Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. 2 Samuel 23:5

This is not so much one promise as an aggregate of promises—a box of pearls. the covenant is the ark which contains all things. These are the last words of David, but they may be mine today. Here is a sigh: things are not with me and mine as I could wish; there are trials, cares, and sins. These make the pillow hard. Here is a solace—"He hath made with me an everlasting covenant." Jehovah has pledged Himself to me, and sealed the compact with the blood of Jesus. I am bound to my God and my God to me. This brings into prominence a security, since this covenant is everlasting, well ordered, and sure. There is nothing to fear from the lapse of time, the failure of some forgotten point, or the natural uncertainty of things. The covenant is a rocky foundation to build on for life or for death. David feels satisfaction: he wants no more for salvation or delectation. He is delivered, and he is delighted. The covenant is all a man can desire. O my soul, turn thou this day to thy Lord Jesus, whom the great Lord has given to be a covenant to the people. Take Him to be thine all in all.

Charles H. Spurgeon
Solace, Security, Satisfaction

"Christians, in the last 80 years or so, have only been seeing things as bits and pieces which have gradually begun to trouble them and others, instead of understanding that they are the natural outcome of a change from a Christian World View to a Humanistic one; things such as over-permissiveness, pornography, the problem of the public schools, the breakdown of the family, abortion, infanticide (the killing of newborn babies), increased emphasis upon the euthanasia of the old and many, many other things.

All of these things and many more are only the results. We may be troubled with the individual thing, but in reality we are missing the whole thing if we do not see each of these things and many more as only symptoms of the deeper problem. And that is the change in our society, a change in our country, a change in the Western world from a Judeo-Christian consensus to a Humanistic one. That is, instead of the final reality that exists being the infinite creator God; instead of that which is the basis of all reality being such a creator God, now largely, all else is seen as only material or energy which has existed forever in some form, shaped into its present complex form only by pure chance."
Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer - 1982

Christina, kidnapped by ISIS

ISIS escorted Christina’s Christian family, as well as many other residents, to the Khazar checkpoint and told them to leave and never return.
The girl was last seen by her mother crying and sobbing as a heavily bearded ISIS fighter carried her away.

Much of Iraq’s Christian population—halved and halved and halved again since the 2003 U.S. invasion—now finds itself shoved into the Kurdish corner of Iraq with nowhere else to go but cities like Erbil and Duhok, cities isolated from the rest of the country and surrounded by mountains with limited transit routes. War in Syria, hostility in Iran, and a closed border to Turkey all leave the Christians forced from Mosul and Nineveh Plain this summer with next to no options—and so they have crowded into church courtyards, sleeping in streets and parks, living out of tents or on open ground. 

Are we continuing to pray for our brothers and sisters, lifting their arms as they fight the good fight of faith,  or have other more "pressing" matters drown out their cries for help, and crowded out their tears?

Could this happen in America?  Yes!! -  And should God allow it, would we wish christians in other nations to be as faithful to pray for us as we have been to pray for the persecuted church in Iraq and around the world.

An URGENT prayer request from a brother in Iraq.

"... praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."  Ephesians 6:18 

The following is from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). 

 "We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food too. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it's staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay.

Prayer cover needed!"

"I liken our current generation in the West to that final Babylonian party. We have become so proud of our technology and innovation that we have indulged in a long (post-World War II to present), riotous, cultural party, casting off our former religion, experimenting with drugs (legal and illegal), psychology, Eastern religions, atheism, and sexual immorality. Many modern people are oblivious to the manifold dangers we face and completely caught unaware of the ruin, temporal and spiritual, that looms before us.

But the handwriting is on the wall. For all who have eyes to see and ears to hear"

From a book I highly recommend, A Sword On The Land

By a pastor I have followed for many years,

Pastor Bill Randles

"I will rejoice in thy salvation."—Psalm 9:14.

"True salvation is of God because it draws toward God. If thou hast God's salvation, thou art being drawn towards thy heavenly Father, nearer and nearer every day. The ungodly forget God; the awakened seek God; but the saved rejoice in God.

"Salvation is of the Lord," from first to last. He makes the rough draft of it, in conviction, upon our conscience; he goes on to complete the picture; and if there be one touch in the picture that is not of God, it is a blot upon it. If there be anything of the flesh, it will have to be wiped out; it is not consistent with the work of God. Of God is it in all respects.

I will enter heaven with this upon my heart and upon my lip,' I will rejoice in thy salvation!"

To read this wonderful sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon in its entirety, please visit -
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/3503.htm

Why do we not cherish God the Father and His Son as we should?

Why do we not worship and adore Jesus Christ, our Saviour as we should?

Why are we so easily pulled here and there, tossed and turned, we’re up, we’re down, Why?

I am of the firm opinion that we do not worship, cherish and adore God because we see ourselves as more righteous than we are. Seldom do we acknowledge how full of sin we really were, failing to realize that without Him we are lost in our own sin. Perhaps we don’t realize just how much Jesus has done for us or have been saved for such a long time that our past is has been dimmed and we have become complacent and satisfied.

I could go on and on and on, but I will stop here and ask a favor of each of you.

Take a minute to “remember when”. Be honest with who you were BC “before Christ”. Acknowledge your sin, Own your sin, be broken by what you were - and then truly worship, cherish, adore and then be broken as you realize just what your salvation cost God’ Son --- and then REJOICE in the Salvation of Jesus Christ, appreciate and love Him, never forgetting from where you have come.


"I will rejoice in thy salvation."—Psalm 9:14.

