Magna Carta Unravelled – a new book

Regarding the previous posts on the 8th centenary of Magna Carta, anyone interested in its relevance in the suppression of freedom today may like to know about a recent book, Magna Carta Unravelled.

Only this past fortnight we have an example of the importance of this matter. A former lawyer, now Principal of Oak Hill Theological College in London, has stated the PM’s proposals for new “Extremism Disruption Orders” could be a “disaster area” for people from all mainstream religions, and none. In some settings, traditional Christian teaching could effectively be made a criminal offence!

No doubt Rev Dr Mike Ovey’s previous parliamentary experience drafting anti-terrorism legislation relating to the IRA has given him solid grounds for his deep reservations on this issue. (See Telegraph religious affairs editor John Bingham’s latest – published on Magna Carta’s anniversary – and earlier posts.)

Magna Carta Unravelled

The ethos of Wilberforce Publications, is to put the spotlight on aspects of contemporary politics, society and culture in the light of Christian thinking and examine their impact on individuals and communities. Published jointly with Voice for Justice UK on the charter’s anniversary, this new book is available in paperback/e-book and is described as follows:

magna-carta-3dMagna Carta is not only one of the most celebrated documents in British history, but stands as a foundation of political and religious freedom throughout the world. Yet the liberties and freedoms fought for and heralded in Magna Carta are under severe attack as controversial issues of religious freedoms, human rights, equality legislation and freedom of speech present significant challenges for our society today.

In the year of its 800th anniversary ‘Magna Carta Unravelled’ traces the Christian origins and legacy of this great Charter of liberty, focusing on the current challenges to individual liberty examined by experts with unrivalled backgrounds in politics, academic philosophy, the law and the church.

‘Magna Carta Unravelled’ is an invaluable resource, offering penetrating insights from a variety of perspectives for those seeking a thoughtful approach to issues of freedom in our nation today.

In the opinion of HH Judge David Turner QC.,

“Magna Carta continues to compel Christian people to fearlessly explore what makes for human flourishing in a liberal democracy. Any wake-up call – such as this book – is rarely comfortable, occasionally inconvenient, always unsettling; but the issues discussed, of conscience, belief and freedom, refuse to be silenced.”

Contributing authors include:

  • Baroness Cox
  • Professor Roger Trigg
  • Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali
  • Barrister Paul Diamond
  • Philip Quenby
  • John Scriven
  • Rev. Lynda Rose
  • Robert S. Harris

On 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta – or should it be 1,400th?

Today marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta to which King John affixed his seal under the demands of his barons in order to limit his regal powers. There’s more I want to tell about this than was briefly covered in the preamble to prophetical points of last month’s general election.

Also, whilst writing I’m intrigued to have received a reader’s unwitting contribution that’s made me suspect some pieces of the Lord’s invisible jigsaw are falling into place!

[The section originally appearing here has been revised in the next post.]

To recap, I noted this medieval document, “Established for the first time the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the common law of the land. The British Library states that, although nearly a third of the text was deleted or substantially rewritten within ten years, and almost all its clauses have been repealed in modern times, Magna Carta still remains a cornerstone of the British constitution. I’d add that its great influence extends to the Commonwealth’s and to the United States of America’s legal systems.”

In view of this lengthy document’s importance in world history may I encourage you to consider a few more points gleaned from my weekend reading?  (To read the articles in full and for more information then click the links shown.)

Member of the European Parliament for SE England Daniel Hannan refers to 18th Century PM William Pitt the Elder calling Magna Carta, “the Bible of the English Constitution”. He himself likens it to, “the Torah of the English-speaking peoples: the text that sets us apart while, at the same time speaking truths to the rest of humanity”.

Hannan also recognises the charter’s provisions had been prefigured to a small extent in earlier centuries, yet the document of 1215 AD was different in including an enforcement mechanism. “Instead of leaving it to the king to decide whether he had kept his word, it instituted a form of conciliar government which was to evolve directly into the Parliament that meets at Westminister today”. Of course, parliamentarians’ troubles with Charles I and subsequent civil war used Magna Carta’s provisions as an essential sledgehammer to crack and sever a brick-hard nut!

However, one of our Justices of the Supreme Court as well as distinguished medieval historian, Lord Sumpton, dismisses Magna Carta as being “far less significant in the development of modern rights than the French Revolution”! He argues,

“The modern perception of the Charter as the source of all our liberties was largely the invention of Sir Edward Coke, the seventeenth century lawyer, antiquarian and politician.

