Resource Within You to Overcome Crisis

Analysts say that our nation is heading towards the path of destruction. Economic crisis, terrorism, corrupt politicians etc are menacing threats to our country. But instead of lamenting upon the situations, it is our duty as believers to help the nation overcome the present crisis creatively. How can we deal with the mounting problems before us? By seeking Divine Intervention. Everywhere we are able to see conventions, crusades, healing ministries so on and so forth. There is one thing which we do not find, and that is PRAYER.

Now our nation is in dire need of Prayer. Prayer meetings, Prayer fellowships, Prayer days, Whole Night Prayers, Fasting Prayers should become the order of the day. Yes, let us fill our nation with Prayer. Let us encourage one another for Payer.

Our nation is in the verge of a Revival. The nation is ready for it like a woman who is in labor pain eager to bring forth her child. The revival which we have been expecting is very near and the nation is throbbing for that to happen. In many parts of the country people are craving to see the revival. One can notice the mushrooming of small gatherings everywhere. With out any distinction of denomination people co-operate and come together for prayer in several areas of North India. Being believers, are we performing our duty?

Let's separate our homes for Prayer

In Delhi, while furnishing their homes many consider the feasibility of conducting prayer meetings. Priority would be given for organizing prayer meetings while the dcor is done. Many people travel in two wheelers, leaving their cars aside to save money for the Kingdom of God. What do these things point to? Revival is very near, at out door step. While writing this in a cold winter morning, I can see in my spirit, masses accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The time has come for us to wake up from slumber and act. It does not matter where you are - whether in the front row or the back. If not leading from the front, we should support and lend a helping hand to those who lead us. Stephen could not do mighty feats. But he could win Paul for Christ. Paul's transformation became a great event in the history of the Church. This happened at the cost of Stephen's life.

Here, I am not saying that you should also go to that extent. Think of the many things that could be achieved if selfish motives are shed. Reflect upon this and decide what can be done.

http://www.fffdelhi.com

The Monotheistic Lie

Avraham who is known as the father of nations is credited with bringing monotheism to the world 3500 years ago, opposing those of many gods and beginning a tradition that has spread throughout the world-but, that is simply not true. There was never a question among the ancients as to the reality of the Creator of Heaven and Earth, but their contention was the Creator had abandoned creation into the hands of the stars and constellations to who they prayed.

True it was the affluence that fed the earth was conveyed on the wings of angels attached to the tenuous little shafts of star-light that surround the world with illumination; were it not for the darkness of space a mantle of light covering the solar system would be visible. They called the Creator-God of gods. The only question was: where is God.

Since God, Creator, is neither physical nor spiritual, therefore nothing in creation from the lowest physical manifestation until the highest metaphoric hint of the truth can encompass God; to the Creator creation is but a small thing, an easily done accomplishment. Perhaps, thought the ancients, God created, but God left. Avraham came to announce to the world that God was present in the seven outer worlds of the solar system and in the four corners of this physical earth where life abounds.

This knowledge of God's presence was conveyed through a single word: Echud/One; the Talmud-Book of Law breaks down each of the three letters, reducing them to numbers then extrapolates: the Oneness of God (Aleph/One) is in the seven heavens and the earth (Chet/8) and the four corners of the earth (Dalet/4). One is a philosophic idea portraying the relationship forged between Creator and creation.

The idea of One goes beyond the first of many-the dot progenitor of a line-One is unique and indivisible. Those who say God is the accumulation of all existence diminish the idea of One. The beginning and the end is comparable one to infinity; infinity is made up from many ones and one is the beginning of infinity-thus the comparison to God falters. There are no parts to God, only the effluence of God is divided up into particulars according to the needs of creation.

The Creator is not defined by creation in any shape, form or fashion; being beyond creation God is available to everybody and everything all the time everywhere. It is why we pray in our minds and in our hearts because this innate knowledge permeates the human experience. It is this knowledge that Avraham brought into the world by means of his life which was full of miracles giving witness to the fact that God was truly in the world.

