“The books are being opened” – come, feast on Father

Posted on Thursday, 30 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

Upon receiving William’s news on Monday I sensed, “The books are being opened”.

It blessed me to learn that he too, like fellow author Neil, had been encouraged by events after my mentioning him in last Thursday’s blog. Both friends had emailed me earlier that week and Bill forwarded an interesting online article that deserved a wider airing.

Last week, I intended blogging about the Iranian nuclear deal but realised it had to be in 3 parts. The first wasn’t thought of until ‘getting out of bed’. What became the second part was meant to lead into a look at questionable details of that deal. That part reveals the synchronicity between the final accord and a highly significant period in the Jewish Calendar. Its cross-posting from Breaking Israeli News had been quickly done but needed a brief introduction on the Thursday before my main task of compiling the substantive ‘stuff’.

However, as told in IF, I hadn’t got out of bed…, I was inspired the previous evening to make a note for beginning the combined material – only to wake up, get waylaid and need to re-jig my plans for blog-day.

As I got diverted into new but directly relevant material, I recalled William Smith is an author too and therefore provided details of his book, ‘Feasting On The Father’. Little did I suspect that another ‘God-incident’ was getting under way!

It was ‘time’ for Revd Bill’s book too, because on Monday he emailed, “I want to say ‘thank you’ for advertising my book afresh…The timing was so incredibly significant to me”. He was visited by a friend who’d read it and believes it’s a vital word for the church today.

Bill remains convinced God had him write it for a needy church and many who agree it’s an important essential word to the church encouraged him.

Some reviews:

So click on the above image to take a look inside and to get from Amazon, noting this fellow writer’s 5-star review:
“This book comes from a warm place. It is written for Christians but is accessible to all and draws on the simple yet profound symbolism of food and drink. It is a book of praise to God, using rich and often beautiful imagery and language. William Smith encourages Christians to thrive rather than just survive in life. Like any good read it is a book which challenges but is also often comforting. Littered with scripture references this is a book designed to help the reader draw closer to God.”

And another:
“A beautiful book, well written and inspirational, taking the reader on a journey into the depths of the love, grace and provision of a loving Father God to His children. A cracking read!!”

Bestselling and award-winning author Dr Mark Stibbe remarks,
“A stunning piece of work! I am constantly being sent manuscripts, especially by new authors. If I’m brutally honest, many of these offer only scraps of revelation. Just occasionally a book comes my way that offers far more than that – a true feast of Abba’s wisdom and insight. Bill’s book is a great example of this. I unreservedly encourage you to come to the table he has so meticulously and lovingly prepared. Come hungrily and you will not be disappointed. A banquet of brilliance awaits.”

Description:

‘This book is an in-depth Bible study, centred on Song of Solomon chapter 2 and revealing the heart of a loving Father throughout the scriptures. Far from being academic theory, the teaching is a heart-to-heart talk and passionate exploration of how to enjoy God’s intended relationship every moment of our lives.

‘The Bible is essentially a love story – a book that reveals the heart of a Father towards his children. God does not keep his distance from us, nor is it his desire to punish us. On the contrary, his love compelled him to send his only son into an imbalanced world – to suffer in our place, and to bring us back to the Father as royal sons. Now, we are welcome to the table of the King of Kings…

‘The truths explained in this book have the power to change your life. Once you have feasted on the Father, you will not want to look back.’

Personal note:

One Saturday morning several years ago Nina and I took a quick drive to a meeting in Portsmouth convened by a couple we knew connected to Toronto Airport Fellowship. At the first coffee break a couple joined us at our table and got chatting.

Sharing a connection with the Gathering Place, Blandford, opened up conversation and ‘Revd Bill’ and I have since kept in touch. He’s a most encouraging supporter of my efforts at keeping the church informed and I’ve quoted him on several occasions.

SO Bill, this is to acknowledge your long-standing, unstinting support with immense gratitude.

IF, I hadn’t got out of bed…

Posted on Thursday, 30 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

…last Thursday and got waylaid, then all this wouldn’t be in my head.:

IF – I’d not changed ‘tack’ in that day’s blogging, two ladies 25 miles away wouldn’t find something in common at the day’s end.
IF – on going to bed the previous night I hadn’t jotted words to start the ‘morrow’s blog, I wouldn’t have been so amazed the next day.
IF – upon waking I hadn’t realised that opening note needed new introductory material for the planned blog, and…
IF – a friend had not emailed me a couple of days ago, then I wouldn’t already have the background material to hand. However,
IF – his material had a brief summary too, then I’d have the necessary introduction.
IF – he’d not emailed that missing material as I was starting the day, then my originally planned blog would be very delayed.
IF – he and I had not kept in contact, then I wouldn’t have changed my planned post to one about a book.
IF – I’d not posted that unplanned blog, then a certain subscriber wouldn’t have told their family about the book.
IF – things had not happened and I’d not made certain choices last Thursday, then the book’s author, Neil Mackereth, wouldn’t have responded the next day with news of an amazing ‘coincidence’!!

So what happened?

On closing down for the evening I let Neil know a reader had notified me they’d ordered a copy of ‘SIGNS’ – on that evening Neil’s wife attended a ladies meeting at a Winvin (Winchester Vineyard church) member’s house.

One lady told her that her mother up in the Midlands had just texted to ask if she was aware that a member of Winvin had written a book called ‘SIGNS’? “No” was daughter’s reply –and that set the conversation going! The mother is the one who’d read my post and ordered Neil’s book!

How often do we think or hear, “If only…then this wouldn’t have happened”? It’s usually in a negative vein regarding unfortunate circumstances. But it happens positively too – and can be directed by the Lord. (How often do we realise and appreciate this?)

A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:9 NKJV)

AND not once but twice that day – but that’s yet another true story…(next)

Tracing the above connections further we’d find: had we not attended a conference at Winvin many years ago, we wouldn’t have attended occasionally; had we not been aware of what was going on there, we wouldn’t have learned about Neil’s End-times courses; had I not attended them then we wouldn’t have known one another.

It’s well to consider and meditate upon the making of family and friends relationships, connections and events and thank the Lord for them all.

Last Thursday’s events are an excellent example of serendipity with good chains of choices/consequences (I had about 20 which could be drawn like a couple of decision trees in connection with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Bells.) For those timings where the Lord is obviously involved I call them ‘God-incidence’. (For more on this concept click here.)

And as in the hymn penned by William Cowper, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform…”.

U.S. officially blocks Christian testimony of Islamist persecution

Posted on Wednesday, 29 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

An article quoted in the previous post on the violent persecution of believers asks, “Is this the end of Christianity in the Middle-East?” In his answer, Joel Rosenberg reminds us of Bible passages foretelling this predicament in the lead-up to the return of Jesus Christ, and the ensuing, extensive evangelisation across that region.

A couple of hours later the Middle-East Forum sent an excerpt from Raymond Ibrahim’s monthly update on the endemic persecution of Christians in Muslim states around the world. As one of the expert sources I introduced in my earliest blogs and have since quoted, his site is featured on my ‘blog-roll’ of Links. Born of Egyptian Coptic parents, Raymond explores the intersection of Christianity and Islam. Author of The Al-Qaeda Reader and of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War of Christians, he translates pertinent Arabic and Egyptian news that never reaches the West.

Read his full article here about how the U.S. State Department blocked the issue of visas to Christian nuns and leaders from Iraq, Nigeria and Syria thereby preventing their telling America about the violent persecution in those nations by Islamists. Without any shadow of a doubt, this is the fruit of the Obama administration’s anti-Christian bias.

Ever since expressing reservations over Obama’s Cairo Speech to the Muslim world in 2009, and subsequent espousal of the Muslim Brotherhood and appointment of several of it members within his administration, I’ve noticed POTUS’ deep reluctance to stand up for Christians – plus his misunderstanding of the Gospel and scripture, as well as activities contrary to decisions of the Church’s first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:20).

In that email I queried several times, “If he really were a Christian…”, eg. after quoting his “As a student of history”, I noted: ‘If Obama really were a well-informed Christian and student of history then he would have told the truth about the founding of Israel…’

Six years later, I again refer to Rick Joyner’s Discerning the Times, the prophetic validity of which will be recognised by those in the real church of Jesus Christ:

This new unity in the church is being driven because of foreboding created by the demeanor and laws being passed by the Obama Administration, which seem to be specifically designed to open doors for persecuting the church. Even though it is very sad to see this happening in our nation, which was begun and built by those seeking freedom, especially religious freedom, nevertheless these present trends are working to strengthen and galvanize the church like possibly nothing has ever done before. (Emphasis RB)

May the peace of the Lord be with us in these days…

With ISIS on the rampage, “is this the end of Christianity in the Middle East?”

