Sanctuary: our status and stature in God

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Today’s devotional reading in Sanctuary: Moments in His Presence by David Strutt, eloquently brings back to life a special revelatory moment in my early years as a believer; after the events told in my testimony.

I was left in awe upon meeting ‘Abba’ at an evening meeting of worship and prayer for healing held by a charismatic, inter-denominational group in the mid-Thames valley region.

I’d had the strong visual and emotional impression of having been lifted up, put upon Father’s knee and seeing His grinning in delight at me.

So in connection with my testimony and that event, David writes for today about one of the greatest changes that God brings to believers: that of ‘Sonship’ and, thus, being heirs with Christ – plus linkage between His Spirit and ours.

Also, we are no longer orphans but legally and spiritually adopted into His family. Each of us may need a complete change in understanding the fullness of Who Father Is. Do read David’s thoughts on this important matter of our true identity:

Bible’s Author brings me ex-New Agers’ testimonies

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The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. [St Paul’s letter to the Colossians 1:13-14, Amplified Bible.]

(6 of 7) In addition to checking out Christians’ claims of hearing God direct and getting astounding personal evidence for that, I wanted to know lots more not only about Him, but also (to follow-up the revelatory scriptures in part 5) about false teachers and their falsehoods.

In my great wariness of religious folk I’d assumed none would be able to comprehend my story because they’d be ignorant about those things. Doubtless, none would have been through my kind of bad, meditative ‘trips’ – or so I thought!

But direct help was again at hand from the Bible’s Author…Yet first, there’s one little-suspected aspect of His character that amazingly revealed a very personal thought and thus confirmed He knows all about me. Here’s what had happened many years earlier.:

‘FIRST CONTACT’

The mundane event of a dinner party in mid-1980s played an unsuspected, pivotal part in my journey into freedom. It was held by young parents, the father being in training as an Anglican curate, and it included his vicar and a couple from Cheam Baptist Church in Surrey. We got around to chatting about our philosophies of life but those folk were like ‘aliens’ as compared with my highly ‘enlightened’ viewpoint!

I was surprised the vicar was open-minded and seemed to agree with New Age claims that all religions lead to God; like spokes of a wheel are connected to a hub.

The Baptist couple, however, would have absolutely none of that and strongly disputed my views. I was quietly outraged – what closed minds, so ignorant!

I recall thinking, “Baptists are such Biblical bigots – I’ll never touch them with a barge pole!”  However, I never expected this was all borrowed!  This vow would come to be used against me…twice!  That is, I was yet to discover the Lord God has a sense of humour!

Soon after the dinner, the curate invited me to a public meeting with a guest speaker, John Richards. It was a memorable occasion for three reasons; first, his name is mine in reverse order – secondly, for his gently confronting me upon noticing a small pin on my jacket’s lapel displaying a cross within a star of David. He asked, “What does your family say about that?” I retorted “Nothing! What’s it got to do with them?” After all, my family was aware of my search for lost wisdom. But John was referring to a church ‘family’ – which didn’t apply because I wasn’t a churchgoer!

Therefore, I had nothing further to discuss with this speaker and listened warily to his accounts of investigating witchcraft and satanism as secretary to the bishop of Exeter’s study of exorcism, later as advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury.  It was all irrelevant in view of my disliking the ‘black stuff’ (including freemasonry) – but who was I kidding? Only myself!

So for many years I gave no more thought to that meeting…BUT the fact it did play a significant part in my long journey has been confirmed by John Richards’ name popping up 47 months after first publication of this post – and ’47 is my birth year!. In September 2017 at conference on healing in Guildford I attended a session by the bishop’s advisor on deliverance. He started by sharing his personal testimony and how it involved his spiritual director, John Richards!

Now, let’s return to events soon after that dream encounter with Jesus…

THE JOKE’S ON ME

Wondering about the sort of church that organised the trip to see Billy Graham, I met with little help from Peter. Yet I wasn’t really bothered because they should all be part of the Lord’s body without making any distinction, in my opinion. I didn’t appreciate Peter’s was undergoing internal upheaval because the leaders wanted to learn more about the Holy Spirit, whereas many were wary of anything other than the straight scriptures. The church had been planted by Reading Baptist Church and was known as Tilehurst Free Church (Baptist), the leaders of which planted house groups west of Reading.

Some time after I joined TFC, one of them outraged me by saying “God has a sense of humour!” – that was against my straight-laced Catholic upbringing!!  Years later I realised the truth of that quip, and that I’d forgotten my vow against Baptists but the Lord hadn’t! Therefore, He’d put me in a Baptist church to learn the Truth about Him and get a solid grounding in His Word – as the saying goes: ‘He Who laughs last, laughs longest!’

SUBMISSION AND FIRE

Whenever I went into a local Christian bookshop my long-standing sensitivity to serendipity would kick in! That is, a book would jump off the self at me! The Lord was directing me to biographies of Christians who’d previously been tied into New Age activities – just like me. They’d been rescued from terrifying situations by calling upon Jesus’ name. So, their true stories brought home what had really happened in that stunning dream. As mentioned, St Paul’s insight on satan’s ability, and that of its followers, to masquerade as an angel of light and as servants of righteousness (2 Cor 11:14), confirmed the reality of my dread encounter with devouring darkness.  I’m so deeply grateful to the real living God for saving me.

Having been deceived and beguiled, scales were now starting to fall from my eyes – an awesome awakening and a homecoming!

Outline of Tal’s book (click to enlarge)

Riders of the Cosmic Circuit (1986) by Tal Brooke was one of those influential books. The son of American diplomats and a pioneer in meditation with crystals, Tal held a privileged position in the inner circle of the revered Indian guru Sai Baba, of whom he later wrote, “I had discovered an absolutely satanic thing operating behind Baba’s veneer”.

Tal’s own encounter with the darkness behind the ecstatic light and consciousness known as the state of ‘nirvana’, validated my psychic dream experience.