This fundamental idea of Echud/One was later enshrined in what is known as the Shema Yisroel, a saying of six words-the mainstay of Jewish faith declaring: God is One. When religion came along 2000 years ago this pristine idea was adopted, usurped, expropriated and finally manipulated into something other than the truth: God is one among many instead of One indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Monotheism is the lie of religion trying to reduce the important message delivered by the father of nations, Avraham, who came to help the world from the darkness of chaos. It is the purpose of religion to hide the truth so the seeker will become reliant on a poor substitution-dogma. In the laws of charity, the greatest gift one can give to a poor person is a means to become self-supporting. The Talmud-Book of Law insists wealth is only found in the knowledge of the truth.

Dovid Krafchow lives in San Francisco and is the author of Kabbalistic Tarot published by Inner Tradition and a new series of five ebooks called The Dance of the Pig: a cosmology and world history based on the Cabala, available only at JewishBohemian.com Dovid is a Jewish elder and teacher, unaffiliated and non-religious. He stridently believes that in the end it is the individual who changes the world

Emotional Baggage Hinders Performance in Life

Hebrews 12: 1 Let us strip off every weight that slows us down...and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

The Bible describes our Christian life in terms of running a race and encourages us to run in order to win. For those non athletic readers the very idea of running is enough for you to delete this message, but I encourage you to read on.

A few months before Christmas 08 I joined a 12 week fitness challenge. The first day was a fitness assessment... an assessment to confirm just how unfit I actually was. What followed over the next 12 weeks was grueling exercises ranging from boxing sessions, endless push ups and sit-ups to running on the soft sand on the beach while carrying sandbags!! Needless to say at the end of each session we were exhausted, red in the face and out of breath!!!

We go through all this trouble to keep our physical bodies from seizing up as we get older and to keep those extra few kgs from taking up permanent residence on our bodies. What if we applied that same effort to our spiritual fitness? It is not the few extra pounds we need to worry about, but the doubts and negative beliefs that creep in threatening to extinguish our faith like a wet blanket.

Hebrews 12: ...let us strip off every weight that that slows us down.. Worry, forgiveness, bitterness, disappointment, anger, hurt are all emotions and thought patterns that weigh us down in the race of life. They are like rocks in our back packs when we go hiking, making the journey more exhausting and difficult. Each step becoming harder the longer we carry the weight.

Hebrews 12 goes on to say; Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, whom our faith depends on from start to finish. In other words, copy how Jesus lived and responded to every situation in life. Did you notice how Jesus got angry but didn't become an angry person, he suffered injustice but didn't become bitter, he was falsely accused but forgave his accusers. He didn't allow the negative emotions to attach themselves, weighing him down in the race God had called him to run.

It doesn't matter how others choose to run their race, what matters is how I run the race that God has called me to run. Over the 12 week challenge participants dropped out and they probably had legitimate reasons why they couldn't continue. Rather than dropping out of the race, wouldn't it be better to deal with the weights we have collected on the way that are making the journey more difficult than it should be.

Jesus says, "come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."

This week, take some time to lighten the load and allow God to reveal to you what weights you have collected on the journey. Confront them, accept responsibility for your part, and release those who have intentionally or unintentionally hurt you. Take action on your thoughts, and replace destructive thought patterns with new ones and allow God's word to energies and renew your soul.

Yours faithfully
Carolyn Evans-Hale
Subscribe to my Facebook Group for weekly devotionals.
http://www.faithforeverydayliving.com

The Deity of Jesus Christ - Ecclesiastes and Isaiah

From Solomon to Isaiah, from Moses to John, the message is clear: Jesus is God. Here is a word from Solomon in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 11:14, Revealer of secrets. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (11:14) The revealer and judge of every secret. Reminds me of something Paul said about Jesus: (Romans 2:16) "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel." Everything that "God" is seen doing or being "alone" in the Old Testament, He is seen doing or being in association with one called Jesus in the New. What a unity!