Posted on Tuesday, 28 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

In reviewing NY Times’ article Joel urges believers not to be discouraged but to note what’s happening is as prophesied in scripture. Therefore, we are not at the ‘end of Christianity’ in its heartland. Read also A devilish plot to avoid the ‘Lake of Fire’ and mini-series Global satanic strategy on this blog.

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

(source: New York Times)

(Denver, Colorado) — In my recent novel, The Third Target, a New York Times reporter criss-crosses the Middle East, trying to understand and explain to the world the rise of the Islamic State and the objectives of its leaders. Among the questions my fictional character — J.B. Collins — is trying to answer:

Why are ISIS jihadists are so blood-thirsty?
Why do ISIS leaders want to establish an Islamic kingdom or caliphate?
Are ISIS leaders are really serious about slaughtering and/or enslaving all of the Christians of the region, in addition to annihilating Jews and all Muslims who don’t subscribe to their theology or eschatology?

What he discovers is evil beyond his worst nightmares — a Satanic movement determined to rob, kill and destroy everyone in its path, and particularly Christians.

Now, in real life, a must-read feature story has been published in the New…

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Nearly time for Days of Wonder 2015!

Posted on Monday, 27 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

Regret won’t be able to be there but this reminder says few places still available.

Monday ‘Matins’ – a prayer to kick-start the week

Posted on Monday, 27 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

(Author unknown; Lord please bless him/her as well as those in this prayer – including all visitors and regular readers of this blog.)

Dear Lord,

Every single evening, as I’m lying here in bed,

This tiny little prayer keeps running through my head:

God bless all my family – wherever they may be,

Keep them warm and safe from harm, for they’re so close to me.

And God, there is one more thing I wish that you could do;

Hope you don’t mind me asking –

Please bless my computer too.

Now I know that it’s unusual to bless a motherboard,

But listen just a second while I explain it to you, Lord.

You see, that little metal box holds more than odds and ends;

Inside those small compartments rest so many of my friends.

I know so much about them by the kindness that they give,

And this little scrap of metal takes me in to where they live.

By faith is how I know them, much the same as you.

We share in what life brings us and from that, our friendships grew.

Please take an extra minute, from your duties up above,

To bless those in my address book, that’s filled with so much love.

Wherever else this prayer may reach, to each and every friend,

Bless each e-mail inbox and each person who hits ‘send’.

When you update your Heavenly List, on your own Great CD-ROM,

Bless everyone who says this prayer, sent up to GOD.Com.

Amen.

Readers may like to read about the lesson the Lord gave me whilst re-building this pc. If so click And now a PC Gospel?

Digital Globe by Cooldesign, courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net

Prophetic, Historic Days – Part 2: ‘coincidence’ of Jewish calendar and Iranian nuclear ‘fix’

Posted on Friday, 24 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

Thank you to William Smith, teacher, itinerant preacher and author of Feasting on the Father for sending me an exceptionally illuminating article from Breaking Israel News a few days ago.

Cross-posted below, its perspective upon the JCPOA, or ‘fix’ as I term it, is upon the event’s timing in the ancient Hebrew calendar and offers prophetic opinions from a Jewish viewpoint.

I especially notice the first quotation’s remark on the USA’s “commitment to hedonism” because hedonism is an outcome of Humanism, the Fundamental flaw in Western society. Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘hedonism’ as ‘the pursuit of pleasure: sensual self-indulgence’. Of Greek origin it also has a philosophical meaning: ‘The ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life‘. Thus, it matches the atheistic goal of Humanism which, according to Derek Prince, results in “a complete absence, in fact, of any binding moral code. This left man free to be his own god, and to establish his own moral code”. (See Humanism – Forerunner for Antichrist as quoted herein.)

Appeasement

At the close of his interview of Israeli PM Netanyahu about the ‘Nuclear Deal’, Steve Forbes asked, “Is this like the 1930s?” and received the PM’s response, “No, it’s worse, because we have the example of the 1930s, which wasn’t available then”.

‘Deal’ or ‘Document’?

It is important to note that the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei does not refer to the JCPOA as a ‘Nuclear Deal or Agreement’, as bandied around by Barack Obama. He calls it simply ‘document’, which indicates he doesn’t regard it with any commitment on his part whatsoever! (See BBC Watch translations correcting BBC inaccuracies!) Now for the article from my friend, the original of which may be read by clicking the title. Note ‘coincidental’ calendar timing – especially re. Rosh Hashana and Shemitah year – and conclusion (my emphases added):

HEAVEN’S TIMING AND THE NUCLEAR DEAL WITH IRAN

“Behold a people is coming from the north, and a great nation and great kings shall be aroused from the ends of the earth.” (Jeremiah 50:41)

Supreme Leader Kahmenei and President Rouhani after the announcement. (Photo: Twitter)

The Iran Nuclear Deal was signed on July 14, 2015 by the P5+1 – a group comprised of representatives of the governments of the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – and the Islamic Republic of Iran. This date falls during a particularly significant time in the Jewish calendar known as The Three Weeks.

The Three Weeks are a mourning period that the Jewish people observe each year for the destruction of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem. The period starts on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz and ends on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av and always falls in the summer. The 9th day of Av, which this year is July 26, is called Tisha B’Av and is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. It was the day that both Holy Temples were set on fire.

In comparing the deal with Iran to the Munich Agreement between British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Hitler in 1938, world-renowned lecturer Rabbi Lazer Brody wrote: “Now, 77 years later, during the notorious ‘Three Weeks’ between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B’Av, the USA has reaffirmed its commitment to hedonism by appeasing Iran and signing a nuclear agreement that is not worth the skin of a garlic clove.” (Emphasis added)

In an email dated July 16, 2015 and sent to his “Letter from Jerusalem” subscribers, Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum, Founder and Director of AZAMRA, an international organization that promotes Torah teachings to all nations, echoes Rabbi Brody’s thoughts about the timing.

He wrote, “The carefully choreographed timing of the announcement after so many delays could not have been more significant from the Jewish point of view, given that it fell on July 14 / 27 Tammuz, bang in the middle of the ‘Three Weeks’ period from the Fast of 17 Tammuz (4 July) until the Fast of Tisha B’Av (26 July), when we soul-searchingly contemplate our collective past, our present and our future destiny,”

Although the White House is attempting to push the agreement through the United Nations before Congress has had a chance to review the measure, there is another striking connection between the Iran nuclear deal and the Jewish calendar.

Regardless of what happens at the UN, the US Congress has 60 days to review and vote to either ratify or nix the nuclear deal. On the Jewish calendar, 60 days from the day the Iran nuclear deal was signed falls on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Thus, the final decision will likely be announced in the period between the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur known as the Ten Days of Repentance. [RB note: 60th day starting 14 July is 11th Sept; 60 day period ends 12th Sept which is also Nitzavim, commemorating when Moses instructed the Israelites to stand before God to enter the Covenant. Its sundown starts the year’s final day 29 Elul; Rosh Hashana 5776 starts sundown 13th, into 15th Sept; Yom Kippur is 23rd Sept – calendar source.]

These are days of judgement for the Jewish people.

Speaking to the confluence of this decision and the Jewish calendar, End of Times author Rabbi Pinchas Winston told Breaking Israel News, “The [Talmud says] that all punishment comes to the world because of the Jewish people. Sometimes it means the Jewish people are not up to snuff, but other times it means that we did not care enough to use our spiritual gifts, such as Torah learning and prayer, to save a situation. When important decisions ‘hang in the air’ for a time, it is Heaven’s way of giving the Jewish people a chance to use those gifts to get history back on track. The fact that the Iran deal was made during the Three Weeks and will be decided on by Rosh Hashanah should make it clear where our responsibility lies. We don’t want this ‘punishment’ to occur and we certainly don’t want to be responsible for it.”

When questioned further, Rabbi Winston affirmed, “Now we have a chance to interfere with it [the nuclear deal] by praying and doing mitzvos [God’s commandments].”

Rabbi Nachman Kahana, an orthodox rabbinic scholar, offers comfort to believers who sense a connection between the Iranian nuclear deal and the End of Days. He cites the Yalkut Shimoni, a 16th century rabbinic commentary on the Bible, which describes the current situation prophetically.

