1/31/08

Chocolate - C.T. Studd

Classic Sermons in Church History
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Forward Ever, Backward Never!" Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell."— C.T. Studd.

As a soldier of the Cross, C.T. is remembered for "his courage in any emergency, his determination never to sound the retreat, his conviction that he was in God's will, his faith that God would see him through, his contempt of the arm of the flesh, and his willingness to risk all for Christ." bio
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The Chocolate Soldier
Heroism - The Lost Chord of Christianity! by C. T. Studd (1860-1931)

Heroism is the lost chord; the missing note of present day Christianity! Every true soldier is a hero! A SOLDIER WITHOUT HEROISM IS A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER! Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier? In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart's desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier's vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigor of a hero.
EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER of Christ - a hero "par excellence"! Braver than the bravest - scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft-repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger, and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends.
THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A CHOCOLATE CHRISTIAN! Dissolving in water and melting at the smell of fire. "Sweeties" they are! Bonbons, lollipops! Living their lives on a glass dish or in a cardboard box, each clad in his soft clothing, a little frilled white paper to preserve his dear little delicate constitution.
Here are some PORTRAITS OF CHOCOLATE SOLDIERS taken by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. "He said, 'I go, sir' and went not"; he said he would go to the heathen, but stuck fast to Christendom instead. They say and do not. They tell others to go, and yet do not go themselves. "Never," said General Gordon to a corporal (as he himself jumped upon the parapet [earthen or stone embankment protecting soldiers] of a trench, before Sebastopol, to fix a gabion which the corporal had ordered a private to fix, and wouldn't fix himself). "Never tell another man to do what you are afraid to do yourself."
To the Chocolate Soldier the very thought of war brings a violent attack of ague (feverish chills), while the call to battle always finds him with the palsy. "I really cannot move," he says. "I only wish I could, but I can sing, and here are some of my favorite lines:

"I must be carried to the skies
On a flowery bed of ease,
Let others fight to win the prize,
Or sail thro' bloody seas.
Mark time, Christian heroes,
Never go to war;
Stop and mind the babies
Playing on the floor.
Wash and dress and feed them
Forty times a week.
Till they're roly poly
Puddings so to speak.