And from Isaiah the prophet, many such words match with a New Testament counterpart.

2:2-4, Lord of the New Jerusalem. What a precious preview of events is given by Isaiah in his 2nd chapter, verses 2-4: "...the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains...and all nations shall flow unto it...and ...people shall say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob...for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."But where is Jesus in all of this? When John sees this final City in Revelation 21, he first is told , "The tabernacle of God is with men...and God Himself shall be with them..."(v. 3) So far, the same scenario as Isaiah. A location in a City, with God as its head. But look closer, in verses 22-23. There is no temple. Why? Because "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." There is no sun. Why? "For the glory of God...and the Lamb" lighten it

You've heard perhaps of the " parallelism." It's a way of saying two things but meaning only one. Thomas didn't mean to say there were two persons in front of Him when he exclaimed to Jesus, "My Lord and My God!""God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" is another one. God and Father here are the same person, not two. I suggest that the only way "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb" can make any sense is to consider them the same person. I have already shown that "Almighty God" is a title worn by Jesus! And we know Jesus is the Lamb. Something wonderful here!

7:14, Immanuel. The Name says it all. Isaiah 7:14, golden verse of the Old Testament, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name, Immanuel." Brother Matthew, in relating the fulfilment of the prophecy in the birth of Jesus (1:23) goes on to add the meaning of the Name: "God with us." Now, how better can God tell us who this Jesus is?

9:6, Father and Son. I guess this is my favorite of the declarations of Scripture regarding the Deity of Jesus Christ. Read carefully: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."(9:6) I can hardly stand it! Time to dance in the aisles. Time to rejoice in our spirits, though the brain has been dealt another curve. This precious Baby, Jesus, is the Son. But in a way that I hope is becoming clearer through the reading of the Scriptures I have assembled, He is also the Father! Enough said.

41:4, First and Last. "...I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He." says God.And,these are the very words of our Jesus: "Fear not; I am the first and the last." (Revelation 1:17)

41:14, Redeemer. "...I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer..." But we have always looked to Jesus as our Redeemer, Galatians 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law..." Indeed! The chorus in Heaven praises the Lamb Who "redeemed us to God by Thy blood."So here is God, redeeming us to Himself. We still want to see two People here, but our confusion comes because God became a Man. That Man is the one we see and know, because He is one of us. But we must constantly keep the eyes of the spirit open to seeing all that He is. He's one of that other race, too. The race known as the "Godhead."

43:10-11, The One and Only. This one is addressed to witnesses only! "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen...understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I even I, am the Lord; and besides Me there is no Saviour." I love it! For all time we are told that anyone claiming to be God, Lord, or Saviour is either blatantly false, or to be identified with this God. There simply is no other God. And Jesus, of course, claimed to be all three!

45:23, The One to Whom every knee shall bow. Yet another solemn vow from Yahweh: "I have sworn by Myself , the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Then Who is this accepting such obeisance in the New Covenant, if He is not God Almighty? Fill us in, Paul:(Philippians 2:9-11) "...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...and...every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Jesus is worshipped as God so that God can be glorified. Baffling unless we see them as one.

65:2-3, Spurned by Israel. "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people...a people that provoketh me to anger continually to My face..." Such horrid treatment was given to Yahweh by the Jews throughout their history. Was Jesus involved in this? In a revealing statement recorded by Matthew (23:37), we see that the Word was indeed there: After a full list of denunciations of Israel's religious professionals, it is as though Jesus is overcome by an emotional flood of memories. He could have learned some of this from reading His Bible, but the use of the pronoun "I" rivets our attention...He was there! He knew these people forever! "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" This is the same God who complains through Isaiah of being treated so pitifully poor. The same.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosen together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

How to Easily Prove There is a God

Proving that there is a God or a Creator is about the most simple thing you could ever do. And because it is so easy to do, it boggles the mind, that there are so many people in this world who can't see the simplicity in doing so.

