Welcome to True Light Ministries’ Blog

by David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

When Paul first taught the truth of justification by faith, it shook the

church. It was incredible news at that time. In fact, some theologians

responded, “If I’m pardoned, if God is so merciful to forgive me freely by

faith alone, then let me sin even more, so God can enjoy giving me more grace!”

Those theologians did not understand the gospel.

Because of the cross, God considered everything about our old flesh-man done

away with. Paul asked, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

(Romans 6:1) and he continued quickly, “Certainly not!” I believe Paul was

saying, “Why would any Christian, having been set free from such death, go back

and resurrect the corpse? Why go back to a life of sin when God wants to take

away all guilt and condemnation and give you security and peace? Now, because

of the cross, you can serve the Lord with joy and gladness and obey Him in a

new obligation called love.”

“So,” you ask, “are we simply to take by faith the righteousness of Jesus?”

Yes, absolutely! That is what the Christian walk is all about—resting by

faith in what Jesus accomplished.

Our old man is dead, and the new Man is Jesus. When we put our faith in Him,

God fully accepts us. He considers us righteous, hidden in the bosom of His

dear Son. So whenever you sin or fail, run quickly to your Lawyer, your

Advocate. Confess your failures to Him, and rest in His righteousness.

You may ask, “Don’t good works have any place in this doctrine?” Of course they

do, but on this condition: Good works cannot save you, justify you or make you

righteous or acceptable to God. The only thing that saves you is your faith in

what Jesus did!

What did Jesus do? He saved you, pardoned you and accepted you in the

beloved—sins, failures and all. God sees you now only in Jesus Christ and

that is why we must come to our Savior every time we fall. The blood that

forgave and cleansed us the first time we came to Jesus is the same blood

continues to keep us until He returns.

Along with this security comes a higher obligation of doing all our works in

His strength and power rather than trying to do them on our own. “If by the

Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD

by David Wilkerson [May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

Picture yourself standing before God’s throne with no excuse, no alibi. Satan, your legal adversary, is reading off the list of charges, with times, places, every shameful detail. He makes accusations of pride, prayerlessness, covetousness, unfaithfulness, and your heart smites you because you have to admit, “Yes, that’s me. I did it all.” It looks hopeless for you. You know God’s eyes are too holy to look upon sin, and His justice demands that you pay for your crimes against His holiness. You are helpless.

But suddenly, here comes your Lawyer, your Advocate. He stretches forth His nail-scarred hands and you know something is about to happen. He smiles and whispers, “Don’t be afraid; none of these charges will stand. You’re going to walk out of this courtroom free and fully pardoned. When I’m finished, your accuser won’t have one charge left against you!” Best of all, your Lawyer tells you He has adopted you as His brother. Then He tells you He is the Son of the Judge so you now belong to the Judge’s family, as well!

But there is still the matter of justice. What about the charges against you? You listen in absolute wonder as your Advocate pleads your case: “Judge, You know that I fulfilled the law, living a sinless life. And then I took this person’s place, taking on all the punishment for his crimes. Through these nail-scarred hands and My pierced side, blood came forth to blot out all of his transgressions. All these charges were put on My back and I paid the penalty for every one of them.” Your Advocate then looks at your accuser and says, “Satan, you have no grounds to accuse My child. Each of his sins was placed on Me and I have fully pardoned them all. He is not guilty because his faith in the victory of My sacrifice gives him full pardon. You have no case!”

 As the devil slinks out of God’s court, you can hear the Lord cry out: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33).

By: Riley

afaithfulsaying.wordpress.com

Theme: Jon. 2:9

One of the most familiar stories from the Bible that is often shared at Sunday school lessons is the story of Jonah. Most know the story. The Prophet that disobeyed God and was swallowed up by a whale for three days and three nights and eventually did what the Lord asked him to do. Is there more to it than that? Yes, there is so much more. When I was told this story throughout my youth through teachers in school, the focal point of Jonah’s disobedience was fear. They taught that he feared the people of Nineveh because they were very wicked, implying that he was afraid of physical harm. But reading the scriptures for myself, I found that it wasn’t that kind of fear that kept him from going. It was a different kind of fear. It was the fear of God blessing the people of Nineveh.  Being a man of God, that would sound ridiculous, right?

Jonah’s story begins when the word of the Lord came to him saying “Arise, go to Nineveh…and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” (verse 2). Nineveh was not a Jewish city. It was a gentile city, filled with idolatry and pagan practices. The very fact that God desired to have mercy on this place is interesting in itself! God had mercy on certain gentile cities and peoples in the Old Testament showing that He searches the hearts of men no matter who they are (Jer. 17:10) and that He is in every place beholding the evil and the good (Pr. 15:3).  As a Prophet of the Most High God, Jonah should have obeyed. In verse 3, Jonah immediately fled to a ship that was headed to Tarshish to escape the Lord.  The Lord, angry with Jonah, sent a “great wind into the sea” so much that “the ship was like to be broken” (verse 4).  The Lord wasn’t playing around. The crew of the ship somehow immediately knew it was supernatural and they were afraid (verse 5). They all called upon their own gods and the shipmaster woke up Jonah so he could do the same (verse 6).  It is amazing how even nonbelievers in those days believed in some kind of god in contrast to modern day where people give all credit to man alone.

Jonah told them his story and they threw him overboard to save themselves by his request (verse 12). After the wind died down, the crew of the ship all made vows to God and offered sacrifices to Him…so much for not doing the Lord’s work (verse 16). It is interesting to note that Jonah would have rather drown than to obey the Lord. He had no knowledge of a whale or a guarantee that God would save him. He flat out did not want to go.  The Lord had a way of dealing with Jonah though. God sent the whale to swallow Jonah and to digest him for three days and three nights (verse 17). Whether Jonah was alive or died and was resurrected again is not clear in the scriptures, though it is more favorable toward the latter because Jesus quoted it as an example of Himself (Mt. 12:40). Jonah finally was humbled and said…

“But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” –Jon. 2:9

He was ready to obey the Lord, but was his motive right? Jonah told Nineveh that the Lord would overthrow them in forty days (verse 4). Amazingly, the people of Nineveh believed Jonah and proclaimed a fast upon not only the people but upon the animals too (verse 7)! No food or water until further notice…they meant business. God, being gracious and plentiful in mercy, forgave them and repented of the evil (verse 10). Everybody wins right? Not for Jonah. Jonah was “displeased…exceedingly, and was very angry” (verse 1).  In the next verse, we finally see what Jonahs problem is. Jonah was prejudice against Nineveh!  He knew that God would turn from His wrath if they repented, and Jonah wanted to see His enemies destroyed. Jonah didn’t care about the moral state of Nineveh; he just wanted His enemies to burn!  Jonah, again in verse 3, desired for God to kill him. How pathetic. Jonah would rather die than see his enemies obey the Lord! He was in delusion. Jonah then went outside the city to have a pity party in hopes that God might still destroy the city (verse 5).  The night came and went and Nineveh was still there. Then Jonah, again, asked for God to kill him saying “…it is better for me to die than to live” (verse 8). Aren’t you glad God doesn’t take us seriously sometimes? The book ends with God trying to convince Jonah that many lives were spared and that Jonah should be grateful (verse 11).

What a sad story. A Prophet of God so blinded by his prejudice that he would rather die than see people turn to the Lord. If there is anybody that had a right to be angry at people it is God. And if God can have mercy and forgive people, so should we. Jonah let his prejudice destroy his life. He was so consumed with it that it almost caused him to destroy his relationship with the Lord and to die. That is a terrible place to be. No matter how bad or how terrible a person is, we should never let their problem become our problem. If we do nothing but think and talk about how much we hate people, maybe people that we don’t even know, it will destroy our lives. If it can almost destroy a Prophets life, it can surely destroy ours. We must learn to see things through Gods eyes, and to put aside every hindrance that would cause us to do things contrary to God’s word (He. 12:1). Whatever it is, it’s not worth our relationship with the Lord. It doesn’t matter what your prejudice is. Whether it be people with a different skin color, a different geographic location, or occupation: God wants all to repent and know Him. We should never allow traditions or formed prejudices to ruin our lives, but instead be willing to invite God to use us to reach whatever people He calls us to! Ask God to help you see people through His eyes right now! The price of being prejudice is a life of anger and sorrow!

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” – Mt. 5:44

Sorry for the formatting….

If you were required to
name the one thing which you pursue, what would it be? Many men would say that
they spend most of their time pursuing success in their business. Many women
would say they spend most of their time pursuing success for their children.
Today’s society has people who pursue all sorts of different things. Some of
the things most frequently mentioned are: (1) business success; (2) success for
children; (3) political success; (4) wealth; (5) a good reputation in their
community; (6) personal attractiveness; (7) athletic success; (8) pleasure; (9)
personal hobby; and, (10) ability to influence others. There are others, of
course, and variations of the aforementioned, nevertheless, numerous surveys
and polls show that people usually pursue some variation of power, prestige, or
pleasure. Their one real passion in life may be to become the top hunter,
fisherman, tennis player, golf player, salesman, developer, construction
contractor, lawyer, doctor, Senator, Congressman or other political figure.
Scripture says:

“Follow [pursue] peace with all men, and
holiness without which no man shall
see the Lord.” In Leviticus, God says, “For I am the Lord your God:
Ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy:
Neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you out of the land of
Egypt, to be your God: Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (See
also Leviticus 20: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16)

“Holiness denotes a state of inward or
internal purity (Ephesians 1:4). ‘Without blame’ means an outward or external
condition of purity. Holiness is the greater and stronger term because it is
concerned about the inward condition; but the outward condition is also
important.”[1][1]

I. THE
CALL TO HOLINESS

 

The Lord God repeatedly
calls His children to be holy. The Apostle Peter, when writing his first
Epistle, called the Christians to whom he was writing to be serious and sober.
Obviously, in the context in which Peter was writing, he was not merely calling
the recipients of the letter (and us) to abstain from drunkenness, but to be
serious minded Christian children who are to take particular care to conduct
themselves as the Lord commands. The Apostle writes the following:

“Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves
according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as He which has called you
is holy, so you too are to be holy in all manner of conversation (living). [You
are to do this] because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy.”

This is not a new
admonition, nor is it a new call to holiness. Moses, addressing the people as
God had instructed him to speak, specifically addressed their conduct in their
manner of living, telling the people that they were not to do anything to make
themselves abominable. In the Book of
Leviticus, verses 44 and 45, Moses addressed the people as follows:

“For I am the Lord your God, you shall
therefore sanctify yourselves and ye
shall be holy for I am holy, neither shall you defile yourselves with any
manner of creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. For I am the Lord that
brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be
holy, for I am holy.”

One of the first things
that we notice here is that Moses is addressing both internal holiness, i.e.,
sanctification, as well as external holiness, i.e., their manner of life that
can be seen. For example, in the 20^th Chapter of Leviticus, the Lord
spoke to Moses, and Moses was commanded to say to the people not to give his
seed unto Molech, to defile the Lord’s sanctuary, or to profane His holy name.
Moses goes on to tell the people not to consort with “wizards,” those
that have “familiar spirits;” not to curse one’s father or mother;
not to commit adultery with another man’s wife; and many other admonitions that
appear in the 20^th Chapter of Leviticus, including for a man not to
lie with another man as he lies with a woman (i.e., homosexuality). And the
reason that is given is “both of them have committed an abomination.”
Indeed, it is put in the same category in Leviticus Chapter 20 as bestiality.

Clearly, God’s Holy Word
is addressing both internal and external holiness.

Dr. D. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones, in his great commentary and exposition on Ephesians Chapter 1,
says that salvation means “primarily and essentially being in the right
relationship with God – nothing less than that!” Then Dr. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones goes on to say: “Because salvation refers essentially to our
relationship to God, it must, of necessity, always, from beginning to end, be
thought of in terms of holiness. Everything in salvation is destined to bring
us to this end of holiness.”

In the beginning of the
first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus, he tells the church
that the church collectively and the
church individually have been blessed
with spiritual blessings from before the foundation of the world. Then Paul
says:

“According as He has chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

Therefore, we see very
clearly, without any ambiguity, that we are created for the purpose
of holiness. God, thus, does not
merely excuse our sin, He actually
has become the propitiation, that is, the full and complete payment for OUR
sin. Moreover, we are given salvation (thus, salvation is a sheer gift) for the
purpose of making us holy, and, indeed, making us to pursue holiness. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says:

“We must never think of holiness as
something we may decide to go in for;
if you’re not holy, you’re not a Christian. You are either in Christ, the whole
Christ, or you’re not ‘in Him.’ And if you are, ‘in Him,’ you are holy.”

Dr. D. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones goes on to say:

“. . . we are not
chosen with the possibility of
holiness, but to the realization of holiness. God has not chosen us before the
foundation of the world in order to create for us the possibility of holiness; He has chosen us to holiness. It is what
He has purposed for us; not possibility, but realization.”

Dr. D. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones states that where the Apostle Paul uses the words that we are
chosen, “that we should be holy and without blame,” is a use of two
different words, both of which refer to sanctification. Dr. D. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones says this is not referring to justification but to sanctification.
“Holiness denotes a state of inward or internal purity; ‘without blame’
means an outward or external condition of purity.” Continuing, Dr. D.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that it is the same idea that is conveyed in the 5^th
Chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Church at Ephesus where he says that it is
Christ’s ultimate purpose for the Church, that she should be not only
“holy” but also without “spot or wrinkle or any such
thing.” In other words, just as God made known unto Moses for his delivery
to the children of Israel, the command to “be ye holy for I am holy”
refers both to internal holiness and external holiness, both to sanctification
of our inner persons and also bringing our actions, or manner of life, into
conformity to God’s standard.

