Open heavens in Australia and elsewhere…

Posted on Monday, 29 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

A few weeks ago I asked friends about signs of revival. Along with other reports, Revd Bill Smith sent the following update from evangelist Todd White. It covers indications of a global move of God.

His site Lifestyle Christianity states Todd was a drug addict and atheist for 22 years but in 2004 he was radically set free! “Redemption and righteousness are the foundation and the keys to the new creation reality that we are to live in and from. God opened Todd’s eyes to this truth and that Holy Spirit wants to flow through every believer everywhere we go, at work, school, grocery stores, malls, gas stations, everywhere. His true joy is being able to reproduce in people the simplicity of this reality, in a 24/7 kingdom lifestyle! This is for every believer! His heart is activating people into the simplicity of who they really are and destroying lies that hold people back from being who God created them to be. No one is excluded!” His homepage emphasises:

“Our mission statement of the gospel is to become love so that wherever we go, people want what we have!”

Now read Todd’s remarkable account of what happened in Australia, USA and en-route to/from Argentina:

“Merry Christmas!! Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and rejoice with me as I continue to see the body of Christ awaken to who she is and walk out lifestyle Christianity. I have seen amazing things happen these past couple of months.

“I had the privilege of speaking at the YWAM National Leadership Conference in Victoria, Australia. YWAM (Youth With A Mission) is an amazing organization that has already sent out 12 million people into the mission field since its inception. My speaking schedule was intense. I preached eleven two-hour sessions in three and a half days. I had leadership meetings with many different people from YWAM. It was an explosive time of truth. There were lots of tears, and lots of changed hearts. My heart was to bring the active sharing of Jesus so that everywhere they went, they could take the supernatural gospel with them. I talked about identity and how we are an open heaven everywhere we go because Jesus opened the heavens. The heavens were opened to him because he obtained righteousness. Now, we are an open heaven because “Jesus who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“So, YWAM had set up to go on outreaches to 37 cities following this conference. During the conference, God did a sign and wonder in the sky over the first city of the outreach. A cloud appeared over the city and in the midst of the cloud, there was a huge opening with a rainbow straight through the center of it. It was a picture of an open heaven.

“People were freaking out over this cloud and the news media to this day cannot explain it! We are truly an open heaven wherever we go!

“Then I went to speak at The Empowered Evangelism Conference in Frankston, Australia. There were over 500 evangelists from all over Australia who attended the conference. We trained in power evangelism and there were all kinds of testimonies of people being saved, healed, and delivered. It was an amazing time of empowerment. During one of the sessions, I was talking about how we are an open heaven and how God will cause it to rain and He will bless everything we do. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” It is the things in Deuteronomy 28 that will be added to you. When someone fulfills righteousness, these are the blessings of obedience. As believers, we step into Jesus’s obedience. We step into right standing with God. So as I am sharing this message during the last night of the conference, something like raindrops start falling on me. So, I moved to the right and then to the left. I thought something may be leaking or maybe I was sweating. I soon realized that it was neither. It was literally raining inside the building as I was preaching on an open heaven and it was not raining outside. It was raining over the pulpit and the stage. We called people up for prayer and then the rain became noticeable by the people. Many started rushing toward the stage to get rained on. God created a sign and wonder to show that He wants it to rain. It was very powerful.

“After Australia, I spoke at the North Carolina School of Power and Love. During the conference, I probably shared one of the clearest messages on righteousness that I have ever shared. As I was pouring my heart out on righteousness, it started to rain inside the building again. But this time it was dropping all over the sanctuary, not just upfront. God wants us to be an open heaven every day no matter where we are or what we are doing. I got to watch many people who would normally never step out, step out at this conference. It was so good!

“From there, I flew to Argentina to minister at a youth conference. I spoke that night to 3000 youth. There were many healings and miracles. During one of the morning sessions, God told me to personally lay hands on every youth there. It was an incredible time of impartation and baptism of fire. He touched these youth so wonderfully. It was beautiful!

“Before the conference, during my flight to Argentina, I was sharing my testimony and the love of God with many people including the flight attendants. As we were starting our descent, I realized that there was one flight attendant that I had not yet talked to. So, I went up front to thank her for her service and I told her Jesus loved her. She screamed loudly at me and told me not to preach to her. I told her I was not preaching to her and she screamed at me again. I then went into the restroom to wash my hands and Holy Spirit told me to confront her. I have never had a flight attendant react so angrily. It has never happened. So, I came out of the bathroom and into the galley and I looked at her and said, “You yelled at the wrong person today ma’am.” She replied, “Who do you think you are?” I said, “I am a man that Jesus lives inside and the Holy Spirit is here.” The other flight attendants were looking around as they were embarrassed by this attendants behavior, but she had a demon. And so I looked at her and she started to cry and shake and tremble. Then she let out a shriek! The head flight attendant looked at me and said, “Sir,… I am so sorry.” I replied, “Sir, you don’t understand what is happening right now.” I said, “I need to handle this right away.” So I walked toward the lady and she fell into me. We walked around the corner and stood in between the seat and the galley where there was a wall. She kept saying, “ I need your help. I need your help right now.” So I cast this demon out of her and Jesus came to make his home in her. Right there….on the plane and in front of all the other flight attendants. It was a very intense encounter as people who were on the plane were concerned because she was screaming. But the demon had to leave and Jesus came and she is free. She had shared with me that she lost her father to cancer as a little girl and she had blamed God ever since. She had turned her back on God and she had given this demon a home. So, the plane is getting ready to land and I had to rush back to my seat. As I was deplaning, the head flight attendant kept apologizing for the actions of the lady flight attendant. I told him that I did not want anyone written up. I said to him, “You don’t understand what happened and I hope that one day I will get to tell you about it”. I said, “things are different when demons leave.” He just kind of looked at me and said, “Okay…you have a good day, sir.”

“My heart was grieved after this encounter because I really wanted to see this flight crew again and explain what had happened. So I just said, “God, I need help. I need to be able to pour my heart out and share with these flight attendants what happened.” So, the conference ends and it is time to fly home. As I step onto the plane, I immediately see the same flight crew! God is awesome! So, I was able to share with and speak to all the flight attendants. Then, during the flight, the head attendant came over to my seat and knelt down beside my chair. He said, “ Sir, I need to talk to you. I’m really sorry.” I replied, “Please don’t apologize anymore.” He said, “No. Please hear me out.” He proceeded to tell me that he is a Christian and that there are two things he does not talk about on planes. One is politics and the other is religion. He said he does that because he has a professional job. I looked at him and I said, “Sir, I understand that you have a professional job….” I continued, “ but having a professional job and seeing people go to hell and not caring about people’s eternity are two totally different things.” The power of the gospel is our life and we have the reality of heaven inside of us. That woman had a demon and she had turned her back on God. Her eternity was at stake and she needed to be set free. The head flight attendant shared that he was very convicted about where his life was compared to where my life was. What a powerful testimony. This is the continuing message of my life. We need to change the reality of people’s walk by the way we walk and lead as an example. Every day can be just as powerful as the last if we just dare to live for Jesus full-time and become a person that has a lifestyle of Christianity!”

(Todd’s schedule shows a return visit to North Carolina early in the New Year followed by Australia, then several states in America as well as Germany, in January to March.)

A most blessed Christmas to every living soul

Posted on Wednesday, 24 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

Have a ‘Mega-merry’ Christmas, as may be inferred from the OT Hebrew word ashar (Strong’s #833, as in Proverbs 31:28 on the virtuous wife), meaning

‘happy, blessed, prosperous, successful, from original root ‘be straight, upright’.’

Better still is New Testament Greek’s makarios (Strong’s #3107), which means

‘from root mak, indicating large, or of long duration…happy, supremely blessed, a condition in which congratulations are in order. It is a grace word that expresses the special joys and satisfaction granted the person who experiences salvation.’

This ‘Blessed’ is used in The Beatitudes, or the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5. (From NKJV New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, Exec ed. Dr Jack Hayford)

May it be an especially blessed night of spiritual silence and insight for everyone.

The Austrian carol Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht is one of my old favourites. First played on this day in 1818 near Salzburg, my father heard it during his long stay in Stalag IIIA. (He liked the look of Austria as seen whilst being conveyed en-route as a captive from the Battle for Crete in 1941. So we holidayed in the Tyrol in 1950-60s.)

This Celtic version with superb voice and violin is sublime…

Prophecies about the birth of Jesus Christ

Posted on Tuesday, 23 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

Thanks again to Acorn Christian Healing Foundation for including these prophecies in an excellent Advent Quiet Day led by Revd Elizabeth Knifton. They are offered for everyone’s edification. (Copyright unknown.)

May the Lord bless you with personal revelation of His Living Word.

Holy lightning beyond ‘The Pond’ strikes in the UK!

Posted on Friday, 19 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

Sea by Salvatore Vuono, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net

The ‘bolt’ struck in our lounge Sunday afternoon before last and hit my wife! Not real atmospheric lightning but, nonetheless, the effects are electrical. It’s happened not a few times whilst live streaming to a morning’s service in Alabama. (It was 7th December 2014.)

Nina’s face contorted and emitted an indistinct sound as she squirmed in her seat. Eyes staring wide, eyebrows mid-forehead, electricity pulsed up and down from head to toe and back. It was caused by what was going on a quarter the way around the world southwest from us – on the Gulf of Mexico’s north coast!

It was the final night of Dedication Weekend for Church of His Presence moving into a brand new building by Daphne, Alabama. Reinhard Bonnke had opened the first night with being interviewed by pastor Kirkpatrick on how he was led into his evangelistic outreach (over 73 million souls saved) by Holy Spirit’s power healing the totally blind – incredible!

Eighteen minutes into Sunday’s worship Lindell Cooley burst into a song new to us, but which became popular when he led praise at the Brownsville Revival,

He has fire in His eyes,

A sword in His hand,

(And He’s still riding a white horse –

Fifteen years later He’s still going across this land).

There’s fire in His eyes,

A sword in His hand,

He’s riding a white horse across this land.

He’s calling out to you and me,

“Will you ride with Me?”

At this, Nina started to burn – and continued burning! Join in at 18:30 on this video link. At 1hr59 Lindell tells of the glory of God coming upon that song. Five minutes later he speaks and declares under a strong unction the importance of Ephesians 3:10 for the Church moving into the new season:

¹⁰to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,

Alternatively, hear Lindell as a younger psalmist here:

Or play his fiery version with Band of Brothers Bootcamp’s movie clip!

Maybe you question Nina’s reaction? Let me explain. Since being born-again 25 years ago on 1st of this month, she’s been blessed with the Holy Spirit’s gift of discernment! Thus, she’s able to tell instantly whether anywhere or anyone has an unclean spiritual influence. This gifting has proven very useful for prayer-ministry – and when visiting Toronto Airport Church, in view of claims that manifestations there were demonic and nothing to do with God.

Also, in Nina’s growing closer to the Lord and leading a Spirit-led life, this sensitivity to Holy Spirit’s prompting has only heightened, as demonstrated above.

Thus, when someone speaks or sings under Holy Spirit’s anointing then His presence within her reacts noticeably, as with this song. It is unmistakably clear acceptance and endorsement of the Godly nature of what’s conveyed. (This assists an understanding of the power of prophetic decrees – see Mentoring Day part 2: Britain at a cross-roads).

Worship under the stars with Lindell

Silkily gliding under the stars in the cool of an early Caribbean evening, delegates with Toronto’s ‘Catch The Wave’ conference at sea headed to the ship’s swimming pool nestled below restaurants. But it was planked over – musical kit and our musician/vocalists Kelley Warren and Lindell Cooley were warming up!

2nd March 2006, an unforgettable evening worshiping God under the heavens as we sailed in the dark towards Cuba en-route from Jamaica to the Bahamas. My attempt at short video capture completely fails to do it justice, but the psalmist’s ‘King of Glory’ praise left an indelible mark in my soul.

It got fired up a couple of years later upon hearing Roy Fields play it in Florida and then here in England. Even now, the fire burns deeply whenever I hear King of Glory.

Your face outshines the brightest sun,

Jesus, You’re glorious, You are so glorious,

With eyes that blaze like burning fire,

Jesus, You’re glorious, You are so glorious.

King of Glory,

Have Your glory,

King of Glory,

Have Your glory,

King of Glory,

Have Your glory,

King of Glory,

Have Your glory...

Be blessed listening to it distraction-free with Jesus Culture…

[Image ‘Sea’ (cropped) by Salvatore Vuono, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

Prince Charles – defender of persecuted Christians

Posted on Wednesday, 10 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

Perhaps our heir to the Crown is on the point of – or has had – a Damascus Road experience and starting to see, or about to meet, the true Light of the World?

As heir to his mother Queen Elizabeth’s throne and title of ‘Defender Of The Faith’ (ie. the Protestant, Anglican version) Charles has expressed his wish some years ago to be ‘Defender of Faith’. His deep admiration of Islam led to speculation since 1997; Is Prince Charles a convert to Islam? (as summarised and updated over 2003-13 by Daniel Pipes).