“The Yalkut states that Paras (Persia-Iran) will be the dread of humanity. The world’s leaders will be frustrated in their futile efforts to save what they can. The people of Yisrael will also be petrified by the impending danger,” he wrote. “And HaShem [God] will say to us, ‘Why are you afraid? All of this I have done in order to bring you the awaited redemption. And this redemption will not be like the redemption from Egypt, which was followed by suffering. This redemption will be absolute, followed with peace.’”

Notes:

compare conclusion with Ezekiel 38-39 and Persia’s part therein.
further reading RJ Dawson Tish’a B’Av: The Destruction of the Temple.

Prophetic, Historic Days – Part 1: SIGNS and personal connections.

Posted on Thursday, 23 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

We are NOW at an exceptionally significant time in history – one where international events are being aligned with elements of biblical prophecy.

As the Lord Jesus Christ instructed His first and subsequent followers,

“Learn this parable from the fig tree: when you see its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near – at the doors!…

“Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.

“Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming – in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning – lest, coming suddenly, he finds you sleeping! And what I say to you, I say to all, ‘Watch!’.” (Mark 13:28-29, 33-37)

Serious students of prophecy will be well aware of scripture and be monitoring events but those who are new to such matters may like to know and learn more. Continue reading →

Parliamentarians plead for global freedom of religion and belief

Posted on Wednesday, 22 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

As ever Gillan Scott, deputy editor of Cranmer provides an excellent post on extremely detailed material and which I’ve copied in full from Archbishop Cranmer. However, I do have very strong reservations over the authority accorded to the BBC by Lord Alton’s quotation.

Factual evidence of the BBC’s gross ignorance on religion and deliberately political slant on the Middle-east is all too readily available: eg. its pure pig-ignorance in an appallingly arrogant and clueless rebuke made last week to an Israeli minister, “But you’re not under threat by Iran”! AND they censored Iranian leader’s remark on supporting terror!! (Details and petition to BBC available at Honest Reporting; in-depth analysis of BBC coverage of Iran at BBC Watch.)

Perhaps BBC should be changed to BCC – British ‘Cloud Cuckoo-land’ ?

Credit for photo of Asia Bibi belongs to British Pakistani Christians, from whence Wilson Chowdry emails today that she’s, “…been granted leave to appeal her death sentence by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. There is still some serious legal process to follow before she can be acquitted, but this action is a serious step in the. right direction. Asia is in a much more hopeful position now but the process will be long and drawn out. Please continue to pray for her. By accepting her appeal the Court has inferred that there is a possibility for grounds for Asia being exonerated.” (In full with petition here.)

Gillan’s post reads as follows (click title for link):

HOUSE OF LORDS PLEADS FOR THE FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF

With a Conservative majority government in place for the next five years we won’t need to worry about any potential reforms to House of Lords for the time being. And perhaps that is a good thing. When considering the role of the UK government in promoting freedom of religion, it is doubtful that an elected Upper House would have brought us the same level of passion and knowledge as peers did when the subject was debated last week. It came as a response to Lord Alton’s motion: ‘That this House takes note of worldwide violations of Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the case for greater priority to be given by the United Kingdom and the international community to upholding freedom of religion and belief.’

It goes without saying that human rights abuses relating to religious persecution are widespread throughout the world and on the increase. Even today, Asia Bibi, who has been beaten and raped during her six years on death row in Pakistan, will have one last opportunity to plead for her life to be spared (updated above). Her crime, as a Christian, was drinking water from the same bowl as her Muslim co-workers. During the ensuing argument she was accused of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammad, which led to her arrest and conviction. There is an overwhelming need for governments across the free and democratic world to take a stand and defend the basic human right that Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafting committee, described as one of the four essential freedoms of mankind.

The Lords’ debate has been helpfully summarised by Frank Cranmer at the ever informative ‘Law and Religion’ blog, but several utterances deserve further attention. Lord Alton argued that in order for governments to reclaim their patrimony of Article 18, it would need greater political and diplomatic priority, and the importance of religious literacy as a competence could not be neglected. He went on to quote the BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, who said: “If you don’t understand religion — including the abuse of religion — it’s becoming ever harder to understand our world.” He then drew attention to the paucity of interest in the matter at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), with only one full-time desk officer dedicated to freedom of religion or belief.

Rabbi Lord Sacks described religious freedom as “perhaps the single greatest humanitarian issue of our time”. He was keen, though, to avoid rhetoric, preferring instead to look for pragmatic answers to avoid Article 18 being seen as little more than “a utopian ideal”. He proposed that the world needs:

“Under the auspices of the United Nations, a global gathering of religious leaders and thinkers to formulate an agreed set of principles that are sustainable theologically within their respective faiths and on which member nations can be called to account… We have not yet done the theological work for a global society in the information age, and not all religions in the world are yet fully part of that conversation. But if we neglect the theology, all else will fail… We must stand together – the people of all faiths and of none – for we are all at risk… Religious freedom is about our common humanity, and we must fight for it if we are not to lose it.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury was also keen to look for solutions:

“Religious freedom is threatened on a global scale, as we have heard, but also in a very complex way. Attacks on religious freedom are often linked to economic circumstances, to sociology, to history and to many other factors. Practically, if we are to defend religious liberty, we have to draw in these other factors. For example, if we want to defend religious freedom around the world – and again I say, the freedom to have no religion – do not sell guns to people who oppress religious freedom; do not launder their money; restrict trade with them; confine the way in which we deal with them; and, above, all, speak frankly and openly, naming them for what they are.”

After two and a half hours of speeches the motion was passed. Such a debate was significant in proving that Parliament has this issue on its mind and is making some positive noises. But without more substantive action from government, it will all count for very little. In their 2015 General Election manifestos, both Labour and the Liberal Democrats proposed the creation of a Global Ambassador for Religious Freedom to work within the FCO. It seemed a sensible proposal, but would that be the best way of ensuring that HM Government does not duck its responsibilities on the issue?

The newly created Centre on Religion and Global Affairs – a research and policy centre based in London, Beirut and Accra – has responded to the Lords’ debate. It believes that a special envoy that exclusively focuses on freedom of religious belief is not the way forward. Their view is that in other countries such appointments have yielded limited results. Instead, they propose the appointment a full-time Special Advisor to the government on Religion and Global Affairs. The advisor would be given a mandate to provide proactive policy proposals across Whitehall departments, in particular the FCO, Department for International Development, Home Office and the Prime Minister’s Office. Only a coordinated response across government departments will enable the UK to achieve the necessary understanding and enable a coherent and effective response to the issues. The role should not be seen as an interfaith outreach initiative, or a symbolic office for public diplomacy.

Alongside this Special Advisor, a group of external experts would be needed to provide additional support. A global portfolio in one of the most complicated topics in today’s world is not possible without adequate professional support. Given budgetary constraints, the role of the Special Advisor could be facilitated by the appointment of voluntary external experts with the requisite professional, academic and geo-political experience.

It is also important that any such position would be sufficiently funded if it is to be more than a symbolic gesture. Strategic research, diplomacy and local projects with stakeholders would need to be pursued with conviction and credible resources if any significant impact is to be made.

There is every reason to believe that the UK can contribute significantly to international moves to uphold freedom of religion – if it so chooses. During the Lords’ debate, Baroness Anelay, Minister of State in the FCO, admitted that although the Government is working with human rights and faith-based organisations across the world to promote dialogue, foster links and strengthen understanding, it is not doing enough.

As His Grace discussed yesterday, the Government needs to get a much better grip on its understanding of religion and religious freedoms. Religious persecution is a destructive cancer working its evil across the globe. How many more travesties of justice – such as that of Asia Bibi – do we have to endure before the British Government hears the appeal of those in the House of Lords (and elsewhere) that we must act as Justin Welby has prescribed: “..do not sell guns to people who oppress religious freedom; do not launder their money; restrict trade with them; confine the way in which we deal with them; and, above, all, speak frankly and openly, naming them for what they are.” Amen.

Breaking off the Greek mindset

Posted on Wednesday, 22 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

Any readers puzzled by my reference to the Greek mindset as a Fundamental flaw in Western society (re Humanism & Europe-Greece crisis) will find this brief summary from Freedom Apostolic Resources Centre to be very helpful. It is also background material for their latest post on our relationship with Jesus, By Personal Encounter and Experience.

Sons of Issachar

Mike Parsons –

Last time I shared with you a couple of PowerPoint slides relating to the Greek (Western) and Hebrew (Eastern) mindsets. This week I want to look just a little more closely at the contrast between them, and then I would like to pray for God to reveal where we are being robbed by our Western way of looking at things, and break it off us.