The very first of these autobiographies, however, was by someone who’d also been in the brotherhood I’d been initiated into.

Whilst reading the concluding chapters of Roy Livesey’s account over the lunchtime of 29 March 1990, I prayed the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and gave my life to Lord Jesus as my personal saviour. Driving home later, however, the spiritual enemy tried to get me into a couple of road accidents. And upon arriving home I found it had attempted to burn down my new, wooden-framed house. Thank you Lord for protection through both events – the fire had been put out by throwing water onto flaming fat in an electric oven!!

Jesus tells all who believe in Him what will happen as a result of following His teaching, as noted here and here by John, one of His first and closest disciples,.:

“If you hold fast to and live by My words you are truly my disciples. And you shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free (for) I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one can come to the Father except through Me”.

NOT YET FULLY FREE

From those who’d trodden the very same path as me, I learned the great importance of being completely cut off from my ‘old life’. This meant getting rid of books and objects associated with it, but I’d been slow to so do. Although I’d turned away from that past, yet an unseen bond seemed to remain.

The fact of that subtle influence needed dealing with because I wanted what’s promised in the Word inspired by Father God, the Author of the Holy Bible:

So if the Son liberates you, then you are really and unquestionably free.  [John 8:36 Amplified Bible]

Next, learn how I gained my freedom at long last from satan – my chains fell off!!

Other Informative Books – Douglas Groothuis

Continued in part 7 >

[First published as in October 2013 as part 6 (Rescued From Satan By The Lord of Hosts) of my ‘Journey Into Freedom’. Bible quotations courtesy BibleGateway.com]

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 5  – for Appendix.

Bible’s Author opens it to answer my ‘newbie’ questions

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(5 of 7) Awesome as my ‘rescue’ was, the dream-vision recounted in part 4 didn’t make me want to rush off to church. That visitation’s effect and the ramifications upon my way of life needed careful consideration. For example, I needed to check out New Age claims of the Bible having been compiled and modified by Church councils in the 4th Century after Christ, as well as learn about its history from authoritative sources. [Prof F.F. Bruce’s The Books and The Parchments (1991) was very helpful, especially about the late 2nd Century ‘Muratorian Fragment’ drawn up in the church at Rome. It lists practically all the canonical New Testament literature.]

So not only did I need to assess those implications, but also as possibly a new believer in Jesus Christ I wanted to find well-informed believers who took Him seriously. I soon did so but needed to put their claims of hearing direct from God to the test. After all, they believe we have a relationship with Him and so we have but to ask…

CULTURE SHOCK

A few months before the dream-visitation, I’d learned some members of the church that had invited me to hear Billy Graham met in the school next door to my house! Later, I heard they’d given young Peter prayer-backing for his discussions with me (as in part 3). That is, they’d targeted me!  And God answered their prayers by giving me that ‘dream’.

The first service I attended there in that familiar, small school hall was a culture shock!

Standing before a young man devoid of dog-collar but wearing an acoustic guitar led the meeting in song and spoke without any script or ritual whatsoever – even engaging the congregation in discussion!  Some attendees testified to angelic protection in their lives: I’d thought this subject was lost to churchgoers. Starting the ‘sermon’, he said he’s going to look at the shortest gospel, that of Mark, and would continue in the next weeks. In saying, “It’s action packed and full of urgency” he intrigued me, and this fitted in with my intention of checking out the Bible.

Therefore, I thought it might prove useful to come again. At the next session one thing he taught stuck in my mind: “In Mark, who was the first to recognise who Jesus really is?”  Answer: an unclean spirit (see Mark 1:24). I was thus reminded of that dream’s events – and of the exceptionally unsettling, very vivid one years earlier of a devouring monster of darkness (as in ‘Reality Revealed’ in part 2).

[I was reminded of that scripture at a school of healing in 2017, when the teacher asked why would Jesus silence a demonic testimony of His identity? The answer: coming from an unclean tainted source, even truth itself gets contaminated!  Also, I know that’s been satan’s modus operandi since the Garden of Eden – the father of lies and half-truths. Moreover, this fact points out that being’s pretext for rebellion, and raises questions about the religiously sanctioned practice of ‘taqiya’, as in Islam.]

MOVING TOWARDS FREEDOM

During 1990, therefore, I came into a good place to build upon that dream encounter by learning about the Bible and, more importantly, by listening to God through His written word and to come into a close relationship with Him. As stated above, it was opportunity to test claims about discussing the Bible’s content with its Author without any priest as ‘intermediary’.

The first of many times this happened brought incredibly clear – and shocking! – proof that God really does speak from the Bible, as claimed by many believers in Jesus.

My 1st Question of God

It was important to review my uncharitable views about the clergy. You may understand  how difficult it was for me to contemplate attending church, let alone with regularity – not to mention being under the oversight of clergy.  I wrongly suspected they couldn’t comprehend the dark situation I’d come from.

And so I put preachers’ claims about the Word of God to the test and asked if God could  show me from His book His opinion of clergy and about my attending this church…

My Bible fell open at Hebrews 13:17, giving this most apposite answer and instruction:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Emphases mine.)

That well and truly put me in my place and enabled me to make my mind up. Thank you Lord for answering and correcting me!

My 2nd Question of God

Later that year I reviewed the occult teaching about Jesus in that brotherhood’s books on His ‘mystical life’ and ‘secret doctrines’. They’d attracted me at 20 years of age, and there were various claims in a massive mound of monographs, as well as teachings of its sister brotherhood based on the dogmatic Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric belief system based upon Creation;  eg. the ‘Sepher Yetzirah’).