Last December, however, as noted by leading blogger ‘Cranmer’ he sensibly corrected the government’s Muslim minister for Faith (who resigned in August):

‘While the Government’s Minister for Faith and Communities Baroness Warsi insists that the persecution and eradication of Christians in the Middle East has absolutely nothing to do with Islam, the Prince of Wales has exposed the lie’ (continue reading)

This week Prince Charles must really be hacked off with Islamist hatred, as evident when addressing the Chaldean Church in England, as ‘His Grace’ reports in Charles – defender of the persecuted faith, (emphases added RB)

‘…It was a speech of empathy, grace and humanity. His mind is clearly troubled; his heart is with the “unbearable suffering” and “indescribable agony” of Iraq’s Christians – a church which can trace its origins back to the ministry of Thomas the Apostle. Their eradication is “beyond belief”, the Prince said. For one who has dedicated his life to the cause of peace and to a greater understanding between people of faith, the intolerance of the Islamist creed is beyond comprehension.

“It is utterly inconceivable that a person of one faith could find it in themselves to persecute a person of another faith,” he said.

“Surely to do so brings nothing but dishonour on the faith of the persecutor?” And then he took the theme of the Apostle Paul in his speech at the Areopagus:.

“It seems to me that all faiths to some extent shine a light on the divine image in every human life. If that is so, then surely to destroy another human being is to desecrate the image of the Divine, and to do so in the name of faith is nothing less than a blasphemy?

“As these truly dreadful images of executions and beheadings are transmitted around the world via the Internet I cannot help but feel that we are in serious danger, in this so-called modern age, of descending into the dark ages of public executions.”

Cranmer continues, ‘Man is made in the image of God, and God is love. To kill another human being is to destroy what God has created; to kill in His name is nothing short of blasphemy. The Prince of Wales is not ignorant about the God he worships, who desires a living relationship with all those who would follow Him. Nor is he blind to the malignant doctrine of those who worship the pernicious god of Jihad: it is an idol of death and destruction, spreading its bitter creed through the modern media. St Paul spoke against the idols of gold and silver: Prince Charles faces down those who idolise terror, brutality and bloodshed.’

It’s most interesting that Charles proceeds to refer to Saint Paul’s life of persecution. May we hope that he’s woken up to the deep difference between our faith in the real living God who saved us from our sins and whom we can know personally, and another that denies salvation through the Cross of Christ only, and His holy nature.

Do take the time to read Cranmer’s excellent summary and commentary upon the Prince’s speech.

[Photo credit Chris Jackson/Getty Images]

Fulfilled prophecy #2 – diversity and Islam in the UK

Posted on Friday, 5 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

News of 22 years-old dream & prophetic words of last 2 months being fulfilled

With this year’s huge increase in persecution and atrocities committed by Muslims against Christians, I’d often wondered if my dramatic dream about the fall of Islam that stunned me in early 1992 would actually materialise. But I thought the violence would defeat its purpose because ordinary, moderate Muslims should be disgusted and appalled by what’s being done in the name of their religion. Also, because it all portrays the reality of its founder’s purpose.

Thus, its adherents would become so disillusioned they would seek radical change, as happened for Communism (which was my understanding of the dream). So I concluded it may happen sometime soon. I now learn that’s indeed happening, as recounted in the following Comments Paper from Dr Clifford Hill.

Dr Hill also authenticates some of the content of the prophetic words brought in the last few weeks by Cindy Jacobs and Heidi Baker, namely:

“United Kingdom, red, yellow, brown, black and white, dancing upon injustice, releasing the Glory of God to the streets. God has brought the Nigerians and the people from West Indies, …some people say the complexion of the nation has changed”, but the Lord says, “I have caused it to be the colour I have always wanted it to be in my people coming together as one, for love has no colour says the Lord”. (Cindy Jacobs)

“…the other faiths, the other religions, they’re going to take notice when the Christians come together in radical love – a cross-stream, they won’t care what they’re called, they won’t care…” (Heidi Baker)

CHRISTMAS HARVEST

On Advent Sunday this year M and I had the great joy of going back to the East End of London. We were speaking at the morning service of a Church just a few hundred yards from the street where we lived and raised our three children back in the 1970s. But how different it is today from the time we lived there! There are very few local white people in the area around our old house and more than half of those who live there now are Asian Muslims.

Looking Back
We were glad to see that the congregation approaching some 200 in the church reflects the local population among whom there were no more than about 10 or 12 local white people. They represented every region of the world with the worship leaders being a mixture of African, Caribbean and Asian. When we lived there we saw the first handful of Asians arrive and now they are in the majority and their culture dominates the High Street. We remembered appointing the first member of our team to take responsibility for work among the Asians and we used to say that the ‘Overseas Mission Field’ had become the ‘Home Mission Field’.

Embracing Change
We had a vision in those days of Christians not only welcoming the newcomers but sharing their faith and leading them to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Of course, we had no idea that the number of incomers would be so large and so rapid that in 40 years it would be hard to find a local white family living in our neighbourhood. But the church where we were speaking has not only survived the changing population, but embraced it by becoming a fully multi-ethnic congregation. They have committed Christians in each of the ethnic groups who are evangelising among their own people.

Who Are True Muslims?
Throughout the past year we have been speaking at meetings all over the country with a basic message about the great shaking of the nations that is now taking place. The message we took to Newham was that God is now shaking Islam. The shaking began with the Arab Spring in Egypt and other countries of North Africa and the Middle East. But the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Northern Iraq has produced a level of atrocities that has shocked the civilised world and rocked the confidence of Islamic leaders and millions of ordinary Muslims. It is the claim of the ISIS fighters to be the true followers of Muhammad in pursuing their policy of violent conquest and coercion that has shaken ordinary Muslims who think that Islam is a religion of peace.

Visions of Jesus
Advent is the season of light and life and liberation. The message that God is turning the light upon Islam was received with great joy. We related reports of hundreds of Muslims in Egypt and many other countries having revelations of Jesus at the same time as they hear terrible reports of atrocities from the Islamic State which are causing them to question the spirit behind Islam.

Muslim Harvest
Many of the church were able to confirm that their friends and neighbours in East London are beginning to question their faith and are open to Christians telling them about Jesus. A number in the congregation used to be Muslims before giving their lives to Christ. Together we rejoiced that the ‘Muslim Harvest’ has begun and the church was making preparations for using the Christmas season to reach out to the Muslim population to tell them the true story of Jesus coming into the world to reconcile sinful human beings to God our Loving Father. For the Christians in East London Christmas has become the season of Harvest – Harvest for the Kingdom!

Fulfilled prophecy #1 – Jean Darnall visions for UK

Posted on Thursday, 4 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

aurora-uk_2192580k_Image credit Telegraph

A couple of weeks ago friends told us about noticeable, encouraging changes in their localities. Also, the church we attend is in touch with developments in Gloucester, the Midlands, London and St Albans, as well as in Norway and Germany. I recalled the three-fold vision Jean Darnall had in the 60’s of small fires all over Britain multiplying and joining up – and then came heaven’s lightning strikes. She writes,

What I saw was the British Isles, as in a bird’s eye view. A kind of haze was over the whole, like a green fog. And then little pinpricks of light began to appear from the top of Scotland to Land’s End. Then the Lord seemed to draw me closer to these lights, and I saw that they were fires that were burning. They were multiplying from the top of Scotland to Land’s End. Then I saw lightening come and strike those fires, the brightest spots particularly, and there was a kind of explosion, and rivers of fire flowed down. Again, the sense of direction was from the top of Scotland to Land’s End. But some of those rivers of fire didn’t stop there. They went right across the Channel and didn’t stop there. They went right across the Channel and spread out into the Continent…

Then I asked the Lord, “What does the lightning stand for?” And He said, “Unlike the first part, in which I will be speaking to Christians and preparing My church and renewing it and reviving the saints, the lightning represents a second part of the vision, in which I will bring a spiritual awakening to the nation that will be a witness to the unsaved, to the un-churched, to the non-Christian. Through these believers I will bring a witness to this land. They will be an army of witnesses. And I will begin to release their ministries so that when they give their testimonies there will be apostolic signs following and accompanying their testimonies…”

Within days I read Michael Marcel’s transcript of Cindy Jacob’s Prophetic words for the UK on his UK Awakening site, as well as from one of my subscribers who’d transcribed Heidi Baker’s stirring prophecy about a new move of God in the UK. The next day an email arrived from a most enthusiastic Michael reporting:

“… I believe that revival has begun. I am sensing that the atmosphere of Heaven is increasing in the land and I am hearing others say the same.

This does not mean though that thousands are going to be instantly saved in the coming days; no, if we want that to happen it is down to us to make it happen.

This is the time for stepping out and being bold and offensive. If we continue to do what we have always done in this season we will miss what God is doing. We need to partner with what Holy Spirit is doing and change this nation. This is not a time for waiting it is a time for extending the Kingdom of God in your area.

Unless we take what the Lord is doing into the streets, into prisons, into restaurants etc, we will not be able to give testimonies of the incredible things God has done through us. This is the time to fill your journals with testimonies.”

Those whom we spoke to have just emailed their reports to me and this also came from Michael:

“I went to hear Rodney Howard Browne last night. He has come to tell everyone to get out there and start bringing in the lost, heal the sick etc. Same message I am giving but his platform is 1000 times bigger :)” (Read in full under Dec 5)

In May I published three posts about overseas visitors arriving in Britain and noticing changes in our spiritual atmosphere. It sure seems this is growing – dare I say ‘opening up’? – as in fulfilment of Jean’s vision and recent words from Cindy and Heidi.

Examples from East Hants and South Devon

First, news of something we’d planned to attend locally but couldn’t because of an unscheduled medical situation. We wanted to hear all about it and were pleasantly surprised to learn much, of which RG writes only a part:

“We’ve received encouraging reports of showing a new Billy Graham film, “The Cross”, which was launched nationally last month.

“Christian friends in Liss, Hampshire, hired the village hall, appropriately enough on Remembrance Day, 11th November, to show the film, which briefly looks back over 60 years of Billy Graham’s ministry in the UK, beginning with Haringey in 1954, but focuses on remembrance of a much earlier, history-changing event, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

“Despite his great age of 96 years, Billy Graham is still passionate about reaching men, women and young people with the unchanging message of the Christian Gospel, and the film contains powerful testimonies from young people about how they found Christ.”

‘The Cross’ is a professional, well-crafted film and its showing was part of our friend’s work as a local leader of The Gideons Bible society. He’s taught about the Gospel in schools but this was the first time we’d heard him so excited about what’s happening.

Our friend was surprised because reactions to the film he’d planned showing were that it’s irrelevant for today. So it was expected to be a flop – but it wasn’t. Support came from unexpected places and has enabled a greater harmony between churches.

Next, came news from RP a few hundred miles away west of Dartmouth:

“A Catholic church is inviting anyone of any denomination to join them in prayer on an occasional basis when some significant event raises a need: the Ebola outbreak was one example. Another church, having gone through several very difficult years, is now being rebuilt on strong foundations of the Word, and there is a real sense of the Holy Spirit at the meetings. I am finding it increasingly easy to make connections with other prayer groups in the area, and I am receiving information about groups which I never even knew existed. A distinct lightening of the spiritual atmosphere. This is small but exciting stuff!”

Thirdly, RG mentioned an area prayer meeting in Liphook being convened by a person unknown to us but whose name had cropped up twice before in that very week. So I made contact and was invited to a well-attended meeting at the parish church. That was the same week in which I received Michael’s email. So I mentioned it, and a retired vicar said he’s noticed an improvement across inter-church relationships in the Alton area.

NW, convener of that local meeting, took us through the Book of Amos, the first of the writing prophets, because it is highly appropriate for these times.

Is this happening in your locality too?

Are you finding unexpected changes for the better in your personal and church outreach and inter-denominational activities and co-operation, no matter how small?

Michael and I would like to publish such news, thereby encouraging many others and enabling everyone to know what’s happening in Britain. (Locations and denominations will be mentioned but not individual’s or any churches’ names.)

Do you have any news?

[Aurora from the International Space Station – image credit The Telegraph]

Arabs and Jews unite to agree only solution to conflict is Jesus Christ

Posted on Thursday, 4 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

Thank you to Discerning the Times for bringing the following news to my attention. It’s really not the ‘Surprise’ they bill it as!

It is significant news in view of rabbi Kaduri’s prophecy of Messiah being revealed to Israel after Ariel Sharon’s death. (After a massive stroke in January 2006 he was left in a comatose state until passing away last January.) This prominent rabbi is reputed to have met the Messiah and hidden a note of his identity, as reported on this blog in Who are the Jewish people expecting…?

This piece therefore acts as a suitable follow-up to The rabbi’s note, the PM’s death and the angel’s word – Part 1, the second part of which I was unable to complete in view of higher priority material. Its opening section was headed ‘A Matter of Time’, and so perhaps that blog’s Part 2 was awaiting this news?