Finally, Dr. D. Martyn
Lloyd Jones makes the point that:

“If you knew that you were to be presented
to some great or august person, you would prepare yourself for the occasion.
The very realization of the privilege makes you do so; and the more you realize
biblical truth and believe it and understand it, the more you will give
yourself to striving after holiness. You will pursue it, as the author of the
Epistle to Hebrews urges us to do in the words ‘follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’” (Hebrews 12: 14)

According to Dr. D.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

“There is nothing that so promotes holiness
as this great doctrine and this precious truth, which tells us that because we
are chosen of God, we are going to be with Him, and are going to be like
Him.”

II. THE
MEANING OF HOLINESS

 

Holiness means “to
hunt peace.” According to a sermon preached at Briarwood Presbyterian
Church (PCA) on February 3, 1974, Frank M. Barker, Jr., the Senior Pastor at
that time, referring to this passage of scripture in Hebrews, stated that
holiness actually means “to hunt peace and to hunt holiness.” This means
with our fellow Christians as well as peace with all men. Of course, as Barker
stated at that time, “a Christian is not going to experience peace with
all men if he is really living for the
Lord Jesus.” The Apostle Paul states in II Timothy 3:12: “All
they that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Jesus
Himself said that the servant, that is us, is not above his master. Jesus also
said, “They have hated Me; they will hate you.” Indeed, that is one
of the marks of a Christian! If we are really and truly living for Christ, we
will really and truly upset people that are not Christians. Indeed, the
Psalmist says that the wicked plotted against the just (righteous), and they
gnash their teeth upon him. (Psalm 37).

Thus, we see that
insofar as it lies within me to do so without compromise, I am to pursue peace!
Barker said that we should never compromise on the commands of God, for
example, the heart things in scripture such as: “The fact that Jesus
Christ is the only way to the Father, that unless men repent (surrender their
will to the Lord’s will), and believe in Him (place their trust or faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ alone for their salvation), they are going straight to
hell.” Thus, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews states, without
equivocation, that we are to pursue peace!
We are also to pursue holiness “. . . without which no man shall see the
Lord.”

A. What
is Holiness?

Bishop J.C. Ryle was an
evangelical in the Church of England who had a great power and grip on the Word
of God. One of the number of books that he wrote that is extremely helpful is
entitled, “Holiness.” In speaking of this particular passage of
scripture in Hebrews, he defines the holy life as follows:

“Holiness is the habit of being of one mind
with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit
of agreeing in God’s judgment – hating what He hates – loving what He loves –
and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word. He who most
entirely agrees with God, he is the most holy man.

A holy man will endeavor to shun every known
sin, and to keep every known commandment. He will have a decided bent of mind
toward God, a hearty desire to do His will – a greater fear of displeasing Him
than of displeasing the world, and a love to all His ways. He will feel what
Paul felt when he said, ‘I delight in the law of God after the inward man’
(Romans 7:22), and what David felt when he said, ‘I esteem all Thy precepts
concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way.’ (Psalm 119:
128)

A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus
Christ. . . . It will be his aim to bear with and forgive others, even as
Christ forgave us – to be unselfish, even as Christ pleased not Himself – to
walk in love. . . . to be lowly-minded and humble. . . .

A holy man will follow after temperance and
self-denial. He will labor to mortify the desires of his body – to crucify his
flesh with his affections and lusts – to curb his passions – to restrain his
carnal inclinations, lest at any time they break loose. . . .

A holy man will follow after charity and
brotherly kindness. . . .

A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy
and benevolence towards others. He will not stand all the day idle. He will not
be content with doing no harm – he will try to do good. . . .

A holy man will follow after purity of heart. He
will dread all filthiness and uncleanness of spirit, and seek to avoid all
things that might draw him into it. He knows his own heart is like tinder, and
will diligently keep clear of the sparks of temptation. . . .

A holy man will follow after the fear of God. I
do not mean the fear of a slave, who only works because he is afraid of
punishment, and would be idle if he did not dread discovery. I mean rather the
fear of a child, who wishes to live and move as if he was always before his
father’s face, because he loves him. . . .

A holy man will follow after humility. He will
desire in lowliness of mind, to esteem all others better than himself. He will
see more evil in his own heart than in any other in the world. . . .

A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all
the duties and relations in life. He will try, not merely to fill his place as
well as others who take no thought for their souls, but even better, because he
has higher motives, and more help than they. . . . Holy persons should aim at
doing everything well, and should be ashamed of allowing themselves to do
anything ill if they can help it. . . .

Last, but not least, a holy man will follow
after spiritual mindedness. He will endeavor to set his affections entirely on
things above, and to hold things on earth with a very loose hand. . . .

I do not say for a moment that holiness shuts
out the presence of indwelling sin. No: far from it. It is the greatest misery
of a holy man that he carries about with him a ‘body of death;’ – that often
when he would do good ‘evil is present with him;’ that the old man is clogging
all his movements, and, as it were, trying to draw him back at every step he
takes. (Romans 7:21) But it is the excellence of a holy man that he is not at
peace with indwelling sin, as others are. He hates it, mourns over it, and
longs to be free from its company. The work of sanctification within him is
like the wall of Jerusalem – the building goes forward ‘even in troublous
times.’ (Daniel 9:25) . . .

This I do boldly and confidently say, that true
holiness is a great reality. It is something in a man that can be seen, and
known, and marked, and felt by all around him. It is light: if it exists, it
will show itself. It is salt: if it exists, its presence cannot be hid.

I am sure we should all be ready to make
allowance for much backsliding, for much occasional deadness in professing
Christians. I know a road may lead from one point to another, and yet have many
a winding and turn: and a man may be truly holy, and yet be drawn aside by many
an infirmity. Gold is not the less gold because mingled with alloy, nor light
the less light because faint and dim, nor grace the less grace because young and
weak. But after every allowance, I cannot see how any man deserves to be called
‘holy’ who willfully allows himself in sins, and is not humbled and ashamed
because of them. I dare not call anyone ‘holy’ who makes a habit of willfully
neglecting known duties, and willfully doing what he knows God has commanded
him not to do.”

B. THE
LOCATION OF HOLINESS

 

“Where can one find
holiness?” Pastor Barker stated:

“It is not something we can generate in
ourselves. It is something that is produced on the branch when the branch is
vitally united to Jesus Christ. And we find it only from our relationship with
the Lord Jesus Christ.” (John 15: 1-10)

I personally had the
privilege of hearing Dr. Barker on many occasions through the years. I never
heard him speak without giving the content of the Gospel of Christ. He was
truly “zealous to tell men of Jesus, who is mighty to save.” He
frequently said, in substance, that one must first hear the gigantic claims of
Christ, who He is and what He claims that He has done. Jesus stated that He is
God, the Son. He has made all things, and without Him, was not anything made
that was made. He lived a perfect life without spot or blemish in any way, even
though He was tempted in all respects just as we are. He voluntarily surrendered
His life and went to the cross to die an atoning death for our sins, and not
just for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. On the third day, he
was raised from the dead, and now sits on the right hand of the Father. Of
course, just knowing these claims is
not sufficient. One must surrender one’s will to the Lord’s will in true
repentance and place their trust or faith in Jesus Christ alone for their
salvation. Therefore, we find holiness when we surrender to Christ, trusting as
our Savior, as the one who died for our sins and who unites us to himself in a
vital union. He will work within us to produce holiness, but . . . WE ARE TO
WORK OUT WHAT HE WORKS IN! “. . . Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both the will and to do of
His good pleasure.” (Barker, February 3, 1974)

III. THE
FAILURE TO PURSUE HOLINESS

 

The consequences of not
living holy lives are truly awful. Scripture says, “Without holiness, no
man shall see the Lord.” Of course, that means that without holiness, a
person will not go to heaven. That does not mean that we earn heaven by our
holiness, for salvation is a sheer gift. John Owen said that “God has, by
an eternal decree, ordained that the road that leads to heaven is holy.”
Ephesians 1:4 tells us that Christ died to
make us holy! Barker states that the whole purpose of Jesus in dying for us
would be frustrated were we without holiness. Jesus “gave Himself for us .
. . that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works. Heaven is holy. God is holy. Heaven is
going to be extremely holy, said Barker. “God is of pure eyes than to
behold iniquity and cannot look on evil.” (Habakkuk 1: 13) There shall in
nowise enter into heaven anything that will defile it. It is simply the nature
of things that we MUST BE HOLY in
order to go to heaven. This holiness is the product of that vital relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the vine and we are the branches, and we must
be united to Him. When we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, He produces the
holiness that is required.

Barker asked the
question:

“Are you holy? Do you fit the description
of holiness as given by Dr. Ryle, the great Biblical scholar who lays before us
what the Scriptures teach? Is your life the kind of life in which the light can
be seen and the salt tasted? The question is a solemn one. It is the most solemn question I have ever asked from this pulpit. It
is crucial that we ask it of ourselves.“

IV. THE
CALL TO WATCH OVER AND PROTECT OTHERS

 

The Lord God calls us to
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ through the miracle of His atoning death by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He gives us the gift of repentance unto
life. The surrender of our will to His will. He does these things, as we have
seen, to make us holy. We are called to be holy, for He is holy. In doing that,
we see here in verses 15 and 16 of the 12^th Chapter of the Epistle
to the Hebrews that we no longer live unto ourselves. The writer calls us to
watch over others:

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of
the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and
thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau,
who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.”

Clearly, we are to be on
the lookout for professing brothers in Christ. It is our job to do what we can
(the use of the means of grace, God’s Word, prayer, confrontation, etc.) to
keep anyone from “failing of the grace of God.” What this is really
saying is if they fail of the grace of God, it means they’re not going to
heaven. The writer to Hebrews in Chapter 4 says:

“Let us therefore fear, lest a promise
being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it.”

We are charged with the
responsibility to make sure that no man fails of the grace of God. Are you
seeking to make sure that no member of your family “fails of the grace of
God?” Do you pray diligently and instruct diligently your children and
your grandchildren? Do you watch carefully over those who are not of your
family by blood, but are professing Christians? We are to try to make known
unto others this great grace which brings salvation and is a gift of God by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is available to us and to others. We must take
particular care to try to make sure that not only have we laid hold of and hold
onto this great gift, but that those that we know, all that we can reach, are
laying hold of and holding onto the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Frank Barker in
commenting on these verses in Hebrews said: “When we see anyone beginning
to stray, we’re to go after him. Don’t let any person among us stray without
somebody going after him and saying “Brother! Come back! It is dangerous
over there on the edge of the road. Get back in the middle. Come on with
me!” Look, put your arm under him, lift him up, bandage his knee and arm,
pray for him and encourage him. Take heed! Look diligently for those lest there
be any among us who fails of the grace of God.

Is this not the same
call that God gives to the prophet Ezekiel in the 3^rd Chapter of the
Book of Ezekiel? There we see the Lord God saying to the prophet the following:

“And it came to pass at the end of seven
days, that the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ‘Son of Man, I have made
thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: Therefore, hear the word of my mouth,
and give them warning from me.’ When I say unto the wicked, ‘thou shalt surely
die’; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his
wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked and he
turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his
iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man does
turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block
before him, he shall die: Because you have not given him warning, he shall die
in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered;
but his blood will I require at your hand.” Nevertheless, if you warn the
righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely
live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.” (Ezekiel
3: 16-21).

This is a solemn
responsibility. Look around you and see who may be in danger of failing of the
grace of God. Do not let any root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, but
look to see if there are any who have a root of bitterness springing up to
trouble them. We have been given a great gift. Our sins have been forgiven. We
have been given eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We know the
secret that will cure the greatest disease in the history of the world. Sin!
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. We cannot sit idly by while
others perish. We are charged with the responsibility to go and reach those
that we can reach.

In his sermon in 1974,
Dr. Barker pointed out, as this verse talks about, the danger of a root of
bitterness, people who are just bitter, putting out poisonous fruit, poisoning
the water so to speak. Also, one whose heart turns away from the Lord to serve
other gods; pursuing pleasure, power, position, any other thing that takes
first place in our life other than the Lord Jesus Christ; false teachers, who
are open and notorious in their preaching of openly immoral conduct; of another
gospel; of alleging many ways to salvation; of alleging that light and darkness
such as Christ and Mohammad can have fellowship together. No such thing can
happen. We are to be careful, for “a little leaven leavens the whole
lump.”

The writer of Hebrews
refers to Esau as being one who lives in open immorality. He sold his
birthright for a mess of pottage. Barker says that Esau is a “type . . . a
symbol . . . of those people within the church who do not value their spiritual
heritage.”

In a book called,
“The Arena of Faith,” Eric Sauer says that

“Esau lived for things visible and bartered
them for things spiritual. Esau lived for human enjoyment and bartered away
God-given blessings. Esau lived without discipline and self-control and
bartered away his position of authority and honor. He despised God’s promise of
an offer of dignity and brought himself thereby into shame. He lived for his
own ego and bartered away the high-calling of his family. Through all of this
he proved himself a godless and profane man. He was a worldly minded descendent
of a God-devoted bearer of high, divine promises. He esteemed a passing
enjoyment above the most noble, permanent privileges ordained of God.”

That is what we must
avoid. That’s what we must assist others to avoid. Call their attention to it.
Call them to repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Church of Colossi: “Let the Word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom: Teaching and admonishing one another
. . . .” (Colossians 3:16(a))

This applies to every
Christian, not just to the officers and pastors of a particular church. We are
to exercise this mutual discipline in love toward one another when we see
someone beginning to go astray. “Exhort one another daily, while it is
called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin.” (Hebrews 3:13)

Thus, we see that we are
called to be watchmen over the flock. Do not let anyone fall by the wayside.
Pick him up and help him get back in the race. God expects us to bring him
back. That’s part of our call to holiness, for God is holy.