Chorus:
Round and round the nursery
Let us ambulate
Sugar and spice
and all that's nice
Must be on our slate.
"Thank the good Lord," said a very fragile, white-haired lady, "God never meant me to be a jellyfish!" She wasn't! GOD NEVER WAS A CHOCOLATE MANUFACTURER, AND NEVER WILL BE. God's men are always heroes. In Scripture you can trace their giant foot-tracks down the sands of time.
NOAH
Noah walked with God, he didn't only preach righteousness, he acted it. He went through water and didn't melt. He breasted the current of the popular opinion of his day, scorning alike the hatred and ridicule of the scoffers who mocked at the thought of their being but one way of salvation. He warned the unbelieving and, entering the ark himself, didn't open the door an inch when once God had shut it. A real hero untainted by the fear of man.
Learn to scorn the praise of men.
Learn to lose with God;
Jesus won the world through' shame!
And beckons us His road.
ABRAHAM
Abraham, a simple farmer, at a word from the Invisible God, marched, with family and stock, through the terrible desert to a distant land to live among a people whose language he could neither speak nor understand! Not bad that! But later he did even better, marching hot foot against the combined armies of five kings, flushed with recent victory, to rescue one man! His army? Just 318 odd fellows, armed like a circus crowd. And he won too. "He always wins who sides with God." What pluck! Only a farmer! No war training! Yet what hero has eclipsed his feat? His open secret? He was THE FRIEND OF GOD.
MOSES
Moses -the man of God -was a species of human chameleon-scholar, general, lawgiver, leader, etc. Brought up as the Emperor's grandson with more than a good chance of coming to the throne, one thing only between him and it-TRUTH-what a choice! What a temptation! A throne for a lie! Ignominy, banishment, or likely enough death for the truth! He played the man! "Refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin and success for a season, accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt."
Again I see him. Now an old man and alone, marching stolidly back to Egypt, after forty years of exile, to beard the lion in his den, to liberate Pharaoh's slaves right under his very nose, and to lead them across that great and terrible wilderness. A WILD-CAT AFFAIR, if ever there was one! When were God's schemes otherwise! Look at Jordan, Jericho, Gideon, Goliath, and scores of others.
Tame tabby-cat (tabby: domestic cat; rich watered silk) schemes are stamped with another hall mark- that of the Chocolate Brigade! How dearly they love their tabbies yet think themselves wise men!
REAL CHRISTIANS REVEL IN DESPERATE VENTURES FOR CHRIST, expecting from God great things and attempting the same with exhilaration. History cannot match these feats of Moses. How was it done? He consulted not with flesh and blood, he obeyed not men but God.
Once again I see the old gray-beard, this time descending the Mount with giant strides and rushing into the camp, his eyes blazing like burning coals. One man against three million dancing dervishes drunk with debauchery. Bravo! Well done, old man! First class! His cheek pales not, but his mouth moves, and I think I catch his words, "If God be for me who can be against me? I will not be afraid of 10,000 of the people that have set themselves against me. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." And he didn't. He wins again. Whence this desperate courage? Listen! "Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." "The Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend." "My servant, Moses," said his Master, "is faithful in all Mine house, with him will I speak mouth to mouth." Such is the explanation of Moses the chameleon, the man and friend of God and consequently a first-class hero.
DAVID
David- the man after God's own heart- was a man of war and mighty man of valor. When all Israel were on the run, David faced Goliath - alone...with God (and he but a stripling, and well scolded too by his brother for having come to see the battle). What a splendid fool Eliab must have been! As though David would go to see a battle and not stay to fight. THEY ARE CHOCOLATE SOLDIERS WHO MERELY GO TO SEE BATTLES, AND COOLLY URGE OTHERS TO FIGHT THEM. They had better save their journey money and use it to send out real fighters instead. Soldiers don't need dry nurses, and if they did the Holy Ghost is always on the spot and ready to undertake any case on simple application. No! David went to the battle and stayed to fight, and won! Wise beyond his years, he had no use for Saul's armor. It cramped his freedom of action. He tried it on and took it off, quick sharp. And, besides, it made such a ghastly rattle, even when he walked, that he could not hear the still small voice of God, and would never have heard Him saying afterwards, "This is the way to the brook, David! And there are the five smooth stones! Trust only in Me and them. Your own home-made sling will do first class, and There, that's the shortest cut to Goliath." THE CHOCOLATES RAN AWAY - they were all Chocolates - but David ran upon Goliath. One smooth stone was enough.
David's secret was that he had but one Director, and He, the Infallible One. He directed the stone, as He directed the youth. Too many directors spoil the sport, and two are too many: just the One. Thus Christ said to His soldiers: "HE shall teach you all things; HE shall guide you into all the truth."
"THIS is My Beloved Son: HEAR HIM." ONE MEDIATOR ONLY, between God and Man, the man Christ Jesus." ONE DIRECTOR OF CHRISTIAN MEN - GOD THE HOLY GHOST. Whose directions require indeed instant obedience, but not the endorsement of any man.
THE DEVIL NEEDS RED-HOT SHOT, FRESH FROM THE FOUNDRY OF THE HOLY GHOST. He laughs at cold shot or lukewarm, and as for that made of half-iron and half-clay, half-divine and half-human, why you might just as well pelt him with snowballs.
Whence did this raw youth derive his pluck and skill? NOT from military camps, nor theological schools, nor religious retreats. "To know The Only True God and Jesus Christ," is enough. Paul determined to know only Jesus Christ, and look at the grand result! Whilst others were learning pretty theories, David, like John, had been alone with God in the wilds, practicing on bears and lions. The result? HE KNEW GOD AND DID EXPLOITS. He knew God only. He trusted God only. He obeyed God only. That's the secret. God alone gives strength. God adulterated with men entails the weakness of iron and clay - Chocolate - brittleness!
Yet hero as he was, even David alas! once played the role of Chocolate Soldier. HE STAYED AT HOME WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO WAR. His army, far off, in danger, fighting the enemy, won. David, at home, secure, within sight of God's house and often going there, suffered the one great defeat of his life, entailing such a bitter, lifelong reaping as might well deter others from the folly of sowing wild oats. David's sin is a terrific sermon (like Lot's preaching in Sodom must have been), its theme - "DON'T BE A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER!"
In his simple, quick, and full confession, David proved himself a man again. It takes a real man to make a true confession - a Chocolate Soldier will excuse or cloak his sin. He tumbles in the mud, flounders on, wipes his mouth to try to get the bad taste of his acted lie out of it, and then goes on his way saying, "I have done no wickedness." A self-murdering fool! Killing his conscience to save his face, like Balaam beating the ass who sought to save his master's life. Being a Chocolate Soldier nearly did in David. Beware!
NATHAN
Nathan was another real Christian Soldier. He went to his king and rebuked him to his face, like Peter's dealing with Ananias (only David embraced his opportunity and confessed), and unlike the Chocolate Soldiers of today who go whispering about and refusing either to judge, rebuke, or put away evil because of the entailed scandal in truth. Genuine Soapy Sams. They say "It is nothing! nothing at all! A mere misunderstanding!" As though God's cause would suffer more through a bold declaration and defense of the truth and the use of the knife, than by the hiding up of sin, and the certain development of mortification in the member, involving death to the whole body. "He that doeth righteousness is righteous," and "he that doeth sin is of the devil," and ought to be told so. He that is a second time led captive by the devil needs neither plaster nor antidote for poison, but the stiff rebuke and summons to repentance of a righteous man to effect his salvation. WE ARE BADLY IN NEED OF NATHANS TODAY, who fear God and nought else, no, not even a scandal.
DANIEL
Daniel was another hero. Of course he was! Was he not the man greatly beloved of God who sent an angel to tell him so? I love to watch him as he walks, with firm step and radiant face, to the lions' den, stopping but once - like his Master en route to Calvary - to comfort his weeping and agonized emperor. God shut the mouths of the lions against Daniel, but opened them wide against those who had opened their mouths against His servant.
A man is known by his works, and the works of Daniel were his three friends, who, rather than bow down to men or gold, braved the fiery furnace. Again we see him going to the banquet hall, and hear his conductor whisper in his ear, "Draw it mild, Daniel, be statesmanlike. Place and power again for you if you are tactful and wise - especially tactful!" And Daniel's simple reply, "Get thee behind me, satan!" There he stands before the king, braving torture or instant death - but it's the king who quails, not Daniel - who tells him to his face the whole hot truth of God, diminishing not a jot.
JOHN THE BAPTIST
John the Baptist - a man taught and made and sent of God - good old John! Who doesn't love and admire him? Why, even Herod did. A genuine deficiency of oil and an antidote for poison in his composition. He always told the flat truth, with emphasis. As he loved, so he warned. He knew not how to flatter. HE WOOED WITH THE SWORD, AND "MEN" LOVED HIM THE BETTER FOR IT. They always do.
The leaders of religion sent to John to ask him the dearly loved question of every Pharisee, "By what authority doest thou these (good) things?" They asked that of Christ Himself, and crucified Him for the doing of them. John's answer was plain and pungent, "I will tell you what you ask, and more. John was always liberal! I am nobody, but ye and your masters are a generation of vipers." A good hot curry, that! John never served his curries with butter sauce, but he was always very liberal with pungent relish - a man of God - NO SUGAR PLUM NOR CHOCOLATE SOLDIER HE!
Thus also he faced Herod after six months in an underground dungeon, and he a man of "God's Open-air Mission." Brought straight in before the king; surrounded with all the might and majesty of camp and court; blinking at the unaccustomed sight of light, but by no means putting blinders on the truth, he blurted out his hot and thunderous rebuke, "Thou shalt not have that woman to by thy wife." A whole sermon in one sentence, as easy to remember as impossible to forget. John had preached like that before; like Hugh Latimer, he was not above repeating a good sermon to a king, word for word, when the king had not given sufficient heed to it.
John received the unique distinction of a first-class character from both God and the agent of the devil. Hark to the Savior indulging in an outburst of exquisite sarcasm, "What think ye of John? A reed shaken by the wind? A man clothed in soft raiment?" A Chocolate Soldier? (How delicious! The Chocolates were right in front of Jesus at the time - Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, scribes, lawyers, and other hypocrites. How the crowd must have enjoyed it!) A prophet?
Nay, much more than prophet! "Of men born of women there is none greater than John." And what did the devil's agent say when, after John's death, he heard of Jesus? "This," I tell you, "is John risen from the dead." What a character! Fancy Jesus being mistaken for anyone! He could have been mistaken only for John. Nobody envies him the well-deserved honor, great though it was, for John was a man - pure granite right through, with not a grain of Chocolate in him.
Had John but heard Jesus say, "Ye shall be My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth," I very much doubt if Herod's dungeon, or his soldiers, could have detained him. He surely would have found some means to escape, and run off to preach Christ's Gospel, if not in the very heart of Africa, then in some more difficult and dangerous place. Yet Christ said, referring to His subsequent gift of the Holy Ghost to every believer, "He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he," intimating that even greater powers than those of John are at the disposal of every Christian, and that what John was, each one of us can be - good, straight, bold, unconquerable, heroic.
PAUL
But here are other foot-tracks - outrageous ones: they can belong only to one man - THAT GRANDEST OF CHRISTIAN PARADOXES - THE LITTLE GIANT PAUL - whose head was as big as his body, and his heart greater than both. Once he thought and treated every Christian as a combination of knave and fool. Then he became one himself. He was called "fool" because his acts were so far beyond the dictates of human reason, and "mad" because of his irresponsible fiery zeal for Christ and men. A first-class scholar, but one who knew how to use scholarship properly; for he put it on the shelf, declaring the wisdom of men to be but folly, and determined to know nothing else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The result - he made the world turn somersault. His life was a perpetual gamble for God. Daily he faced death for Christ. Again and again he stood fearless before crowds thirsting for his blood. He stood before kings and governors and "turned not a hair". He didn't so much as flinch before Nero, that vice-president of hell. His sufferings were appalling; read them. He trod in his Master's footsteps, and so received (God is always just in His favors) the same splendid compliment that Jesus did. "All forsook him." So there were some Chocolate Christians in those days too. Anyone who forsook Paul must have been made of Chocolate.
Doubtless the "CHOCOLATES" excused themselves as they do today. "Who could abide such a fanatical, fiery fool? Such an uncompromising character? Nobody could work with him, or he with them!" (What a lie! Jesus did, and they got on well together.) A tactless enthusiast, who considered it his business to tell every man the unvarnished truth regardless of consequences. He won his degree hands down, and without a touch of the spur. A first-class one, too (that of the headman's axe) next best to that of the cross.
And so the tale goes on. Go where you will through the Scriptures or history, you find that men who really knew God, and didn't merely say they did, were invariably Paragons and Pluck; Dare-Devil Desperadoes for Jesus; Gamblers for God. "Fools and Madmen," shout the world and the Chocolates. "Yes, for Christ's sake," add the Angels!

