UGW
Endtime Events: Israel, the Antichrist and the USA pt. 2
Considering that the Antichrist will be able to broker this peace treaty, it seems that the U.S.A. will at the time abdicate her responsibility regarding Israel. In other words, Israel’s protector will now be the man of sin, as defined by the Apostle Paul (II Thess. 2:3). Now, the scepter of power is in the hands of the Antichrist, where it will remain until the time of the Second Coming.
If it is to be noted, at the present time (2007), the U.S.A. is showing signs of weariness regarding Israel. In fact, at this time, America is the only friend that Israel has in the world. Although there is no indication that America will abdicate her position as Israel’s protectorate, and despite the Muslims, still, when the Antichrist comes upon the scene, which he shortly will do so, this nation will gladly pass the baton to him, so to speak, which he will gladly accept.
But in the meantime, the prosperity and blessing of this nation by Almighty God is dependent on many things, but most of all our protection of Israel. We must never forget that.
Why?
• We have been appointed by the Lord for this position for such a time as this. Concerning Israel, the Lord plainly said: “I will bless them who bless you, and curse him who curses you: and in you shall all families of the Earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). So, our Blessings depend upon our proper protection of Israel.
• Israel is to be restored as the Priestly Nation of the world, which will take place immediately after the Second Coming (Isa. 11:11–12; 14:1; Jer. 23:3–8).
• Israel is predicted by the Holy Spirit, at least those who are alive at the time of the Second Coming, to accept Christ as their Messiah, and their Saviour and Lord. Concerning this the Scripture says: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (The phrase, ‘In that day’ occurs 18 times from Zech. 9:16 through Zech. 14:21. This shows how precious ‘that day’ is to the Messiah’s Heart. In that day, His Victory over the enemies of His People will be great, but greater will be His moral Victory over His People themselves.
~JSM
Con’t -How Change Occurred in Our Education/Governmental System Through the Years pt. 2
by John Rosenstern
WALL OF SEPARATION
The Danbury Baptist Association wrote to President Thomas Jefferson in 1801, and in the president’s reply, he coined the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state” in assuring the Baptists that government would not interfere with their religious freedoms recently guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The phrase, “a wall of separation between church and state,” cannot be found in the Constitution or any other founding documents. Justice Black made a decision that was based on a quote from the response letter Jefferson wrote back to Danbury Baptist Association. What the First Amendment says is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers knew the intension of the First Amendment was simply to prevent the establishment of a single denomination. The letter sent to Jefferson by Danbury expressed their concern that the guarantee of the “free exercise of religion” appeared in the First Amendment. To them, this suggested that the right to religious freedom was a government-granted right rather than a God-granted right. Their concern, as should be ours, was that someday the government might try to regulate religious expression. A court declared in 1799: “By our form of government, the Christian religion is the stablished religion; and all its sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same and equal footing.” The misapplication and distortion by Justice Black of Jefferson’s response phrase “a wall of separation between church and state” gave license to all in government to use the new philosophy of the court to abolish Christianity from the public sector.
The eight words within Jefferson’s letter to Danbury have become a mantra often repeated enough for the masses to believe it as though this is what the founders desired. The unconstitutional phrase was used successfully in the case of Engel v. Vitale—the case that struck down school prayer. The court also redefined the word church in their ruling. Up until 1962, the word church, as used in the phrase “separation of church and state,” was defined to mean a federally established denomination. From 1962, the word church would now mean “a religious activity in public.” Prayer was considered an activity in public and, therefore, deemed unconstitutional based on the new meaning. The meaning of the First Amendment was altered by the courts.
Within a year after prayer was successfully removed from schools by the court, two more cases also eliminated Bible reading, Bible classes, and instruction. This was a great departure from our founders. NOW WHAT? Christian education was replaced with humanism and psychology. Have the changes in our schools helped our society? Is moral evolution working to improve humanity, or has it been our demise in America? We will continue our discussion on education next month. Satan knows that if he can get the minds of our youth while they are impressionable, he can then plant seeds of doubt and foster rebellion against Christianity. The Bible teaches us in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
CHANGE -How Change Occurred in Our Education/Governmental System Through the Years pt. 1
by John Rosenstern
BY 2050, ALMOST ONE-THIRD of the population of the United States will be older than 60 years old. Economists ask, “What does an aging population mean for a nation’s productivity, innovation, and savings?” What is ignored is the effect of our aging population on fundamental Christian beliefs. Since the founding of America and its framers, who espoused godliness and moral living with Christianity, there has been an effort by reformists, now called progressives, to remove any semblance of Christianity from society. America’s public educational system is the battleground for the minds of our youth. Governmental education seeks to abolish and expunge any Christian expression by treating it as profanity. How did this all begin?