In J.C. Ryles’ book,
“Holiness,” he says:

“Are you holy? Do you know anything of the
holiness of which I’ve been speaking? . . . Alas, what searching, sifting words
are these! What thoughts come across my mind, as I write them down! I look at
the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at
professing Christians, and see the vast majority having nothing of Christianity
but the name.”

“You may say, if I were so holy, I would be
unlike other people. I answer, ‘I know it well.’ It is just that you ought to
be. Christ’s true servants always were unlike the world around them – a
separate nation, a peculiar people; – and you must be so too, if you would be
saved!” You may say, ‘at this rate, very few will be saved.’ I answer, ‘I
know it.’ It is precisely what we’re told in the Sermon on the Mount. . .
.”

“I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God
has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and
different things beyond question, but one is never found without the other. All
justified people are sanctified, and all sanctified people are justified. What
God has joined together, let no man dare to put asunder.”

Be ye holy as God is
holy!

May Him who is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we even ask or think work in you both
the will and to do of His own good pleasure.

Your Friend and Brother
in Christ,

William Gray

 By: anonymous

Pastors preaching about sex while camping out in bed on the roof.

A tattoo parlor being put into a church.

Pastors who call the church to be “Idiots for Christ”.

A Pastor who makes his grand sermon entrance coming out of a casket.

Where does it end???

I am floored at what antics we are seeing in the pulpit and in the churches especially in the younger generation. I guess this is due to people (including many Pastors) who have been dumbed down and pumped up (self-esteem) in our educational system with inflated grades and emphasis on agendas like tolerance, safe sex, Harry Potter and other non academic deceptions. They haven’t learned many of the fundamentals of knowledge and haven’t had to work for their grades. The bible is too hard so the church brings in The Message bible which is full of occultic phrases. Little time is spent reading or studying any bible. We get little to none of the Word or the Holy Spirit or prayer in the average church. We are entertained to the point we are all on the verge of ADD – no attention spans and little self control or discipline. Our entertainment, electronics and music desensitizes us to sin. I guess some of these preachers think whatever gets the crowd into the church is good. Many of the churches have become like the world;  dumbed down, desensitized to sin, entertainment factories and whatever makes everyone feel good about themselves.
Maybe they will get saved too, who knows?

by David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

Genesis tells us that the more man multiplied on the earth, the more violent he

became.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with

violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all

flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12).

There is another, different kind of violence taking place in this last day.

Indeed, I see a godly people with an aggressive faith being raised up. This

holy remnant is full of Jesus, loving Him with all their hearts. These

believers see a mad devil coming at them with everything in his power and they

know they have more of hell to face than any other generation before them.

Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by

force” (Matthew 11:12). This remnant is going to rise up and say, “I’m not going

to let the devil steal my joy and peace. I will not let him plant seeds of

grudges, murder, hatred or violence in me. No! I’m going to rise up in Jesus’

power and live victoriously above this demonic filth.”

Dear saint, God wants to put a fight in you! If you have been guilty of any of

these forms of violence, quickly repent before the Lord and obey His Word.

That’s all He asks. May God put a holy zeal and faith in you beyond anything

you have ever known. He wants you to be able to stand against Satan’s wicked

devices.

The only spirit of violence we are going to have is a violent faith. It will be

a strong, holy violence that comes full force against the gates of hell and the

strongholds of the enemy. And, by the power of God, we will bring them all down

in Jesus’ name!

Dear Friends,

2012 arrived, and we are all still here.

Even though the dire predictions abound, do not be deceived – this “Mayan end of the world” thing isn’t an endgame for the world players, but a resetting of the stage. I do believe it will be a time of great crises on several fronts – politically, spiritually, economically and climatically. But be aware that all of them are simply going to be tools to position the world into accepting a one-world economic, religious, social and political direction or “unification” in order to avert “ultimate disaster and annihilation.”

Knowing these things, how then shall we live? For me, I entered the new year with a great sense of JOY. and of PEACE. It is simply because the kingdoms of this world are NOT what rules our lives as believers but the PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING that only JESUS can give. All these things that will come – disasters, moral collapse, mocking God, persecution of believers, surely will come and are already upon us – and much of what is coming will be so overwhelming it will literally take our breath away. But it will not take our PLACE away, seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are NOT TO FEAR what is to come. We are to be SOBER, VIGILANT WATCHMEN, defending the faith, ready to give an answer for the hope within us at all times, and STEADY. The Word I feel God gave me for the coming year is, “Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.” (Isaiah 33:6). And where do we get that wisdom? Where do we get the knowledge we will need to stay stable? Not from Wikipedia, or Fox News, or the latest “I can fix this” politician. No, beloved friends, there is only ONE SOURCE from which we can gain the stability we need, and that is the SURE WORD OF GOD. No wonder Satan has spent so much energy detracting from, defaming, diluting and denigrating the very words of God.

He knows if he can take that from the heart of believers, all they will have left is feelings and experiences, and they will be vulnerable to every false thing that comes along.

In the midst of this new year of changes and troubling times, we can and must have PEACE and the JOY OF THE LORD, not because things are good, or going well, but because HE IS LORD and we are NOT ruled over by circumstances. The thing that is going to draw people to Jesus in this hour is the steady confidence and love of those who claim Jesus’ Name who are not panicked or downcast by these things but who know that they are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Him who loved us. We offer eternal hope in a world that is quickly descending into eternal hell. We have much to be thankful for, and so, so much work to do in this last hour. Steady on, dear friends, Jesus is with us!

The Next Phase

It seems like with each new unchecked, undiscerned popular book, such as The Shack, it is just conditioning the church for the next weakening of spiritual boundaries. The new one appears to be a book called “Have Heart: Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth” by Steve and Sarah Berger, pastors of a large church in Franklin, Tennessee. It is the story of the loss of their teenage son in an auto accident – and of subsequent visitations from their dead son to their church members. In addition, the book appears to go to great lengths to Biblically justify this sanctified necromancy; in their words, communicating with the dead draws upon “a sanctified imagination within the confines of biblical truth.” And therein lays the serious problem. You CANNOT sanctify what God clearly forbids. God was VERY SERIOUS when He forbade necromancy (communicating with the dead). (It is dangerous to use the story of Jesus, Elijah and Moses on the mount as an example of allowed communication with the dead. The disciples even then were NOT ALLOWED TO TALK TO THEM NOR BE TALKED TO.)

One does so at one’s own peril. I find that a great majority of Christians read the scriptures forbidding necromancy but merely accept that it shouldn’t be done, (as if any of them would go to a trance medium!) but never understanding WHY. And really, God’s answer of “because I said so, that’s why” should be enough, but rarely is.

However, and I rarely hear this one very crucial issue addressed: When you attempt to break God’s commands and either talk to the dead or listen FOR the dead, there is a very real, and very virulent army of demons who spend a great deal of time and energy LOOKING for those who seek to speak to the dead. They are called familiar spirits. In the occult world, these familiar demons are “information gatherers.” They gain as much knowledge about a person as they can, and when the person dies, the demons look for open doors through people who are willing to talk to the dearly departed: and the demons, armed with information “only their loved one could know,” can easily begin to communicate back, sometimes with flawless imitation both verbally and sometimes physically.

You have to understand this: although we don’t know for SURE where demons come from, it is fairly clear that they seem to at one time to know what it was like to have a body. Now they are homeless, and tormented. They seek only A HOUSE; a human body through anyone who has allowed them in. And one of the easiest ways for them to gain entrance is through those who try to contact the dead.

It is no shock that the authors of Have Heart are huge fans of The Shack. In fact they say they have passed it out by the cases. The Shack was the first open door to Christian necromancy, a tale of a man supposedly able to reconcile with his dead father while in a coma. This book is just the next open door. It breaks my heart. I imagine these are good, God-loving people – clearly grieving, and also clearly already compromised through The Shack and perhaps other dilutions of Biblical faith. Folks, I understand grief, I have had a lifetime of losses of parents, family, loved ones, friends. There are times it hurt so bad I wished I was with them. But I had BEEN in the occult. I KNOW what happens when you try to solace yourself through attempting to reach out to where GOD HAS FORBIDDEN. And I am more than a little concerned that this book is going to open up another MAJOR DOOR to demonic influence among believers. These people have had EXPERIENCES, and they are trying to wrap the Word of God around it to justify why “it’s not necromancy.” But whenever we manipulate the Word of God to force it to conform to our experience, we have opened some dangerous doors indeed. (Gay church theology, for example.) Please STEER CLEAR of this book. It will be poison to anyone who grieves and longs for comfort. Without a more thorough review of the book that is all I will say for now, but pending that, please understand that the scriptures are VERY clear on this, and we violate His command to our own deception and demonic delusion as a result.

Along that line, Hasbro is now marketing the Ouija board for 8-12 year old girls. Pink with cute bubble lettering, the ad copy says, “It has always been mysterious. It has always been mystifying. And now the OUIJA Board is just for you, girl. With 72 fun questions included, you’ll never run out of things to ask. Make up your own questions, and let the OUIJA Board satisfy your curiosity in virtually endless ways. OUIJA Board will answer. It’s just a game – or is it?”  No. It is NOT. It’s one of the oldest forms of divination in recorded history. And, again, an almost instant open door to demonic influence and demonization.

Be Careful Where You Search

I was recently looking for some salvation scriptures I could print for our youth group. After one or two searches, I came across a stellar compilation of verses under the web title, “Deep Truths.” I am glad I read the entire webpage and sourced it – it was put together by “The Family” which is the NEW name for one of the most dangerous “Christian” cults of the last 30 years – also known as “The Children of God.” COG was started by a discouraged minister who found a young hippie following and started communes around the world. David Berg, aka Moses David, was a raging alcoholic who used his following as his own sex cult. He began to teach his young women followers to go prostitute themselves for Jesus to bring people to the Lord. Soon the COG was filled with free sex, and ultimately, incest and pedophilia. Berg’s own son was sexually abused almost since birth. They were so deceived that they actually put together a “picture book” of young Davidito as he was being engaged in sexual activities even as a little boy, chronicling this abuse for some time to show their members how glorious and wonderful it all was for him and all of them.

Davidito grew up, left, melted down. Just a few years ago, Davidito, aka Ricky Rodriguez, by then in his early twenties, made a video while he was cleaning his gun, getting ready to take vengeance for all the abused children of the cult. His initial plan was to kill his mother. Failing to locate her, he instead found his nanny who had sexually abused him on many occasions. He invited her over, stabbed her repeatedly until she died, then drove to California, locked himself in a hotel and killed himself.

The Children of God – and Davidito’s mother – is alive and well and continuing to gain recruits all over the world. Please be careful of anything or anyone who is part of “The Family” or “The Family of God.” If I had not known what I knew, and been a careful researcher, I could have easily been deceived by this slick and “Christian” looking website.

I continue to be disturbed by how little we discern. I am a big fan of Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse. How disheartening it was to hear him say that he had no issue with the fact that Mitt Romney was a Mormon. “Yes, the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon doesn’t bother me at all,” Graham told CBN. It should. A moral leader with a corrupt spiritual belief system is very dangerous; and I must remind you again, Hitler was both moral (in many ways we count morality: i.e. against drugs, pro-marriage etc.) and conservative. We simply cannot close our eyes to Romney’s spiritual roots. It DOES motivate what he does, and why. It is one thing to have someone as marginal as Joel Osteen endorse the Mormon church; quite another to receive at least a lack of concern from one of the most important evangelical leaders in America. Pray for him to be shown the truth, and hopefully, issue a retraction.

What’s Ahead

On January 19^th I will be doing training for the JAG officers here in El Paso on human trafficking. Please pray for this crucial class that I can give them exactly what they need to do an effective job.

On January 13^th, I will be giving my testimony for the recovery program at Jesus Chapel West here in El Paso.

In April, I will be once again traveling to St Louis for our annual conference on cults and the occult. Please pray for this upcoming event. Dates and information will follow soon.

In closing, I want to thank God for all He did last year. It was grueling in many ways, a lot of heavy lifting spiritually and sometimes physically (i.e., the Navajo youth trip!) Your prayers and support have been such a blessing to me. January 26^th is the 36^th anniversary of the launching of this ministry. It has undergone many changes and many transitions, locations and focuses. But what has remained is the call, the heart’s compelling to reach every young generation with the power and love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My prayer this next year is to be broken, obedient and faithful to even His faintest whisper of direction in seeking to further the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ this next year. Thank you for standing with me. Let’s see what God does!

In His Grace,

Gregory Reid

By: Riley

afaithfulsaying.wordpress.com

Theme: Jn. 3:16

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” -Ro. 6:23

• Sin entered through Adam (Ro. 5:12-19; Gen 3:12)
• All mankind is guilty of sin (Ro. 3:23; Isa. 53:6; Ps. 51:5; Ro. 3:11-12)
• Jesus, the Son of God, was sent to save men from their sins (1 Tim. 1:15; Jn. 3:16-17; Mt. 1:21; Mt. 8:18; Lu. 9:56; Lu. 19:10; Jn.  12:47; Heb. 7:25)
• Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for all sin on the cross (Heb 10:12; Heb. 10:10-14; Eph. 5:2; Ro. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:15,21; Heb 2:9)
• Jesus rose from the grave and conquered sin and death (2 Cor. 5:14; 1 Th. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:55; Ro. 6:9; Rev. 1:18)
• Jesus is the only way to heaven (Jn. 14:6; Jn. 10:9)
• One must repent to be saved (Mt. 4:17; Lu. 13:3; Ac. 2:38; 8:22; 17:30; 26:20; Rev. 2:5)
• One must believe in God, that Jesus is the Son of God, that He rose from the dead, and is able to save them (Mr. 1:15; Mr. 9:23; 11:24; Lu. 8:12; Jn. 6:29; 6:69; 8:24; 11:42, 13:19; 20:31; Ac. 16:31; Ro. 4:24; Ro. 10:9; Heb. 11:6; 1 Pe. 1:21)
• Confess orally (Ro. 10:9)
• Recognize that we are saved through faith (Hab. 2:4; Ac. 26:18; Ro. 3:25, 27; Ga. 3:8; Eph. 2:8; 1 Pe. 1:5)

 

“The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”

–2 Pe. 3:9

What to do next

?