"Nobly they fought to win the prize,
Climbing the steep ascents of heaven,
Through' peril, toil, and pain.
O God, to us let grace be given,
To follow in their train."
CHOCOLATES A LA RUEBEN
The Chocolate Christians of today can at least boast of having ancient pedigrees. There are CHOCOLATES A LA RUEBEN, who have great searchings of heart, and make great resolves of heart too. But somehow they still sit among the sheepfolds, listening to the pipings of their much-loved organs and church choirs. It's good to have a great heart searching. It's better to make a great heart-resolve. But, if instead of obeying, we squat among the sheep, leaving our few hard-pressed brethren to tackle the wolves by themselves, verily we are but Chocolate Christians. You made a great resolve to go to Africa for Christ a year or two ago. Where are you now? In England? Yes! Yes! Lollipop! (Judges 5:16)
CHOCOLATES MEROZ
There are CHOCOLATES MEROZ, who earned the curse of the angel of the Lord. War was declared; the battle about to begin; the odds were outrageous, and Meroz remained in England attending conventions until the battle was over, then he went, in comfort and security, as a Cook's tourist! Doubtless they said, "They couldn't fight till they had been properly ordained, and, besides, there was so very much to be done in fat, overfed Meroz, and surely to feed a flock of fat sheep in a safe place has always been considered the ideal training of war"; as though the best training for the soldier was to become a nursemaid!!! (Judges 5:23.)
CHOCOLATES DU BALAAM
CHOCOLATES DU BALAAM begin first-class, and earn the name of prophets. Then they develop a squint, melt, and finally run out of the frying pan into the fire, thus Balaam. One day he couldn't get his left eye to look at God. It would look at earth and mammon and that chit of a girl, Miss Popularity. He ought to have done as God told him, and plucked it out. But he said that was too much to ask of any man, and besides he wanted the best of both worlds. He had a hearty desire to die the death of the righteous, but he wasn't willing to pay the price of a righteous life. He hadn't the pluck to curse God's people, so he made plans for others to make them sin. But one day, while his dupes were putting his chestnuts into the fire, they fell in themselves, and Balaam with them (Numbers 22-24).
"I counsel thee to buy of me eye salve, that thou mayest once again have a single eye, and be enabled to see the folly of flirting with the world."
CHOCOLATE DEMAS
CHOCOLATE DEMAS, who left old fiery hard-hitting Paul for an easier path. He said he thought Paul should wink at, or slobber over sin, instead of rebuking it. "He was so very fond of the knife, you know; and he never would use sticking-plaster, because he said it never healed the sore but made it burrow underneath and become bigger, worse, and dangerous" (2 Tim. 4:10).
MARK
MARK joined the Chocolate Brigade once. He left Paul and Barnabas in the lurch, and went back to Jerusalem for a rest cure - a religious retreat. Thank God he got sick of it ere long, resigned his commission, and re-enlisting in God's army became a useful soldier (Acts 13:13).
OLD PROPHETS
MANY FINE YOUNGSTERS ARE TURNED INTO CHOCOLATES BY OLD PROPHETS. Old prophets who have lost their fire, or fire off words instead of deeds, usually become Great Chocolate Manufacturers. That poor young prophet. He did so well when he obeyed God only, but it was all over with him when he listened to another voice, even though that of an old prophet. Didn't the old prophet say he was a prophet? And say he'd got the message straight from God? What a damnable lie! The floor of Christendom and elsewhere is littered with wrecks made by old prophets. God won't stand nonsense from any man. Every man has to choose between Christ and Barabbas, and every Christian between God and some old prophet. Better be a silly donkey in the estimation of an old prophet than listen to his soft talk and flattery, and afterwards become a wreck. "This is My beloved Son, hear HIM." No! Not even Moses, nor Elijah, nor both. "HEAR HIM." "You have an anointing from God, and you have no need that any man teach you." You say you believe the Bible! No your deeds give the lie to your words? (I Kings 13)
THE TEN SPIES WERE CHOCOLATES
THE TEN SPIES WERE CHOCOLATES. They melted and ran over the whole congregation of Israel, turning them into CHOCOLATE CREAMS - "softies", afraid to face the fire and water before them. God put them all into the saucepan again and boiled them for forty years in the desert, and left them there. He has no use for Chocolates. It's not small things He despises, but "Chocolates"; for He said, "Your little ones shall inherit the promised land which you have forfeited through listening to men and despising Me" (Numbers 13).
JONAH
JONAH became a Chocolate Soldier once. Told to go to Africa, he went to Liverpool and took ship for America. Luckily he met a storm and a whale which, after three days' instruction, taught him how to pray and obey, and set him once again on the right track (Jonah 1).
There's nothing that shows up CHOCOLATES so much as a bit of a breeze among God's people. Paul and Barnabas had one once. Judging from experience, I guess there were some Chocolates about then who got into a fog right away! Before that, they had vowed they would go to the heathen; but this breeze between Paul and Barnabas put them off. If they hadn't been MADE OF CHOCOLATE they would have said, "This affair between Paul and Barnabas only makes it more necessary for me to keep close to God, and do what He told me to do more exactly and punctually; so I shall go a bit sooner to Africa - that's all!"
Difficulties, dangers, disease, death, or divisions don't deter any but Chocolates from executing God's Will. When someone says there's a lion in the way, the real Christian promptly replies, "That's hardly enough inducement for me; I want a bear or two besides to make it worth my while to go."
CHOCOLATES are very fond of talking loud and long against some whom they call fanatics, as though there were any danger of Christians being fanatics nowadays! Why, fanatics among Christians are as rare as the "dodo bird". Now, if they proclaimed against "lukewarmness", they would talk sense. God's real people have always been called fanatics. Jesus was called mad; so was Paul; so was Whitfield, Wesley, Moody, Spurgeon. No one has graduated far in God's School who has not been paid the compliment of being called a fanatic. We Christians of today are indeed a lukewarm crew. Had we but half the fire and enthusiasm of the Suffragettes in the past, we would have the world evangelized and Christ back among us in no time. Had we the pluck and heroism of the Flyers, or the men who volunteered for the North or South Polar Expeditions, or for the Great War, or for any ordinary dare-devil enterprise, we could have every soul on earth knowing the name and salvation of Jesus Christ in less than ten years.
Alas! What stirs ordinary men's blood and turns them into heroes, makes most Christians run like a flock of frightened sheep. The Militants daily risked their lives in furtherance of their cause, and subscribed of their means in a way that cried "Shame" on us Christians, who generally brand the braving of risks and fighting against odds as a "tempting of God".
CHOCOLATE CARAMELS
CHOCOLATE CARAMELS - "stick-jaw", boys call them - jawing, "I go, sir," and sticking fast in Christendom. No conquest is made in assured safety, and conquest for Christ certainly cannot so be made.
We Christians too often SUBSTITUTE PRAYER FOR PLAYING THE GAME. Prayer is good: but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is naught but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism. We need as many meetings for actions as for prayer - perhaps more. Every orthodox prayer-meeting is opened by God saying to His people, "Go work today; pray that laborers be sent into My vineyard." It is continued by the Christians response, "I go, Lord, whithersoever Thou sendest me, that Thy Name may be hallowed everywhere, that Thy Kingdom may come speedily, that Thy Will may be done on earth as in heaven." But if it ends in nobody going anywhere, it had better never have been held at all. Like faith, prayer without works is dead. That is why many Prayer-Meetings might well be styled "much cry, yet little wool". Zerubbabel didn't only hold prayer-meetings; he went and cut down trees, and started to build. Hence God said, "From this day will I bless thee."
Report says that someone has rediscovered the secret of the old masters. Cannot we Christians rediscover, and put into practice, that of our Great Master and His former pupils, Heroism? He and they saved not themselves; they loved not their lives to the death, and so kept on saving them by losing them for Christ's sake.
WE ARE FRITTERING AWAY TIME AND MONEY IN A MULTIPLICITY OF CONVENTIONS, conferences, and retreats, when the real need is to go straight and full steam into battle, with the signal for "close action" flying.

