2012 in review for Richard’s Watch

RJBWordPress.com has prepared a 2012 annual report for my blog, and a hearty thankyou goes to you personally for visiting, reading and following – as well as to each contributor. It is very gratifying to know that items about prophecy are so popular – and will continue to feature herein. So, I’d like to invite you to take a minute to scan through the following brief report which, for noters of numerals, just so happens to be my 222nd posting:

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 11,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 18 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

A VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED 2013 TO ALL MY READERS

An angelic perspective upon Jesus’ birth?

Jesus & Holy Spirit - credit kzlam36.blogspot

When the angelic host appeared to shepherds outside Bethelehem and announced the birth of Jesus they must have been aware of the full identity of this new-born baby. I’d submit that their understanding would have been quite similar to what an ex-pharisee named Paul – who never claimed to have met Jesus in the flesh – wrote years later to non-Jewish followers of Jesus. Paul was exhorting them to become like Jesus and in so doing gave away a fundamental insight. In the middle of a letter written whilst imprisoned in Rome, he wrote, as translated from Greek.:

Let this same attitude, purpose and humble mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God, possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God, did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but stripped Himself of all privileges and rightful dignity so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.

And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself still further and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!

Therefore, because He stooped so low, God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue frankly and openly confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11 Amp – emphases RB)

This famous passage stands well on its own in explaining the divinity of Jesus Christ, but is much better read in its full context, which you can do here.  The Amplified version is quoted because it gives a fuller appreciation of the original. A study of doctor Luke’s carefully researched account of the birth of Jesus (here) and of the early church (Acts of the Apostles), as well as parts of Paul’s letters attest to his acquaintance with Jesus as being through supernatural means. That is, I’m of the opinion Paul was often in direct contact with Jesus after His Ascension and was, thereby, blessed to receive heavenly revelations and Holy Spirit inspiration.

May the above holy scripture enable you dear reader, if you don’t know Jesus, to lead to a personal encounter like Paul and I had with Jesus. Or, if you’re already a believer then may it encourage you to follow Him more closely in 2013.

Prophetic words for 2013 from Dr Sharon Stone

Windsor 2Forget about the Mayans’ calendar, here’s my transcript of Dr Stone’s revelatory teaching for 2013 given at the Mercure Windsor Castle Hotel on 3rd November. This hotel is close by the world-renowned residence of Queen Elizabeth II.  Built after the Norman Conquest, Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world.

When Sharon receives and delivers words from the Lord she speaks rapidly to avoid the hindrance of mental analysis.  Hence, what He’s saying is brought as clearly as possible. In this first session of the day Sharon had a lot of material to cover as quickly as possible. So it is better to read this transcript as a continuous, whole piece.

Therefore, paragraphs and coloured text have been introduced only for ease of reading. I’ve made only minor editorial clarifications and inserted the first two sub-headings for ease of reference. Sharon’s varying vocal emphases are conveyed by underlined and, where stronger, emboldened text.

Also, except for opening and closing prayers, other prayers, intercession, declaration, impartation, commissioning etc, shown <…>, have been omitted. Those who purchase the CDs direct from CIEurope will be blessed upon hearing the prayers.

So, in your mind’s eye come and sit with me on the back row of upholstered chairs in the hotel’s ballroom. Practically all seats are taken and as the worship leader, his wife and an accompanist leave the stage petite Sharon enters, opens in prayer and makes a few announcements. Her soft American accent adds the charm to clear diction as we  listen carefully and follow her fast-paced teaching.:

2013 – WHAT GOD IS SAYING

Rev Dr Sharon Stone, Senior Minister Christian International Europe; courtesy CIE“Father, we declare that you would open the eyes of our understanding, Father that we may be able to see and perceive the things we could not before.

“Now as we begin to move into revelation it’s difficult not to list it because you’re trying to say so much, so if you’ll give me grace in doing that there’s several things that have to be listed. But, in saying that, I also recognise that you are God’s prophetic people – that you’re hearing some of the same things, or you may be hearing more in one direction than I’m hearing, or even a different area than I’m hearing – and what we want to know is that I do not believe that when I bring forth a prophetic word it’s “the beginning” or “the end” of what The Spirit of God is saying; it’s just my part that God has given me at that time. But I also believe there are different types of prophetic gifting, and I realise that about myself.

“I am not called to deny the darkness, or even the judgement or the shaking that is going on in the earth, but the type of prophet I am is; I am called to be a voice of hope and solution in the midst of the darkness and in the midst of the shaking. And so it is not a denying of the one or the other.

“And so as we speak these things today I think that the season that we’re moving into can no longer be measured by a year: we say “Give me a word for this year”. I believe this is a ‘roll-on’ season for the Last Days and it just keeps rolling forward. And so we cannot any longer say this is where something began or that is where it ends.

“We have a panel this morning and they are going to bring forward some of their revela-tion for the season and I think we’ll find that’s true for their words too; it’s not something that begins or ends with a date on a calendar. It’s a rolling forward of what the Spirit of God is doing…so I’m going to jump right in:

Glory

“On my last trip to Israel I had this strong urge and I kept asking my guide, “Do you think you could take me to the Mount of Transfiguration?”, “Do you think you can find time on this trip to get me there?” You know I’ve studied and know there’s a couple of places that people thought it might be – probably on Mount Hermon, there’s three different summits up there – and you know the Word of God says Jesus took his disciples and they went up on the summit.

“The best we could do the whole time I was there was we could get close enough to see it and we could see the three summits and I wondered when I left, why was this type of urgency in my spirit that I wanted somehow to connect to the Mount of Transfiguration. I’m going to use that as an introduction and a launching point into this season’s revelation.

“In Mark 9.1 Jesus said, “Assuredly I say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God present with power”…

“Now we know that it was not unusual for Jesus to speak about the Kingdom of God, so what He was doing here was He was speaking about another dimension of Kingdom revelation, and that’s what I’m speaking over you. Another magnitude of His Kingdom Come – another scale of His Kingdom is here – another level of His Kingdom is with you – a deeper meaning of His Kingdom is at hand – and a greater manifestation of His Kingdom has come. < Lift up your hands in this place. Father… >

“Now, where I read the verses of that scripture, the reason I started with that is that it says they would see the Kingdom of God present with power. Now what most people do is the stop that verse at that point and they begin a different story at verse 2 – “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves and He was transfigured before them”.

“So right after He’s showing them a different, a fresh dimension, or a manifestation, of His Kingdom, He took a few and went up the mountain and there He was transfigured.  And I have to look at those words and I say what does ‘transfigured’ look like? Verse 3 – “His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow such as no launderer on earth can whiten them”.

It was His glory that was evident, of Him being transfigured, wasn’t it? That shining, that brightness, the whiteness that no level of launderer could possibly bring Him.

Now with that in mind, hold this: Romans 12.2 – “And be not conformed to this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good the acceptable and the perfect will of God.”

That same word, ‘transformed’, is the exact same word that is used here where it says “Jesus was transfigured”. And I believe that as we’re moving into this season God is saying that He wants to bring His glory upon you, He wants to bring His transformation ability upon your mind so that you can think God’s thoughts and you can think God’s ways and that you can align and that you can partner with them, even in a greater way, proving what is the good, proving what is the acceptable and even proving what is the perfect will of God in any situation.

“And I also believe this: the Lord wants you to be a voice of hope in any situation. < Lift your hands, Father…>”

Perspective

“Now I honestly believe, and I’ll talk more about this in our time of national prayer, I want to talk about this: where you are positioned is what you see and so this evening I want to talk a little about being seated in heavenly places.

“When you pray, from your position in the earth, it’s usually only a prayer of petition because it’s; “O help God, look at this mess and look at all that’s happening in the world, and look at the chaos. Look what’s happening on the news…the abuse that’s going on…the tyranny…injustice… lives that are lost.”

“There’s nothing wrong with praying that prayer of petition…but when you’re seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus and you’re looking at things from a different  perspective, from a fresh paradigm that God is showing you, when you are looking at things from that place there is a different focus, and the Bible says that there will be a day when we will even look upon Satan and say, “That, is the little worm that has tormented the world and tormented the nation? That’s a little worm!”

“What is that? – it’s perspective. He didn’t shrink in size – it’s the perspective of your position! If there is one word I can say covers this season it is:

“Your perspective based upon where you are seated in releasing hope and the solutions of God to whatever you’re facing personally, business-wise, your churches, your ministry, your region, your nation – I don’t believe you need to go in and tell people simply what their problem is…and for so long we have looked at the prophetic as just identifying the problem.

“Now there are times when we honestly don’t know, where we have blind spots, where we just can’t figure it out and we need God to bring clarity, but for the most part we know our problem – what we need is a solution and a hope and I believe that we have entered in the time that that’s what the world is going to start valuing the Church for in a greater way; it’s hope and a solution….

“Now Isaiah 60.2 – you’re going to have to remind yourself of this, probably for the rest of your life! – says, “Behold the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people.”

“What did the Lord just say? He says it’s getting dark and it’s getting darker! It’s going to affect lots of people, but He doesn’t stop there! ‘But the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you!’

“We’re not denying the darkness but the glory of God through you is going to be a solution and a remedy to any darkness around about you. That’s what we’re positioning ourselves for and that is how we’re aligning ourselves, and that is affecting our revelation, our view and our perspective that we be transformed by the renewing of our mind, the Mind of Christ, proving what is the good, the acceptable, the perfect will of God.

“Now in Jeremiah 29.11 – I know we quote this scripture a lot – but I’m just going to stop with this point: the Lord says, “I know My thoughts toward you”.