1. Read the New Testament
2. Seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit
3. Pray that God would lead you to the RIGHT church for you!
   Swift Code Lookup

 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

-2 Cor. 5:17

By: Riley

afaithfulsaying.wordpress.com

Theme: Nu. 22-24

The story of Balaam is very misunderstood by most. Because he was not a Prophet of Israel, many think he was a soothsayer used by God. The assumption that he used divination, of course, is ridiculous because we know that God does not nor will ever condone divination (De. 18:10; Rev. 22:15). Balaam was, in fact, a true Prophet of God that accurately heard God’s voice even though he did not belong to a tribe of Israel (Nu. 22:9).  However, Balaam did not die as a true Prophet of God (Jos. 13:22). Later in his life, he did turn to divination to cause Israel to sin by tempting their men to lay with pagan women (Nu. 31:16-18). The New Testament mentions Balaam’s error as a result of his greed for reward (Jude 1:11; 2Pe.2:15). Though he did fall into sin, his former days of righteousness paints a picture of God’s perfect will versus God’s permissive will.

Many Christians don’t know that God has two different types of wills that we can choose to follow. Didn’t you know God gave us a choice? His “perfect” will, is the 100% absolute best possible path that we can take. It is what He chooses for us!  Then there is His “permissive” will. It is the path that we choose for ourselves that he will “permit” us to follow. In conclusion, His perfect will is what He says is best. His permissive will is what we want with God’s permission.  What is the end result to both scenarios? God’s perfect will gives you exactly what God wants you to have or do. God’s permissive will gives you want you want or want to do according to his permission…but it’s not His best! If the Lord ever tells you that he will “allow” you to do something, you should stop and ask God what is His better option! His ways are higher than our ways, even if he “allows” our way (Isa. 55:8-9)! Balaam should have gone with God’s way as opposed to what he wanted.

In Numbers 22, we find a king named Balak the son of Zippor over Moab. Israel was on a conquest, destroying every enemy in his path and Moab was “sore afraid” and “distressed because of the children of Israel” (verse 3).  So what did Balak do? He did what many kings of that era did when man’s wisdom failed: He sought supernatural help.

Balak sent his messengers to Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor saying “Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me: Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blesses is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed” (verses 5-6). How awesome that God rescued slaves from Egypt and made them into a force of fear amongst their enemies! Balak didn’t even know where his supernatural power came from, all he knew was that whomever Balaam blessed was blessed and whomever Balaam cursed was cursed…so he thought he could bribe him with rewards (verse 7). Balaam did what most Prophets of God did when messengers come to their house with a task: he prayed God’s direction (verse 8).  We know Balaam was of God because God came to him and said “What men are these with thee?” (verse 9).  After Balaam brought the situation before God, God answered this:

“And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the Lord refuseth to give me leave with you.” (verses 12-13)

God said no, now get outta here! That should be the end of the story. God said His perfect will and Balaam submitted. But Balaam let his flesh get in the way, and the story continued. After Balak’s servants told their master what Balaam said, he sent them back with more rewards and promises of exaltation (verses 14-17”. Balaam said, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more” (verse 18). Look at Balaam! Why can’t all Christians be so stubborn when it comes to God’s Word! Though he knew God’s answer he inquired of the Lord again (verse 19). God spoke to him again and said, “If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them: but yet the word which I shall say unto thee that shalt thou do” (verse 20). The Lord was very strict with his command, he told him to go only if “the men come and call thee”. Balaam didn’t listen. He rose up and went on his way with the men even though they didn’t call him first. Balaam already knew God wasn’t going to let him curse Israel, but he insisted on going with the men anyway. It wasn’t God’s perfect will, but God allowed it.

We find that lovely phrase again in verse 22 that always means God is furious, “And God’s anger was kindled because he went…”. God pays attention to detail people. God responded by sending an angel to block Balaam’s path (verse 22-23).  The angel drew his sword and would not allow Balaam nor the donkey he rode upon to proceed.

Balaam, being blinded by the natural eye, could not see the angel and raged at his donkey for its stubbornness (verse 23-27).  Balaam was eager to walk in God’s permissive will, wouldn’t you say? Finally, God opened the donkey’s mouth to correct Balaam (verse 28-34). God was patient with Balaam seeing He still “allowed” him to continue with the men (verse 35).

The rest of the story is very simple. Multiple times Balak offers Balaam more riches in hopes that he will curse Israel and multiple times Balaam asks God if he could do it even though he already knew God’s perfect will (23:1-10; 13-24; 27-30). In the end, Balaam was convinced that God wasn’t going to curse Israel. Instead God told Balaam to bless Israel (verse 10). It was a complete waste of time for Balaam to follow those men in the first place. He wasted his time, God’s time, and Balak’s time. Balaam ultimately did accept God’s perfect will, but he was trying to get God to allow him to walk in His permissive will. What drove Balaam to want to walk in God’s permissive will? Earthly rewards. He kept testing God to see if He would make an exception so he could curse Israel and get all the rewards. Most times when Christians choose not to walk in God’s perfect will but rather His permissive will, it is pure selfishness. Balaam should have just stayed home and submitted to God. He instead allowed his flesh to overcome his emotions and tried to tempt God. That same problem came back to haunt him when he eventually did abandon God and caused is Israel to sin.

God has His perfect will for all of us! He knows what is best in every area of our lives (1 Cor. 2:9). It is so important that we follow His best will for us so we can produce as much fruit for his kingdom as possible! God has made each and every one of us for a specific purpose. They only way to fulfill the destiny He wants for your life is for you to accept the best that He wants for your life. In prayer, tell God that you accept His perfect will for your life and ask Him to speak to you what that is. We must also do our part by submitting to Him (Jas. 4:7).  Don’t allow Satan to steal what God wants for you!

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)

By: Riley

www.afaithfulsaying.wordpress.com

Theme: Nu. 25:1-15

Many stories in the Bible are shared today without mention of one honorable man named Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest. David mentions him in Ps. 106:30, “Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.” He was the grandson of Aaron the Priest who was Moses brother (Ex. 4:14). He came from a very important line of blood, and he knew it. So in the face of defilement he stood up and took such an action that turned away Gods judgment from Israel.  In his holy anger, he did Israel a great service. It was much like Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem (Jn. 2:15). Many times God looks at the actions of a few who are the leaders of a people to determine whether or not the whole is pure.

 That is why it is important to follow Godly leaders!

In verses 1-6, Israel is found in a terrible state. In verse 1 is says “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” The Lord always stressed to Israel the importance of abstaining from pagan people because of such instances as this. Israel yet again, found itself committing whoredom, eating pagan sacrifices, and even forsaking God to worship these foreign gods (verse 2)! As usual the Lord was displeased. In verse 3 it says the anger of the Lord was “kindled” against Israel. Whenever that phrase is used in the Old Testament it meant God was terribly angry. And rightly so, wouldn’t you say? After all God has done for them

?

The Lord, in his wrath, commands Moses to “take all the heads of the people, and hang them before the Lord against the sun” (verse 4) so that God’s anger will be turned away from Israel. What a penalty! Moses then gathered his judges together and told them to slay them (verse 5).  Picture Moses standing before his judges in a closed meeting, giving them directions directly from the Lord…watch what happens next. An Israelite takes brings a naked Midianitish women in front of the whole congregation to temp them into sin (verse 6)! Today, Christians must battle filth like this on the internet and TV, but this was the real thing! The people of the congregation were weeping for their people, and this wicked man commits such a sinful act (verse 6)!

“And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.” (verses 7-8).

Phinehas stood up for truth. He did not wait for Moses command nor did he wait for someone else to deal with it. Phinehas, by his action, proved he was the grandson of Aaron the Priest! Through his action he proved he had faith in God (Jas 2:17). Later, in verses 14-15, scripture tells us the man and women he slew were actually people with big names. He boldly slew people that probably had many angry friends. But they underestimated Phinehas, because he was “zealous for his God” (verse 13).  He was so zealous that when defilement arouse, he could not just stand there and watch it happen. In verses 10-13, we see that God was pleased with Phinehas so much that not only was the plague turned away, but God granted him and his seed after him “a covenant of peace, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood”.

One man and one action is all it took. Phinehas was a man zealous for his God and God rewarded him for it. But in order for God to reward him, he had to prove it. God calls us all to be like Phinehas and to be bold enough to destroy sin in our lives, homes, and churches. God calls us all to be holy (1 Pe. 1:16). And to be holy, we must act to remain holy. We need to prove to God that we are serious when we come to him and ask him to change us. It is time that we took the javelin of God’s Word and thrust it through every sin and hindrance in every part of our lives! Remember Phinehas, and pray that God would give you such a zeal and boldness for him!

By: Riley

afaithfulsaying.wordpress.com

Wine and Drinking Examined in the Bible

In the culture in which we live in today, one of the most anticipated and popular things one can do is socially drink.

No matter how good or bad the economy gets people hold fast to their glasses and bottles. It has been around almost forever and will most likely stay until the end of this world. As long as you are of age, people say it’s an okay thing to do. But what if one becomes a Christian? Is there still a place for drinking? Some Pastors and Deacons do it, they must know right?

There is only one authority on the Christian faith that can supersede any word or action of even a Pastor. That authority is The Bible. God’s Word to man that will never fail (Lu. 21:33). It’s time we started living from a Biblical perspective instead of just what our Christian friend or Pastor says or does.

Biblical Reasons NOT to Drink

1. When Israel performed Tabernacle duties –Lev. 10:9
2. When one had taken the Nazarite Vow – Nu. 6:3
3. Children of Israel abstained from drinking for God– De. 29:6
4. Angel commanded Samson’s barren mother  not to drink for it would interfere with the miracle – Jg. 13:4
5. Samson’s mother commanded by Angel not to give him strong drink ever – Jg. 13:7
6. Angel stressed point again to Father of Samson–Jg. 13:14
7. Hannah beseeches God by abstaining from drinking -1 Sa. 1:15
8. Drinker s of wine are not wise– Pr. 20:1
9. Lovers if wine shall not be rich– Pr. 21:17
10. Do not associate with winebibbers – Pr. 23: 20
11. People who are filled with woes seek wine – Pr. 23:30
12. Solomon warns of being deceived by the very appearance of wine – Pr. 23:31
13. Not for kings or princes to drink –Pr. 31:4
14. Give wine to those ready to perish – Pr. 31:6
15. Isaiah warns of being consumed with wine – Isa. 5:11
16. Terrible for strong and mighty men to drink – Isa. 5:22
17. Isaiah proclaims that Ephraim is overcome with wine. – Isa. 28:1
18. Gods people error through strong drink – Isa. 28:7
19. Isaiah attributes drinking wine with greedy and selfish people – Isa. 56:12
20. Cheap prophecy associated with strong drink – Mic. 2:11
21. Jeremiah compares his broken state to one being overcome with wine -Jer. 23:9
22. God uses Joadab’s commandment to his family to abstain from wine as a standard against Israel -Jer. 35:12-17
23. Priest shall not drink when they enter into inner court -Eze.44:21
24. Daniel refuses to defile himself with the king’s wine –Dan. 1:8
25. Belshazzar and servants honored pagan gods with wine –Dan. 5:29
26. False gods and wine are bundled together -Hos. 3:1
27. Whoredom bundles with wine -Hos. 4:11
28. God Commands not to drink wine of conquered people -Zep. 1:13
29. Angel foretells John the Baptist will abstain from strong drink and wine – Lu. 1:15
30. Wine causes Christians to stumble -Rom. 14:21
31. Not to be drunk with wine –Eph. 5:18
32. Bishop cannot be given to wine -1 Tim. 3:3
33. Deacon cannot be given to wine -1 Tit. 3:8
34. Elder women cannot be given to much wine –Tit. 2:3
35. Non-Christians bundled with drinkers of excess wine -1 Pet. 4:3

Instances When Wine Was Used for Evil

1. Noah was naked in shame-Gen. 9:21;24
2. Lots daughters gave Lot wine so they could sleep with him –Gen. 19:32-35
3. Isaac had wine when he mistakenly blessed Jacob- Gen. 27:25
4. Benhadad and 32 kings were drunk when they were defeated-1 Ki. 20:16
5. David tried to get Uriah drunk to pass blame- 2 Sa. 11:13
6. Absalom sought to kill Amnon with the help of wine-2 Sa. 13:29
7. People were sold for wine- Joel 3:3
8. Princes made king sick with wine- Hos.
   antibiotic

   7:5

9. People gave unto the Nazarites wine and ruined their vow to God -Am. 2:12
10. The people transgressed by wine –Hab. 2:5
11. Church members getting drunk from communion-1 Cor. 11:21

Instances Where Drunkenness Was Confused With Prayer

1. Eli confused praying with drunkenness- 1 Sam. 1:14-15
2. Apostles thought to be drunk- Ac. 2:13

ONLY Purpose in the New Testament where Wine Is Encouraged by Apostles

1. Wine used for medicine-1 Tim. 5:23

Jesus and Wine

1. Jesus is “claimed” to have drunken wine-Mt. 11:19
   1. His enemies said this, no evidence he absolutely did it
   2. Jesus refuses wine -Mark 15:23
   3. Jesus will abstain from “fruit of the vine” –Lu. 22:18
      1. Grape juice is referred to here, no proof it was fermented or intoxicating

Though wine is a praised in parts of the Old Testament, one must consider that the amount of alcohol in one drink used in those days cannot be compared to the great amounts that are used today. Thus to use those verses to advocate consumption of alcohol is not as strong of an argument as one would think. The book of Ecclesiastes, which many use as an argument for drinking, was written by Solomon in his backslidden state. One can easily see that many verses conflict with overall themes of the Old Testament.  Many of his books were included by God to show how the wisdom of man falls short of the wisdom of God. It can be concluded that while in times past drinking was permitted in certain circumstances, drinking was always forbidden when dealing with a holy duty or calling. The benefits of drinking are very small and do not offset the great woes that it is capable of bringing. God knew this, and that is why he forbids it so many times in the Old and New Testament. Whenever a person had a high calling in the Lord, they were never allowed to consume alcohol as a sign of holiness (ex. Samson, Nazarite, Temple Priests, John the Baptist).