The "Vox Humana" plays too important a part in our Christian organs and organizations today. The music, whoever plays, is bound to be thin when the tops of "Instant Obedience" and "Fiery Valor" are missing or unused, and without them to play the "Lost Chord" of Heroism is an impossibility.
"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it," said Christ's mother (to the servants). Do what? Not put oil and spice into the soft holy vessels inside the house, but pour the Water of Life into those empty stone ones outside. Cana's marriage feast would have ended in shame had the wine run short. Christ's marriage feast begins only when the wine is sufficient - a blend from every tongue and kindred and tribe and nation. The supply is assured, as soon as the water is poured out as Christ directed, into "the uttermost parts of the earth". The mischief today is the reluctance of the servants to do the outside work. They all want to serve indoors, wear smart clothes, listen to the conversation, and make a terrible lot of themselves in the butler's pantry.
DO LET US MAKE A REAL START NOW - AT ONCE. For years, like Mr. Winkle, we've declared we were just about to begin, and then never began at all. We must divorce Chocolate and Disobedience, and marry Faith and Heroism.
"Who shall begin the battle?" asked the king. "Thou," replied the prophet, and when the king and the young princes led the way, though the odds against them were terrific, they won with ridiculous ease.
So, too, THE APOSTLES LED IN THE WAR OF GOD to the uttermost parts of the earth. Likewise in the Crusades, the kings and the princes of State and Church led; then why not today in THE CRUSADE OF CHRIST TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD?
GOD'S SUMMONS TODAY IS TO THE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OF GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA AND CHRISTENDOM, WHO CALL THEMSELVES BY THE NAME OF CHRIST. "New wine," said Christ, "must be placed in New bottles." Those superfluously labeled and patched-up old-fashioned ones are as hopeless as the New Theology. They can't be moved lest they burst with pride and spill the wine in the wrong place.
Listen: "And it shall be in the last days, I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions (of faith), your old men shall dream dreams (of courageous obedience); yea, and on My bondmen and on My bond maidens in those days will I pour forth of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; and it shall be that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But how can they call on Him of whom they have not even heard? Must you stay, young man? Can't you go, young woman, and tell them? Verily we are in the last (the Laodicean stage) that of the Lukewarm Church.
Wilt thou be to Christ the partner of His throne or a medicine which induces vomiting (Rev.3:21); a Militant or a Chocolate Christian? Wilt thou fear or wilt thou fight? Shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here?When He comes, shall He find faith on the earth?