“Did you hear that? If we start looking at all that is going on in the world, the world is not looking for our opinion or our reflection of what is going on in the world, the Lord says, “I know My thoughts already concerning you!” and He says, “I know My thoughts and they are thoughts of peace not of evil to give you a future and to give you a hope”.

“There, is revelation, there is prophetic solution, there is remedy, there is direction and strategy, there is anointing and there is glory that has the ability to release peace, not evil, and to give a future and to give a hope to people regardless of any other situation or circumstances that are going on.

“Now if you’re not one that has learned to walk in the Shalom of God, if you’re not even one who has learned to war in the spirit from a place of rest… seated together…it doesn’t mean we don’t have war, the Bible says we do…but we’re doing it from a position of being seated together with Him; if you haven’t learned to do that – you’re being fast-tracked right now… because we don’t have a choice. For us to be able to have the right perspective, we’ve got to have the right position to be able to operate in that.

“God says, “I know My thoughts toward you”. <Lay hands on yourself: Father…>”

Hurricane Sandy

“Now all of us had our eyes last week on Hurricane Sandy and I don’t want to make this all about hurricane Sandy, and I’m not going to, but we didn’t have television in our home because we’d just moved into Windsor and we haven’t had phones other than our mobile until yesterday. We have a television system that came with the house and it’s so complicated we had to a have a technician come out and hook all that up and show us how to use it…So we weren’t able to keep up except on the internet with tracking some of the things that were going on in the world at his time.

“So every time I saw a picture of Sandy – and I don’t want to talk about the hurricane only hitting New York – it hit the Caribbean, it hit New Jersey, it hit New York, it went on up into Canada. There were deaths everywhere and so we don’t downsize any of that. In matter of fact, its eye hit actually New Jersey but its greatest amount of damage was done in New York and I think the reason people put the emphasis on that is simply because that’s the financial district, that has the Statue of Liberty, a place of identity for the nation, a place of rule in the nation. And so that’s why I believe people’s focus is upon there, even though that’s not the only place it touched.

“Every time I would see this – I only got to see it once in a while – I didn’t see a flat picture because I wasn’t watching the news on television….and one time the Lord said, “The Hurricane Sandy is punctuation” and that’s what the Lord told me.

“And so when I would see it, one time it would look like a full stop – with the eye in the middle – when I would see it another time with it swirling, it would look like a question mark with the dot – and when I’d see it another time it was elongated and it looked like an exclamation mark with the dot on the bottom.

“And the Lord kept saying that this hurricane and these winds are “a punctuation”, not just in the US but a punctuation in the world. Now a type of punctuation means that it draws the line – and it brings a separation and there is an alteration after that, and this is what the Lord said, He says:

“These are re-arranging winds and they’re changing the course of nations.”

“Anybody here that felt that resound in their spirit just wave your hand…do you see that…you didn’t have to make that happen. This is a “re-arranging winds and a changing of the course of nations” and the Lord spoke this – forgive me as I’m going to read some of this because I want to get the words right:

“The Lord says,

“The Old World’s time has cycled around again to become a New World – we’re part of that Old World, here in Europe – to rewrite history, no longer a Constantine conversion that advances religion without Christ. Hidden winds of change have been developing on the inside of My people and they are now blowing change into the world. The western New World, particularly the USA, will enter accelerated crisis-shaking to hasten their journey to learn that I am their true resource and I am their defender. The USA has been a champion of freedom for much of the oppressed world, but you cannot represent freedom without representing Me, Jesus, Who is the provider and Who can bring sustainable protection to the nation.”

“The Lord says,

“Parts of these winds that are blowing, part of these winds that are bringing a re-arranging, are blowing away what has confused nations of their identity.”

“We’re not the only nation that has been in an identity crisis. I believe that many of our nations have had skewed identity and the Lord is saying this, He says:

“I will bring you out of what you have designed by your own thinking and by your own hands” – listen to that! – “that I may redesign it by My thoughts and by My plans.”

<Lift up your hands…repentance and in-depth prayer covering all points of that word>

Economics

“People are nervous about the economy but the Lord is saying that there is a sweeping financial change in the nation – turn to your neighbour and say, “No surprise!” – and the Lord says when you look at the USA it’s going to look like economic collapse. Listen carefully, the Lord says,

“It’s not judgement but it is a reaping of what’s been sown through governmental unsustainable spending.”

“Prophetic people, we have got to have our perspective right. It’s easy to say when we see something shaking that “God’s judging that!”. There’s plenty of times in our lives when we’ve been shaken but it’s not been a judgement of God but He’s been shaking things so that that which cannot be shaken remains – or the fact that there’s a greater moulding, or He’s bringing us into a greater focus – the Lord says the Dollar is falling and its falling to what looks like a North American-Mexico new currency. The Euro is weakening also and the Lord said it will fragment.

“Now people have tried to push me to get me to say this before my time – but I wouldn’t – they know that! They’ve really asked me those questions, so let me say it again:

“The Euro is weakening, also it will fragment, and the Lord says it will eventually restructure Europe. Are we listening here? The Lord says,

“Watch Finland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and possibly France as there is (coming) part of a restructured core group of countries.”

“OK?  That’s why it’s important that you order the recording today. The Lord says we’re still under the topic of economics…

“China’s increasing scope is going to continue in the midst of human rights violations, and because there is going to be economic growth people are going to avoid dealing with some of the human rights violations because of the benefit of the Yuan.

“People are asking about investments and I don’t know that I know anything about investments right now. If you’re wise enough and mature enough that you can hear me when I say I have inklings – you know you can take them that way – but the Lord’s speaking to me about Japan’s currency offering a form of stability at this time, and the Lord started speaking to me two days ago about white metals. I had to go to my husband and ask what would you consider are white metals, and of course the most obvious would be silver. And so I looked up on the internet and this is what I saw:

“Gold is already at 90% of its top value. So that means if you buy gold most likely you probably could earn another 10% over how much time, who knows…but silver is only at 40% and so that means that if it’s one of those things that goes up – and you’re listening with mature, discerning ears – that means the basic statistic is that if it’s going to do its rise now, it’s got 60% to rise, which means that your investment would have greater benefit. Right, does that make sense?

“So the Lord was speaking about Japan’s currency having a form of stability for this time, also for white metals at this time and that we were going to see some blessing upon those things.

“And then the Lord reminded me of things I’ve shared with you for the last couple of months:

“One, ravens and camels. Remember you will want supernatural resources from God but you don’t want the raven dropping them off as that signals you’re in famine and it was only ever supposed to be sustaining for a temporary time. You want the camels coming with an abundance for yourself and the Kingdom of God, and that is what you are looking to, and so we’re not changing from supernatural resources and connecting to God at this time but what we’re doing is we’re changing our areas of alignment and of expectation. I am not looking for the ravens, I am looking for the camels at this time. That means you’re going from surviving to thriving – repeat that after me, you’re going from surviving to thriving – surviving to thriving is where we are going.

“Now I’m going to touch on;

The Weather

“You know the Bible already tells us about the Last Days. It talks about earthquakes, it talks about floods, it talks about famines, it talks about wars, and it says these things must come, and they’re the beginning of birth pangs. So any prophet who says any of those things you have to say “amen” to because it’s already in the written Word, but I believe that there are different focuses for different seasons that we’re in. And this is what the Lord spoke to me:

“The Lord said that we’re going to enter into a season of solar storms that are going to disrupt electronics in the earth and in the sky. I don’t think it’s long term disruption, I think it’s short term disruption. The Lord said there will continue to be eruptions and earthquakes that have the ability to change the axis, just like the one in Chile did (and Japan), you know it actually changed the axis of the earth.

“For those who didn’t know, it actually took away a few – I don’t know how they measure parts of a second – but it took away some time from every day, the shift that happened. I don’t know if you realise this but the magnetic north is moving 40 miles towards Russia, is it every year now? – If I don’t have that right you may read it for yourself – that’s not prophetic word it’s something I read in the newspaper. (RB: as here)

“So things are changing and the Lord says part of this is that we’re going to see the grain reserves in the earth hit a historic low. And that, of course, always affects the poorest nations more (those) that live on the grain and rice. And the Lord says even the heat and the droughts of this year, particularly in Russia, Eastern Europe and the United States was going to be one of the major contributors that are going to bring us into this all-time low in the area of grain.

“Remember, we’re not one that just recognises the problems, we’re ones that every time we see this we say “God, I want a solution to that, I want to be a solution to that, I want to be part of the remedy, I want to be part of the answer in that situation”.

“And then the Lord spoke to me and He said,

“You’re going to have to remember I have I’ve already given you authority over plague but you have to rise up and use that authority.”

“And so what I believe is even in this weather thing that God is saying has affected crops I believe that we will see what some people call a plague, and the Lord say’s this isn’t one for those who say “O come, help God!”, the Lord says,

“I’ve already given you authority over the plagues. You rise up in the midst of that authority.”

“Now I want to look at;

Anti-Semitism

“Several months back we said we have got to switch the way we’re praying for Israel; we’ve got to spend more time praying for how our nation aligns with Israel because how a nation aligns with Israel determines whether it’s blessed or whether it’s cursed.

“I felt that as we’re going into this season that has got a greater emphasis upon it than any other time that I’ve ever known before, because as times get dark and things shake, throughout history there has always been a blaming of Israel. And I believe that there’s going to be people that are going to put pressure on their national leaders to disalign with Israel because of the hard times and wanting to blame shift.

“And you are going to hear the most ridiculous things that Israel will be blamed for. One of them is, Israel’s going to be blamed for the gas price, the oil prices in the Middle East – Israel’s going to be blamed for that! – not the people that are charging it, but Israel! – how that works I’m not quite sure! But you cannot be one that your point of perception and paradigm is moulded by the media but that you hold true to what the Spirit of God is saying.