Yes, it is true that drinking itself is not a sin (unless the Lord gives a command). The excess of it is. But in my life, I have never seen an anointed saint of God that drinks. The Christians that drink are the ones that are backslidden and rarely consider what God’s will is for their lives. Living a life sold out to God is a life of holiness and separation from the world. If you look like the world, act like the world, and talk like the world…you are of this world. So why would a saint of God knowing that Satan is after them ever want to give him such a foothold (1 Pe. 5:8)? That is where the “…is not wise” (Prov. 20:1) part comes in.  Wisdom is not for drinkers. The Holy Spirit desires Christians to have wisdom (1 Cor. 12:8).  Put the rest of the puzzle pieces together yourself, if you are a Christian then drinking should not be an option.

 

• Pray for those who “tarry long at the wine…” (Pr. 23:30)
• Pray Isaiah 24:9, that it would be a bitter taste in their mouth…

Isaiah 24:9 “They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.”

 

 

 

 

Arguments for an Old Universe

Arguments for a young universe

1. Expansion of the Universe. 2. Special and General Relativity. 3. Gravity as found in the universe. 4. Radioactive half-lives. 5. Light-speed. 6. Existence of stars. 7. Concept “Age consistency.” 8. Evidence of middle-aged galaxies–older galaxies than them. 9. Evidence from solar- system. antibiotic 10. Evidence from sun- earth- Swift Code Lookup moon system. 11. Stellar burning–brightness of stars. 12. Abundances of Radioactive elements. 13. Erosion on Mercury, Mars, and the moon. 14. Anthropic Principles. 15. The appearance of prehistoric men and creatures before humanity. 16. Meteorites landing upon the earth. 17. Mass and Angular Momentum of our solar system. 18. Orbital regularity of our solar system. 19. Chemical evidence of our solar system. 20. Highly Organized Carbonate Deposits underneath the surface of the earth. 21. The formation of Ooids [spheroidal bodies]. 22. Oceanic Sedimentation. 23. Deposits of Sandstone and Shale. 24. Coral growth. 25. Distribution of Marine Fossils. 26. Forest Deposits. 27. Sea-floor Spreading. 28. Magnetic Reversals.

1. Continents are eroding too quickly. 2. Dust accumulates too quickly on the moon’s surface; its rotation slowing down. 3. The earth’s magnetic field is decaying too rapidly. 4. The sun burns by gravitational contraction and as such must be young. 5. Galaxy clusters are not dispersed widely enough for the universe to be old. 6. Granite Crystal halos can only arise from 218 Po decay only if the earth is young. 7. Eruptions of Mount Saint Helens demonstrate that all geological processes are not gradual but rapid. 8. Spiral galaxies must be much younger due to the fact that computer model show that the spiral collapses after two or three rotations. 9. Human footprints alongside dinosaur prints prove that dinosaurs were contemporary with humans. 10. Comets by their short life span prove that the universe is very young. 11. If the sediments of the earth were deposited more than a hundred of millions of years, one should find meteorites throughout various levels of sediment on the earth’s surface. 12. Radioisotope dating is unreliable; Polonium-218 and its half-live prove a young earth; the absences of so many humans indicate a young earth. 13. Fossils support young earth. 14. The closeness of Venus, and its temperature support young earth; its temperature would be too hot if billions of years old. 15. Stars are burning out too fast for them to have been in existence for a very long time. 16. Limited amounts of Helium. 17. Rings around Saturn are being rapidly bombarded by meteoroids.

Gap Creationism is an ancient idea. The first theologian who thought of such an idea was St. Justin Martyr. He was born in the year 100 and converted to Christianity in the year 130 of our Lord. He was persecuted for his faith and was beheaded in the year 165. St. Justin Martyr supposes an indefinite period between the Creation and the first ordering of all things. This puts the idea of gap creationism 1,700 years before the scientific data of geology gave it credibility.

Another great theologian and philosopher that believed in gap creationism was St. Augustine of Hippo. He was born in the year 354 and died in 430. He believed in a considerable interval between the Creation related in the first verse of Genesis and of an account given in the third and following verses.

There is a great space of time since gap creationism was taught in our history. The reason was that many false teachings of our Lord and Savior came into existence by falsely lead believers, and much time was spent straightening out such false doctrines. Also, the Dark Ages entered into the existence of the world, and education was frowned upon.

After the Dark Ages, the gap theory was traced to a man named Simon Episcopius who was born in 1583 and died in 1643, and who was a theologian and scholar of his time. In the works of Episcopius, the gap theory of creationism show up in more detail. Thus, the gap theory of the old-earth theory predates the present-day geology by 200 years.

The gap theory has been portrayed as an attempt to change the Word of God as a way to appease the scientific discoveries. Scientist have gotten its idea of an age-old universe from ministers of the Word of God years before geological evidence came into existence. How is it possible then to claim that the gap theory compromises the Word of God? Also, present-day evolution was not coined until after the writings of Charles Darwin. By the way, Charles Darwin was a minister of the Word of God who graduated in the top ten of his theology class. Some major changes were made to his work for approval by the unbelieving scientists of the time. Darwin believed in God as the creator of the universe.

Charles Darwin has been misunderstood by both religion and science. His teaching have been misrepresented by science and condemned by most believers in God when it ought not to be the case. The word evolution is not even in his writings, but some geologist insist that we come from apes. It is a historical fact that many modern-day geologist believe in evolution, but the early geologist were Christians, and they believed in a vast amount of years for the Creation to occur. Evolutionists have taken the geological evidence and twisted these facts to promote evolution of the species. No such evidence is seen in geological formations.

Rev. Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), a mathematician and a respected minister, was a leader in the Free Church of Scotland. Thomas Chalmers became one of the most popular preacher of his time. He taught the gap theory, and it was accepted by many. Rev. Thomas Chalmers, in a review of Cuvier’s Theory of the Earth, taught that there was a vast period for the formation of the geological ages and the organic ages to have occurred after Genesis 1 when God created out of nothingness. Genesis 1:2 was a period, which life became void and formless; and the sun, the moon, and the stars were temporarily extingushed. Genesis 1:3 was to be preserved as the natural twenty-four-hour periods and the restoration of the old heavens and the earth.

Science in this author’s opinion has made a terrible mistake. They have taken the fact of the geological ages, the fossils of vegetable and applied those fossils to the idea that man must have developed just the same way without any fossils of man evolving from apes. Man was made in the image of God so he could have not evolved from apes, your are implying that God himself has evolved, for man was made in his image. Man was far more superior to the plants or beasts of the field.

Dr. John Pye-Smith (1774-1851), who was a good acquaintance of Thomas Chalmers, had almost the same view as Rev. Chalmers. In the Congregational Lecture Sixth Series, Scripture and Geology in 1840, he gives a brilliant defense of the gap theory of creation and a scholarly offence for the promotion of that theory. This man’s credibility was attacked by ignorant believers in God and also by geologists.He wrote more extensively on the subject of gap creationism than most others who believed in this gap theory.

Rev. Denis Crofton was another advocate for the gap theory of creation. In his book Genesis and Geology printed in 1853, he gives many scriptures on the gap theory and biblically defends the theory with boldness and brilliance. There were many other ministers that defended such a theory. Yet many evangelical Christians tell us that they all changed their minds about the gap theory of creation, which simply is not true. This is a misrepresentation of the historical fact of the gap theory of creation.

Rev. William Buckland was the first to read rock formations and the first to find a lizard that was considered a dinosaur.

He was the first to find a complete skeleton that predates Adam. He believed that it was the minister’s duty to study what the creator has created and to learn more about God. In 1820, he published a book The Connection of Geology with Religion explained. William Buckland believed in a gap-theory catastrophe. In 1823, he published a book Observations on the Organic Remains Contained in Caves, Fissures, and diluvial Gravel and Other Geological Phenomena, Attesting the Action of a Universal Deluge. When you read this book, you can see the subtleties against the young-earth concept.

Other geologists agreed with the age-old theory of creation. Hugh Miller in his 1857 book The Testimony of the Rocks states both sides of the issue of young-earth and old-earth theory of Creation. He personally makes a stand for the old-age earth theory though it is different than gap creationism, and it is stated in this book although we are told that he believed otherwise.

Also, reverend and professor of geology, Edward Hitchcock defends the concept of the old-age earth and gap creationism with scripture and geology. In his 1851 book Religion of Geology and Its Connected Sciences, he clearly states the gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The list continues to grow while I do my research and buy rare book on the gap theory of creation. These are just a gew of the major players in the old-earth concept. Why do we not teach this concept anymore and pretend that the great minds of Christians from the past are insignificant?

These are just a few prominent individuals that believed in the gap theory of creation. Creationists have labeled them as compromisers of the Word of God. Compromisers believe in scientific evidences in geology and say that the world is old, and the scriptures do support those ideas, Creationists believe in a literal six-day Creation and believe the universe is no older than 10,000 years and say the scriptures do not support the universe as being old. Therefore, creationists have given those that believe in the gap theory of creation a negative label to discourage others from believing in the same way as gap creationist.

Our best expositors of scripture, says Rev. David King of Glasgow, seem to be now pretty generally agreed, that the opening verse in Genesis has no connection with the verses that follow. They think it may be understood as making a separate and independent state ment regarding the creation proper, and that the phrase in the beginning may be expressive of an indefinitely remote antiquity. On this principle the Bible recognizes, in the first instance, the great age of the earth, and then tells us of the changes it underwent at a period long subsequent, in order to render it a fit abode for the family of man. The work of the six days was not, according to this view, a creation in the strict sense of the term, but a renovation, a remodeling of preexisting materials. (Principles of Geology Explained and Viewed in Their Relations to Revealed and Natural Religion first edition p. 40)

Source:  http://gapcreationism.com/blank.html

THROUGHOUT THE whole process of the preparation of the earth for man, there seem to have been not merely periods of great creative activity but also periods of great destruction. And these periods of destruction seem to have been related in some way to the times of creative activity, not causally but as a kind of prelude or clearing-of-the-decks. Perhaps Agassiz was a little extreme in his view that there were innumerable such clearings-of-the-decks, believing as he did that there were at least hundreds of these catastrophes, wiping out every plant and animal over vast areas of the earth’s surface, but he was by no means alone in recognizing the profound effect such would have upon the earth’s ecology.

Like the other major interruptions in geological history, they seem to mark real boundaries between the eras, the largest divisions of geological time. Normal D. Newell of the American Museum of Natural History in New York has put it this way: (153)

Abrupt paleontological changes at these stratigraphic levels are real, approximately synchronous, and recognizable at many places in different parts of the earth where fossiliferous rocks of approximately similar age are represented and have been carefully examined.

These are seemingly global events, which “are characterized by the abrupt dropping out of all the species, most of the genera, and many of the higher categories (superfamilies, orders, and classes) characteristic of the times.” When the earth settled down again, we seem almost to be in a new world. Otto H. Schindewolf of Tubingen, who has been particularly concerned with this problem, noted that in the recovery period the new categories of life that suddenly appear without antecedents often seem to be representative of types in the later, more completely occupied world. It looks as though God was indeed introducing the archtypes that were to mark the new order, giving them the wide potentials for later diversification that my thesis proposes.

Newell notes such abrupt changes of scene, especially at the end of Permian, at the close of the Mesozoic, and just before the present order of life was introduced. He pointed out that “geologists have long supposed that rates of evolution and extinction are in some manner influenced by the ecological changes induced by orogeny (i.e., mountain-building).” But he added: (154)

In recent years it has become increasingly evident that orogenic disturbances and associated ecological changes are actually rather restricted in extent and therefore of minor evolutionary importance…. Evolutionary episodes as revealed in the record of fossils apparently do not coincide closely with times of mountain building.

When the age of the great cold-blooded reptiles passed away and warm-blooded animals appeared on the earth in their place, there actually was one such abrupt discontinuity between the old and the new worlds on a global scale. Henry F. Osborn observed: (155)

The most dramatic and in many respects the most puzzling event in the history of life on the earth, is the change which exterminated this vast array of creatures. These reptiles were in the climax of specialization and grandeur…. We have no conception as to what world-wide cause occurred…. We can only observe that the world-wide effect was the same: the giant reptiles both of sea and land disappeared.

Some of the proposed explanations could apply readily enough to the land animals, as for example the diminishing food supply in the form of plant life. But this does not help very much with respect to those animals which lived in the sea. Whatever the cause, it was one which operated equally on land and sea, and it was surprisingly sudden. George Gamow has put it: (156)

The kingdom of giant reptiles with its innumerable representatives on the land, in the sea, and in the air, was certainly the most powerful and extensive animal kingdom during the entire existence of life on the earth, but it had also a most tragic and unexpected end. During a comparatively short period towards the end of the Mesozoic Era the Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, and all the other “sauri” disappeared from the surface of the earth as if wiped away by some giant storm…. The causes that led to such a sudden extinction of the most powerful animals that ever existed on the surface of our planet have remained rather obscure.

