well, it is supper time and I have to get something delicious and nourishing ready for my hero. You all take care and Joel's is a little too quiet right now. Maybe things will pick up later.
Talk it up so I have something to read when I finish my chores.
Love,
Grany
Jeri
best wishes for a speedy recovery
John
again-wow on Moses. still mind blowing.
Mike
good for you. I don't imagine it was an easy decision. I am doing South Beach and it is fairly easy. i also have noticed when I don't do the carb thing a lot I don't retain as much water. At this point I have 85# to go.
Donna
read your post (I think it was yours but it isn't there any longer) and am glad things are better for you. When people haven't had similar problems or some sort of chronic problem that either interferes with their life or drives them crazy I think it's difficult to relate.
JChick
good to "see" you
I was so blessed when I found a little time to catch up here today, and read of the touch of God's hand on his children.
Wilma, praise God for your healing...you are a blessing to so many, it makes me so happy to know you are without pain now. I have been involved in laying on of hands at our church, and have seen some answered prayer, and healings. It always thrills me to the core.
I too have been praying for God to touch Geoff and completely heal him. We know nothing is too difficult for Him to do.
Thank you all for the time you take to share, you touch more lives than you know!
HI jib,
gee I'm not sure what you are talking about so it probably was not me.
Does anyone remember the site that was given to us several weeks ago about the sky and stars etc? I thought I saved it in my favorites but can't seem to locate it.
Jib - I think you're thinking of Jen's post.
Mac - Good catch with a "Friend of Israel" How did we miss them?
Donna - I scrolled through the first 2 posts & didn't see it.
Thank you every one, for your gracious offer of prayers.
And Lightshine, thank you for the diet advice too!
Texas Dave
Hi JIB,
Yes, it was my post, but I got cold feet about it and went back to delete it....thought it might have been too much info for some!
Thanks for your thoughts, though. It's been hard enough to deal with the physical aspects of my various "conditions", but what has amazed and saddened me over the years is how close family/friends can be so hurtful in dealing with me. My mom at one point told me that my miscarriage was God's way of protecting us from having to deal with a disabled baby, (she assumed that the baby was disabled, although my drs. said it was likely due to my PCOS)- as if a disability disqualifies a baby from being desired or able to bring joy. After my second, she told me that perhaps I wasn't fit to be a mother and it was God's way of preventing that from happening (although she was very encouraging about adoption...???) It took several years and some intense work with a Christian counselor for me to restore my relationship with her. Things are better today, but I don't share anything with her about our plans for our family life. I don't think she has changed any of her views so I figure it would just be another wound to deal with. Ultimately, my faith was deepened and matured so I can look at that time now and see that it was valuable and needed.
Well, bedtime for kiddos, so I'll say goodnight!
Blessings,
Jen
People sure can say the most hurtful things during the most difficult times.
I am so sorry you had to go thru not only physical complications, but also all of the hurtful statements.
Life sure can be difficult while we are here in this realm.
So many of us have problems that can be so overwhelming at times.
I can't wait for Him to come back soon and make all things new! I'm ready!!!!
<><
Jen, I know you said you have triplets, so God gave you a perfect number (3) of divinity as a sign you are more than acceptable in His sight for Motherhood or any other kind of Hood! Go for the Golden report and leave all of the other junk behind.
I read your comment and I really had to stop and just praise the Lord because he is so good. God bless you Jen and he has!
DONNA, I like to replace mankind's hurtful words with the beautiful Word of God and let it sink in instead of the negative ones. That way the Love of God can get down deep into my heart and overflow the other out of me. Cling to His promises and put praise in your mouth and there won't be any bitterness taking root in you.
Just something I have had to do many, many times.
I am looking forward to our Homegoing also, because I want to see my savior face to face clearly!
Love you all,
Grany Wilma
Special Report - Scientists and Researchers From Hong Kong And Turkey Claim To Have Found Remnants Of Noah's Ark
Grany, thanks for your concern on the last post but I'm OK. I saw this coming a few years ago and sold our residence, cashed out and now rent, but I'm worried about alot of other people who didn't see it coming or wouldn't listen when told it was coming : (
There's so much more to post about lately that seems so prophetically significant, but I'm swamped with work and can't find the time or energy to post as much. Hopefully that will change soon, but thankfully we have Harold and many others here posting important commentaries.
sorry Donna. it was Jen.
Jen
something similar happened to my mom. My late grandmother told my mom that the reason my brother died was because of unconfessed sin in her life. When she said something similar to a church member she was asked to leave. she also felt the same way about sickness-only those who were not right with God got sick.
healing the hurts inflicted by family can take a long time and sometimes they never get better. my grandmother is the reason her son drinks and wants nothing to do with God, and when I actually met friends of my dad I was just stunned because he NEVER talks about his childhood. I agree with Wilma about the triplets. my sisters friend was put on metformin for her pcos-it seemed to work.
got to go watch decoding the past-it's on Israel and endtimes tonight with prophecies from a Jewish perspective. It's an old show from 2005 but still should be interesting.
This is Peter Goodgame's second installment for Raiders News.
Prophecies of "The Assyrian": The Second Coming of the Antichrist
The Building of the Third Temple Video.
Missy,
That was a very interesting article that you posted! Thank-you. There was a lot to digest in it.
After reading that article, I got my thinking cap on and let my brain run wild!
There was a section in the article where the author talks about a friend of his having a very vivid dream about the 4 horses of the Apocalypse. In that dream, 4 angels lead one horse each out of a white building (the white, red, black and pale horses respectively).
The section of the article describing the dream is as follows:
As soon as the doors were fully open, I saw an angel that looked very much like the one standing beside me, except without the armor, leading a white horse by its reins. The horse was large and muscular, but he followed the angel obediently, with its head bent low. The angel’s countenance was somber as he led the horse away, and for some reason this registered with great clarity.
I looked up to the messenger whose hand I was still holding, but he merely nodded toward the white building and the open doors, and said, ‘witness.’
Another angel soon appeared in the doorway, holding the reins of a red horse, following after the first. I began to realize what I was seeing, and in silence watched as two more angels appeared, each holding the reins of a horse, one black, one of no discernible color, just pale. All four angels were dressed alike, and had the same somber, sorrowful countenance.
I stood and watched as all four horses were led out of my sight, and finally when they had disappeared from view, the messenger turned to me and said: ‘Go an tell what you have seen. The riders prepare, the horses are ready, and soon they will descend, soon they will be loosed.
Remember what you have witnessed, and do not hold back a single word. Soon they descend on wings of fury; soon turmoil will shake earth’s very foundation. Prepare yourself, for many will fall and few will stand. Fulfillment is at hand, go and speak what you have seen, and what you have heard. The Kingdom awaits the righteous; the holy will soon see the Lord.”
End Quote
When I first read David Lowe’s book “Earthquake Resurrection”, I thought his view of the first 5 seals described in Revelation chapter 6 having already been opened and we are currently waiting for the sixth seal to be opened made a lot of sense. After reading his book, he convinced me that this was the case. This view still does make a lot of sense to me. However, after reading the article Missy posted, I have rethought that view over the last couple of hours.
I think that the first five seals may still have to be opened in the future. I think that the rider on the white horse maybe ready to be released very soon. What this rider on the white horse represents exactly, I am not sure, but I have a theory.
The rider could represent the U.S. trying to bring peace to the Middle East right now by forcing Israel to give up its land in exchange for a false peace promised by the Arab countries. The U.S. government appears to be Israel’s “rider on the white horse”. Bush and company are trying to take the place of God.
Israel is disobeying God by bowing to intense U.S. pressure to give away the land that God explicitly told them they were never to give away. As the article discusses, Israel is relying on the U.S. to protect it instead of God. The rider on the white horse is wearing a false crown of authority. The U.S. is masquerading as someone who has the authority of God and can bring them peace and protection.
The rider on the red horse could represent a big war that will break out soon between Israel, Syria, the Palestinians and others. Damascus could get nuked by Israel fulfilling Isaiah 17 when this false peace fails. As most of you know, the U.S. economy is poised for a tumble. A big war in the Middle East right now could cause a major crash of the stock market, food prices to escalate, oil prices to skyrocket (the rider on the black horse) causing a bushel of wheat to cost a days wages like it says in Revelation chapter 6 (the prices of wheat, corn and soybeans are already higher than they have been in many years).
The rider on the pale horse (disease, famine, pestilence etc.) could quickly follow the war, as disease and famine almost always result after a war. This could account for the many deaths that are talked about in Revelation 6:8: "And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth."
This would take us up the 5th seal in Revelation 6:9-11:
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
End Quote
This passage never actually says that these martyrs were recently killed by the Antichrist like most end times scholars assume. To me, it sounds more like these martyrs have been waiting for a really long time for their deaths to be avenged. It doesn't make sense that they would be so impatient if they had just been killed by the Antichrist.
It makes much more sense if they are the souls of the many thousands, probably millions of Christians that have been killed over the past 2000 years. They are mentioned here because God is going to break his silence and start the "Day of the Lord" with the opening of the sixth seal, thus beginning the avenging of their deaths.
Israel would now be a nation recovering from a war (as described in Ezekiel) and maybe finally be feeling some real security after having destroyed most the threats at its immediate borders (Syria, the Palestinians, etc.) However, we all know that this feeling of security will be short lived and they are just being setup for the Battle of Gog and Magog.
As I have mentioned before, I think the opening of the sixth seal, and possibly the seventh seal and the first 4 trumpet judgments may happen all at once or very close to one another. This would consist of the Rapture, the Battle of Gog and Magog, and a world wide earthquake.
After the dust settles, this would set things up nicely for the Antichrist to come along to and bring order back to the world and confirm a peace treaty with Israel.
There appears to be a break between the 4th trumpet judgment and the 5th trumpet judgment. The 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpet judgments appear to be separate from the first 4 trumpet judgments as the passage calls the last 3 trumpet judgments the “3 woes”.
I think the 5th trumpet judgment could be the Antichrist rising out of the Abyss (the bottomless pit) with his demonic army as described in Revelation 9:1-11:
Revelation 9
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
Anyways, I am just thinking out loud here.
God Bless,
Harold
Great post Harold. I never considered the U.S. as the white horseman bringing a false peace. That makes alot of sense to me. I'm also leaning more and more to the other horseman representing the effects of a Gog/Magog war and maybe even the nuclear destruction of Damascus.
Harold
The Dream is from the Michael Boldea, grandson of Dumitru Duduman, "Through the Fire."
Unless, of course, God gave someone else the same dream...which of course is very possible.