Put the breakdown of Israel’s ruling coalition into perspective. Forget their flap over proposals to define Israel officially as a ‘Jewish state’ – here’s the only solution for cessation of the current conflict…

David Lazarus’ article published 26 November in ‘Israel Today’ reads as follows:

Arabs and Jews Unite to Proclaim Messiah’s Return

A new generation of Arab and Jewish followers of Jesus met together last week to strategize on how to “turn Israel upside down.”

Two hundred and sixty Messianic Jewish and Arab pastors, youth leaders, evangelists, Bible-school teachers and ministry leaders gathered for a three-day council to discuss, study, pray and work together to effectively bring the word of God in power to Arabs and Jews throughout the whole Land of Israel.

These seasoned men and women of faith embody decades of labor proclaiming the Gospel to local Arabs and Jews. Most have given up everything to preach Messiah to their unbelieving Muslim and Jewish families and friends. Despised because of their faith, they have lost jobs, suffered rejection and endured multiple other hardships, yet their passion to bring the Good News to their people remains unquenched.

“We will keep preaching and teaching the Word of God until it changes the people of Israel,” declared one leading pastor. “We must be willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel and keep going no matter what happens. God will accomplish His will through the power of His word.”

With tensions now raging in Jerusalem and across Israel, it was astonishing to witness firsthand the deep friendships between these Arabs and Jews. Even the cold-blooded murders in a Jerusalem synagogue that took place on the final day of the gathering could not separate these godly men and women from their warm fellowship in Messiah.

In fact, the cowardly acts of terror and violence still raging in Jerusalem only served to move them to stand even stronger together and compelled them to more boldly declare the life-giving Word of God to both Muslim and Jew.

A regular theme throughout the gathering was the need to understand God’s prophetic word concerning the Last Days. (Emphasis added RB)

Scriptures related to the Second Coming of Messiah were studied. There are many signs that we are living in the latter days, particularly the return of the Jewish people to their biblical land, and the leadership of the local congregations in Israel discussed the need to prepare God’s people for the Messiah’s soon return.

All agreed that time is short, and the peoples of this land, both Arab and Jew, must hear the Word of God now.

It was mentioned that some local leaders are not teaching or preaching about the Second Coming. They do not want to stir up controversy or division over what can be a difficult subject.

While there remains much debate in Christianity and among Messianic Jews as to what exactly will happen around the Second Coming of the Lord, all were in agreement that He is coming, and that the Gospel much be preached in boldness, especially in Israel, before it is too late, for He comes this time in glory and in judgment.

According to many New Testament scriptures, the return of Messiah should unify believers, inspiring them to ready themselves in purity and holiness. It is seen as a cunning ploy of the enemy to cause so much confusion and division concerning the Last Days and Messiah’s return.

The leadership of the local Arab and Jewish congregations in Israel prayed for unity of faith in the Messiah’s return and boldness to tell others of His coming Messianic kingdom, the only real solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the peace of Jerusalem.

Amen and amen to all those prayers!

[Photo courtesy Israel Today; click photo for link to original and readers’ extensive comments.]

Who or what is the Spirit of Wisdom?

Posted on Tuesday, 2 December, 2014 by Richard Barker

In the previous post’s covering introduction about Ian Clayton’s book I referred to “the Lord’s Spirit of Wisdom”. This may have puzzled some readers, perhaps perplexing even those who are familiar with the Bible. I didn’t quote any reference because it’s helpful to expand briefly upon this subject.: The prime reference lies in prophet Isaiah’s message of future hope centred in a God-ordained Davidic ruler and his reign, thereby making it a messianic hope. Notes in the New Spirit-Filled Life Bible say that, out of the divided kingdom of ancient Israel and Judah, fresh life will emerge in a new ruler who’s symbolically called a ‘Rod’, a ‘Branch’. Also, it notes Revelation 5:5 describes Jesus Christ as “the Root of David”. A prophetic declaration about this future descendant of king David’s father opens the 11th chapter of the Book of Isaiah as follows (NKJV courtesy of BibleGateway.com, emphases RB):

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. ²The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

These last six are often considered as six specific functions of God the Holy Spirit, but if that were so then there would be other references to 6-fold and not 7-fold aspects. The word of the Lord that came to Isaiah refers to functional attributes, which implies intelligence and independent existence. This may be inferred from the centuries later account by prophet Zecharia of being in a heavenly court where he’s told about a the stone upon which are seven eyes (Zecharia 3:9). After the Apostle John wrote to seven churches in Asia Minor, as dictated to him by Jesus during a powerful visitation, he went in his spirit through an ‘open door’ into heaven and was able to give a specific description of these seven spirits before the Almighty’s throne:

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” ²Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. ³And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. ⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:1-5 NKJV)

Although of fire, please do not think this means these spirits are like ordinary combustion, or like any material objects. In fact, whilst visiting our local church this year Randy Demain told us about having seen seven eyes in his room burning like fire. He learned they were on a 7-branched candlestick, or menorah, with Holy Spirit being the central one. For more details on this read Hidden Meaning of the Menorah. In fact, a very detailed description of the Spirit of Wisdom comes from the time of the unified kingdom of David and his son Solomon. Soon after the throne passed to him circa 970 BC, the Lord appeared to Solomon by night in a dream and said,

“Ask! What shall I give you?” ⁶And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. ⁹Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” ¹⁰The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ¹²behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. ¹³And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. ¹⁴So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” (1Kings 3 NKJV)

Hence the proverbial, “As wise as Solomon”! And out of this abundance he penned the Book of Proverbs, the first several chapters of which outline Wisdom’s rich repository as well as nature and ‘her’ existence in the Beginning. This instruction is too extensive to quote but read it all for yourself in your Bible, or else here in BibleGateway.com Even so, let us note verses 1:7 and 9:10,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction… “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding...”

My previous reference to the Spirit of Wisdom should thus be understood in the light of these scriptures. Further reading:

On the Threshold

Heidi Baker: prophecy of a new move of God in UK – with updates

Posted on Thursday, 27 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

The prophetic words below were delivered at Catch The Fire London on 16 November by the internationally respected co-founder of Iris Ministries, Heidi Baker. My thanks go to Suzanne Payne for bringing it to my attention and for the hard graft of transcription:

The Spirit Calls You To Him

Thanking leaders Stuart and Chloe Glassborow for just having quoted the scriptures she was about to preach on, Heidi told those assembled to fix their eyes on Jesus and, asking Him to take everyone deeper, she sensed His Spirit flowing. In her inimitable intimacy with Jesus, Heidi urged Him not to leave England like it is, nor the UK, nor London as they are.

Heidi went on to share what she was receiving, which brought a tremendous response from everyone:

“I just feel like this revival that God has promised in this nation – it’s another wave of revival He’s promised; I feel like it’s going to come as we go. It’s going to come as we go. It’s going to come as we go, says the Lord. This revival of radical love is going to come as we go. It’s each one of us just taking a hold of the love of God, taking a hold of the heart of God, taking a hold of the mercy of God, fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and the finisher, and as we go, one by one by one by one there’s going to be a lighting up in the hearts of men and women in this city, in this nation.

“This move of God is different than you’ve ever seen before, says the Lord. It’s different than you’ve ever seen before, says the Lord, because no one’s going to point to one mighty evangelist. No-one’s going to point to one mighty preacher, no-one’s going to point to one mighty event, but there’s going to be this, this immersion, this immersion of the Father’s love, this immersion of Holy Spirit, this immersion, this infilling of God within the hearts of individuals, and with the hearts of bodies, the body of Christ.

“There’s going to be a movement of unity in the UK that’s going to shake the world, says the Lord. I hear the prophetic word of the Lord. It’s going to flow through the universities and the colleges of the universities. It’s going to flow through denomination and the non-denominations. There’s going to be a move of unity within the Body of Christ.

“You’re going to fill Wembley Stadium. You’re going to fill stadiums, stadiums, with worshippers of the living God. And there’s going to be this holy affection where people come before the Lord. They’re not going to even know who’s speaking in the stadium, they’re not going to even know the name of the preachers, because they’re coming fixing their eyes on Jesus. It’s going to shake the nation, says the Lord.

“There’s going to be a unity even between Scotland and Ireland and the UK, that’s going to SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE. There’s going to be a shaking that’s going to bring a unity, says the Lord. There’s going to be something that the people of other faiths are going to see in this nation, as believers come together in radical love.

“There’s going to be; you are going to be a part of the history, a part of the history in this nation, says the Lord. There’s going to be another historical move of God – I see, I see a shaking, a shaking of radical love.

“I see people in the Body of Christ, and you’re going out, and I’ve seen a vision of it, you’re going out, and I know you’re sons and daughters but you’re going out like ants, you’re going out like ants, like ants, like little ants, like little ants and you’re digging digging digging digging digging like little ants – like little ants, you’re digging.

“And there’s something specific happening as you start just lining up in this unity. There’s going to be a unity beyond anything the UK’s ever seen. It’s like there’s something, I feel like you’re going to become like these radical lovers of God that’s going to cross all denominations, all the barriers.”

“I feel like church history is going to be made in this place again, and you’re going to be a part of the history because, instead of burning people at the stake, there’s going to be radical love manifested through the Body of Christ.

“And it’s like there’s something that’s going to be happening in the body of Christ in UK – and I hear the Lord, I hear the Lord so clearly – it’s this radical movement of unity where there’s going to be so much of Holy Spirit’s presence in the individual believers that they’re literally going to cross different streams and they’re going to move together in this HUGE river of radical love that’s going to flow over the banks of the UK, it’s going to flow over the banks – it’s going to be like this hotbed – and out of the UK there’s going to come this MIGHTY move of the Spirit that’s going to touch even unto the continent, says the Lord, and there’s going to be a re-awakening, a re-awakening of love, a re-awakening of unity, a re-awakening of His Spirit – and it’s like the other faith, the other faiths, the other religions, they’re going to take notice when the Christians come together in radical love – a cross-stream, they won’t care what they’re called, they won’t care…

”It’s interesting what I hear: there’s going to be diversity in the unity, there’s going to be diversity in the unity, uniqueness in the unity, where people are going to come together uniquely different and yet flowing together in unity. It’s not like you’re going to come together with a fake unity where all your doctrines are the same, where all your beliefs are the same, but you’re going to come together for the prize, you’re going to come together for the prize!

“He says, “I will give you souls, I will give you souls, I will give you souls, souls, souls, souls”. There’s going to be another Great Awakening coming out of this place!

“I see a great awakening touching the universities. There’s going to be a fire of God’s glory love on the universities. There’s going to be move between denominations that will blow your mind, says the Lord.

“This is from God’s heart and it’s, it’s a passion on Daddy’s heart that…it’s hard to understand but there’s been this longing on the heart of Daddy God, this longing on the heart of the Father for this move that He longs for, that He’s destined this place for, that He’s destined UK for – He’s destined it in His Spirit – and I see it…Oh yes Lord.”

Amen! Bring it on Lord!

Receive the full impact of this prophetic word to Heidi by listening to the podcast. Click on the link to CTF in this photo and select ‘The Spirit Calls You To Him’ – this word starts at 6:05.

Iris Ministries is based in Mozambique. Click to read how the Bakers began their work, their core values and their outstanding mission across east Africa.

UPDATES:

Email received 22nd December 2014:
“Thank you for the word I was sent from your watch from Heidi – via ‘HS’ – it was very exciting to read as I had just heard the Lord say to me “you keep going and I will keep coming” – so we were amazed to read the first para of her word. Also, to read about the unity that she prophesies about as this is all part of our vision for Culture Changers.
“I am therefore including it in our January update along with the word for 2015 from Sharon Stone. So very encouraging – thank you.
“This morning I felt the Lord prompting me to write to you and thank you and tell you the above.”
Ginny Cryer
[Upon retiring as leaders of Winchester Vineyard Church, Hants, Ginny and Hugh started Culture Changers UK.]
Note dated 13th January 2015:
Two people unknown to one another spoke or wrote to me upon “Go!” from Isaiah 6:8-9 on the same evening – Thursday 8th January. AND the previous day Aliss Cresswell closed a prophetic word for 2015, “We have just entered into the promised land, so go!” THEN on 8th Jan and over that weekend the number of views of this post went ballistic at over 2,200 – Is the Lord getting our attention? In view of this word’s emphasis upon a new move of unity see CBTI – Churches for Britain & Ireland – Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015, 18th-25th January.
Richard’s Watch 21 April 2015:
How the above word fits a prophetic insight received by my namesake Richard Barker – God-incidents’ validate cycles and point to near future – 2
Richard’s Watch 11 June 2015:
Heidi Baker, Cindy Jacobs: prophetic messages verified and applied.
Conversation in early August 2015:
A neighbour’s daughter home from University at Brighton is very excited over Christian activity there and pleased that it involves fellow students from across many church denominations.
Richard’s Watch 23 May 2016 – Can These Bones Live? Clifford Hill on the Pentecost celebration in Winchester Cathedral in this post

Personal Note:

Several years ago I discussed with Heidi’s husband Rolland an open vision before me of Holy Spirit fire sweeping up Africa from Mozambique into the Middle East. This had blessed me when I first saw Heidi teaching at Toronto and he said it’s similar to what their local director Supressa Sithole had seen for the ministry. (Details may be read under ‘2012 Note’ in A Third Great Awakening?)