Not only do we have the evidence, of a negative kind, that such creatures suddenly vanished from the scene, but we have a more positive evidence in the existence of so-called animal cemeteries which are considerably later. These take the form of very extensive beds in which millions of bones of a very wide variety of species of animals are found indiscriminately mixed together. In these cemeteries there are the remains of herbivorous as well as carnivorous animals and the bones of the former apparently show no signs of having been gnawed. This is a proof that both types of animals perished together. Furthermore, there is little evidence of weathering, a fact which is taken to mean that they were buried almost as quickly as they were destroyed–perhaps by the very agency which destroyed them. And finally the bones are forcibly intermixed; that is to say, the leg bone of one species may be found rammed tightly into the eye socket of the skull of another species, a circumstance which suggests that these creatures were overwhelmed, not merely suddenly, but violently. Such cemeteries have to be seen to be believed. No simple explanation such as that the bones of centuries of dead creatures merely accumulated by being washed into a depression, or that they represent the after-dinner remains of generations of some particular local predatory species (such as hyenas for example) will suffice. These bones have not been exposed to the sun or the air for any length of time prior to burial, nor are they gnawed.

Newell leaned heavily on the work of Schindewolf (the importance of whose work, incidentally, has been recognized by G. G. Simpson) and emphasized the reality of these discontinuities and the widespread nature of them. And he admitted frankly that they seem (at least in some cases) to be caused by quite exceptional circumstances, circumstances not commonly observed at other periods of geological history or often affecting aquatic life as dramatically as terrestrial

life. So exceptional are the circumstances, in fact, that according to Newell: (157)

Schindewolf believes the best way to explain many of the innumerable small as well as the few large discontinuities in the fossil record. . . is by means of catastrophic extinctions and simultaneous creation of new faunas.

Of course, this kind of explanation is unacceptable to the great majority of recognized authorities on matters geological. Ernst Mayr felt that the explanation is really quite simple. (158) He said, “Ultimately their extinction is due to an inability of their genotype to respond to new selective pressures,” an explanation which sounds impressive but merely pushes the problem one step further back to the prior question, Why this inability? There might also be many equally simple answers to this question in terms of current genetic theory, but the problem still remains as to why such an inability to respond should suddenly arise in hundreds of thousands of animals of different categories and all in the same geological time frame. It is not at all a comparable situation to the somewhat limited but none the less sad extinction of species which seem to be associated with the propensities for overkill by early man in his hunting forays, (159) or by the buffalo hunters of recent memory. These humanly induced extinctions had only a small effect on the total ecology, comparatively speaking, for they concern only a small number of species.

Perhaps the most striking extinction of all that is still essentially unexplained is the one which seems to have immediately preceded the appearance of true man and which is in some way linked to the coming of the Ice Age. It is difficult to discuss this particularly disastrous event without appearing to be overdramatic, and those who constitutionally find any kind of catastrophism distasteful try hard to play down the quite extraordinary character of the fossil record from which we must reconstruct the event. This catastrophe was sudden in the extreme. It was violent. It seems to have been very widespread. It was accompanied by a fundamental change in climatic conditions in many parts of the world. It wiped out enormous numbers of animals of all kinds–large and small, land and aquatic. And it literally marked the end of a whole world order. Look at some of the facts of the case as set forth by various authorities since the early years of the last century.

In 1821, Benjamin Silliman of the Department of Geology at Yale University, wrote of the large number of species which were apparently overwhelmed in this single catastrophe. He pointed out that whales, sharks, crocodiles, mammoths, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippos, tigers, deer, horses, various species of the bovine family, and a multitude of others were found in strata “in most instances indicating that they were buried by the same catastrophe which destroyed them all.” (160) A contemporary of Silliman’s, Granville Penn, wrote: (161)

The great problem for geological theories to explain is that amazing phenomenon, the mingling of the remains of animals of different species and climates, discovered in exhaustless quantities in the interior parts of the earth so that the exuviae of those genera which no longer exist at all, are found confusedly mixed together in the soils of the most northerly latitudes. . . The bones of those animals which can live only in the torrid zone are buried m the frozen soil of the polar regions.

And to quote one more contemporary, George Fairholme, who described similar evidence in Italy from the Arno River Valley: (162)

In this sandy matrix bones were found at every depth from that of a few feet to a hundred feet or more. From the large and more apparent bones of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the megatherium, the elk, the buffalo, the stag, and so forth, naturalists were led by the elaborate studies of Cuvier and other comparative anatomists to the remains of the now living bear, tiger, wolf, hyena, rabbit, and finally the more minute remains even of the water rat and the mouse. In some places so complete was the confusion . . . that the bones of many different elephants were brought into contact, and on some of them even oyster shells were matted.

Both Darwin and Wallace were impressed by the evidence of mass destruction just before man appeared. In his Journal of Researches, the former wrote of his wonder at the picture presented by the fossil record in South America, which he visited on the voyage of the Beagle in 1845: (163)

The mind is at first irresistibly hurried into the belief that some great catastrophe has occurred. Thus, to destroy animals both large and small in South Patagonia, in Brazil, in the Cordillera, in North America up to the Behring Straits, we must shake the entire framework of the globe. Certainly no fact in the long history of the world is so startling as the wide extermination of its Inhabitants.

His contemporary, Alfred R. Wallace, in 1876 wrote in a similar vein: (164)

We live in a zoologically impoverished world, from which all the hugest and fiercest, and strangest forms have recently disappeared…. Yet it is surely a marvelous fact, and one that has hardly been sufficiently dwelt upon this sudden dying out of so many large mammalia not in one place only but over half the land surface of the globe….

There must have been some physical cause for this great change, and it must have been a cause capable of acting almost simultaneously over large portions of the earth’s surface.

One of the most thorough students of this last great catastrophe was Sir Henry Howorth whose works are now virtually unobtainable. Although his interpretation of the evidence was, and still is, rejected by geologists committed to Lyell’s principle of uniformity, he nevertheless put on record a tremendous amount of data, much of it gathered at firsthand, which is not nearly as well known as it should be. In one of his major works, The Mammoth and the Flood, he collected data regarding the innumerable known cases of mammoths frozen in northern latitudes, particularly in Siberia. (165) And yet in spite of this information, which is always very well documented, a comparatively recent paper by William R. Farrand entitled, “Frozen Mammoths and Modern Geology,” spoke of only some 39 known frozen carcasses, of which only four are by any means complete; and it never once mentions the books and papers published by Sir Henry Howorth. (166) To Dr. Farrand, there is no real evidence of catastrophe in spite of the extraordinary circumstances under which these giant creatures evidently died. Howorth, however, gives many details which it is quite impossible, I believe, to account for in any other way than by assuming a very sudden catastrophe followed almost immediately by intense cold. It was encouraging to see that a correspondent countered Farrand’s statements very effectively: (167) but Farrand replied with considerable sarcasm, clearly being on the defensive.

In 1887 Howorth wrote: (168)

In the first place, it is almost certain in my opinion that a very great cataclysm or catastrophe occurred . . . by which the mammoth with his companions was overwhelmed over a very large part of the earth’s surface. This catastrophe, secondly, involved a widespread flood of waters which not only killed the animals but also buried them under continuous beds of loam or gravel. Thirdly, that the same catastrophe was accompanied by a very sudden change of climate in Siberia, by which the animals that had previously lived in fairly temperate conditions were frozen in their flesh under the ground and have remained there ever since.

When the facts are stated, they are of such a nature as to be almost incredible and they are drawn from the works of such men as Wrangell, Strahlenberg, Witzen, Muller, Klaproth, Avril, Erman, Hedenstrom, Betuschef, Bregne, Gemlin, Brandt, Antermony, Liachof, Kusholof, Chamisso, Maljuschkin, Ides, Baer, Schmidt, Bell, Tatishof, Middendorf, von Schrenck, Olders, Laptef, Sarytschef, Motschulsky, Schtscukin, Maydell, besides the official documents of the Russian Government.

One of the rivers of Siberia that empties into the Arctic is the Yenessei. Concerning the buried animals revealed in the strata along the sides of this river, Howorth remarked: (169)

Pallas reports that the mammoth bones which fall out of the cliffs are so numerous that on decomposing they form a substance called “osteocolli” or “bone glue.” The next great river eastward towards Alaska, emptying into the Arctic, is the Lena. It is a vast stream which consists of twists and turns, making a course of over 2000 miles. The natives who live in the regions of the Lena river make a living travelling up and down the river in boats, gathering up the ivory tusks that they see sticking out of cliffs along the river banks and which they find fallen to the edge of the water.

The number of animals that are buried in Siberia must be stupendous. Some conception can be obtained from the fact that since A.D. 900 men have made it a business to collect the ivory of the region and sell it in China, Arabia, and Europe. In one case where a record was secured, Lyddeker stated that in a period of twenty years tusks from at least 20,000 animals were taken from the Siberian mines to markets in Europe during the nineteenth century. (170) Howorth reported what has since been confirmed many times, that the contents of the stomachs of many of these giants had been examined carefully and been shown to contain undigested food, composed of leaves of trees now found in southern Siberia. (171) Microscopic examination of the skins of some of these animals has since revealed red blood corpuscles. This is thought to be proof, not only of sudden death, but death due to suffocation either by gas or water. (172) One particular animal with an undigested meal still in its stomach had been eating buttercups, sedges, grasses, the beans of wild oxytropis, and young shoots of fir and pine. In l901 an expedition to Kolomysk was made by some Russian scientists to convey to St. Petersburg a particularly fine specimen with hair, skin, and flesh perfectly preserved–which also had the remains of undigested food in its stomach. (173)

Fig. 1. Imperial Mammoth (Elephas imperator) of Nebraska and Texas, after a painting by C. R. Knight in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. This is typical of specimens such as the various Siberian finds mentioned in the text. Photo used courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.

Perhaps no one single discovery can ever quite convey so strong an impression of the suddenness and immensity of the catastrophe as one reported first by Brandt, (174) and subsequently accredited by others, in which three mammoth mummies were found standing erect and facing north. A similar discovery was made by Fisher of a single specimen in the same extraordinary attitude of arrested flight.

We have mentioned the existence of rhinoceroses in a similar condition. In a letter to Baron Humboldt from the same Professor Brandt (of St. Petersburg), particulars are given of a rhinoceros obtained by Pallas in 1772 from Wiljiusky (latitude 64º), from the banks of the Wiljiu, a tributary of the Lena. Brandt wrote concerning it: (175)

I have been so fortunate as to extract from cavities in the molar teeth of the Wiljiu rhinoceros a small quantity of its half-chewed food, among which fragments of pine leaves, one half of the seed of a polygonacious plant, and very minute portions of wood with porous cells or small fragments of coniferous wood were still recognizable. It was also remarkable on a close examination of the head, that the blood vessels discovered in the interior of the mass appeared to be filled, even to the capillary vessels, with a brown mass (coagulated blood), which in many places still showed the red colour of blood.

Before considering similar animal cemeteries in other parts of the world, it might be well to point out that it is not a normal occurrence to find dead animals anywhere --except on our highways! For example, Baron Nordenskiold remarked: (176)

In the first place I must call attention to the extreme rarity of the occurrence of the remains of animals which have recently died....

During my nine expeditions in the Arctic regions, where animal life during summer is exceedingly abundant, I can recall very few occasions upon which I have found remains of vertebrate animals which could be proved to have died a natural death. Near hunting grounds there are to be seen, often enough, the remains of reindeer, seals, foxes, or bears that have died from gunshot wounds, but no naturally dead polar bear, seals, walrus, white whale, fox, goose, auk, lemming or other vertebrates. The polar bear and the reindeer are found there in hundreds: the seal, walrus, and white whale in thousands: and birds in millions. These animals must die a natural death in untold numbers. What becomes of their bodies? Of this we have for the present no idea....

The only conclusion that one can draw from this is that the death of these hundreds of thousands of large animals was unnatural, and virtually simultaneous. How do we know it was simultaneous? Because, as we shall see, similar vast cemeteries are found elsewhere, in which the predators and the preyed upon died together, and there is no evidence of the bones of any of the animals having been gnawed. The only difference between these animal cemeteries in other parts of the world and those in Siberia is that the former were not preserved by refrigeration, and therefore appear rather as vast assemblages of bones. (177) In the Harvard Museum a slab six feet by ten feet contains bones so thickly packed and in such confusion that there is every evidence of violence in their compaction. In the Colorado Museum of Natural History a similar geological exhibit is to be seen, taken from an animal cemetery at Agate Springs, in which it is estimated that the bones of about 9000 complete animals are buried in one hill. One section of such a bone cemetery is shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 2. Part of an animal cemetery taken from a quarry at Agate Springs, Nebraska, and now exhibited in the Denver Museum of Natural History. It contains bones of thousands of animals, extending over a wide area. Photo used courtesy of the Denver Museum of Natural History.

Howorth had this to say about these animal cemeteries: (178)

The most obvious cause we can appeal to as occasionally producing mortality on a wide scale among animals is a murrain or pestilence, but what murrain or pestilence is so completely unbiased in its actions as to sweep away all forms of terrestrial life, even the very carriers of it--the rodents-- including the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses, frogs, mice, bison and snakes, landsnails, and every conceivable form of life, and this not in one corner only but, as far as we know, over the whole of the two great continents irrespective of latitude or longitude.

The fact of the bones occurring in great caches or deposits in which various species are mixed pell-mell is very important, and it is a fact undenied by geologists that whenever we find such a locality in which animals have suffered together in a violent and instantaneous destruction, the bones are invariably mixed and, as it were, "deposited" in a manner which could hardly be explained otherwise than by postulating the action of great tidal waves carrying fishes and all before them, depositing them far inland with no respect to order.