You do not need any religion to do this. You do not need any religious leader to do this. You do not need any holy book to do this. You can do this without any assistance at all. Anybody, even a child, can do something as simple as proving there is a God.

Here is how anybody, who can read this article, can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a Creator does exist - because it is just a simple matter of visual observation and common sense deduction.

As you look out on this world, you are going to be able to see only "two kinds things."

First: You are going to see things that are made by people. You are going to see houses made by people. You are going to see cars made by people. You are going to see telephone poles, lawnmowers, bicycles, computers and thousands of other things made by people.

Second: You are going to see mountains, rivers, flowers, carrots, leaves, grass, planets, stars and thousands of other things that people DID NOT MAKE.

Now since it is a scientific fact and also just common sense, that nothing can make itself, then everything that you see, that man did not make - had to be made by somebody else, millions of times smarter than we mere mortals.

No mortal can make a flower. No mortal can make a dog. No mortal can make or create a planet, that billions of mortals live on and FLOAT - IT - IN - SPACE as easily as a child plays with a balloon.

Anything that you see, that man DID NOT MAKE had to be made by a Creator or it would not even be here in the first place - and neither would WE.

There are many holy books in the world, all proclaiming that "their God" is the only "true God." Most people adhere to the religion they were raised in and do not take an interest in other religions. One way that you can know the truth about all of these religions, is to study all of them extensively.

You can also take a "short cut" and read a book that God Himself wrote. Let Him tell you about all these religions, their gods - saviors - prophets, who started these religions and why they were started.

Oahspe is a history book going back over 78,000 years. Read about the huge continent in the Pacific Ocean "called Pan" that God sank beneath the surface and why He had to do it. Only a few escape that were on the highest points and in boats which floated off to other continents. Japan was a high part of that continent.

You will learn what has been going on in heaven and earth all this time. You will read how God inspired Europeans to sail to a new land (America) for religious freedom. http://oahspe.blogspot.com

Also, there are many diets in the world, but God knows more than anybody else what is best for us. Everybody else who makes food for our consumption is just after our money. http://gods-diet.com

The Place Of Women Under The Old Covenant

One method used by those perturbed by Paul's teachings about women in the church is to find any dear female of Scripture and call her in as a witness to their point. Well, I believe I know these women too. I want to ask them to testify on the other side for awhile. Let me show you who these women really were, and how far they were from their modern counterparts.

In I Peter 3: 1-6, the apostle mentions how godly women of old trusted in God, stressed inner and not outward beauty, and were submissive to their own husbands. It is these qualities he looks for in their spiritual descendants, the women of the church.

Sarah is lifted up in Scripture as a woman who called her husband "lord" and could therefore see the lordship of God in her spouse. No church leader here!

Rebekkah, having heard God's Word to her and her husband, favored her son Jacob, and did what she could to advance him, but never without full submission to her husband.

There were disobedient women too. Dinah wandered off from her father's covering. Zipporah defied the ways of God in Moses. Miriam spoke against that same Moses and was severely chastised.

The most prominent of Old Covenant women is Deborah. If there is a woman in the Bible that gives any credence to "female leadership" advocates, it is this incredible prophetess. Nevertheless a close examination of what the Bible actually records reveals that the entire extent of her work was the receiving of God's wisdom miraculously for the people who came to her as she "would sit under the palm tree." This is how she "judged" the nation, through the wisdom of God, not the arm of fleshly power.

Here is no exalted elder. Here was a simple handmaiden of the Lord who received His messages and passed them on. She is never seen teaching in an assembly, taking authority over men.

When God called for the deliverance of Israel from its enemy, the prophetess called upon a man to do the work. With Deborah at his side, in respect for the Word of prophecy, the battle was won. The most she claims for herself in all of this is that she was "a mother in Israel." (Judges 5:7)

So the principle is established in Deborah, not broken: In all visible ways, men must lead the people of God. But this dear woman teaches us that women will be used to receive revelation from God, prophecy, since gender is not a factor when the fullness of God is present.