Separation vs unity

Here is the first of those slides again.

Let’s take these a line at a time.

In our Greek understanding, the goal of salvation is to escape this world and go to God’s dwelling place in heaven. So everything is focussed on what will be: very little about what is now. In Hebrew thought, the goal of salvation is to prepare a place fit for God’s dwelling here, among His people. He wants His kingdom to come on earth.

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Update on Cameron’s speech – diplomatic/military component against IS

Posted on Monday, 20 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

At long last a politician has punched a ‘PC’ idol in the teeth! (PC = political correctness aka. political clap-trap)

Contributing Editor to The Commentator, Clare George-Hilley, has summarised David Cameron’s speech and the strap-line to her report reads,

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced new measures to crack down on Islamic extremism at home and abroad. For far too long, political correctness has allowed this wicked ideology to flourish. Cameron’s remarks may seem late in the day to some, but he’s on the right track at last.

She opens Cameron campaign against Islamic extremism is long overdue with,

‘Today, in front of British Muslims in Birmingham, David Cameron made his first major domestic speech on how to tackle Islamist extremism in our country. It is poignant that Cameron chose to give his speech in Birmingham, the place where the schools were infiltrated as part of the Trojan Horse plot, where extremists sought to indoctrinate the minds of innocent children…

‘For many years, I and many other commentators, political activists and counter-terrorism experts have been recommending and asking for measures that the government can tangibly apply to combat Islamic extremism in Britain and abroad. The warning signs have been clearly visible in our country for many years…’

After noting political tolerance of intolerance allowed extremists to exploit our freedom of speech laws to preach hatred on our streets, Clare covers her favourite part of the speech (emphases mine):

‘The best, and most important, part of his speech was when he finally came round to the notion that violent extremism exists at the apex of a broader Islamist narrative:

“It may begin with hearing about the so-called Jewish conspiracy, and then develop into hostility to the West and fundamental liberal values before finally becoming a cultish attachment to death. Put another way, the extremist worldview is the gateway, and then violence is the ultimate destination,” the prime minister said.

‘Not so many years ago, such (obviously correct and pertinent) remarks would have drawn charges of “Islamophobia” in some quarters. Cameron deserves praise for moving the debate in the right direction, however late in the day it may now be.’

Diplomatic Component

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conference at the latter’s office in Jerusalem – credit AFP

The timing and content of this major speech by David Cameron must surely be directly connected with action being taken against those who murder British citizens and others – and apparently with the outcome of last week’s nuclear power deal with Iran (aka. the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – JCPOA).

One of the signatories to the JCPOA, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, went to Israel to tell PM Netanyahu officially of the agreement’s full terms. But he went under a mistaken understanding. He presumed Israel doesn’t want any deal whatsoever with Iran, just a permanent stand-off or continuing conflict – and said as much in Parliament before leaving (as here). So Netanyahu took him to task during their public meeting in Jerusalem:

“Israelis know better than anyone else the cost of permanent conflict with Iran and it is wrong to suggest that Israel wants such an outcome. We seek a genuine and effective diplomatic solution,”

“The alternative to this deal is not war. The alternative is a better deal that would roll back Iran’s military nuclear program and tie the easing of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to changes in Iran’s behaviour. That’s the kind of deal that would be welcomed in Tel Aviv and here in Israel’s capital Jerusalem.”

This morning another part of that meeting in Jerusalem emerged in connection with Isil – and how the nuclear deal means Iran will be taking more action against Isil, as reported exclusively by DebkaFile:

‘Although the Secretary’s formal mission was to elucidate the accord to Israel’s leaders, his real purpose was to hand him a letter from British Prime Minister David Cameron. In this letter, Cameron explained that his decision to extend RAF bombing missions from Iraq to Syria (depending on parliament’s approval in September) had nothing to do with Washington’s policies, but was solely motivated by the Islamist threat hanging over British national security.
‘Britain, he said, was not acting in support of the Syrian-Iranian-Hizballah lineup against the Islamist group; nor was it part of the Obama administration’s turnabout in favor of supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad. British bombers would target ISIS in the UK’s own interests.

Note the comment about yet another of Obama’s turnarounds – in favour of Syria! This is because of Iran’s close interest in supporting their puppet Assad. Please read that Debka report to appreciate what’s started, or already happening, on the ground.

Is Debka’s claim about British diplomatic/military action credible? They are the ones who broke the news of secret US-Iran back-channels communications being set up soon after Obama’s inauguration – and prior to his infamous Cairo speech to the Muslim word. (Read Today’s Importance in History, 18 May 2009 and note especially the Arab world’s alarm at Obama’s activity. They were vindicated by last week’s nuclear deal.) Therefore, there are reasonable grounds for regarding the Debka report as reliable.

So we now glimpse what’s happening behind closed doors and how determined David Cameron is to deal with and, if at all possible, remove Islamist extremism here.

Political common-sense emerges on Islamist threat

Posted on Monday, 20 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

The Times front-page headline on a major speech Prime Minister Cameron is making today:

The Times Monday 20 July 2015

(Click image to enlarge – their young award-winning journalist continues on page 4 as follows) “…loss of British citizens in a terrorist attack, happened before the Iraq war.

“When they say that these are wronged Muslims getting revenge on western wrong- doing, lets remind them: from Kosovo to Somalia, countries like Britain have stepped in the save Muslim people from massacres. It’s groups like Isil, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram that are the ones murdering Muslims….etc.” [Murdoch papers require subscription.]

For the latest with video read the Telegraph’s David Cameron speech: my five-year plan to tackle extremism – Live; or The Independent’s online report here.

The PM’s announcement is long overdue in view of nationwide reaction to last month’s appalling massacre of 30 British holidaymakers in Sousse, Tunisia (see Wikipedia), and the fact that Islamists declared war on the West a long time ago! He is delivering upon his statement in the House of Commons after Sousse for the UK to be “intolerant of intolerance”. (NB: Contemporaneous killings were committed in France and Kuwait too – see The West’s war against Jihadi terrorism is just beginning.)

In his citing events from the 1990s caused by maniacal Muslims, I’m sure Cameron is well aware it’s been periodically endemic since the foundation of their religion in the Dark Ages. An insight into a global satanic strategy covered that historic fact in depth a few months ago. There, we looked at the cause of the Medieval crusades as a reaction to Muslim violence – not vice versa! – and how warped thinking poisoned the Greek-based mind-sets of liberals.

In addition to those earlier facts I’d also refer the PM to the total estimated murders by Muslims since 9/11: over 26,400! (The Religion of Peace database.) BUT this may be undercounted and need doubling, as determined by the BBC’s ‘thorough analysis’.

Two years ago I blogged about the PM’s comment “A war against al-Qaeda could last decades”, and considered it further in a subsequent post wherein I wrote:

Winston Churchill foresaw of the danger of militant Islam in 1899! His trenchant opinion, based upon personal military service in The Sudan, speaks with great insight and I quote only the portion pertinent to this post.::

“…Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome…” [Read full extract in Wikipedia’s The River War.]

Notes:

Churchill’s criticism spread wherever he found fault, including the British high command!
I know many Muslims (eg. medical staff) who are a jewel in humanity and, therefore, totally unlike those deranged extremists.

Monday Mirth – need any help?

Posted on Monday, 20 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

(Found lurking on the internet – If anyone knows origin please let me know as I’d like to credit the copyright owner and acknowledge their fine sense of humour.)

World strikes final “historic” nuclear deal with Iran. Will it bring peace, or war? Some initial thoughts.

Posted on Saturday, 18 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

This is followed by Joel’s three reports on reactions from the Iranian, Israeli and Arab leaders. As with President Mubarak of Egypt, the Arabs feel deeply betrayed by Obama! (Those reports may be read on Joel’s home page).

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

Delegates from Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States in Vienna on Tuesday after reaching an accord.
Credit Carlos Barria/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images (NYT)

(Central Israel) — Lynn and I flew back home to Israel today, and arrived just as the news was breaking that the international community has struck a final nuclear deal with Iran.

Will it bring peace, or war? I am still reading through the 100-page agreement and will have more analysis later. But here are a few initial comments and observations.