On becoming like Jesus Christ

Posted on Wednesday, 26 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

This profoundly important message comes from Mike Parsons. It’s reposted in full rather than re-blogged in order to emphasise its associated prophetic word and append a book cover and make some observations on four consecutive days of God-incidences. Regular readers know my opinion of such events. For Mike’s original posted in August, click on his following title:

THE IMAGE OF JESUS

Mike Parsons with Jeremy Westcott

Transformation: embrace the season

We are entering into a season preparing us for holiness; a season of removing stumbling blocks; a season of preparation to cross the threshold into the glory realm; a season for transformation. Not just a minor adjustment of surface appearance, but fundamental, radical change, affecting body, soul and spirit.

Let’s not resist it, but embrace it. Let’s cooperate in being changed from glory to ever-increasing glory. Entering into the process of refining and purifying is entirely voluntary. That said, we know that sometimes God will engineer circumstances around our lives to give us further opportunities to volunteer. We can fall on the Rock, or the Rock can fall on us.

Like you have never known

Here is part of a prophetic word which God gave me before I first taught this series at Freedom in 2012:

“It is time to pray that the lid comes off and to call forth my angels who are waiting to start gathering and removing stumbling blocks both within and without. Holiness fire is coming, the highway of holiness has been prepared. It is time to walk in the river of fire. You have walked over it and felt its heat but now it is time to be baptised in fire. The heat will turn idols back into the dust they came from: to be under your feet, not in your hearts.

“Call forth the gathering angels. The lids are coming off the sewers, the secret and hidden things of the heart are about to be exposed. All I ask is for the willingness to submit to the fire that will refine, purify and prepare you for true holiness.

“I am about to restore your souls like you have never known, and lead you on paths of righteousness like you have never known.

“I am going to prune the church. I am going to cut off the branches that are producing no fruit. I am going to remove the stumbling blocks to true kingdom government. I am going to close the access doors that the enemy has had. Some have already been removed.

“I am looking for those who are willing to be pruned in the unproductive areas of their lives and in their desires and their priorities…”

Metamorphosed, transfigured

We have seen that happen at Freedom Church (kingdom government has been established here, but in the process, lids have certainly come off some sewers and we have experienced some painful pruning, both corporate and personal). What is true for us locally is true for you, wherever you are reading this. God wants His whole church transformed, metamorphosed, transfigured, changed, conformed into the image of Jesus; not patterned, moulded, conformed to the world.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:1-2).

Transformation is a process of change, a renewal, a restoration to original condition; not to what Adam was like before his sin but to what he would have become. How would things be today if Man had not fallen, but had spent the intervening centuries pursuing God’s plan for him and for creation? How would we be?

Our goal in transformation is to become wholly like Jesus; to live like Him; to do as He did, and greater things (John 14:12); to be conformed to His image.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

One degree to another

In our day, the prophetic books (portals) have been opened and we are receiving deeper levels of revelation and understanding. But these also call for deeper levels of transformation. It is like going from pre-school mathematics (recognise a number), through primary school (counting, simple sums, addition, multiplication), to secondary school (algebra, equations, calculus), undergraduate, postgraduate and so on. I suspect many of us are not much beyond pre-school as yet.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

There are progressive levels of transformation to maturity, progressive levels of responsibility and authority. God wants to take us from servant to bondservant to steward to friend; lord to king to son.

By the mercies of God

Freedom from sin (Rom 6:16-18); the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23); peace with God (Rom 5:1); the grace of God (Rom 5:2); salvation from wrath (Rom 5:9); the gift of repentance (Rom 2:4-5); the love of Christ (2 Cor 5:14-15): the mercies of God are new every morning, and they motivate us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, ready for transformation.

It is indeed a process, and it may take some time. But we can begin today (and every day) by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice. We can invite Him to do what He needs to do in us.

He will challenge our conscience, imagination, reason, mind, emotions, will, and choice; our motives, desires, attitudes, mind-sets, belief systems, familiar spirits, patterns of sin, trading systems, idols, stumbling blocks, entanglements; hurts, pains, rejections, fears, inadequacies, inferiorities, disappointments and more besides. He will deal with our sin, transgression and iniquity. He will restore our supernatural abilities.

Are we up for that?
If so, let’s pray:

God I thank you for your presence in my life.
I open the gate of first love and invite you into my spirit
I invite you to activate my spiritual senses and flow through me
Jesus I surrender control of my life to your lordship.
You are Lord of my life.

I choose to be a bond servant.
Train me as a good steward
So that I can be your friend.

Renew my mind
Heal my emotions
Restore my conscience
Cleanse my imagination
Direct my will.

Train my senses to hear your voice
To know your heart
See your vision
And be directed by your peace.

Cleanse my bloodline and seed-line
Transform my DNA.

Father I choose to follow my eternal destiny
Into lordship, kingship and sonship.
I choose, as an ambassador of heaven,
To administer the rule of the kingdom of God
On earth as it is in heaven.

Display me as a son of light on the earth.
Manifest your kingdom rule through me to the world around me.

Other resources from Freedom ARC

Transformation audio series (much of the content of this post is taken from session 1).
Ambassadors of Heaven audio series.
DNA Transformation (YouTube playlist of Mike’s ‘Supernatural Mentoring’ videos which touch on this subject).

OBSERVATIONS

The year of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, 2012, saw an abundance of prophecies about a new era for the Church (click for a selection). For me it brought a conviction of seeing things falling into place, especially after an awesome gathering in August at Birmingham, as described in An invisible jigsaw falls into place. It greatly reminded me of having prepared annually for the new school year but going up to a higher class, and Spirit-filled believers have an exceptional schooling (see Back to School-College-Uni).

So I’m most encouraged that Mike refers to 2012, and spells out what was on my mind about increasing in Godly wisdom like when we went through various schools – but I omitted my intention of saying most churchgoers are in, or unwilling to progress beyond, nursery school!

More remarkable are references to ‘stumbling blocks’ and the ‘mercies of God’, because they featured prominently last week, as follows:

Tues 18th: the closing verses to the draft of my last post on Jerusalem (re. faith of traditional church leaders) got augmented. I added what had cropped up in that morning’s quiet time but used the literal wording rather than the standard NKJV text, “It is impossible that no offenses should come…”; ie. I wrote ‘stumbling blocks’, not ‘offenses’.
My study bible notes to Luke 17:1 state ‘offenses’ means ‘stumbling blocks’, and is literally the trigger of a trap or snare. In the verse it designates something that causes one to sin, and Jesus issues a strong warning against apostasy.
Within minutes of publishing that post an Elder called about having an insight into our unexpected month-long recurrence of a major health issue and said he’d seen a ‘stumbling block’! When my wife waited upon the Lord nothing came, she went to watch a TV programme but it suddenly changed to show a long-forgotten but traumatic episode of when she was 9 years old playing out on the TV Screen!!
Wed 19th: our Elder ministered as directed into that ‘video’ stumbling block’.
Thur 20th: Nina awoke to find there were no signs of this daily manifestation! Praise and thank the Lord greatly.
Thur 20th: that morning’s prophetic Lion Bites was exactly on target, as implied in my covering comment to New mercies every morning! Mike refers above to “the mercies of God are new every morning’!
Fri 21st: not normally on-line, but went to adjust that draft only to see email note of Mike’s post being re-blogged on Ecclesia of Burning Ones – thank you so much for bringing this excellent post to my attention.

I can only conclude: NOW’s the time to action Mike’s post!

Note: Paul Keith Davis writes in-depth on ‘angels that gather’ in this book published in 2007. For details click on the book’s cover >>>

Revelation of God’s Prophetic Timetable

Posted on Tuesday, 25 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

In limbering up to launch 3 years ago I referred to some things happening in the month of this blog’s launch and remarked, “It’s fascinating how events have cycled around and thus returned my focus to similar issues as in November 2011”. In that connection I strongly urge consideration of what Mike Parsons of Freedom Church in Barnstaple wrote earlier that month on Sons of Issachar. It has become increasingly relevant…

Sons of Issachar

Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –

We are getting to the core part of what we set out to share with you. Everything we have posted so far has really been by way of introduction. We are now beginning to look in detail at the prophetic timetable that God is opening up to us, the revelation of His plans and purposes over the coming months and years. Let’s remember, there are no specific dates or times here, just a sense of different phases or periods in which God will be working in particular ways, which He is calling us to recognise so that we can cooperate and participate with Him.

This is the first part of that prophetic timetable:

Each of these is a period of time which does not end, but continues alongside the other periods of time. Over these periods, there are going to be an increasing…

View original post 999 more words

46,000 churches called to “extraordinary prayer” for Great Awakening

Posted on Thursday, 13 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

A fascinating follow-on that acts as sequel to the last post can only be of the Lord. In asking whether an emerging corrective trend of a spiritual-political nature could link the USA to Britain, I noted a commonality and mused if it may be related to Charlie Shamp’s remarks about the UK.

“Whether we are discussing the First and Second Great Awakenings…God has always seemed to release the fresh movement of the Holy Spirit on these Islands that has gone on to affect the entire earth.”

We now have reference to a ‘Third Great Awakening’, as follows:

This morning (13th Nov) Joel Rosenberg’s latest email announced “something very exciting happening in the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention”. In June he’d written about the SBC’s new President, Dr Ronnie Floyd’s, and Anne Graham Lotz’s urgent prayer call for July 4th and beyond.

Joel reminds us that Dr Floyd was making prayer for a Third Great Awakening a top priority inside one of the world’s largest evangelical Christian denominations. He now reports that, true to his word, this pastor has travelled all over the country preaching on the need for deep repentance and revival inside the SBC.

Now, Dr Floyd’s released a free 16-page e-book titled, Pleading With Southern Baptists And Beyond to come together in clear agreement before God and “in extraordinary prayer for the Next Great Awakening and for the world to be reached for Christ”. It is a clarion call for Southern Baptists — and all Christians in the United States — to become deeply focused and committed to pleading with God for revival. [Click to read in full.]

The Third Great Awakening

Joel’s item rang a bell about Dutch Sheets also having similarly called for prayer, about which I wrote in some depth here. It’s the most motivational call for prayer I’ve heard because of its foundation upon a supra-natural lesson: the existing effect of generations’ intercession since the American War of Independence.

Also, I was reminded of having encouraged friends in early 2011 to watch his inspiring account at The Bay Revival of the Lord speaking since 1991 about a new awakening (this email refers).

Recounting his experience this September at the grave of the great revivalist Charles Finney, Dutch reminded Holy Spirit about the First and Second Great Awakenings and appealed to Heaven for another,

As we prayed, God chose this time and place to meet with me in a powerful way. I was overcome, as I have been before, with God’s heart and love for America. I wept, as we all cried out for revival in our land. Why did God meet me there in such a strong way? Perhaps it was to honor the memory of Finney, a faithful son; or, since awakening and harvest is what Finney so powerfully represents, maybe it was a confirmation that God is, indeed, going to give us another great awakening; and it could have been to remind us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves – that the great cloud of witnesses is watching and cheering us on, knowing fully that we’re the continuation of their efforts (Hebrews 11:39-12:2). Whatever His reason for choosing this time and place, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon me. I was re-mantled and re-anointed.

After explaining about mantles and anointing, Dutch concludes,

God is not finished with America. Don’t be moved by the naysayers, don’t give in to hope deferred. There is a third Great Awakening coming to our land. There is another broad and passionate “appeal to Heaven” occurring in our land, which will be honored, just as it was when our nation was born. There is a re-connecting to the covenants, promises and sacrifices of our forefathers. And there will be an answer from Heaven in the form of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit the earth has ever experienced – in America, and around the world. You are part of this! Keep crying out for revival – and cry out for revivalists like Finney to be raised up in our day.

Be blessed as you read his full account here.

[Endless Bridge by Evgeni Denev, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

Does a spiritual yet political trend link USA to Britain?

Posted on Tuesday, 11 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

Are subtle changes in the British and American political scene afoot, and is there a spiritual link between them?

Could a positive trend relating to revival come from the ‘mother’ nation to its ‘adult child’? A trend that includes a rebellious, corrective ‘fight-back’ from Christians!

Reading a few remarks on the US mid-term election results, comments upon our fuel prices and on the Labour party leader’s about-face, a provocative notion popped into mind. Just like one of my loaves it began to rise, and my premise is submitted for what it may be worth. Now it’s out of the ‘oven’ and not half-baked, I’d value your tasting and opinion, so kindly bear with me.

Let’s bite and chew upon these facts as they emerged over weekend 7-9th November:

1. Rick Joyner’s prophetic bulletin arrived whilst I was drafting POTUS’ party pummelled and, although I’d only skimmed it, his careful consideration of the results was evident. He’s of the opinion the GOP now has a mandate from the people – but not necessarily so, because turn-out was low with Democrat supporters staying away in droves. One could, however, argue they couldn’t care less, or that their own president’s policies are so chronic his voters are against him. Moreover, the mandate comes from many who are sufficiently concerned about state of the Union to express this by their vote.