Initiates of one of that Gnostic initiatory group’s highest degrees were styled as ‘veiled prophets’ on the spurious grounds of using 2 Peter 1:19.  Yet the Bible was very rarely discussed throughout my membership. Moreover, not only did this sole reference not quote the subsequent qualifying verse 20 (about the origin of all prophecy being in God’s Holy Spirit) but their practicum also failed to enable such initiates to prophesy! Hardly surprising…YET…

I asked God for His guidance through scripture on my membership and opened my new, pocket-sized Bible.  I’ve never been able to repeat what happened next – it immediately fell open at the very same second chapter of Apostle Peter’s second letter.  Its first ten verses stood out with startling clarity (the rest were hazily out-of-focus) – they warn about false teachers who:

‘…secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying our sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful way and bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with the stories they have made up. Their condemnation has been long hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell…to be held for judgement…then the Lord knows how to…hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while continuing their punishment. ‘ (2 Peter 2:1-9 NIV)

The emphases hit ‘bull’s eye’, and the subsequent verses explain that assessment and what happens to such teachers as ‘springs without water and mists driven by storm’. This answer to my question was startlingly exact!  It  was jaw-dropping and eye-popping, as well as being a chilling condemnation of the teachers I’d known – absolutely awesome!

The Holy Author of the Bible had used it to answer my own personal question (Paul’s letter may be read in full here).

Specifically, that occultic group claimed its information had come from the Essenes and early Christians. Members of that Qumran community by the Dead Sea and across Judea were supposed to have assisted at Jesus’ birth and crucifixion, and as a Roman warrant had supposedly been issued to release Jesus before death, those supporters and ‘secret disciples’ helped to resuscitate Jesus.  Also, as God’s Holy Spirit had come upon Jesus during the baptism in the river Jordan and left during the crucifixion this supposedly indicated Jesus was human only, not one with Almighty God.

Furthermore, this group taught the necessity of acquiring initiatory knowledge to enable attainment of illumination and perfection of ourselves through reincarnation, and thus be one of the ‘ascended masters’ or world teachers, as claimed of Jesus the Christ.  That is, it had descended from the Gnostics and continued their doctrines, together with many others within the Western esoteric tradition.

The Gnostics and other heretical false doctrines about Jesus had vied for dominance over the early Church, and later greatly influenced the founder of Islam. This is why Apostle John’s first letter speaks so adamantly under direct inspiration of the ‘Author of the Bible’ about the spirit of anti-Christ and its slithering into churches to contend against the One who’d destroyed satan’s authority over humanity:

Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone into the world. By this you may know (perceive and recognise) the Spirit of God; every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ the Messiah) [actually] has become man and has come in the flesh is of God [has God as its source];

And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, severe, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him]. This [non-confession] is the spirit of the antichrist, (of) which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.’ (1 John 4:1-3 Amp Bible)

Therefore, that brotherhood denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and the centrality of His sacrificial death and resurrection – from actual death – for the salvation of human souls, and thereby reconciling us with God and enabling our right of entry – in this life and the next – into His throne-room by the Blood of the Lamb.

Moreover, the Author of the Bible had pointed me to His truth about that group’s motives and its leaders’ dreadful destiny.

Conclusion

Consequently, I wanted to know lots more from the Living Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ.  It was a great blessing, therefore, that He soon directed to testimonials like mine (next).

Only upon revisiting this testimony many years later did I realise those passages in Peter’s letter and that to the ‘Hebrews’ starkly contrast both forms of leadership under which I’d served. The first was highly ungodly, and the latter is blessed by Father’s supreme protective cover for all His children.

Continued in part 6 >

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 4  – for Appendix.

Fulfilled Prophecy #10 cont’d – exposure of the EU’s evil

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Three years ago this month a thought dropped into mind whilst I was taking a walk. I was only musing, or so I thought, but wanted to offer it to readers for consideration. So upon returning home I tried doing so, BUT my email got hit by a cyber-gremlin attack – this hindrance confirmed the Lord was behind that insight!  Thus, on 26th May 2016 I asked Is the Lord Exposing Rotten Politics? UK, USA – next EU??

Regular readers will recall that six months later that passing thought became fulfilled prophecy – and it’s since been repeated so many times I’ve been unable to report each instance. This blog’s Fulfilled Prophecies hub currently lists five examples, and Belgian video Brexit: Behind Closed Doors in my reblog of Comes the Hour, Comes the (New) Party makes the sixth for it specifically exposes the European Union’s evil heart!

Brexit Central publishes Mark Francois MP’s dununciation of EU based not only upon the video’s content but also upon his personal ministerial experience of working there (emphases mine):

‘How can it be, that our so-called ‘EU partners’ can treat our elected representatives – and by inference the British people – with such utter contempt?

‘Perhaps I can help offer an explanation, based on my experience as the Conservative Party’s Shadow Europe Minister between 2007 and 2010. In those three years, reporting to the then Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague, I spent a considerable amount of time travelling around the EU and interacting with those in the European institutions, such as the European Commission and the European Parliament. This taught me a number of things but, more than anything, it brought home to me that the desire to form a federal European state – often referred to by its advocates as “the Project” – is almost an act of religious faith among some politicians on the continent, such that absolutely nothing and no-one may be allowed to stand in its way.

‘For these people, such as President Macron of France but other European leaders too (and certainly the political elites in their countries), what the British did in voting to leave the European Union in 2016, was, therefore, simply unforgivable. We rejected “the Project” and thus committed an utterly heretical act. This was apostasy – and as such, in their view – we deserve everything we get.

‘This was absolutely plain for all to see from the sheer derision with which the British were treated throughout the two hours of footage. On one occasion – incredibly, bearing in mind he was on camera – one of Verhofstadt’s staffers, exclaimed on hearing that we had agreed to the 585-page so-called “Withdrawal Agreement”, that “We have made them a colony!”. The sheer joy that was evidenced on the faces of the European negotiators when it became apparent that we had acceded to the “Withdrawal Agreement” tells you everything you need to know about why they regarded it as a clear victory over Britain...’