Maranatha
Hamas Blasts Gaza-Egypt Border Wide Open
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Good morning all!
I have a request for help on a subject we've been mentioning lately...the emergent church.
My college roommate and I have been emailing (we still keep in touch more than 12 years later although we live 1000 miles apart now...thank goodness for email!) and the subject of the emergent church came up. I assumed she was aware of the concerns involved with the movement, but now I'm thinking she's bought into it. I need some help locating basic info on it, preferably with Scriptural support, to pass along to her so I can continue the discussion with more authority, other than my "feelings" on the subject. I hope to do some digging around today when I have a free minute, but thought maybe some of you would already have some stuff located.
Thanks a bunch!
Blessings,
Jen
A bit more info....
My roommate mentioned the following in her recent email...
"We are starting a new Bible Study today - Community Bible Study - have you heard of it? It's a national interdenominational program."
"Check our Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill church in Seattle. I have been listening to his sermons and reading his blogs for about a year and WOW. He is working closely with John Piper and doing some emergent church pastor conferences. I am also reading right now Blue Like Jazz...This is part of the emergent church, also."
(This is the statement where I think she is misinterpreting my take on the EC) "Like you, I cannot shake this emergent thing and for awhile I've felt that God has been up to something with us re: church."
Thanks,
Jen
Jen,
I'm not sure if you have the "Faith Undone"book by Roger Oakland. (Bought mine on Amazon)
It's a great resouce on the subject.If you don't already have it you may want to take a look and send one to your friend.
It really gave me a clear and detailed understanding of what is happeing in that realm.
It gives scripture and the basis of what the origional Church taught and what these Emergets are being falsely taught.
Lisa
Jen, Late Night Lisa, I did some online searching on this recently. There is a lot of information available online just by typing Emergent Church in your search engine.
It has been concerning me lately, too.
Ahhh, Hyde, a sense of relief at not having to decode and type letters to post. Nice.
Osama Bin Laden Spotted on Mars
Weird story.
Also, it's a shame to hear about Heath Ledger...didn't he play in Brokeback mountain?
Thuunda, Shalom!
Yes, Heath Ledger starred in "Brokeback Mountain". He was also the lead in "A Knight's Tale." Very sad. As someone who is under medication for ADHD, it's a reminder to be VERY careful what over-the-counter medications (including "organic" teas) I take.
<><
Jen, Shalom!
The biggest concern I have with the Emergent Church movement is that it's an extension of the "Personal Relationship with Jesus" message taken to a modern extreme, where your personal relationship exists outside of the community, in this case, outside the community of believers. You are not obliged or beholden to anyone else in your faith community. In fact, it is not a community, just a group of individuals assembled in the same place at the same time. Without a commonality of belief or worship, how can you have a community?
<><
Thunnda, The image looks more like Big Foot! My kids can do better graphics than that! he heh e
Granny,
We have cats and I can relate.Whenever they suddenly go nuts and dive for cover I always think they can see/sense something that I can't.
Living in our mortal bodies is difficult for us to comprehend the "Spiritual" aspects of existence although we know it's there.
When those Heebe-Geebez come upon you just remember the Guardian Angel/s and Holy Spirit that is also present along side/in you.
We are going to have much to learn about the Spiritual world-it will be something to really look forward to after we get off planet earth.
But for now-I agree. Since we have such a limited understanding about it-does seems freaky at times.
Lisa
Roger Oakland has done a great deal of work exposing the "EC" and is being persecuted for it. I'm still not sure of the subtle distinctions between "Emerging" & "Emergent".
Exposing The Emerging Church – Roger Oakland
This article is in 3 parts:
The Emerging Church – Gary Gilley
I don't know much about Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill except that Lambert Dolphin thinks he's OK and that he's firmly grounded in Biblical teaching. However, he has a reputation for using fairly raw language in his sermons. His affiliation with the EC may be his attempt at outreach to them.(?)
"P.S. I have a prayer request. I will be presenting the Gospel and an invitation to accept Jesus as Savior this Sunday to a group of 80elementary school kids. You know what to pray, so I just ask you to lift that time up to the Lord. Thank you.
Nate"
Tis a mighty thing you do, Nate. May the Holy Spirit guide and bless your talk - in Jesus' name.
Hey! Terry James has some nerve using my face on his book!
Who-weeee, WHAT a day I had! I need chocolate!
Nate - I LOVED your posts today here & at Joel's, very Spirit filled you are today! Your 6:50am gave me leaky eyes a little.
May I copy the one from Joel's onto my blog?
It's fantastic that you will be witnessing to so many young ones, of course you have our prayers!
Now I have to catch up from yesterdays...
Hi Mac,
Thanks for the additional info. I did some very basic searching on Driscoll and came up confused...why is he associated with EC if his info seems to be critical of it? But your point makes sense.....I need to dig deeper.
In the meantime, please pray for my friend and her husband and for any influence I can be as I email her. She is well grounded in the faith (him, not so much, but has become much more so since they married 12 years ago) and if she is being misled, then I imagine lots of others will be candidates, too.
Blessings,
Jen
this is a for fun post-
I get all posts in my in box from joel's and here. Do you realize that there have been 295+ posts (there appear to be some that either didn't show or were posted before I "subscribed) between Hyde's and Joel's since Friday afternoon?
we are prolific!
Nate
your 6:33 and 6:50 posts-very touching.
Remember
1-God's word does not return to Him void
2-some plant and some water and some harvest
Even if you see no visible results tomorrow you and we need to remember to keep praying for those kids because we don't know how much time there is left nor how much time there will be between planting and harvesting!
BTW
I watched that episode of Decoding the Past last night on the nation of Israel, Jews, Jesus and prophecy last night. It was fortunately not as obnoxious as most. Mark Hitchcock was the only one interviewed, and more than one or two parts of the interview shown, however that appeared to actually believe either the Old or New Testament as nearly as I can tell. They had the usual cast of characters-you know the adjunct professor of Bible from Harvard etc. people who although the have degrees in Divinity and work in schools of Divinity actually don't appear to believe any or most of the Bible. I did however get a better sense of the times that the prophets prophesied in. They did however for the most part make them out to be more "social commentators" than men giving prophecy. Since it was advertised as being more from a Jewish perspective I was a little disappointed because I think they actually only had three tops Jews-none of them actual Rabbis. If they play it again it might be worth watching it if you get the chance. It was however strong on the fact that Israel is the Jewish homeland from antiquity and did mention that the Arabs living there had the option of a second state as part of the Balfour declaration but chose not to take that option at that time! It talked of Judea and Samaria as being part of Israel from antiquity etc so from that perspective it was nice because you didn't have to listen to the "claims for right of return" etc and how the Jews had no claim to the land. They also acknowledged that the first and second temples existed where the Dome of the Rck now sit.
Nate, how wonderful and exciting that you will be speaking to so many kids! You will definitely be in our thoughts and prayers!
May God use you to bring His children to Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.<><
Beautiful 6:50 post, too
:)
alesia,
You said:
"Who-weeee, WHAT a day I had! I need chocolate!"
I can honestly say sitting here typing right now that I have no desire for chocolate and I feel rather ill from eating waaayyy to much dark chocolate tonight.
For Christmas this year, my Aunt and Uncle gave my wife and I, 10 pounds of Belgium Dark Chocolate that they brought back from California. This was a single 10 pound bar of solid dark chocolate. I didn't know they made such things.
My wife and I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate.
This huge chunk of dark chocolate had been sitting in its cardboard container, staring at us since Christmas. However, my wife and I are thinking of taking a scuba diving vacation down south in February. My 3 mm thick wetsuit was very tight on me 10 years ago and I am sure I couldn't even zip it up right now if I tried.
So...we had a deal that we were not going to crack into the ten pounds of chocolate until we got back from our down south vacation.
However, we ran out of chocolate in the house a few nights ago and before we knew it, we had taken a hammer to the 10 pounds of chocolate and filled 7 large ziplock bags with the pieces.
Well, to make a long story short (I guess it is too late for that now), we have only 5 bags left now, half a jar of peanut butter (my wife insists on dipping her chocolate in a jar of peanut butter)and I am sitting here with a big belly ache. :-(
Harold...thanks for the laughs about your chocolate episode! Hope you and your wife feel better soon!!
Jen, I just looked at your pictures of you and your adorable little children on your blog!! So sweet. How wonderful! I can't imagine taking care of 3 babies at the same time! One is a lot to manage! God Bless you all!
Maranatha!
<><
Hi Donna,
Thanks for your thoughts....yes, our cup is overflowing with blessings and most days are brimming with joy, too (maybe less than usual now that potty training has begun, but I keep reminding myself that I haven't seen any teenagers in diapers lately! LOL!)
A friend of mine has asked repeatedly if I'm over the 'new mommy honeymoon' nearly three years later and I keep saying 'Nope!' When I think of the alternative, this is just perfect and I can't waste any time complaining about the craziness that sometimes comes. I'm really good about laughing through the chaos and having taught highschoolers for 8 years beforehand was good preparation, too.
Blessings,
Jen
How wonderful that you are enjoying motherhood so much. I love being a mother as well and sometimes wish I could go back to when they were all younger.
I've been thinking about the comments different family members have made, espec the ones jibs family members made after her brother died. (I am sorry for this loss, jib).
I could not help but think that if your grandmother, jib, understood the Bible better she would never have said such things.
The Book of Job, for one, makes it very clear that He is in charge of ALL things, even when things seem terrible.
The bible teaches that He is the Potter and we are the clay.
It is so important that we all have a good grounding in the word, especially during these times...but I know I am preaching to the choir.
Think I'll print out and read the goodgame article mac posted and hit the hay...
<><
Harold - LOL
That's not fair, dude!
Well, if you're going to pig out on chocolate, better that it's dark, as it's good for your heart. (don't know about that large of quantity, though):)
Yeah, your not fitting into that wet suit!
Harold, watch out for the zits! I love dark chocolate and I always get zits after eating it. I've read article after article by some expert saying you can't get them eating chocolate. Well, somebody tell my body that!
I am praying for ya Nate! I so appreciate your commitment and heart for evangelism.
I pray that God will prepare their little hearts to hear and that God will give you the anointed word to speak to them.
Grace
Amen
Good Morning everyone on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2008 at 9:45 A.M. in sunny Okieland I am broadcasting the news "THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE, I WILL REJOICE AND RE GLAD IN IN". Whether I gain another pound or shrink another fraction of an inch, I am going to rejoice in the Lord and be glad cause He made this day for me to praise him and love on him more.