President Obama and his team are convinced they have cut off Iran’s path to The Bomb and that the world will now enter a season of peace and stability. “Today after two years of negotiation the United States together with the international community has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent…

View original post 1,167 more words

Review 2 – Iran and nuclear ‘fix’

Posted on Thursday, 16 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

We continue to consider some past posts relevant to today’s events:

Iran

Regular readers may recall the eschatological role of Iran was drawn to my attention 30 years ago as a non-Christian. I’d been given a new book on history and geopolitics that claimed the Bible held coded and plaintext prophecies on the British Mandate in Palestine (The Invisible Hand).

Whilst watching a documentary on TV about the Iraq-Iran war, I flicked through the book and noticed there were lots of references to the significance of Jerusalem. Then I heard the narrator’s voice over video purporting to show elite units from Iran and Iraq rehearsing an attack upon Jerusalem, in spite of being at war with one another!

Three months ago it was drawn to my attention that this month of July would be the next ‘stepping stone’ of major End-time events regarding Iran. It happened as I was mulling over a personal word given to me about promises from 40 years ago being fulfilled.

Although I shared my thoughts on that with readers in God-incidents validate cycles and point to the near future, I omitted mention of Iran because the post had got complicated. So as well as separating the post into two parts I withheld material which may relevant now.

This is what I’d drafted on 16th April, the lead-in of which may seem abstruse because it’s been pulled from a longer post, but note the emboldened text:

‘Soaking insight

‘That evening we went to ‘soak’ in live worship at Acorn Christian Healing Foundation and thus prepare for our usual long weekend. A great way to forget a busy day, to chill out and relax by focusing on the Lord.

‘However, well into the hour I was prompted to think about what I’d blogged a few hours earlier. I’d been a tad uneasy about quoting Ian Fleming’s quip on coincidence – but it wasn’t anything to do with that! This plopped unexpectedly into mind:

“How many months ago did you write that earlier email?”

‘The email asked ‘Could this weekend change the world?‘ and upon which I’d focused in the day’s blog. It was dated August 2010, which I counted it as 4 years 7 months ago. And so I answered, “55 months ago!”.

“55! Seems familiar – when did that last crop up?” I asked myself. It was only the previous evening when I’d heard ‘Dr O’ and realised it was about 55 years ago, as recounted NOW [in published blog], it dawned upon me that was 12 times the 55 month period of 2010 to 2015 that I’d been asked about.

‘In view of the recognised meaning of 12 as a perfect governmental foundation, perhaps the Lord’s indicating I should regard that 1/12th as significant? It’s as though my remarks made in 2010 were being emphasised and endorsed!

‘Next I was asked,

“How many months since that blog you wrote about Iran?”

‘This referred to the ‘weird’ subject of that day’s 2nd blog wherein I’d referred to a summary of personally unusual circumstances relating to Iran in November 2113. Again I counted and this time replied, “16 months ago”.

‘So I thought, “16 = 4 x 4 … another 4 months takes us to July 2015″. So I decided to put that in the ‘pending tray’ and notice if troubles with Iran get even more difficult in July. (Deadlines for agreeing a ‘deal’ have frequently been delayed.)

‘I’ve since been reminded that the one who claims to have agreed a ‘nuclear deal’ with Iran is 44th president of the USA, Barack Obama. So I had plenty to ponder!

The Nuclear Agreement

The accord reached is SHEER, UTTER FOLLY. Lots of reaction of all sorts is bound to fly around but I’d like to summarise my previous posts by quoting top politico-religious blogger ‘His Grace’ Archbishop Cranmer. His conclusion encapsulates the emphasis of my previous remarks:

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: OBAMA IS FULFILLING SHIA ‘END TIMES’ PROPHECY

>>> ‘So why does Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounce the deal as a “one of the darkest days in world history” and a “stunning historic mistake”? You can’t put it down to the cause of Zionism: Saudi Arabia also has concerns.

‘Might it possibly be that, once again, the ‘developed’ nations of the world have naively forged a solution of secular vacuity in a space that is gravely religious?

‘Cleric Hassan Rouhani is a pious man, devoted like all Shias to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam. This President, like the previous one, believes that his government must prepare the country for the Imam’s return. All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days in the company of Isa (Jesus). But President/Cleric Rouhani pledged himself with Ayatollah Khamenei decades ago to work for the return of the Mahdi. Indeed, Iran’s military involvement in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq was (and is) purposely designed to agitate against Israel to hasten the Last Day. Iran’s dominant ‘Twelver’ sect believes the Mahdi will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam and descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

‘Iran’s entire theo-political agenda is driven by Shia theology which is guarded by clerics who ensure that all legislation complies with their interpretation of Islamic law. And when it comes to foreign policy, this can only mean one thing for Israel, for they hold to the divine promise made in the Al-Israa Sura (Sura 17) that they will liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque – the first ‘Kaba’ to the Muslims – and will enter it as they have entered it the first time (Sura 17, ayat 7). And the prophetic foundation is the message of Mohammed that Islam will enter every house and will spread over the entire world.

‘They are dedicated and pledged with their lives to the ‘liberation of Palestine’ – all of Palestine. They describe the Jewish state as “a kidney transplanted in a body that rejected it”, asserting that the United States may want to “save the Zionist entity, but it will not be able to do so”. Nuclear power is the great equaliser: what begins with the production of electricity will end with a Shahab-3 missile. The Iran nuclear deal is not only a triumph for secular political diplomacy; it is the culmination of Shia Islamic eschatology. It is elemental to Iran’s final solution.’

(Click above title to read in full. Emphasis added by RB.)

Review 1 – a clarification

Posted on Thursday, 16 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

With Summer coming I’d thought of easing back on blogging and events would perhaps quieten down.

Since February marked the 6th anniversary of when I’d started emailing on the End-times, I want to back-peddle and coast downhill (or should that be ‘accelerate’ effortlessly, as the metaphor implies), as in today’s Lion Bite.

In other words, now in the 7th year it’s time to relax, enjoy and reflect on the Lord more, like He’d done on the 7th day of Creation.

Perhaps that’s why there’s been several occasions when I’ve subconsciously felt, or been nudged, to revisit previous posts and prophecies? That’s been especially so this fortnight in connection with Gillan Scott’s post on Christian activity in government and on picking up on Lance Lambert after (at long last) visiting the new website Prophecy Today UK, as well as what’s happening in Europe and with Iran.

Over those few months I’ve been surprised at how often I’ve looked back at, even blogged about, the time I started blogging (late 2011) and even earlier when I emailed friends for a couple of years. I had no intention whatsoever of including that start-up information in this week’s triple-post on Western society. In fact, as the first two parts had been brewing for a week I wanted to get them out before they’d stewed. So that on Greece/Europe crisis was ready to go after checking for typo’s – BUT I got nudged to insert a question and answer at almost the last minute!

I’d been reminded of what I’d been searching for over the past month or so. Having found it (packed with the other ‘coincidental’ material up in the loft!) I was prompted to refer to it at the beginning of the post I was about to publish! Now that’s embarrassing as I’m reluctant to refer to really personal things beyond a basic profile.

All done, but then a whisper popped up: “That material could have waited and done as a follow-up, why complicate it all?”. But had it not been done we wouldn’t have learned how its reference to ‘acceleration’ connects into today’s Lion Bite! Yet in my haste I’d got my remarks a tad skewed. It’s not important because it doesn’t affect the thrust of the post’s argument, but it needs correcting for it would have given a wrong impression.

Therefore, Fundamental flaw in Western society – re. Greece/Europe crisis second paragraph has been amended (as underlined) to read:

More than being an informed observer, I humbly submit a qualification additional to that of being a biblical student of history. Admittedly, it’s of an immaterial nature: a Holy Spirit gifting! Six years ago Isabel Allum, the well-known teacher of prophecy, discerned it and thereby validated my decision 3 months earlier to write regularly because of an insight on the Bible (see The ‘Endgame’ is now in play).

Wanting to get published quickly and having to type/check from audio I simply had blogging in mind and wrongly stated the prophecy ‘explained’ why I started writing. Whereas in fact, I’d already been writing for some months in connection with that subsequent prophecy!

That is, Isabel confirmed what I’d sensed and needed to communicate widely on a regular basis, was indeed of the Lord and hadn’t originated in my imagination. Phew!

[Soaring eagle emblematic of the gift prophecy, as observed in Why I’m Writing. Picture courtesy of James Mark Long, http://www.propheticartists.com ]

Lion Bites: Don’t Settle, Come Deeper

Posted on Thursday, 16 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

Today’s word from Glasgow Prophetic Centre is so relevant for Nina and me, and I pray it deeply blesses you too.