Read Mark’s full article for why BBC4’s Brexit documentary should be compulsory viewing before voting in the European elections. He concludes,

‘Perhaps the best quote from the EU side, although admittedly it did not feature in the programme, was when the EU’s Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier said some months ago:

“I’ll have done my job if, in the end, the deal is so tough on the British that they would prefer to stay in the EU.”

‘In summary, for all our sakes, I would urge every MP and indeed everyone who is thinking of casting a vote in the European Elections on 23rd May (which I hope will be as many people as possible) to watch this programme before deciding how to cast their ballot.

‘The European elite have completely given themselves away – on camera – and proven once and for all via this programme that 17.4 million people were right all along.’

As blogged some time ago, I claimed exposure of what the EU is truly like should repel all right-thinking British citizens and make our ‘EU-Remainers’ rethink their opinion and attitude towards everyone who wants Britain to leave the EU free of all constraints.

Earlier #10 Posts:

Comes the Hour, Comes the (New) Party — observation from way over the ‘Pond’

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Pertinent points on Brexit news received at the top of a power pylon somewhere out in Nebraska!  Also note, the ST’s political editor’s informative interview with Nigel Farage…

One of the things I’ve been doing while taking some time off here, has been talking with and encouraging my British friends, as they watch their government and the Westmonster version of the swamp attempt to deprive Britain of nothing less than their sovereignty. It is, truthfully, far more than what prompted our founders to […]

…continued in Comes the Hour, Comes the (New) Party — nebraskaenergyobserver

PS>> Be sure to read next post about how this video fulfills a prophecy.

The night Jesus broke through the window!

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(4 of 7) The second visitor over the night of 13-14th September 1989 was far more challenging than that evening’s first one, when I’d shut the door on hearing about Jesus – this time it is life or death!  Mine!!

THE HEAVENLY VISITOR

In a most unusual dream that night I go back in time. A dream so lucid that even thirty years later, it remains vividly etched within me. Therefore, it must be exceptionally significant. Continue reading →

The day I shut the door on Jesus!

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(3rd of 7) NOTE: This two-part testimony was posted as one of my first blogs. Originally written over 25 years ago as ‘More Than A Dream’, it’s expanded to elaborate upon my changed life as a committed Christian in my journey into freedom.

THROUGH THE DEVIL’S DOOR!

A very brief recap:

Since my teens I’d wholeheartedly embraced esoteric spiritual doctrines and practices such as the Eastern and Theosophical belief of reincarnation and ascended masters, as well as those of Western occultism plus concepts generally known as deism.

I thought that as all religions are equal there are many paths to a supreme being –but which is not the same as the anthropomorphic deity of the Abrahamic religions. That is, it’s different to and far superior to human beings – a ‘cosmic mind’ with which we can be attuned and attain ‘cosmic consciousness’, as experienced by many and practised in the associations of which I was an active member.

I appreciated the linkage with mystical Islam of Sufism as well as having read its Book. It was only after becoming a born-again Christian that I studied its early history and came to understand its fundamental, doctrinal differences with Judaism and Christianity.

Thus, two decades of an occultic practicum made me disdainful of churches, clergy and laity. They were all so very behind the times – even archaic!  Intellectual and spiritual pride made me think their preaching could never compare with the profound philosophy found within ‘New Age’ movements. Such arrogance, of which I’m ashamed!

A DIFFERENT DOOR OPENS!

Sometime in July/August 1989, a young man named Peter knocked at the front door with an invitation to hear the world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham at Earls Court in London. We could be taken in a coach trip from outside our house west of Reading. How much? Nada, entirely free!

Naturally, I rejected the offer outright but my almost-teenage son piped up he’d like to go because a classmate had told him about it. So I said I’d take him.

As can be gathered from my journey into spiritual captivity, personal experiences had made me extremely wary of churchgoers. Never did I suspect my own well-being hung in the balance at that moment after the knock on the door!.

Can you imagine my bewilderment, therefore, upon sitting ‘up in the gods’ at Earls Court and finding myself agreeing with what Billy Graham said as he spoke from the rostrum? 

I was flummoxed! Utterly bewildered! Who’s thinking that? Can that be me? Never!… Really?

Afterwards, as a follow-up, those who’d been on the trip were invited to an informal meeting at a local ‘free’ church. The leader explained that similar chats could be held   at our own homes, if we so wished. I agreed to be on-hand for my son but I was NOT personally interested. A youth worker, Peter, was assigned to help him but, in practice, he ended up discussing the material with me.

The evening of Wednesday 13th September 1989, is Peter’s third visit to our house to discuss Billy Graham’s follow-up material entitled Life. I have not yet divulged my firmly held – even entrenched – opinions, but this time he goes too far!

WHAT WENT WRONG?

This session is entitled, ‘Yoga, Eastern Religions and The Occult’ – all of which I’d been involved in since before Peter had been born!

Peter shows a diagram of two cliffs facing one another. One represents heaven and the other earth, with a large deep gap separating them. Over this Peter places a large plus sign over the gap. The ends of the horizontal arms touch each object, thereby bridging heaven and earth. He explains the cross of Christ is the bridge between both realms.

He then says the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. This statement implies my own ideas are wrong!  Without giving the game away I gently question him on this. But he insists not many paths lead to the same, supreme God – there’s only one way to one almighty God and it’s through his Son Jesus Christ.

What’s to be done with a young man half my age who unwittingly points out the error of my ways?

I’m thinking, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. How can he, who’s not done any of the things I know far more about…just how can he tell me it’s wrong?  He’s wasting my time!”

Peter’s ideas are not only mistaken but also intolerant. Before the end of the evening I’ve had enough!

I SHUT THAT NEW DOOR

So I bring our discussion to an early end, show him to the door and, excusing myself from future meetings, bid him farewell. Peter is most gracious – he smiles politely and goes his way

But little did I know I may not make it through that night! My life was at risk!

Continued in part 4 >

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 2  – for Appendix.