I had a long day yesterday doing radiographic testing and I would have loved some of Harold's dark Chocolate about midway through the thing. But Harold, you know that wet suit isn't going to budge one bit so I suggest you do some walking outside in the brisk weather. I have been told by a physical therapist that you burn more calories in the winter from your body trying to maintain body heat. I think it sounds a little far fetched but who am I to argue with a tiny waist (WHAT'S A WAIST?) in her aerobics gear, jumping up and down like a flea?
Nate I started praying when I read your comment about the kids you are going to be speaker with. You will be just great!
I will check in with you all later and please add my husband, JIM, to your prayers. He is heavily involved in the market and it isn't going the way he would like it too. I am sure he isn't the only 80 year old and over man or woman who is seeing his lifetime savings going, going but not gone.
My God shall supply all of our needs according to his riches in heaven. WOW! That is fantastic and I have no worries!
Praise God,
Grany
I know I woke up a little late this morning - but didn't realize I missed a WHOLE month!
LOL - Grany, he, he ,he
The loss was a really long time ago-about 35 years or so now but thank you. I have often wondered what my brother would have been like had he lived beyond 7 and how my life (I'm the oldest) and the life of my youngest brother might have been different. My middle brother had a total heart for God. He would go up to total strangers and ask if they knew his Jesus. He had a mild brain injury at birth so had some problems with behavior and he likely wouldn't have been as book smart as myself and our youngest brother but he did know about Jesus. He was passionate about two things-Jesus and space exploration. He wanted to be an astronaut in the worst way. My parents bought him a kid's snowmobile helmet and he would wear it and pretend to be an astronaut. His death was a direct cause of my grandfather's (mom's dad) salvation and likely ultimately my grandmother (mom's mom).
My other grandmother was a bitter women and likely had undiagnosed mental health issues her entire life. They did diagnose her with something toward the end of her life which likely had affected her for her whole life but too late. I couldn't understand why my non Christian grandmother was more loving and sharing etc than my Christian grandmother as a kid. It was very confusing.
There are apparently a lot of people who believe illness is a direct result of personal sin (not just the result of adam's fall). While I think this can be true in some cases-witness the people who abuse their bodies with drugs, alcohol etc and end up with bad disease, for the vast majority of people who get sick with things I think their illness is part of the human condition due to adam's fall. God has given us two means of getting better-medicine and miracles. The two are not mutually exclusive either. I feel that there are two different kinds of grace from God- Saving grace and common grace. Saving grace is that which leads to our salvation and restoration to God. Common grace is for all humans to apply in life. The electric light, cars, air conditioning all are the result of knowledge that has been discovered in working out the mysteries of God's creation. So too is modern medicine. Modern medicine isn't perfect but it's a whole lot better than it was even 30 years ago. (too bad our morals/ethics have not kept up with our advances as we can now keep people alive who would have died just 30-40 years ago except we still can't return them sometimes even to consciousness) I keep forgetting that my dad who is 68 did not grow up as a child with antibiotics-not even penicillin. For me that's mind boggling. I have seen people live who by all reason and science shouldn't and seen people die who by all reason and science shouldn't have. I have come to the conclusion that we do our best with what we know and ultimately it is up to God. God knows the number of our days so ultimately while we can know this and this should get this result the actual healing is up to God. Doctors are frequently God's tools to restore health. If you go to my blog I have something on faith there. Substitute an illness for being in a flood and doctors and nurses for the rescue workers and it will give you a better picture of how I think God works most of the time. If God blesses you such that you don't have to take medication and you are miraculously healed fantastic but I don't think that we should sit around waiting for God to miraculously to heal us of illness if we don't take some advantage of that which He has allowed mankind to discover.
Grany got a miracle of healing which is great and I am envious I'll admit (I don't come from the tradition of laying on of hands and with my grandmother in my background you might be able to understand why I am cautious)-other than give drugs which may or may not work there frequently isn't anything that can be done with the problem that she had. Geoff needs a miracle-no doubt. He is obviously beyond the ability of medicine to do anything for him. Which miracle will he get-complete healing and restoration to life or the miracle of being instantly transported to His heavenly Father's abode?
I think many times we have become so accustomed to what our current level of living, advances in technology, medicine etc that we forget that it wasn't that way even just a really short time ago. Films with sound-the 1920's. Television-a product of the 1940's and only the wealthy had them. I remember as a kid getting our first color TV and I'm only 45! Take the cellphone. I got my first cellphone about 1994-now I don't know how I functioned without it only 13 years later. They were around a little earlier but let's face it not that much. The internet was around before the world wide web but that didn't take off really until about 1995. Now look at it. Just how long has text messaging been around-3 years or so? Instantaneous communication. Could any of us who are 40 or older say imagined any of this in our wildest dream? Yes we had Star Trek but seriously did you think you'd see such stuff in your lifetime? In truth we have this same attitude toward medicine. To put this into context- people less than 75 years ago died of things as common as a strep throat and if you didn't die you could end up with heart damage or kidney failure (still can if it isn't treated). Penicillin was still prohibitively expensive in the early 40's and didn't really become cheap enough to be used by everyday people on a regular basis until 1946. My dad had strep which turned into scarlet fever and has mild heart valve problems from it. I had scarlet fever-no residual. One generation.
We live in an age of exponentially increasing knowledge on all fronts. Too bad some dabble where they shouldn't. Many don't acknowledge God as the source of all and put man or themselves even in His rightful place. They have no caution and have no moral limits. A sign of the end times no doubt.
An interesting perspective on the Egypt/Gaza border situation from Jerry Golden.
The real reason for the Hamas bombing of the border
Jib, Shalom!
RE: your post of 5:16 PM, on the episode of "Decoding the Past", I understand the professors dealing with the prophets as "social commentators." Every class I've taken on the Old Testament started from this view, since at the time, a prophet wasn't someone who predicted the future (since fortunetelling is forbidden by G_D), but someone who predicted the present. As an example, check out Ecclesiastes Chapter 3: "There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens." To know the proper time was very important, and if someone could not accurately predict the present, they could not be counted on to accurately transmit the Word of G_D (if, in fact, what they were saying WAS from G_D). That's why every class I've taken started by analyzing the times the prophets lived in and how what they were saying referred to the events around them, before going on to review what they said in regards to future events.
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Shalom, all! I just posted a radical interpretation of Rev. 13 on Joel's blog, in a mad attempt to get the party started over there. Attack it as you may, but be warned: I have my sword drawn. (A lovely work, too, done in pen and ink by my daughter...)
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Hey Jim,
I was just passing through over at Joel's and read your Kristalnacht post. Earlier today, I was leaving a Holocaust Museum in my area... and I turned to the women with me and said -"You know something, the dates, especially the years seem to run concurrent (by 70 years)with the times I am getting through prayer & Bible study for the upcoming Tribulation events." A received blank stares and vague nods BUT I couldn't shake this thought.
I came home & took a nap & woke up thinking about the "Kristalnacht". I couldn't remember the dates or the precise name (!) but only that it was in 1938; then I opened Joel's site. And you wrote "The beginning of the 70th year since Kristalnacht starts Monday,..."
Among the infamous dates is 1942 which is 70 years from the much discussed 2012 which I have been seriously considering as the starting point for the Great Trib.
Does this have me worried? Yes, but not for myself. I continue to work out my salvation with fear and trembling knowing that I have God's attention and He certainly has mine! My security lies with His promises & faithfulness. I do want to finish my course as "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Eph 2:10 I am running with resolve these last laps as I want to gain the prize (not regeneration as that is a gift)...
"Watch & pray that you are accounted worthy to escape all these things..." Luke 21
Also, anonymous 10:34 at Joel's' restating the recent news- "The Palestinians are rushing over the Egyptian walls,..." reminded me so much of the dream I posted some weeks/months back about the Arab-like men and their prince restrained by a wall and then rushing over about the time of the Rapture. !!!
I need to read the rest of these posts -
Missy
Missy, Shalom!
Thanks for bringing up the 70 year relationship between 2012 and 1942. 1942 was a significant year in the history of WW2 -- it started out with the unstoppable Germans advancing everywhere, and ended with the unstoppable Germans being stopped. I've been trying to find out what happened in 1942 with the Holocaust, and I found out that Auschwitz began gassing Jews on February 15, 1942. (Test gassings of Soviet POWs and German criminals had been done in 1941, but the facility wasn't approved for mass murder until January 25, 1942) The first trainload of Jews arrived from southern Poland on that day and were all murdered as soon as they arrived. Feb. 15, 1942 is 28 Sh'vat 5702 -- not quite the 24 Sh'vat of Zechariah, but it's reasonable to assume the orders went out on 24 Sh'vat, with four days needed to organize, round up, and arrange transport for the Jews. By March of 1942, Auschwitz II was fully operational. (Auschwitz I -- prison camp -- and Auschwitz III -- slave-labor camp -- had been in operation for some time.)
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Shalom all! Gotta love this: First, the Egyptian guards are told not to interfere with people crossing the border. Now, Egypt is upset that Israel is saying, "Fine! If you want them, you can have them!"
Egypt jittery over Israeli Gaza proposal
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For anyone who doesn't think that Global Warming is a religion....
Father Al
It would be funny if it wasn't so sad, pathetic and costly....and if it wouldn't lead so many people down the path of destruction.
Missy, Shalom!
I've found something just a little freaky about the 2012 date. It took a bit of doing, but I think you'll be interested in the answers.
The date Dec. 21, 2012 is 8 Tevet 5773 in the Hebrew calendar. "42 months" is usually given as 3 years and 6 months, but it isn't really. The Hebrew calendar has a number of leap years in a 19-year cycle where there are 13 months in a year. Doing some calculating and counting backwards, I've found that 42 months previously to Dec. 21, 2012 is July 20, 2010 in the Gregorian calendar. In the Hebrew calendar, it's ...
... 9 Av 5770.
Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av. The anniversary of the destruction of the First Temple, the Second Temple, and when the site of the temple was desecrated by the Romans by building a temple to Jupiter on that site. Traditionally a time of great sorrow in the Hebrew calendar. However, Zechariah 8:19 that the fasts of the fourth and fifth months (Tammuz and Av), "will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah." So, after the War of Gog and Magog, Israel signs a covenant with some agency, possibly for help in building the Third Temple. The Covenant is signed on Tisha B'Av, as a fulfillment of Zechariah 8:19. 42 months later ...
Thoughts?
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Hi Jim- I've been looking for Holocaust dates for years. Heres what I have for 1942-
January-Jewish resistance and partisan groups organized in Vilna and Kovno
Jan.20-Wannsee Conference plans how to exterminate 11 million european Jews.
