With sadness and grief, I post this article.

Please pray for the families:

In a tragic end to an intensive search by the IDF, intelligence services and police, it was released for publication Monday evening that IDF forces had discovered the bodies of the three teenagers abducted 18 days ago as they hitchhiked home in the Gush Etzion region. Eyal Yifrah 19, from Elad; Gilad Sha'ar, 16, from Talmon; and Naftali Frenkel, also 16, from Nof Ayalon, went missing on June 12th, and officials soon identified Hamas as the culprits. Their bodies were found near Hebron where the search operation for them - dubbed Operation Brother's Keeper - had been focused. A spokesperson, who was among the civilian volunteers said a member of the search party "saw something suspicious on the ground, plants that looked out of place, moved them and moved some rocks and then found the bodies. We realized it was them and we called the army." The bodies were discovered bound together and buried in a shallow grave in a field at approximately 5 p.m.  (Israel National News)

A friend whom I feel [felt] was a student of the Bible, right on in their theology, and had both feet firmly planted on the foundation of truth has made me wonder…..

Can one be too narrow in their theology? Is there wiggle room in our Christian walk? Are we to strive to separate the wheat from the chaff as we listen to televangelist, gleaning tidbits of treasures from among the thorns of their messages as my friend thinks? Should we be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater as we listen and hopefully learn from these televised ‘men and women of faith’? Should we even be listening to televangelist?

Listening as my friend sang the praises of Ravi Zachariah and Charles Stanley I wondered? Attempting to respond in love while remaining calm as I heard them sharing with marked enthusiasm and great excitement and anticipation all that they learned from a recent History Channel program of Nostradamus and his predictions I am saddened and I wondered….

What does The Word say? Did our LORD compromise in His theology when He taught and walked among the people? Did He make allowances for bad theology? Did He praise good theology and ignore the bad in other’ teachings? WWJD - What would Jesus [Have us to] do?

“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.” Isaiah 35:8

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves…” Matthew 7:15

“This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls...” Jeremiah 6:16

“How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.” Psalm 119:3

“…Those are most happy, who are preserved most free from the defilement of sin, who simply believe God's testimonies, and depend on His promises. If the heart be divided between Him and the world, it is evil. To resolve that our hearts shall not reproach us, while we hold fast our integrity, baffles the designs of the evil spirit …” Matthew Henry

A high-five to Berit Kjos who brought this to my attention:

The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine. He has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace," and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above.

But experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods, clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light.

There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season. They have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career. They have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters." But suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded.

Instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert. In the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste. And they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen."

Oh! say not so, thou who are walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood. The dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity. No believer can always keep his harp from the willows.

Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb. But now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children.

We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.

Morning and Evening by Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
April 29

 

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” Zechariah 2:8

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has become the most prominent religious group in the United States to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward the Palestinians and the ‘occupied’ territories.

“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:3

We do not bless Israel, neither do we pray for her nor support her and her people because we agree with everything they do, or every decision they make ~ we pray, we bless and we support her because our Abba Father has told us in His Word to do so.


 

Gushing with pride, pleasure and egotism, Barack Hussein Obama spoke recently at an LGBT fundraiser in New York City:

“Pride Month is a time for celebration, and this year we've got a lot to celebrate. If you think about everything that's happened in the last 12 months, it is remarkable. In nine more states you’re now free to marry the person you love - that includes my two home states of Hawaii and Illinois. The NFL drafted its first openly gay player. The U.S. Postal Service made history by putting an openly gay person on a stamp - the late, great Harvey Milk smiling from ear to ear.

When I took office, only two states had marriage equality. Today, 19 states and the District of Columbia do.

I lifted the 22-year ban on people with HIV traveling to the U.S.

- Before I took office, he arrogantly boasted, only one openly gay judge had been confirmed in history, and Now, we have 10 more."

And this is cause for celebration by this current administration.

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2

“You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…” Matthew 5

OUCH.!!.

Worth remembering:

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us....Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.  This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the church.