A thousand times you have admitted Christ's
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands your life, your soul, your all.
Wilt thou be a miser and withhold what honor demands of thee? Wilt thou give like Ananias and Sapphira, who, pretending to give all, gave only part? Possessing and enjoying the vineyard, wilt thou, like the husbandman, refuse the agreed rent? Wilt thou fear death, or devil, or men? AND WILT THOU NOT FEAR SHAME? Some shall rise to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Shall we refuse to emulate the heroes of old, or shall we accomplish the double fulfillment of those glorious words?
All these being men of war came with a perfect heart to make Jesus King over all the world. They were all mighty men of valor for the war! He that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand! They were not of double heart! Their faces were like the faces of lions! They were as swift as the roes upon the mountains (to do their Lord's commands)! Ye sought in time past, for Jesus to be King over you. NOW, THEN, DO IT. (Compare I Chronicles 12:8,33, 38, and II Samuel 3:17-18).
Shall we not reply: Thine are we, Jesus, and on Thy side. God do so to me, and more also, if as God has sworn unto Him, I do not even so to Jesus - to translate the kingdom from the house of satan, and set up the throne of Jesus Christ over all the world. (Compare I Chron.12:18 and 2 Sam.3:10)
Come, then, let us restore the "Lost Chord" of Christianity - HEROISM - to the world, and the crown of the world to Christ. Christ Himself asks thee, "Wilt thou be a Slacker or a Militant?" To your knees, man! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don't hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses!
**********************************
also: Classic sermon by William Dell (1607-1669)

Wanted: Global 'Conductor'

U.S. loses its status as economic world power: world ruler?

"Davos 2008 has laid bare a world in which no superpower seems to be in charge. The unipolar American moment is deemed over..."

"The metaphor for Davos 2008 came when its executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, suggested onstage to Condoleezza Rice that America was a piano and the world the orchestra. Playing metaphorically on the secretary of state's talents as a pianist, Schwab asked whether the piano and orchestra could play together in harmony.Rice asked whether Schwab wanted to be the conductor. But among the 2,500 top chief executives, politicians and intellectuals at the meeting, many believe there is no conductor at all."

"Yet, for the most part, I heard little triumphalism about America's dimming role. Just the opposite. None of the rising powers is ready for a global leadership role. International institutions have little power. And without a conductor to lead the global orchestra, there will be no concert."
-----------------------------------
"I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." John 5:43

People Control

No Delays As New Border ID Rules Begin: New rules

HIGHGATE, Vt. (AP) - Motorists passed easily through border checkpoints Thursday as tougher identification standards for U.S. and Canadian citizens went into effect without the backups and confusion some travelers had feared.

"It was relatively smooth. No complaints,'' he said.

Your papers please! Welcome to the future. This is only the beginning. Is anybody paying attention?
............................................
Internet failure hits two continents: no internet

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- High-technology services across large tracts of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were crippled Thursday following a widespread Internet failure which brought many businesses to a standstill and left others struggling to cope.
Besides the Internet, the outage caused major disruption to television and phone services, creating chaos for the UAE's public and private sectors.
The Du internal memo called the situation in Dubai "critical" and stated that the cable's operators did not know when services would be restored.
The outage led to a rapid collapse of a wide range of public services in a country which proudly promotes itself as technological pioneer.
A lot of things can change overnight.

1/30/08

Global Control

Permanent occupation:

Bush Issues Signing Statement On Defense Act, Waiving Ban On Permanent Bases In Iraq
from: Think Progress

"President Bush yesterday signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act....."

"Even though he forced Congress to change its original bill, Bush’s signature yesterday came with a little-noticed signing statement, claiming that provisions in the law “
could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations....."

"And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money.

"Today on CNN, Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) voiced concern that this declaration may indefinitely
commit U.S. troops to fighting Iraq’s civil wars:"

"In his “Memorandum of Justification” for the waiver, Bush cited his Nov. 26 “Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship” between Iraq and the United States"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Global conquest comes before global control. Permanent occupation in Iraq aka the "Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship” between Iraq and the United States fits the description. The 'disclaimer' in yesterday's bill leaves the door wide open. see also: global govt.- how?

WCC and Pope Call For United World Church

Another First
from:ENI

"Rome (ENI). For the first time, a general secretary of the World Council of Churches has taken part with a pope in a Rome service to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.....

Underlining that "the world needs a church that is one and united in its witness,"

The Geneva-based WCC has 347 mainly Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox churches in its membership. Although the Catholic Church does not belong to the WCC, it has members on some of its bodies, including the Commission on Faith and Order."
-----------------------------
As we continue watching this unceasing call for global unity from every quarter, both secular and 'spiritual', it is necessary to first accept the fact that it is really happening. Taking our heads out of the sand so to speak (if that applies). Many stumble at this point. It is vitally important for Christians to face these facts and to determine the implications as regarding the final apostatising of Christianity. Many are being deceived to believe that the so-called 'true gospel' can be 'recovered', and/or even "maintained" while joining with this 'global unity'. This, in part, arises from the false hope and lie of 'Dominionism', which is promising the end result to be the Christian "Kingdom of God" come to the earth. see: whose-kingdom (It is to be noted that many 'spins' and novel variations on that general theme are now being forwarded which all basically come to the same conclusion, as stated above.) Disregarding the many false intepretations that the Dominionist/emerging church use to support their involvement with the global agenda, the Word of God is explicit in warning against any such thinking, and contrarily, believers are enjoined to follow the path of separation. see: remember Lot's wife. This difficult problem must be faced, for there is absolutely no other solution for the 'will-not-compromise' Christian. What problem is that? Why this...It cannot be stopped, for it is foretold in the Word of God. see: hour of trial

Only possible solution: "Come out"......and bring as many as possible with you! see: obedience
------------------------------------------------------------
Gen. 19:12-13 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides a son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters? and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

1/29/08

A Warning To Apostates

by WILLIAM BRIDGE, M.A. (1600?-1674)

A Warning To Apostates: "Remember Lot's wife." LUKE xvii. 32.
(excerpted)
"If you would not look back in declining times, be sure of this, that you do not run a share or a part in the vessel that God is about to destroy. Where my grief is, there is my finger; where my love is, there is my eye. If I have a share and a part in the vessel that God is about to destroy, I shall look after the vessel, what becomes thereof. Why now, Babylon, that art to be destroyed, Babylon is not to repent; Babylon that art to be destroyed, Babylon is not to be reformed. Wash dirt an hundred times, and you cannot make clean the dirt; Babylon is not to be reformed, but to be destroyed. Take heed therefore of running a part or a share in the boat or vessel that God hath laid out for destruction; for if you have a part and a share there, you will look back. But,"

Read full: Lot's Wife
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A wonderful, timeless message from days past. Well worth taking the time to carefully read and meditate upon this powerful exhortation.