It’s closing sentence mirrors what I read yesterday before typing an extract from the personal prophetic word given by Isabel Allum in May 2009, as related here.

Immediately preceding that quotation, Isabel addressed us both before bringing personal encouragement. Those joint words close: “There’s going to be a momentum… there’s going to be speed coming for you. There’s acceleration coming into your lives”!! Upon re-reading them yesterday I wondered, “Would that ever happen again?” Maybe sooner than hoped, for this could be an answer from the Lord:

DON’T SETTLE, COME DEEPER

Do not settle where you are, merely ankle-deep in the rivers of God. He has more for you than you are currently experiencing at this time. Come deeper and come further into the ‘more of God’ and encounter a new facet of who He is. There is a new place for you to come to in Him and a new level of your call for you to rise up and into. Come deeper and do not settle. Do not grow complacent and reject any stagnation in your walk with God. Instead, pursue God with all your passion and your energy. Prioritise pushing through and pressing in for the next level. As you do so, you will be accelerated upwards with great speed.

Ezekiel 47:3-6
When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded.

[Burning Heart by Digitalart, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

Fundamental flaw in Western society – addendum

Posted on Wednesday, 15 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

In covering remarks to ‘A Tribute to Lance Lambert’ I stated:

‘One of Seven Prophetic Messages he brought featured in a series of four emails to my friends and church leaders about prophecies quickly being fulfilled in 2010. (A Serious Phase of Judgement and Shaking of Superpowers refers.) The last of these, More validations of the recent prophetic word, is a very good lead-in to what I’m about to publish on the Greece/Euro crisis!’

For ease of reference the text of the two main items follows below (emphases RB):

Lance’s prophetic message dated ‘Sunday 18 April 2010, Jerusalem, Israel’ (emphasis added):

‘Do not fear neither be dismayed for that which is coming upon the face of the earth, for I am with you, says The Lord. Nevertheless I have a serious controversy with the nations. They are seeking to divide My Land says The Lord, the land that I covenanted to give to Abraham and to his seed after him through Isaac and Jacob, as an everlasting inheritance. This I will not allow without devastating judgment upon those nations who pursue this plan. I have arisen with intense and furious anger and will not back down until I have destroyed their well-being. I will cause their economies to fail, and their financial system to break down, and even the climate to fail them! I will turn them upside down and inside out and they will not know what has hit them, whether they be super powers or not. For I am the only One, the Almighty God and besides me there is none to compare.

‘Do they believe that in their arrogance they can contradict and nullify covenants that I the Almighty have made? Do they believe that they can change what has gone forth from My mouth with impunity? It is My Word and My decree that has gone forth concerning the seed of Abraham. It will not be changed by man. I and I alone am Almighty. Do not fear!

‘For this reason a new and a far more serious phase of judgment is commencing. Do not fear, it is I who is shaking all things. Remember that in Me you have peace but in the world tribulation. Trust Me! I am shaking all things so that which cannot be shaken may remain. When all your circumstances become abnormal, discover in Me your peace, your rest and your fulfillment.

‘In this phase the old and powerful nations will become as if they are third world countries, super powers will no longer be super powers but countries such as India and China will arise to take their place. A great company of the redeemed will come out of these two countries. In all this change, do not fear.

I know your weakness and your tendency to fear, but do not be dismayed at these things. In the midst of all this shaking, this turmoil and strife, there are two peoples that lie at it’s heart, the true and living church and Israel. I will use these matters, these events, to purify one and to save the other! Do not fear, above the storms, the shaking, and the conflict, I am the Everlasting and Almighty One. In Me you cannot be shaken, you can only lose what is not worth holding!’

Email of 10th May 2010, More validations of the recent prophetic word:

Dear Reader – further to my previous, yet more events seem to indicate the prophetic word to Lance Lambert on 18 April as being from the Lord.

£/Euro/US Finances

Immersed in the deluge of Polling Day’s reports one’s attention could easily miss mention of a massive dip on US stock market, which ‘baffled Wall Street’, and the White House even suspected sabotage (see attached from in-house Christian correspondent Bill Koenig)! And last weekend all European leaders’ attention was firmly fixed upon our dire financial situation.

Interesting to note that Greece, the foundational state of western civilization, is being hammered – could this be connected to the European and American rejection of the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob? ALSO, seven weeks ago America’s foundational states in New England had exceptionally severe storms with parts of Rhode Island & Massachusetts declared as disaster areas whilst the latter’s senator was talking to Israel’s enemy, Syria. AND in Washington, president Obama had not only insulted PM Netanyahu during his visit but also refused to recognise Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital – contrary to the Lord’s foundational choice!

Gulf of Mexico Oil-Spill

In his latest weekly report Bill Koenig makes most intriguing comments upon BP’s historic role…

Peace in Middle East?

‘Co-incidentally’ to Lance Lambert hearing from the Lord, on 18 April Iran’s president again voiced his implicit intentions of completing Hitler’s ‘final solution’: ….

Fundamental flaw in Western society – re. Greece-Europe crisis, Humanism

Posted on Wednesday, 15 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

“What qualifies you to comment on such a technically complex politico-economic topic?” you may ask. You could well think a hunch or mere coincidences, as in the preamble, to be just mere conjecture or insubstantial supposition.

Question Answered by Prophetic Word

Forgive me for being so personal. It’s the first time of publicly sharing this, not to boast but to answer the above kind of question which readers’ may rightly entertain. In part, the prophetic insight Isabel brought us was as follows (with her emphases):

“…And I heard the Lord saying brother, you are a man of wisdom…He’s coming to release a new level of wisdom in you that far surpasses the wisdom of man and He’s going to make you a man of…

“And I heard the Lord say, an impartation like Daniel had is going to come into you and you will start understanding the ‘riddles’ of the Lord in a different way – the gift of interpretation itself as Daniel and Joseph had is going to come to you and God is going to open up your understanding to hear from heaven, not necessarily to understand the way men do but you will see; like Joseph said, interpreting dreams is God’s business not man’s business and dreams from the Lord cannot be interpreted through symbolism or analysis, only through revelation.

“And the Lord is going to give you the real thing and you will bring it and you will answer the questions of many. But I also heard the Lord saying He’s going to open up nations for you…”

Hence, my many references to sensing ‘God-incidents’ / ‘Invisible jigsaw’!

With that said, let’s turn our attention to the matter in hand:

A Niggling Notion

As stated in the preamble, this matter wouldn’t go away last week – it kept tapping within my spirit. Then along came inspiration in material hidden away ‘upstairs’. That post’s sandwich-style format applies here too: black text for first thoughts already drafted, as below; blue text relating to later ‘God-incidental’ finds; and black again for the conclusion, now expanded.

(Additionally, after writing both drafts yet another ‘confirmation’ came from the same source, but this time in a mailed letter!!)

Here are some brief thoughts on the financial collapse of Greece from a scriptural and spiritual perspective. In view of the direct historical relationship, this also applies to the pinnacle of Western civilisation in its supposedly advanced forms in Europe and North America.

The foundations of European and American civilisations are built upon ancient Greece, not on the later Roman Empire. All our scholastic, intellectual, scientific, literary and political history and institutions are modeled upon those of the ancient Greeks’ patterns of thought. And most importantly, our free, democratic self-government is styled upon the example set by ancient Greece.

Traditional and reformed churches so admired those ancient philosophers that theology got skewed away from the original, Hebraic foundations of our Christian faith. Greek ideas of the human constitution as being composed only of body and soul omitted the third part which, according to a Hebraic understanding, is our personal human spirit. We have a triune nature because we’re created in the Almighty’s image.

Hence, the importance of the discovery of notes from 2012 inserted into the preamble’s ‘taster’ on ‘Intellect or Revelation?’!!

The following quotations come from a paper I’d referred to during online discussion on Greek philosophy in December 2012 and ‘coincidentally’ found in our loft last week. It’s apposite to insert them in blue text (as explained above) into my remarks, between the drafted introduction and conclusion.

Humanism – Forerunner for Antichrist

As a consequence of the pre-reformation and reformed Church’s and the subsequent Enlightenment’s interest in ancient Greece, a subtle, misleading influence upon Western culture and religion developed through the introduction of humanism and its associated agnosticism and atheism.