Always the most revealing thing about the church is her idea of God."

A.W. Tozer
The Knowledge of the Holy

“Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them.” Ps 83:2-8.

 

Headlines in the Washington Post read:

 

Death was everywhere in the sacked the city of Mosul, a strategically vital oil hub and Iraq’s largest northern city. An Iraqi woman in Mosul claimed to have seen a “row of decapitated soldiers and policemen” on the street. Other report “mass beheadings.”

United Nations Human Rights chief, Navi Pillay, reports the summary executions “may run into the hundreds.”

"IRAQ IN TODAY’S BIBLICAL LINE UP OF NATIONS: The language of Psalm 83 is out of today’s headlines, and the foes lined up against Israel in this scripture passage inhabited the lands of Israel’s current neighbors: Some these entities include: Iraq, a part of which was once ancient Assyria. The heartland of Assyria lies in present day Northern Iraq. Edom was in land that stretches across Northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, southern Israel, and into the Sinai Peninsula. Moab and Ammon were part of today’s Jordan. Gebal (also called Byblos) and Tyre are cities that can still be found in present day Lebanon, home of the Hezbollah terrorist organization. The Amalekites lived in Israel’s southern desert and Philistia settled in Gaza on Israel’s southern border, where Hamas currently reigns. All of these lands have been, or are in the process of being, overtaken by hardline Islamists. When that process is completed, these aligned Islamist forces will turn against Israel with an intensity that cannot be envisaged. Pray according to scripture: “O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord.” Ps 83:13-16

 

ISIS SEIZES TIKRIT AS ISLAMIST TAKEOVER OF IRAQ CONTINUES: The Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has attacked the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, security sources said Wednesday, less than 48 hours after taking over the northern city of Mosul. The Islamists attacked the Turkish embassy, and police officials said the group had also freed some 300 inmates in a city prison there and made advances in parts of Kirkuk. Local authorities have reported mass beheadings throughout the city. Tikrit is dictator Saddam Hussein's birthplace and is located just 95 miles north of Baghdad. Security sources said Wednesday evening the Islamists have extended beyond Tikrit, now fighting Iraqi forces in Samarra. A number of terrorist groups have joined forces, including Baathist military commanders from the Hussein era, whose goal is to rout the government of PM Maliki. ISIS, which also seized an international airport and captured US-made weapons and equipment during its rout of Iraqi security forces, has dealt a spectacular blow to Baghdad's Shia-led government. It has cemented its effective control over the entirety of the country's western Nineveh Province, and now poses a clear threat across the Middle East. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki called a state of emergency and has offered to arm local tribes and citizens opposed to ISIS. World leaders have also reacted with alarm to the news. The ISIS has already controlled the Iraqi city of Fallujah for five months, and has also led one of the strongest rebel movements fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria. (Israel National News) This rapidly spreading crisis also affects Christians remaining in Iraq. According to reports the population of Christians in Iraq once numbered 1.5 million but is now less than 200,000. The Rev. Canon Andrew White, who operates a church and health clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, said that in the face of Islamist violence, Christians continue to leave in droves. “Their stories are eerily similar; believers kidnapped for ransom; churches – some full of worshippers – attacked; clergy targeted for killing. White said this is true with his congregation in Baghdad, where he said radical Islamists have repeatedly targeted him and his parishioners. Intercede on behalf of Iraq’s believing remnant."  [JNN]

These are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  They need us now as never before.

PRAY Saints, PRAY - their lives depend on it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Proverbs 13:11

Recently, Pope Francis called for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the “economy of exclusion.”

Francis called for nations to promote a "worldwide ethical mobilization" of solidarity with the poor in a new spirit of generosity. He said a more equal form of economic progress can be had through "the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.”

“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23

        "The Catholic church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. She is a greater possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government or state of the whole globe. The pope, as the visible ruler of this immense amassment of wealth, is consequently the richest individual of the twenty-first century. No one can realistically assess how much he is worth in terms of billions of dollars."
　
Will this “redistribution agenda” begin with the Vatican and the "vicar of Christ" ~ Pope Francis?  