March 17-Extermination begins at Belzec
May- Killing operation get under way at Sobibor
July -Treblinka death camp opens
9th Av-first killings at Treblinka
July 22-First large-scale deprotation of Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka
July 28-"Jewish Fighting Organizationn"[ZOB] established in the Warsaw ghetto
September- Armed Jewish resistance against nazis throughout Poland
Nov.19-Red Army counter attacks at Stalingrad
Dec. 17- the Allies resolve to punish Nazis responsible for the mass murder of Jews.
I had a date for Chelmno, in 1942, when they started gasing the Jewish people, I think it was in January, and I think it was the first crematorium. Lost in my files.
I KNOW there are significant dates in the Holocaust- I was within 6 days of the 2300 evenings and mornings-but its really hard to find exact dates. If you have anymore dates I'll send you some chocolate,very dark, of course!
Jamie
Jim- okay- now I've got the chills!! You are on to something
Jamie
dave,
That is a pretty disturbing article about "Father Al". I had a discussion just yesterday with a non-Christian friend about how the hoax of Global Warming was taking over the agenda of a lot of churches and causing them to lose focus on what is important, saving souls.
This person couldn't figure out why I was so adamantly against all this talk of global warming from a Christian perspective. I just forwarded him that article you posted. Maybe now he will see my point.
Thanks,
Harold
prayer request
my niece who is 18 months was admitted to hospital today with viral pneumonia and is quite ill although better on oxygen and fluids (not breathing well or eating/drinking). I surprised given just how ill she sounds that she was not care flighted to a pediatric hospital (breathing far too fast and oxygen content very low)her somewhat older brother is starting to have the same symptoms and may end up being admitted also. the doc never admits them unless they are gravely ill since their parents are expert at respiratory illnesses and treatments (the two older ones are on chronic medication for asthma-a major problem in our family. RSV is a very dangerous virus in young kids and the elderly and even with good supportive care can be deadly. My brother and his wife need your prayers as well since with one in the hospital and one possibly getting that sick they will need extra support and strength from God as well as money.
JIB,
Could you give us your niece's name? I'm standing with you in prayer for her full recovery.
Also, I'm very familiar with the resp. problems in infants, too. My middle guy was rushed to the ER with croup at 6 months and we were prepared by the docs for a 'crash'. God protected him and he got through it, but it was so scary to see him gasping for breathe. The pedi the night before had told me to just watch him through the night (I had no idea what croup was....thought it was something my great-grandmother got in her feet....OK, now I know that was gout!) Had I taken him to the ER earlier, he would have been given the steroids then and could have avoided all the critical care. Also, the kids got a special shot to ward off RSV....it's called Synagis and is only used for preemies and others with compromised resp. systems. Might be something to mention if there is ongoing concern about lung issues with the little ones.
Keep us updated,
Blessings,
Jen
Jib,
I'll be agreeing with you, in prayer, that God sends healing to your family members, along with extra strength to withstand this attack of disease.
God is greater than any sickness or attack that comes against us, amen?
May God's blessings be upon you, and yours, too.
Egypt/Gaza- Pretty amusing that the Egyptions let them in then realized how much money it will cost to support their Muslim Brothers, change their mind and want to send the responsibility back to the Israelies.
Good for the Isralies.I would give them to Egypt too. Let them spend their oil money on humanitarian aid.
I realize it's dangerous re:border security/threats but laughable never- the- less.
I have a question-Does anyone know a passage in the Bible where it says you shouldn't pierce something?
My 6 year old daughter came home today and told me that a classmate who a Christian told her that no one in her family can have pierced ears because God says it's bad in the Bible.
I thought I heard just about everything but I don't remember that one.
Obviously my daughter has pierced ears so I'm trying to figure this one out so I can tell her what to say back.
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I found a few references to ear piercing during a quick search, but found this article very interesting because it deals with ear piercing and slavery.
http://searchwarp.com/swa245917.htm
Might not be what you're looking for, but it's a neat way to view our relationship with the Lord.
Blessings,
Jen
Jim - That's pretty freaky indeed.
Jib - I'm praying for your baby niece. Poor thing, to be so young & not able to breathe.
Jen - I'm so sorry to hear of the things you've had to endure. I wanted to write something to you when you posted, but was a little emotional, still am. Just know, that I am sorry about the babies & your mother.
Missy - You sound like such a cool person, I'd just like to go to Africa & hang out with you for awhile :)
Lisa - I don't know about that being in the bible...
But I have a co-worker/friend who belongs to this pretty radical Church of Christ church who believes that also. He essentially told me I was going to hell because I had a tatoo (which is of a cross - that I got when I was 16 & an atheist!) He also told me I had no chance of going to heaven, that I wasn't a child of God because I was divorced. They also believe anyone that plays musical instruments in church that are not specifically listed in the bible are going to hell - I could go on & on.
He so traumatized me that it took me about 15 years to try searching for the Truth again. Thank you Lord for not giving up on me! For I would have been lost.
Funny thing, this person has since been married & divorced, he has completely changed his tune about divorced people being damned, hmmm. interesting!
Question: There is something in the old testament about tatoos, but does that refer to Jewish people only - or all people?
Just thought I'd check in quickly...I have been so bus
One thing that stands out....there are a LOT of legalistic Christians out there...who turn me off, personally.
I am more in the "take the log out of your own eye before you try to take out the spec in mine" type.
We are ALL sinners. We have a sinful nature. That is why Jesus came and died in our place; for forgiveness.
It has ALREADY been paid for by Him. He paid for it in FULL, once and for all.
We are now to live by faith, and enter into His REST..which the Book of Hebrews explains so well.
The Old Testament (agreement) was the Law under Moses. But we are in the New Testament, faith and GRACE through Jesus Christ.
So thats what I wanted to say about that!
Thank you, Lord Jesus and PLEASE come again soon! :)
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Thanks Alesia & Jen,
That does give me a scent to follow. And mentioning the "Church of Christ" hits home. We are surrounded by the "Church of Christ" here in TN. There is no escape.
Someone we know invited us to go there and after I found out they don't play musical instruments-It struck me as being non-Biblcal.
(Needless to say I didn't go)
So since I'm cornered and surrounded I better polish up my armor in knowledge and prepare for battle.
Now I know that as I walk around in pubic with my daughter in her "Earings" what people are thinking.
I can ask the person who origionally invited me to that church what the deal is. At least I'll have the inside scoop and the possibility of a debate I suppose.
Lisa
hmmmm...
Scientists Closer to Creating Artifical Life, Produce Synthetic Bacteria DNA
Al Arabiya 'Chickens-to-Terror' Promo Ad Is a Head-Scratcher
Three Pigs Story Judged 'Offensive to Muslims'
Jim & Lightshine,
Yes, my thoughts on the 1942 are along those same lines… Forward 70 years: It becomes the hinge pin year for the Tribulation in my mind as it is like Haman’s degree to lawfully exterminate the Jews. Simultaneously, another degree goes out to rescue them. It was almost 3 and half years before the WWII concentration camps were “liberated”. The forwarded dates fall at 2015 and 2016 for Jesus stepping in and ending the war and taking Jerusalem. BTW, the recent article I posted about the Transatlantic Agreement paralleling Psalms 2 prophecy about the nations conspiring against the Lord and His anointed, mentions 2015 as the agreement year.
Jim rework those dates a bit but look into these numbers too-
First, let’s agree for Holy Ghost discussion sake that Jesus the coming King takes out His church just under 7.5 years. Also, because of the “confirming of the covenant” and the last “week” of the 70 from Daniel we know that there is a 7 year number we are working with, so divide the 7 and we get 3.5. Now deduct this 3.5 from the 2012 “hinge pin” and we land somewhere in the mid 2008 to mid 2009… BUT wait, “just under 7.5 years” means we must also deduct (approximately) .45 of a year to the calculation. This is where Jesus’ warning from Luke 21 that I quoted earlier is most relevant. What I mean is, if it is true that Jesus the Son of David is to rule from David’s throne (Luke 1:32) then we must pay particular attention to David’s throne… David ruled for “almost” 7.5 years before he took Jerusalem. This is extremely important prophecy that the last day saints cannot afford to ignore as we obey Jesus' command to “watch”.
Our Savior really doesn’t want us to be caught unaware!
Mt 24 – If the Goodman of the house had known… he would have watched he and not allowed his house to be broken into.
So anyway, deduct from 2008.5 - 2009.5 the .45 figure and we get early 2008 up until early 2009 (early, meaning before the midpoint of the year).
Admittedly, my math is somewhat generalized – but I believe the outline is Holy Spirit inspired.
Proceeding with open heart and prayer,
Missy
PS- Alesia, thanks for the thumbs up… but when you come over we will put you to work! As I read so many of these posts, I sense a camaraderie that God loves and an affinity one toward the other that comforts and confirms our love one to another.
Hi Jim- I just read these articles on the Jubilee calendar. Apparently the Hebrew calendar of today doesn't match the Jubilee calendar of the Torah-maybe the dates were trying to reconcile are a little off?
http://vjri.purpleguy.com/Researcher/Articles/How_is_the_Year_of_Jubilee_Determined
How is the Year of Jubilee determined
I just talked to my brother and he says that Kayla is doing better. Her respiratory rate is now more normal (when she was "improved" last night it was 50-my brother doesn't know the rate right now but says she isn't working to breath) her pulse is still 140 (down from 170-normal for her age I think is about 100) and the amount of oxygen in her blood is waaaay better (80 up to 98) on just a little oxygen than it was last night. the pediatrician thinks her air passages in her lungs have calmed down a lot but the pneumonia is still the limiting factor. she also appears to be interested in eating today. so things are looking up. no word on how her brother is doing because our folks took care of him last night.
Hi Lisa,
I was thinking some more of your question about ear piercing and wanted to point out a really good message I read yesterday on Dr. F's site about the application of Mosaic law. He is writing to new Jewish believers as that's one of the biggest questions they have....now that they're under the New Covenant, what do they do about following the old law. I found it helpful to understand what happens to the Law of Moses now that the Law of Christ has come. You might find it helpful not only regarding the piercing question (I found some references to piercing the skin in Leviticus), but for many other issues that tend to become legalistic stumbling blocks (ie. prohibition against women wearing pants) if you're ever talking with someone in the community who has those strict views of conduct for Christians. You can find it at Ariel.org - Fruit - The Law of Moses and the Law of Messiah.
Blessings,
Jen
Hi Guys,
Back in action! Thanks for the prayers. Will be praying Nate and others for your special requested prayers.