Searching for wrong ‘truth’ traps me in a spiritual prison

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(2nd of 7) We continue our ‘journey’ as I pray it will inform readers who are not-yet Christians about avoiding the pitfalls and dangers of suspect spiritual matters:

Me 1962

1962 in Leicester.

The intellectual freedom of higher education in the ‘swinging 60’s’ enabled me to break loose from the values of my parents and their generation. Even so, I recognised their values had enabled them to come through the destruction and deprivation of the Great Depression, World War and post-war Britain austerity with great fortitude.

As in the previous post about attending the “wrong school”, a formative influence upon this boy of the post-war ‘baby boom’ was the disharmony and hypocrisy between churches. In my mind it tarred all Christians with the same brush and badly reflected upon the God they believed in.

Nevertheless, once whilst in church, I had thought it must have been awesome to have been around Jesus and seen everything He said and did.

Also, two verses noticed in my mother’s Sunday Missal stuck in my mind and, although buried in the unconscious, they never got forgotten. One was Jesus telling his disciples they’d do even greater works than He was doing! The other was by someone who’d seen and been with Jesus, and who wrote: If everything He’d done was written down there wouldn’t be enough room in the world to contain the books! [John 14:12 and closing sentence of that Gospel.]

In view of that eye-witness account and churches’ misrepresentation of their founder, I became convinced a lot of what he’d taught had been lost – or even suppressed – by the early church. Continue reading →

How churches turned me off Christ and onto ‘New Age’!

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(1st of 7) I invite you to join me, especially if new here, in revisiting my ‘dog-legged’ journey into the spiritual and supra-natural reality of our lives. I was heading towards the destination I’d wanted and planned but got forced into a totally unforeseen, unexpected diversion. In fact, my philosophy of life got totally upended!  My new goal proved to be a far more exciting and never-ending journey!!

Now, step into my time-machine and I’ll turn back its dial 60 or so years:

STUNNED BY A ‘FRIEND’

Whilst playing alongside my 10-11 year-old pals, one of them suddenly stops, narrows his gaze and eyeballs me hard, “You shouldn’t be at our school – you should be at the one Cat’licks go to!”

I’m shocked and stunned into silence. I can’t recall my response other than being very alarmed and hurt.

Upon reflection, maybe I denied the accusation outright. In retrospect I’d like to have responded, “So what? It’s where my parents want me to be!”

Such a riposte, however, would have plugged into a parental disagreement! Continue reading →

One’s destiny in three ‘Bites’

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For several months I’ve wanted to republish my personal testimony because the Lord has given a greater appreciation of how He’s been working throughout my life. A few weeks ago our vicar stressed the significance of the Samaritan woman’s meeting with Jesus lies in the power of personal testimony. Then came some Lion Bites, so here we go…

Fresh insights at last year’s conference in Matlock upon my early life revealed a destiny from my childhood to blog about Jesus Christ’s promised return. I was amazed and re-assured that the grace of God which I didn’t deserve did, in fact, cover me even though I’d been dead against Him – and dead to Him! It was as though ‘the hound of heaven’ had tracked me down and cornered me!

And now in the past week, I’m getting an awakening into how my spiritual rebirth and what I was starting to sense supra-naturally during the 1990s, is now coming into play. Moreover, it’s through re-connecting with the local church that the Lord had put me into and which I’d left when marrying Nina and moving to East Hants!

Therefore, these Lion Bites from Glasgow Prophetic Centre are personally poignant:

THE WORD OF YOUR TESTIMONY (3rd May)

“Your testimonies are so powerful! Whether it’s the story of how you came to know me as your Saviour, or of how I provided for a need you had, I want you to share these testimonies. For my testimonies in you will draw others to me, and your stories of how I work in your life will bring wonder to those who hear them. Will you share them?

“And if you can’t think of any to share, then begin to partner with me and ask me to move in the circumstances of your life. Give me space to work miracles. Place your faith and expectation in me and see what I will do! And when I do it, share what I have done. Share me with those around you and allow them to wonder what I could also do for them.”

Revelation 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.

UNCAPPED POTENTIAL (7th May)

“I am uncapping your potential today,” says the Lord.

“There has been a brewing frustration inside many; a sense of ‘there’s more in me than I’m seeing right now and I am able to articulate’. Some of you have felt capped through lies you’ve believed about yourself, words that have been spoken over you or situations out of your control. Today, the Lord says repeatedly, “I am uncapping your potential. For I have put more in you than you have an eye to see. My explosive and undefeatable power and might reside within you, as do solutions to unsolvable problems. I have given you the mind of Christ and equipped you with supernatural gifts. Today, I uncap your potential!

“So tear off the lies of limitation, rise above the words of criticism, see beyond the circumstances of chaos, and choose to stand fully in the potential that I have dressed you in. This is your day, (insert your name)!”

Ephesians 3:20 AMP
Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do super-abundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us.

A NEW YOU! (8th May)

The Spirit of the Lord says, “It is time to stand in your anointing and calling! I have called you for such a time as this! Do you hear me? It’s time to shake off the grave clothes! It’s time to leave behind the comfortable, the status quo! It’s a new season! Winter is over. Spring has come, and the old won’t fit any more. You need your ‘Now’ outfit, your ‘Now’ thinking, your ‘Now’ anointing and calling. I know you feel inept and even unsure of yourself, but keep looking to me. I won’t lead you off the path that I have set for you, so stay close!

“You are going to love your ‘New You’. I have you made you and shaped you for this; it’s tailor made, fits perfectly, and won’t pinch or rub. Just follow me and see how much fun we’re going to have. There really is no comparison between your old grave clothes or the new wardrobe that I have designed just for you!”

Song of Solomon 2:11 & 13b
For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
Rise up my love, my fair one. And come away!

John 11:43-44
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

Note: my 7-part personal testimony begins here.

Prophecy Update #3: once again Press echoes prophecy through soccer!!