Rick suggests two main questions need answering very quickly with the new Congress:

Will Republican leaders lead with the resolution needed to fulfill their mandate?
Will President Obama now work with Congress to make the mandated changes or will he become an obstructionist President? (Do leopards change spots? RB)

He refers to Bill Clinton’s wise course of action after a mid-term rebuke as shown in his working with Republicans and their ‘Contract with America’. Incumbent Obama has the same choice but, “If he doesn’t get the message and act accordingly, it will get very ugly, and impeachment will not be off the table for the abundance of crimes committed by his Administration”. (Now where did I blog about that? – ah yes, on 4th June 2013.)

Rick comments upon voters’ main concerns as revealed in exit polls and I noted nearly half (45%) saw the American economy as an issue. In recommending how GOP should proceed, he refers to Joshua’s defeat at the battle of Ai and how he learned to prevail and concludes:

To effectively deal with the threats to our existence that are still gathering against us, it is imperative that we throw off the extreme devotion to political correctness that has blinded us from seeing or confronting some of the biggest threats…

After elections that seemed to go in our favor, Christians and conservatives have often relaxed. Some would just go back to sleep. If that happens now, it can prove fatal…

“This election was a great victory, but it is just the beginning of getting America back on course. This is no time to let up, and this is no time to become arrogant.

[FYI: Rick Joyner is a founder of ‘a grassroots movement to unite, mobilize, equip, and activate Christians to be the salt and light they are called to be by engaging in the great issues of our time from a sound biblical worldview’ known as The Oak Initiative. Its rise was rapid across all 50 states and over 50 nations worldwide, as well as attracting over 300 Christian leaders.]

2. Friday’s Eye View From The White House from William Koenig connected right into Rick’s remarks about Clinton. He opens from his personal, frontline coverage with header; Defiant Obama Completely Misses the Point of His Political Party’s Shellacking (transl: ‘thrashing’)

I was at President Obama’s White House press conference Wednesday afternoon. As I listened to him explain what happened in the 2014 mid-term election, I thought, “Does he really not understand that this election was a shellacking about him and his failed agenda? Is he that far removed from reality or in total denial?” This was one of the largest political defeats in modern election history at all levels of government, both national and state.

But Obama refuses to take responsibility despite the fact that his political party did not invite him to do any national or local political campaigning, which he said he loves to do…

As Obama’s yet to learn from the 2010 fiasco, as in this from BBC on ‘shellacking’, the chances of his now changing attitude seem negligible!

Bill’s review continues with quotations from leading left- and right-wing journalists who hammer Obama’s denial and defiance of sweeping GOP gains in the Senate, House and governorships. He also quotes National Review’s article on the Democrats in States Legislature sinking to levels only known prior to the Great Depression!!

3. The most surprising element of Bill Koenig’s ‘Eye View’ is on Christians’ decisive role in the Democrats’ demise! Political involvement by churches in the US is regarded by Brits as an American peculiarity, probably because of our centuries of politico-religious conflicts and state-established Anglican church presided over by the monarch. Yet we need to be aware and appreciate what’s happened…

The Faith & Foundation Coalition report upon a post-election survey showing, ‘Self-Identified Conservative Christians Comprised Record Share of the Electorate, Backed GOP Candidates by 8 to 1 Margin’. Bill quotes FFC founder Ralph Reed,

Their share of the electorate exceeded that of the African-American vote, Hispanic vote, and union vote combined. Religious conservative voters and the issues they care about are here to stay. They will be equally vital in 2016. Politicians of both parties ignore this constituency at their peril.

It’s instructive to note the Christian share of the vote was almost 1 in 3 and that those who identified themselves as believers voted as follows:

conservative – 82%:12% GOP:Dem (approx 52.4% GOP vote-share)
evangelical – 82%:18% GOP:Dem (constitute 23% electorate)
Catholic – 70%:30% GOP:Dem (constitute 9% electorate)

4. On Saturday I read about the reasons UK motorists are being ripped off and this cast doubt on claims about the state of the US economy being a major factor in the election results.

In his Business Comment, Allister Heath explains horrendous tax rates are the real reason why petrol is still so expensive and that international oil prices are directly connected to the petro-dollar. This is only one reason why falling prices are not quickly reflected in pump prices. A drop in price can be cancelled out by weak value of sterling against US dollar, as is happening today. “The value of the pound has slumped to a 14-month low against the dollar, partly as a result of strong employment figures from the US.”

Costs at the pump are hiked up by fuel duty and value-added tax totalling 63.4% of retail price. [At 1.60 £/$, petrol at just under £1.25/litre = $2.00. So 1 gallon here costs £5.68 = $9.10 : that is, $7.60/gallon (US).]

So, I thought this commentator’s remark ran contrary to US exit-poll reasons. Of course what really counts is voters’ personal perception and experience of economic realities. It is another thing for economists to look at leading indicators showing the US economy is now strengthening (eg. Guardian’s Trevor Williams, Calm down financial markets; the message on UK and US growth is good).

5. Then in the same paper I espied an op-ed’s strap-line ‘Sooner or later a line has to be drawn – and anti-Semitism is surely a good place to start’. Dan Hodges’ Politics has become detached from morality opens on Tory strategists’ ideas to counter UKIP’s poaching conservative voters. Apparently, UKIP Leader Farage did a deal with a notorious extremist leader of a far-right Polish party who admires Hitler and denies his involvement in the Holocaust. But the author changes tack, as follows…

After the week’s reports of challenges to Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour party, it is noteworthy that Dan writes, “This week a voice was raised against anti-Semitism. It was that of Ed Milibrand…on his Facebook page (he said) ‘We need a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism in the UK and reaffirm our revulsion to it in all its forms’…”

Not so laudable as it seems, because its belies his 3-line whip preventing Labour MPs’ free vote in the motion favouring a Palestinian state (see MPs ignore Koranic scholar’s warning). Miliband’s ardent support for Palestinian goals seems mutually exclusive to any concerns over anti-Semitism and, by inference over anti-Israel sentiment.

Dan exposes the hypocrisy of Milband’s insistence upon a ‘zero-approach’:

A clear and principled statement. Except, it wasn’t a clear and principled statement, but a statement born of political calculation.

A week earlier, Miliband had received a high-profile rebuke from Labour supporter Maureen Lipman. “Just when the anti-Semitism in France, Denmark, Norway, Hungary is mounting savagely, just when our cemeteries and synagogues and shops are once again under threat”, she wrote in Standpoint magazine, “in steps Mr Miliband to demand that the government recognise the state of Palestine”.

Lipman’s comments, in particular her concern about the Labour leader’s silence over anti-Semitic attacks, were quickly echoed by other senior members of the Jewish community.

So 24 hours later that silence was suddenly broken. Reporters at the Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News were phoned with quotes condemning a recent attack on Luciana Berger, the Jewish Labour MP. And a couple of days later, Miliband’s Facebook article appeared.

H O L D O N – wot woz zat?

Suddenly, I sense an invisible jigsaw again taking shape…

A corrective trend?

I’d closed my previous post by quoting Apostle Paul on the futility of our mocking God’s ways and precepts, as in the earliest document of the New Testament. Also, I related it to the acceleration in applying that law as recently taught by Neville Johnson.

So now I’m suddenly struck, not by the Labour’s leader’s expedient about-turn, but by the fact of his leadership being challenged that week – see How Labour rebels turned on their leader. This isn’t at all surprising as a consequence of the party’s deep decline in Scotland.

But there may be another dimension to all this…a provocative notion springs to mind: I’m struck by the possibility he may be reaping what he’s sown against Israel.

Now, where did I note a similar party political upheaval before? Answer: Alex Salmond and his failed personal ambition to persuade Scotland to vote for leaving the UK! As a result, he stood down from leadership of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

Moreover, in blogging on Salmond’s possible Islamist stance, I noted he’s vociferously anti-Israel. Perhaps the Lord ensured he reaped his reward for what he’d sown against His people? And perhaps the most appropriate time was an election/referendum?

After the ground was shaken from under the Scottish First Minister, the notion popped into mind that this may the reason it’s starting to shake under Ed Miliband’s feet too?

And it’s happened in the very same week for POTUS and the Democrats! Obama mocked the Lord God throughout his tenure, has been against Israel and displays personal animosity towards its Prime Minister (click image to read why). As the renowned investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield now blogs at ‘Sultan Knish’, The Democratic Party’s Civil War is Here.

Also, lest we forget, two Christian leaders prophesied about Benjamin Netanyahu being elected into office for more than a single term, one as far back as 1980 (as told here). Therefore, he is the Lord’s man for this time in Israel’s history.

To summarise:

the above political leaders have made declarations and decisions in varying measure inimical to the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and have then come a cropper. It’s quite possible the Lord is now taking them to task for that.

That this Galatians 6:7-8 action has started in the UK before the USA, where the sowing of defective seed has been extensive, may be related to the fulfilment of prophecies for the British Isles and what the Lord is already doing here.

That is, it’s necessary to correct UK’s ungodly situation first – or because the spiritual atmosphere is opening – in order for the harvest to ripen as people awaken to the Lord.

Whereas in the States, an enormous spiritual schism had opened up across the nation (as seen by Chuck Pierce in 2008) which will need extensive repair with repentance, or face an increase of the judgement that’s already come upon it. Comparatively, the USA may therefore be further down the line for revival than the UK yet be blessed by what he Lord will do here.

Hence, the mid-term elections and the possible consequential actions could be a vital corrective action for the sake of America’s spiritual well-being. Perhaps that trend has already started here in the UK and will come to affect the USA too?

That concept was voiced in March by Charles Shamp about the British Isles,

“Whether we are discussing the First and Second Great Awakenings…God has always seemed to release the fresh movement of the Holy Spirit on these Islands that has gone on to affect the entire earth.

“My love for Church history and the moves of the Spirit caused me to recognize that what took place within these nations directly affected America and the move of the Spirit in my nation.

“Although we are an ocean away, we are connected in the realm of the Spirit, and as the song of Heaven would arise over the UK, it would carry all the way to the shores of America and revival would begin to come forth in these United States….” (read full word here)

[Hand Pressing News Icon by Watcharakun and Puzzle in Sky by Idea Go are courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]

What have Paul Keith’s video and Mary Magdalene got in common?

Posted on Tuesday, 4 November, 2014 by Richard Barker

To God alone be the glory for this true story…

Join me as I meander along my musings and, as we wend our way, watch out for.:

a modern movie and its location
a medieval English abbey
a lost Renaissance painting
a legendary epic voyage
the earliest Christian letter
a new appreciation of prayer.

Except for the first, the rest took me by surprise the weekend before last. As pieces of an ‘invisible jigsaw’ they’d fallen into view like fresh snow.

Our long weekends off from weekday busy-ness start on Fridays, and a couple of Fridays ago we enjoyed strolling around Chichester city centre in warm sunshine. Eventide, we relaxed by catching up on an iPlayer movie recommended by our eldest daughter…

‘THE WAY’

This movie written and directed by Emilio Estevez is most engrossing and stars Martin Sheen (aka ‘West Wing’s US President Bartlett) as an irascible American doctor, Tom. He goes to southern France after losing his son (Emilio Estevez) who had an accidental death after having set out on “The Way of St. James” (see map).

Rather than returning to the States, Tom wants to honour his son by completing the journey on his behalf. But he doesn’t expect the profound impact this trip has on him. The Way tells the story of his near-500 miles hike to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain.

The route is one of many to one of the oldest of pilgrimages sites in Europe. I recalled learning about its connection with Reading Abbey upon researching the abbey’s history Founded in 1121 by king Henry I, this English abbey was also one starting place for the Camino de Santiago, and is reputed to have the remains of St James’ hand as a relic. (My researches began in my office overlooking the ruins of the abbey’s mill, and are as copied here.)

So this movie had a personal, albeit indirect, relevance – but more was to come on the ‘morrow…

LOST PAINTING FOUND

The very next morning I found buried inside Saturday’s paper some interesting facts about a ‘centuries-old art history mystery’ –

Caravaggio’s original ‘Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy’ has been discovered in a private European collection, the world’s leading expert on the Renaissance master has claimed.

The Telegraph: photo credit La Repubblica

Although the 1606 painting has been copied several times, historian Mina Gregori says the original has finally been found. The Telegraph’s Andrea Vogt says this expert won’t reveal which country it is in but can confirm that when she first saw the 100 by 90cm oil on canvas in the owners’ home, she had no doubt. Andrea reports, Gregori called the find a “marvellous addition” to the art world. The 80-year-old scholar and authenticator said seeing the original with her own eyes was a career highlight: “I think after all these years, I deserved it”.

This article rang a bell deep in long-forgotten memories of my pre-Christian interests because:

The painting refers to the legend in which Mary, living as a hermit in a cave in southern France near Aix-en-Provence after Christ’s death, was overcome seven times a day by “the delightful harmonies of the celestial choirs”.