Government

“Governmental legislative prayer – which we’ll speak a little bit about about tonight – can shift the way earth is structured. That is why when we moved into this year this  anointing of governmental rule, God has been watering that, God has been nurturing  that within you – this is not a Dominionist message like what was presented to the church twenty five years ago – it’s not about, “You were created in His image and now you rule!”.

“No, there is something else that is going on at this time as the Spirit of God is speaking about governmental prayer. He is talking about, listen; the throne of heaven and the court of heaven, I can’t tell that it’s a different place, because wherever Jesus is and wherever He’s enthroned He has the ability to rule from, and so when I look at that we are more ones that are saying “I’m going to enter His gates, and I’m going to enter His throne room and I’m going to worship and do this…”, the Spirit of the Lord says:

“I want you to, but then I want you to partner with me once you’re there.”

“Listen, I believe that worship is not a means to an end but I also believe that it positions you to operate in an authority, a partnership and a co-operation with the Spirit of God that nothing else gives you the right to do! And so once you’re in that throne room, once you’re in those courts of heaven, once you know that you are seated in heavenly places – not just ‘Oh I have faith in my heart’ – from knowing you’re there and it has changed your position, how to see what is going on in the earth, He says,

I am looking for those who are going to governmentally, legislatively restructure the structures of the earth together with me!”

<Lift your hands. Father, I release a commissioning over your people right now….>

“Now I just want to touch on one more thing about government before I go on. You know in this last season we saw with a great shaking that there were several dictators that fell in the midst of their nation. You know how the Word of God says that if you have a victory and you don’t fill that void the enemy comes back seven times worse, and the end result is more negative than the beginning (the first) result? The Lord said we left a void.

“I want you to know cringed when I heard that! Where dictators have fallen in the earth, He says,

“My Church left a void in that place” and He says, “Now you’re going to see nations and new dictators rising up from so many different directions at this time.”

<Father,..> Now we get to the part everybody likes;

Revival

“I do love this part but I’ve got to give you the definition that I’ve been carrying in my spirit for this last season before I go into this.

“I believe that there are currently revival pockets in the earth and I believe that after this year, when the calendar changes, we are going to see what looks like many more revival pockets. And it is not a fairy tale to believe that God is actually looking to world-wide revival – He is. And so you don’t be one that downsizes your hope based upon what you’ve experienced. No, because of where your perspective is you agree with what the Spirit of God is doing. But what I have felt like I needed to pray over so many this last season is if you’re not careful revival is something that you wait for and you pray about for God to do but you don’t know what else to do about. And the Lord said this:

“People do not understand that a new wineskin for revival, so it can be sustained, is an apostolic, relational, reformational, societal wineskin.”

“And that He really does intend for His glory to cover the earth and for nations to come to their desire; Jesus. But right now He is starting the glory spots in the earth and God says He’s been awakening us, awakening us to the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit in us and through us, awakening us to new intimacy and encounters with Jesus, awakening us in worship so that we can host the Presence of God.

“But, you prophetic people, He’s also awakening you in the area of revelation because the epitome of revelation is not what you see in each other and not even what you see in the earth but as it says, when He has come, where we have seen through a glass darkly now we’re going to see with an area of clarity. And what are we going to see? We are going to know Him even as we are known by Him.

“That there is a shift here with looking at revival, looking at revival thoughts, looking at awakening, looking at glory spots in the earth, looking at a reformational wineskin, there’s a shifting of perception going on here. The height of what you have to deliver to the earth and to steward the atmosphere with is your revelation of Him. I should have heard a whole lot more amens at that point (everyone was busy trying to jot all this)

“It is your revelation of Him because that is what gives you the clarity of everything else, and you as prophetic people you know you’re made for the weight of God’s words upon your lips, you know your made to handle words of life, you know you’re made to handle revelation, you know that you’re not content to live in the present and judge the future by what the news says.

“You know that you’re called to read the times and you know that you’re called to prepare a people and to make a way, and you are one that God’s eyes look to and fro on the earth and when He wants to speak into the nation He speaks to you because you are married to the land and you have a passion for the purposes and the destiny of a nation and He says the way that this is going to be is that you’re going to see Me! We’re going to see Him! It cannot be separated as a work order or just a description or just a strategy from the connection with him and the intimacy level that brings and the knowing Him, and the authority and the rest that brings to be able to put His pattern, the will of heaven, upon the earth so it becomes the will of the earth.

“Ok, so, revival. I believe we’re headed for worldwide revival and I believe in this next season we’re going to see some glory spots increasing but the Lord spoke a couple of issues into it:

“He said, some of the greatest places we’re going to see it is where men and women can work together, where generations can work together. And so what does that mean? It means the old clothes-line religion, the old gender separation of women in governmental authority in the church – where there is a stronghold of that, there’s also a limitation – and so it is something that has to be dealt with. So what do we do? We bind it in the heavens so that it is bound in the earth also.

“Now the Lord also spoke about young leaders. This is a time that we begin, as those that are more mature and have been around a while, we have to embrace and platform (sic) and support young leaders, not making them have our vocabulary but us be willing to change our vocabulary so that we are not obsolete but that we are effective into another generation.

“And I saw where these revival spots were there was a high-level interaction between men and women and leaders of all ages – isn’t that amazing!

“And then the Lord spoke to me about a type of unity that we have begun to think is impossible. The Bible uses the word ‘unity’ in 484 verses – I don’t know if you knew that – let me just mention a few to you: let us exalt His name together; gather My saints together under Me; we took sweet counsel together; break forth into joy, sing together; and all that believed were together; and when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together; for we are labourers together with God; wherefore, comfort yourselves together; not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together; God has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places.

“I believe that there are even some of us sitting here that, as the church was struggling to change itself into the new wineskin, we got ‘excommunicated’ or we didn’t know where we fit any longer, there has become that wonderful emphasis of “It’s Him and me”, “This is it, It’s Him and me” and it IS always Him and you. But what you’re going to affect in the rest of the earth is you and the others that are round about you and how you gather to do that; whether that is in a local assembly, whether that is in a football stadium, whether that is in a prayer gathering or whether that is in somebody else’s home, or whether it’s in a business – I don’t think that is the biggest issue of where it’s at. I believe, though, there is a place that some of us out of self-preservation we became isolated – ok?

“Do you know that in a gathering like this there is no responsibility upon your character? Do you know that in a gathering like this there is no title to be given and so there’s no manoeuvring for that? But at the same time it affects the level of unity you can walk in when you’re forged together and moulded together and you walk through things for each other in victory together!

“There is a place where what you agree on – you see it’s not the fact that “Oh I like what you’re saying so I agree that…” – No, what you agree on, why do you agree? I know this person, I’ve been in the fire with them, I’ve been in good days with them, I’ve been in bad days with them. I’ve seen when hell was breaking loose on their family and they’ve still stood and they’ve got the victory and now when we touch anything and we agree we know what position we’re agreeing from and the Lord says, “There’s nothing that will be withheld from us and that which we pray will be granted unto us. That’s a whole lot different to, “Give me your hand and let’s pray”. Isn’t that right?

“Now where’s the finance for this unity right now? – we’re God’s legislative body and where it talks in Matthew 16.18 of that ‘ecclesia’ we’ve spoken about. You cannot bind and loose and overlap the earth with heaven’s will without being not just legislative yourself, but without being that legislative body that God is raising up.

“Now we’re still talking about revival during this time and so the Spirit of God is saying, “There is a unity that is required”. And so, “Am I in places where we exalt His Name together?…Am I part of the saints that are gathered together?” – and just ask yourself that!

“Now I’ve got two more minutes and two more pages and so I’m going to go quickly….I didn’t know where to put this but the Lord started speaking to me in terms that I’d not heard before. And the Lord said you’re going to see…successful businesses right now are going to be:

Business driven solutions!

“I’m not even sure I have a definition for that so I’m just going to put that out…but I believe that part of that is to bring the impoverished into a new dimension of prosperity.

“I watched, because we had no TV for the last three weeks – it’s really been refreshing – but we’ve watched dvds of Greg’s Chain Reaction movies and at the beginning of this there was a scientist that said, “We have got to develop an energy source in the earth, and then we’ve got to give it away to all the nations and nobody has got to look to be able to gain money from it, otherwise what we’ll do is we‘ll increase wars and the increasing greed will do all this…”. Now I don’t know what else the movie said for the next hour and a half! I just kept hearing that one statement resounding on the inside of me.

“It wasn’t about an energy source. It is about supplying what the earth needs above witty inventions (Proverbs 8:12) supplying for you. It is about supplying the solutions that the earth needs at this time with a generosity of the Kingdom. It is about being a vesselfrom God tobring His way of thinkingthat releases the good, the perfect will in the earth for the things that we could never have thought of or aligned with or even have a way.

“I can’t tell you how many people come to me and say, “I’m just waiting for a backer and banker and then I’m going to have this great wealth and I can give money away”? How about giving your invention away? Listen! Is there a possibility that we could seek first His Kingdom in the earth and, because we do, ALL these other things will be given to us? (paraphrasing Matt 6:33) The Lord said:

“We have entered into that season businesses, churches and individuals are going to be valued by what they give away.”

“So if you’re looking for influence in the earth at this time it has just shifted, it is part of the “winds of change” – it has shifted what gives us influence.

“I’m finishing here: the Bible talks about in Jeremiah 30:7 – “The last day is great so that none is like it and it is a time of Jacob’s troubles but he shall be saved out of it.”

“Repeat after me, “God is reimbursing us for our sorrows”…God says, He’ll give you double for what you’ve been through. We’re not saying what you want, we’re declaring His character in the midst of this. But you’ve got to be careful not to seek to preserve what was, because I believe that what we’re looking at is different and it’s brand new. So, prophetic people, it is so easy to speak and call forth a future and resist change at the same time. We cannot afford to do that. We have got to be ones that can proclaim and create the future and I believe that God is still shaking but, don’t let things be shaken out of you that should not be shaken out at this time because we are growing up in Christ. Have two scriptures to read you:

“Psalm 34:1-10 – “I will bless the Lord at all times” – this is our way to escape from the past. His praise shall continually be in my mouth, my soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me….etc

“Psalm 24 – “Who may ascend unto the hill of the Lord, or who may stand in His Holy Place?”

“In this holy season we’re going into, who’s going to be able to ascend, who’s going to be able to go in, who’s going to be able to stand? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. First, out of your relationship with God who has not lifted up his soul to an idol nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, remember Jacob’s sorrows, the generation that seek him, who seek His face. Lift up your heads O you gates and be lifted up you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, lift up you everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? – the Lord of Hosts.

“The Lord is saying be not anxious and don’t get into fear, cast your burdens upon Him. Yes, some things are judgement coming upon the earth, some of them are not about us, they are not for us and some of them we have an ability to (make a) detour and reduce. So you just have to stay in relationship with God and from this perspective know how to deal with it. I believe that we can still reduce devastation. And so, if we’re in a place of great darkness and in a place of great glory, that means we’re also in a place of trials and triumph!

“And so you’re going to have to look at some things, but where there may look like trouble on every side there is hope from heaven on every corner! Did you hear that? Trouble may look like it’s on every side but there is help and hope from Heaven on every corner. The Word of God tells us in Proverbs 12:13 ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire has come it’s a tree of life’. I believe you’re helping nations come to their desire and the days that we’re living in require a hope. They require a hope within the midst of us and we spoke into that earlier this month when we were together about receiving a hope for what God is doing in this nation.

“There’s so much more I want to share with you but would you stand…..

“Father, in the name of Jesus we thank you that we just prophesy in part and these are such titbits compared to the mysteries that You told us are available to us, and available to our children. So Father, we ask that You would use each of these revelations as a deposit, as a seed, as an investment to open up the hidden things, to open up the mysteries, to open up the timings, to open up the strategies, the solutions and the remedies, Father not only for us but for our nation as well. And Father we recognise that in what is happening right now is we have the ability to change the course of nations and that’s why You have been building us and preparing us in any way. So Father, right now I pray over all these here and over those who will hear this recording, God we say right into their perception, right into their paradigm, God breathe that “wind of change”, Father, that “wind of punctuation” that declares an end and a beginning, breathe it right on the inside of us. Blow away restriction and limitation, Father, that we might rise up and realise we are setting the course of nations, right now. And Father, right now we declare over these people that what You have for them is greater still, is greater still, is greater still, what You have for them is greater still, greater still – in the Name of Jesus….Amen.”

Footnotes:

If you live in Scotland or Northern England you may like to know that Sharon will be in Glasgow 11-12 January at Start The Year Right, hosted by Emma Stark (one of the panelists on 3rd Nov). Details at http://www.glasgow-prophetic-centre.org.uk/shop/

1. For a brief personal introduction to Dr Stone as well as an understanding of the ‘roll-on season’ to which she refers above, see Prophetic Word for 2012.

2. Re.anti-Semitism: should Christians align with the state Israel?  See Thoughts below.

3. A selection of UK-related prophecies may be read in Library of Prophecies.

4. Transcribed with permission of CI Europe and a polite reminder; Copyright applies.

Windsor 3Windsor 1

Two brief recommended readings

1. United Kingdom’s decrease of values

A few posts ago I referred to a careful critique of an item on the Conservative Party and Israel by the Telegraph’s chief political editor Peter Oborne. He has now done a further analysis of this governing party’s loss of its core values and which His Grace Cranmer rates as, “one of the most perceptive analyses of the contemporary Conservative Party in a very long time”.  You may therefore like to read this review on Cranmer’s blog. (The cartoon refers to Her Majesty’s attendance at a Cabinet Meeting as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.)

2. God’s Kingdom increase in China

If you’ve not yet read the very well written article to which the previous post linked then I would urge you to do so now.  The underground church’s strategy for the Islamic bloc of nations and the Jews is most inspirational in view of the vision that blessed me in 1992 (as here).  Also, the fact these marvellous things started after a Holy Spirit visitation in 1988, years before coming to Toronto and then to Brownsville was new to me.

In addition, this exceptional report reminded me of the extensive footage from China shown in The Finger of God dvd, as well as the true stories of Brother Yun and of the tremendous visions bestowed upon non-Christian orphans and street urchins in Yuman province.  These may be read in The Heavenly Man and in Visions beyond the Veil, the details of which may be read below.:

BroYun reverseBroYun coverVisions_Veil coverVisions_Veil reverse

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The Lord bless you as you read…

Revival still burns bright in China

RJBThis exceptional account gives a glimpse of what the Christian church was like immediately after Jesus walked the earth. For Randy Clark it must have been like a trip in a time machine. We’ve been blessed to meet this most humble servant of God in Canada and UK several times. His website is www.globalawakening.com (Some miraculous healings he encountered of disappearing surgical metal parts may be seen here on this blog.) Thank you Tembisa.

Syria gets closer to fulfilment of Biblical prophecies

ANOTHER GAME-CHANGER?  Weekend catchup: Iran – game over covered the news of Iran’s advancement towards nuclear weapons and warning of a world war arising from missiles based on the Syrian-Turkish border that would affect Europe. Although I wrote about the withdrawal of two American fleets from Syrian waters I didn’t mention the Russian warships docking in Syria’s port of Tartus and the fleet heading for the Gulf. Interested readers have no doubt delved into DEBKAfile’s homepage for themselves.

Today we learn from DEBKA video report that those vessels delivered not only marines but also a ‘fearsome weapon…and a game changer in the Syrian conflict’  It is a deadly agenda for Assad of chemical weapons first, Iskander 9K720 next. To quote the video’s transcript.:

While NATO unpacked the Patriots in Turkey, a dozen mobile batteries, each carrying a pair of Iskander missiles, were fixed into position opposite Turkey, and another dozen, opposite Jordan and Israel.  At all their stations, the Russian missiles pointed at US military targets.

So while the West was gripped with alarm over Assad’s poison sarin gas shells and bombs and gearing up for missile attacks on Turkey, the Russians were injecting into the Syrian war field the most sophisticated weapon of death thus far. The West and Israel have no answer for the Iskander’s hypersonic speed (and range and nuclear capable warhead) which destroys targets with pinpoint accuracy.

The Prophetic Perspective – the ‘Ezekiel 38 Alliance’

During Advent we recall the account of learned men, or magi, watching for ancient signs that would announce an exceptionally important birth, as recorded in chapter 2 of the Gospel according to Matthew – read here.  Dr Chuck Missler’s Who were the Magi? is of interest in stating that these men were of the ancient school of the prophet Daniel based in Persia.

Nowadays, many believers are well-informed about not only Daniel’s prophecies but also those of the many other Old and New Testament prophets. Yet the public remains uninformed and does not appreciate why today’s events are of great significance. If you wish to find out why this is important please read Chuck’s brief explanation on this blog.

As reported previously, the prophet Ezekiel foresaw an alliance of nations consisting of Iran, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Turkey and led by Russia which would be hostile to the Jews when they have been regathered to their ancient homeland (modern Israel).  Ezekiel knew them by contemporary ethnic names of Gog, Magog, Rosh, Meshech, Cush, Put, Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah. Persia was just coming to prominence in the prophet’s day. For the NKJV translation of the revelation from the Lord click Ezekiel 38.

In recent years this ‘Ezekiel’ alliance has been taking shape in one way or another. We may, however, object and say that although Iran supports Syria’s Assad, Russia has kept at arm’s length, and Turkey and Syria are almost at war.  Yet the above news shows that Russia is getting more deeply involved. What a surprise!

So is Turkey outside any such foreseen alliance? No. The Daily Star Lebanon reported on Monday that Turkey’s prime minister has discussed with the Russian president a plan for an orderly transition to peace in Syria! Thus the prophesied ‘Gog and Magog’ alliance will be rapidly developing and gaining strength during 2013.

So keep watching – and looking up!

Further reading:

The BBC’s ‘shaking’ continues

“…So it was probably more a ‘God-incidence’, perhaps to show He’s doing more shaking, as prophesied in January…So watch out for more, lots more…” In so saying I closed my Update on ‘Media manipulation’ within the BBC news teams.

This post serves to ‘update the update’ as the BBC continues to be shaken by getting a tiny bit of its just desserts for biased coverage of the ‘apple of God’s eye’ – Jerusalem. Today’s leading Telegraph headline reads.:

BBC management ‘completely incapable of dealing with (the Jimmy) Savile row, which comes with a news video clip, Leadership at the BBC in short supply!

Keep watching…

Weekend catch-up: Israel and UK, and Iran

DSC_8314 credit-The CommentatorReaders and visitors will have noted  I often quote the Daily Telegraph. I like a number of its columnists but please don’t assume this reflects my politico-religious view. For example , I’ve noticed lately some reports on Israel don’t reflect what I’m learning from those who have their ear close to the ground, or those who are well informed. The paper’s chief political editor, Peter Oborne, usually writes well but has his critics, one of whom took him to task for his recent criticism of David Cameron’s ‘cowardice’ over Israel.

I came across that criticism on one of my dips into The Commentator and spotted an article entitled Conservative cowardice on Israel?  Historian Carly Beckerman-Boys  raises this question because,

Peter Oborne’s recent comments on the Conservative Party and Israel are overshadowed by his fundamental misunderstanding of British politics and the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In view of my interest this looked a promising read but I dug first into the original article, The cowardice at the heart of our relationship with Israel. I was thus in a better place to follow the historian’s argument.  So, if this topic stirs you why not take a few minutes to read Peter Oborne and then click here for an interesting counter-thrust.

Had I come across Peter’s article in my occasional copy of the paper I would have had some reservations, so I’m pleased to have discovered Carly’s well-balanced answer to his perception of the issue.  Another critic and contributor to CIFWatch, Richard Millet, is not so gentle in his solid response! (For Richard’s background click here.)

Iran – the game is over

Forget POTUS Obama’s intentions to discuss nuclear energy and weapons with Iranian leaders – talks are dead in the water! That game is now over according to DEBKAfile because Iran now has enough plutonium for 24 Nagasaki-type bombs!  This Special Report opens.:

The secret, one-on-one nuclear negotiations President Barack Obama launched with Iran have run into a blank wall. A senior Iranian team member, Mostafa Dolatyar,  said Friday, Dec. 14 in New Delhi that the diplomatic process for solving the nuclear issue with Iran was in effect going nowhere, because the demand that Tehran halt its 20-percent enrichment of uranium “doesn’t make sense.”

Debka reports that Dolatyar’s remarks would have been authorised by ‘Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who, through him, posted a message to Washington: If the enrichment suspension demand stands, the game’s over’. The report continues.:

‘After more than 15 years of on-and-off, largely aimless, nuclear diplomacy with world powers and evasive tactics with the UN nuclear agency, Tehran is for the first time showing signs of impatience and not just its usual disdain. This is because two things have changed:

‘1. For all those years, Tehran availed itself of every diplomatic opening for protracted bargaining about its nuclear program for the sake of buying time, free of pressure, to push that program forward. Now, the Iranians are telling the US and Europe that they have arrived at their destination. For them, time is no longer of essence, as it may be for the West.

‘2.  The second development was revealed on Dec. 5 by The Wall Street Journal in a short leader captioned “From Bushehr to the Bomb”. This revelation was not picked up by any other Western – or even Israeli – publication despite its sensational nature…’  (Click to read before report is filed to premium content archive. More background here.)

So, as mentioned throughout this year the Middle-East pot continues on the boil. But at least it’s not boiling over – yet!

Furthermore, the Iranians stated that installing an American Patriot missile defence on the Turkish-Syrian border is “meant to cause a world war”.  With a massive US, British, French and Russian naval presence in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Mediterranean,  Obama has tried to defuse the situation and ‘quietly recalled’ two naval strike groups home from Syrian waters. (Debka Exclusive Report.) And this is without considering the several stockpiles of chemical weapons of mass destruction, or lunacy that continues to break out in the Middle-East.

PROPHETICALLY, NONE OF THESE TROUBLES ARE A SURPRISE. I’m intrigued to muse whether Barack Obama has yet started to take his accredited White Ho journalist Bill Koenig’s wisdom seriously. (First-time visitors click for information about Bill and here for previous posts referring to his work.)

ALSO, we know of an anointed man of God blessed with an evangelistic and healing miracles ministry who heard God say He’s setting the stage for fulfillment of Biblical prophecy > AND we have confirmation from economic cyclical theory > ALL in addition to the fullness of what the Lord Himself said whilst here, and through His holy prophets.

What awesome and exciting days we live in…..

Weekend catch-up: UK events

A few paragraphs to update the last posts and temporarily ‘close the lid’ on the matter.: [PS. inserted below on Wed 19 Dec]

1. David Cameron

This will be no small furore’, I observed here over his decision to introduce legislation to change the millenia-old understanding of marriage and, therefore, mentioned political aspects. Clerics had been dealing with this for some time and on Friday the political blogger Cranmer was scathing of the contemptuous way in which a Prime Minister had treated the Anglican Church. I note he links his final paragraph to an informative article I’d also read by the editor of The Spectator (Fraser Nelson) and thereby concluded:

His Grace prophesied earlier this year that gay marriage would turn out to be Cameron’s Poll Tax. He was wrong: it is the Poll Tax, hunting ban, Clause IV and the Iraq War all rolled into one. It is a disaster for both the country and the Conservative Party: Cameron has pitched the State against the Church and started a culture war of which there will be no end, there will be no end, there will be no end.

In an op-ed in Saturday’s Telegraph Charles Moore eloquently outlined some legal complications of Cameron’s decision:

Because he gave too little thought to the depth of the issue, he did not bargain for the trouble he is starting to get. And because no proper preparatory official work is ever done nowadays, there is confusion and embarrassment over what the new law will actually say.  This week, poor Maria Miller, the minister on whose desk this has landed, was unable to tell MPs how gay adultery will be defined in law. There will be lots more questions like that. One I like is, Will the heir to the throne be allowed to have a gay marriage? If he is male, will his husband be King too?  If, by surrogacy, their union is blessed with a child, will that child, though of the blood royal, be excluded from the succession?  If so, how, in the name of equality, can that be right?

In his sanguine manner, Moore then asks about some collateral effects of the new Act of Parliament and considers political nuances behind Cameron’s decision (he’s not the first to connect it with mimicking Barack Obama). Moore then drives his argument to the irrefutable impossibility of same-sex weddings bringing the principal and tangible benefit of matrimony (as originally conceived and designed, I’d add!)…

Children exist because of men and women.  Homosexuals may love one another just as much as anyone loves anyone else – and all disinterested love is a social good – but their domestic arrangements make no difference to the human future.  Marriage is all about the human future (emphasis mine). It is mankind’s main investment in it.

He consequently concludes:

If you are conservative, you respect the past in order to secure the future.  It is not easy to see how a policy which puts homosexual rights at the apex of public morality can possibly do that.  Strange that the head of a party which calls itself Conservative is leading us down a cul-de-sac in the history of mankind.

Today’s (Monday) Daily Telegraph’s front page refers to ‘a cross-party rebellion’ and the centre page displays a letter signed by over 50 Parliamentarians written “in support for the institution of marriage as defined in law as a union between a man and a woman”. Furthermore, they state:

At the last election, none of the three main parties stood on a platform to redefine marriage. It was not contained in any of their manifestos, nor did it feature in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. These facts alone should have led to extreme caution on the part of those calling for this change to be made(emphasis mine).

[PS: 19 Dec – see objections from the Muslim Council of Britain and Cranmer’s take on this and the related sickening hypocrisy and inequality from liberal brigade’s claptrap.]

2. Maria Miller

Also on Saturday the same paper quoted Sir Alistair Graham, the ex-chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, as stating that the minister who announced the  new matrimonial law would be “vulnerable to having to stand down as a minister” if she is disciplined by an inquiry into her claims for a second house where her parents lived.
This is only the latest in the Telegraph’s deep investigation into the outrageous scandal of widespread theft from the public purse by MPs. So Sir Alastair is reported as saying,

“My view is that ministers are in a key leadership position and if they are found to have broken the rules they can no longer continue to be part of the Government. We really can’t have a situation where the taxpayer is putting MPs parents in special position of being subsidised by public funds.”

3. Census 2011

The results of last year’s Census for England and Wales brought to light details of the massive immigration that has occurred as a result of the previous Labour government’s  bad management and poor policies.  Also, atheists have crowed over its findings upon religious belief. This aspect is capably covered by Gillan Scott in Census 2011: Atheist vs Christians and what the numbers don’t tell us.

Perhaps, in view of my dealings earlier this year with the lady behind the HOTS vs ASA issue, a humanist and two men with closed attitudes towards verifiable healings, you may care to dip into that post with its several informative contributions?

Cameron’s ‘gay weddings’ minister under investigation

DON’T ROCK THE BOAT – THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON..!

FORGET MIXED METAPHORS – BLENDING BLOGS IS THE NEW THING!

And maybe it’s a new mode of prophetic gifting? 🙂

Perhaps you noticed my last two postings took a similar tack on the PM’s decision and the ministerial announcement in Parliament about same-sex weddings?

Buried in the 3rd para of the first blog was a reference to the Telegraph’s investigation into that same minister, Maria Miller. My remark was updated earlier today with [PS. The investigation continues, as here, and may lead to an interesting outcome, maybe ‘fall’?]

Also, I modified the existing comment to read, Moreover, is all this going to be part of the ‘holy shaking’; ie. of everything not of God?

NOW, upon visiting the local store I saw this morning’s edition refers to The Telegraph being warned off the investigation by No.10 yesterday – rather Machiavellian, is it not?

JUST NOW I find online latest Maria Miller under investigation over £90,000 expenses  and another article with video David Cameron: Maria Miller has my full backing. On how many occasions have we heard the very same??  The plot thickens…

Maybe my comment should now read ‘THERE’S A HOLY LOT OF SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON? especially as the PM’s communications chief at 10 Downing Street told the Telegraph – Don’t rock the boat!

Perhaps it was unwittingly right of me to write DON’T MISS THE BOAT! about the other same-sex wedding minister (Lynne Featherstone) in my last post?

Well, we’ll see what happens next. What do you, my reader, think?

Don’t miss the boat!

La NinaHave you ever missed a bus, or a boat? Can you imagine how annoyed people were at not getting on board Noah’s huge boat when mighty prolonged rains brought sweeping, widespread flooding?  But he’d been warning them a long time. All they wanted to do was their own thing and not change because ‘all the people had corrupted their ways’. In fact, ‘the earth was filled with violence because of them’ (Genesis 6).

The only ones to survive were Noah and his family because he had time for God and walking with him. Many moons later a number of his descendants were to again corrupt their ways and, again, only a righteous family escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot and his daughters got away but what was wrong with the lot Lot left behind?

In renouncing the abominable sins of Jerusalem the visionary prophet Ezekiel, or rather the Living Lord God, explained what was disagreeable about those ‘losers’:

Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. (Ezekiel 16:49-50 NKJV – emphases RB)

My previous post referred to Jesus’ prophecy that the attitudes of people everywhere will again be as in ‘the days of Lot’ – and then He will return in all His glory and power in the company of the heavenly host of angels and all saved souls.

PRIDE

The unsavoury aspect of this attitude within government has now been reported by my friend Gillan Scott. His blog publishes and comments upon an email from the previous Equalities Minister : ‘Lynne Featherstone proudly takes credit for railroading gay marriage legislation’.

On the face of it her remarks rightly convey a sense of relief in an objective achieved. But this post, which deserves to be read in its entirety, reveals how spiritually dead at worst, or clueless at best, our national leaders really are – and many commentaries lack an appreciation of the gravity of the situation. Our politicians urgently need to be raised to fullness of life in all its abundance because this email shows how this deathly attitude has sought to prevail throughout national life.

Therefore, I added the following to the debate on God and Politics in the UK:

‘The minister’s email conveys the woeful ignorance of the implications and price to be paid. I believe Rev Billy Graham’s late wife said something along the lines that if LGBT agenda becomes legally ‘right’ then God would need Sodom & Gomorrah’s forgiveness!

‘But Jesus said their inhabitants would have repented and lived had they witnessed His miraculous works, whereas His fellow Jews refused. Therefore, He decreed “…it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgement than for you” (Matt 11:20-24).  So, if not just pockets of ‘God’s Presence’ but the wider church starts doing ‘the greater works’ Jesus spoke of, then there will be hope for modern disbelievers awakening to spiritual – NOT religious – realities. (Bless them Lord out of their ignorance of the difference.)

‘The core of the issue is ‘LGBT Pride’, and this arrogant attitude is proudly displayed in the email. Those in Christ know God’s attitude to the proud. Pride was found in the king of Tyre and likened to that of Satan (Ezekiel 28) and is ruled by the Spirit of Leviathan.

‘What the Lord told Job about Leviathan is instructive in implying a link with ‘equality’ : “..Nothing on earth is his equal – a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud”. (NKJV has ‘king over all the children of pride’) Job 41.34 NIV.’

Does David Cameron’s decision line up with the Bible?

Eagle-eyed, detail therof: John Mark Long propheticartists.comWHAT THREAD links Prime Minister Cameron, yours truly and a revivalist – and scripture? This evangelist’s already arranged funeral was cancelled because he did not die of cancer. His wife had even bought the burial plot!)  To learn more, please carry on reading.

WHICH DECISION? The one to go ahead with redefining marriage to include same-sexes and by a consenting religious organisation (except for specific ones). After Mr Cameron’s decision was announced last Friday many felt angry, deceived and betrayed (see Links below). This will be no small furore. The first casualty is the consultation exercise which totally ignored over 500,000 objections and 64,000 agreements – see Ministers accused of ‘sham’ consultation over gay marriage. The main headline in my Daily Telegraph of 11th December reads, Ministers ‘dishonest’ over gay weddings.

And today’s front page headlines of Gay weddings are not the answer, Cameron told (in MP’s open letter) and The minister and a warning to the Telegraph before expenses story, PLUS editorial and item on the legal challenge and op-ed comment Does he not care who he’s losing? all indicate increasing unease within Conservative  party ranks. I particularly like the ominous warning from the minister ‘for redefining marriage’ over her expenses and implementation of the Leveson Report, ie. gagging the press!! [PS. The investigation continues, as here, and may lead to an interesting outcome, maybe ‘fall’?]

Moreover, is all this going to be part of the ‘holy shaking’; ie. of everything not of God?

Friday

I’ve not taken up time keeping apace of developments, save for occasionally keeping an eye on some debates online. Eventually, I commented on Stuart James’ popular blog upon his item on the PM’s response to Anglican mainstream (see post), and we sent a letter to David Cameron. After learning on Friday about his decision I recalled my unanswered comment, which reads as follows:

“I rarely dip into this topic but would be interested if anyone could furnish answers (on a postcard) to some simple questions:

1: what did Jesus say about marriage? 2: did he define who should be married?  3: on what grounds did he make any comment? 4: what does Jesus have to say about our PM’s proposals? 5: how would the PM respond to these questions? 6: if a Christian, how will the PM respond to Jesus?”

D CameronOn this blog I’ve commented upon Mr Cameron’s support of Christianity and was therefore disappointed to learn about his decision. I tried not to be judgemental towards him or others, or to speculate upon how he’d answer my questions, especially that of accounting for his actions before Jesus Christ. But I considered him to be completely out of order. Were the PM to be given a preview of his judgement as had I, he’d realise the error of his false assumptions and become deeply convicted and repentant about his sinfulness – as indicated in my personal account of this inevitable event awaiting all disbelievers.

How, therefore, could someone who holds his own future life in jeopardy be fit to lead a Christian nation?  And, furthermore, unwittingly would thus bring the consequences of such a governmental decision upon the whole population? David Cameron has, more or less, associated himself with those who stick fingers up to the Holy God and to Jesus Christ, the one He sent to deliver us from such unrighteousness.

Saturday

Early Saturday brought a realisation that, although highly unwelcome, David Cameron’s intention may accord with holy writ – but not as one may surmise. Almost everything of what little I’ve read on this issue is personal opinion and where the Bible is mentioned it’s usually belittled, taken out of context or misunderstood, even by some confused and scripturally uninformed Christians!

Nevertheless, I awoke at peace over this highly contentious issue, as though having an insight from God’s perspective.  I recalled what Jesus said in the Gospels about sifting and the harvest of unsaved souls.

After teaching the public in parables Jesus explained their meaning to his disciples (see Matthew 13). The one about the field of wheat and tares is significant. Tares, or ‘darnel’, are identical to wheat and are indistinguishable until the grain appears. Jesus gave this explanation of that parable:

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

On the occasion of their eating the Passover meal (‘Last Supper’) Jesus again spoke about sifting to his leading disciple, knowing that one (Judas) had already been sifted and taken by the adversary (as at Luke 22.3):

 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.(Luke 22 vv 31-32 NIV)

John records his master’s reference to the betrayer during an intimate prayer-time that reveals Jesus’ identity and mission (contemplate John 17). In praying for the disciples  the way He spoke of Judas Iscariot strikes the reader with reverential fear of God:

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. (John 17.12 NIV – emphasis mine)

Now, that parable means ungodliness is ripening throughout nations at the same time as many are coming to faith in Christ, and that the Church is ripening into how it should display Christ. So the harvest is ripe and will be gathered but only after the ungodly has first been removed and eradicated from within the mixture. Thus, the unwarranted and unauthorised attempts to redefine what God ordained; ie. marriage between man and woman, are leading into – if we’re not already part of – that End-time scenario.

[PS. I’d forgotten all about the prophetic word for 2012 entitled ‘A Ripening Season’ from Dr Sharon Stone, which goes into detail about the developing ‘shaking’.]

The instruction, again with metaphorical reference to wheat, about sifting indicates that God will use whomsoever He will to achieve His purpose – and it could be inimical to our own survival. He’s used many rulers and persons in authority, some of whom came to acknowledge Him, but we have no knowledge that they gained life everlasting. So what of our national rulers David Cameron, Barack Obama, et al.?

But such thoughts were merely in passing as they led into Jesus’ description of what the world would be like just before He returns. Read what the careful doctor Luke recorded of Jesus’ prophetic words, which the New King James Version prints under a sub-head, The Coming of the Kingdom:

The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:22-30)

Now Jesus didn’t refer to people having beliefs or Godly practices but were doing what so ever they desired whilst utterly ignorant of the gravity of their dire situation. Their situations were grave because, in the day’s of Noah, ‘The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time‘ (Genesis 6.5).  In the day’s of Lot ‘ the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous…’ (Genesis 18.29). There was no need for Jesus to spell it out because his disciples were familiar with the holy writings.

Who can deny this is the same today?  ‘Wickedness’…thousands murdered by Islamists just because they’re of a different religion, millions of babies murdered, children viewing and circulating pornographic images as well as committing murder, millions are sexually promiscuous, commit adultery and/or deny or ignore their obligation to their creator…etc etc. In Sodom and Gomorrah sodomy was legally permissible and practised in public and was thereby a societal ordinance, as it has become today.

I think it’s only because of the existence of millions of righteous people (ie. who believe God) around the world that His grace continues, and so we don’t yet receive the penalty we deserve for all our obnoxious behaviour. (Abraham’s pleas in Genesis 18 refer.)

BUT the truly better news is that such undesirable conditions mean Jesus’ promised return is very, very close.  As revealed in January this year,

“…I am setting the stage for that which I have foretold in My Word and it will quickly and swiftly come to pass. For the days are coming when the lawless one shall be revealed and the son of perdition shall take his stand.

“Let my people know that those who are lukewarm, those whose hearts are far from Me, even this year satan will seek to sift you – but they will not hear My voice!… (emphases mine – read full post here.)

See also, Follow-up on recent prophetic words concerning the return of Jesus.

AND the fact this Parliamentary announcement has been made during Advent is also of significance. As noted in my previous post, Advent’s principal focus is upon the Second Coming, or return of Jesus Christ to reign and rule, as well as to judge of the world. So there seems to be a connection with the PM’s decision and what Jesus said about the days of Lot.

FURTHERMORE, the arrangement for consenting (my term) religious bodies to marry same-sex people will greatly facilitate the SIFTING within churches, as considered  above. Thus, ‘churches’ that compromise and are disobedient to Jesus’ commands as in The Great Commission (Matt 28) will no doubt be pruned as unfit to become His Bride.

Sunday

In view of the preceding two day’s events described above, a third day brought more from a totally different source.  We decided to spend the evening catching up with the 5 hour Revival Reunion of leaders and evangelists from the Brownsville and Bay of the Holy Spirit revivals.

steve-hill-portraitSteve Hill, the renowned evangelist from Brownsville days, took the lead speaking upon the effects of living in or near the city of Sodom. Under a strong unction Steve taught about how the Days of Lot apply to today!   This message begins at 3hr 10m here, and in tears Steve explains.:

 Forgive me, this message has never been preached except alone with Holy Spirit…and I have cried and cried and  cried as revelation after revelation was downloaded into my spirit…by the One who wrote these words..

When Steve drew to a close, hundreds of Christians attending the Reunion had come to deep repentance and a personal re-commitment to their Lord. Thus, it was necessary to cleanse and purify the Church by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

To sum up, a scriptural appreciation of current events suggests that David Cameron’s decision on redefining marriage does line up with the Bible, BUT not how people would think!  However, as he has no mandate whatsoever from the people or his party for his actions, he has assumed personal responsibility for them with all the consequences that ewill bring – a most invidious position.

After a ‘coincidental’ walk-through of pertinent scriptures on subsequent days, it appears the Lord is indicating that the Church needs to be aware of the full implications of living in the Days of Lot and of Noah and to seek His face, as well as to intercede for our leaders and nation.

PS. Please read Steve’s account of his miraculous recovery from terminal cancer – and his very recent vision about a warning for the Church at this hour, which opens.:

This is coming to you from a man who has just passed through the valley of the shadow of death. Since my close call with eternity just a short while ago everything has become clearer. I can hear His whisper. Unabated obedience has become my mandate. That is why I’m writing this word from the Lord…(cont’d in The Spiritual Avalance)

Note: in view of its great importance in the light of debates within the Church and in the blogsphere over the recent vote in Parliament, I have ‘re-blogged’ the full article here.

A few good links:

echurch – a good introductory overview that refers to the legal implications

Cranmer – Roman Catholic Church to Cameron: “You are out of your depth”

Cranmer – Cameron not only redefining marriage, he’s constricting Conservatism

God & Politics – Gillan Scott’s first comments on Cameron’s decision with debate

God & Politics – Today is the day Government seizes control of marriage

God & Politics – A prayer for marriage

On the threshold…

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3.20 KJV)

White Door in Skydoor

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and… (Rev 4.1-2 NKJV)

The above image is not exactly what I saw, as recounted in 2/12 1st Sunday in Advent 2012. Invisible walls formed by the darkness of our bedroom contrasted strongly with a tall rectangular shape of light immediately before me. Yet, when considered along with the above scriptures this image does represent the real spiritual meaning of the softly glowing light that beckoned me.

One of the reasons this event is being revisited is because I’ve since had an increasing expectation within my spirit that today’s major national and international events are lining up with those prophesied in the Bible for the ‘Last Days’ or ‘End Times’. I’m not talking about the end of the world or the close of the ancient Mayan calendar, about which I’ve taken miniscule regard.  I’m think that its closure is merely indicative of such changes coming upon us that the world will no longer be as we once knew it. Of much that I could write, it seems that a greater emphasis needs to fall on the prophetic.

For example, the triple confirmation of ‘open door’ in that vision; viz. the arrival of Paul Keith Davis’ email about it that day, the manuscript note from 2005 in my Bible and then that Sunday’s church copy of the same newsletter, all shout ‘GOD-INCIDENCE’!  That is, the Lord is telling me something important – take notice! – and it’s not perhaps purely personal.

Soon afterwards I recalled one of the first times we heard Paul Keith’s teaching in Bath. We had aisle seats close to the front of the auditorium and at one point everyone stood up as he ministered from the front. A little later he walked up our aisle towards people at the back and, approaching us, he looked into our eyes and said, “Await His return!”

If you haven’t followed the previous post’s link to his e-newsletter A New Day Dawning, here’s the pertinent part of what Paul Keith writes:

The coming days will bring greater dimensions of darkness in the world; yet our hope is for the appearing of God’s weighty Presence…

The Open Door

As emphasized in Revelation 3:20, the Lord stands at the door and knocks and to him who hears and opens the door to his heart, the Lord will dine with him. This is an individual commission and requires an individual response. On the other side of the “open door” we will find Living Word revelation vital for this season and the Heavenly blueprint.

The fullness of the ministry model God has ordained to respond to the great needs and challenges of the 21st Century is not presently on the Earth. It is something that we must obtain from behind the veil in the unseen realm. It is the hidden manna reserved and set apart for this generation that will equip the Bride of Christ without spot or wrinkle and empower her for the harvest…

Dear reader, if you don’t know Jesus Christ you really have nothing to lose by opening the door into your own life and letting Him in. He won’t come unless you invite Him to come in and ‘sup’, or eat and drink as well as rest and relax. Furthermore, He brings His own refreshments for bringing real sustenance into your life.

So, if you haven’t yet done so, why not open the door?

2/12, 1st Sunday in Advent 2012

WHAT A DAY, WHAT A DATE!  And what a story; whether it be past, present or future version, each strand links into the grand theme. As some say, history is His story. So today’s post is more an illustrated short, but true, story.

In western churches Sunday 2nd December 2012 marks the beginning of Advent – the weeks of expectant preparation leading into celebrating Jesus Christ’s birth in ancient Bethlehem. For too many weeks, however, shops have displayed the tacky commercial side of the season.

So it is interesting to note Wikipedia’s entry on Advent, and I was especially surprised upon its emphasis being not upon Jesus’ birth, but upon His return, viz.:

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming of Christ. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming. The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is often to prepare for the Second Coming while commemorating the First Coming of Christ at Christmas. With the view of directing the thoughts of Christians to the first coming of Jesus Christ as savior and to his second coming as judge, special readings are prescribed for each of the four Sundays in Advent….

Readers familiar with my personal story may recall Advent’s significance in this blog’s raison d’etre (details at close of this post).  And once again I’m astonished by something relevant, and which I hope will be an encouragement to readers seeking God or already walking with Him. So let your imagination follow me in what happened…

Last Sunday

‘On a roll’ getting off to church I realised I wasn’t carrying my hefty New King James study Bible so, approaching our front door, I grabbed my old New International Version Insight Bible. After scraping thick frost off the car’s windows I drove off. It’s an easy 22 miles via the 1-year old Hindhead Tunnel, and bursting through into brilliant sunlight brought splendid views over the Surrey hills.

Tunnel - Surrey side

A mother and baby were picked up en-route and, arriving later than usual at a school cafe outside Godalming, there was time for a quick coffee before the service started at Well Church International. The young chap on guitar leads those gathered in worship of the Living God. As everyone focuses upon Jesus, however, “John 13” pops into mind. So I pick up my Insight Bible from the table and check it out, trying not to distract others.

My old, floppy paperback Bible is well-worn, some verses covered in yellow highlighter and marginalia jottings on teachers’ remarks, and my own thoughts, as seen below…

John 13-14Is there something specifically for me to read in John13, Lord?”  The headers therein are ‘Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet’, ‘Jesus Predicts His Betrayal’, ‘Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial’. Nothing stood out other than verse 13, “A new command I give you: Love one another….By this all men will know you are my disciples” Then it leads into chapter 14 where Jesus tells them not to be troubled about what’s going to happen, that He’s going to, “Father’s house…to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the place to where I am going…

Thomas butts in, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way there?” Jesus answered him with that well-known personal attestation,

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7)

I notice my annotation in red made during a conference 7 years ago, then ponder if any of this may be of signficance – and what that may be!

John 14 notePutting my Bible down I get back into worship – only to pick it up minutes later to focus upon those verses. A few minutes later young Danny motors straight into a new song about the door into heaven – and my jaw drops. I’ve just read that in my jottings!

Seven years ago a teacher said verse 14:6 means, “I am the doorway into Father’s throne-room; I open heaven” (see note in red in image to left). A couple of minutes later I go to the front and read this scripture and refer to my explanatory note to encourage everyone.

Mmmm very interesting, especially in view of what had happened only last week.

Later, sitting at the table and completing our offering envelope I question myself about the date. “Yesterday was Nina’s annual spiritual birthday party, that is 1st Dec so it’s 2nd”, I thought. THEN, the moment I start writing ‘2/12…’ I’m hit by that number. [For her birthday card I’d wanted to quote the opening lines of Psalm 91 and took out an old NIV of hers only to find she’d annotated it’s start with ‘God our protector’. So I used those words for her card. As evident from these two events, it’s clear that He knows our jottings!]

I’d had occasion to discover ‘212’ again just before writing about this blog’s anniversary, as here.  Last December I’d been impressed with the possible connection of a house number with the new year of 2012.  After all, it’s just any old house, any old number. Yet between then and now a tiny thought had made me wonder if it may be something to do with an actual date in 2012. Then I completely forgot all about that!  Until now, that is.

But that was nothing to what was to follow…

Our minister Lindi Masters had returned home to South Africa for Christmas but not without printing December’s diary sheet. Copies of this were on each table and I’d not had chance to see it until after our visiting German pastor’s message.  After he finished I took the sheet and turning over was stunned!

Dec 2012 reverseThere, on its reverse, is a copy of the latest news-letter from Paul Keith Davis but abridged to make ‘The Open Door’ its leading sub-header!  AND it just so happens I’d received my own copy of his newsletter only three days earlier – AND during that very night, whilst wide-awake, I’d already been blessed to see the door to which he refers!  As I’d lain awake in bed but eyes closed, I sensed in the middle of darkness an open doorway, but devoid of door, and beyond which was nothing but gentle light. (Click on image to read, and for full content Paul Keith’s newsletter click here.)