Howorth continued later:

If animals die occasionally (in large numbers) from natural causes, different species do not come together to die, nor does the lion come to take his last sleep with the lamb! The fact of finding masses of animal remains.of mixed species all showing the same state of preservation, not only points to a more or less contemporary death, but is quite fatal to the theory that they ended their days peacefully and by purely natural means.

If they had been exposed to the air, and to the severe transition between mid-winter and mid-summer, which characterizes Arctic latitudes, the mammoths would have decayed rapidly. But their state of preservation proves that they were covered over and protected ever since.

This renowned but neglected authority concluded: (179)

It is almost certain in my opinion that a very great cataclysm or catastrophe occurred by which the mammoth and his companions were overwhelmed over a very large part of the earth's surface. And that the same catastrophe was accompanied by a very great and sudden change of climate in Siberia, by which the animals which had previously lived in fairly temperate conditions were frozen . . . and were never once thawed until the day of their discovery. No other theory will explain the perfect preservation of these great elephants.

From the Antarctic also there is evidence, according to geologists of the Byrd Expedition, (180) of similarly different climatic conditions. Great coal fields, evidence of luxuriant growth, were discovered at the head of Thorne Glacier in the Queen Maude Range within 200 miles of the South Pole. Such conditions so near to that frightful wilderness of ice and snow, which is so much more terrible than the North Pole in its coldness and barrenness, is remarkable witness of a previous world which must have been a very different one. So numerous are the fossils there that the explorers actually had difficulty making a selection. Today life in these regions is conspicuously absent.

Evan Hopkins remarked that the fossil plants of north Greenland proved that the land has been favored with a climate at least 30º F, warmer than at present. (181) He pointed out also that among the animals entombed in the deposits in Siberia besides the mammoths are bears, hippos, hyena, lions, tigers, and others which can only live and flourish in or near the tropics. Moreover, the fossil forest at Atanekerdluk at a latitude of 70º is indicative of a temperature of at least 30º F, higher than is now found at that parallel. Similar conditions are likely to be found now at the 48º parallel, a fact which shows a shift of climate with respect to the equator.

What has been said of land animals is equally true of fishes and even of plants. Some years ago Philip Le Riche presented a paper before the Victoria Institute in London in which he made this statement: (182)

It can easily be shown that many of the strata contain the fossil remains of fish which have been suddenly interred before putrefaction had acted upon their fleshy bodies, for their bodies are preserved as they were during life. And this remarkable state of preservation of fish life is also found in the flora. For plants as fine as maidenhair ferns are found embedded in the strata with even their venules intact, showing that they must have been buried very shortly after their deposition in the sediment, otherwise they would have become converted into leaf mold and indistinguishable, whereas a botanist can place the fossil plant in its proper order of plant life.

The suddenness of this destruction is further strikingly borne out by the fossil cuttlefish of Lyme Regis that were killed and entombed with such inconceivable rapidity that they still retain the dark fluid with which their ink bags are filled when alive. (183) But these animals when disturbed release this protective device within a matter of seconds. Speaking of fish, Howorth even recorded a whale which was found entombed with the elephants, a discovery which Pallas confirmed--mentioning also buffalo in situ with the heads of large fishes.

In spite of the fact that many of these authorities would now be considered quite out of date, so that their interpretations would almost certainly be rejected, the evidence itself remains undeniable; and it is difficult to explain it satisfactorily in any other way. In concluding this brief survey, and referring this time to accumulations of bones which were washed pell-mell into fissures and clefts in the rocks, one can reflect upon the words of the venerable Joseph Prestwich, affectionately styled the Father of the Geological Society. After speaking of such animal cemeteries and pointing out how the bones of carnivores are mixed indiscriminately with those of their natural prey, the bodies seeming to have been torn apart with violence, he summed the situation up by saying: (184)

These bones cannot be of animals which fell into these fissures (where they are found in such profusion), for no skeleton is complete. They cannot have been brought by beasts of prey, for none are gnawed. They were not brought by streams (i.e., spring floods), for none are rolled. The bones could not have laid exposed for long, for none are weathered. They were not covered up normally, for they were broken by the violence of their deposition together with the associated rocks....

The formation of these fissure deposits in so many places . . . seems to confirm the belief that the rubble drift itself did not owe its origin to normal causes, but to something catastrophic in the nature of earth movements.

Such, then, is the kind of evidence which is to be found all over the world of the sudden death of an enormous number of animals of very recent and modern times. Some of these creatures died in latitudes that were almost at once plunged into an Ice Age which preserved them by freezing. Some of them died in more temperate zones and were accumulated by the action of torrents of water sweeping hither and yon as the earth reeled, before the waters had been sufficiently gathered together in one place to expose the dry land. And, finally, some were accumulated and rammed together forcibly and indiscriminately into clefts in the rocks which served to sieve them out of the draining waters.

The suddenness of the event is everywhere attested, in the Arctic by the extraordinary state of preservation of mammoths and other creatures, and in the more temperate zones by the very fact that predators and preyed upon came to a sudden end together. Even within the waters, the movements of silt and water-washed materials were sometimes so sudden and overwhelming that fishes were trapped before they had the few seconds necessary to react in a characteristic defensive way. Some bivalved forms, in fact, were overwhelmed so rapidly that they did not have time to close.

Furthermore, we may conclude, I think, that the catastrophe which was worldwide profoundly affected world climate. There are some who believe that the Ice Age is bound up with the sudden subsidence of the waters . They argue that the effect of this subsidence was greatly to increase the exposed land area. I am not competent to assess the mechanics of this hypothesis, but there is little doubt that what has been observed was related to the coming of the great cold which brought ice down over half of the northern hemisphere and introduced the world to an Ice Age from which we really have not yet altogether recovered. We may say that the ice caps have merely retreated far enough to allow most of us to ignore them. And the event was recent indeed. The present is, geologically speaking, the end of the Pleistocene. It is as Shull has observed: (185)

At few points in geological history has there been extermination comparable to that of mammals in the time just preceding the recent. In part this may be due to repeated glaciation, but most of it is unexplained. Only the tropical regions, notably Africa, escaped this great diminution of mammals, and the Pleistocene mammals of that continent were essentially the same as today.

A study of the rocks indicates that the same may be said largely of Australia. The pattern of fossil marsupials has continued on in that continent and is still with us. It is probably true, as Baker pointed out, that not a few species of animals--indeed, large areas of living things--might very well have survived the catastrophe. But those which perished irretrievably as species had to be recreated. (186) Those species which had not perished altogether began once more to multiply. Possibly this is why in Genesis 1 God said in some cases, "Let the earth bring forth.

. . ," while in other cases Scripture says, "So God created. . . ," etc. Not everything had to be recreated; and as for plant life, the earth perhaps did indeed bring forth seed which was in itself--in the earth (Gen. 1:11).

Perhaps the tilting of the earth' s axis by as much as 40º or more at the time of the last great convulsion of nature may have been partially responsible for the fact that in the New World, for example, the great ice sheet reached down over New York State. Possibly we shall yet discover what upset the earth's equilibrium at the time to cause this tilt. When--and if--this axis of rotation becomes completely vertical again, the ice caps will presumably disappear entirely and the whole earth could enjoy a temperate climate. The recovery at present is only partial (23º), so that although the ice retreats annually, we still have polar caps with us. If we assume that the axis of rotation of the world that then was, was normal to the earth's plane of rotation around the sun, then that world would have enjoyed a much more temperate climate over its whole surface. This could have important theoretical implications, for as H. Hamshaw Thomas of Cambridge, in a letter to Nature, pointed out: (187)

The possibility that changes have occurred during the past in the position of the earth's axis of rotation. . . is of great interest to all students of fossil plants.

It has long been clear that the geological evidence of former vegetation shows that the lands around the Arctic Sea bore an ample covering of plants during a long period, probably from Devonian to Tertiary times. This vegetation included many large trees and was very different from the scanty flora of these regions living today.

And so the Old World was suddenly brought to an end just when it had seemed ready to receive man as its paramount chief. But God had formed it and given it its appointments and established its natural order; and He had not created all this in vain (Isa. 45:18). He had intended it in the first place as a habitation for man, and although His intention had been forestalled by some counteragency, that intention stood firm: and so the process of reconstitution was once again undertaken by the Lord to put everything ready for the introduction of man, for whom it had all been planned.

Thus man finds himself in a world in which there are strange contradictions. Everywhere to the eye of faith there is evidence of plan and purpose--such evidence, in fact, that even the unbelieving find it hard not to recognize it. At the same time, equally ubiquitous, is the evidence of catastrophe and judgment, as though some contrary planner had been at work seeking to thwart the Creator's design, and more particularly and more dramatically just when man's coming was drawing near.

Perhaps it is time to reassess the geological evidence in the light of these two opposing forces, one for good and one for evil.

153. Newell, Norman D., "Catastrophism and the Fossil Record," Evolution 10, no. 1 (1956):97.

154. Ibid.

155. Osborn, Henry F., The Age of Mammals in Europe, Asia and North America, Macmillan, New York, 1910, p. 98.

156. Gamow, George, Biography of the Earth, Mentor Books, New York, 1948, p. 173.

157. Newell, Norman D., ref. 153, p. 100.

158. Mayr, Ernst, ref. 128, p. 620.

159. On the concept of overkill, see: Pleistocene Extinctions, ed. P. S. Martin and H.E.Wright, Jr., Vol. VI., Proc. of 7th Congress of the International Association for Quaternary Research; especially Martin's own paper, "Prehistoric Over-Kill," Yale U. Press, 1967, pp. 75-120.

160. Silliman, Benjamin, in Amer. Jour. Sci. 3 (1821):47f.; 8 (1827):130f.

161. Penn, Granville, A Comparative Estimate of thc Mineral and Mosaical Geologies, Vol. II, 2nd ed., London, 1825, p. 81.

162. Fairholme, George, New and Conclusive Physical Demonstrations of the Fact and Period of the Mosaic Deluge, n.p., 1837.

163. Darwin, Charles, Journal of Researches, Ward Lock, New York. 1845, p. 178.

164. Wallace, Alfred Russell, Geographical Distribution of Animals, Vol. 1, Hafner, New York, 1876, pp. 150, 151.

165. Howorth, Sir Henry, Thc Mammoth and thc Flood: Uniformity and Geology, London, 1887.

166. Farrand, William R., "Frozen Mammoths and Modern Geology," Science 133 (1961):729-735.

167. Lippman, Harold E., Letter to the Editor, under the heading "Frozen Mammoths," Science 137 (1962):449ff.

168. Howorth, Sir Henry, ref. 165, p. 47.

169. Ibid., p. 54.

170. Lydekker, Richard, Annual Report, Smithsonian Instit., 1899, pp. 361-366.

171. Undigested food: cf. Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, Vol . I, p. 183, quoting a letter to Humboldt from Prof. Brandt Of St. Petersburg; also Sci. American, August 1901, for a similar observation; and Sci. American, September 1951, p. 164.

172. Death by suffocation: first remarked upon by Prof. Brandt in 1846 in the Proc. of Berlin Academy, p. 223.

173. Brandt: quoted by Howorth, ref. 165, p. 61.

174. Brandt, in Lyell's Principles of Geology, Vol. I, p. 183.

175. Ibid.

176. Nordenskiold, Baron N.A.E., Voyage of the Vega, Vol. 1, 1881, pp. 322, 323.

177. Animal cemeteries: see more recently the New York World, reporting from Alaska, June 1, 1930, and Associated Press, April 16, 1949.

178. Howorth, Sir Henry, ref. 165, p. 180.

179. Ibid.

180. Reported from Little America in the Toronto Telegram, December 13, 1933.

181. Hopkins, Evan, "On Terrestrial Changes and the Probable Ages of the Continents," Trans. Vict. Instit. 2 (1867): 4, 8.

182. Le Riche, Philip, "Scientific Proofs of the Universal Deluge," Trans. Vict. Instit. 61 (1929):86.

183. Cuttlefish of Lyme Regis: see Byron C. Nelson, The Deluge Story in Stone, Augsburg, Minneapolis, 1931, p. 113.

184. Prestwich, Joseph, in the Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. 48 (1912):326.

185. Shull A. F., ref. 48, p. 65.

186 Baker, Howard B., The Atlantic Rift and Its Meaning, publ. privately, 1932, with numerous illustrations and extensive bibliography, pp. 181-183 (obtainable only from Library of Congress).

187. Thomas, Hamshaw, Letter to the Editor, Nature, August 20, 1955, p. 349.

Corrections, June 4, 1997.

by David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

I believe God’s vision for His last-day church is based on His revealed

Word—because the Bible clearly outlines what the church of Jesus Christ will

be like just prior to His coming.

The church in America is far from what God envisioned it to be. For the most

part, entire denominations today operate without the Holy Spirit. They are

devoid of the presence of Jesus and bankrupt of all spiritual gifts. They

practice a form of religion without any power, conviction or saving message.

They are cozy with the world and are more political than spiritual. They

appease sin, wink at divorce and ridicule the supernatural, while tossing aside

all teaching about heaven, hell, repentance

and judgment.

The New Testament church made devils tremble! It drove legions of demons into

the abyss, prayed prison doors open, made rulers cringe in fear.

Those early

believers had such faith and power that cripples rose up leaping and beggars

became evangelists. They believed in the supernatural and they opened blind

eyes, unstopped deaf ears and healed all manner of diseases. They even raised

the dead!

I am not saying God’s last-day church will be a repeat or copy of the

first-century church. No—I am saying it will be even greater than that! It

will be mightier, stronger, with an ever greater revelation of Jesus. It will

have greater unction from the Spirit than ever—greater even than at

Pentecost! God always saves His best wine for last!

