It became fairly obvious over the 2008 election period that objective reporting has virtually disappeared in America. It's now all about promoting ideology. From newspapers (like the N.Y. Times) to TV networks (like MSNBC) to other news media, only the news that fits their political viewpoint is presented. Stories that don't are just not reported, or slanted until they do fit, either negatively or positively.
And it's not just the news media. The same thing is happening in our educational system, government, judiciary, entertainment, and corporate world. There's a concerted effort to promote only one intolerant, politically-correct viewpoint with no thought for the truth or respect for other points of view. And as I'm sure you've noticed, the biblical world view is the least tolerated of all.
What's going on? I believe I know. It's the distorted mirror image of what's happening in the body of Messiah ("Christ," if you're into Greek).
For centuries the body of Messiah, which is the ecclesia ("Church," if you're into Gallic), has been a divided people. We got sold a bill of goods a long time ago that the body was made up of laity and clergy and that we were the laity. Our lifetime assignment was to go to work Monday to Friday (with Saturday off for good behavior for some) and focus all our attention and energies on our secular calling. It was not expected, nor encouraged, that we apply our Christian faith at our job, much less minister to anyone. We were to leave the ministering to the professionals. Sunday was the time when we could come out of the closet and be Christians.
Well that has been changing. The Holy Spirit is waking up more and more believers to discover that we are all ministers in Messiah. And that our area of calling is whatever occupation or location the Lord puts us in. And that calling is a seven-day affair, not just on Sunday. As a result, we are becoming single-minded, focused on advancing the coming Kingdom of God. And in the process we are "being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2;22). His body is coming together.
But so is the body of anti-christ. The spirit of anti-christ is causing those who are his to become single-minded, and to work together for a common purpose, also. They are not to be divided in their lives any more, either. They are to see their careers, whether newscaster, teacher, judge, bureaucrat, or film star, as opportunities to advance the kingdom of the evil one. They are to passionately promote his agenda and not be side-tracked by personal pursuits or fairness to the other side, which is seen as being counter-productive.
Sadly, they don't even notice they are being manipulated by this evil spirit to walk, talk, and think alike. That they are becoming slaves to a satanic drum beat that is driving them forward faster and faster in their arrogant indignation and purpose, as they slowly surrender their individuality and human dignity for the good of the cause.
"And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (2 Thessalonians. 2:11.12).
The tower and the city of Babylon is being rebuilt. And as the Lord observed the last time it was tried, if its inhabitants were allowed to continue to work together, "Then nothing [no evil] which they purpose to do will be impossible for them" (Genesis 11:6). That's why they and all their work will be destroyed again.
"But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
A Wind from the East
There is a torrid wind about to blow in upon the West. The Arabs call this wind the Sirocco. Hot and gusty, laden with sand and dust, it occurs most frequently in May and October. It is the punishing "wind of the wilderness" that knocked down the house that killed Job's sons (Job 1:19), sank the ships of Tarshish (Ps. 48:7), and metaphorically drove the northern kingdom of God's people out of the land in judgment (Isaiah 27:8; Hosea 13:15).
It is no doubt the wind James was referring to when he said, "For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and the flower falls off, and the beauty of the appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away" (James 1:11).
In Israel, it is the winnowing wind that helps the farmers separate the chaff from the wheat.
I believe the Lord is going to use this east wind to judge our self-indulgent Western world. And also to purify His people by separating us from all that is not based on the Word of God, namely our religious traditions that carry no weight in His Kingdom.
The wind is Islam.
I received this insight when asked to speak recently at a Philadelphia synagogue about the threat of the growing worldwide jihadist movement before a small crowd of Christians and Jews. The Lord told me to tell His people not to fear, that He would deliver them, if we would just trust in Him completely. That this coming invasion is what was prophesied in the Book of Joel. It is the army of locusts whose "appearance is like the appearance of horses...that will make the sun and the moon grow dark" (Joel 2:4,10). If you recall, it was the east wind that brought the locusts to Egypt in the eighth plague (Exodus 10:13). And this same east wind of judgment is headed our way.
This invasion, which introduces the Day of the Lord, will be so frightening that there will never be, nor has there ever been, a time like it. But just when it looks like nothing can withstand the onslaught of this army, the Lord will intervene and deliver His people: "I will remove the northern army far from you. I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, and its vanguard into the eastern sea and its rear guard into the western sea" (Joel 2:20).
"And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who will escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls" (Joel 2:32).
P.S. After posting this blog, I received this confirming e-mail from a believer who ministers in Israel:
"Wow bro! Right on target with the East Wind blog I just read from your site! I do not know if you know this but last week we had the most strange (even for local Israelis') a scorching East wind blow in that choked out the sky with dust and sand from the Eastern deserts....it was wild and tormenting!
It is no doubt the wind James was referring to when he said, "For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and the flower falls off, and the beauty of the appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away" (James 1:11).
In Israel, it is the winnowing wind that helps the farmers separate the chaff from the wheat.
I believe the Lord is going to use this east wind to judge our self-indulgent Western world. And also to purify His people by separating us from all that is not based on the Word of God, namely our religious traditions that carry no weight in His Kingdom.
The wind is Islam.
I received this insight when asked to speak recently at a Philadelphia synagogue about the threat of the growing worldwide jihadist movement before a small crowd of Christians and Jews. The Lord told me to tell His people not to fear, that He would deliver them, if we would just trust in Him completely. That this coming invasion is what was prophesied in the Book of Joel. It is the army of locusts whose "appearance is like the appearance of horses...that will make the sun and the moon grow dark" (Joel 2:4,10). If you recall, it was the east wind that brought the locusts to Egypt in the eighth plague (Exodus 10:13). And this same east wind of judgment is headed our way.
This invasion, which introduces the Day of the Lord, will be so frightening that there will never be, nor has there ever been, a time like it. But just when it looks like nothing can withstand the onslaught of this army, the Lord will intervene and deliver His people: "I will remove the northern army far from you. I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, and its vanguard into the eastern sea and its rear guard into the western sea" (Joel 2:20).
"And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who will escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls" (Joel 2:32).
P.S. After posting this blog, I received this confirming e-mail from a believer who ministers in Israel:
"Wow bro! Right on target with the East Wind blog I just read from your site! I do not know if you know this but last week we had the most strange (even for local Israelis') a scorching East wind blow in that choked out the sky with dust and sand from the Eastern deserts....it was wild and tormenting!
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