Jesus and Israel; then, now and forever

Posted on Friday, 16 August, 2013 by Richard Barker

In munching upon meditative ‘morsels’ from the opening of Hebrews 12, I didn’t expect my subconscious mind to mull over their meaning. I’d assumed those couple of blogs had put the subject ‘to bed’, so to speak – but no. That was on Thursday before going ‘incommunicado’ until Monday, as usual. Yet something started stirring in my spirit.

Two days later saw me digging into scripture before going to bed myself. How could I know I’d find out that its eye-opening conclusion is relevant to others. So if that’s the case for you too, or if you’d notice a similar coincidence, the details are as follows.:

Pointer No 1

After having referred to the faith of Old Testament and New Testament believers – or a ‘cloud of witnesses’ – being perfected, I sensed a bigger picture of the Lord’s purposes. Having written about ‘original’ and ‘spiritual’ Israel I recalled Jesus’ reply to a question posed after His victory over death, and which I’ve often pondered.

During that 40 day period Jesus spoke about things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. (That is, of God’s rule in human hearts, lives and situations.) Consider doctor Luke’s carefully investigated account, per Luke 1:3, of what had happened about 30 years earlier when Jesus gave his apostles this instruction (emphases mine):

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; ⁵for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ⁶Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. ⁸But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [Acts 1:4-8 NKJV – Biblegateway.com]

As the purpose of this post is to highlight specific verses, I won’t go into any depth other than give pointers to ponder, and the following as a lead-in.

‘Israel’ would have meant not only the dominant Jews of Jerusalem and Judea, but also the other eleven historical tribes of Israel. Jesus had told his close followers about the Kingdom, presumably in greater depth than during the pre-Resurrection years of public ministry, and that they were about to receive the One who empowered His ministry direct from their heavenly Father Himself.

Thus, it was logical that the apostles were thinking they’d all be ministering in the power Jesus had exhibited. Consequently, it was reasonable to suppose they would then change the religious and cultural situation in Jerusalem and Judea.

No doubt they had in mind the greatest period in their history under King David, as well as Daniel’s prophetic vision about removing the power of the supreme earthly empire, Rome (see Daniel 7:27). But Jesus knew differently. Had they been incorrect in their logical conclusion of restoring the Kingdom to Israel, then Jesus would have said so and corrected them. (He’d done that when referring to returning to God – John 14:2)

Nor did He rebuke them for such an idea, or even remind them He’d already told them the Kingdom would be taken away from Israel and given, “…to people (ie. Gentiles) who will produce its fruit” (Matt 21:23). No, He simply said it wasn’t for them to know the timing – and it was Father’s business and His alone, not even their Master’s!

Interestingly, the original Greek indicates a conditional ‘IF’ (ei) between those verses. In other words, “If (or when) the dipping in Holy Spirit happens, is it the time you-are-restoring the Kingdom to Israel?” (See Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, Acts 1)

Therefore, the relevance of and restoration for Israel MUST be on God’s agenda!

Consequently, the perfecting of faith for living and departed Jews and Christians could well be part and parcel of that agenda. I think Jesus had already given the apostles a clue and they later shared it with Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, or He may even have revealed it to him personally.

Pointer No 2

Also, Jesus would have had that in mind when describing the signs all believers should watch out for. He said there will come a time of, “great distress in the land and wrath against this people“. In this account, Luke writes that Jesus went on to say,

“…And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled…” [Luke 21:24 NKJV]

Pointer No 3

In his magisterial letter to the church in Rome, Paul described the differences between the OT and NT faith and what had happened to the Jews as a result of rejecting Jesus as their Messiah. He stressed they’d not been rejected by the Lord,

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; ²⁷For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” [Romans 11 NKJV]

I trust that my referring to these scriptures makes sense. It’s offered simply for weighing and consideration, maybe as an aid to further scriptural meditation? Yet more was to follow…

In flicking to and fro between these scriptures and adding to scribbled notes in my old NIV Bible, I spotted its note, Who Is Mechizedek? (see Topic). Hebrews 7 explains the similarities between this king of Jerusalem, who blessed Abraham, and Jesus Christ. Perhaps he’s an influential connection between OT and NT witnesses?

Surprise!

Just before preaching the next morning, our minister mentioned having come from Days of Wonder meeting in Cardiff with New Zealander Ian Clayton, where he’d given some insights on Melchizedek!!! Upon telling one of our group about this ‘God-incidence’, I was told the same reference had unexpectedly popped up for a friend. So the couple of days next week when Ian stops off outside Guildford during his tour of Wales, Scotland and Ireland should be very interesting indeed. I pray so Lord.

Paws-4-thought: Christian inheritance and the End-times church

Posted on Thursday, 1 August, 2013 by Richard Barker

Upon closing the ‘conversation’ on Parliament’s rebellion against God’s creation of covenantal marriage, this thought dropped into mind: I’d now gone FULL cycle in writing about Biblical prophecy for today. That is, in 2009 I’d noted where we were heading as indicated by holy scripture. Now, worldwide changes have brought humanity to the prophesied repetition of ‘The Days of Noah’.

So let’s pause to consider where the Body of Jesus Christ, His Church, is heading. (At our school cafe assembly the elders are pondering what the End-times Church will look like. We’re far from persuaded about theories of pre-Tribulation rapture on the grounds of all the scripture.) My purpose is purely to flag this topic for thought.

A personal peek at ‘the wood and not the trees’ will suffice to recap briefly.:

> visions in 1992 and 2004 of momentous changes to the Islamic World (see All Hail The Lamb) and within the UK (see Comments Upon Collapse of Society). The latter was checked and verified by Revd Dr Stone and revealed that, although the fabric of British society is so rotten it will tear, out of that will rise the Rock upon which Christians will take a stand and repair our nation.

> an insight upon the importance of keeping our focus upon the future marriage of the Bride to the Lamb/Lion of God, Jesus Christ, as in Revelation 21-22.

> recent reminder of a quotation in book I’d read as a new believer. This had arisen out of comments from a non-believer on Godandpolitics blog, and for which confirmation was soon to come – twice! – as follows:

The last point arose at the start of the WordPress problems for UK bloggers, and which prevented my replying. I recalled what John Widdas and Peter Mockford wrote in 1993 about learning how to deal with demonic attacks against church congregations (see left). One of the hardest comments they heard whilst writing their book was made by,

‘…someone coming out of satanism: “The Church is powerless, because they do not live in their inheritance”!‘ (at page 170)

Immediately I recognised its truth from decades spent in the enemy’s camp of the New Age/occult (as here).

From my experience, this situation has arisen because Christians had neglected doing what Jesus commanded; for example, to love one another as He loves them (John 13 & 15), failing to do greater works than He’d done, as stated in John 14:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

No. 1 – The next week we saw Nathan Morris preaching at the first session of Open the Heavens Conference in Mobile. He spoke about the full inheritance in Christ every believer has but doesn’t receive and keep up, or else compromises and thereby loses. In his full-throttle passion and fire Nathan staked his claim to that inheritance on four principles – he even had large T-shaped stakes painted white with signs at the top, as follows:

+ SALVATION + WORD + HOLY SPIRIT + RIGHTEOUSNESS

The next morning at the Well Church, the young worship leader opened by saying he wanted to, “Stake my claim to our inheritance”!! Nina and I just couldn’t help but chuckle. Worship took straight off >> heaven bound. What followed was personal for practically everyone – which is as it should always be.

No. 2 – Early this week came a link to Paul Keith Davis’ teaching with revelation on Three Anointings Coming to End-time Believers

The notes which come with it by James Bailey are helpful. (He too blogs on how current events relate to scripture at Z3news (ie. ‘zee’ as Americans say, not ‘zed’ as Brits say). It would be hard for me to do justice to this profound paper.

Paul Keith tells of having a vision about chapter 10 of the Old Testament book of Numbers and the meaning for the church of the three tribes of Israel – Judah, Issachar and Zebulun – as it moves into the ‘new season’. That scripture, writes James, ‘shows four lessons the End-time church can learn from what God did for the ancient Israelites’.

In connection with my musings I notice this pertinent remark by Paul Keith about the anointing of Zebulun:

These are those who have received revelation on how to access their inheritance, which has been stored up in heaven throughout the ages but not released to the earth until now due to a lack of revelation.

Additionally, the Lord explained to Paul Keith those anointings will be the antidote against three very dangerous spirits (per Jude 1) that will seek to strongly hinder the last days’ church. From the descriptions given, that they are obviously at work already is yet another sign we have entered the End-times.

Their aim is to ‘undermine the foundations of faith and direct God’s people away from the source of their salvation’ > NB: Nathan’s first ‘stake’.

The whole message is an exciting and very rich treasure for those who seek to move deeper into our Lord Jesus Christ. To read it click here >

Mentoring Day part 2 – Dr Sharon Stone: Britain is at a crossroads

Posted on Tuesday, 16 July, 2013 by Richard Barker

“..The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 NIV)

These above words of Jesus to Nicodemus are from his explanation of how we can see the Kingdom of God. (As a member of the ruling sect of Pharisees, Nicodemus visited Jesus privately.) I’m reminded of them whenever ‘chance’ brings an unusual event or encounter my way; especially after unscheduled changes have had to be made. What’s more, when three crop up together after a single change then I’m alert to God’s finger pointing something out.