That reference, especially about an ecstatic trance, would connect with remarks I was yet to hear on the third day, and thus start seeing a part of this ‘invisible puzzle’. But we should first consider the importance of this biblical person.

Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus alive after his burial in the garden tomb and so many, including Pope Benedict, regard her as an “Apostle to the Apostles”. She was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus brought back from the dead and was to later become Bishop of Cyprus. This family are reputed to have been of royal blood and owned estates in and around Jerusalem as well as at Magdala near the Sea of Galilee, where the younger sister Mary lived and is said to have fallen into a sinful life. Jesus is thought to have frequented one or other of their premises whilst travelling with dozens of disciples.

This blessed woman became deeply devoted to Jesus after deliverance – no wonder she later sat wrapt in His teaching instead of helping her sister. On that need Jesus remarked, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42 emphasis added).

Hence, Mary Magdalene is patron of contemplatives and Caravaggio’s painting reflects an outcome of her desire and her Master’s promise.

(Thank you to ‘Joe Catholic’ for also pointing out Mary is a model for penitent sinners. Also see this informative rebuttal of modern Catholic biblical scholarship.)

Next, I dived into my library and dug out a book bought in 1971 during my investigations into early Church history.:

THE COMING OF THE SAINTS

This book by John Taylor, first published in 1906, is replete with source references and combines history and legend to portray the earliest Christian missions into western Europe (Spain, France and Britain). It helped me – a non-believer – learn about the early church’s transmission of Jesus’ original teachings. In my story, I explained my desire to find out why churches were not doing what Jesus had done, as promised in John 14:12, as well as how much of His teaching had been lost.

The editor of this book’s 1967 reprint answers complaints about mixing written records and local legend, saying the book shows they substantiate one another and dovetail together. “Of particular interest are the references culled from churches founded by the saints who were companions of our Lord during His ministry”, maintains Gladys Taylor.

She writes her namesake gathered evidence from a pilgrimage made to the French churches, and other countries, and thus produced impressive proof of their antiquity.

From top: grotto cave of St Mary Magdalene; church of Les Saintes Maries; crypt of St Martha at Tarascon (J Taylor 1901)

One chapter summarises the Life of St Mary Magdalene complied by Rabanus Maurus (776-856 AD) – a manuscript copy of which is lodged in Magdalen College Library, Oxford. In his closing years he was Archbishop of Mayence (Mainz, Germany).

First however, I needed to re-remind myself of the book’s main thesis. Its first chapters examine the known historical events, and those behind the scenes, at the close of and after Jesus’ life. Taylor thus adds detail to scripture’s narrative and he posits a list of disciples additional to the apostles, deacons and the family of Jesus. In addition to considering the ‘home-base’ of Capernaum, he lists names of followers from the house on Mont Zion and the city of Jerusalem, and towns of Bethany, Emmaus and Jericho.

Then Taylor covers some early missionary journeys not covered in Acts of the Apostles, noting Dr Luke’s historic account does not refer to the evangelical mission in Sardinia and Spain of John’s brother James. The only reference to James after Pentecost is his death at the hands of Herod in Jerusalem in 44 AD (Acts 12:2). His remains are said to have ended up centuries later back in Santiago de Compostela. Hence, pilgrimages to his shrine, as mentioned above.

Persecution following Apostle James’ martyrdom led to the dispersal of many disciples from Jerusalem. (This was about 10 years after that led by Saul of Tarsus.) Tradition of Provence, southern France, has a number of them being bundled into a boat without oars or sails somewhere near Mount Carmel and set adrift. They’re reputed to have been Lazarus, Joseph of Aramathea, Maximin (leader of disciples after the apostles, and friend committed to the care of the Magdalene) as well as a favoured four: Martha and Mary, Mary wife of Cleopas and a third Mary (Salome) and others.

However, I was interested in checking John Taylor’s reference to the correct James at Jerusalem. Was it John’s brother, or Jesus’ brother James who later led the Jerusalem church and wrote a brief epistle. It is James’ historic ruling at the first Church council that enabled non-Jews to associate with the Church without having to comply with the Mosaic laws their Jewish brethren had before coming to Christ.

So to clarify, I wasn’t so interested in Mary Magdalene as wanting to check out what Paul wrote to the Galatian churches about his post-conversion history. I recalled mention of church leaders he met when in Jerusalem, as well as Luke’s account of those meetings (Acts 15)

Written circa 50 AD Paul’s letter is the first and therefore the oldest, canonical Christian document and earlier than the Gospels. Therein Paul tells what he did, where he went and how he learned the Gospel of Jesus by direct, personal revelation; that is, not from any original disciple or apostle:

¹³For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it….¹⁵But when it pleased God…¹⁶to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) ²¹Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God in me.

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. ²And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. (Emphases added)

SUNDAY VIDEO SESSION

The next day, Sunday, we wanted more teaching and chose to watch the Paul Keith Davis and James Levesque video discussion I’d blogged about.

In arguing for the supra-natural abilities and dimension required to bring in the harvest that meets the heart of God, “as it is defined in scripture”, Paul Keith maintains this is for those who walk with God in realms of glory and demonstrate the supra-natural. He defines and explains this relating it to Jesus’ own ability (from 27:00 on video).

Then he tells of his mis-perception of Jesus’ prayer life (at 30:35) and surmising what it had been like after a long day ministering and teaching and travelling on foot – and then go pray and spend hours in prayer…thinking,

“…what a disciplined life!” says Paul Keith.

“No, you totally misunderstood My prayer life!” the Lord said.

“He said, “My prayer life was My reward!”

“The Lord’s been showing me how, at the end of the day, after He did everything He was supposed to do, He went out into the wilderness and He was released into the Presence of the Father!

“Just think about that for a minute…after a hard day could you go pray 5 hours…? No? Think of it as this:

“James, go spend 5 hours standing before the throne of God, go spend 5 hours in the Presence of your Father – let Him download on you, let Him refresh you, restore you.

“That’s why Jesus could pray all night! He lived under an open heaven and when He went to pray – as soon as He quieted His flesh – He was standing in the Presence of His Father, standing before the throne of God, getting refreshed and learning what the Father wanted to reveal.”

An exceptionally instructional and fascinating teaching. At 41:30 he considers this was how apostle Paul spent lengthy periods with the Lord before he ever met any disciples and apostles and moved into any ministry.

Consequently, having considered that the day before I was ready for what he said!

CONCLUSION

This insight on Jesus’ prayer life is the common denominator between the discussion on video and Mary Magdalene, who spent lengthy periods immersed in God, as had Jesus.

Paul Keith’s insight doesn’t detract from but enhances the model prayer Jesus gave his disciples, as recorded in Matthew 6:5-15. And it magnifies Jesus’ personal prayer to our Father in John 17. It’s no wonder this Mary went so deep yet so high in contemplative ecstasy – will we?

(Remember to, “First seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” – Matt 6:33).

Furthermore, from apostle Paul’s explanation this kind of intimacy was the norm in the earliest years of “The Way”, as the fellowship was known before the term “Christian” was coined at Antioch. (See Acts chapters 18-24, especially vv 24:18 and 22.)

Also, Paul Keith later refers to the event on the road to Emmaus, about which and without any prior intention I’d inserted a remark just before publishing the latest blog before that weekend!

Therefore, that weekend is yet another example of ‘God-incidence’ (footnote refers).

By the way!

A couple of days later upon opening up my Bible to find where I’d got to, I found at the second turn the beginning of Luke chapter 8 staring up at me. There from the left-hand column just beside the volume’s spine I just couldn’t miss these words:

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, ²and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities — Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, ³and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

Later, upon reviewing and adjusting the draft of this piece, I decided to refer to the first name for the group of believers as followers of the way of Jesus Christ; the way of life He taught and demonstrated as “The Way, The Truth and The Life”.

Then when I’d done and re-read the draft I realised I’d gone FULL circle – starting with the movie ‘The Way’ I’d ended up by including scriptures on ‘The Way of Jesus’ !!

Furthermore, an email arrived about that time which opens as follows.:

Truth, we find, is stranger than fiction. Some things that happen to us when in relationship with Christ no writer could make up. And I am amazed continually at what our God does in my life and in this world…(continue here)

Could the Lord be getting our attention to pray the way He does?

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Footnotes:

Image: Flying puzzles by Nokhoog Buchachon, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.com

Jesus & Mary fable:

My pre-Christian activities made me well aware of stories around Le Tresor Maudit, the cursed treasure of the Knights Templars, said to have been hidden for centuries but discovered by a parish priest. He spent a fortune on re-decorating a church in Rennes-le-Chateau and building a tower, both of which were dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.

Readers may know of it through bestselling The Da Vinci Code, which is based on serious research published in 1980s as The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail. This source’s authors referred to fables about Jesus and Mary’s relationship, which I’m reliably told were then used as a deliberate advertising ploy for marketing purposes.

Consequently, that earlier book became a bestseller. The businessman who gave me The Invisible Hand (see Welcome) sold mail-order books and he told me his own copywriter had worked with HBHG authors and so he knew about its publisher’s sales slant.

Years later, I learned of another reference work by an expert on royal genealogy who claimed the fables were correct. But his analysis of scripture was unreliable, as I could demonstrate in his misquoting The Secret Gospel of Mark. Therefore, how could his claims hold water? (Details on this blog at The Magdalene Legacy – a Critique.)

God-incidence:

I refer to coincidences that are more than serendipity (happy, fortuitous chance events) as ‘God-incidences’, for they seem to have been arranged with a clear purpose in mind. We may not always know the reason but there’s a distinct thread connecting two or more events that are closely related in time: an “aha” moment

Frequently I’m amazed by those which involve scripture and occur one day after another and sometimes even 3 or 4 consecutive days, and always from different sources. I liken God-incidence to completing a jigsaw puzzle and it seems the Lord is stressing the importance or relevance of something. So they get my full attention, as happened in the above account. (See main menu for fuller exposition.)

Paul Keith Davis: Jesus’ prayer life for the ‘new season’

Posted on Wednesday, 29 October, 2014 by Richard Barker

“The Bride is making herself ready and we need to prepare the way of the Lord…”

I invite you to spend an hour watching another free webinar listening to men of God as they discuss fascinating topics. ‘Eavesdropping’, or sitting around the table with them as they chat, is an easier way of learning than hearing a sermon. ‘Steel sharpens steel’ as they share and develop their ideas – and our own understanding grows too!

After Paul Keith introduces his friend James Levesque, they open by talking about 18th Century Christian activities in New England, their relevance to God’s call upon James in his then dysfunctional life, and how the Church is to change for its ‘new season’.

One topic is the major harvest of souls Bob Jones prophesied and Paul Keith clarifies what he said, as well as expanding upon some material previously covered on this blog (see tag).

Half way through, Paul Keith shares an awesome personal insight from the Lord about what happened during His daily times with Father. It’s a profound lesson on getting into a deeper intimacy, one of the blessings of which should enable us to portray Jesus as He really is, as well as conveying His authority.

This discussion points the way for the Church to progress beyond its out-dated forms to demonstrate the supernatural gospel. In my humble opinion, these prophetic men bring insights that encourage believers in these increasingly difficult days.

Be mightily blessed as you watch and ruminate on these matters and much more…

Info: Paul Keith, WhiteDove Ministries – James Levesque, Engaging Heaven Church.

2nd update to warning about loss of ‘British values’

Posted on Monday, 27 October, 2014 by Richard Barker

Last week I updated a post referring to a Muslim scholar’s warning to defend our British values. This was to note a possible reaction to the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal of ‘Islamising’ state schools, by downgrading a school not complying with a new norm of ‘tolerance’.

I’ve now read a lot more about this skullduggery from Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education. Its quasi-autonomous role in national government enables it to report direct to Parliament and is supposedly independent and impartial. Its function is the inspection and regulation of services that care for and provide education and skills for children and young people.

Today, the influential blog on ‘God & Politics: Christianity & Conservatism’ – Archbishop Cranmer – speaks out most strongly against the increasingly fascist stance of that ‘Non-ministerial Department’.

This reminds me of the arrogant political interference in the NHS of prosecuting nurses who prayed for the sick, as mentioned here, and attempts by the Advertising Standards Authority to prohibit praying for the sick in public spaces. These were high-profile issues I often wrote against only months after launching this blog (ASA tag refers).

Back to the matter in hand – for anyone who missed it here’s the post in full.:

On Monday 13th October I referred to the scholar known under the pen-name ‘Ibn Warraq’ and related his warning to Western intellectuals, “to cherish and defend their Western values and freedom”, to that day’s House of Commons motion in support of Palestinian aspirations of statehood.

There was also another directly connected item. It was mentioned in closing, as copied below, but is now in need of updating in view of a suspiciously related development.:

“By the way, let’s not overlook Islamist infiltration in British schools, as revealed by former police counter-terror chief Peter Clarke in Trojan Horse ‘just tip of the iceberg’!“

UPDATE: “Christian group warns ‘British values’ rules imposed after ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal leading to schools with a religious ethos being marked down by inspectors for failing to promote ‘tolerance’.”