Got to now play catch up with all the posts.
Have a great weekend with our Lord and Saviour!
jeri.
Got plenty of posts to go through as well as seeing what is happening on the news channels.
Just a quick note on the Church of Christ, a friend of mine was invloved and he states quiet clearly that it is a cult because it runs on their belief system and not Christ's.
Some food for thought.
jeri.
Re ear piercing and tattoos and other body adornments...
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
He also says in Romans 8:1-2:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
The question you really need to ask is:
Is what I am doing to my physical body something that Jesus would want me to do, and am I doing it "in the Spirit"? It's like being married - hopefully you won't do something to your body that your spouse wouldn't like.
Holy Spirit will instruct you concerning "all things" [John 14:26], that includes whether or not you have a tattoo. I personally, for example have no problem with earrings, jewelry, makeup, etc for women - I think God gave women the desire to make themselves attractive, and sometimes these things help.
Don't get all bent out of shape, just follow Holy Spirit's direction.
John
Campsmore, Shalom!
Your question on Joel's blog (about when Kristalnacht first came up) sent me on a wild chase. I'm posting here rather than on Joel's blog to keep the location of our secret hideout a secret.
The topic of Kristalnacht came up on Mr. Hyde's blog in the comments to the blog entry of Jan. 8. On Jan. 10 I posted something about finding the Ark of the Covenant that referred indirectly to the 70 years mentioned in Zechariah, chapter 1. On that same day, Lightshine asked about the 70 years, and you replied with, "... what if the 70 years started at the beginning of the Holocaust?"
On Jan. 11, Lightshine replied with a couple of dates, including Kristalnacht. I responded by going into full ADD mode, researching wildly and coming up with tons of useless information, which I pared down to a couple of pounds of useless information and a few nuggets of useful information. One of those nuggets is that while there are a couple of events before 1938 that show the direction of Hitler's plans, historians peg Kristalnacht as the beginning of the Holocaust. Also on that day I found www.hebcal.com/convert, and started putting Hebrew dates to these events. Most of those dates were off by one day due to my sloppy research, but these were corrected in later posts.
In Mr. Hyde's Jan. 14 blog comments, I posted a rant talking about Moses, Zechariah, and Kristalnacht. There, the subject lay dormant until I posted something about it on Joel's blog in the Jan. 23 blog.
Since all the info posted up until now has been on Mr. Hyde's site, I'm going to have to post a summary on Joel's site (without naming Mr. Hyde) so people there know what the heck I'm talking about.
Hope this helps.
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Alesia,
Thanks for your input about the Church of Christ. I worked with a woman from that church, and she was such a nice lady, but I never understood why she was always saying that some people (that I regarded as being Believers) were going to hell? Paul Crouch, the Founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network was mentioned. But because of our "work" situation, and a zero tolerance by our Supervisor for not getting along, etc., I never said anything to her about it. However, I'm so sorry that this doctrine confused you :(
Jib,
Praise the Lord, and let us know when the children have recovered 100%, too :)
Jeri,
Praise the Lord, again! God is good, and good all the time!
Grany,
Where are you today? Miss reading your comments.
There is an outstanding article on at RaptureReady.com
The Rapture: What is it and when will it occur?
The Hebrews Series is very good as well - Jack Kelly.
and under Nearing Midnight you'll find an article called "Nephilim and the Modern Days of Noah "
Jim, your ADD is contagious, I've been searching dates and for signs in the sky for days now..
Have a blessed day..
Mike
Thanks Jim!
I also found some info on Wikipedia.
I had no idea that most store front windows were made in crystal, hence the name, Kristallnacht (crystal night). The noise must have been deafening as the windows were broken.
I cannot imagine how frightened the people must have been.
Hey...where is everyone?
Just wanted to mention you all have been in my thoughts and prayers.
I've been praying specifically for Jim, Goeff and his family, Jibs family and the other prayer requests and hopefully you all will pray for my family, too.
I am headed down to see my folks, my Dad is still in rehab, so please keep them in your prayers, too.
Thanks
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Hi Everyone! You have been discussing some very interesting things and I have enjoyed reading them and then digging for more info. Sure am enjoying the studying it is causing me and the little gray matter is really singing.
Jim, you are several fountains of information and I don't think you hae ADHD at all. I think you just have a very active brain that soaks up information faster than most of us can type. By the way, how is your niece Emily doing? I haven't received any emails lately from her Care site and I was wondering.
I just have to ask this question of you all. Are any of you experiencing difficulty in focusing on prayer needs lately? I am hoping it isn't wide spread but I seem to have hit a different atmosphere lately and I have never had this happen before. I can't seem to concentrate on specific prayers and yet I have a tremendous burden and all I can do is pray in the Spirit. When I do find an area where prayers become easy, it doesn't last very long. I am really puzzled over it.
You all have a wonderful weekend and Jim, about Abbas being the beast. Now Jim, you just gotta do better than that one. He is more like a sick little pussycat than a beast and then add to that a sick little pussycat with fleas.
I really think you need to make arrangements to go to Israel with Joel's group, in all seriousness! You would love it and oh, my, never look at things the same way again. If I could swing it I would go in a flash. I loved all my trips there and they are really the highlights of my after 40 life. In fact, I encourage all of you here to really consider going. You are safer in Israel than you are here in the USA.
Take care everyone and talk to you all later.
Grany
I just came out of the closet again to point out that I've created a seperate blog for prayer requests - see the Prayer Request link. It might be a dud. If so, I'll delete it.
Grany! Your comment gave me chills & made me cry.
I have been having a MOST difficult time, spritually, the last few days/week.
I just confessed this yesterday to a dear friend, (in fact when I saw your post I was reading through some wonderful things, he no doubt, painstakenly, put together for me). I love him dearly for taking the time to do that for me.
I'm saddened to hear this happening to you as well, but must confess to feeling a little less anxious upon hearing it.
With God's help & the wonderful support system we have here, we will overcome!
Mr Hyde - I think you're BRILLIANT.
Great idea!
I SO encourage people to use the prayer request spot.
Hey Mr. Hyde,
This is a little too uncanny for my taste, but I was going to suggest the very same thing later tonight and was thinking of offering to host a prayer blog if no one else was interested. Lately, I've found that my prayers for Joel's blog family have become unwieldy and scattered....can't keep track of names, who goes with whom, updates, etc. So I'm voting for a definite YES to the idea and am grateful for your hospitality once again.
Also, Grany, I, too, have felt a great difficulty in getting back into my prayer routine. I had a good groove going before the holidays and I'm blaming it on being out of routine for the last month, but that should have settled down by now, so I'm wondering if my time in prayer wasn't rubbing 'someone' the wrong way. When I feel that frustration setting in, I just ask Holy Spirit to pick the prayers that are most needed and I let him do the talking.
Blessings,
Jen
Grany, I put my hand up. I got smacked pretty hard this week, although I struggle at the best of times. I suggest that it is an attack by the enemy and we must persevere and support each other.
Jas 1:2-3 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance...
I'm going to try to change my routine and get up before dawn (5AM) for the rest of the week just to say a prayer and some Bible reading. I'm gonna have to use much coffee! We ARE at war!
Bog/Blog - Jen, a Freudian slip, perhaps? :-)
What with mac changing his pic from time to time, I thought I'd try out something new - tho not original, I'll grant.
I like Bog....don't change it! We can dwell in all kinds of environs....caves, bogs.....we need to come up with a coop so the country folk feel at home:-)
HeHe!
Jen
Oh, I thought Bog was like a little mini-me for the original Blog.
You know, like a little cramp in the leg is a Chuck-pony, rather than a full-blown Charley-horse!
LOL
Jeri,
Good to hear from you. I take it the surgery went well?
Grany, Mac, & Alesia,
Okay. I guess it isn't a coincidence. I'm having trouble finding words when I pray, too.
><>
Hyde - I just read your updated profile. I just can not stop laughing!
I LOVE you favorite book ;-)
Nice picture too!
texanforchrist,
Just watched the" Star of Bethlehem" dvd. Very interesting.
Is there something in particular your watching for in the sky?
I wouldn't be suprised that there will be a "sign" for the church if anyone is watching out for one.
I haven't looked at the website yet but w/this star computer program I wonder if he's looked ahead in the future to see how things line up.
www.bethlehemstar.net
Lisa
Ok, something is really up!
I was JUST talking to my daughter about this & she told me she & a few of her girlfriends were talking (just yesterday) about how they are struggling spiritually right now as well. My daughter told me the conversation started because her friend said she couldn't sleep the night before because she was very afraid & heard, what sounded like clawing on her ceiling.
So add 4 more (young adults) to the list of people battling right now.
PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!
The Power of His Presence
Daily Devotions
From the Writings of Ray Stedman
Watch!
January 24th
READ: Mark 13:1-37
Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: "Watch!" (Mark 13:35-37).
Jesus gathers up all the intervening time between His first and second comings and divides it into four watches—one long night of the world's sin—and He says, "You don't know (and, I think He implies, "I don't know") whether the coming is to be early in that time or in the middle of it, or three-quarters of the way through, or clear at the end." No one knows. I don't know; you don't know. But it is like a man going on a journey (here He likens it to His own going away) who gives his servants work to do, and he expects them to do it. And he sets a doorkeeper to watch.
What is he to watch for? Is he to watch for the master's return? That is the way this is usually interpreted. But that is not it, for he is to start watching as soon as the master leaves. He knows the master will not be back right away. What then is he to watch for? He is to watch so that no one can deceive him and gain entrance into the house and wreck and ruin and rob all the master has. So Jesus' word is, "Be alert; don't go to sleep; watch! There are temptations and pressures that will assault you to make you think that it is all a lie, to make you give up and stop living like a Christian, stop walking in faith, stop believing the truth of God. Watch out for that. And in the meantime, do your work. Don't let anything turn you aside. Don't let anything derail you from being what God wants you to be in this day and age." This is the way you watch. We are not to be looking up into the sky all the time, waiting for His coming. That will happen when He is ready. We are to watch that we are not deceived.
I have been disturbed at how many Christians seem to have fallen away. I look back across many years of ministry, and I see men whom I would have sworn were solid, tremendously committed, faithful, Bible-teaching Christians but who are now denying their faith and have turned aside. And on every side, seemingly, this increases—people falling off into immorality and iniquity, turning away from their faith, saying, in effect, they no longer believe the Lord or the Bible. It is this our Lord is warning against.