1/28/08

Global Water Management

update: global control
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Davos (Switzerland) 24 January 2008


Address as prepared for delivery to the Davos World Economic Forum: UN News Center

(excerpts)
'....the notion of water sustainability in a broad sense has not been seriously examined."

"This is key to the UN Millennium Development Goals"

We need to start now to better manage this scarce resource. That is why we will gather world leaders at the United Nations this September for a critical high-level meeting on the MDGs

"Governments must engage -- and lead. But we also need private enterprise."

"Innovative -- and global -- approaches can make a great difference."

"Last July, a small group of top international executives came together to launch the United Nations Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate..."


"That’s why it feels good to be here with like-minded people working for the global public good."
------------------------------------
A few quotes selected from the prepared address, concerning global water management.The UN has "key" plans and goals already developed. 'Water' is now a "scarce resource" and needs global oversight to assure proper management. This is to assure "sustainability". Governments must be involved as well as private enterprise. This will require "partnerships", and this 'unity' should guarantee "innovative global approaches". Pehaps a 'global' board of water for a global society? If some would like not to participate, don't worry, it will be mandated. It's for the "global public good".
--------------------------------------------
To connect the dots.....learn the terms. He who controls the water, controls all life on the globe.

Global Control

WATER THE NEW 'OIL'

UN calls water top priority: Yahoo

DAVOS, Switzerland - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world on Thursday to put the looming crisis over water shortages at the top of the global agenda this year and take action to prevent conflicts over scarce supplies.

Ban said he will invite world leaders to "a critical high-level meeting" in September to focus on meeting U.N. development goals — including cutting by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015 — particularly in Africa.

Ban told the VIP audience that he spent 2007 "banging my drum on climate change," an issue the Forum also had as one of its main themes last year. He welcomed the focus on water this year saying the session should be named: "Water is running out."

"Water is today's issue," said Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Co., the world's second largest chemical company. "It is the oil of this century, not a question." Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman and CEO of

Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company, said "time is still on our side but time is running out, just like water is running out."

"Water is running out" according to U.N. general secretary Ban Ki-moon. Another looming global crisis. What is different here though is that the "solution" may not be very beneficial to any except for those forwarding the global agenda, i.e. he who controls the water, controls the planet. You will hear more and more of this so-called 'water crisis' as the now more openly-than-ever-push for 'global oneness' continues to increase. Be aware when you hear these things that there are those with an agenda. The agenda is global control and the reality is that it is 'anti-christian'. Continue to learn, connecting the dots. see also: agenda

For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapor thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly. (Job. 36:27-28)

Ahmadinejad-Globalization

Clarion Call
from: IRNA News 1-27-08

'IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday evening at the inauguration ceremony of new head of National Center for Globalization Studies, "mankind's gravest need today is a global government.""

"The President emphasized, "Man is created to be a global creature, as all divine religions are global, and if he would be deprived of this aspect of his personality, neither anything would remain of his humanity, nor any of his potentials and talents would find a proper ground for manifestation."

"Proposing that the rule of single law in the entire world is a bare necessity for the mankind, he said, "The existence of a thousand laws in the world, and then expecting that the global society would reach a status of equilibrium, justice, and tranquility is wishing for the impossible." He added, "It is not possible to observe global justice under such conditions that each country is ruled based on a different set of laws."

"He said that the era for drawing border lines between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism is now over..."
-------------------------------------------------
It is an amazing thing to consider that essentially the same things are being spoken today in every 'sphere' of influence throughout the world, as seen in this fascinating article about Iranian President Ahmadinejad. see: globalization The U.N., International business leaders, learning institutions (schools), and even the "emerging' and the so-called "evangelical church" leaders are echoing the same cry: "mankind must unite". see: global spirituality

Christian, do not for a moment believe that this is the coming of the "Kingdom of God" upon the earth. This false hope is causing many people to remain undiscerning as to the true nature of world-changing events. We hope that you will begin to examine all these things more closely and start to 'connect the dots'. see:
whose-kingdom-is-being-built? pt.1
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Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying , Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. (Psalms 2:1-5)

1/27/08

BLESSED IS HE THAT WATCHETH

Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. Revelation 16:15 '

We die daily,' said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world that is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud, lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world, and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in Him. I fear me that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing, unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame. Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display His omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the rougher, 'We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.' Charles H. Spurgeon

1/26/08

Wide sweeping changes

"This is truly a global interfaith movement."

three quotes from latest article by: Herescope

"Two evangelical leaders, Rick Warren and Brian McLaren, who recently signed the common faith agreement Loving God and Neighbor Together, which called for Christian and Islamic leaders to work together, showed up in Davos, Switzerland, this week at the World Economic Forum.This is quite significant. Davos featured a "West-Islamic World Dialogue" with a "Council of 100 Leaders (C-100) Promoting dialogue and cooperation between the Western and Islamic worlds."

"Brian McLaren of Emergent Church fame also attended Davos. He is set to go on a book tour for his new book Everything Must Change. He, like the New Apostolic Reformation leaders, is calling for a paradigm shift -- not unlike James Rutz's Megashift -- called Deep Shift to "engage in personal formation and theological reformulation for global transformation." One of his sponsors is Faith at Work, part of the marketplace transformation movement, which is eerily similar to the WEF's global business development."

"To underscore the increasingly spiritual nature of the WEF's economic focus, note the "Ancient Wisdom on Modern Questions" webpage link. This is truly a global interfaith movement." (bolding-anothervoice)

It is recommended to read full article at Herescope.
-----------------------------------------
Quote: "This is truly a global interfaith movement".
But, but, I thought it was all about building the 'kingdom'?

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (2 Thes 2:3)

Awana being 'shifted'?

Connect the Dots

There are wide and sweeping changes coming through the Christian Church these days. It is not difficult to discover but it does take some effort to 'connect the dots'. Parents, if you or your children are involved with Awana the time has come for you to make that effort! Hopefully this can be a start.

First, here is a must read for any who either have children in the Awana program, or are themselves part of it. From Lighthouse Trails Research: awana contemplative?