That strap-line opens John Bingham’s (Telegraph’s Religious Affairs Editor) article, Christian school downgraded for failing to invite an imam to school assembly.

I hope the only connection may be my over-active imagination – but it’s certainly ‘fishy’! Does it smell to you?

Now the latest:

UPDATE 2

OFSTED go on the offensive against faith schools by Gillan Scott (deputy editor, Archbishop Cranmer blog) plus latest of 3 items this weekend from Adrian Warnock, Has UK government breached Human Rights Act in recent school regulations?

The latter makes a most crucial point about freedom in quoting the opinion of Queen’s Counsellor John Bowers:

In terms very reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, Bowers argues these regulations have as their goal “how children are to think and express themselves and how teachers should encourage them to do so.”

This is the root of why inspectors have been asking children questions about their own personal beliefs as a way of catching out schools. Schools should not be judged on what a random selection of their children privately think and believe. It seems outward demonstrations of love and respect towards others we disagree with is no longer enough. Children, and their teachers must toe the line and believe whatever the government tells us we should believe. There is nothing tolerant about that.

Be sure to read Adrian’s post in full, as well as UK Independent Christian school releases details of government closure threat posted on Saturday and this from Friday, Is UK government body harassing Jewish and Christian schools?

Hence, the great danger of Britain being steered into becoming a fascist state!

In his conclusion, teacher Gillan hits the nail right on the head:

This is not setting out the promotion of British values at all: it is bloody-minded, religiously-illiterate and insensitive bureaucrats forcing their ideas of how religion should bend to the will of an intolerant form of equality upon schools, the vast majority of which do an outstanding job of teaching their pupils to respect all people irrespective of race or beliefs. (Emphasis RB)

This news sheds light on the deep woes Ofsted caused a friend who was a diligent and highly respected governor of an excellent local Co’E primary school in Berkshire.

If Palestine becomes a state, will Christians return to Bethlehem? Part 1

Posted on Thursday, 23 October, 2014 by Richard Barker

“In 1992 Bethlehem was 92% Christian, now it is only 8% Christian.” (Mordechai Ben-Menachem 14 October 2014)

That surprising claim led to the header’s question. I’d put the lid down on blogging about the possibility of Palestinian statehood, but both new points need addressing after they cropped up over the weekend.

And another’s important: what’s the proper Christian perspective? This will cover some essential theology which, with my earlier post on the 1967 war, could give my readers, believer or not, some fresh insights.

The Church of the Nativity at Manger Square, the oldest standing church in the Holy Land ; courtesy Obethlehem.com

Bethlehem is, after all, the birth-place of Jesus Christ. His yet-again dispersed followers would need a special reason to take the immense trouble of returning home. Perhaps after a period of complete cessation of hostilities? That would need miraculous changes in human nature – not impossible – plus dismantling of extensive demonic strongholds.

Personal visitations of Jesus to individual Jews and Muslims continue and many more are becoming secret believers since this email of November 2010 about them, for God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh in these latter days.

My answer to my question is, “No, I think not; not until Jesus returns!” – as He himself promised He will do. But as He’s already putting in private supra-natural appearances then one could suggest that, after a fashion, He’s already ‘returning’ (eg. the Emmaus road encounter of Jesus in ‘another form’ – Mark 16.12 and Luke 24:13-35).

I offer no apology for temporarily continuing with the Palestinian issue because it’s closely connected with ‘the apple’ of the Lord’s eye – Jerusalem – as revealed in His Word (see Zecharia 2:8) Also, major events over recent years point inescapably and unequivocally to prophetical scriptures foretelling what’s happening, or soon about to, in this ancient city sacred to three major faiths.

The Christian exodus

The opening quotation is from an in-depth interview with William Koenig, accredited Christian journalist at The White House and published in last week’s ‘Eye-View’ report.

As a scientist technologist, former researcher/lecturer at Ben-Gurion University who is professionally engaged in systems/software engineering, and prolific author of books and professional papers in various areas, Mordechai should be a well-informed person. His reference to Bethlehem was only one point in a wide-ranging conversation covering such topics as 1,400 years of Arab colonisation, ethnicity, Egypt, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Islam.

Nevertheless, his claim needs checking.

Wikipedia refers to 1948 and 1967 censuses showing Christian/Muslim demographic ratios as 85%:13% and dropping to 46%:54%. The Palestinian Authority’s 1997 census doesn’t distinguish between the religions but in 2005 and 2009 the Christian percentage falls to 40% and then 15% (sources uncited).

Referring also to Daniel Pipes’ wealth of knowledge, I found he started a report in 2001 with a specific reference to Bethlehem, viz:

“The ‘Middle East Quarterly’ begins its eighth year with its first issue devoted to a single topic—that of disappearing Christians in the Middle East.

“The transfer of power of Bethlehem from Israel to the Palestinian Authority just before Christmas 1995 inspired a spate of articles on Bethlehem’s diminishing Christian presence. They noted that a place not long ago 80 percent Christian is now but one-third Christian. For the first time in nearly two millennia, the most identifiably Christian town on earth has lost its Christian majority. The same changes have taken place in two other famously Christian towns, Nazareth and Jerusalem….”

His article has several updates to 2012, but perhaps the increasingly frequent news of persecution has made it difficult to incorporate subsequent events. Some posts on this blog tagged ‘persecution’ indicate the enormity of this issue.

On the other hand, last month in Christian Arab presence in Bethlehem in Crisis, Arab Daily News reported as follows:

“Today, according to Christian activists who are struggling to survive in Bethlehem, the Christian population there has been eclipsed by a growth of both Muslim refugees who are relocating to avoid the persecution by Israel in Hebron and by the increasing number of Israeli Jews who are taking Christian lands to build exclusively jewish-only settlements.”

After remarking about the hostility of Muslim Arabs and their activists and then quoting a Christian activist’s email, the reporter Ray Hanania writes,

“As both Israeli and Muslim activist groups grow, the Christian voice has remained stagnant and almost insignificant. Christian speakers are invited to speak at Muslim and Jewish organization events more as a political statement. Jews invite Christians to their conferences in order to use the Christians as a criticism against Islam while Muslims also invite Christians to their conferences in order to use the Christians as a criticism against Israel and Zionism.”

Ray’s well-balanced article is worth taking the time to read. He examines the issues in some depth, noting that the Christians are manipulated and muted by both Islamist and Jewish factions against their opponents. Also, the troubles and their significant effect upon tourism have made it very hard to sustain a living.

Consequently, he admires the campaign by George Sleibi to encourage support for the Christian community in the Holy Land, “in response to the growing regional Israeli-Palestinian conflict and decline of the Christian minority”. He is affiliated with a group of denominations’ informative website OBethlehem.com, which covers the challenges facing Christians. Ray quotes him as saying,

“The Christian presence in the Holy Land is declining daily. Currently, the Holy Land’s Christians comprise only 2% of the population. The continued emigration of Christians as a result of ongoing instability is having a negative impact on their presence in the land where Jesus was born, crucified and resurrected. Should this trend continue, an important spiritual destination, shared by billions throughout the world, will become nothing more than a museum, as the indigenous Christian community who represent the Christian presence in the Holy Land cease to exist.”

Alarming, yet in the light of a just-published study we appreciate the possibility of Ray being cautiously circumspect (see Study: self-censorship rife among Palestinian reporters).

Here’s one instance of the effect the Israeli-Palestinian troubles had upon the birth-place of Jesus Christ.

Bethlehem hostage crisis

Canon Andrew White was called by Yasser Arafat, and later by the Israeli government, to act as intermediary for the 39-day siege of The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, during April-May 2002. It was the result of homes in the predominantly Christian town of Beit Jala having been forcibly taken by Palestinians for firing rockets and mortars the short distance down and across a valley into the Jewish new town of Gilo.

“As expected”, writes Canon White, “The Israelis responded by sending in helicopters to destroy the homes (the militants’ positions) from which the missiles were fired. Once again Christians were caught in the middle“ (emphasis RB).

The militants then retreated to Manger Square, took control of the Church of the Nativity and took hostage of clergy and worshippers. PM Ariel Sharon and Arafat refused to climb down and international diplomacy was brought to bear in finding countries which would accept 13 leaders into permanent exile and 26 others for trial. (As they went to Gaza no trial was held.)

Again in that November 2010, I referred to this event and quoted Canon Andrew on the difficulties in the three faiths agreeing on the historic Alexandria Declaration, as coming from

“…the Christians who often feel they have to be even more Palestinian than the Muslims, to show they are committed to the cause.”

This declaration was one of the first initiatives to bring together Christians, Jews and Muslims in pursuit of peace in the region and the first major event of 2002 in which Andrew took a leading and pivotal role.

Andrew had no wish to be ordained because he’d qualified and was practising as an anaesthetist, yet felt God was calling him into the Church of England – and it was later confirmed by a prophetic word, as below!

He became very interested in Judaism and rabbinical studies during his theological education. This gave him the opportunity to take further his interest in international affairs, especially in the Middle-East. So he travelled around those parts and became acquainted with various leaders, as well as in Cambridge.

Although ordination in 1990 involved London parish work, his involvement in Jewish-Christian relations continued along with a new interest in Islam. To the surprise of his vicar, Andrew even had regular audiences with the Pope to brief him on his work and contacts in the political and diplomatic areas soon developed.

An aside: I was going to describe Andrew White as Archbishop of Canterbury Carey’s emissary in the Middle-East. But upon checking his biographical The Vicar of Baghdad, I was surprised to find a mutual connection with one of our church leader’s mentors.:

“On a second visit to Jerusalem, between graduation from Cambridge and my ordination, I was instructed by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi to go and see a woman known as Sister Ruth Heflin, who ran a very charismatic and rather American church called the Mount Zion fellowship. She proved to be the most forceful person I have ever met. Indeed I was scared of her. At the end of the first meeting I attended, at her house in East Jerusalem, she came up to me and started to prophesy over me.

“She had never met me before and knew nothing about me, but she declared that my calling in life was, “to seek the peace of Jerusalem and the Middle East”.

“At that stage, I couldn’t make any sense of this (and I certainly had no idea that ‘the Middle East’ might include Iraq) but what I did understand was that her home was filled with the glory of God as I had never experienced before.” (As our local sister can verify!)

To be continued in Part 2 with interesting references to several Palestinian Christians.

The real reason for the Israel-Palestine issue and anti-Semitism

Posted on Thursday, 16 October, 2014 by Richard Barker

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. (Zecharia 14:3-4 NKJV)

Only 12 MPs were wise enough to vote in the House of Commons against an opposing 274 (not a full House). As recorded in the Hansard transcript, they voted just before 10pm on 13th October 2014,

“That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution”.

That’s fine and all well and good on the face of it BUT it’s utterly farcical. As with many thousands elsewhere, these 274 have been well and truly fooled.

The factual evidence follows below.

This blog’s totally unplanned focus this week is on what’s, in essence, a critical issue.

Few in my opinion know why it’s critical, or the real reason for the prolonged hostility over Israel’s existence and complete lack of a solution to the territorial disputes.

The real reason is; it’s Satan’s objective to thwart God’s purpose, as stated in His above Word given to Zecharia 2,500 years ago. That is, Satan seeks his own self-preservation!

In Zecharia’s prophecy the Lord is to appear in that Middle-Eastern location and thereby bring about the next phase of Satan’s downfall. (The first was when Jesus died and rose from the dead, thereby redeeming humanity from Satan’s authority and thus enabling us to be reconciled to God, our Father.)

The foretold scenario is ‘The Day of The Lord’; the start of which is described in the 12th chapter of the book of Zecharia, as mentioned in Exactly as prophesied….

The Lord foretells in verse 10,

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

In A Rabbi Looks at the Last Days, Messianic rabbi Jonathan Bernis explains how the feast of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) relates to Jesus’ return and then exclaims,

The clarity of this prophecy is astounding! It declares in detail the day when Jewish people, and specifically the inhabitants of a Jerusalem under Jewish control, recognise that Jesus, whom they previously understood to be the God of the Christians and whom they denied since the days of their ancestors two thousand years ago, is in fact Yeshua, the promised Messiah of Israel. (Page 215)

That is, the Jewish people will have to have returned to live in as well as have control of Jerusalem and thus be in place for Jesus to visit. Chapter 14 answers any question that this event may be just a supra-natural, spiritual or subjective vision by referring explicitly to an objective, tangible presence. That is, Jesus will have physically descended onto the Mount of Olives.

To avoid this happening Satan must therefore ensure there are no Jews in Jerusalem, or its vicinity. In the absence of Jews, Jesus’ return would be pointless and thus not happen. So Satan could possibly avoid his decreed fate, remain ‘safe and sound’ on earth and not imprisoned to be eventually thrown into the ‘lake of fire’. As Jonathan states,

I cannot reiterate enough that anti-Semitism is nothing more or less than Satan’s attempt at self-preservation.

So, Satan is the source of all Jew-hatred, whether it comes from any biblical or modern nation; or from historic Christian churches, as it has for centuries; or from ancient Islam and its modern terrorists. All have been duped and used by the enemy of mankind.