The prophet Daniel confirms this. He said that certain prophetic truths were

locked up, only to be revealed in the last days: “For the words are closed up

and sealed till the time of the end. . . . And none of the wicked shall

understand, but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:9-10).

Today the Holy Spirit is revealing these things to spiritual, discerning

saints! “It is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered

into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love

Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit

searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

The Lord is preparing a powerful yet humble army of shepherds after His own

heart and also a remnant congregation of hungry sheep who have turned away from

the deadness and sin of the modern church. The scene is being set for that

church which will be hot, not lukewarm—and it will rock the very foundations

of hell. No power on earth will be able to ignore or despise it!

 

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your prayers during the busy month of October. The youth conference went well, and on Halloween night I ministered to a packed Spanish Pentecostal church filled with youth in Northeast El Paso.

I am grateful God opened doors on that day to minister the truth in the midst of what is one of the darkest, most satanic nights of the year. By His grace we are able to proclaim truth and say, THIS is the day that the LORD has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it! God made EVERY day of the year, and we will glorify HIM on Halloween and NOT bow the knee to the enemy.

In conjunction with that event as well as the human trafficking event, we did three separate television interviews with KSCE Christian television and were able to bring a strong message on many issues, but especially concerning sexual abuse and the exploitation of our children and teens.

Our day workshop on human trafficking was attended by close to 100 people. We were able to have ICE there to give out information on human trafficking, and a representative from the Sheriff’s office and the Salvation Army, Virginia McCrimmon. Our local Salvation Army is deeply involved in the rescue and care of victims of human trafficking. El Paso is a major hub for this evil.

Many thanks to Beti Stanghellini and all the great folks at JHOP for sponsoring and helping us carry out this event.
It was very timely, and I believe important, especially in the light of recent events at Penn State. Now that the initial victim count of 7 children and young teens violated by coach Jerry Sandusky has gone public, we are learning about not just the MASSIVE FAILURE to report on the part of coaches, campus police, presidents and even Joe “JoePa” Paterno, but we saw the completely  insane initial reaction as some students RIOTED because Paterno was fired. There was no concern for the victims; all many cared about is the reputation of the school, and the reputation of people who are revered because of football, rather than the devastation of family and friends and victims that NONE of these people did to doanything about.

I think this could get very deep. I keep feeling that there is far more to this than just one pedophile and several kids. In fact, the DA who tried and failed to indict Sandusky in 1998 on child sexual abuse charges disappeared in 2005. Only his submerged car with his laptop – hard drive missing – was found.

Listen, folks. I’ve been in this business a long, long time. And a great deal of my efforts more than a decade ago were devoted to investigating and trying to bring to light the cases of two missing kids and the horrible connections to one of the largest sexual abuse cover-ups in our history, that of the Franklin case in Nebraska. And everything about this case smacks of networks, cover ups, high level people, and perhaps more. If you have the stomach – or the compassion and concern that will GIVE you the courage to read it  despite its graphic and horrible factual coverage of  the case I am referring to  – you must readTHE FRANKLIN COVER UP by former Nebraska senator John DeCamp. It will give you a very clear picture of how these things work when it gets to this level.

We are all concerned about human trafficking – and we should be. But as a reporter very presciently pointed out, right now human trafficking is a “sexy issue,”  as the media puts it – in other words, it gets great media because it gets people emotional, and wanting people to do something, and that is GOOD, and NECESSARY.

But in all of it, we are failing to tell the whole story -  that there are children all over this nation that are being exploited by pedophiles and child pornographers, and yes, even being taken and shipped overseas for the sex trade. I believe with all I have that the Penn State case is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG, and you’re going to see a flurry of fall guys (Sandusky may have been made to fall on the sword) who are fired and even prosecued to make sure it doesn’t get investigated too far or lead outside the obvious suspects. PRAY PRAY PRAY that the perpetrators – ALL of them – will be exposed this time around.

***Last minute update: Jerry Sandusky is working the media this morning , trying to convince people that showering with little boys is just “jock stuff and horsing around,” while his lawyer is poised to try to discredit  all the victims. In fact, I am concerned at his confidence that many of them are going to recant. That is what happened in the Franklin case – and victims recanted because their lives and their families’ lives were threatened if they didn’t drop the charges.

 

Other News

Joel Osteen went on national television recently stating his belief that Mormons are Christians, not much different than any other denomination in the church world. Although one could see this coming –as a natural progression of those who are more concerned with “felt needs” than core truth – it is still a rather stunning statement, considering the large amount of followers Mr. Osteen has. The Mormons have been working toward this kind of acceptance for years: “We’re just another denomination!” The have even co-opted the popular evangelical fish for their cars. But even THEY know they are not “just another denomination,” nor does the Mormon church teach that; they believe themselves to be the only and superior truth. Only the modern strain of scripture-deprived evangelical actually believes that they are just a different kind of church. Mormons in fact believe that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers, and that we are gods in the making, progressing toward being saviors on other planets with our wives and celestial children. Once you understand their origins and what they really teach, you will understand why they are a cult and not a denomination.  Please go to: www. Saintsalive.com to educate yourself on the real truth about Mormonism. We pray for Mormons; but we cannot see them saved if we ignore the gross deception behind Mormonism.

The whole world is racing toward the ultimate unification of governments and religions. I was able to get this in the e-edition of my letter last month but the info came in too late for my mailout, so here is a repeat:

 “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is financing a new organization designed to bring all the world’s religions together. The King Abdullah Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, initiated and financed largely by Saudi money, is set to have its seat in Vienna. Plans envision an organization with a governing body composed of 12 representatives from the world’s five largest religions.”

I just finished watching an interview with my friend Gary Kah on Sid Roth’s prophetic program “It’s Supernatural” which I highly recommend you go online to view. Gary was presenting some extremely important information, including the meeting between some Sanhedrin leaders and Muslim Imams concerning the future of Jerusalem. Apparently discussion is taking place about the possibility of an interfaith Temple in Jerusalem being built on the Temple Mount, and Jerusalem becoming an INTERNATIONAL CITY  and the center for unifying all religions. It makes perfect sense to me in the light of Bible prophecy and where everything is going right now.

 It was also startling, in part of the broadcast, to see a photo of an “Interfaith” banner that was identical to the banner I saw in the dream God gave me concerning what was coming that was the reason I wrote The Trojan Church. It’s stunning to see it all unfold. I am not going to be surprised if before long we see an attempt to unify Judaism, Christianity and Islam justified by unredeemed church leaders using John’s words, “And these three are one.” (1 John 5:7)

In the meantime, the evangelical world continues to spiral into deeper forms of deception and delusion. Just weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch, multimillionaire and owner of Fox News, porn channels and many other entities, purchased Thomas Nelson, one of the largest Christian publishers in history. Murdoch had already purchased Zondervan, as I reported before, and has been responsible for the influx of Rob Bell, Christian Yoga, etc. (Everyone thought the concerns about Bell were too extreme at the time, but now that he has come out of the Universalist closet, he’s been kicked over to Harper Collins for the publication of his latest book, Love Wins. I imagine Bell’s move will allow Zondervan to keep unsuspecting Christians believing that Zondervan is still a good Christian company, concerned with our spiritual growth. They will keep Bell’s older and still profitable – but not blatantly heretical – material, of course.) Trust me; Zondervan is concerned with WHAT SELLS, not what is good for our spiritual growth. And now Nelson is poised to go the same way.

As these last two giants in the Christian publication world have made a deal with the world, if not the devil, they continue to market materials to the unaware and scripturally uninformed that are going to further weaken the wall of truth in our midst. Zondervan’s latest gimmick is a DVD series by emergent pastor Mark Batterson called “The Circle Maker”. The DVD begins with what at first glance could easily look like a Wiccan drawing a “magick circle.” (All magick involves drawing a circle around yourself or in one location to “contain the power.” That is classic, standard witchcraft.)

But it was actually pastor Batterson drawing a chalk circle around himself, introducing his Bible study series which is based on “a Jewish legend”. The legend is also a KABALISTIC Mishnah  called “Honi the Circle Maker,” about  a Jewish mystic who drew a circle around himself  and didn’t move until his demands to God for rain were answered. For those unfamiliar, Kabbalah is one of the highest forms of occult working there is. Even though orthodox Jews consider it acceptable, I do not. It is mystical occultism, dangerous, and a violation of God’s commands against the occult. Even Orthodox Jews are not allowed to practice its rituals (which are used to open doors into the angelic world) until they are over 45, thoroughly orthodox, and understand that it may make you insane or even kill you if you do it wrong.

 I have long had concerns that the Kabbalah was going to begin  to be investigated by, practiced by and then introduced to the church in different forms, especially through the extremes of the signs and wonders movement, and the emergent church. It is already being introduced to the Messianic community. Now this is the latest. Batterson says, “Dream big.You can’t just read the Bible; you have to ‘circle the promises.’” And, “You have to pray power around your problems.” And, “If you have ‘drawn the circle,’ God will MULTIPLY the miracles in your life.”

          As with so many that are behind much of the spiritual darkness that is now infesting the church, I cannot speak to Pastor Batterson’s motives. I can only tell you this DVD series concept is, spiritually, WICCA IN CHRISTIAN DISGUISE. Wiccans draw circles – demand answers – draw down the power, etc.  We have long known, and had proof of, Christian witches seeking acceptability and credibility among evangelicals. This latest offering from Zondervan, if it catches on, will surely make our “beliefs” more COMPATIBLE with Wiccans and make them more “at home” with this revised version of the evangelical church.

           I think a comment by one person who posted on the ad site for “Circle Maker” should speak to this clearer than I can: “Oh, this is not new! I’ve seen this draw-a-circle, say-a-prayer thing before in the Wiccan gatherings I used to visit every once in a while 20 or so years ago. In fact, there are several practices they did which I’ve seen come into the “church”. Stations and labyrinths and walks and speaking blessings into someone’s life. I confess I’m no longer alarmed. Just sad. Very, very sad.”

And so am I. Folks, we don’t need another gimmick, especially one that appears to just be repackaged witchcraft practices. Jesus told us how to pray. Prayer isn’t a gimmick; there are no NEW ways to pray. Prayer is getting a hold of God, and pouring out our hearts – not drawing a magick “prayer” circle to try to get God to give us what we want. Honi was a Kabalistic teacher and is a legend and symbol for Kabbalah practices. Please reject this kind of material. Just get out your Bible and do the HARD WORK of PRAYING THROUGH! There IS no formula!

          I am again late in getting this letter to you, and have actually left a lot of things out so I can get this to you as soon as possible, especially in the light of the developing Penn State situation.

          I appreciate so much all of your prayers, and your diligent support. It was a bit of a rough month in November, and I am grateful for every gift that helps this work move forward. Thank you! May your Thanksgiving be greatly blessed with His love and bounty. We are so, so rich, aren’t we?

Let us look up and rejoice, for surely our redemption is drawing near!

In His Grace,

Gregory Reid

Thinking over the development of Seeker-Friendliness, I have come to a clear conclusion.  The seeds that gave way to the success of Seeker-Friendliness and all that belongs to it must be seen to have been birthed at least forty years ago or more.

During that time, there arose a generation focused on themselves and their own amusement and comfort.  This generation and the next generation want fun, amusement and comfort.  A gospel that is formed or changed to that image will be greatly welcomed and the pastors who preach such a gospel will

be very popular. But that is not the real Gospel.  The real Gospel is not about feeding our flesh.  It is not about amusement either.  It is about decreasing so that He (Christ) can increase.  It is about righteousness and repentance.

Amusement in the Churches will not affect the end desired by those who follow such techniques.  In truth, it has and always will work havoc among young converts.  We must understand that amusement within churches produce no sustaining converts.  They will be those who go to and fro, with no foundation at all.  The need now is re-visiting the realm of Biblical Doctrine, so understand and felt, that will set us on fire with a sustaining conversion.

The Modern Christians in America are the Me Christians, if something like that can truly exist.  The Me Christian is a revelation to me.  It explains the success of Seeker-Friendliness.  It explains the growth of their churches.  It explains any modern technique or theory that pulls the church away from its foundation.  And it explains the shape and condition of the church in America as a whole.  The Seeker Friendly churches are all about me, not about Christ.

Seeker Friendliness and its philosophy have made church “Play Time for Bonzo.”  Many modern churches and their new techniques have made it almost impossible for any God-Loving, God-Honoring, and Bible Standing Pastor to have a church.  The Me Christians must be changed and that is very hard for any to contend with.  Me Christians must change; their flesh (self) must die.

The hippies of the 1960’s have invaded the churches with their Me Doctrine.  Many of their followers are now in the pulpits.  Their philosophy is an assault on the previous generations.  It echoes we can do it better.  It is all about marketing.  It has nothing to do with the True Gospel regardless of any claim.  It has been suggested that the Me Christians, if such exists, are a bunch of silly Children that have never grown up.

Christians, please listen!  We are amusing ourselves to death within our churches.

The Me Christians requires several things.

1.  Me must be satisfied.
2. Me must be amused.
3. Me Must be  comforted.
4. Me Must not be offended.
5. Me must be entertained.
6. Me must not receive messages that will show repentance, righteousness, or a need to lead an Obedient Life before God and Christ.
7. Me sees success in numbers, fancy dramas, money, and fame.  Success in Christ Jesus is not this.  It is learning to submit to Christ.

The True and Real Gospel, like always, will outlast the tide of modern inventions and prove to be the only sure means of salvation.  But what about the Me Christians?  The only hope for the Me Christian is to submit to change, accept the Real Gospel, accept the Real Word of God, and reject all amusement coming from the pulpit or within the church.   Me Christians are lukewarm and defenseless against the wiles of the Devil.