“Woe to those who call good evil and evil good, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.” Isaiah 5:20

Listening to the condemnation of Israel during the past four weeks one would think they were the personification of evil. From the UN, to the USA to France to the UK, protests against His chosen people, statements calling on “all people in the world with a conscience” to stand against the aggression, denounce Israel’s practices and ensure Palestinians their legitimate rights, categorizing the war an ‘assault’ on Gaza - “a crime against humanity. Hamas remains the victim, seldom the aggressor, the instigator, provoker or assailant. Hamas, the persecuted victim of the Zionist racists.


And as of today, our president and seemingly the rest of the world, has declared war on ISIS. ISIS - violent extremist, brutally killing and oppressing any and all who come in their way. ISIS leadership called dangerous, delusional. British Muslims have united to "vehemently condemn" the militant group ISIS while reports suggest that some participants on Islamist chat forums have been drawing up "hit lists" of prominent British Jews. Demonstrators outside the Israeli embassy in London have fought with police and tried to storm the building on at least three separate occasions. Banners have waved in Trafalgar Square which boast, “We are Hamas”.

Extremist, depraved, radically hate filled terrorist, absolutely; so how can there be such a difference of opinion between the two radical Muslim organizations. I fail to see the difference between Hamas or ISIS or the laundry list of other Muslims who are living out their faith as taught by their holy book, the Quran. I don’t understand until I open our HOLY BOOK, The Word of God and read:


“They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more.” For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make a covenant:…” Psalm 83:4

“They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.” Psalm 74:8

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

And now, I understand    ... the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" 1 John 5:19

BREAKING NEWS ---

A Hamas manual on "Urban Warfare" found by the Israeli Defense Forces makes it unmistakably clear that Hamas desires civilian casualties amongst its own people and encourages its fighters to engage in battles in civilian populated areas in order to draw an Israeli response.

"Where is the U.N. Human Rights Council? Where is Amnesty International? Where is Human Rights Watch? Where is the international media and Middle East pundits. Where are all the lawfare experts? Here is 'Exhibit A' to indict Hamas for war crimes and crimes against humanity by placing the people of Gaza as human shields," said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, dean and founder and associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
From the IDF Blog:

IDF forces in the Gaza Strip found a Hamas manual on “Urban Warfare,” which belonged to the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The manual explains how the civilian population can be used against IDF forces and reveals that Hamas knows the IDF is committed to minimizing harm to civilians.
  

The hearts cry of every born again, child of God should be:

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26
  
But - Charisma News reported a couple of years ago that, according to Barna, Eighty-four percent of Americans say they believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. Forty-five percent claim to be born-again Christians. Seventy-seven percent believe their chances of going to heaven are excellent. Thirty-three percent believe one day everyone will go to heaven. 

And according to USA Abortion Clock.org 2,219 abortions are performed daily in America. It is estimated that ten [10] percent of the American population is homosexual. There are upward of forty murders daily in America and thousands of robberies [reported] daily. According to 2001-2002 statistics there were 17.6 million American adults who abused alcohol or were alcohol dependent. In 2008, there were an estimated 7 million drug addicts in the United States, [what must the numbers be today?].

Nearly two-thirds of today's marriages will end in divorce or separation. Forty-five percent of all first marriages end in divorce. It has been reported, erroneously, by George Barna  that born-again Christians have a higher rate of divorce than do nonbelievers. They quoted statistics of eighty seven percent of those were divorced after accepting Christ, presumably aware of the biblical teaching on divorce. As Christians we are called to come out of the world, not be a statistical part of it.

Evangelical leader Francis Schaeffer warned in the 1970s that affluence is spiritually dangerous for Christians. He pointed to the ancient words of the Hebrew prophets and said that those who need never to wonder where daily bread will come from soon stop praying for it — and turn to immorality.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and……” Matthew 6:24-25

America, I think you have arrived.!!.

“It will happen in that day, that I [God] will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:3

Pope Francis is praying for a quick solution – a political solution to the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Gaza.

Barack Hussein Obama wants an unconditional “humanitarian” cease-fire that will lead to a permanent one. The eventual terms of that cease-fire must include opening Hamas-controlled Gaza’s borders with Egypt and Israel and ending Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza coast. That is, the cease-fire must allow Hamas to rebuild its arsenal of death and destruction quickly, with US political and financial support.

This administration wants Hamas to remain armed and in control of Gaza. This point was made clear by Lt.-Gen. Michael Flynn, who heads the US Defense Intelligence Agency. In congressional testimony Flynn told US lawmakers, “If Hamas were destroyed and gone, we would probably end up with something much worse.”

“This administration’s other positions have all been aligned with this strategic goal of maintaining Hamas in power. Both the US draft cease-fire agreement that Israel rejected, and the White House readout of President Obama’s telephone conversation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday night made clear that the US wants Hamas to be able to prosper.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s cease-fire proposal was explicit on this issue.

A permanent cease-fire deal, it read, must include “arrangements to secure the opening of the crossings, allow the entry of goods and people and… transfer funds to Gaza for the payment of salaries for public employees… ” The last component of the administration’s desired end-state of the war is to use it as a means to force Israel to concede land to the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, or at least use Israel’s refusal to do so as a means for blaming Israel for continued Palestinian aggression.

Barack Hussein Obama made this clear in his conversation with Netanyahu. As the White House’s summary of the conversation reported, “The president stressed the US view that, ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza.”

In other words, the Palestinians will keep shooting until Israel coughs up Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, and Obama is okay with that.” Carolyn Glick

For those of us who love Israel, those who know scripture and indeed pray for the peace of Jerusalem,  we must never forget, regardless how dark the day, our God has everything under His control.

Everything!!!!!