Here also are two short articles highlighting some important things to understand concerning the language, i.e. 'words', which are being used in moving the church into the now out-in-the-open global system which is being implemented before our eyes, and yet so few can see: 'spiritual' church; 'spiritual' world

You will need to know what is being said when certain words are used. These 'certain' words are one of the ways of finding 'dots' that connect. When you have connected enough dots then the picture will begin to 'emerge'.

Now, here are a few 'dots' from Awana's website that would seem to connect them with the now out-in-the-open global movement that is also absorbing the church:
--------------------
Dot 1: Rethink
At Awana, we believe it’s time to rethink ministry and discipleship for kids:
from awana home

Rethinking ministry? This is a large 'dot': rethink
------------------------------------
Dot 2: Awana becoming a 'global brand' name!
Brand-New Day at Awana
New branding signifies our commitment to help churches and parents raise children and youth that know, love and serve Christ for life.

When you see “McDonald’s®,” you likely think of fast food and children. When you hear the name “Nike®,” you probably think of sneakers. When you read “Awana®,” what brand image or message comes to mind?
In the simplest terms, a brand is the face of Awana to the world. (see:awana brand)

McDonald's, Nike, and Awana? Global businesses producing products?
-----------------------------
Dot 3: Revolutionary new book!
An Intentional Plan for Our Children’s Spiritual Growth
As part of Project Joseph, Awana is developing a revolutionary new book that will give parents and church leaders a life map to raising our kids to know, love and serve Christ.

Exactly what type of "revolution" do they have in mind? And a new book? Is the Holy Bible, the very Word of God, no longer sufficient? Not revolutionary enough anymore for a "life map" or "spiritual growth"?
----------------------------
Dot 4: Supporting the Essential Parent-Church Partnership

Raising kids who know, love and serve Christ isn’t just a parent’s job or the church’s responsibility. It requires a partnership between parents and the local church. HomeBase™, our family ministry, joins churches and homes together to follow God’s model for raising kids.
Home and Family
Churches and parents working together is God’s model for raising kids spiritually. Connect parents to your Awana program while helping them become the primary spiritual influencers of their children. awana/about (see links: 'spiritual' church/world)
According to this new "theory", a partnership is now required to raise your children. This partnership, we are told, is to be between the parents and the church, under the direction and facilitation of Awana. This of course would be the Awana with the globally recognized brand, the brand "that you can trust"....right? With a trusted brand you know that the product will be good. In this case the product, as seen in the above statement, will be an effective partnership for "raising kids spiritually", and parents trained as the " the primary spiritual influencers of their children". (spiritual? see: 'spiritual' church; 'spiritual' world)

Parents, you are no longer capable of raising your children on your own, according to Awana.

Rethinking, global brand, partnerships, raising kids "spiritually", with parents the designated "spiritual influencers"? These are some of the "buzzwords" being employed to create the perception of positive change. Changing old and established institutions is not an overnight process. It is done in phases; shifting. When the buzzwords show up you can be certain that a new phase in the transition has begun. Awana, you are being 'shifted'.

-------------------------------------------------
But, what about the kingdom?
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (2 Thes 2:3)

Whosoever will lose his life for my sake.....

Breaking news. The gospel has not changed!
Mini Sermon: Deny Self by Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."
Luke 9:23-24

1/25/08

Spirituality vs. Religious

WORDS
It is vitally important to know who is defining the terms, and what is meant when certain words are used. Case in point is the word "spiritual", which is now to be defined as something that is inherently all inclusive, which is of course necessary for a 'global-people'. Many paths to enlightenment is what is meant when the word "spiritual" or "spirituality" is used. Here, the internationally recognized spiritual teacher, Dr. Deepak Chopra, elucidates this point in a recent interview: Chopra

"Dr. Deepak Chopra, the internationally recognized spiritual teacher, has added a whole lot of hyphens to his resume......

Q. Your last book was about Buddha and your next is about Jesus. Yet you subscribe to neither Buddhism or Christianity?
A. Because I think neither Buddha was a Buddhist, nor was Christ Jesus a Christian. I think theology and dogma and ideology are institutions that build up after somebody's authentic experience, but not having your own. In my books I try to explain what was the experience that Buddha had and how can we have it ourselves. And what is the experience Christ had, and can we have it ourselves? Otherwise, we're just buying into somebody's experience. That's why spirituality is the biggest threat to religion.
----------------------------------
Be alerted. This new "spirituality" is being introduced into every arena (sphere) of society...yes, even Christianity (see: here). Yes, religious is out, spiritual is in!
Problem is that Christianity is not inclusive. Christianity is exclusive. By way of the cross only. The way is narrow. Are you in, or out?
see also: new denomination
----------------------------------------------
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matt. 7:14)

Being Shifted

CONFERENCES CONFERENCES CONFERENCES

What: Breakforth Canada 2008: breakforth
When: 1/25-27/08 (this weekend)

Some of the big-names scheduled are:

Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Erwin McManus, and Kay Arthur.

Kay Arthur fans, the news is not good. If you go to the website (link above) you will see the brochure, and on the left hand side of it you can see that they are openly promoting the 'emerging church'. This is no surprise seeing that emerging leader Erwin McManus is among the speakers. Here it is people, the developing "new denomination" that Jim Wallis (below post) is speaking of: here

It's necessary to know who is saying what these days, and if you follow any of the teachers participating in this or any other conference you need to know who they are working "hand in hand" with. Some of the teachers are openly promulgating heresies, and the rest do not seem at all concerned e.g see: McManus .
learn more: Lighthouse
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins...." (Rev. 18:4)

1/24/08

Emerging One World Church

Step by step, what is "emerging" may not be what you think it is.

Things are changing everywhere. What's happening? To begin to understand, it is crucial to take a closer look and find out what is really being said. For example:

quoted from this
article:
"According to a prominent liberal Evangelical, there is a major political and generational shift going on among Evangelical Christians in America. (says) Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourners Magazine......"

(and this toward the end of the article:)

"Religion has no monopoly on morality," Wallis agreed, acknowledging that all the great social movements have had a significant component of people of faith, but never exclusively. "And there's a whole new denomination now," he added, "called the spiritual but not religious, that's growing all over the country."
----------------------------------
Here is an article telling us of what is being called a "major shift" among "Evangelical Christians". Christian are you aware that you are being shifted? According to Jim Wallis you are being shifted into a "whole new denomination". What does this mean? When he says that it's no longer "religious" but it's now "spiritual", how is that to be understood? The answer is not difficult. "Religion" is something that divides, but "spirituality" can be inclusive. This is a creative use of language which really means the dismantling of religious institutions to unify people of different beliefs for efficient global management. Yes, this calls for a whole new denomination for a whole new society. The global society, and it is not going to be any one "religion" i.e. Christianity, but a blending of all religions.