EARLY AMERICAN EDUCATION
Early American education was largely a private issue. Education was under the control of the church. America’s oldest universities were started by preachers and churches. Harvard was founded in 1636 by the Puritans. The university’s “Rules and Precepts” stated: “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life and therefore lay Christ at the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.” Harvard’s original seal states upon it, “Truth for Christ and the Church.” Yale was established in 1701 with a stated goal that “every student shall consider the main end of his study to wit to know God in Jesus Christ and answerably to lead a godly, sober life.”
William and Mary was founded to supply the church of Virginia “with a seminary of ministers” that the “Christian faith may be propagated.” John Knox Witherspoon was a Scots Presbyterian minister and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Jersey. Because of him, Princeton became known as the seedbed of revolution. Princeton had as one of its founding statements, “Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.” Columbia, previously known as King’s College, had as its purpose to “inculcate upon students’ tender minds the great principles of Christianity and morality.” At the time of American independence, the bestselling book was the Bible. The second most popular book was John Cotton’s Spiritual Milk for Babes, the first children’s book published in America. How things did quickly change from a God-fearing, Jesus-loving society to a nation accepting an atheist like John Dewey, who was called “the architect of modern education.” Dewey would say, “There is no God, and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion.”
EDUCATION AND THE CONSTITUTION
The matter of education was left to the states by the Founding Fathers. The subject of education is absent from the body of the Constitution of the United States. The Tenth Amendment gave the states power to handle education. The Tenth Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Government-controlled education began in Boston in 1817. Lobbyists contended that poor families were unable to afford private schooling for their children. Public school advocates pushed for a publicly funded school system in lieu of the fact that 96 percent of Boston’s children were in school, even though there were no truancy laws. The battle raged on for over 30 years as public school advocates persisted toward a “tax-supported, publicly controlled and directed, nonsectarian common school system.” In the 1850s, the decen tralized educational system that demonstrated great results was affected by the governmental schools that began to wipe out sponsors who could not simultaneously support them while paying taxes to support the public school system.
The idea that a governmental school would increase enrollment and become a safety net so that poor children could go to school turned out to be the first step in removing Christian influence in education. Governmental education funded by tax dollars gradually achieved its goal of removing religious education and replaced it with humanism. The effort to systematically destroy Christian influence in education initially came from Horace Mann. His goal of centralizing education became a reality through his efforts to establish the Massachusetts Board of Education. Mann supported the idea of social engineering. He believed that the governmental schools would provide the mechanism to create a society in which crimes would be eliminated. It was during Mann’s tenure that the seeds of secularism were planted in the educational system, and the idea of religious instruction would be left to the parents at home.
LAWS OF CHANGE
The landmark decision by the Supreme Court in the case of Everson v. Board of Education (1947) opened wide the door for public schools to strip Christianity from public schools. The case was the result of Arch Everson filing a lawsuit against Ewing Twp to prevent state taxes from being used to transport parochial students to their Catholic school in Trenton, New Jersey. Justice Hugo Black took Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation” statement out of context and gave it its first precedent for future church and state jurisprudence. Black claimed the First Amendment “has erected a wall between church and state. That must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.” This meant that from that day forward, the separation of church and state would be applied to all aspects of government, not just the federal level. Several key factors in Justice Black’s background may have inclined him to rule unfavorably against religion. It is a known fact that Justice Black was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He was not a practicing Christian, and the evidence shows that he did not believe in the supernatural aspects of Christianity. This evidence supports a conclusion that Justice Black was prejudiced against religion in his decision in Everson v. Board of Education and engaged in judicial activism.
This is the most important question in human existence and one whose answer is clearly outlined in scripture. In order to be saved we must first realize our true state of sinfulness before God and know that He alone can save us, cleanse us, and give us eternal life. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the only way and we can not have access to God through any other means. In fact, in John 14:6, Jesus plainly stated…
God Loves You!
God loves you so much that he made a way for you, through the shed blood of his son so that you might be able to spend eternity with Him.
“For God so loved the world that he gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life” ( Jn. 3:16 ).
Man is a Sinner, and Sin has Separated him from God!
You may think you are a good person but being good is not enough! Every man has sinned and there is none that is righteous before God!
“For there is not a just man upon Earth, that doeth good and sinneth not” ( Eccl. 7:20 ).
“For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
Jesus Christ is the Only Remedy for Sin!