Therefore, He says that we are to keep awake. Do not believe all the secular voices that tell us the world will go on forever as it is now. Don't believe the other voices that tell us there is no God, so we can live as we please, or that if God exists, He will never judge us. Don't believe the voices that whisper to us constantly and try to turn us away from our faith. With one sharp, arresting, ringing word of command, Jesus ends his message: "Watch!"
Lord, strengthen me and help me to stay alert, that I may endure to the end, that I may be faithful unto death, that I too may join in that great day with those who are given the crown of life.
Hi Alesia,
The past few days I've had a hard time looking out the windows at night because I have this great expectation that I'll see "something" lurking outside. At first I attributed it to all the talk we've had recently about the Nephilim, demons, etc. but the feeling continues. I've also been praying for our home - it's actual walls and rooms and all our movements within- to be protected from anything that might come against us since I feel that my recent efforts to deepen my walk with God may bring on attacks. I don't want to walk about with fear and worry because I do believe I can call on Jesus to banish anything that might show up. I need to find some verses to keep handy, just in case.
Also, I had a very strange experience when I was a teenager. I was asleep one night and woke up to the sensation that I was being pulled by the ankles out of bed. At first I thought my legs had fallen asleep and I was just tingly, but the pulling continued and although I wasn't moving, I reached up and grabbed hold of the bars on the headboard. I am 100% sure that I was awake and not dreaming because once it was over, I got out of bed and hightailed it downstairs to my parents' room to tell my mom. I don't remember now, but I often wonder if I was going through a period of rededication in my faith and it was an attack to scare me and turn my focus from God. So I do believe that your daughter's friend could have heard something other than squirrels or mice in the attic!
Prayers going up for everyone!
Blessings,
Jen
Alesia,
Just a thought on the clawing sound. I was freaked out a couple of times by something similar.
One was a tree branch scraping the roof in the wind.(had never heard it before)
And the really freaky one was this scratching sound that happened at the same time every night which sometimes included other strange noises.
It ended up being a Gigantic Rat in the attic.
But until I figured that one out I was thinking spirits. Took me about a week. You should have heard the noise when it got in the sticky trap.(It escaped from the trap and then my kitten at the time climbed up the ladder, into the attic, and got stuck on it.)
Lisa
Jen - How bizarre that you would share that today (ankles being pulled). I was just telling someone that when I became a Christian (at age 25) I was trying to pray & I physically felt like I was being strangled to death! This happened within the first few weeks of believing in God.
Lisa - LOL. Yes, I suppose that is possible. However, after her friend stated this, my daughter asked her how she was doing spiritually, which got all 4 of the girls talking about how they have been having a really difficult time lately.
Mac - Fantastic comment.
Maybe you should also post that on Joel's?
Hi Lisa,
Gosh, I can't stop posting tonight...hope I'm not wearing out my welcome!
I have to clarify that I don't think every noise in the night is some dark force sent to terrorize us. Once, I spent the night huddled in bed trying to figure out what was making a scratching noise in my bedroom. I was sure it was a mouse eating through the wall and was scared to put my feet on the floor. I eventually got up the nerve and poked around to find a beetle trapped upside down in a paper bag....it was scraping the bag with its legs. I felt pretty stupid after that!
Also, a suggestion for anyone looking for a source of encouragement...I've been meaning to do this for awhile and finally got around to it tonight. I got out some old hymnals that I had kept from the little country church my grandparents attended (it closed when I was in college, but I went back for the final Sunday to ring the bell with my grandfather like I did when I was a little girl....he would let me hang on the rope while he pulled it and it would send me up above his head toward the ceiling. Scary, now that I think about it, but fun at the time!) Anyway, I got out those songbooks tonight and just perused them. The lyrics are chock full of wonderful truths and edifying words. Here's one for tonight...
"Who Trusts in God, a Strong Abode"
vs 1: Who trusts in God, a strong abode in heaven and earth possesses; Who looks in love to Christ above no fear his heart oppresses; In Thee alone, dear Lord, we own sweet hope and consolation; our shield from foes, our balm for woes, our great and sure salvation.
OK, time for me to leave everyone alone now!
Blessings and good night :-)
Jen
Grany, Shalom!
Oh, trust me -- I have ADD! My writing may appear focused, because I've worked for years to be able to express myself in a way most people can understand. When I'm hyperfocused on writing, nothing can distract me; otherwise, it can take me a couple of hours to write one post. I've got three sewing projects where I've got the material mostly cut up, and have just not gotten back to finish any of them.
As for Emily, she is doing MUCH better! She's still undergoing chemo, but she's able to get out and about, and she got engaged a few weeks ago! Of course, it will be five years before she's considered to be cured, but for now, it looks like the disease is in remission.
I would love to go to Israel, but I'm not feeling led by the Spirit to make any plans for that at this time. I'm feeling like I should be staying close to home for now.
As far as feeling a spiritual oppression, I can't say. My ADD makes it very hard to do very focused praying. I've found the best way for me to pray that way is when I'm moving, not kneeling. Also, I'm finishing up a two-month "novena" (a set of prayers and scripture meditations for each day), and I always feel increased oppression whenever I'm coming to the end of this novena. (I know G_D is happy that I am trying to become closer to Him through these meditations; but to get almost to the end and then not finish the last few days -- "Could you not wait with me for one hour?") Can you pinpoint a time when you noticed your prayer life suffering?
I've learned from past experience that whenever I've felt this reluctance to pray, that's a sign that something bad (as in "spiritually challenging") is going to be happening to me in the near future. If the same experience applies to you all also, then the Evil One is trying to soften us up prior to the spiritual challenge. Like I said in my posting on Joel's site, I'm praying for G_D to inspire me with another scenario based on the information I'm getting from this site. (I'm a big one for scenarios, just because I like having not only a plan A, but a plan B, C, D, and so on. Plan through enough scenarios, and you're bound to plan at least one close enough to events that you can just put it into place.) Frankly, I don't like what G_D is inspiring me to see.
I'm focusing on the point someone mentioned a couple of weeks ago: that G_D will bring about on Israel's enemies what the enemies had planned for Israel. For example, Pharaoh had all Israelite male children executed; so at Passover all Egyptian first-born male children died. Bush has been pushing Israel to pay tribute to her enemies and to give up land for peace. With all the Chinese and Arab companies buying American banks and credit companies, when our economy collapses we will be paying tribute to OUR enemies. I couldn't figure out how G_D would be taking land away from America and giving it to another country, and then it hit me: Bush wasn't pushing Israel to give her land to another country. Bush was pushing to DIVIDE the land of Israel. Once I realized that, things clicked into place.
Grany, do you remember a dream you had about a year ago...?
The last time the New Madrid Fault generated a major earthquake was back in the winter of 1811/1812. It was strong enough to ring church bells in Boston and to crack sidewalks in Washington, DC. If the New Madrid fault goes with an equivalent force this time, it would not be unreasonable to expect the destruction or collapse of every bridge across the Mississippi north to Dubuque, IA and south to the Arkansas/Louisiana border; and every bridge across the Ohio River up to Cincinnati. There would also be the destruction of highways and interstates all the way to the Atlantic. There's also the possibility of a sympathetic earthquake going off in Niagara Falls, destroying the bridge there. In other words, America would be divided, in about the same proportion as would be the case if Israel were to give up Judea and Samaria.
Like I say, I'm still working on this scenario, so it may change. In any case, maybe this scenario will help you to pull yourselves out of your oppression in prayer.
Nighty-nite!
<><
Good early Saturday morning everyone!
Yes, to Wilma, but for me I thought it was due to flu symptoms I'm battling that is keeping from my usual prayer time. ugh...
Geoff was released from the hospital. He is home feeling a little better, awaiting the manifestion of his complete healing.
I'll have to admit, something is brewing.
As far as "noises" I could tell you somethings that would make your skin crawl, so I won't.
I will share one instance that you may find humorous.
We lived in a very old home in Felton, PA, next to a church with a cemetery. We had only been there for a couple of days. I kept hearing a whirly noise in my bedroom, which is on the cemetary side.
After a lot of praying and "too scared to get out of bed," it got even louder. When I was trying to decide whether or not to go get my mom, the shade on the window flew up and the whole mess came crashing to the floor.
Mom came anyway and I eventually got new curtains.
lori
UNHRC slams Israel's actions in Gaza
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Still no deal on UN statement on Gaza
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6 powers propose new Iran sanctions
Libya withholds support for UN draft condemning Qassam fire
Hi all- interesting how many people are having their prayers 'interferred' with.{not the right word} I had a frightening experiance several weeks ago that kept me from fervant prayer for a long while. It was a dream about a deserted strip mall with hypodermic nettles laying all around, and a baby covered with wax. I woke up screaming "oh God, oh God" I'm pretty sure it was related to the Abortion Clinic that opened nearby, but I was 'afraid' to pray for awhile after that, and even now-
Jamie
I too have had trouble praying. I'll start talking and then my mind is suddenly on some other subject.
Mike
JIM CARROLL
JIM CARROLL,
You asked me if I remember the dream I had in May of 2007? Like it was last night and I can still feel the churning going on in that terrible dream.
But Jim, I found something on one of the links that Campsmore Lori posted regarding the dream of the four horse that Harold discussed. For this reason I have to tell you one fact that I have never related and really didn't come through until I started typing this remark. In that dream that I had, there were no other humans or life of any sort. Just land swirling and being sucked down into a spiral that enveloped the whole area.
Now this other dream posted on the link that Lori gave us is very interesting and this gentleman had his dream in February of 2006. I am posting here because I want people to know that God is alerting all of us and it could be the reason we are having prayer resistance. Here goes the dream:
--------------------
"A Great Earthquake coming"
February 3, 2006
Dear Brethren
Isaiah 24: 19-20, "The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again."
While I was in Romania, one night after my devotions I went to bed, exhausted and in need of much sleep having ridden in a truck all day delivering food to families. It had been a hard day, and we had to push the truck out of snow banks and ditches more than once. My body ached, and all I really wanted was to get some good rest.
As I fell into a deep sleep I had a dream. I dreamt I was in a hotel room, asleep, when the bed began to shake violently. I knew what was happening right away. Having lived in California in the 1980’s I was keenly aware of what an earthquake felt like. Suddenly I was no longer in bed, but high above San Francisco bay, looking down on the golden gate bridge. As I watched it, it began to shudder, break apart, and fall into the waters below. I continued to watch the devastation, seeing buildings collapse, and masses of people trying to find shelter. Then a voice spoke out of the heavens, a voice I had never heard before, a voice of great authority. “I will shake this land from its foundations, such as the eyes of this generation has not seen. The world will stand in awe, and tremble in fear, as even the very geography of this nation will be transformed. My wrath is ready to be poured out, for sin has overrun My temple.”