An interesting definition of globalization:

According to
Wikipedia: Globalization can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.[* Sheila L. Croucher. Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World. Rowman & Littlefield. (2004). p.10 ]

The "process" of globalization, by which "the people of the world are unified into a single society" is not only underway it is quite advanced. The majority of people are unaware primarily because they are not looking for it, and consequently do not understand the implications of the changes that are happening. It is hoped that the Christian reader may begin first to see, and then to understand what is happening. Many Christians are taught that they are to be "Kingdom builders" and have "Kingdom thinking", etc. The problem is that the "Kingdom" being created is not one that would ever submit to the "King of Kings". No, the stage is being readied for another, one world religion and all. This will be the one the Word of God identifies as...

"that man of sin..... the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped" (2 Thes. 2:4)
***
see also: spirituality-vs-religious and whose kingdom?

1/23/08

The Cross...nobody said it would be easy

Mark 15:3. 'The chief priests accused him of many things.'

The servant of Christ must never be surprised if he has to drink of the same cup with his lord. If he who was holy, harmless, and undefiled,was foully slandered, who can expect to escape? "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?"(Mt.10:25). Perfect innocence is no fence against enormous lying, calumny and misrepresentation. The most blameless character will not secure us against false tongues. We must bear the trial patiently. It is part of the cross of Christ.

J.C. Ryle (1816-1900)

1/22/08

The Stone the Builders Rejected

continued from: 1st part
The last state of Christianity....Kingdom or apostasy?

Will men build a Kingdom for God on the earth, or are they in fact constructing the final global system for the Satanic rule of the earth? This answer to this question is of tremendous import. Do you know what the Word of God says about these things?

The prophecies of the book of Daniel answer many questions regarding the "end of the age" before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, including the question above.

An answer to this most important question is found in the second chapter of the book of Daniel. The passage of scripture in question (Dan. 2:32-45) tells of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar's having had a dream, and of the prophet Daniel being given the interpretation of the dream by the LORD.


A little background is necessary to understand the setting for the incident and the reason for the Jewish prophet Daniel's being in Babylon at that time: As divine punishment of the Jews for their idolatry, the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple had been destroyed by the Babylonian armies (587 B.C.). Having been defeated, the Jews themselves were in Babylon in captivity, and the "glory of the LORD" had departed from the ruins of the temple, God's earthly abode (Ezekiel 10:4,18; 11:22-23). God had turned them over to their enemies and had left them. With God departed and now no longer dwelling in the midst of His people, and according to His sovereign plan for the ages, a new thing was to happen: the Gentile nations would replace the Jews and be given to rule upon the earth for a time. The Lord reveals this information through the King's dream and Daniel's interpretation of it. A pre-telling of history.

The dream is of a great statue of a 'man', representing the coming human rule on the earth (as opposed to God ruling through the Jews). It was given to the Babylonian King, the 'head of gold' who would rule over the first of what would ultimately be five successive empires:
-------------------------------------------------
(Daniel 2)

The King's dream:

(32) "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

(33)His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

(34)Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces.

(35)Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

(36)This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king."

Daniel's interpretation:

(37) Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.

(38-43 gives a description of four kingdoms, with what we are calling the 'fifth' (the feet) being actually an extension of the fourth (the legs). This final phase is pictured as the ten toes, which are to represent 'kings'. The ten toes are the same as the 'ten kings' found in Daniel 7:24. The description of the various kingdoms is not necessary here, as we are just looking at the fate of the last phase, the 'toes'. The next two verses (44-45) reveal the answer.)

(44) "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

(45) Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."
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Very briefly, the King's dream is of a great image of a 'man', representing the varying 'human' governments that would reign over the earth from that point forward (32-33) up until the final kingdom, which is seen to bring an end to man's attempts to rule upon the earth (34). The dream shows a series of five ruling empires (the fifth being an 'extension' of the fourth), with the fifth and final allotted rule given to the Gentiles being the "feet part of iron and part of clay" (33). This God given succession of governments is what is known as "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24).

Now as seen if carefully studied, when that time is up this final kingdom is to be destroyed, and will be smote by the "stone....cut out of the mountains without hands" (34,45). It will be broken into pieces (34,44), and consumed (44). According to the prophecy this "time of the Gentiles" will come to an end in judgment, and that judgment is the period of time we refer to as the 'Tribulation'. This final form of the "kingdoms" which man builds, the "feet of iron and clay", will be crushed into dust and blown away by the wind, and "no place found" for any part of it whatsoever, as seen (35).

Even a very brief study of this passage as here shows the discrepancy of the dominionist position, with their claim that they will successfully usher in the "Kingdom" in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ. The book of Daniel shows a scenario which is completely opposite: a total destruction and a breaking in pieces of that final human kingdom, for "the image is smote upon his feet" (34). The 'feet' being the the last 'kingdom', and the one that is crushed. This speaks of the ultimate failure and judgment of the feeble efforts of men to "rule themselves".

The Lord Jesus Christ is of course that stone. He is "the stone which the builders rejected"; (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17) ...the stone cut out without hands...(a kingdom not built by the 'hands' of men).

The picture is clear...nothing built by men will remain.

Furthermore, we learn in the 7th and 11th chapter of Daniel that this final kingdom, the feet of iron and clay, is to be ruled by the one referred to as the Antichrist. He is called the "god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4) and will unite the nations in defiance of the Living God (Ps. 2:1-3). This is the prophesied end. The consummation of man's greatest efforts are found to be nothing more than a failed attempt to gain independence from God. It will at this point, of necessity, be crushed and blown away as dust in the wind (35), having been tried and found wanting, proving to all for time and eternity the folly of the 'creature'. After that, then and only then, the "God of heaven" will set up His own Kingdom (44), and as shown, the "stone that smote the image" will become a great mountain (kingdom) and fill the earth, and it shall stand forever (35,45).

"I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." Ezk. 21:27

The LORD reigneth, and no flesh shall glory in his presence (1 Cor. 1:29).

Back to the first question: Will men build a "Kingdom" for God on the earth, or are they in fact constructing the final global system for a Satanic rule of the earth?

Christian, believe the infallible Word of God and forsake that which opposes His revealed will. It cannot fail to come to pass exactly as written...

"and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." (v.45)

Maranatha
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Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Luke 20:18)