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Yet once again (previously re “fox” and “chessboard”) press headline repeats content of a prophetical word brought by Veronika West – and once again relating to football score (Confirmation of Prophetical Soccer refers).  She published this last night:

“GREATEST COMEBACK SINCE LAZARUS”

THIS HEADLINE WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION TODAY BY THE DAILY MAIL, AS I READ IT, “GREATEST COMEBACK SINCE LAZARUS”, IT MADE ME THINK IMMEDIATELY OF THE WORD I RECEIVED CONCERNING “LAZARUS AND THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND”!  [See Word; ”LAZARUS RAISED TO LIFE”…]

COULD THIS 4 GOAL FIGHT-BACK VICTORY FOR LIVERPOOL BE A PROPHETIC SIGN FOR OUR NATION AT THIS TIME??…!

Lazarus was raised to life after 4 days;…’Liverpool reach Champions League final after INCREDIBLE FOUR-GOAL FIGHT BACK AGAINST BARCELONA in football’s greatest upsets…!  [See Word; “FOUR DAYS”…]

Ha! Maybe the Daily Mail are reading my mail…!

Get ready for a world-wide shifting, turning and radical transformation

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Posted this afternoon at Ignite Ireland Ministry:

ARE YOU READY FOR THE RIVERS OF HIS GLORY, OR HAVE YOU BECOME AS THE STIFF-NECKED..?!

Early hours of this morning I was just beginning to wake up when I clearly heard the Spirit of God speak to me saying,

“DAUGHTER TELL MY PEOPLE, MY RIGHTEOUS REMNANT, THAT A GREAT REVEALING HAS NOW BEGUN, FOR MANY NATIONS HAVE BEEN IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION.., WATCH AND PRAY FOR THERE IS A SHIFTING, TURNING AND A RADICAL SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION THAT IS NOW BEGINNING TO TAKE PLACE IN THE EARTH, FOR MANY NATIONS ARE NOW ON A DIVINE COLLISION COURSE WITH THE POWER OF MY GLORY AND JUDGEMENT, SEE! FOR NOW IS THE SEASON OF SUPERNATURAL REALIGNMENT AND A RE-POSITIONING OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, WHO CAN STOP IT??? FOR I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, THE RIVERS OF MY GLORY ARE UNSTOPPABLE AND UNCONTAINABLE, HE WHO DARES TO HINDER THE WORK OF MY SPIRIT SHALL BE UTTERLY DESTROYED, BELOVED ARE YOU READY? HAVE YOU MADE ROOM FOR MY RIVER OR ARE YOU ONE THAT HAS BECOME AS THE STIFF-NECKED?”, says God.

Veronika West, 8th May 2019

NI-Eire Prophecy Update #11 – Ireland to follow Britain out of the EU?

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Thank you to Hilary K for alerting me to Saturday’s Daily Express – click here to read full article:

Background:

These updates relate to the extensive prophetic word received by Emma Stark of the Glasgow Prophetic Centre whilst in Belfast at the end of February. She asked the Lord about Brexit, the Backstop and the Irish border and on where the solution lies. She was stunned to hear Him respond, “Emma, the solution is in Dublin.” Then He explained there’s “a tangled ball of wool sitting in Dublin’s Parliament building and the end of that ball of wool is in the hands of Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, or PM of Ireland.”  This very significant word explains the necessity for leaders of north and south to work together in a new way to iron out issues that prevent Britain leaving the EU.

NI-Eire Prophecy Updates:
  1. Northern & Southern Irish Leaders Meet In Washington
  2. Northern & Southern Irish Leaders Meet Trump and Pence
  3. EU Grasps Ireland At Its Own Peril (ie. as EU’s puppet)
  4. DUP MP Would Like To See Ireland Join The Commonwealth
  5. Yet Again, NO Need For A Hard Border!
  6. DUP Prefers Brexit Delay To ‘Prison’ of May’s Withdrawal Agreement
  7. The Taoiseach and the E.U.
  8. Eire’s Relationship with Ulster & USA
  9. Irexit – (Eire leaving the EU)
  10. News Roundup – Is S.Africa and Object Lesson?

Fulfilled Prophecy #25.3 – update: Draining the Swamp

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Fulfilled Prophecy #25 is about a version of corruption not covered in the #10 series of fulfilled prophecies (Is the Lord Exposing Rotten Politics?), viz: the Deep State scandal worse than Watergate and President Trump’s attempts to drain the Washington Swamp being thwarted in an ‘official war’ by past officials in the Obama-Clinton administration.

Published in January 2018 that post was updated three months ago by coverage of the swamp’s failed coup against Donald Trump.

Watch this 7 minutes video for latest developments (thank you Jennie):

Not many people know – more true news about Trump

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Here’s three items spotted over weekend and popped onto my personal Fb profile, click Links below photos for source. Be sure to read last one’s reference to President Trump starting all cabinet meetings with prayer!:

Source: Meme

Source: CBN News

Source: Fox News

Waiting for July 2019 – press/media reports

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Further to the prophecies pointing to the significance of this July, here’s two items recently spotted in the Mail and on social media:

These stories were running in parallel to that of the leak published on 24th April in The Telegraph of PM May’s defiance of security warnings to allow the Chinese company Huawei’s involvement in providing 5G communications.  Perhaps the disturbing details of the PM’s latest abysmally poor judgement and her sacking of the Defence Secretary may substantially contribute to changing her situation, as implied by the three prophets?

We’ll wait and watch…

Did a cyber-gremlin gobble up your new post alert on DT?

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In view of my not getting an email notification of a new post on this blog, some regular subscribers also may not have received one for True news about Trump that ALL Christians need to know.  Shortly after its publication I extended the title with ‘re persecution’ (adding that to its url).