In my dream I began to weep, not due to the devastation I was seeing, but due to the great power of the voice I was hearing. I woke up trembling, unable to breathe, and tired as I was I could not go to sleep again.
Shortly before sunrise, my phone began to ring, and when I answered it, it was my brother Daniel. “Are you awake?” he asked, “Yes”, I answered.
“I had a dream last night,” he continued, “it was a terrible dream. I dreamt of a big earthquake coming to America.”
When I told him I’d had the same dream, he was silent for some time then said, “I’m coming over so we could pray.”
He had just arrived at my apartment, when my phone rang again. It was a brother from 200 kilometers away, who is prophetically gifted, and has spoken many words over me that have come to pass.
“Is this Mike?” when I answered in the affirmative, he said, “I had a dream last night, and I felt I needed to call and tell you about it. I dreamt of a terrible earthquake in your country, I saw a big bridge that just collapsed I saw destruction as I have never seen before. Does this mean anything to you?”
It took me some time to find something to say. I was speechless, and could find no words. On the same night, three different people had the same dream, with the same vivid details. Knowing that the brother had a prayer group that met nightly, I asked him to remember America in their prayers whenever they prayed, and he said he would. Before he hung up he said, “Mike I’ve had many dreams in my life, the Lord willed it so, but none has scared me as the dream I had last night. Only God can protect someone through something like that, there is no other hope but to run to Him.”
No matter what may come upon this land, we know that God abides with His faithful, keeping them, guiding them, and protecting them. Events will begin to unfold upon this earth, that will make even the mightiest of men tremble in fear, but knowing that we have a shelter from the storm, a sovereign God who watches over us, fearlessly we press on faithful in all that He asks of us.
Psalm 91:7-11, "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your habitation, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Click on Lori's link about The Dream and check it out. This man has had so many visions and dreams and they have come to pass.
I don't know for sure what is going on but I do know from experience that we are in the middle of a gigantic battle and are members of the Army of God called and commissioned to prayer.
Jim, forget about going to Israel! Hon, stay home and get your sewing done. You can think through your 5 game plans while you do that and it will help those gray brain cells to finish the plans for us all.
Grany
Hand of Help index to dreams and visions
Muslim Christian site
Lisa,
That address doesn't seem to be complete.
I don't know how the last one got directed to my blogger account.
Hum. Let's see here:
Muslim Christian site
Finally-it actually worked. It's a great resource for witnessing to Muslims and take a look at the Prayer Requests as well.
Lisa
Really slow day & night here!
I've been out & about all day, just came home & expected way more comments than this.
Mac - What? Do you have a thing for chickens or something? ;) Read your article from Joel's. Very disturbing atheist comments made to that article. I had to stop reading.
I'm praying for all the requests - didn't want to leave a comment there, as I think we should just post actual prayer requests only. Don't want to clog it up with other comments so we can just focus & easily see the requests.
No, though perhaps Ray does. I saw the article at Christian Worldview Network and checked where it originated from. Ray seems to be using the chicken theme lately. Yep, the atheist comments can be disturbing but they do offer a window into some of their mind sets. One person pointed to the "overwhelming evidence" for evolution! Well, I've been looking at that subject since I was 14 years old and I don't see any evidence.
I was an atheist for the first 25 years of my life & I never felt the venom that some of those people do towards Christians. Which is why I firmly believe that the people that claim they are atheists & are SO vocal against religion of any kind, are not "truly" atheists.
It's been my experience that people who are never taught religion & have never believed in God, don't really care that people do believe in Him. It's the people that were taught & for whatever reason turned their backs on God are the ones who so vehemently deny His existence. That's really sad actually because of WHY they turned their back, usually because of some tragedy or an abusive "religious" parent.
Now, to be fair, I think God was always trying to get my attention. While I didn't believe, I was always searching & trying to believe, despite my upbringing.
There was a line in the movie The Thin Red Line, that I never forgot:
"If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack" I had become a Christian by the time I heard that line but it was such a strong statement to me because I think that's exactly how I felt about God before believing. I thought I should be made to suffer (and was) for not being able to believe in Him - make sense?
Anyone who claims "overwhelming evidence" for evolution is ignorant & just not that bright, because you're right - there is no evidence!
I've personally known a couple of atheists in my time. Both were very intelligent and fun to debate because they never held animosity. They simply did not see the same things I did. I was an agnostic for some time, but only towards Christianity. The lack of evidence for evolution was the clincher that kept me a Theist.
Last year I had the privilege of witnessing an atheist member of the OL finally accept the Lord. With God’s help, it was the OL members who lovingly and patiently nurtured him and prayed for him that finally led him to take that big step. I’ll never forget it!
Good Morning all! I have an urgent prayer request that I am posting here and then at Hyde's special place. Lori (Campsmore) sent this to me and I just finished reading it.
"Lori to me"
show details 8:42 AM (34 minutes ago)
Thanks for your note, Wilma, I will forward the suggestion.
I really need prayer big time. I'm suffering with respiratory illness/flu like symptoms. I keep feeling like I need to cough, only nothing comes up. My throat is raw and sometimes when I cough, my throat closes up for a few seconds, which is scary.
I know this is the enemy. Please post my request in the blogs. I'm too weak from lack of sleep.
Thanks,
lori"
I will catch up with you all later. Don't forget to be praying for JIB also.
Love you all,
Grany
Mac, Shalom! Out of curiosity, what is the OL?
Lori, Shalom! Prayin' for you. IN the meantime, try getting in a steamy shower and breath the warm, moist air. Do it for at least 20 minutes, 30 would be better, but if it helps longer than 30 minutes won't make much difference.
<><
Lori, I'm praying for God's speedy intervention.
Jim - The OL is Jack Kinsella's Omega Letter.
Jib - praying for you too.
Well, last week it was a spiritual attack. Now I'm experiencing a physical lethargy. I'm wondering if there's a connection.
Mac - did you eat too much steak again?
Lori,
I'm praying for your soon recovery, also.
Jib,
I'm awaiting a Praise report :)
Mac,
Maybe there is a connection, but maybe not :) I don't know about you? But sometimes I just have to kick myself in the you-know-what, and get myself in gear :) However, that's probably more age related, than anything else :(
I hope everyone has enjoyed a pleasant and blessed Sunday!
And thanks Grany for all the info.!
I would really like to have your opinion on this:
We recently moved and I've been attending a new church. It's a related non-denominational Christian Church.
How I ended up here is that someone visiting at my former church was singing and stated that he lived were we were moving to. I asked him where he went-so he told me and made a point of mentioning that there is a "strong sprit" present.
Ok, so I've been attending, the message has been great and Biblical. Now here it comes-there IS something different about this Church.
I felt it from the first day and today during the 1st communion @ this new church- Was extreemly strong. In fact although the communion process was a little different-I think I zoned out and missed the cue to eat the bread & drink the wine-Finally I looked around and everyone else had already finished. (I'm usually really observant)
The best way to describe this "spiritual" feeling would be to say my head feels somewhat buzzy and a warm energy infills me.
From my consertive background I would consider my worship style about the same. People around us do raise their arms and mutter "Jesus,Jesus,Jesus" & "Hallelujah." Then at the height of all of this the energy level is "off the charts." Meanwhile the music is loud (which I thought may account for some of the feeling) and the same verses (two at most) are repeated.
So, I go home and look up "Feeling the Holy Spirit" as I know different people have various experiences. (I felt it at my old Church but not the same as this.)
Then I run across and article from:
VainRepetition
The point that sticks out in my mind is when it states:
"This called back memories of a documentary I saw once of a crowd engaged in Transcendental Meditation, swaying back and forth, uttering the same phrase over and over again. The protagonists utter a word or short phrase (often Biblical names or phrases such as "Jesus" or "Hallelujah") over and over again in order to initiate a mind-altering trance. The physical, emotional, and mental changes elicited by such manipulations are incredible, similar to the effects of hypnosis."
So my question to you is-Do you think this is the "Holy Spirit" or do you think I'm being Hypnotized?
I sing the songs/pray but do not engage in the rest.
After being lead down the wrong road in the past I'm always checking to be sure it doesn't happen once more.
Lisa
well interesting commentaries today.
Lori-glad Geoff is home and doing well. May he continue to do so and be restored.
otherwise-
my niece was doing well and was supposed to go home today but-can't eat. her respiratory issues have calmed down. the pneumonia is resolving and the asthma attack is now controlled. heart rate and breathing are back to relatively normal as is amount of oxygen in blood. she had problems with vomiting and not eating when admitted but that seemed to quiet down until yesterday afternoon. they had to restart the iv because she can't keep anything down. she is also an extremely picky eater which of course doesn't help.
thank you for remembering me today in prayer-it was effective and needed. suffice it to say I needed wisdom and guidance today since I was working on something blind with conflicting information and really didn't have any idea what I was working with or what to do to fix the problem. sorry that's so vague and possibly confusing but it has been that kind of day. I now know what the problem is (for the most part) and it is quite serious and pretty much out of my hands now and into God's as I have done what is humanely possible.
Late Night Lisa, Shalom!
I was going to make some flip remark about being at a Led Zeppelin concert (or was it Grateful Dead?) but seriously, I think you need to need to treat this church with caution. I think what they are practicing is a form of hypnosis (witness your "zoning out" during communion) as a substitute for Spirit-led worship. While the goal may be laudable (becoming closer to G_D) the methods they're using can be used to break down your resistance to whatever message they're preaching. When that happens the congregation can't form critical thought and can be easily manipulated.
Be cautious, and go only one or two more times. If the worship services are the same as the one you were at today, you may want to find another church.
<><
Ok, you'll never believe this- I take that back- you probably will.
Due to my last post I was starting to research Transcendental Meditation when I ran across this:
David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace.
DavidLynchFoundation
Essentially it's an organization for promoting this meditaion in the Education system claiming higher academic achievement and "wold peace."
Today my favorite Sunday school started a new series called "Overcoming the Enemy.
Overcoming the Enemy
Lesson #1
The Nature of the Enemy
The target is our life.
The weapons are lies.
The goal is to disrupt our Christian life and destroy us.
Our defenses are given to us by God.
OUR POSITION
The most important thing to remember is that we belong to God. (1 John 4:4)
The Spirit within us had overcome and subdued the enemy
Positionally, we are in Christ and delivered from the power of Satan. (Colossians 1:13)
We’re fighting from a position of victory (Colossians 2:15)
WHO IS THE ENEMY?