Derek Prince was a fellow of King’s College Cambridge and a senior research student who specialised in the philosophy of Plato. Although highly qualified to comment upon the ancient Greeks and their subsequent influence, he had a life-changing encounter with the author of the Bible after being called up into military service in the Second World War. Derek was ‘born-again’ and became an very influential Christian teacher

Decades later, in 1993-4, he was given an insight into developments in USA and Israel and the conflict spanning both heaven and earth, as follows:

“The governments and the armies of this world, operating solely on the natural plane, have no understanding of the conflict and no power to deal with the satanic forces in the heavenlies. On the contrary, without realizing it, they themselves are manipulated and controlled by those forces. One essential requirement for victory is to identify the nature of the forces that are at work in any given situation.

“In recent months [in early 1990s] as I have been meditating on developments in the world—especially in the U.S.A. and Israel—and I believe that God has shown me the identity of the evil, deceptive power that Satan plans to use to consummate his purposes for the end of this age. It is HUMANISM.”

Derek had always thought humanism was “a comparatively harmless error” but upon consulting a dictionary he was taken aback by its definition, viz:

“…the denial of any power or moral value superior to that of humanity; the rejection of religion in favour of a belief in the advancement of humanity by its own efforts.

“I realized that humanism is not spiritually neutral. On the contrary, it is a deliberate denial and rejection of God’s power and authority. It is an anti-religious religion. For this reason, it can be—and often is—taught in educational systems, such as that of the USA, which prohibit the teaching of religion in its usual sense.” (Emphases added.)

In tracing this Greek concept back in time he noted its direct linkage in the dream image of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in chapter two of the Book of Daniel:

“I realised that it was Greece – more than any of the other empires – which, through its philosophy, reproduced itself in subsequent cultures“.

Beginning with their earliest philosopher they asserted that man is the highest authority in the universe and idolized the human mind, Derek writes,

“Aristotle’s concept of God was a perfect mind contemplating itself—because nothing less was worthy of its contemplation. Out of this the whole philosophy of rationalism has developed”.

With this idolatry came glorification of the male body and, “the Greeks also tended to downgrade the marriage relationship between a man and a woman, and to view a homosexual relationship between two men as being more “intellectually fulfilling”.

Derek continues by pointing out that the “so-called ‘gods’ of Greece exhibited all the moral failings of humanity…a complete absence, in fact, of any binding moral code. This left man free to be his own god, and to establish his own moral code. After all, no people can be expected to live above the level of its own gods“.

Spirit of Humanism’s Offensive

“In 1992 the spirit of humanism launched a major new offensive against both the USA and Israel. Almost simultaneously, a cloud of dense spiritual darkness descended upon both nations.

“In their national elections that year the spiritual force that brought to power both the Clinton administration in the USA and the Labor Coalition in Israel was blatant, undiluted humanism. Both administrations represent an open and deliberate rejection of God’s righteous laws and of the covenants He made with man, first through Moses and then through Jesus Christ. They have demonstrated that, carried to its ultimate, humanism will believe anything but the truth and will tolerate anything but righteousness.

“This exaltation of man is the force which will finally give rise to the Antichrist, whose name is the number of man (Rev. 13:18), the man of lawlessness, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thess 2:3–4).

With this he heads into a magnificent conclusion:

“Before this final period of tribulation, however, God still has tremendous purposes to work out for both Israel and the Church. A harvest of mercy will precede the harvest of judgment. God’s preparation for this is revealed in Zechariah 9:13: “I will raise up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece…” The “sons of Greece” are those who embrace the deception of humanism. The “sons of Zion” are those who take their stand upon the infallible Word of God, embracing both its promises and its covenants.”

It’s fascinating to dig this paper out of old folders for insertion herein only to find Derek’s conclusion is the same as that which was already in my mind! But a republished letter on its way to me from his ministry has him adding an incisive scripture. More soon…

[Quotations from Humanism: Forerunner for Antichrist pdf, by courtesy of Derek Prince Ministries. Also read brief biography, About Derek Prince.]

The Current Crisis

Several times the elected leaders of Greece have rejected legitimate demands for debt repayment by the nation’s European and IMF creditors. There’s been a massive run on the banks and the nation is completely bankrupt.

Telegraph Business front page today refers to a leaked IMF report saying “Greece will need drastic debt forgiveness” and warns that “Europe’s leaders must contemplate breaking EU treaty law to provide “Deep up-front haircuts” on Greece’s debt mountain”.

In IMF stuns Europe with call for massive debt relief, the leading financial journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes about the revolutionary nature of this report,

‘The International Monetary Fund has set off a political earthquake in Europe, warning that Greece may need a full moratorium on debt payments for 30 years and perhaps even long-term subsidies to claw its way out of depression.

“The dramatic deterioration in debt sustainability points to the need for debt relief on a scale that would need to go well beyond what has been under consideration to date,” said the IMF in a confidential report…

‘The findings are explosive. The document amounts to a warning that the IMF will not take part in any EMU-led rescue package for Greece unless Germany and the EMU creditor powers finally agree to sweeping debt relief…’

All this is especially interesting with 2014-2016 being Shemitah and Jubilee years, when ancient Israel cancelled all debts (see Wikipedia).

In tandem with financial turmoil, we’re also witnessing widespread rebellion in Europe and America against the moral and spiritual standards ordained by the Almighty. Those who once set the motto ‘In God We Trust’ (which is treated like a mascot!) have leaders who allow His commands to be treated with greatest contempt! That nation born out of Europe proudly claimed ‘exceptionalism’, when in fact it’s no longer exceptional but apostate!

And the state named after its warrior leader and first president, George Washington, has been experiencing unusual temperatures consistently over 100 degrees Fahrenheit!

To my mind, these combined events speak strongly about the state of our ‘evolved’ Western society and civilisation – its beginning and its end.

Hopefully, it’s a warning that both ends of Euro-American civilisation are bankrupt – one the ancient historic root, the other its modern descendants – one financially, the other morally and spiritually, with all the attendant consequences!!

Now it just so happens a couple of letters to one of the first churches planted in Europe are very instructive on this matter:

Apostasy and Deception

The Book of Acts records that, whilst on a mission in Asia Minor, the apostle Paul was supernaturally called to visit Macedonia over in mainland Europe (Acts 16). In about 49 AD he arrived in the port of Philippi in northern Greece and planted a house church led by a business woman known as Lydia. From there he and his companion Silas went south to Salonika (Thessalonica), found the Jewish synagogue and preached there. A thriving church of devout Greeks and some Jews was established, but they helped Paul to escape from his violent opponents. Within a couple of years he wrote from Corinth two concise letters to those new believers to clarify points arising from his teaching.

One of those themes was upon the expected return of the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul’s second letter clarified the brief reference made in the first, as follows.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ²not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. [2 Thessalonians 2 NKJV per BibleGateway.com – Emphasis RB]

He proceeds at length to explain that the ‘mystery of lawlessness’ is already at work, but that someone who will be the very personification of evil will be revealed and come onto the world stage. Then the Lord will come from heaven and destroy him by the glory of His physical return to earth (2Thess 2:8)

Today – now – we’re well into that first stage, the ‘falling away’ from true faith in Jesus Christ, and which is also known as the ‘Great Apostasy’, as is so abundantly evident across the once-Christian Western world. (Eg. recent video clip on John Kilpatrick vision: ‘The United Apostates of America’.) Paul proceeds,

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

This means that those who fall away from the fullness of faith as originally taught by the Apostles will become so unrighteous in God’s sight that they will be wide open to being deceived by Satan and his agents. They bring a distortion and twisting of the Gospel to accommodate people’s preferences and desires instead of obeying God’s commands.

It is clear this deception is the consequential result of not loving the truth, who is the very Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ, and thus not desiring Him and the salvation He bought them by dying in their stead on the cross.

The next verse is extremely ominous. Paul explains that, because their attitude remains deliberately ungodly, the Almighty is not only allowing them to be strongly deceived but is sending an irresistible delusion, the consequences of which will condemn them:

And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹²that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

By way of a careful caveat we need to note that a number of believers too readily quote verse 9 about some people through whom miracles, signs and wonders are displayed. As in my recent post on the accuser of the brethren attacking prophecies such self-appointed inquisitors claim all such demonstrations are deception. But upon reading and understanding the chapter in its entirety (as here) we find their claims to be rather judgemental.

Verse 12 gives the game away! Only those who despise the truth of the Gospel will be misled and suffer the consequences. Only a few years later Paul gave a full exposition on God’s wrath on unrighteousness in the early verses of his letter to the church in Rome – see Romans 1:18-32. (This too was written in Corinth, Greece.)

Conclusion

In my humble opinion this momentous economic crisis in the nation and continent which are the very roots of western civilisation is highly significant. It is not only a warning of economic but also of spiritual shaking.