Therefore, if you’re a subscribed follower of this blog would you please let me know if you did not get an email about that new post. Email me at richardswatch@talktalk.net

I’d be interested in putting a finger on any ISP that’s filtering and blocking messages on the subject of Donald Trump.  This wouldn’t be the first time peculiar problems have popped up; for example, on Iran’s anniversary of rehearsing attack upon Jerusalem, or our landline crashing during the month leading to EU Referendum (at least internet survived and inexplicably worked throughout!).

True news about Trump that ALL Christians need to know re. persecution

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This news follows hot on the heels of the the murders of Christians in Sri Lanka whilst celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday, 21st April (as covered here).  Last Tuesday April 23rd, the Washington Examiner announced:

Trump Privately Urges World Leaders To Take Better Care of Christians…

‘White House acting chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney said on Tuesday a little known fact about President Trump is that he often brings up Christianity when meeting with foreign leaders.

“What you don’t know about is what goes on behind closed doors. I very rarely talk about my private meetings with the president,” Mulvaney said at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. “I can assure you that I have been sitting with him in the Oval Office, in the Cabinet Room, with leaders from around the world where he will look at them and say, ‘Now, you’re not doing enough to take care of the Christians in your country,’ or, ‘Thank you for helping the Christians in your country’.”

“That is heavy stuff, and it strikes me it’s probably something that hasn’t been articulated in the Oval Office in way too long,” he added.

Addressing a crowd of more than 1,000 Catholics, Mulvaney said the Trump has embraced faith in the White House and encourages Christians and people from all religions who work there to “take their faith and work it into our policies…If you take a look at what the administration has done in the first two and a half years, I think you can see the principles of our faith being manifested,” Mulvaney said.

‘Mulvaney told attendees that too few people across the country are showing their faith and publicly embracing it. “Not enough people are open in their faith, not enough people are comfortable saying, ‘Yeah, you know what? I went to church today”.’

I found this gem buried in Friday’s Koenigs’ Eye-View From The White House, which quotes Western Journal’s article on that news.

You may recall my writing some time ago that the White House has never been as open and welcoming to Christians as it is under President Trump’s administration. Bill opens his latest with this insight,

‘As I continue to report from the White House, moving into my 19th year, we have never had an administration more supportive of Israel and willing to take on Israel’s greatest threat — Iran. Israel’s appreciation was confirmed by members of the Israeli media in my White House conversations on March 25, during Benjamin Netanyahu’s participation in President Trump’s official Golan Heights’ resolution.

‘Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are evangelicals who fully understand the significance of Israel, both biblically, strategically and practically. Additionally, staunch supporter of Israel National Security Advisor John Bolton’s hardline position persuaded President Trump to eliminate all waivers to countries buying oil from Iran and will impose costly sanctions if they continue to buy oil from Iran.’

What About ‘Touch Not The Lord’s Anointed’?

In view of this important insight into the character of President Trump, and of Dr Lance Wallnau’s hearing from the Lord’s anointing him as a ‘modern-day’ Cyrus, I want to refer briefly to the implicit relevance of ‘touching God’s anointed’.  This is succinctly explained at Jesus Alive as follows:

‘We can also see David applying this when he refused to “touch” (or kill) King Saul in (1 Sam 24:4-13) because he was “God’s anointed.” In (1 Sam 24:9-10)(NASB), David says to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you’? (10) Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord had given you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.'” David repeats something similar to this later in (1 Sam 26:9-11,23-24), when he has a second chance to kill Saul, and repeats it a third time in (2 Sam 1:13-16) when someone later claims to kill Saul.’

THEREFORE, in regards to the official state visit of the President of the United States of America to Britain, the grossly ill-mannered, arch-hypocritical actions of the leader of HM Opposition (Corbyn) and Speaker of the House of Commons (Bercow) in refusing to meet Trump or allow his addressing Parliament will, according to that scripture and the law of sowing and reaping, bode ill for them personally. That is, there are deep personal consequences to their decisions as representatives of the citizens of Great Britain.

Moreover, it makes me wonder if this may have applied to an ordained minister who’d attended, albeit in an unofficial capacity, the anti-Trump demonstrations organised by the Mayor of London. Subsequently, this minister encountered a radical change to his well-known ministry in its becoming peripatetic as a result of its permanent base having to close!

I wonder, therefore, if that change may be connected with his having taken a stance that specifically opposed (ie. to ‘touch not’) the Lord’s anointed leader of America??

Leisa Ebere: The Awakening Prophecy

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Leisa emails on Holy Saturday, ‘Here is another Prophetic Word the Lord gave me in the early hours of the morning. I believe the Lord is really driving home the point that we need to totally rely on Him to lead us and prepare us for the Great Awakening of His Body of Believers.’:

THE AWAKENING PROPHECY

“There are small fires burning,” says the Lord. “Many of these lights have bursts of energy; but are quenched as many people in My Body cannot see past the natural world. Such men and women do not incline their ears to hear truth; preferring comfort which they define as peace.

“My People, I have come to split the World asunder, as is written in Isaiah 24; and I shall take the spoils of war. For My Son’s sacrifice brought the kind of peace that requires all mankind to make decisions to walk without compromise; as they walk a new path of righteousness. Can peace be established by earthly means, My Children? I declare to you that such a thing is impossible, for these thoughts and actions only cause distance and blockage; where I cannot move as freely in your lives. The River of God only flows as an outworking of My Spirit and My True Remnant dive into the waters of My making, and live their lives swimming with the tide and flow of these waters. For living in the natural realm is like swimming against the tide of fast-moving waters; and as hard as you try, My People, such a lack of cooperation shall only cause you to miss out on the many blessings I have in store for you.

“Take Courage My People, for prophets are rightly discerning that an Awakening is coming upon the Nations of the Earth. And I say to you that in this hour that sleepers shall arise from places as dark as the darkest night. Some reaching clarity of vision because of pain and others because of isolation and loneliness; but each shall find true comfort and peace as the morning dawn breaks forth a New Day. A Sign of extensive rains and floods shall come before the rising up of these sleepers in the days ahead, as a symbol of the fullness of the outpouring of My Spirit. And I shall touch their foreheads with My Sovereign Hand, and take away their blindness forever,” says the Lord of Hosts.