Don’t count on it.

As Pope Francis welcomed the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to the Vatican for a remarkable evening of peace prayers, a Muslim imam chanted prayers in the background as the three strolled through the gardens of the Vatican. But what exactly is at stake?

Martin Luther declared, quote: “We here are of the conviction that the Papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist. I owe the Pope no other obedience than that I owe to Antichrist.”

“The Papacy is the very Antichrist, the Pope being the son of perdition of whom Paul speaks.” John Knox

The Westminster Confession, written in 1647 stated; “There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition that exalted himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God.”

“A man who deludes other people by degrees comes to delude himself. The deluder first makes dupes out of others and then becomes a dupe to himself. I should not wonder but what the Pope really believes that he is infallible and that he ought to be saluted as His Holiness. It must have taken him a good time to arrive at that eminence of self-deception. But he's got to it, I daresay by now, and everyone who kisses his toe confirms him in this insane idea. When everybody else believes a flattering falsehood concerning you, you come at last to believe it yourself. Or at least to think it may be so. But the Pharisees being continually called the learned, rabbi, father, the holy scribe, the devout and pious doctor, the sanctified teacher believed the flattering compliments. They used very grand phrases in those days and doctors of divinity were very common, almost as common as they are now and the crowd of doctors and rabbis help to keep each other in countenance by repeating each other's fine names until they believed they meant something. Dear friends," says Spurgeon, "it's very difficult to receive honor and expect it and yet to keep your eyesight for men's eyes gradually grow dull through the smoke of the incense which is burned before them. And when their eyes become dim with self-conceit, their own great selves conceal the cross and make them unable to believe the truth.”

Will we cry peace at any price or will the slumbering church arise and sound the alarm?

“…Are we going to betray the martyrs who died at the hands of the RCC? Are we going to betray the history of true, biblical Christian faith? Are we going to betray those who lived and died to give us the truth? Are we going to betray the Tyndales, the Luthers, the Calvins, John Rogers and all the rest? Are we so senseless, so blind, so ignorant? Are we so faithless and so cowardly that we will not fight?” John MacArthur

“There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great. I must go down to find out whether or not the accusations which I have heard are true.” Genesis 18

Headline reads:

“Oregon School to Offer Free Condoms to Sixth Graders, and That's OK!”

“Human fetuses are ‘goo’ and not worthy of protection.”

“Hailed as a patriot, PFC Bergdahl was given a ceremonial tunic and turban by his “captors” prior to his release. A gift reserved for friends, he was referred to as their guest.”

“US census, 2013, reports the number of gay couples at 901,997, and growing.”

Former pastor and friend of the Bergdahl family writes - “I can attest to both Bob and Jani Bergdahl’ unwavering commitment to Christ and trust in Him. Bob and Jani both have regularly confessed their dependence upon Christ and rest in Him.”


“…the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.” Genesis 13:13

Has America gone the way of Sodom and Gomorrah? Is America on a collision course with The Creator of the Universe? Will America reap what it has sown - both here and abroad? Has God given this nation over to its desires of the flesh?

“Professing to be wise, they became fools,and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.…” Romans 1

With the legalization of abortion through the passing of Roe v Wade and in 1963, with the Supreme Court upholding the argument of the atheist Madelyn Murray O'Hare and promulgated an edict with ramifications so widespread it insured that God would be evicted from public society across the entire spectrum of the American governmental system. From that day to this, not only has murder of the innocent become legal, but prayer has been outlawed. God's very name has been declared anathama to the United States Constitution, and forbidden to be mentioned in any federal, state, county, city or municipal context. What do you think?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10

Few things offend the liberal church establishment more than an uncompromising faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to God.

Truth is we can never pay for our sins by good deeds. If one is ever to be saved from his sins and to obtain salvation, it must be received solely by faith in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. “For the wages of sin is death,” but “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” so that “the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” and—in the words of our text above—“whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

There is no other way.!!.