Satan is the deceiver. (John 8:44, Revelation 12:9, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 2 John 1:7
THE ENEMY TARGETS OUR MIND
Genesis 3:1-7 shows how Satan targets our mind (see also 2 Corinthians 11:3)
He attacks our mind because it’s a part of us that is created in the image of God and it’s how God communicates with us.
Our mind is what changes when we accept Christ (Ephesians 4:17-24, Romans 12:2—we dictate to the world who we are)
God renews our mind through His Truth (His Word), so we must protect our mind against attack. (Philippians 4:8, Isaiah 26:3, Romans 8:6)
Satan’s weapons are lies (Revelation 12:9, John 8:44)
Compare Genesis 3:1-7 to Genesis 2:15-17 and see what God actually told Adam.
STEP ONE: Satan questioned God’s Word (Genesis 3:1). He went to Eve because the Word came to her from Adam and not directly from God.
STEP TWO: Satan denied God’s Word (Genesis 3:4). We must rely on God’s Word, not on what someone has taught us.
STEP THREE: He substituted his own lie (Genesis 3:5). Adam and Eve were already made in the image of God, but Satan tempted them into thinking that they could be like God. (See Isaiah 14:12-14; Satan fell because he wanted to be like God.) Satan wants us to think we can know more and have a better life.
><>
Grany, Shalom!
I have been disinclined to consider Mr. Boldea's dream as an effect of President Bush's betrayal of Israel. I've read that prophecy several times in the last year, and I've always associated it with the great earthquake that will come with Gog/Magog.
Now, however, I'm not so sure.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around what would happen to San Fransisco with such an earthquake, one strong enough that "even the very geography of this nation will be transformed." Almost thirty years ago, I read a novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle called "Lucifer's Hammer." It was the very first book to consider what would happen if a comet or large meteor would hit the Earth. There, they describe a resulting earthquake where the San Joaquin Valley disappears. In its place: the San Joaquin Sea. If, in fact, this should occur, we're looking at Katrina multiplied. Estimated number of dead in the valley alone: between 3.5 and 4 million people. Estimated financial losses just in the valley: several tens of BILLIONS of dollars. Expect at least ten times the number of estimated dead and financial losses for California as a whole.
Picture the devastation: the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake is estimated to be a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. For devastation on the scale described in the dream, we're talking at least 8.8. Because of the way the magnitude scale works, that means an earthquake that is 10 times stronger than the 1906 earthquake. I think we can expect the entire San Francisco bay area to be leveled, except for those buildings built on bedrock. This would include the cities of Sunnyvale and San Jose, and this is assuming we DON'T have the San Joaquin Sea. (I don't think it's safe to assume that, though, since that would definitely count as changing the geography of the country.) I can't find up-to-date figures for the amount of America's food that is grown in the Valley, but it's a lot. Highway's US 5 and California 99 are the major routes through the valley and link Southern California with Northern California, Washington State, and Oregon.
Not only would shipping through San Francisco be disrupted, it's safe to say that shipping through the Port of Los Angeles would be disrupted for at least a couple of weeks. For one thing, they'd have to make sure the port facilities were undamaged; for another thing there's a good chance the highways and railroads leading out of LA would suffer some damage, limiting truck and freight traffic in and out of the Port. No point in shipping to the Port if it can't get out of the Port. We may wind up with the North American SuperCorridor Highway out of necessity.
Part of me still clings to the possibility that the disaster befalling America is the New Madrid Fault letting loose and severing Northeastern US from the rest of the country. It has a poetic symmetry to it: If you consider all the land controlled by Israel, the disputed territories (Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and the Golan) form a little less than 25% of the total area. Fatah and Hamas are demanding this 25% of the land of Israel as tribute, and George Bush wants to give it to them. Collapsing all the bridges across the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, plus additional destruction to interstates, etc., would result in little less than 25% of the continental United States being severed from the rest of the country.
Well, what will come will come. I feel more confident predicting events in the Middle East than trying to predict what will happen in America. There's just not that much prophetic material in the Bible that can be directly connected to America.
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Thanks for your prayers to God on my behalf.
My lungs feel better...still waiting on throat/head.
Nate,
Praise the Lord! It's so exciting that so many children gave their hearts and lives to Christ.
Nate - awesome response from the children. I will keep your follow-up in prayer.
Hi Lisa,
I will be praying about your church affiliation. In my book it is almost as important as whom you marry… My husband is a pastor/(missionary right now) and we have had years of experience of people coming and going. My husband’s counsel for people wanting to become members of our church and for those who are moving or leaving has been the same scriptural counsel for decades-
What to look for in a church-
*Using the Bible as our manual there is great focus on the pastor or “minister”-
1 Tim 3:8-12 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, 9) holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10) But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. 11) Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 12) Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
The other basics…
*The doctrine they profess, is it the same that they confess? Do they practice what they say they are, or is it mere verbiage written on a brochure?
*Is there accountability for the leadership of the church or is the pastor/ or church council without accountable headship? Think on this: Even the 70 leaders were accountable to Moses. (Don’t ask about Moses and Aaron, neither was allowed into the Promise Land. And that’s a whole ‘nother study).
*Preaching and teaching the basics, the milk of Christianity is essential because from there a healthy Christian can develop into a healthy, mature Christian. After experiencing the rebirth, these are the most important fundamentals to go on in Christ:
-Assembling with a Body of believers, (so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb 10:25)
-The baptisms (water and Holy Spirit),
-Giving; which includes money, time & effort in other words- tithes & offerings & alms, your undivided attention when it comes to church or a church activity such as a prayer meeting, outreach or worship time. As for “effort” it is dying to self when you would rather be fishing, shopping, sleeping… _________fill in the blank.
-Personal consecrations such as prayer and Bible study.
-And finally, the other fundamental you should be taught & see in a healthy church is organized witnessing or outreaching with the gospel into your community and lands beyond.
God, Himself adds to a church (Acts 2,5 & 11) so it is most important to proceed prayerfully. The opposite of proceeding prayerfully is going somewhere and then praying about it! When someone relocates they are especially vulnerable because its a time to make so many new decisions! Now once you’ve prayed and the Holy Spirit gives you the nod – so to speak, no matter how you “feel” in that assembly stick it our prayerfully and with your Bible, and do not leave unless God moves you on. It is really important not to go by “feelings” especially right now, as the spiritual climate is uhhh, experiencing global warming…! It’s heating up.
God is going to lead you and your family.
I’m sure I won’t be the only one praying for you – Missy
Ps- I am not condoning the church you described… something like that happened to me once and my then 6 year old was with us; my head pounded the whole time –I think I was battling spiritually.
Hi Nate,
What a wonderful day for you, knowing how many more little ones will be added to Heaven's population! And you're right....training in the Word now is the next essential step.
Lori, glad to hear you're on the mend. Will continue prayers for all who have mentioned their requests.
I'm in need of urgent prayer this morning as well. I got a sharp pain in the shoulder yesterday which became crippling by evening. I was ready to go to the ER but finally got enough relief to fall asleep by 1AM. Woke up suddenly at 6:30 this morning with worse pain, shooting up into my neck. Every breath causes it and I can't find a position where I can let my arm rest without it. Will see the dr. after lunch. I'm hopeful that it's tension/stress related and not an actual injury. Praising God that hubby is working from home today and my MIL is coming to help with the kids so I can get to the dr. In spite of this, God is good and will carry me through it.
Blessings,
Jen
Jen,
I recently had something very similar. The pain originated in my right shoulder and shot up the back of my neck.
A friend who's a licensed massage therapist, massaged the area around my shoulder blade. That helped temporarily, then it happened again.
This time my husband rubbed the area. It disappeared again.
I changed the positioning I had while using the computer. I think it was related. I also take breaks every 10 or 15 minutes and stretch my arms over my head and bring my head as far down as possible.
I haven't had the pain for a few weeks now.
I'll pray for you.
oops, I pushed that pesky button twice...
missy
Yes, Lori....
Over Christmas, it was pain in my neck only and I had a hard time holding my head upright....walked around like a rag doll with everyone giving me weird looks! I've been doing a lot of photo editing on the computer lately (not to mention all the time I spend in the cave, etc.) so I'm fairly sure it's strain-related.
Thanks for the prayers!
For everyone else, just read an article on WND about the faith of George Bush. Didn't have time to soak it all in, but the first part was really eye-opening and gave some insight into some of the statements he's been making lately... thought, anyone?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article3255937.ece
Blessings,
Jen
Let me try that again (or look on page 2 at WND for the article)
http://entertainment.timesonline.
co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment
/books/book_extracts
/article3255937.ece
interesting article Jen
I'd encourage all to read it. Some things now make more sense to me such as his handling of Israel and land for peace and all roads lead to the same deity.
Bush and Faith
Nate
wow such an impact. where were you speaking that you had such a response? I wonder about the parents response-we need to pray that God will work in the parents hearts also as if the parents are unsaved they may be less than pleased and not allow their kids to come back.
back to the nephilim commentary if you will
I read Jack Kelly's article with much interest. He takes a different view from Dr Frucht by the way. What intrigues me most about this is the concept that the myths of old from the greco-roman period might have more truth to them than scholars have allowed. Heroes such as Hercules, Prometheus etc being Nephilim might mean that entities such as the Hydra, Gorgon and Minotaur might actually have existed if there was indeed genetic tinkering going on.
I we stay literalists to God returns in kind what has been done to Israel look for actual land to be taken from the US and given to someone else. We still have territories and commonwealths we could lose. It wouldn't result in the death that would happen if current plans for Israel take effect though. There is also a movement in Hawaii to petition to have commonwealth status and restore the monarchy and give up statehood.
However-what about the southwest. We bought Arizona and New Mexico with the Gadsden purchase. Both California and Texas obtained their own independance from Mexico before they became states. There is also a movement by some to retake the American Southwest back as part of Mexico. Now that would substantially hurt on a number of levels-economic springing to mind. The folks (la Raza I think is what they call themselves) that want to retake the area are not known for necessarily being peaceful Ghandi types so there could be a lot of death and destruction involved. may involve more than 25% land mass though
Nate - PRAISE BE TO GOD!
Great job, brother! Jib's right, we need to be praying for the parents of those kids, to help guide them.
Lori & Jen - praying for your speedy recoveries.
Missy - Great post!
How are we doing with the post - Do we need a new one yet?
Can everyone still get in?
lori generally signals about 150ish or so that she has difficulty with dial up. same goes for Marge
Hyde has a new post!
Awesome Nate! Praise G_d Almighty.
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