Our leaders and fellow citizens who have chosen to rebel against the Holy One of Israel and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, are now being warned of the consequences.

Soon there will no longer be any grace covering and blessing for reprobate, unrepentant hearts. Once they’re following the deceiver in his various guises, the Holy One Himself will let them stay deluded by their own lies and salvation will no longer be available! A truly terrible personal place!

In all these musings it is significant, therefore, to re-discover the above quoted paper by Derek Prince. Equally amazing is the fact that as I was drafting both posts last week, a copy of his teaching letter Taking God Seriously was on its way in the post from his ministry!

This letter opens,

…If a person speaks to us, but we ignore — or even reject — much of what he says to us, we certainly are not taking him seriously. In fact, we are guilty of disrespect.

The same applies to God. If we ignore or reject much of what He says to us through the scriptures, we are not taking Him seriously. We are, in fact, treating Him with disrespect.

Yet this is how many Christians are relating to God. They treat His Word like a smorgasbord, picking out those portions that appeal to their taste and passing the others by.

Also, it concludes in the same vein as my preceding thesis by focussing upon the above verses 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10.

If we consider chapter two of the second letter to ‘Salonika’ in a reverse sequence, like reading an email thread, it helps me to gain a clear understanding of what the Lord is allowing and why – and then what will happen. I submit to you, this may bring a different focus from a usual reading and helps us to see things from the Lord’s perspective.

Undoubtedly, we’re now in ‘The Great Apostasy’ and Paul’s letter to the early church in Greece tells us what’s happening, what’s coming and why – and what the end will be!

May the Lord bless you and keep you…

NB: see Addendum of prophetic words brought in April 2010 relating to this subject.

Fundamental flaw in Western society – preamble

Posted on Tuesday, 14 July, 2015 by Richard Barker

The purpose of this preamble is to tell how the main part came to be written during the past week or so. It’s almost finished, but this will help you better understand its genesis and content – and please permit a personal perspective with a little poetic licence.

Clearly, this is not to make light of the deep problems our brothers and sisters are and will be undergoing in one of my favorite countries, Greece.

My comments on the crisis couldn’t be done in a single session at my desk, and then a few things arrived and fell into place. Like computerised processes, it’s been running in my brain’s background processing after having been tapped out. They sit in the Drafts folder, akin to something planted in our rear garden’s flower bed with its roots extending out of sight below the soil. They burrow deeper in the Summer heat and get watered by showers from heaven blown on the breeze.

Meanwhile, we carry on with a myriad of mundane necessary tasks with scheduled as well as unscheduled appointments, sandwiched between watching live Wimbledon lawn tennis championships. SOoo helpful being no longer distracted by employment after having been blessed with early retirement – re-fired more likely!

Interweaving with all that during last week, the basic points of the next post grow and begin to blossom of their own accord, like new honeysuckle wending its way up a rectangular trellis, then threading its way upwards through diagonal struts placed on the adjoining greenhouse roof. This leaves me thinking maybe there’s some truth behind that new post’s title and to the conclusions I’ve already made but not yet written in full.

Initial inklings ‘morphed’ into “maybe?”, then got ‘watered’ by parallel perceptions and thus transformed into tangible concepts by ‘coincidental’ confirmations.

Suddenly we’re once again in the realm of God’s ‘invisible jigsaw’, or divine tapestry!

If you’re still with me in this ‘pre-ramble’ around the garden of my mind you may begin to realise ‘poetic prose’ is pointing to the prophetic; in the sense of its coming forth from the Lord’s mind – as though we’re gardening together, as Adam and Eve did with Him in Eden!

In preparing you for the fuller thoughts on the Euro-Greek crisis, the seed of which was a notion to introduce an application of End-times theory, let me say my dear wife supposes my first thoughts are always of food! In that case, let’s put it this way…

The first draft of the main part with its introduction and the start of my conclusions, looked a bit like a couple of slices of bread cut from the end of my freshly baked wholemeal loaf. To become a sandwich they need some filling from the fridge: slices of ham and home-grown salad say.

Metaphorically, along came a mixture of coincidences (more likely ‘God-incidents’) to create the sandwich. As one would expect the whole consists of different colours with my ‘bread’, or own thoughts, being of one colour and the filler another. So the next post will be two-tone to distinguish between my original, personal material (black/grey) and the God-incidental ‘filling’ (dark blue rather than green, for ease of reading).

Hope I’ve whetted your appetite. I’m preparing that sandwich so we can share, bite and munch together…….but first try this as a sample, or…

A ‘Taster’:

Take this preamble as an example of what I’m doing in the next post. In both, my thoughts are typed in black. For this preamble they first emerged into the light of day as I scribbled in a very old, slim notebook whilst the sun was setting last week – and then I found a very intriguing ‘coincidence’, as told in blue below!

It so happens that notebook’s previous, and therefore last, notes are on a message that’s directly relevant to other ‘God-incidental’ material I’ve already inserted into the draft of main part! Now that other new material itself is apposite for what I’d drafted. It was buried within a collection of papers I’d unexpectedly found last week up in the loft! (Note the symbolism of a kind of resurrection!)

[Those papers were copies of an online discussion on humanism and Greek philosophy with a studious atheist in December 2012 – the month this blog really got under way! Hopefully, all this will enable you to appreciate the content of the next post even more.]

However, back to the matter in hand. Here’s what’s in that old notepad, the relevance of which will become clear when you read the main part later. Note it refers to Paul’s letter to a Greek church:

More on Prophecy: Intellect or Revelation? (John Kilpatrick, 3 June 2012)

1 Cor 2:11-14 is provocative – the natural mind cannot receive things of God, so WHY turn it onto spiritual things as it has not got ability and function of the spirit? It’s been that way since the Fall: ie. intellect dominates human spirit.

It’s also reason we fail to worship properly as mental concerns distract us. It’s also why churchgoers generally are afraid of, and offended by, the supernatural – common sense, intellect, logic and human wisdom alone are sufficient.

But by Jesus’ sacrifice and ascension we have gift of faith that enables us to go beyond the natural mind and thus opens vistas beyond its comprehension. (1Cor 2:9) Hence, few can grasp teaching on Jesus’ return and our rapture!

The difference is like that of a child’s toy hammer vs heavy sledgehammer.
Revival (ie. Brownsville & ‘The Bay’) brought new levels of revelation.
Faith is the exit door to intellect
Faith feeds off impossibilities – nothing shall be impossible to those who believe
Can’t have revelation until light of illumination comes (Heb 10:32) – ie. heavenly illumination comes to show what one’s been blind to!!

Furthermore, what’s really fascinating are these facts:

not only was that old notebook in the same collection as the next post’s ‘God-incidental’ material,
but also its first dozen pages are jottings made in Sept-Nov 2011 for creating this blog!!

Yet again my thoughts are directed to either when I started emailing friends, or to when I started public blogging.

So, whats going on?

Is the Lord turning my head to face look at something in the past that’s again becoming of spiritual significance for the day?

How could I think otherwise??

After this ‘taster’ we await the main course >>

Notes:

Introductory outlines to ‘God-incidents’ & ‘Invisible Jigsaw’ explain concepts.
‘Hand Holding Puzzle Piece’ by Ponsulak, courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net

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Richard's Watch

Looking for the signs of Jesus' return

Monthly Archives: July 2015

“The books are being opened” – come, feast on Father

IF, I hadn’t got out of bed…

U.S. officially blocks Christian testimony of Islamist persecution

With ISIS on the rampage, “is this the end of Christianity in the Middle East?”

Nearly time for Days of Wonder 2015!

Monday ‘Matins’ – a prayer to kick-start the week

Prophetic, Historic Days – Part 2: ‘coincidence’ of Jewish calendar and Iranian nuclear ‘fix’

Prophetic, Historic Days – Part 1: SIGNS and personal connections.

Parliamentarians plead for global freedom of religion and belief

Breaking off the Greek mindset

Separation vs unity

Update on Cameron’s speech – diplomatic/military component against IS

Political common-sense emerges on Islamist threat

Monday Mirth – need any help?

World strikes final “historic” nuclear deal with Iran. Will it bring peace, or war? Some initial thoughts.

Review 2 – Iran and nuclear ‘fix’

Review 1 – a clarification

Lion Bites: Don’t Settle, Come Deeper

Fundamental flaw in Western society – addendum

Fundamental flaw in Western society – re. Greece-Europe crisis, Humanism

Fundamental flaw in Western society – preamble

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Separation vs unity

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