Windsor Castle: courtesy Copyright-free-photos.org.uk

That happened on 6th July after I arrived at the venue for this month’s Mentoring Day with Dr Stone’s school, only to be turned away as its car park was full. This led, however, to 3 brief encounters on the streets of Windsor that proved to be of increasing relevance to my purpose. (See here for another example of a God-incident in this connection.)

SO, I was ready to catch anything ‘in the wind’! First, I noticed a couple of ‘surprises’ in an open vision and content of a coffee chat with friends – the ‘axe/icebreaker’ and the remark about the Book of Esther, as recounted in Part 1. But more was to come!

After coffee break, Sharon spoke under an urgency gained from what she’d received only hours earlier from the Lord in connection with the current voting in The House of Lords!

Let me share not a verbatim account but my notes, which cannot do justice to the depth of teaching, or to the practical activation session that took place:

BRITAIN IS AT A CROSSROADS

In opening, Sharon reminded those who gather regularly that they’re well-gifted in checking in their own spirit whether or not revelations she gives are of the Holy Spirit. Also, that we’re now moving to a new level of making decrees for Britain in one voice:

We, the nation, are at a crossroads, especially regarding the House of Lords’ action this week. We can’t take back a decree, you can only make another over it…

Sharon therefore told how Esther did that by overwriting the evil decree her king’s first minister Haman devised. (This is why my post on Esther’s story underlined relevant parts of the verses quoted from her book. Did you read on to learn how her action then completely overturned the situation? Evil Haman’s pride was upturned and used against him in having to honour her uncle, whom he’d intended hanging personally, but the king had Haman executed instead!) The account of Queen Esther shows how God works through events to thwart wicked intentions and decrees and deliver his loved ones from evil.

As born-again Christians and kings and priests in God’s kingdom, we are mandated to change our personal and social world by means of decrees. In particular, we need to overwrite those harmful ones that have been spoken over us by authority figures.

Sharon claims that, over many years of operating with decrees, she’s seen shifts in regions and nations that bring acceleration as a result of Godly decrees having been made over them. When we exercise our authority in making decrees as citizens of the Kingdom it is possible to see a major change, even by this time next year.

PRINCIPLES OF DECREES & DECLARATIONS

1. We can reform and recreate our world. In the beginning, God spoke everything into existence and, being made in His image, we recognise the power of words to reform or recreate our world. In fact, many consider the opening verses of Genesis to mean that God re-formed the earth.

Morality and spirituality is spiralling downward. As in Genesis, when things are in chaos is the best time to speak, “Let there be light!” [Proverbs 18:21 applies too: ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit’.]

A decree is a written statement and becomes a binding, legal instrument. God has three forms of decree – word, law, rule. These have been corrupted on earth through human and demonic agents. [This concept connects with ‘generational altars’, defiled ones of which are to be destroyed: Gen 12:8, 26:25, 28:18, 2Kings3, Deut 12, 1Cor10:14-22 ]

Then we herald, or proclaim orally the decree. A declaration is a personal statement about our allegiance with what’s decreed and is, therefore, a witness and testimony to its truth. Satan is a legalist, thief and destroyer and we need to understand fully the strategic meaning of prophet Daniel’s vision of the ‘fourth beast’ (Dan 7:15-28).

2. The laws of God can be re-activated in the earth and a new administrative order can be released by means of decrees. The process for making such changes is based upon Hebrews 7:11-12 (the new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek).

The traditional churches believe the present system will continue but it’s just like the Judaic system’s replacement recorded at Hebrew 7:15-16. Let’s not forget Solomon’s proverb (Proverbs 15:2) which applies to us as searchers, or may be likened to Jesus’ parables, or to His unravelling a ball of string:

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

3. Decrees establish and construct foundations with a secure legal position for the purpose of building the Kingdom, as it is written at Job 22:28.:

You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.

Nehemiah used this principle against enemies of his rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls for they’d no right to be there, whereas he possessed the Persian king’s written decree.

Legalist Satan pays great attention to decrees and makes opposite ones to rob Godly ones of their power. This strategy can be overcome as revealed by the Lord to prophet Isaiah, as in the opening verse of his 10th chapter (for outcome see vv 3-4):

“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed…

4. Therefore, we’re authorised to declare “Woe!” against unrighteous decrees and all those who write them [like Jesus cursing the fig tree which bore no fruit]. As in Job 6:25 “How forceful are right (and timely) words…”

5. A decree is forceful and violent, as in applying a signet ring to a decree, as Jesus stated at Matthew 11:12 (from Amplified versions)

And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize—a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].

and Matt 16:19 to Peter and his fellow disciples:

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.”

Sharon explained such application shakes and breaks open heaven, like an icebreaker! Now I understood the relevance of the open vision I’d been granted at the start of the meeting (see Part 1)!

Next, came a practical application of the fresh Apostolic Prophetic Decrees Over the UK the Lord had given Sharon after waiting upon Him early that morning. He also gave her the decrees which our enemy has sown into the minds of politicians, media and the not-yet believing public.

7. The Decision is enforced by the Watchers (angels) in accordance with Daniel 4:17

This sentence is by the decree of the [heavenly] watchers and the decision is by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High [God] rules the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever He will and sets over it the humblest and lowliest of men.

The closing verses of Psalm 103 also attest to this principle:

Bless the Lord, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works, In all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

NB: It’s especially interesting how the Book of Esther was separately referred to twice during that day, and then again two days later upon watching the video about the Welsh Outpouring. This began with a prophetic word from Esther about appearing before the king and touching his sceptre.

Perhaps the Lord God is indicating that, as He’s brought spiritual and physical changes within church for Wales and overflowing to the rest of Britain, so too will what has been done in Windsor affect and bring changes within our nations. I trust it will do so in view of my personal perception of its spiritual significance to the United Kingdom as a pivotal point, or cog, between heaven and earth.

May each of these apostolic and prophetic decrees be enabled and enforced for the Greater Glory of God. Amen.

Further Reading: This teaching is discussed ‘over coffee’ here and continued here.

Postscript to ‘Note on Christian prophecy and the Apocalypse’

Posted on Monday, 8 July, 2013 by Richard Barker

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him… (2 Chronicles 16:9)

For a little amusement but, more importantly, to show how God enables believers to encourage one another, let me share with you what happened in writing the above-titled post (here).

Let me stress this > I never intended writing anything about the Book of Revelation, or Apocalypse! It’s far too large a subject – and there’s lots and lots of other material to cover. But I didn’t know or suspect that the Lord had a surprise ‘up His sleeve’!

Fridays to Sunday are ‘long weekends’, so I go online on Saturdays to scan only pre-media news and run off a weekly report. A fortnight ago, I spotted a media interview with Joel Rosenberg about Syria. As it was timely and it’s very quick to repost in WordPress, I quickly ‘re-blogged’ it (here).

Only afterwards did I think the difference in opinions conveyed in the media piece may not be understood by readers unfamiliar with scholarly views on the Bible. So, some explanation was in order.

It needed a bit of quick homework, so I dived into trusty David Pawson’s book. This wasn’t an easy post to write, and longer than usual. After some revisions I wanted to acknowledge his work – and when doing so I recalled a friend’s excellent sessions a few years ago on the Book of Revelation. So, at the very last minute I included Neil too – and after hitting the ‘publish’ button I wondered what he’d make of it.

He responded the next day:

Hi Richard – A note of encouragement to you (for I have been greatly encouraged by God through you)…

My friend goes on to say that, as a result of being “apprehended” (Phil 3:12) to write some more about Biblical prophecy, he slowly started doing so a couple of weeks ago…

…then your recent Blogs came in as absolute confirmation – I show a few paragraphs below to give you a flavour of why I was excited by the “Coincidence” (on Damascus). Not only that, but I see I was “Mentioned in Dispatches”, which was like confirmation on confirmation!!…

I agree with this concluding opinion,

I will describe how the prophecies about Jesus’ first coming, written hundreds of years before the event, must have seemed gobbledygook to the people of the time when they were written. It is only after the event that we can see what the prophecies mean.

Thank you Neil and praise the Lord for this practical demonstration of just one of the ways He watches over and works in and through His people – it is for His glory, not ours.

Does extraterrestrial intelligence exist? Part 2

Posted on Thursday, 20 June, 2013 by Richard Barker

Science is catching up with scripture, I speculated in Part 1 and readers may have thereby realised I’m not into any normal notion of aliens in outer space. A hint is also provided by this image > (courtesy of Victor Habbick at Free Digital Photos, click image for info).

Last year I concluded that science is catching up with what God is doing. I read scientists had found electrical stimulation of paralyzed rats’ spines had brought spectacular recovery of mobility (see New Scientist). Their description, “It was incredible to look at”, and explanation reminded me of how a lady paralysed for 22 years was healed the previous year. A powerful surge of invisible energy was tangibly felt in a worship-charged atmosphere. For details read under ‘Delia Knox’ in God heals today – video clip testimonies.

A bit more background – personal and scientific

Allow a little nostalgia…this scientific topic reminds me of sitting on tall stools alongside a solid oak workbench bedecked with Bunsen burners, equipment and sink. This main lab was a square room with tall Georgian-style windows filling two adjacent walls that cornered the upper storey of my grammar school. Our chemistry master, donned in his constant robe of long white coat, was wont to make this amusing aside when teaching about atomic and molecular structure:

We can talk and talk about electrons and ionisation, and theorise about their orbits, but the fact remains we never actually know where they are – it’s very possible some in this room have just returned from a trip around the North Pole!

[‘Traditional’ orbital notions are now thought incorrect as sub-atomic matter is in a state of frenzied flux.] The main physics lab at the opposite front corner of the building was where we studied heat, matter, electricity, light and mechanics of classical Newtonian science. 17th Century physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution.

Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, and made seminal contributions in optics. He thought of light as a stream of extremely fine corpuscles, or particles (also known as photons). About a century later, however, physicists were finding light could behave like ripples or waves in water (see Young’s Interference Experiment and Wave Propagation).

Yet, any attempt to pin down light as being definitely a wave or a particle failed. This dual nature of light became known as the ‘wave-particle duality’. Phil Mason explains on page 63 of Quantum Glory,

The best that could be said was that light acts like a wave when one type of experiment is performed, but it acts like a stream of particles when a different type of experiment is being performed. Light travels as a wave, but departs and arrives like a particle. (…but) how can something be simultaneously a wave or a particle?

In ordinary scientific investigation, even in the small-scale microscopic world, we accept something as one of the other – but not both at the same time! And at the much smaller atomic level of matter that’s what was discovered to be happening for streams of electrons. It was a huge shock to the scientific world

In early 20th Century Max Planck investigated heated bodies and found energy was radiating in discrete measures or packets, which he called ‘quanta’. Soon, Loius de Broglie postulated there’s no fundamental difference between energy and matter at, or below, the atomic level because both behave as though they’re composed of either particles or waves. Then a father and son, Joseph and George Thomson, received Nobel Prizes 30 years apart for their experiments proving electrons are particles (father) as well as waves (son)! The evidence for wave-particle duality has since become overwhelming.

Over lunch

Wanting something a bit lighter to read over lunch after writing thus far, I opened up one of the 3 Favourites tabs on my PC taskbar. Each list is the depth of my monitor screen and I spotted an unfamiliar link of an item I thought worth reading sometime and clicked on it. S-p-o-o-k-y, it happens to be on quantum mechanics and had sat unread as just a link since New Year – and one of that blogger’s latest posts refers to Newton! Therefore, for anyone whose taste buds have been tickled and fancy some more fascinating food, dip into Dr Ruth Bancewicz’s Science and Belief posts:

In part 3 I’d like to consider how these fundamental discoveries may reveal a deeper understanding of God and possibly about extraterrestrial communication.

Does extraterrestrial intelligence exist? Part 1

Posted on Wednesday, 19 June, 2013 by Richard Barker

The answer may lie in the answer to a question raised in a recent musing – a question that got answered within the hour. I was dumbfounded!

Some will ask what’s this doing on a Christian blog? My interest in the ‘cutting edge’ of Christian teaching and ministry keeps me open-minded on a number of things, yet they are always checked against the ‘plumb-line’ of holy scripture. So I invite fellow believers to bear with me for I’ve not jumped on a wacky bus to nowhere.

Definitions

First, let’s clarify terminology. The Oxford Dictionary definition of ‘extraterrestrial’ gives:

adjective – of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere: (eg. searches for extraterrestrial intelligence)
noun – a hypothetical or fictional being from outer space.

It has two definitions for ‘intelligence’ as nouns, of which one refers to information of military or political value, but the prime definition is:

a person or being with the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills: extraterrestrial intelligences

It’s noteworthy that this famous dictionary combines both words to use as an example in two completely separate definitions!

The question

In Where were you when? I mused about what the Biblical characters Job and king David had learned and perceived through divine revelation about the formation of the heavens. I’d spotted that the ancient Aramaic had used an intriguing and revealing term to describe an inherent function of the heavens. So I penned my own thoughts on this, as below. Logically, they led into the sentence shown in bold, but of which I’d had no fore-thought whatsoever::

‘This revelation of the Lord to David clearly ascribes not only a poetic description (as in sound/voice/language – NB. not light) but also a knowledge, or rather, an operational intelligence or ‘business’! That is, a supra-natural function. Furthermore, this sets the rationale, or tenor, for all subsequent verses. These first verses clearly state a case for ‘intelligent design’ of the universe. But more than that – they imply a distinct intelligence implanted within that design’s tangible manifestation, do they not? Or maybe not so?’

After proof-reading the draft, I took literary licence and inserted, ‘IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE? ANYONE WHO KNOWS THE ANSWER?’ as though calling out to the heavens for information.

A book

I’d run off a hardcopy of the draft for checking over lunch and then carried on where I’d left off reading in Quantum Glory. This book explores the intersection between the two realities of quantum mechanics and the glory of God. In his highly recommended book Phil Mason opens by briefly considering the hype over quantum physics and how it’s been hijacked by New Age metaphysics. This is because this post-Einstein science of investigating the dynamics of the energy of light and of sub-atomic particles has boggled the best brains! Mathematicians as well as scientists had to think ‘outside’ the box’ in order to comprehend how it could all work – the maths was solid and got confirmed experimentally, BUT it was all so weird. By ordinary, ‘classical’ scientific laws and principles it was just illogical!

Phil Mason explains some scientists presumed the concepts of Eastern mysticism were relevant to quantum dynamics, and New Agers were quite ready to presume that it was indeed so. His discussion quotes many scientists and he draws this conclusion:

The presence of trained quantum physicists who have not embraced any elements of quantum mysticism is itself a clear indicator that the real issue is a predetermined worldview.

His second chapter is an easy-to-read introduction to the world of quantum science. It takes me back to my schooldays of maths, physics and chemistry ‘A’ levels – and to the hippy hey-day of the late 1960s. In those days I was searching for any common thread between science, philosophy and religions and thus this conjunction of quantum theory and New Age beliefs and ideas seemed to hold a key.

An answer

Upon continuing from where I’d read to, Phil’s commentary astounded me because it matches the logical conclusion I’d drawn only an hour beforehand. On page 66 he refers to experiments that make electrons change their behaviour depending on how they will be detected (!!) and explains :

It is a unique property of the quantum world that sub-atomic particles have the capacity of being in two places at the same time. In our macroscopic world of classical physics the last thing we would expect is to see someone bilocate right before our eyes so that suddenly they can be in two places at the same time. Yet in the counter intuitive world of the quantum universe this is exactly what is going on all the time…(emphases added)

Now, here’s what smacked me right between the eyes:

The question is: How does the electron intuitively know it is being observed? Does it have its own internal intelligence? How does it know when a detector is hidden behind the double-slot? How does it know when the detector is not switched on so that it can pass through both slits without being observed?

Scientist have devised all sorts of interesting experiments to try and figure out what is going on, but it seems the mystery of the quantum world is still largely impenetrable to rational explanation.

Hmmm…baffling, but methinks science is catching up with scripture!

An instance of that in connection with divine healing is given in Part 2 along with a brief, high-level introduction to the theory of quantum mechanics based upon this book.

[ALSO see Richard’s Watch: On Engaging Time]

On the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses a matter shall be confirmed…

Posted on Thursday, 6 June, 2013 by Richard Barker

Thus states Deuteronomy 19:15 (NASB) about testifying at an inquiry, or any other situation. This principle was also used at the first church council in Jerusalem, whereof Dr Luke recorded the decision to allow Gentile (non-Jewish) believers in Jesus Christ to be in fellowship with Jewish believers:

²⁸It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: ²⁹You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. [Acts 15]

Are there times when the Lord draws your attention to certain scriptures and principles by their repetition, even through another person or something else? For me this can happen one day after another, or even during a church service. My latest should be shared but first, if you’ve not read the previous post’s comments, please let me explain.:

PS to previous post

After publishing that last post I had some reservations about its tone and how it had grown beyond a brief ‘roundup’ of the first two press sources, with my remarks of 2011, into a piece with more depth. I’d run off a hardcopy of the draft to check over lunch and the idea dropped into mind it would be better to start with scripture, specifically verses from the closing chapter of Paul’s earliest letter (to the church in Galatia).

Having done that I also included a bit from Bill Koenig before some of Walid Shoebat’s main piece. To clarify it all a conclusion was needed but, devoid of any earlier thought whatsoever, I found myself referring to Obama’s LGBT agenda. And this flowed straight into revisiting Galatians 6 with a pointer for this month as, ‘God is not mocked month’!

I wasn’t sure about it. Could I unwittingly have put a prophetical timing on this issue?

The next morning I read Beth’s contribution to that post and in which she referred to Dutch Sheets’ Reaction to the Election. I’ve quoted him occasionally but was unaware of this, which he concludes with Holy Spirit’s reply about unanswered prayers, as follows:

“Your prayers and worship did prevail…though not in the way you wanted. Because of them, however, I will now deal with this man who has mocked Me and My laws.”

Two more friends of mine had dreams in which Barack Obama was named Belshazzar (see Daniel 5). This was the ruler in Babylon who saw a hand writing on the wall of his palace—as he and his friends were mocking God. The ominous message written by the hand of God was, “You have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.” The writing went on to say Belshazzar’s reign would end.
I don’t know what form the judgment of the Lord will take, but I am quite confident that God has put up with all of the mocking He intends to from Barack Obama, and that Daniel 5 is now his passage. I say this without malice or ill will, but nonetheless, confidently.

Also in my email was advice of Gillan Scott’s latest on the voting for same-sex marriage in the House of Lords. I opened up his webpage to scan its full content and at the close was reader Hazel’s brief comment, which closes,

If you replace the word gay with sodomite, the Bible is quite clear about it. God is not mocked.

WOW – two sisters and myself witnessing independently to a specific theme that the renowned intercessor and prophetical prayer warrior had received of the Lord. Ancient scripture attests that this is one way a matter is confirmed, or as in some translations, ‘established’.

Therefore, I can only conclude He is about to move in a significant way, AND we were prophetically informed only last week of the “coming great clash between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light”, as reported herein. Most interesting times…

SO, WATCH OUT!

Let’s lift up our heads for our redemption draws nigh…the Lord bless you and keep you.

Prophetic praise and worship

Posted on Thursday, 30 May, 2013 by Richard Barker

Something ‘weird’ happened after writing that last piece. In fact, I’d intended tackling a higher priority of fulfilling a promise to respond to comments I’d made on another blog. But I thought – or maybe was reminded! – it was more important to cover the prophetic word Lydia delivered in worship. So I blogged about that instead and finished by midday in time for lunch and our preparing for a church group meeting here that afternoon.

When all assembled were refreshed and had chatted, pastor circulated a hand-out that she wanted us to consider – Prophetic Praise and Worship….what a ‘God-incident’!

In my opinion, its following fast on the heels of the morning’s matter underscores and confirms the accuracy and importance of the prophetic word I’d only just written about.

Here, with permission, are some of that paper’s pertinent points for your edification:

First, for any believer who’s uneasy with prophecy, here’s the scriptural warrant for its incorporation into worship – NIV quotations:

The Prophetic Nature of Praise and Worship

1 Samuel 10:5-6 “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.

2 Chron 29:5 He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets.

Revelation 19:9-10 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” ¹⁰At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

Therefore:

The word of God that testifies about Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy,
The testimony that Jesus gave through His life style is in the Spirit of prophecy,
The testimony we give of Him in praise and worship is in the Spirit of prophecy,
As we testify about Him in praise and worship the Spirit of prophecy is released.

Characteristics of Praise and Worship

It is vital in the preparation of the Bride for the great day,
We must be willing to go with the flow of the prophetic anointing and expect it in our worship services,
Prophecy means: communicating under divine inspiration by…
speaking/singing out what Holy Spirit is saying to the Church – listen!
scripture exhorts us to desire the prophetic gifting:

1 Cor 14:1-3 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. ²For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. ³But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.

Num 11: 26-29 … Yet the Spirit also rested on (Eldad and Medad), and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷A young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ ²⁸Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since youth, spoke up and said, ‘Moses, my lord, stop them!’ ²⁹But Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!’

The Language of Prophetic Praise and Worship

The language of love; the Bridegroom wooing the Bride and her response to Him
The song of the LORD, the Bridegroom and the Bride
Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
Flowing in the gifts of Holy Spirit
Proclamation of salvation, redemption, victory, glory, power etc of the Trinity
Proclamation of judgement and victory over Satan
Proclamation of future events – as by Lydia on Sunday; Julie Meyer in October.

[Courtesy of Heart After God Ministries, Rev Ron and Lindi Masters, South Africa. Lindi moved into international ministry some time after Ron went home to the Lord.]

Revd John Kilpatrick: a season change

Posted on Thursday, 11 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ²until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Thus opens Luke’s account of Holy Spirit’s activity through the Apostles: Acts 1)

I wonder, could ‘God-incidence’ be one way of learning about the Kingdom? After all, we’re now in the church calendar’s post-Resurrection period.

Cynics and atheist’s would claim there’s no such thing as God-incidence – it’s fanciful imagination or, at best, only the coincidence of chance. Or it’s simply serendipity: the happy, beneficial occurrence of random, chance events. To believers in Jesus Christ, however, ‘God-incidence’ is just one of many blessings of being in a relationship with Him – especially when it’s instructive about Him and His ways. For example,

The day immediately after my hearing about God bringing a new season, as related by Dr Sharon Stone and associates here in UK, we heard pastor John Kilpatrick over the ‘pond’ in Alabama tell his congregation what he’d heard the Lord say. John introduced his message as follows.:

I got a message I couldn’t wait to preach this morning because every-thing that I’ve talked about so far is relevant. Man! Are y’all ready for this?….I studied all of Friday night at home…I went to bed…I woke about two in the morning and was awake ’til about six…as I lay there awake on the bed, Holy Spirit was just talking to me….

Man, I saw something…I should have seen it…I didn’t even think about it…I’d been busy with other things…but Holy Spirit brought it to my memory right there in the stillness of my bedroom…and the Lord said,

“Tell My people I have brought about a season change.”

John then considered the stresses of life and difficult issues where folk wonder why prayer isn’t doing anything to help and question the lack of response from God. Sound pastoral teaching edifies and encourages everyone. So we unreservedly recommend this for readers who need a strong uplift in their spirit.

It’s interesting that John taught from the prophet Daniel’s vision of the war against the saints by the ‘little horn’ – it prevails until the Ancient of Days comes and pronounces judgement in favour of the people of the Most High:

²¹As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, ²²until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7 NIV)

To learn more, click to watch a briefer, edited version or better still, the full session. If you choose the latter then scroll to 45 minutes for the introduction. At the end John delivers several prophetical words followed by brief, closing worship. At 1hr 46m pastor briefly teaches everyone how to best receive his message and those words. Now this is astounding because what he instructs matches precisely what had been given to me only 6 hours earlier!!! Surely, this serendipity can only have been of God!

(At that morning’s service here, our minister taught about the prophetic gifting and we then practised prophesying over one another. One person had a picture for me that connects directly into and enhances an important one from 1996! Then, 6 hours later, the pastor over in the States used the same concept for everyone…WOW.)

So, dear reader, should you be in need of encouragement for whatever reason then do take time to watch, take in the teaching and wait on Holy Spirit’s words of wisdom. Be interactive! And He’s going to bring more next Sunday…

May you be mightily blessed by our Lord Jesus.

Note for new readers:

A string of over a dozen ‘coincidences’ last year connected to Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Bells was crowned by a God-incident validating that trail’s blessed origin. I learned serendipity is one of four Biblical laws for advancing the Kingdom of God. Next, upon first hearing New Zealander Ian Clayton I noted his describing serendipity in my own terms as being like an orchestra – I doubt he’d read my blog! He considers serendipity to be an activity of God’s Spirit of Wisdom (as in Isaiah 11:2).]

Now is Come the Time to Change Your Focus

Posted on Wednesday, 10 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

Yet another word ‘dove-tailing’ (as one would expect) with what the Lord is revealing today. It’s like a holy weft being woven in the Bride’s wedding dress, or the veil which will cover our glorious radiance…

“A season unlike anything I’ve lived in” – Dr Sharon Stone

Posted on Tuesday, 9 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
²For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
³The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3 NKJV)

Note that verse two begins in the imperative mood, ‘Behold!’, or ‘See’ (as in the New International Version of the Holy Bible) – ie. notice and look at how dark the earth has become with a gross/thick (KJV/NIV) darkness upon everyone – rather like today, is it not? Without itemising everything evil that’s afflicting unbelievers and secular leaders most rational folk can tell that a form of unnatural darkness is overtaking mankind.

Transformational and Increasing Glory of God

Now however, there is far more than hope, there’s the supra-natural light that originates in and comes from the Living God. In last Saturday’s mentoring day, Dr Sharon Stone developed upon the opening theme of her prophetic words for 2013. As before, she stresses that busy-ness prevents encountering the glory of God.:

“Right now”, says Sharon, “We’re in a time when we need to cultivate the glory of God in our lives and you need time to be able to do that. And to be glory carriers that attract the glory of God you need to be ‘set apart’. So if you’re so busy you don’t have that time you end up with a theology of God’s glory rather than the intimacy and the relationship, and the presence and the power that the glory of God has the ability to bring.

“I love the scripture that says we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God because…(it can also) mean we were intended to live in the glory of God. And so we have to get to a place where God is restoring that back to us. When Jesus brought us into restoration, glory is one of the things He’s restoring us to.

“Glory can come when we spend time in the manifest presence of Jesus. But we are in a season unlike anything I’ve ever lived in before, one where His glory is more readily available to us than at any time I’ve ever seen. And we’re seeing more of His glory being poured out, we’re hearing of more encounters with the Presence of the Lord – it’s no longer being a wonderful testimony of one out of a thousand people any more, but you’re hearing 99 out of a 100 talking about encounters with the Lord…

“And here’s the reason why we’re talking more about this: we believe the prophetic consensus of the season we’re in is as in Isaiah 60 [see above and full text here].

A definition of God’s glory

“Let me give you a definition: the glory of God is the fullness of ALL that God is and ALL that He has…it is part of His provision, His miracles, His blessings upon you…there is nothing that you desire that is not in the glory of God…

“In that scripture we have contradiction: great glory and great darkness upon the earth. That’s always been a contradiction, but what is different about it right now, there is an extreme in this area now…No longer is it just darkness and glory, now it is great, gross, darkness – but it is not only the glory of Jesus but now it’s also His Presence and His glory rising up on you – and it’s going to bring an attraction of others to you…”

Sharon considers the contrasts in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and reads verses 7-9, which the NIV heads as The Greater Glory of the New Covenant. The NKJV has:

⁷But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, ⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. ¹⁰For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. ¹¹For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

¹²Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— ¹³unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹⁵But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But 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 by the Spirit of the Lord.

“There have been those who have been able to put up with your words and overlook you, but they’re not going to be able to ignore the glory that God is going to put on you! (As explained in those latter verses) there is something about the glory of God that is now going to separate you out from others around about you (and those verses) mean the glory is going to be visible to one or more of the five (natural) senses…

“So that means people around you are going to be able to see something, hear some-thing, taste something, feel something or smell something. The glory that’s going to manifest upon us in this day is going to be a mighty, a mighty, witnessing tool and I believe that once we learn to cultivate the glory of God, once we learn how to carry the glory of God, once we know how to attract the glory of God, we’re going to see that it affects relationships around about us….”

So, my reader, it was a privilege to receive such teaching of which this brings a glimpse of a tremendously blessed day. Sharon spoke of her first encounter of the glory when a young pastor and of later learning how to endure its weightier power – verse 16 is key.

At the close, fellow prophets brought words from the Lord, one of which reminded me of what the Lord had once brought to my attention regarding the Wedding of the Bride and Lamb-Lion of God of Rev 21:9). (That insight is recounted in Revival:1 – glory stories.) But what happened in these precious moments cannot be conveyed…

I have learned to be no longer surprised by our God of Surprises because those words and ensuing worship brought time forward and took us deeply in our spirits to…

Our a copy of this prophetic painting was received on Easter Saturday, and about which I wrote in the last two posts. So it’s no wonder I was also hit hard by and had to re-blog “Come, and do not delay, for the hour is near and I would have you for my Bride”!

Of particular interest are James Nesbit’s notes about the origin and connection of this painting to its inspirational predecessor:

May these images speak to you and bring you revelation, light and prophetic insight into the eternal purposes of the King and His Kingdom.

Come, and Do Not Delay, for the Hour is Near and I Would Have You for my Bride

Posted on Monday, 8 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

OH MY, Oh my…how well this word weighs with the closing thoughts of my previous post. I wanted to schedule this ‘re-blog’ for Saturday but that facility’s not available. Yet it just so happened on Saturday that Rev Dr Stone taught on the increasing, transformational glory of God being released. It is now more accessible than ever before and this school of prophets were highly blessed to sense the Bride meeting her Groom (as in the place of ‘Arrival’ – see previous). Words are inadequate to describe what happened but which strongly confirms this re-blogged prophetic word! Amen

Has God’s alarm clock gone off?

Posted on Thursday, 4 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

Three weeks ago today, 14th March, I received an ‘alarm call’ from Lyn F which fired me up to write about the choice of the new Pope. Upon first glance, her email and my response (Is Pope Francis the prophesied Petrus Romanus?) may seem unconnected but ‘over coffee’ I considered if that prophecy may be of God.

Meanwhile, Lyn has sought the Lord about distributing her brief email beyond a circle of friends and He gave her the go-ahead for me to publish. First, for those unfamiliar with the workings of the Holy Spirit, I should explain that when he communicates with our own spirit there is usually a distinct sense of inward contact. For sensitively attuned folk this can also be felt as a warmth, or surge of electricity, or sharp gasp of breath, or an inexplicable urge to double up as though someone’s hit our knee from behind…These various ways may even be combined for they’re all so individually personal. We notice, for example, a look of surprise on Lyn’s face as she involuntarily exclaims, “HO!”.

Here’s a copy of the email, with Lyn’s blessing.:

Prophetic Stuff

After something that happened this morning I really feel I must discharge some of the words I have witnessed to in the spirit recently (in fact since 1st March).

The HO’s! have increased in frequency and volume. First some of the words –

We are nearing World War III.
Behold I do a new thing.
The world is spiralling into hell.
You can’t bargain with the enemy.

Then this morning as I woke up and looked at my digital radio clock. It showed 8.33. I dragged myself out of bed thinking my husband would be up and about but found he was still asleep…He has the exactly the same type of clock, it showed the time as exactly 2 hours earlier than mine!! His clock was correct.

Very puzzled I returned to bed and listened to a podcast in the hope of returning to sleep but no, another big Ho!

There isn’t much time left.
There is such an urgency in my spirit.

Love and blessings

Note: I replied about how and why this had struck my spirit and asked her to seek the Lord about sharing it more widely. On 21st March came her reply:

Looks fine Richard. You may wish to add the latest –

There isn’t much time left. It’s later than you think.

Oh my, no wonder there is such a sense of urgency!

RB’s Observations:

1. The email’s content met with resonant confirmation in my own spirit (per Acts 15:28), mainly in grasping the significance of the 2 hours time difference between alarm clocks. Lyn was awakened and thought her time was correct but found it ahead of the actual time. This suggests she should be awake and alert before everyone else because they are on ‘ordinary’ time, and their ‘clock’ will wake them to what’s going to happen as they all begin a new day. In other words, God’s waking her up in advance to alert others that something significant is to happen, about which He’s already given her clues!

2. Here was a twelfth reference to God doing a ‘new thing’, but the tenor of these brief words confirmed the next post I’d started writing only the day before I got Lyn’s email. That draft is headed ‘Is God baring His arm?’ Also, I was struck that this must include the election of the new Pope – as in the proverb, ‘A new broom sweeps clean’. Perhaps radical changes are in store for not only the Roman Catholic Church but the whole body of Christ?

3. When we first met Lyn and her husband in February 2012 she confided about three sightings of naval activity and sensing the Lord saying “War” each time. As she had no knowledge of current developments I told her about the massive build-up of American, NATO and Russian fleets in Persian Gulf, Red Sea and eastern Med that had featured in latest intelligence reports published by Debka in connection with Iran.

So, I recognise Lyn’s gifting and sensing international tensions with the Lord’s warnings of war. North Korea has threatened the USA with nuclear attack and declared a state of war against South Korea. Its military is now authorised to use such weapons!

John McTernan’s North Korea Watch Update provides informative background links on this dangerous issue, as well as scripturally relevant events in the States. In my opinion, their stance is directly connected to Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and its ally NK’s bellicose threats are probably designed to counter western strategies for dealing with Iran; which can now respond ‘check’ to its opponents’ strategic options in this chess game.

< Update 9 April – Iranian state TV announced yesterday their president had unveiled 2 more uranium-processing facilities in central Iran…In case this show of defiance is lost on the West, Tehran is also threatening to follow its North Korean partner and withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the wake of the failure of latest negotiations in Kazakhstan. These broke up without any date for resumption after Tehran refused outright to curb its enrichment program in exchange of the partial easing of sanctions, demanding world powers acknowledge the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich uranium under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)…Its exit would mean the nuclear watchdog would no longer have monitoring access to Iran’s known nuclear sites and, like N Korea which expelled the inspectors, could carry on enriching uranium and developing its nuclear weapons program without international oversight. Such steps plus NK’s restarting its nuclear facilities last week and missile tests further boost the nuclear collaboration between both nations – see Debka report.>

4. The above words suggest not only military battles but also battles for souls because so many deceptive doctrines are spreading through the western church – see my earlier posts on the spiritual avalanche of false teachings (eg. on grace) and the possibly dire effect upon homosexual believers.

5. In the event of either 3 and/or 4 we cannot, nor should we, compromise with the enemy!

As regards the significance of the time-lapse, this was confirmed inadvertently when our friend forwarded a link to James Nesbit’s prophetic painting – Arrival. (Click for gallery of ‘Bridal Collection’.) It was inspired 105 weeks after its predecessor, Awaiting the King. The astute reader will espy and understand the sequence in a theme which is directly relevant to todays’ times and troubles as we approach the Great Tribulation.

Postscript:

Lyn advises that her husband has found definitions of Ho! on the internet, viz:

This seems to fit exactly as I thought but he can’t find it now > ‘an affirmation of Jehovah (of what has been or is about to be said)’. Albert Barnes notes on the Bible – ‘Ho! The word is designed to call attention to the subject as one of importance (the words are not of the prophet, but of the Lord)’. Mathew Henry commentary – ‘Ho, take notice of it’. [Interesting!]

Is the ‘Petrus Romanus’ prophecy of God?

Posted on Thursday, 21 March, 2013 by Richard Barker

“I really, really didn’t mean to do that!” confess I to Kenny, just after meeting him for morning coffee at the cyber-cafe.

“What do you mean? The PS?” he asked, referring to the reason for his invitation.

“No! I mean the whole thing…I’d already started something else the day before. So Iast Thursday I was going to finish and publish it. There was a sense of unease…I couldn’t put my finger on it…but it was to do with my last blog, What’s God up to?”

“I’m all ears! Give me your take on the situation, especially that bit you recommended – I’ve read it”, prompts Kenny.

We carry the coffee and yummies I’d ordered to our table by the window. It just so happens, Tony turns up, as do you too, my reader. So bring your Cuppas over and join us for a chat – we may be some time…

(Excellent timing, my wife has just called out, “Coffee’s ready!”.)

“Now Richard, tell us about last Thursday.”

I begin by saying I observe ‘cyber-silence’ over our 3-day weekend, and evenings too.

“So, on Thursdays I try to finish what’s on-hand from the week. I start as soon as I can after 9.30 am, but last Thursday it was sunny and warm for once and a bit of shopping needed to be done first.

“I’d got a newspaper but didn’t dig into it as I was quite late getting online, and a couple of unusually long calls interrupted this. So I was a couple of hours behind and had run out of steam. Now this is quite unusual, I’ve not yet had writer’s block! I’d planned to follow up my last post with more on God’s ‘tsunami’. But I was completely blank. It had dropped into my brain’s ‘pending’ tray!

“How do you guys start your day online? I glance at headlines on World Watch Daily and Debka headlines, as well as three other blogs that don’t drop posts into my in-tray, as well as scan and ditch 20 or more emails.

“There was one email sharing a download a friend had received from the Lord. Now that really plugged me in! We’d met Bob and Lyn a year ago, found not only were we on the same wavelength but also that they knew of my friend John’s mission in Ghana as well as Paul, who directs HOTS in Bath.

“At that time, Lyn shared bits she’d sensed about naval preparations for war and I gave her details of serious activities in the Med and Gulf. I know her sensitivity to Holy Spirit and have high regard for the new items on grave international matters. An inexplicable 2 hour difference in her alarm clocks confirms, to my mind, the great urgency stirring in her spirit. Part of what Lyn received is, “Behold I do a new thing”.

“In an instant, lack of drive disappeared. I was galvanised into action!

“Next, upon scanning just a few headlines I knew what to blog. Like in this image, it was as though the Lord had put His finger on a headline to draw my attention to the alleged Malachy prophecies. I honestly didn’t want to go there! As well as what I’d already started (Is God baring His arm?), a number of ideas have been lodged too long in my ‘pipeline’.

“Also, I didn’t want to do anything that was connected with my pre-Christian life or stray away from Biblical matters.

“I asked the Lord, if it’s not out of order to cover this, please bless what I write. I typed out new thoughts as they sprang to mind, which is not my usual way at all. Later in the day, when all’s done and dusted, I hit ‘publish’.

“Next – again for no particular reason – I dug into Google for anything else on this news. It seems the Lord directed me to yet another about Malachy’s visions, but by a Catholic priest. Upon reading his sound report, I was pleasantly surprised to find he, too, viewed the motto for Pope Francis positively – unlike evangelical commentators! Hence my adding a postscript to the post.” (See Is Pope Francis ‘Petrus Romanus’?)

“What do you think?”

We kick this around between us. I add there was a clear sense of satisfaction, which is quite rare, and which also left me with a distinct sense of peace. Despite initial setbacks everything just flowed. Thus, that impetus did come from God.

“So this all arose out of a word from the Lord about ‘a new thing’?”

“Yes. And on Saturday I saw Gillan had picked on this from a very different aspect and I commented about this on his blog. But then I questioned myself, checked through my blog for prophetic words on this matter and wrote about them.”

“Everything since last Thursday’s item on Pope Francis has been unscheduled, never on my ‘to do’ list!”

Kenny kindly reminds me, “What’s your take on ‘Catholic in the Ozarks’ or Shane Schaetzel’s, The Pope, the Antichrist and Peter The Roman?”

“Let’s top up our Cuppas and I’ll tell you. Then we may figure out if Malachy’s visions came from God”.

Click to continue > >

Chatting over morning coffee…

Posted on Thursday, 7 March, 2013 by Richard Barker

… at a garden centre with ‘C’ yesterday covered some points about this blog. So, if you too had thought of them you may like this paraphrase of our chat.:

First

As a subscriber to this blog my long-time friend had opportunity to see the reblog from God and Politics I’d posted only earlier that morning. So, his first remark was,

“Praiseworthy as it is, what’s Christians Against Poverty got to do with your blog? Your by-line is Looking for signs of Jesus’ return…?”

My answer was; Christians need to be aware that the sociopolitical spectrum acts not only as a backdrop to but also as indicators which validate prophesied signs. ‘Aware’, that is, of global and, especially, Middle-Eastern events lining up to fulfill prophecies of two or more millenia ago. [This one of the major planks demonstrating the distinctive authority and reliability of Judeo-Christian scripture.]

More importantly, to prepare ourselves for our role in the return of the King of Kings, Christians should be concerned about, if not actively improving, the political and social scene. Thus my blog covers not a few Parliamentary-related issues, which is where my cyber-friend Gillan’s work is particularly important. It’s also a way of taking an evangelical stand, as evident from his comments upon my reblog,

…It’s great to be able to share this sort of news telling people about the Gospel in action.

Furthermore, I recounted for the first time to my brother the open vision on the state of the nation with which I’d been presented in 2004. I’d heard the Lord’s observation and intention about Britain. Validation of the vision resulted in my later emails encouraging friends to take a stand upon the emerging Rock, Jesus Christ. [For full details click on Comments upon the collapse of Society. Recognised prophetical voices had already spoken of a global shaking, as well as a sifting within the wider church per Hebrews 12 – click for related posts in this blog.]

Secondly

I took the opportunity to share with ‘C’ how the Lord ‘communicates’ whilst I’m blogging. Although I’ve got a long list of material and try not to be deviated, other things often grab my attention, as though being presented to me! So, I was very pleased to find this suitable free image from a quick google search.

By way of illustration, I told ‘C’ of inexplicably spotting an old, unread email and knowing it should go in Monday’s Newsmix. Without vetting it as normal however, I’d inserted it after just a cursory scan. Only afterwards in taking a hardcopy ‘to lunch’ did I find it to be an ideal choice.

Such discoveries can often be inter-connected, as though the Lord is sewing a thread in a tapestry. (Hence, the ‘train of thoughts’ on Abiding in God’s Word.)

Thirdly

‘C’ was most uneasy, to put it mildly, to have learnt from this week’s posts about the US President’s unusually radical Cairo Speech. He expressed surprised at a June ’09 date of my reference because I’ve blogged for only 15 months. So I said my old emails had been inserted for reference purposes (see About).

Also, reflecting upon Raymond Stock’s conclusion I’d realised it echoed the opinion of Sir Winston Churchill in 1899 about the unchanging, dangerous nature of Islamic fanaticism. [Source; The River War unabridged 2-volume edition. I quoted from this under the sub-head ‘Yes and No, Prime Minister’ following on from my thoughts on PM Cameron’s comments on Al Qaeda.] This increasing irrationality was recognised over 110 years ago and too many leaders have failed to learn the lessons of history. According to the well-known proverb, they’re certain to repeat its mistakes!

BUT…

How does it all fit into last November’s prayer request and prophetic word for President Obama? The Lord has all things under His hand and I’m suitably chastened to recall He expects us to pray for leaders.

So, our prayer blessing and decree for yesterday morning is quite fitting.:

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life (Proverbs 14:27)

We decree that the reverential fear of the Lord will fall upon those who are in positions of authority in our nations. We bless the fountain of life as it flows through the corridors of power, bringing life and refreshing wherever it flows. [Courtesy: House of Glory: Keep Praying and Bless]

Amen.

PURSUE LIGHT!

Posted on Wednesday, 27 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

‘God-smacked’ again! Two friends told me about sensing light during prayer this week. To confirm and draw my attention to the importance of this, a 3rd report has now come! The opening scripture below from Glasgow Prophetic Centre has been stressed by many prophetical voices for the past year or so. In my opinion, therefore, it would be well to contemplate and weigh these words, to which I’ve added this appropriate shot.:

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

From a heavenly perspective I saw the nations below: within each nation were individual, bright, dazzling white lights, surging with power. These lights are individual people, glowing with hunger for God – those who are crying out for the more of His manifest presence. They burn brightly with a ‘white heat’ in the spirit realm, reflecting God’s light and life and transforming the atmosphere. And there are more than we would at first realise.

As we pour ourselves out and seek the more of God, He increases the intensity of that heat and light which radiates from us, emanating further and radiantly covering more area (in the natural realm).

I heard God say,

“I am drawn to those who are drawn to me. Just as one magnet is drawn to another, as you pursue Me with all of your heart I see you and respond to your heart cry of, ‘More Lord, increase in me’. I will increase the brightness of your shining. I will increase the reach of where and how you illuminate everything around you. I am increasing the reach of your shining.”

The Lord asks you today to pursue Him, so that the brightness of His illumination might be reflected in you. And to ask for the increase, the intensity – the luminosity of His magnificent brilliance – to be mirrored in you.

Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day

Footnote: Regular readers may not have had the opportunity yet to follow-up my recommendation to visit David and Emma Stark’s website and consider receiving their team’s daily word. Should you wish to do so, here’s the link for Lion Bites.

When we come together…the Body of Christ

Posted on Wednesday, 27 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

Amen…A note of this post by Tony was delivered by ‘God-incidence’ just now to my in-tray. It’s amazingly appropriate because, after waking this morning, I was contemplating how the Lord connects and reveals things to me as a thread or ‘train’ of scripture, teaching, thoughts and insights – but then the idea of them also being pieces of a jigsaw dropped (appropriately?) into mind! So thank you Lord for this vision, and to Tony for publishing it…

My Dreams and Visions

1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be
done so that the church may be built up.

The Lord showed me a vision 02/26/2013 and in this vision I saw people gathered around an oval table. The table was low to the ground so that you had to sit on the floor. The people I saw sitting there around the table each had a piece of a puzzle. As they all worked together, the image on the puzzle began to take shape and when they were finished, the picture was of Jesus Christ. He was the center of the meeting. Each one had to do his part in finishing the puzzle and it was not left to one person to do…

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Paws-4-thought: more encouragement

Posted on Monday, 25 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

After publishing three morsels of Lion Bites last Thursday I thought it may have been rather a rushed job, for my mind was on my next tasks. Upon reflection, I thought I’d been too hasty, especially as that was what it had been like all week. Even so, I was reminded to focus upon those encouraging words. And the Lord was to surprise me with yet more morsels…!

After bashing through a tedious task for an hour I went to buy a rare ‘treat’ – fish and chips! (It makes a pleasant change from a cooked evening meal.) Although it’s less than 3 minutes walk to the ‘chippy’ it usually entails a 10 minute wait at such a busy time.

So I took what I’m reading – Healing Unplugged. Billed as ‘Up close and personal: behind the scenes with Bill Johnson and Randy Clark’, this is a transcript of a teaching video where they interviewed one another on how their healing ministries started and developed. It is minimal on historical details yet the book provides lots of insights and advice. A fascinating read!

Nina and I have often heard both leaders’ exceptional teaching, and Randy is one of the most humble servants of Christ. So, waiting in the chippy I was thoroughly engrossed in reading about the confession of his shortcomings in faith for healing. He proceeds to tell Bill of a breakthrough in his understanding of the vital importance of corporate faith.

Randy spoke about his first visit to Bill’s church in Bethel, Redding California, when God impressed upon him to ask for healings the way that Abraham had asked for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared, but Randy should count the other way round! That is, he was to ask for an increasing number of people to be healed as a number that he had faith for God to heal. (Genesis 18 refers.)

At first 25 were healed. Randy said to the congregation, “I just felt as though God spoke to me”. He asked them, “Do you think God is tired?”. “No!” they replied. “Do you think He’s run out of power?” he continued. “No!” they said. Again, he received the same impression from God and as the number was incrementally raised they ended up with 135 healings.

So someone asked why he hadn’t said one hundred at first. The answer was simple – he didn’t have the faith for that number. But his faith grew gradually by increasing the size of his request of God.

As his faith increased Randy would often use that strategy. On one occasion in a large church in Brazil a translator who’d seen him do that many times told him, “You need to ask for more”. “Oh yeah, how many do you think?” he replied. Randy told Bill she announced a huge number in the region of 150-200, “And she said it right out loud in front of everybody!”

How did Randy react and what happened? Continue below and discover an important principle about the miraculous that Randy was about to learn.:

WOW, what words of wonder to ponder with our fish and chips – a spiritual feast as well as bodily feast. Makes me wonder what else the multitude received from Jesus whilst His disciples handed round a few loaves and fish from a boy’s ‘butty-box’! (See John 6.)

Abiding in God’s Word

Posted on Monday, 18 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

Jesus told the Jews who believed Him, , “IF you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32 emphasis added)

COME, take a train ride with me and consider the relevance of Jesus’ claim for today.

Why on a train? Another intriguing ‘train’ of thoughts and insights is about to pass by, like one of those old-time steam locomotives. They amble along, which allows time for passengers to chat as well as to explore carriages. I can rummage around looking for any interesting ‘cargo’ and such ‘trunks’ often hold hidden gems. Also, conversation with passengers may bring a confirmation, an affirmation or even a revelatory word from the Lord. So won’t you go back three weeks and share my latest ‘trip’ with me?

It’s a free ride, so no need to buy a ticket as we dash through to the platform where its entrance acts as a ‘portal’ and we jump back three weeks in time. On board this short, now moving train we’re welcomed by a kaleidoscopic collection of inter-linked thoughts and insights. Let’s check what’s in this first carriage before we move further along the train…

1st ‘carriage’

Here I sit to dig out of my briefcase some prophetic words I’d been given in 1996 (see Why I’m writing). This sheet of paper opens by stating how the day started with a call from someone who’d heard the Lord instruct them to call me with verses 3, 5 and 9 in the Book of Joshua. Re-reading that first chapter now, however, my gaze fixes upon verses 6 to 8 leading into verse 9 and some words seem to have an added emphasis, as below.:

[¹After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ²“Moses my servant is dead. Now then…]⁷…Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

My study Bible says this account of the Israelite tribes’ journey into the land that the God of Abraham had promised him and his descendants was written about 3,400 years ago! I note the fact that Moses’ closest assistant was told to keep entirely focused upon what Moses wrote and upon nothing else. Only by so doing would Joshua and all his people prosper, and God would be with them where they were about to go!

[What Moses wrote is known as the Pentateuch, a Greek term meaning ‘five-volumed book’ and derived from its Jewish designation, ‘five-fifths of the law’. The Israelites knew it as ‘Torah’, meaning ‘instruction’. It is the first five books of the Old Testament: namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.[

Then came an insight: the Torah was the only Standing Instruction this national leader had for his guidance. Furthermore, it was and is the word of God – Holy Scripture. That five-fold book was all they had to believe and follow as holy writ – unlike today with 61 more books comprising later history, poetry and prophetical writings inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. The first 5 books were all Joshua had to go on! Even so, God promised to be with him.

So, about 3,400 years ago Joshua had his instructions but must have gained so much more under the oversight of the Living God. Over the next 1,400 years the descendants of those ancient Hebrews received many more writings inspired by God. And then about 2,000 years ago, God once again drew alongside them as ‘Immanuel’. [A Hebrew word meaning ‘With us is God’ and a title for Jesus Christ, as used by the OT prophet Isaiah when he prophesied Jesus’ virgin birth 700 years earlier – Isaiah 7:14 refers.]

By the time this later Joshua (which means ‘saviour’) lived amongst the Jews as Jesus of Nazareth, their scripture had grown from 5 to 39 authoritative books, and which are known to Christians as the Old Testament. [Some traditional Christian denominations recognise a few more books: see How many books are in the Bible?]

Jesus taught the people with an authority greater than that of their priests because His words came direct from God. [See John 8: 25-39 for His declaration on this issue and which leads into the opening verse of this blog. The last part of v 32 is often quoted but ignores the specific condition for achieving freedom – ie. abiding in God’s word.]

Within a few decades of Jesus’ life another 27 books written by apostles and disciples were recognised as being inspired by God and collated into the New Testament as a complete Bible. So we Christians have a huge Standing Instruction.

Another insight comes: As in Joshua’s time, Jesus’ first followers had God’s promise to go with them, only this time they wouldn’t be going into just the small area of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. This time Jesus, the Son of God, commissioned His followers to ‘go to the ends of the world’ after the Holy Spirit would visit and stay upon them.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. [Matthew 28:18-20]

Like Joshua, those Apostles’ and disciples’ Standing Instructions were based upon an existing body of authoritative scripture that was augmented not only by Jesus’ teachings but also by continuing personal direction from Jesus and the Father. That is, this time God’s promise to always be with them was not just for one person only but for many, and His Holy Spirit would be present within them as an endowment of power! Thus, they then lived and moved with God’s Spirit upon them.

2nd ‘carriage’

The week I’m re-visiting personal prophecies I also come across Bobby Conner’s word for 2013, Calling All Warriors. It stirs me deeply and seems so appropriate for today. (It also connects into the ‘warrior’ word from the UK Prophetic Council, as published here.)

Awaken Your Might - credit; James Nesbit www.jamesnart.com

Awaken Your Might by James Nesbit – purchase from http://www.jamesnart.net

On the Saturday, a mentoring day, I see an inspirational picture matching Bobby’s word. Also that morning, Dr Stone states that the 1st chapter of Joshua is important for these days. So I open my old NIV at that very place and grin. What do you know! As I do so Sharon emphasises her message by quoting the verses I’d just seen and which I’d highlighted many years ago (as in above image).:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:9]

I’m astounded, as you may have realised from my published account of that day (here). Sharon prophesies that the Church will be moving into what it was always meant to be like, but it will not be easy – as when Joshua led the Israelites into their Promised Land.

3rd ‘carriage’

The next day at church our minister teaches about ‘Abiding in His Word’ – and for me this directly connects into Joshua again! As we considered in the 1st carriage, ‘Abiding’ was God’s Standing Instruction to Joshua, and repeated by Jesus to His followers! The minister then opens this topic by stating:

“The Bible is not a fence that contains God, that is used to restrict Him and His works – it reveals Him! It is guide-lines to indicate who He is and what He can/will do. The Bible is a platform from which He operates!”

Next, she quotes Bill Johnson of Bethel Church, California. (It so happens I’m reading Healing Unplugged, which is a deep discussion between him and Randy Clark about their personal healing ministries. We’ve listened enthralled to Bill several times for he greatly loves teaching from the Word, thereby giving listeners fresh insights.) Now, our minister quotes him as follows:

“It’s hard to have the same fruit as the early Church when you value a book they didn’t have more than the Holy Spirit, whom they did have.”

That reflects in part my earlier thoughts. Next, she goes on to refer to what Jesus told the Jews about God’s own testimony about Jesus being shown though the work He was doing for them:

“But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. ³⁷And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. ³⁸But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. ³⁹You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. ⁴⁰But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life…” [John 5 NKJV]

Our South African minister Lindi summarises the meaning of verse 38:

“The abiding word that is written has to become real so that it becomes the manifest Word – and then you believe and see miracles!

Sometimes we pray for revival or change and when it comes we don’t recognise it. Or, we even reject it because it doesn’t fit into our (Biblical) box…

“The abiding word is what positions us for the next thing that God is going to do!”

Wow, all this is amplifying and enhancing my meditations during the week.

4th ‘carriage’

The very next day I’m prompted – and I don’t know why I should do so – to check that a link on an old posting is working. This is the source’s homepage for The Bridegroom Cometh, but I find it’s dead! So I check again a few hours later, but this time I’m so utterly astounded to see there the picture I’d bought only two days ago and hangs in the study! (As above under ‘2nd carriage’.) Moments later Nina enters the study, sees the picture on-screen and her jaw drops!

IS IT ANY WONDER I was absolutely stunned? (As first reported here)

What is our Lord and God saying and indicating?

Can you hear Him?

May I summarise?…

God gives plenty of instructions for us to meditate upon, to follow and live by so that we will always remain, or abide, in them. In addition to that He gives us Himself – so what more could we possibly ask or want?

Here’s one of my favorites on abiding from that very special, private teaching time in the upper room on the eve of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion.:

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me…”

Then, when talking about His being the True Vine, Jesus again stresses the great importance of abiding in God’s holy word.:

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.⁹“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love…”

These are from John 14 and John 15 respectively in NKJV, but it’s much better to read the whole event and thereby gain its full context. So why not invite the Lord to be with you as you read and meditate upon chapters 13-17 of the Gospel according to John?

May He be with you in Spirit…

Our train halts in a station for a quite a while and we take a break to walk around the station. Here we find a number of civilians and military personnel dressed as though they’re in the 1940s! We recognise one distinguished figure boarding as we’re called back on board and enter the 3rd carriage to continue on our journey (click to proceed).

In case anyone’s puzzled or got questions…

Posted on Wednesday, 6 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

Readers and visitors to this blog who aren’t Christians probably have questions about the previous post’s references to a spiritual enemy. Some explanation, therefore, would be helpful for those unfamiliar with the Holy Bible, or Christian doctrine. And, in fact, the good Lord already had that in hand for you! Some timely basic doctrine behind the last post has ‘co-incidentally’ turned up.

So without further delay, I repost an email received today – Part 6 of Rick Joyner’s series on The Great Commission (Jesus’ parting instruction to His disciples, Matt 28).:

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

As we have been covering, “all authority in heaven and earth” has been given to Jesus, but He has not taken that authority over the earth yet. His kingdom is going to come, and His will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven. All of heaven lives under the domain of the King. Only Satan and the angels who followed him have rebelled from the heavenly realm and were cast down to the earth when mankind rebelled against God. Now the only rebellion against God in all of creation, the physical or spiritual realms, is found on planet earth.

John wrote that the whole earth lies in the power of the evil one. It does presently lie in his power, but as we are told in Psalms, the earth and all it contains belongs to the Lord. The authority over everything in heaven and earth is under the Lord’s domain, but He has not yet taken His authority over the earth. He could have taken dominion over the earth immediately after His resurrection, but He did not for our sakes. He left it under the domain of evil for a time for one reason—to find those who loved Him and His truth even more than they loved their own lives. They will prove this by living for Him and obeying Him against the opposition of virtually all who are on the earth and hell’s minions as well.

The Lord is all-powerful. He could dispatch of the devil and all of his demonic hordes with the flick of His finger. The Lord could have cast Satan and his hosts into the lake of fire immediately after His resurrection. He had redeemed mankind, and the earth, and it was His to take. He left it as it was for another purpose—He is seeking a bride to rule and reign with Him.

Jesus is called “the last Adam” in I Corinthians 15:45. There was a legal reason for this. The first Adam had been given dominion over the earth. When Adam succumbed to the temptation and chose to obey the evil one instead of God, Satan was able to exert his power over the earth, and we become the slaves of the one we obey. We are told in Romans 6:16:

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

When man fell, all that was under his dominion fell with him, and the earth became the domain of the devil. It was a usurped domain, but this gave the evil one power over the whole earth. The reason why Jesus had to come as a man to redeem the earth was because authority over the earth was given to mankind. This is why Jesus always referred to Himself as “the Son of Man.” Only a man who walked in perfect obedience to the Lord could redeem the earth from the consequences of man’s disobedience. Jesus perfectly fulfilled this and took back the authority over the earth that had been lost by the first Adam.

We can have authority over something and not possess it yet. We could be given a car, the title could be put in our name, and it is at the dealer waiting for us to pick it up. However, until we pick it up, it is not in our possession even though it belongs to us. The title to the earth was put in Jesus’ name immediately after the cross. He just has not come to claim His possession yet in order to allow the conditions on the earth to help prepare His bride, the church, to rule with Him.

The bride of the first Adam lived in the most perfect conditions yet chose to disobey. The bride of the last Adam, Christ, will have lived in the most difficult conditions, and against the onslaught of all the powers of darkness, she will chose to obey. No other creation of God will have endured what she will have endured, and yet she will be faithful. This will be a witness to even the principalities and powers that their time is up over the earth. Even the angels will marvel at her and consider her worthy to be their judges. She will be a worthy bride and joint heir for the Son of God.

God does not tempt us with evil, but as stated in Jeremiah 20:12 and other places, He does allow us to be tested. A test is different from a temptation, though a temptation can be a test just as it was for Adam and Eve. We are tested by the Lord to help us grow and to qualify us for advancement, just as we took tests in school to see if we could be promoted to the next grade. Advancement in the Lord includes more authority. (RB’s emphasis)

As Francis Frangipane likes to say, “You never fail one of God’s tests; you just keep taking them until you pass.” That is basically true. Israel kept going in circles for forty years in the wilderness because they could not pass certain tests that were required before they could enter their Promised Land. Many Christians do the same thing and keep going in circles in their spiritual life because they keep failing the same tests. It is now time to pass the tests and go on to possess our Promised Land.

Links:

Archive: Rick Joyner’s Word for the Week
Website: Rick Joyner’s Morning Star Ministries

	Richard Barker on Prophetic signs in the Strait…
	kittypinkad4b2ad340 on Prophetic signs in the Strait…
	Paul Morris on ‘God-incidental’ I…
	Richard Barker on Clarification on Bible prophec…
	Richard Barker on The Rowboat Prophecy – M…
	Tony on The Rowboat Prophecy – M…
	Tony on The Rowboat Prophecy – M…
	MARY K. DULLFORCE on Clarification on Bible prophec…
	MARY K. DULLFORCE on Clarification on Bible prophec…
	MARY K. DULLFORCE on Clarification on Bible prophec…

Richard's Watch

Looking for the signs of Jesus' return

Tag Archives: #God-incidents

Jesus and Israel; then, now and forever

Paws-4-thought: Christian inheritance and the End-times church

Mentoring Day part 2 – Dr Sharon Stone: Britain is at a crossroads

Postscript to ‘Note on Christian prophecy and the Apocalypse’

Does extraterrestrial intelligence exist? Part 2

Does extraterrestrial intelligence exist? Part 1

On the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses a matter shall be confirmed…

Prophetic praise and worship

Revd John Kilpatrick: a season change

Note for new readers:

Now is Come the Time to Change Your Focus

“A season unlike anything I’ve lived in” – Dr Sharon Stone

Come, and Do Not Delay, for the Hour is Near and I Would Have You for my Bride

Has God’s alarm clock gone off?

Is the ‘Petrus Romanus’ prophecy of God?

Chatting over morning coffee…

PURSUE LIGHT!

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

Footnote: Regular readers may not have had the opportunity yet to follow-up my recommendation to visit David and Emma Stark’s website and consider receiving their team’s daily word. Should you wish to do so, here’s the link for Lion Bites.

When we come together…the Body of Christ

Paws-4-thought: more encouragement

Abiding in God’s Word

In case anyone’s puzzled or got questions…

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Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

Footnote: Regular readers may not have had the opportunity yet to follow-up my recommendation to visit David and Emma Stark’s website and consider receiving their team’s daily word. Should you wish to do so, here’s the link for Lion Bites.

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