Jesus Christ is the only remedy for sin. We can not be good enough to get into heaven, nor can our good works get us there.
There was no other way for God to erase the effect of sin except by blood. The shedding of Christ’s blood indicated that the penalty for sin had been paid; a perfect sinless life had been sacrificed for the lives of all who have sinned.
“. . .Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” ( Hebrews 9:22 )
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” ( I Pet. 3:18 ).
“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” ( Acts 4:12 ).
You Must Receive Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior
To be saved, a man must confess that Jesus is Lord, while acknowledging in his heart that Christ must have full rule over his life. This confession of Christ as Lord assumes that it is Christ who will work and fulfill His own righteousness within man, as man is unable to attain righteousness of his own accord.
Jesus calls this experience the “new birth.” He told Nicodemus: “. . . Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” ( Jn. 3:3 ).
We invite you now to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name” ( Jn. 1:12 ).
Pray this Prayer and Mean it with all Your Heart
Dear Lord Jesus, I realize that I am a sinner and have broken your laws. I understand that my sin has separated me from you. I am sorry and I ask you to forgive me. I accept the fact that your son Jesus Christ died for me, was resurrected, and is alive today and hears my prayers. I now open my heart’s door and invite Jesus in to becomemy Lord and my Saviour. I give Him control and ask that He would rule and reign in my heart so that His perfect will would be accomplished in my life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Congratulations!
If you prayed this prayer in all sincerity, you are now a Child of God. However there are a few things that you need to do to follow up on your commitment.
- Get baptized ( full immersion) in water as commanded by Christ
- Tell someone else about your new faith in Christ.
- Spend time with God each day through prayer and Bible reading
- Seek fellowship with other followers of Jesus
~J. Swaggart Ministry
Test the Spirit of a Person
beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world (I Jn. 4:1–3).
The idea of these Passages is that Believers are to stop believing every spirit. Paul finds the source of false doctrine in demons who actuate the false teachers who propound heresy (I Tim. 4:1). Thus, these spirits are human beings actuated either by demons or by the Holy Spirit.
The exhortation is to try these individuals, whoever they might be, to see whether they are of God or not. The word “try” in the Greek is “dokimazo,” which means “to put to the test for the purpose of approving, and finding that the person put to the test meets the specifications laid down, to put one’s own approval upon him.” Thus, the Bible teacher, for instance, was not to be put to the test for the purpose of condemning him, but with the intent to approve him. The brother was not to be treated as a heretic before he had shown himself to be one.
The reason for putting visiting teachers to such a test was that many false prophets “are gone out into the world.” In the Greek, the words speak of an action that is taking place presently. They have gone out; as a present result, they are in the world of mankind, and they have established themselves among the people.
John now gives the test which will prove that the Holy Spirit is actuating a teacher. If that teacher confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that is proof of the fact that he is a true Believer and is actuated by the Holy Spirit. What does John mean by this?
The statement, “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,” refers to the Incarnation, and what that means. The name “Jesus” means “Jehovah saves.” “Christ” means “The Anointed One.” It speaks to the fact that the God of the Old Testament, Who, in the Person of His Son, became incarnate in human flesh without its sin, died on the Cross to satisfy the just demands of His righteous Law, which man broke, and raised Himself from the dead in the Body in which He died, to become the Living Saviour of the sinner who places his Faith in Him in view of what He did for him on Calvary’s Cross.
John says that the person who teaches that is actuated by the Holy Spirit; likewise, the teacher who does not agree with that doctrine is not of God. Such a teacher is actuated by the spirit of Antichrist, who denies and is against all that the Bible teaches regarding the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus.
(Our thanks to K. Wuest for most of the above material on the Person of Christ.)
To simplify the statement, John, in essence, is saying, “Christ and the Cross must be the Object of Faith.” If that is denied in any way, the person is not of God. That’s the reason that we look askance at many of the modern schemes which claim to be of God, such as the “Purpose Driven Life” doctrine, the “Government of Twelve (G-12)” doctrine, the “Word of Faith” doctrine, etc.
The last one openly repudiates the Cross. The G-12 claims to believe the Cross, but then turns to works to effect one’s Sanctification, which, in effect, denies the Cross. In no way could one come to the conclusion that the “Purpose Driven Life” theory looks to the Cross at all. It is a religion of supposed ethics, which God can never accept.
John the Beloved, who wrote this Epistle, is saying, “Such is not of the Lord.”
As it regards doctrine, Christ and His Cross are always the deciding factor!
~J. Swaggart Ministry
The Destitution of Service
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
~Oswald Chambers