To show the validity of my thesis we need only to look at the history of anti-Semitism and global hatred of the modern state of Israel; especially the disingenuous tactics of the Palestinian leadership, as indicated in Nick Gray and Joel Rosenberg’s reports here and here. But there’s even more tangible evidence for my claim.:

Map of Palestine

Three years ago, in blogging on PM Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly, I referred to Palestinian leader Abbas’ visit to the UN seeking recognition of Palestine as an observer state to the UN. That post shows the model of the land of Palestine Abbas brought to them. I wrote,

When the PLO were permitted to open up diplomatic missions the map displayed on their flags and literature depicts their proposed state as being the whole territory between the Mediterranean, Lebanon, Egypt and the river Jordan – ie. excluding Israel… (emphasis added)

Now they have official Observer Mission status, its website’s ‘About Palestine’ displays a Declaration of Independence which claims Jerusalem as their capital. Deeper down that menu is the ‘PLO’ entry which shows the map of Palestine and Israel as Palestinian territory.

A few days ago I cited Michel Gurfinkiel’s statement that the Oslo Accords and ‘Road Map’ of 2003 explicitly requested the Palestinian Authority to direct its public education towards a pro-peace attitude. Abbas has never complied with that requirement.

Here’s the latest evidence that Palestinians have not – and will never – change what they teach about their supposed state:

Thank you to Palestine Media Watch for publishing this item from Fatah Facebook that shows children learning “Palestine cannot be divided”. It heads a page of documented examples, PA depicts a world without Israel, and explains this one as follows:

‘The text was accompanied by a photo of a teacher pointing to a map of “Palestine” replacing all of Israel drawn on the blackboard, with the explanatory text rejecting Israeli jurisdiction over Israeli cities: “Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Ramle, Safed, Beit Shean, were and will remain Palestinian cities”.’

So how can any two-state solution ever be negotiated? Parliament’s motion, therefore, is rendered meaningless and needs flushing down the pan, where it belongs!

France

On Tuesday French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was reported as saying that Paris would recognize a Palestinian state if negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel fail. However, French MP Meir Habib responded by stating France is making a grave mistake,

“Europe and France specifically refuse to recognize the reality and think that if they recognize a Palestinian state, the conflict will end. When will they wake up? The free world must unite and realize that recognizing a Palestinian state without negotiations at this time is a grave mistake that will be costly for Europe”.

Israel

A priest has appealed to the UN and told them to ‘end the witch hunt’ against Israel, as reported by religio-political blogger Archbishop Cranmer,

‘Father Gabriel Naddaf, a Greek Orthodox Priest in Yafia, near Nazareth, appealed to the UN Human Rights Council last month, urging them to end their “witch hunt” on Israel: “In the Middle East today, there is one country where Christianity is not only not persecuted, but affectionately granted freedom of expression, freedom of worship and security,” he testified. “It is Israel, the Jewish state. Israel is the only place where Christians in the Middle East are safe.”

‘And he testified further, confirming that some 120,000 Christians have been killed in the Middle East every year for the past decade: “That means that every five minutes a Christian is killed because of his faith,” he said. “Those who can escape persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists have fled. Those who remain, exist as second – if not third-class citizens to their Muslim rulers.” And he warned: “It is time the world woke up to the fact that those who want to destroy the Jewish state are signing the death warrant on the last free Christians in the Holy Land”. (Emphasis added)

Anti-Semitism in Church

Hold onto your seat here. I’ll be brief and assume you are aware of the Church’s stance against Jewry, especially since the time of Constantine and the Council of Nicea in 4th Century. This was soon followed by the false doctrine of Replacement Theology which originated in Augustine’s seminal work ‘City of God’. This doctrine assumes the Church has replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people and that He’s turned His back on them. This teaching opened the door for over 1,500 years of harsh persecution from so-called Christians.

Proper recognition of the Jews special relationship with God came from Puritans and Non-conformists of Cromwell’s time in 17th Century. They recognised the importance of the Jews returning to their home land and eventual acceptance of Jesus as Messiah, as foretold in Zecharia.

Today, however, anti-Semitism is continued by the World Council of Churches. It also has a key role in mobilizing the BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) movement in churches. The WCC promotes and works closely with Palestinian Liberation Theology, and it founded the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).

William Koenig’s Eye View From The White House dated 20 June 2016 gives a wealth of detail on this deeply disturbing anti-Semitism within so-called churches:

“By claiming that the Jewish people “occupied” Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem the global Christian organizations have sided with the Islamic worldview”.

Of many indictments, he cites:

EAPPI frequently uses inflammatory and demonizing rhetoric against Israel and engages in (BDS) campaigns. It presents a one-sided Palestinian narrative, promotes the “right of return,” ignores terror attacks against Israelis, and blames Israel entirely for the conflict.
EAPPI is an important resource for pro-Palestinian activists in various denominations worldwide as “sending organizations (several US/UK examples!!)
A number of European governments, plus the US and Canada, provide funds for these church-based efforts to delegitimize Israel. These tax-payer funds are disbursed as grants to church-based humanitarian NGOs, which then transfer these funds to highly politicized pro-Palestinian NGOs — including Christian groups that promote BDS, the one-state solution and, in many cases, anti-Semitic supercessionist, or replacement, theologies within mainline churches worldwide.
The WCC, an ecumenical body, which claims to represent 590 million Christians worldwide and based in Switzerland, sponsored an event supporting the partition and Islamization of Jerusalem. The “World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel” [began] 22 Sept 2013. (See EXPOSE: Christian Fatwa Against Israel).

Thank the Lord that His shaking and sifting of churches will deal with this falsehood.

[Awaken Your Might – credit; James Nesbit www.jamesnart.com]

Exactly as prophesied: nations set on collision course with God

Posted on Tuesday, 14 October, 2014 by Richard Barker

After yesterday’s vote in Parliament recognising Palestine, as in The Independent, it’s time to recall the Lord’s opinion about the heart of that land. Then we’ll consider a news round-up indicative of our whereabouts on His prophetic timetable.

First, here’s what the prophet Zecharia was told about the future ‘Day of the Lord’ – ie. a specific period in which the Lord deals with humanity’s rejection of and rebellion against Him, and its focal locality in and around Jerusalem:

Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. In that day”, says the LORD, “I shall strike…

“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” (Zecharia 12:1-3, 12, NKJV courtesy Blue Letter Bible)

Let me quote examples of relevant current events so we can check this out.

First, the header to Bill Koenig’s World Watch Daily this morning:

The nations of the world are on a collision course with the God of Israel.

Bill’s website provides the following subheads with brief covering comments, followed by some on the conflict with ISIS:

Koenig’s fellow watcher and past co-author, John McTernan, reports on these Biblical issues and unequivocally states his opinion in yesterday’s posting. Under the header The Battle for Jerusalem Has Begun, he quotes Zechariah 14:2 “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle…” and comments:

“The world is now gearing up to force a Palestinian state upon Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. November 16, 2016, is the target date set for this.

“Based on this, there is NO doubt, in my mind, that awesome wars are upon us, and God is about to unleash incredible judgments upon the earth. Look how this threat to Israel is taking place at the exact time Ebola is loose amongst the nations! (Emphasis RB)

“The judgments will match the pressure and attack on Israel. This is not off in the future it is here NOW. The time to judge the nations is about to begin.”

John covers the latest material under As the Nations Have Done to Israel and refers to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call to scrap settlements, plus his claim that the ‘occupation’ of territories led to the recent Gaza war!

He also blogs As the EU Has Done to Israel stating,

“The European Union is aggressive against Israel as Jew hating seems to be in most of the Europeans’ DNA. They are now following the path of the Nazis in the 1930s while this time it is the Hard Left united with the Muslims.

“Europe right now is on the verge of an economic meltdown at the very time the EU is trying to economically destroy Israel.” (Emphasis RB)

To back-up his claims John cites:

Readers keeping abreast of these matters will recall I often quote Elliott Abrams’ take on the Middle-East. He’d supervised US policy there under the Bush administration and served as the president’s deputy advisor on the region.

Elliott’s latest blog, A word from Mr Erekat, ably demonstrates that the top Palestinian negotiator with Israel, Saeb Ereket, cannot get his facts straight – not the first time his integrity has been called into question.

The Independent’s report upon yesterday’s parliamentary vote is well-balanced and covers some important points, but the completely clueless naivety of UK politicians is mind-boggling. It is utter folly!

Sweden

There again, as Michel Gurfinkiel taunts in an article on Sweden’s vote, maybe it’s, “far-fetched to expect most political leaders to be thoroughly knowledgeable of the issues… of international affairs; or to expect them to be particularly rational and ethical”.

Michel is founder and president of a French think-tank, the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, and his paper came to my attention through the same source as yesterday’s post on Phyllis Chesler’s interview with Ibn Waaraq – Middle-East Forum.

He makes valid points about the nature of this ‘state’ that all parliamentarians should have born in mind (emphases added):

To be recognized, a state needs a clearly defined population, a clearly defined territory, and an effective government that can maintain law and order. None of the above is true of “Palestine,” whatever the current meaning of that word.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) — an autonomous authority established in 1994 according to a Declaration of Principles between the state of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (the Oslo Accords), and the closest thing to a “state of Palestine” – does not effectively rule the West Bank and Gaza, the two distinct territories that pass as “Palestinian territory.” As an effective government, the PA should be able to maintain law and order there. Everybody knows this is not the case in Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas and Islamic Jihad since 2007. Yet this is hardly the case in the West Bank, either.
One must ask how the two-state solution can work if one of the considered states – the Palestinian state-to-be — is openly opposed to it. Hamas and Islamic Jihad clearly say they will never recognize Israel. The nominal PA government and Fatah say they will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state – implying their strategy is to turn Israel into a bi-national state.
Abbas’ PA has never directed education towards a pro-peace attitude. The PA was explicitly requested to do so by the Oslo Accords and the subsequent road map to peace in 2003.

His short paper also looks at the pivotal effects of an increasing Muslim population in Sweden and he concludes,

“Doubtlessly, similar situations will arise in more EU countries, including major countries like France, bringing about further confusion and further political and geopolitical nonsense.”

The United States

The once world-leading nation has sown its own undoing through the anti-Israel stance of its president Barack Obama. With her adroit analysis Caroline Glick surgically dissects Netanyahu’s statements and policies. After extracting and revealing Obama’s game-plan with Iran as inimical to Israel’s best interests, she looks at Secretary-of-State John Kerry’s continuing treachery.

Machiavellian Kerry, as ever dangerously incompetent, ignores and seeks to scuttle the new Middle-Eastern alliance of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other anti-jihadist Sunni states established to protect themselves. Deaf to what Netanyahu repeatedly stressed at the UN General Assembly (as here), according to ‘ne-plus ultra’ analyst Caroline,

“…by bringing Qatar, Hamas’s principal Sunni state-sponsor, into the mix. Kerry is reportedly trying to organize a regional peace conference that would coerce Israel into accepting the so-called Saudi Peace Initiative from 2002. That initiative would require Israel to surrender to all the PLO’s territorial demands and accept millions of foreign, hostile Arabs into its shrunken, indefensible territory.

“In light of Obama’s absolute commitment to the anti-Israel, PLO-centric policy model for dealing with the Palestinian rejection of Israel, for the next two years there will be no change in US policy on the issue.”

Readers who are particularly interested in the finer nuances of the Israel-Palestinian issues will find her article is well worth reading.

It will be interesting to see how USA’s plans for the ‘peace process’ will unravel – even so far as the US falling away and being excluded as its authority and power vanishes – for I believe the Lord will bless and encourage the new regional alliance as a means not only of protection from ISIS, but also of peacefully resolving the Palestinian situation.

These events get even more interesting in the light of scripture and the urgency of the words given to Neville Johnson about changes for this new Jewish year over 2014 to 2015 (see point 7 here).

Indubitably, we’re living in Biblical days as they accelerate to fulfil holy prophecy.

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Category Archives: Christianity

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A most blessed Christmas to every living soul

Prophecies about the birth of Jesus Christ

Holy lightning beyond ‘The Pond’ strikes in the UK!

Prince Charles – defender of persecuted Christians

Fulfilled prophecy #2 – diversity and Islam in the UK

Further Reading:

Fulfilled prophecy #1 – Jean Darnall visions for UK

Arabs and Jews unite to agree only solution to conflict is Jesus Christ

Who or what is the Spirit of Wisdom?

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Revelation of God’s Prophetic Timetable

46,000 churches called to “extraordinary prayer” for Great Awakening

Does a spiritual yet political trend link USA to Britain?

What have Paul Keith’s video and Mary Magdalene got in common?

Footnotes:

Jesus & Mary fable:

God-incidence:

Paul Keith Davis: Jesus’ prayer life for the ‘new season’

2nd update to warning about loss of ‘British values’

If Palestine becomes a state, will Christians return to Bethlehem? Part 1

The real reason for the Israel-Palestine issue and anti-Semitism

Exactly as prophesied: nations set on collision course with God

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