This principle helps us to understand more fully Paul's seeming "contradiction" in I Corinthians 14. There, women are commanded to be silent for all normal functions of the Church. But when God raises up a woman to speak (chapter 11), when He indeed fulfils the prophecy of Joel to pour His Spirit on His "handmaidens", and they prophesy the Word of the Lord, or pray empowered by that same Spirit, let not any despise them.

Remember also, that it is still possible that these prophecies, as Deborah's, could be outside the assembly, lest woman seem to be exalted in any way.

After Deborah and the judges, the kings rule Israel. No women are seen ruling the Kingdom except in gross disobedience. Jezebel is the domineering wife of Ahab who is obsessed with her own beauty and power. Her daughter Athaliah actually takes over the Kingdom of Judah after killing all but one of the royal heirs. Both of these women died violent deaths for their arrogance.

Oh! The men fared not well either in these days. Evil ruled the land. But the Kingdom had been given to men, was to be carried on by men, and was to culminate eventually in the Man Christ Jesus, Who shall reign forever and ever.

In the life of Jesus Himself, for He lived and died under this same Old Covenant, it is only with the most difficult stretches that we see any woman, even His mother, raised to "authority" by His command. Women give money to His cause. Women support their apostle husbands. Women tell the story of Jesus to their countrymen.

Women praise Him and weep for Him, and women see His resurrected Body and announce such, but no woman rules or teaches any man in all the Gospels.

Is this pattern not a sufficient word in and of itself of the will of God for the church?

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Hitler Lives - In North Korea

Today's topic is the Nazi-like meaningless lives lived within concentration camps in modern day North Korea. You remember the Nazis? They were the ones from whom the Communists "freed" places like Romania and Czechoslovakia. Similarly, Kim Jong-il is freeing North Korea from the Japanese, the Americans, the Chinese, the Russians, the South Koreans, and the entire civilized world. To do this he has instituted elements of Stalin and Hitler and Ceaucescu in his pretty mix of poison.

And I do not speak of history here. This is what is happening as I type. Says Mike Kim in his new book:

The regime depends on forced labor for every industry imaginable... prisoners are given strict quotas, and if they don't meet them, they will not receive food that day.... An MSNBC report indicated that products made by North Korean prisoners might end up in U.S. stores having been "washed" first through Chinese companies that serve as intermediaries.

Repatriated [sent back from China] refugees are worked the hardest of all the prisoners. Young-Kuk explained, "They would work us harder because we ate so well while we were in China. They made us carry heavy loads, and when they beat us, they would use all sorts of things with which to hit us..."

Mrs. Park, a refugee woman in her forties, described what her days inside a North Korean prison were like. "We started our physical labor early in the morning. We began working at 6:00 A.M. and then ate breakfast at 8:00 A.M.... we had to cut wood... Oftentimes we worked straight through the day until dinnertime... Even if there was no work for us to do, they made up meaningless work for us. There was a big pile of large rocks. The guards would say, 'Separate the rocks! Move all the big rocks to the right side and all the small rocks to the left side!' "

Then the directions would change. Put the rocks back in one big pile. Move all big rocks left, small rocks right, and so on and on... Kim reminds his readers that this is exactly how Hitler broke the spirits, and not only the backs, of his own people. Prisoners there died not only from exhaustion, but from "the purposelessness of their work."

May God clarify our own purposes. For me, I want to give myself to Christ and His people in North Korea. Occasionally I hear from some of you who have made a similar decision. There is still so much to do...

Look for Bob Faulkner's home page on http://sermonaudio.com There you will find a combination of love for the Scriptures and a desire for North Korean believers to have their needs met. There are nearly 300 blogs, ovber 200 Bible teaching MP3's, lists of resources, NK picture albums, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos3@gmail.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond .