The Shepherd, the Shadow and the ‘Spread’

Psalm23 table“The Lord is our shepherd…” asserted the psalmist David; and his descendant Jesus of Nazareth, who came as the Messiah, God’s anointed leader whom Israel long awaited, described himself as “The Good Shepherd”.

Even when we go through the dire depths of the Valley of the Shadow to struggle with sickness, loss of well-being and even of life itself, the Good Shepherd’s ‘rod and staff’ guide, encourage and ensure we keep on the right track, albeit hidden and thus raising thoughts that maybe we’ve gone astray. So, the Lord definitely does comfort us.

And beyond that dark vale He opens the veil to bring about our personal good – because we love Him and are called according to His purposes. There, He spreads a banqueting table before us – and not only for us to be blessed at His celebratory, festive spread but also for our personal earthly and spiritual opposition, the hosts of wickedness, to see and witness our reward and blessing at His hands!

For the last five months we’ve been through a deepening trial over Nina’s health, which came to a climax six weeks ago in severely painful and crippling loss of mobility. Hence my personal note of mid-January.

The faithful intercessory support of dozens of brothers and sisters in the Lord were a strong and sure support. Answers to our prayers started manifesting this week with the successful outcome of precision, albeit very dicey, non-invasive surgical procedure on her damaged spine. Thank and praise you Lord.

The scheduling of this surgery brought an unusual, coincidental effect upon this blog. The operation would have been performed last week had it not been for the half-term holidays. That is, a full surgical team wasn’t available because some staff needed to be absent for their school children.

Therefore, it enabled me to be on-hand to watch a situation develop. It would have been missed had the surgery been performed a week earlier!

All will be revealed next week…

Meanwhile, be blessed by reading Carol Good’s meditative blog on The 23rd Psalm, and to whom this post’s illustration is accredited.

Aligning Yourself to the Sound of Heaven

Thank you Brynn for a succinct summary of how our praising the Lord directly links into His Glory.

Revelation 4:3-8 (AMP) boldly declares,

“And He Who sat there appeared like [the crystalline brightness of] jasper and [the fiery] sardius, and encircling the throne there was a halo that looked like [a rainbow of] emerald. Twenty-four other thrones surrounded the throne, and seated on these thrones were twenty-four elders ([b]the members of the heavenly Sanhedrin), arrayed in white clothing, with crowns of gold upon their heads.

Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne seven blazing torches burned, which are the seven Spirits of God [[c]the sevenfold Holy Spirit];

And in front of the throne there was also what looked like a transparent glassy sea, as if of crystal. And around the throne, in the center at each side of the throne, were four living creatures (beings) who were full of eyes in front and behind [with…

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Anti-terrorism summit confirms this week’s insight!

Puzzle in sky - Idea goOpening Part 2 of An insight into global satanic strategy, I mentioned a few fascinating things happened over its content – and its timing! Maybe God-incidence? Let me tell you what I read whilst relaxing over a morning coffee yesterday:

First, recall that most of my work recently has been re-blogs of others’ posts as a result of home circumstances affecting my regular blogging time-slots. We’re trusting the Lord in all this, but a change in schedule was necessary. Yet I had time to write more fully this week.

Also, be aware my plan was to finish and publish what I’d already drafted on a dubious aspect of Churches Together prayer-focus for Lent (started last Wednesday). So that got well and truly waylaid – martyrdom of Egyptian Copts demanded my attention!  And then my brief covering note to Joel’s piece on that led directly into the 2-part ‘insight’.

In other words, on two counts that ‘insight’ would not have seen the light of day! Over two half-days I wrote the full piece and then separated into 2 parts; published the first half on Thursday and scheduled the second half for Friday morning.

Yet that second part didn’t see the light of day either!  A few teaks were needed and so I postponed its appearance for another day. But I reckoned without 3 technical issues!

1st Technical Glytch

What a game that was! As you know, Fridays to Sundays I’m normally off-line and we were heading out for the morning. So just a quick tap into my smartphone straight into WordPress to reset the date would do the trick!

No it didn’t!

There were connection issues trying to adjust the publication date – annoying! So I had to boot-up the pc, wait for that to load, log-in Norton security, launch WP and do the job.

That was the first spanner in the works!  I did get the date adjusted and off we went…

Stunning Confirmation

Nero_6A superb cappuccino and croissant in Caffé Nero, Petersfield with Nina tackling the paper’s crossword and me digging dug inside…I read that Barack Obama has referred the previous day at a counter-terrorism summit to “twisted interpretations” and “lies”! That’s more or less the focus in my 2-part ‘insights’, both published and yet to be published parts!!

Furthermore, Britain’s Home Secretary addressed the Washington summit about the immediate need for an unprecedented need for a global response to the threat of ISIL!! Now that’s exactly why the Crusades were launchednote well Mr Obama!

The Telegraph reporters open with (emphases added):

ISIL will develop into “something even more grotesque and inhumane” unless the world acts now, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said yesterday…

“There is simply no choice…The extraordinary nature of the threat posed requires an extraordinary response. It must be international in reach, unprecedented in scale and immediate“.

They go on to report:

Mr Obama…said that, while Western nations must take care not to vilify and marginalise their Muslim minorities, Muslim leaders “have a responsibility to push back, not just on twisted interpretations of Islam, but also on the lie that we are somehow engaged in a clash of civilisations”.

He added: “The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie”.

Hmm, I was amazed!  (See copy of the full report below.)

2nd Technical Glitch

As Nina’s daughter is here for the day and took mum out for the morning I published Part 2, and can spend time on this post.

When I looked for the digital version of what I read in yesterday’s paper there was only an earlier piece by one of the journalist’s. (Nothing further has followed online or in today’s Telegraph, but the Guardian has White House resists call to focus on Islamist terrorism at 3-day summit – for a paper keen on security and focussing on the Ukraine this is a poor show for the Telegraph.)

3rd Technical Glitch

In trawling for the summit through the Telegraph’s recent archive my Internet Explorer encountered a ‘buffering event’ that IE couldn’t repair! Google couldn’t get any network connection either.

The home network had vanished and Windows couldn’t repair the connection after its auto-diagnosis!! The router’s settings had been trashed!!!

Re-booting and repeating re-boot twice didn’t clear the problem. Fortunately, there’s a handy laptop…and it worked. Thank you Lord

So more time had been wasted and it seemed I was being prevented from publishing Part 2. Something spiritually unclean doesn’t like what I’ve found and am writing about!

SO THIS MUST BE VERY IMPORTANT

 As this doesn’t exist on-line, here’s the hardcopy I read: 

(The closing paras’ reference to youngsters leaving Britain to join the terrorists is borne out in last night’s news. See also Frontpage Mag Obama’s Summit of Jihad Denial.)

ISIL Threat

[Puzzle in Sky by Idea Go, courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

An insight into global satanic strategy – part 2

Timing in publishing this follow-on, 700th post is exceptionally fascinating not only for its confirmation in directly related news from Washington but also in other details. I will explain in next post; meanwhile, may you too be blessed with insights as you read:

Hand Holding Puzzzle PieceContinuing from Part 1 let’s consider further the revelatory ‘jigsaw piece’ found whilst musing upon satan’s strategy to avoid the Lake of Fire. It came whilst reading specialist historian Paul Crawford’s  Four Myths About The Crusades.  His solid, illuminating essay on president Bill Clinton’s unsound premise to his remarks on the 9/11 attack also apply to Barack Obama’s recently equating Christianity to Islamist butchery of Christians. Paul’s paper exposes falsehoods behind and adroitly disposes of the following:

  • Myth #1: The Crusades represented an unprovoked attack by Western Christians on the Muslim world.
  • Myth #2: Western Christians went on crusade because their greed led them to plunder Muslims in order to get rich.
  • Myth #3: Crusaders were a cynical lot who did not really believe their own religious propaganda; rather, they had ulterior, materialistic motives.
  • Myth #4: The Crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians.

Part 1 of this post briefly summarised Myth #3 and I concluded:

“The period of the Enlightenment with its liberal intellectual and philosophical attitudes nourished a growing rejection of religion, agnosticism and atheism. So a jaundiced view of Christian scripture and history developed. Thus, the Western intelligentsia began to put a twist upon the Crusades.”

His paper deserves to be studied in full and in view of its importance in this part I shall quote more extensively, adding emphases where appropriate:

The Muslim Attitude to the Crusades

Dr Crawford begins answering Myth #4 by stating part of the answer lies in that for Myth #1 – ie. Muslims had attacked Christians for centuries ever since the inception of Islam. His answer to the first myth succinctly summarises what was happening, as itemised on 7 pages by Dr Bill Warner on Political Islam, and which show that ‘jihadic’ attacks and strategic advances occurred on average every 5 years for 460 years!

Paul continues by stating Muslims “needed no further incentive to continue (jihad). But there’s a more complicated answer here…”.

“…until quite recently, Muslims remembered the crusades as an instance in which they had beaten back a puny western Christian attack…(One) of Lawrence of Arabia’s letters (describes) a confrontation during post-World War I negotiations (over) a case for French interest in Syria going back to the crusades, which Faisal (later Faisal I of Iraq). dismissed with a cutting remark: “But, pardon me, which of us won the crusades?”

He goes on to state that before WW1 most Muslims had a similar, if any, attitude to the Crusades,

“…that is, when Muslims bothered to remember them at all, which was not often. Most of the Arabic-language historical writing on the crusades before the mid-19th century was produced by Arab Christians, not Muslims, and most of that was positive…There was no Arabic word for “crusades” until that period, either…It had not seemed important to Muslims to distinguish the crusades from other conflicts between Christianity and Islam…As Carole Hillenbrand has noted, “The Muslim response to the coming of the Crusades was initially one of apathy, compromise and preoccupation with internal problems”.

“The first Muslim crusade history did not appear until 1899. By that time, the Muslim world was rediscovering the crusades — but it was rediscovering them with a twist learned from Westerners.”

At this point our author has introduced a new angle: the influence of modern European schools of thought. This was covered in Part 1 of this post for the purpose of leading into an appreciation of how Muslims’  attitudes towards the Crusades  changed radically in the early decades of the 20th Century. As Crawford explains:

“At the same time, nationalism began to take root in the Muslim world. Arab nationalists borrowed the idea of a long-standing European campaign against them from the former European school of thoughtmissing the fact this was a serious mischaracterization of the crusades and using this distorted understanding as a way to generate support for their own agendas.

“This remained the case until the mid-20th century, when, in Riley-Smith’s words, “a renewed and militant Pan-Islamism” applied the more narrow goals of the Arab nationalists to a worldwide revival of what was then called Islamic fundamentalism and is now sometimes referred to, a bit clumsily, as jihadism.

“This led rather seamlessly to the rise of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, offering a view of the crusades so bizarre as to allow bin Laden to consider all Jews to be crusaders and the crusades to be a permanent and continuous feature of the West’s response to Islam.

“Bin Laden…is no more accurate in his view about the crusades than he is about the supposed perfect Islamic unity which he thinks Islam enjoyed before the baleful influence of Christianity intruded. But the irony is that he, and those millions of Muslims who accept his message, received that message originally from their perceived enemies: the West.

“So it was not the crusades that taught Islam to attack and hate Christians. Far from it. Those activities had preceded the crusades by a very long time, and stretch back to the inception of Islam. Rather, it was the West which taught Islam to hate the crusades. The irony is rich.”

Conclusion

The last leads Paul Crawford ‘back to the present’ in asking how much of president Bill Clinton’s Georgetown speech of 2001 was accurate, especially his emphatic assertion that the story of the Crusades was “still being told today in the Middle East and we are still paying for it!”.

“This is the most serious misstatement of the whole passage. What we are paying for is not the First Crusade, but western distortions of the crusades in the nineteenth century which were taught to, and taken up by, an insufficiently critical Muslim world.

In drawing everything together, this specialist in the history of the Crusades offers his opinion:

“The problems with Mr Clinton’s remarks indicate the pitfalls that await those who would attempt to explicate ancient or medieval texts without adequate historical awareness, and they illustrate very well what happens when one sets out to pick through the historical record for bits—distorted or merely selectively presented—which support one’s current political agenda. This sort of abuse of history has been distressingly familiar where the crusades are concerned.

Thank you Paul Crawford for such an excellent examination and clarification of a crucial current issue. (Paul is an Associate Professor at California University of Pennsylvania –  also see his bio at Queen Mary University of London, and The Intercollegiate Review.)

The Diabolical Spin

Clearly, as shown above, the “Father of Lies” has been spinning his worldwide web of deceit, to which a surprising confirmation has been given this week and will be revealed in the next post.

Out of the post-Reformation intellectual freedom that eventually led to the rejection of most Judeo-Christian values, was born an anti-Christian mind-set that deliberately warps any spiritual understanding. It eventually affected not only traditional Christian beliefs but also associated historical facts.

Into his engineered ungodliness Satan could sow seeds of disbelief to twist and poison intellectual integrity. This serves his strategy to disunite and weaken Christianity further by falsified history harnessed to intellectual dishonesty and arrogance to belittle, blame and persecute the church of Jesus Christ.

“But Jesus…”

UPDATE: current security concerns led to a relevant development upon this thesis, as revealed in Anti-terrorism summit confirms this week’s insight.

MORE: this theme develops further in 1 of 3: the ‘End-game’ gets ramped up a level.

[‘Hand Holding Puzzle Piece’ by Ponsulak, courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

An insight into a global satanic strategy – part 1

A nuance new to me of our enemy’s tactics has come to light which seriously affects politicians’ and public’s perceptions. As in the caveat to Paws 4 thought, it’s a topic I’d much rather not blog about, but current events require this information to be shared. It should help you to understand the huge, beguiling deception blinding national leaders.

An “aha!” moment instigated continuation of those musings. Long-standing readers may recall, like my friend and fellow End-times teacher-author ‘Neil Mac’, that ‘jigsaw pieces’ occasionally bring revelation ‘out-of-the-blue’.

Hand Holding Puzzle Piece by PonsulakAfter popping a small ‘piece’, the last link, into my brief comment to the re-blog of Joel Rosenberg’s post on the war against Christianity, it struck me that link is part of an ‘invisible’ jigsaw. Not exactly as depicted in this photo by Ponsulak, it seemed like I’d inserted a ‘piece’ into a large puzzle, part of which covers Islamist actions.

Puzzle - Salvatore VuonoTo the first ‘puzzle pieces’, or links to comments on US National Prayer Breakfast, I added two more on the Crusades. It was upon later reading the last of these four at leisure that I was struck by it’s being like a piece connecting one area to another (rather  like Salvatore Vuono’s picture here).

That ‘piece’ connects the modern revival of Islam in all its original barbarity that overflowed from Arabia 1,500 years ago with my musings on the Devil’s plot to avoid the Lake of Fire. Now, it’s not the fact that this phenomena is part (5) of my historical evidence, but more the facts emerging from further analysis that brought a better perspective.

Historical Evidence cont’d

In those musings we considered just a few events to support my thesis that satan is the source of anti-Semitism and Christian disunity. There’s a ‘rationale’ to such a strategy.  Nowadays,we’re brainwashed into ignoring the historical facts behind Christianity’s massive reaction 920 years ago to 460 years of jihad – widespread strategic attacks and invasions. That is, it all started 1,380 years ago – and ISIS/ISIL want the whole world to regress not improve! (Hence, my re-blog’s link to Dr Warner’s itemised listing.)

Also, militant Muslims, backed by mendacious academics in Western universities, use that twisting of historical facts to pretend they’re victims of the Crusades: but in actual fact, Muslims came out as the winners!!

What is deeply disturbing is the fact that presidents Clinton and Obama were duped, or else wallowed in self-imposed ignorance, about the Crusades – and displayed this in public!  My readers in the States will be aware of the outcry following Remarks by the President at National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on 5th February when Mr Obama said, and I underscore the cause of the issue:

“…we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it.  We see ISIL, a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism…and claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions…[examples of sectarian wars] a rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate crimes in Europe, so often perpetrated in the name of religion

“So how do we, as people of faith, reconcile these realities…operating alongside those who seek to hijack religious for their own murderous ends? 

“Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history.  And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.  In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ…”

To his credit the President didn’t refer to deep anti-Semitism that had riddled European churches since the ‘early Church fathers’ and led up to the Holocaust. (Reformer Martin Luther was renowned for his strident, ungodly dislike of Jews!)

Elliott AbramsEven so, cluelessness masks deep disingenuity over the recent anti-Semitic murders of French and Danish Jews, as Elliot Abrams (Senior Fellow at the CFR and just one among myriad experts) pointedly questions and explains, Why can’t the White House see Terrorism and anti-Semitism? (see his linked lead-in post too).

Franklin Graham, outspoken son of Billy Graham, took issue with Obama’s comments, as emphasised above. On his Facebook page the evangelist sought to correct them:

“Today at the National Prayer Breakfast, the President implied that what ISIS is doing is equivalent to what happened over 1000 years ago during the Crusades and the Inquisition. Mr. President–Many people in history have used the name of Jesus Christ to accomplish evil things for their own desires. But Jesus taught peace, love and forgiveness. He came to give His life for the sins of mankind, not to take life. Mohammad on the contrary was a warrior and killed many innocent people. True followers of Christ emulate Christ—true followers of Mohammed emulate Mohammed.”

A fortnight later Franklin asks about the butchery in Libya,

“…In a statement the White House even called the 21 Christians who were beheaded “Egyptian citizens,” refusing to identify them as Christians. The truth is–their barbaric murderers openly said they killed them because they were “people of the cross.” Why is the President seemingly continuing to protect Islam and refusing to open his eyes to the truth?” (emphasis added)

The essential point, as in several earlier posts, is to compare the founders of both faiths – that of Islam just doesn’t, and cannot, bare comparison with Jesus.

William Koenig’s perspective on this as an accredited journalist at the White House and editor-in-chief of World Watch Daily is worth noting too:

“An important point to remember is that President Obama’s speeches have a specific audience or audiences in mind. At the National Prayer Breakfast…he equated the Christian (ie. Catholic) Crusades with radical Islam’s brutality. Moreover, he neglected to contrast the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, who came as the Savior to the world, with the brutality of Mohammed, who attempted to dominate and terrorize the world…

 “What did Muslims hear? A Muslim apologist who happens to be the President of the United States, and who calls himself a Christian, lectured Christians not to be on a “high horse”. He equated horrific Muslim violence with Christians who resorted to violence in two specific periods in history.”

This furore comes as no surprise. I questioned the President’s claims to be “a student of history” in his 2009 Cairo speech, which benefitted the Muslim Brotherhood. To the very deep disquiet and legitimate suspicion of many Americans, the MB since infiltrated and became too influential within the US administration, as lawyer and author Joseph Klein recently maintained in Obama Bolsters the Brotherhood.

Also refer to Tuesday’s article by Ephraim Karsh, professor emeritus of Kings College London, on White House Delusions, Islamist Realities, wherein he tells what happened after Cairo. UK readers will find relevant material by searching on ‘Cordoba foundation’ and ‘UK islam and democracy conference’ by Global MB Watch.

‘Four Myths About The Crusades’

Historian Paul Crawford’s above-titled article is the revelatory ‘jigsaw piece’ referred to above. It was first published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2011, but I found it through the Catholic News Agency. It gave me a new perspective into another tactic used by the Devil against Christianity. This scholarly paper should be recommended reading for every serious student of history; click to read in full.

The author, a specialist teacher of medieval history, opens by referring to Bill Clinton’s speech in 2001 where he, like Obama, excused the perpetrators of 9/11 by comparing them to medieval crusaders!

Crawford’s well-reasoned and illuminating essay exposes the falsehoods behind and adroitly disposes of:

  • Myth #1: The crusades represented an unprovoked attack by Western Christians on the Muslim world.
  • Myth #2: Western Christians went on crusade because their greed led them to plunder Muslims in order to get rich.
  • Myth #3: Crusaders were a cynical lot who did not really believe their own religious propaganda; rather, they had ulterior, materialistic motives.
  • Myth #4: The crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians.

What opened my eyes to a nuance in the devilish scheme to avoid the fiery lake was a scenario cloaked within the facts underlying Myths #3 and #4, for which the scholar’s opening gambit to the first (#3) reads:

“This has been a very popular argument, at least from Voltaire on. It seems credible and even compelling to modern people, steeped as they are in materialist worldviews. And certainly there were cynics and hypocrites in the Middle Ages…

“In the modern period, there were two main European schools of thought about the crusades. One school, epitomized by people like Voltaire, Gibbon, and Sir Walter Scott, and in the twentieth century Sir Steven Runciman, saw the crusaders as crude, greedy, aggressive barbarians who attacked civilized, peace-loving Muslims to improve their own lot. The other school, more romantic…saw the crusades as a glorious episode in a long-standing struggle in which Christian chivalry had driven back Muslim hordes. In addition, Western imperialists began to view the crusaders as predecessors, adapting their activities in a secularized way that the original crusaders would not have recognized or found very congenial…”

Free from church controls, the Enlightenment’s intellectual and philosophical liberality nourished a growing rejection of religion, agnosticism and atheism. So a jaundiced view of Christian scripture and history developed. Consequently, Western intelligentsia put their own twist upon the Crusades.

Part 2 will look at how this diabolical spin generated Myth #4; that the Crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians – and the implicit activity of the “Father of Lies” in avoiding his ultimate demise.

[‘Hand Holding Puzzle Piece’ and ‘Puzzle’ courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

Eat This Bread, Live For Ever

food-23453_640Fascinating ideas here marry science to the concept of ‘trans-substantiation’ (bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood). They lead to the inescapable conclusion that in absorbing Jesus’ DNA we receive not only Father’s DNA but also His mother’s DNA – a Jewish virgin! (Thus taking Romans 11 to a deeper level.) Therefore, anti-Semitism should have absolutely no place within those in Christ! Thank you Mike. Interesting comments too…

Sons of Issachar

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott

What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown (surround) him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
(Psalm 8:4-6).

It has always been God’s intention to have a people who would rule over the planet – and the universe – on His behalf. Man was to begin with the garden God made for him, and then go on to fill the rest of creation with the image and likeness of God. What was in heaven would be manifested on earth, and we would bring that rule of heaven to earth through our lives. We are made in the image of God, and are to be…

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Egypt’s president el-Sisi orders military strikes after ISIS beheads 21 Egyptian Christians. Details & analysis.

Lest anyone’s unaware: Islamists have declared and are waging war against the world. Americans will have noted their leader continues to insult one’s intelligence (misleading comments at US National Prayer Breakfast: read Douglas Murray & Raymond Ibrahim). To correct this, Dr Bill Warner compiled over 100 facts, the vast majority of which were military attacks. Thus, over 460 years of JIHAD CAUSED THE CRUSADES – NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND!!  When will Western leaders learn? See also Four Myths about the Crusades [Latest: Egypt’s airforce struck at dawn today UPDATE 28 Feb: Egypt goes to war on ISIS, masses troops against Islamist Libya stronghold.]

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

ISIS jihadists prepare to behead 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya. (source: screen capture from new ISIS video) ISIS jihadists prepare to behead 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya. (source: screen capture from new ISIS video)

UPDATED: Much of the West remains asleep or lethargic concerning the threat posed by the Islamic State, even as the movement’s gruesome killing spree continues unabated.

The latest: an Islamic State affiliate has beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who were working in Libya, according to a new ISIS video released on Sunday. “In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange jump suits, to a beach the group said was near Tripoli,” reported Reuters. “They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded.”

“The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church,” read a caption on the five minute video, Reuters noted.

President Obama spent eight hours golfingon Sunday.

But Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed to “avenge” the “criminal killings.” He immediately ordered the Egyptian air force to…

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Amidst Obama retreat from Mideast, three regional leaders forming quiet but fiercely determined alliance against Iran & ISIS.

Who needs America? Not these three wise warriors! As ever, Joel offers solid analysis and this alliance is especially noteworthy in the light of the ‘4 Signposts’ scenario…

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

King Abdullah and PM Netanyahu. King Abdullah and PM Netanyahu.

President el-Sisi and King Abdullah II. President el-Sisi and King Abdullah II.

Something curious is happening in the Middle East.

Amidst President Obama’s repeated moves to withdraw American military power and influence from the Middle East and “pivot” to Asia, three regional leaders in the epicenter are forming a quiet, unexpected but fiercely determined alliance.

Why? To protect their people against two existential threats, one posed by the Shia Radical Islamists of Iran, the other posed by the Sunni Radical Islamists of ISIS.

Who are they?

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
  • Jordan’s King Abdullah II; and
  • Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

They are meeting secretly. They are talking regularly by phone, as well as with other leaders in the region from Saudi Arabia to the Gulf. Their senior advisors are also in regular contact, coordinating moves to counter their most serious enemies. They are not waiting for Washington. Indeed, they often see the White House and State Department as less than helpful, and…

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Prophetic Word: It’s a New Season…can you see it?

Amen Jarrod! And thank you for we’ve been through an increasingly difficult season since October and now hoping for a welcome change, even a turnaround!

TRIBE

CROSSING OVER“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” Ecc 3:1

Life has many seasons. There are seasons of dreaming, periods of preparation, times of silence and eras of learning. This is true of people, families, organisations and of course, churches. It was even true of Jesus. You can’t fight it, you’ve just got to recognise it and live accordingly.

But I believe many people and churches are entering a new season right now, and it is the season of possessing the promise. Of crossing over into hopes and dreams that we have been preparing for, for years. It’s time for favour, for fulfilment, for ownership, of breakthrough!

Here’s why I sense that:

Jesus is the pattern

In Luke 3:22 Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit, and in Luke 4:1 the Spirit compels him, not into ministry or greater fulfillment, but into the desert. I…

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Follow-up: Stephen Sizer “temporarily unavailable”!

It’s highly significant this ecclesiastical censure follows upon the heels of Justin Welby’s opposition to anti-Semitism, as in my previous post.

Christian Middle East Watch

sizerSo says the website of Rev Stephen Sizer, whose bishop states that his “strong but undisciplined commitment to an anti-zionist agenda has become a liability to his own ministry and that of the wider church.” His sins have led finally to him being severely disciplined by his own church.

Rev Sizer has been in hot water several times with his ecclesiastical bosses over ill-advised social media posts about Israel and the Palestinians. He has always protested his innocence of any intention to offend Jews and claims to like Israel (see previous article in The Commentator).

He has, however, repeatedly attended and spoken at conferences and meetings where antisemitism is the order of the day and the state of Israel is denigrated and demonised with aggressive rhetoric seldom backed up by solid facts.

His most recent “slip” was to post a link to a blatantly anti-Israel conspiracy theory article blaming Israel…

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Archbishop Welby speaks out against anti-Semitism

In connection with the last post’s consideration of the real source of anti-Semitism as being ‘the Father of Lies’ strategies, last Monday’s 6 o’clock BBC News announced developments on this social issue with reference to the Anglican church.

This was surprising in view of that media corporation’s jaundiced bias against Israel, which I’ve often had cause to berate (as within this tag). Their story-line was built upon an All Party Parliamentary Inquiry’s Report into growing racist and anti-Semitic abuse on the internet. The rising tide of the latter in Britain and Europe featured prominently in the media after the terrorist attacks in France, as is evident in this listing. BUT note this: the only reference I can find on the BBC’s website to this Report is the third item under What’s in the newspapers – clearly, they don’t think the issue is of any importance!

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (Reuters)

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (Reuters)

The BBC reported the Archbishop of Canterbury’s remarks on social networks, and the news-anchor went on to report that the contentious pro-Palestinian vicar I’d blogged about has been banned from using Facebook!  Both matters are covered in Christian Today and I’ll quote Ruth Gledhill’s informative articles, which deserve to be read for further enlightenment:

In Justin Welby: ‘Ban racist and anti-Semitic trolls online’ she summarises the Report and quotes several authoritative opinions. She refers to Justin Welby as having spoken  “in advance of a report today that calls for “internet Asbos” to ban “determined” abusive social media users from certain sites” and opens her article,

The Archbishop of Canterbury called on social media sites to crack down on antisemitic abuse online. Archbishop Justin Welby said Facebook and Twitter must do more to prevent the proliferation of racism and antisemitism on their sites.

In fact, a few days earlier he’d sensitively commented On tweeting and touching on his personal blog about the difficulties digital communication can bring and recommended,

Love often says don’t tweet. Love often says don’t write. Love often says if you must rebuke, then do so in person and with touch – with an arm around the shoulder and tears in your eyes that can be seen by the person being rebuked. .

Ruth opens Rev Stephen Sizer banned from social media over 9/11 conspiracy post by stating,

Controversial pro-Palestinian vicar Rev Stephen Sizer has been banned from writing, preaching, teaching, emailing, tweeting, posting on Facebook or commenting in any way in relation to the current situation in the Middle East.  He has also been banned from doing anything at all on any social media for six months. He will instead now concentrate on his ministry as a parish priest.

She explains,

The Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, said it was his view that Mr Sizer’s “strong but increasingly undisciplined” commitment to an anti-Zionist agenda had become a “liability to his own ministry and that of the wider church…

“It is therefore my decision that Stephen’s work in this area is no longer compatible with his ministry as a parish priest.

“In order for Stephen to remain in parish ministry, I have therefore asked for – and received from him – a solemn undertaking, in writing, that he is to refrain entirely from writing or speaking on any theme that relates, either directly or indirectly, to the current situation in the Middle East or to its historical backdrop.”

Ruth makes a noteworthy point that the Council of Christians and Jews had said:

“It is perfectly possible to criticise Israeli policies without such criticism being antisemitic, and Christians and others should feel free to do so. However, such legitimate criticism must not be used as a cloak for antisemitism, nor can antisemitism itself ever be disguised as mere political comment.”

I certainly agree for, although supportive of the modern state of Israel’s right to exist, it is definitely not a matter of ‘Israel right or wrong, no matter what’. Like all states, their policies are not perfect, and some ultra-Orthodox Jews are no different to Islamists in their irrational hatred and violence for those of a different belief.

In the light of the above disclosures we could conclude that the Anglican church is now taking a zero-tolerance attitude toward anti-Semitism. Perhaps its leadership will direct clergy and communicants towards a more loving, open and Biblical respect for Jewish people and the nation of Israel? The new Bishop of Guildford’s very firm stance shown in his official statement on this matter is highly commendable. Basically, if Rev Sizer so much as whispers anything about the Middle East from now on, he’ll be sacked!

If, as has been prophesied, the Lord is calling that church out of ‘Lazarus’ grave’ into new life one could surmise this means, like Lazarus, it will at last recognise its ancient roots in Judaism. It may even gain new insights into Paul’s seminal letter to the Roman church on his detailed teaching upon our Judaic roots!

In all likelihood, the exposure and tackling of these issues are a part of the prophesied  “shaking of all things” and “sifting the harlot from the Bride of Christ”, in order to prepare for His return.

But there’s more that needs exposing! The next post will cover the outrageous inclusion of anti-Israel politics within inter-church prayers during Lent…

Paws-4-thought: devilish plot to avoid the Lake of Fire

“…for we are not unaware of Satan’s schemes”.  (Apostle Paul’s second letter to the early church in Corinth, Greece)

Paws4thort6It isn’t a popular topic and is one I’d rather overlook, but this has to be said in view of recent and current events. The notions behind my musings may not be new to some of my readers.

The enemy of our souls, that ancient dragon and deceiver, will eventually be thrown into a fiery lake along with his false prophet, the beast, death and Hades, plus anyone whose name isn’t recorded in the Book of Life, as is foretold in the twentieth chapter of The Apocalypse.

Afterwards, a new earth will appear and the new Jerusalem will descend from a new heaven, because the old ones have passed away. But before all that, those evil ones will have been defeated upon the return to earth of “The Word of God”, as described in part of an end-time vision Jesus gave Apostle John:

11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev 19:11 NKJV)

Satan’s Strategy?

It may be presumptuous of me, but it seems there’s a verse in each of the Old and New Testaments that Satan could be using to thwart God’s plan for his eventual demise.

Could his strategy be to prevent Jesus’ prophesied return? If he were to achieve that, then what’s foretold in scripture just wouldn’t be able to happen!

However, in view of the facts that Jesus defeated him at Calvary and then ascended to sit at God’s side as His only begotten Son, how could Satan achieve such a goal?

Answer: by ensuring the reasons for Jesus Christ’s promised return have been nullified; that is, no longer exist.

OT Aspect

When Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives the gathered disciples were told by two men in white linen that He’d return in the same fashion (Acts 1:9-12). This would comply with the prophecy of the Day of the Lord given to Zechariah, which states in part…

For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem… 3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east….Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You. (Zech 14:2-5 NKJV courtesy BibleGateway.com)

Therefore, which people will be there?  The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the Jews, with whom God has an everlasting Covenant. So, to prevent that Satan could cause people to eradicate them by genocide; that is, by wars, massacres, pogroms, holocaust, politico-religious ethnic cleansing. Hence, Islamist regimes’ goal of wiping the Jewish state of Israel from the map. (Some mullahs want all Jews to be gathered there so they can be more easily destroyed!)

Thus, once all Jews are removed from the land there’d be no point at all in Jesus returning for a people that don’t live there!

NT Aspect

But Jesus could return to snatch away, or ‘rapture’, the Christians into heaven anyway, as Paul foresaw, for that above OT verse says He will return with all His saints. But if all the followers of Jesus are no longer fit to be His bride then they’d be useless and He wouldn’t be able to use them. Hence, the snake insinuated itself into Christendom, got churches to unwittingly promulgate false teachings and lose the Holy Spirit’s anointing and powerful inheritance of the first disciples.

Better still, the devil could scheme to destroy and wipe them out too! Then there’d be neither Jew nor Christian left for Jesus to return to earth. He might as well stay up in heaven and let Satan continue to rule the roost on earth

So, as stated in Revelation 12:17, Satan immediately began “to make war on those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus”.

Perhaps the easiest and most subtly unseen way of doing that is the Machiavellian strategy of ‘divide and rule’; that is, disunity. Get these ‘little anointed ones’ to fall out and dispute doctrine, let them build and rule over man-made institutions instead of being filled by the Holy Spirit and led by Him.

But even better, get them to hate and turn on one another, then wage war upon and kill fellow believers and thus disobey not only Jesus’ own command to them to love one another (John 13:34-35), but also His prayer to Father that they be one in them both (John 17:20-26) so the world would believe God had sent Him. And so Satan’s tactic is to render these foundational points of Christian discipleship null and void.

And on top of that, if Satan can get Christians to despise and turn against the Jews then he’s laughing, he’s ‘home and dry’ – we will have done his job for him!!  And better still, why not make everyone else in the world hate Jews too?  Even better, create a religious scripture that justifies, commands and honours killing them.

Doubtless, the Devil thinks prevention of the fulfilment of holy writ is practically guaranteed! Let’s consider some evidence for these claims:

Historical Evidence

1. The opening quotation refers to a matter on which Paul was advising church leaders. About 20 year after Jesus’ ascension a rebellious conflict grieved leaders and believers of that early assembly in Greece. They reacted severely but Paul cautioned forgiveness and comfort. Otherwise it would allow Satan to take advantage of the discord within the church (New Spirit-filled Life Bible notes). NKJV has Paul’s guidance; “…I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices“.  (2 Cor 2:11)

2. Another devilish tactic that has persisted is mentioned by the author of the Book to the Hebrews: “Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it (Heb 12:15 Amplified Bible).

3. 300 years later, in post-conversion zeal, Emperor Constantine turned against Jewish opposition to Christianity. Being empowered as the official religion it dominated that empire’s territory and Sylvester, the bishop of the Catholic church in Rome, withdrew its long-standing brotherly support of churches led by the ‘desposyni’ (“the Lord’s blood-kindred”). Thus began centuries of official anti-Semitic indoctrination and persecution, the fruit of which appalled me when a child upon hearing my devout Catholic mother referring to Jews as “Christ killers”. So we can understand how the strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism in Europe enabled Satan to complete one phase of his strategy: the infamous Holocaust.

4. Yet the Bible calls Christians to live as peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

5. 1,500 years ago along comes a new religion that invades other lands, tramples upon their culture and persecutes and kills anyone who thinks differently; including Jews and Christians. (Other than refer you to website The Religion of ‘Peace’, I’m not citing any details because those familiar with the subject will already be well informed.)

6. Britain has a mixed history of treating Jewish residents, including persecution during 12th-13th Centuries. After returning in 16th Century they integrated well into one of the most tolerant countries in Europe (Virtual Jewish Library). However, during the last century there’s been noticeable anti-Semitism in diplomatic circles, and in the military during the British mandate to govern the Palestinian territories. However, of the latter, honourable mention must be given to two distinguished British officers:

  • patterson[1]Lt. Colonel John Henry Patterson, commander of the British Army’s Zion Mule Corps at Gallipoli in 1915 and in 1918, after becoming 38th Kings Fusiliers, they served under Gen. Allenby in driving the Turks out of Palestine (source). Israeli PM Netanyahu personally presided at the re-interment of his ashes last year.  Patterson had been a very close friend of his late father, as well as of Israel’s first two Prime Ministers Ben-Gurion and Eshkol. (Click image for more)
  • wingateMajor General Orde Charles Wingate DSO, creator of special behind-the-lines WW2 units (later became the SAS) operating in Abyssinia, North Africa and Burma, where he formed the famed ‘Chindits’. His template for this had been in training the Haganah during 1936-39, which later became the IDF (source).

7. Anti-Semitism in todays’ media and traditional churches in Britain, as in Archbishop Welby’s speech against it and silencing of anti-Zionist Stephen Sizer.

These musings soon developed further as An Insight into a Global Satanic Strategy  and then into a 3-part mini-series on the biblical ‘End-game’ (click for Part 1).

 “…the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Rev 12:12)

[All Bible quotations courtesy of Bible Gateway.com]

Further Reading:

  1. The real reason for the Israel-Palestine issue and anti-Semitism.
  2. What did Jesus foretell about the First World War?
  3. Arabs & Jews unite to agree only solution to conflict is Jesus Christ.
  4. A call for clarity on Israel and Gaza.
  5. PM Cameron’s 1st state visit to Israel warns about Iran’s “despotic regime”.

Yes, Saddam Hussein is also tied to the Shemitah

I strongly agree there’s ‘a divine rhythm in timing’ Mark. No doubt you were inspired to make this fascinating find! (See Wall St considers Biblical basis for economic crashes and Prophetic points to ponder on 9/11 for more on ‘The Harbinger’.)

THE FOUR SIGNPOSTS

This came as a surprise to me.  I was doing some research on Saddam Hussein this past week and stumbled across a little-reported fact.  The Second Signpost may yet prove it is to happen on or around the end of this current Shemitah year.  As we know from Cahn’s book The Harbinger, the 9-11 attack and the financial crisis both happened on the last day of the Shemitah in 2001 and 2008, respectively.  My own experience also became tied to this current Shemitah.

What is the Shemitah?  It is the seventh year and last year of a Biblical seven-year cycle found in Leviticus.  Though Biblically it is tied only to the land of Israel, this concept of a seven-year cycle is showing up in many places and ways.  The Signposts, the Tribulation and even the return of Christ may all be tied to the Shemitah.  I don’t know for…

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Coming Wave of the Holy Spirit to the US

This is most intriguing because I posted today what was intended for last week but which got delayed by material relating to the prophet Daniel. Having done that, Tony reminded me of relevant visions and his concluding reference in this one to rising demonic reactions reflects my own thoughts on anti-Semitism’s apparent presence in proposed prayers for Lent in the UK. Thank you Lord for confirming my thoughts.

My Dreams and Visions

I had a vision on the morning of 9/3/2010 , I kept hearing the word, “wave”, and wondered as to its meaning. I was then shown a wave the size of a tsunami and I was on a surf board riding the wave. The Tsunami was heading for the United States, and, as you know, A Tsunami is caused by an earthquake in the sea which indicates to me a shaking, a great shaking. This tsunami is a move of the Holy Spirit of gigantic proportions that is coming to the United States. It is my belief that it will impact the west coast first as this is where surfing is popular. In order to be a part of this you have to swim out into the deep in order to catch the wave and be able to ride the wave. In shallow water, you call the shots and can…

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Wave of revival heading for UK

At the School of the Prophetic held in Leicester on 25th January Simon Braker brought the following:

In a dream last night I saw a giant green wave approaching the entire borders of the UK. As it hit the beaches it swept through the whole of the UK touching every town village and city. Not one street was left untouched.

In its wake thousands of fires began to light up all over the UK, in houses, church buildings, office buildings everywhere!

aurora-uk_2192580k_Image credit Telegraph

I asked the Lord, “What is this Lord?”  He answered and said,

“A great prayer awakening is about to hit the UK, this new passion and burden for my presence in prayer will be the John the Baptist of this day, every place where this fresh voice of prayer is heard my presence shall flood into.

“This next move of my Spirit will show no regard for denominational lines and steams or styles of ministry. The only defining factor is hunger,

“In this season those who truly thirst shall be filled, some places that appear to be alive shall be shown to be dead and other places that appear to be dead shall break out into vibrant life,

“This is a season that many of my hidden ones shall be revealed, I have had many hidden who are called for such a time as this.”

Thank you Suzanne Payne for this transcript, the content of which reminds me of Rev. Norman James’ reaction upon receiving a similar ineffable vision to that of his prayer-partner Smith Wigglesworth of a holy visitation to Britain. (For details click here.) Also, the lighting of fires is similar to Jean Darnall’s vision in 1967.

Also, as Tony Puccio reminds me below, there’s a vision he received for England last May and which was re-blogged here and further commented upon here. I particularly  note the above reference to ‘hidden ones’, which may relate to the theme of dreams he has been having recently on the prophet Daniel’s ‘time of the end’ visions, as here.

See also, On a new revival of prayer in US and elsewhere posted 3rd March.

[Image credit : aurora-uk, published in Telegraph]

Be careful what you link to!

Readers’ attention is drawn to Nick Gray’s reasons for this warning. Anyone impartial soon becomes suspicious of ‘Revd’ Sizer’s stance because of his extremist associates. His oft’ feigning innocence is dubious, if not disingenuous, as may be inferred from blogger Cranmer’s dossier over the period since I covered the 2011 TV debate with Clive Calver on replacement theology (see also). Here, Nick Gray graciously considers the latest misdemeanour and investigative Daphne Anson’s attached comments from ‘down under’ are illuminating. UPDATE 9/2: Sizer banned from using social media. See also Archbishop Welby speaks out against anti-Semitism.

Christian Middle East Watch

Sizer Rev Stephen Sizer speaking at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting

Click to go to antisemitism sectionThe pleasant and rather up-market town of Virginia Water in South-West London must have wondered what was going on this week as it was invaded by live-broadcast satellite TV vans and their accompanying film crews and reporters.

As random worthy citizens of Virginia Water were interviewed it came to light that it was their vicar, Rev Dr Stephen Sizer, who had brought this invasion upon them.

Stephen Sizer is an evangelical clergyman of long standing, who besides pastoring his congregation somehow manages to cause dismay and concern over speeches, writings and Facebook posts concerning Israel. In fact it would not take too deep a reading of his material to encourage one to label him as firmly anti-Israel in both his politics and theology.

Sizer repeatedly claims that he cares “…passionately about the safety of the Jewish people and the right of…

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World leaders respond to persecution of Christians

Historic Jewish-Christian Collaboration

“Just as Christians defend Jews against anti-Semitism, just as Christians support Israel, we Jews have an obligation to speak out against the growing persecution of Christians in many parts of the world.

“Islamist extremists have launched a full-fledged assault upon our Western values, and Jews and Christians must work hand-in-hand to defeat this threat.”

press-statement-250x200So announced the President of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, at the Feast of Tabernacles 2014 ceremonies held last Autumn. As head of the main umbrella organisation representing Jews throughout the world, he was taking part in a historic initiative with the leaders of two global Christian bodies, one of which was the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ). They sent a joint letter to 120 world leaders demanding their urgent action to halt the brutal persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

ICEJ has reported further upon this as follows:

“This joint letter challenged the leaders of 95 democratic countries over the worsening situation for Christian minorities across the Middle East. Besides the Western-led air campaign to roll back the advances of the Islamic State terror militia in Iraq and Syria, democratic countries have responded so far by providing relief aid in refugee camps and opening the door to more Christian refugees from the Middle East. Otherwise, the international community has been ineffective in confronting this on-going tragedy, and the ICEJ felt compelled to sound the alarm.

“The joint letter was co-signed by ICEJ Executive Director Dr. Jürgen Bühler, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder, and Dr. William M. Wilson, President and Co-chairman of the Empowered21 Global Council. Dr. Bühler noted that the participation of Lauder as head of the main umbrella organisation representing world Jewry made this an historic initiative.

“Over recent months, the Christian Embassy has been receiving official replies from various heads of state and foreign ministries. All express concern regarding the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, but the level of commitment to affect change varies. Many offer to continue to raise awareness of Christian persecution in international forums, as well as to sponsor groups which promote religious liberties. Some also note that they have eased the way in recent months for more persecuted Christians to enter their countries as refugees…”

Some of the responses received by early January have been published. Those from Britain, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Macedonia and South Korea may be read here.

Incredible timing of ‘unsealing’ and ‘keys’ re. Daniel’s visions

Extraordinary!

“By the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established”.  (Deut 19:15 NKJV)

This must rank as one of the most amazing examples of ‘God-incidence’ I’ve ever come across. And it’s Invisible Jigsaw and Bridge over the ‘Pond’ tags all rolled into one! (Not to mention anything to do with ‘Time’, as blogged a year ago.)

Just in case readers didn’t notice a brief but significant contribution to the last post, On unsealing Daniel’s prophetic visions, I’m repeating it below. Also, a huge “Thank you” to all who liked that post. My post was published on Saturday morning (31 Jan 2015). Tony Puccio commented later in the day: “It’s amazing you post this Richard. Look at the vision the Lord showed me.”…. Continue reading