Leisa Ebere, 20th April 2019

Satan’s strategy made plain for ALL to see in Sri Lanka

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A few years ago I considered how the enemy of our souls wants to avoid its foretold demise in the Lake of Fire, and this would be done primarily through anti-Semitism and increasing persecution of Christians, especially attacks upon churches and communities. This developed into a 3-part theme that looked at modern evidence and the myths of Muslim ‘history’ and attitudes towards Christian crusades of survival, which then got confirmed by an anti-terrorism summit.

In that year of 2015 so much was happening to demonstrate the reality of those suppositions that I blogged another tripartite series The ‘Endgame’ Gets Ramped Up Another Level.

The mass-murder of men, women and children in Sri Lanka is the latest tragedy, but the plain fact it took place whilst they celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from death and His victory over satan through redeeming humanity from its authority and grip, demonstrates the attacks were satanic in nature and perpetrated by demonised humans – those whose lives have been perverted by demonic lies into hatred and destruction of anything to do with Jesus Christ and Christianity.

Moreover, they are aided and abetted by those stooges who daren’t and cannot admit to, much less recognise, the Truth of God, His Son our Saviour, His Holy Spirit and sacred scriptures. I mean mealy-mouthed politicians and media who control free-speech by criminalising critics of any religion that teaches hatred and murder!

Here’s Revd Gavin Ashenden (extra emphases mine):

‘One of the Sunday school teachers in the Church in Sri Lanka has written about what they were doing on Easter day.

“Today at Zion Church we asked the children, ‘how many of you would be willing to die for Christ?’ Everyone raised their hands. Minutes later we took them into the main service. The blast happened. Half of them died on the spot.”

‘In one of the two other Catholic Churches that were blown up, the bomber waited until the children had come back into the main liturgy before he detonated. Killing the children appeared to have been a priority to him.

‘Some people may have been surprised by the UK Government’s initiative that lay behind Jeremy Hunt writing forty letters to a variety of Christians and agencies offering support for Christians in their persecution. Not many people are aware that Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world today.

‘Last year, over 300 Christians were assassinated each month. 245 million Christians were persecuted by either their neighbours or the state they lived in.

‘At first sight, it seems odd that the world’s largest religion should be the target of so much hatred and violence. But at the risk of drawing lines in history that are too sharp, it seems that there are three figures who stand as major figures of history and their teaching and influence drive the values of their followers.

‘They are Jesus, Mohammed and Karl Marx. Their followers are Christians, Muslims and Communists. In terms of violence, Christians are the odd ones out. 

‘Jesus taught his followers never to use violence, but only humility and compassion. There is no sanctioned violence in the New Testament. 

‘But there is in the Koran. 

‘Mohammed told his followers to offer non–Muslims the chance to convert, and if they didn’t, to use violence to make them. Islam swept through the known world carried by armies who did just that. 

‘Marx also was a proponent of violence. He called his followers to armed revolution, and in the twentieth century, they obeyed with alacrity. But with Communism the killing didn’t stop with the revolution. It continued. In the Little Black Book of Communism Stephane Courtois estimates that the sum total of deaths communism caused, with its genocides, forced famines and executions, to be over 94 million.

‘Bill Warner in his book The Islamic Trilogy estimates the death toll of non-believers at the hands of Islam, between its founding in 610 and 2006, to be more than 270 million non-Muslims. 

‘It’s not easing off; from 2001 to 2017, Islamic activists carried out more than 32,000 attacks that killed more than 85,000 innocent and unsuspecting civilians. The Intelligence Services in the UK have identified 23,000 jihadist ‘extremists’ of whom 3,000 are believed to pose an active threat to their non-Muslim neighbours.

‘It is perfectly true that Christianity has blood on its hands too. But the distinction is that with the exception of the self-defence, the violence has been mainly instigated by the State rather than the Church. There are no Christian jihadists, no Christian terrorist bombers. And if there were, the New Testament would be held up to them to show they had no right to call themselves followers of Jesus or Christians at all. In other words when Communists and Muslims engage in violence they can justify it by appealing to Marx and Mohammed; but when Christians turn to violence, they can’t. It is forbidden.

‘So in part it is the use of violence sanctioned both by Marx and Mohammed, that has meant that Christians have become the most persecuted group in the world today.

‘What is very odd beyond that is the way in which the media and the politicians do all they can to avoid telling the truth about it. The media avoid the “M’ word as long as it can. The child abusers of Rotherham were called ‘Asian’ to the deep distress of Sikhs and Buddhists. The BBC said it had no idea who on earth would even think of sending suicide bombers into Sri Lankan churches for as long as it could. !!!!

‘When the dreadful killing in Christchurch happened the media instantly named the victims as Muslims. In Sri Lanka suddenly the euphemism ‘Easter worshippers’ was used. Imagine the outcry if the media has called the victims in the Mosque at Christchurch ‘Ramadan worshippers’?

‘Why is there such a reluctance to acknowledge that both Communism and Islam resort to violence to the extent that they do? In the same week as the New Zealand atrocity where 50 Muslims were killed by a lone gunman, African Muslims murdered 120 Nigerian Christians and the world’s media kept it secret. 

‘With very rare exceptions, Christians do not kill Muslims or Communists. Both Communists (currently in China) and Muslims kill Christians on an industrial scale. As the Sunday School teacher said, Christians are taught to be willing to be martyrs for Jesus. Unlike Muslims they are not taught to make martyrs of others. Why won’t the media and the politicians tell the truth about it?‘

Footnote: According to the extensive database maintained by The Religion of Peace, there’s been over 34,900 terror attacks by Muslims since the infamous 9/11 atrocity.