No wonder I was utterly stunned in amazement by these three ‘coincidences’ on the ‘open door’!  Is it all a ‘sign and a wonder’?  Bemused, I next recalled that the ‘212’ house number of my childhood home was affixed to the top of the front door. So could the insertion of a zero suggest an open door, or portal, indicating that 212 could become 2o12?  This speaks to me of two kinds of home addresses, one earthly and the other heavenly. I wonder…

Note: the date of my Bible’s note is ‘3.3.5’, which is exactly 7 years 9 months ago, or 93 months ago. Although not into detailed numerical anlysis I can’t but help noting these digits total 12 (9+3=12), and we’re in the 12th month of the 12th year of this century.

All told, an exciting start to Advent. What could it portend?

Further reading:

Update on ‘Media manipulation’

Sadly, there seems to be evidence that the ‘manipulation mentality’ about which I wrote (here, here and here) may be affecting the BBC’s staff themselves.  Could entrenched mindsets be hindering their ability to comprehend and effectively communicate?

The strange story of a complaint to the BBC tells of their peculiar reply to a listener’s complaint. This report demonstrates the BBC complaints people either failed to read the submission, or else were incapable of comprehending its content. Their reply bizarrely twisted its meaning, gave a rambling self-justification and did not address the concerns. BBC Watch draws this conclusion.:

One cannot but wonder how many other complaints are being registered by the BBC as the exact opposite of what they actually are and how that influences the reliability of the BBC’s complaints statistics and the resulting appraisals of its own performance.

Courtesy of BBC Watch

Incidentally, I’m loathe to think and write in a judgemental manner and so I was reticent about my posting on yellow journalism. But then by ‘sheer coincidence’, after typing it, I checked BBC Watch only to read the lasted news of a ‘yellow card’ for the journalist in question!  So it was probably more a ‘God-incidence’, perhaps to show He’s doing more shaking, as prophesied in January (here and here).  So watch out for more, lots more…

26 Then [at Mount Sinai] His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the [starry] heavens. 27 Now this expression, Yet once more, indicates the final removal and transformation of all [that can be] shaken—that is, of that which has been created—in order that what cannot be shaken may remain and continue. 28 Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe; 29 For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire. –  Amplified Bible: Hebrews chapter 12]

Media manipulation of thought and emotions

Frankly I don’t like fault-finding and criticising, as in recent posts. Nevertheless, there is  Godly authority for Christians to do so whenever necessary. This ‘standing instruction’ is found in Apostle Paul’s directions for walking in Love, Wisdom and Light, as in his letter to the early church in Ephesus. So, before putting this matter (hopefully) to rest with examples of media manipulation, it behoves us to consider Paul’s words.:

6 Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments [for these sins], for through these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience. 7 So do not associate or be sharers with them.

8 For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born to the Light]…

11 Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead  expose and reprove and convict them…13 But when anything is exposed and reproved by the light, it is made visible and clear; and where everything is visible and clear there is light. [Amplified Bible; see Ephesians 5 in full]

Regrettably, deception and lies abound throughout all forms of public life and media; as in the activities of press and police in phone and email hacking scandal. Much has been written, many got hot under the collar, and top leaders deeply divided over the issue of  freedom of the press and the controversial recommendations of Lord Leveson’s Inquiry. [For a brief summary see Gillan Scott’s: Leveson – where do we go from here?]

Censorship laws were abolished in 1695, so the introduction of the first press statute in over 310 years would be yet another step towards increasing state control.  [My family forebears required a licence, or ‘patent’, to print even the Authorised King James Bible! In view of threats of sedition and rebellion that faced Tudor and Jacobean monarchs,  eg. the Gunpowder Plot, printers could operate only with the sovereign’s permission – see my personal notes.]

Free speech in America is protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, but in Britain liberties once protected by convention are now seriously undermined by Section 5 of the Public Order Act. Anyone who feels offended or insulted – for any silly reason! – may bring a criminal prosecution!!  [More: Christian Institute and Cranmer.]

Human nature being what it is, the combination of freedom to speak and write enabled unsavoury elements of the press to make dramatic, sensational and inaccurate stories for the sake of attracting more readers.  This happened over 110 years ago in the USA, as outlined in The ‘Yellow Fever’ of Journalism.

Eventually, this kind of publishing spread to the UK, as evident in the tabloid press wars and started to afflict the once highly reputable British Broadcasting Corporation as well as The Guardian, successor to the renowned  Manchester Guardian. [This famous local paper was essential reading for me as a 6th form student at school only 15 miles from the city – read brief history and of its interest in Zionism and Palestine.]

Consequently, it’s with unease that I see sensational and deliberate inaccuracy within once-august organisations’ coverage of factual material. I can only infer their purpose must be to mislead and manipulate readers, thereby inculcating mental and emotional antagonism against a people and a nation, Israel. (Although having studied the history for years in some depth, I am open to correction.)

Example 1

westBank-E1

Yesterday, a friend asked if I’d heard the latest news about a large building programme by Israel in an area designated as E-1 lying east of Jerusalem, specifically to bisect the West Bank – ie. divide it in two. The friend got this notion from media reports.

Better still, why not read what someone on the ground says? Paula Stern writes ,

It’s all about a mountain that sits between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem between the city where I work and the home that I have made with my husband and children. YNET incorrectly claims that Israel building on E1 threatens to “bisect” the West Bank. I can’t help but wonder why they never took the 3 minute drive out of Jerusalem to realize that was just nonsense!

…what we have is a mountain – not a very tall one, smaller even than the ones next to it on three sides. That’s all E1 is – a mountain. It is barren, but for a road that snakes its way up to a midpoint where a large police station has been built. No one lives there – no one has. Some trees, a lot of rocks, a traffic circle at the base – that’s all.

Read this local resident’s full statement here. Look at the above map! (details here); it is ‘much ado about nothing’, according to GW Bush’s deputy assistant Elliot Abrams. Also, CIF Watch refutes media claims and thereby trashes falsehood in The Guardian.

Here’s more true-to-type ‘yellow journalism’ from a badly biased international agency – Reuters Blames Israel For Doomsday. How’s that for manipulation?

Example 2

Another friend and reader of this blog contacted me about the effects that recent rocket attacks and defence had upon someone watching the news. Therefore, he quite rightly attempted to set the record straight. Thank you Neil for permission to quote your email, viz.:

How are you? I do greatly enjoy reading your “Watch” input and updates – keep up the good work.  We are now very close to the finish line for the End Times Course here…

I am writing because I had need to respond to an e-mail that I received. I quote an element below, and thought I would let you see my response as some information came from input you have so kindly provided. I am sure you will understand that I do not wish to identify the sender or quote the text in full:

[extract:]

“I am struggling to come to terms with what is happening in Israel / Gaza. Israel’s response to the missiles from Gaza seems to be disproportionate with appalling civilian casualties. And in response we now have a bomb on a bus in Tel Aviv. I am beginning to ask myself whether under the circumstances it is morally right …. ”

[Neil’s proposed reply:]

“Hard to know where to begin – I wish you had attended the Winvin End Times study. I take a very different view to yours: the Israeli’s have suffered extreme provocation over many years, particularly in relation to rocket attacks, from Hamas controlled Gaza into Southern Israel. These rocket attacks have been going on intermittently for more than 10 years. Hamas have repeatedly expressed their unequivocal aim to destroy Israel (wipe Israel off the face of the earth, re-occupy the land that belongs to Allah, and so on). They are supported and equipped by Iran, which takes the same view and appears to be close to developing a nuclear armaments capability.

“In mid October, Hamas gunmen, bombers and rocket firers started to increase the level of their cross border attacks. Some recent examples: on 8 Nov they blew up an Israeli military position on the Gaza border by tunnelling underneath it and filling the tunnel with high explosive. On 10 Nov they fired an anti-tank missile across the border, destroying a lightly armoured vehicle. On Sunday 11 Nov, the day before Israel retaliated, they fired 187 rockets into Southern Israel. Hamas launch their rockets from the vicinity of schools, hospitals and civilian populated areas, which is really using civilians as a shield and likely to “wrong foot” any military response, very challenging in terms of propaganda and “sound bite” media coverage. Hundreds of air sorties have failed to stop missiles being fired from Gaza, and they are now being fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem plus the bomb in Tel Aviv that you mention. I see it as a Hamas responsibility that civilians are being killed and injured – it is as a direct result of their tactics and their avowed determination to annihilate Israel.

“Israel is surrounded by its enemies (the more so since the so-called Arab Spring) and I suspect that it feels it is imperative to show to those who might contemplate an attack, that it is willing to take robust action.

“There are more complicated geo-political considerations in respect of Ayatollah Khamenei’s ambitions for Iran, his relationship with Bashar Assad (Syria and his wish to deflect attention from his “civil war”), Mohamed Morsi (Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood) and Hizballah.

“I could go on but it would become a book! I will add that Israel has a sophisticated anti-missile missile system which manages to take out some of the incoming rockets…

“I believe that the Jews are God’s chosen people, He has an everlasting covenant with them, and Jesus (a Jew) will return to Jerusalem to take his rightful place on David’s throne. I do not believe in replacement theology. There is no doubt that the Israeli’s are far from perfect – however, the Bible tells us we should pray for their wellbeing (which is not the same as agreeing with their actions – though in this recent activity in Gaza, I do).”

“I did not develop the possible fulfilment of end times prophecy that we see in these events, probably a step too far for the enquirer at this stage!”

Recommended links for countering Anti-Semitic mis-information:

1. For in-depth investigation and refutation of many instances of weak journalism, visit:

2. For well-informed, no-nonsense commentary within UK visit:

Be blessed as you dig…

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