“Coke, who was widely regarded as the most learned lawyer of his day, rescued Magna Carta from obscurity and transformed it from a somewhat technical catalogue of feudal regulations, into the foundation document of the English constitution. It is really Coke’s idea of Magna Carta that has been exported to the world, and not the version that King John or his barons would have recognised.

“The libertarian tradition in England is one of this country’s great contributions to the development of the modern world. But its power does not depend on its antiquity.

“Our libertarian tradition actually dates from the constitutional settlement which followed the civil wars of the seventeenth century and the deposition of King James II in 1688. Magna Carta frankly has nothing to do with it.”

Click for the Key Points on differences between both Magna Carta and ‘Declaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen’, to compare the main difference between the British and the French, or Napoleonic, principles.

Nevertheless, those who praise the Great Charter as the published precursor of the rule of law, rather than the diktat of ruling executives, are right to do so.

1,400th anniversary (approx)

The earliest Anglo-Saxon law code is that of King Aethelbert of Kent after conversion to Christianity and issued between 597 and 616AD. The 12th Century manuscript known as Textus Roffensis is the only surviving copy of those codes:

Credit: Cambridge Historical Encylcopedia of Great Britain and Ireland - ed. Christopher Haigh (publ 1985)

Credit: Cambridge Historical Encylcopedia of Great Britain and Ireland – ed. Christopher Haigh (publ 1985)

Subsequent 7th century Kentish codes and laws of Ine of Wales mainly concerned payments for injury, infringement of property rights and breaches of public order. The 9th century King Alfred’s code synthesized elements from Kentish, Mercian and West Saxon codes. The influence of Anglo-Saxon law is apparent in legal measures of kings William I (‘The Conqueror’) and Henry I.

Intriguing God-incidence

Lastly, whilst drafting this I’ve been reading comments submitted by a fellow blogger in the States of whom I’ve known for a few years and today got re-connected. So what’s that got to do with this post? Quite a lot. In fact, I think you’ll be most surprised.

Tim Shey at HitchhikeAmerica adds this perspicuous comment to my Does a spiritual yet political trend link USA to Britain? without realising it’s directly related to this current post. In fact, he puts the whole subject into a Godly perspective:

‘George Bernard Shaw once said that the United States and Great Britain were divided by a common language. It is no accident that the United States is English-speaking and Great Britain is English-speaking. It is because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The United States-Great Britain-English-speaking-Military-Industrial-Spiritual Complex is the great counterpoise to Satan’s Spiritual Babylon (confusion; confused languages because of the sin of the Tower of Babel).

‘Certain principalities and powers of darkness were taken out in England back in the 1600s (the rise of the King James Bible, the English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution) and similar principalities and powers of darkness were taken out in the 1700s in the American Colonies (the great revival before the Revolution, the Revolution itself, the Constitution of the United States). The slave trade was ended in England, I believe, in the 1790s and later the slave trade was ended in the United States; and of course, later the Lord judged the United States for slavery in the great Civil War of 1861-1865.

‘No doubt, the Lord set up this Anglo-American/Judaeo-Christian alliance to spread the Gospel and also to destroy tyranny in different parts of the world through military power: Naziism, Communism, Islamo-Fascism. The British Empire was no accident, the rise of American power and influence was no accident, but both nations must realize that the Lord God in Heaven can easily take down a nation or an empire, if they don’t put the Lord first in their lives. Look at what happened to Nebuchadnezzar: at one moment he was the greatest king on the planet, the same day the Lord humbled him and Nebuchadnezzar went crazy.’

Now is that spooky or just serendipity?  Is it really coincidental?? Or, is the Lord in it???

I’m of the opinion it’s a superb example of ‘God-incidence’ as a ‘Bridge over the Pond‘! Wouldn’t you agree?

Is a similar but far greater ‘taking out’ about to happen in our day, as some prophetical voices are saying?

Keep watching, and gain a better perspective here!.

Morning coffee, forecast financial crash and Jonathan Cahn

Big enough to break into our long weekend, what’s buried in the middle of a broadsheet daily paper is important enough to get me online first thing to tap out a few notes. (In so logging onto WordPress I find a fellow blogger in Arizona has just posted a dream along related lines!!)

On Friday morning it would have been hard for me to miss this headline at the foot of my newspaper’s ‘leader’ page:

“Everything is in place for another big crash”

Nero_6Friday coffee, croissant and crossword starts our weekends. Bringing the yummy-laden tray I find Nina’s torn the crossword off the paper’s back page so that I can read the rest. Being the first of the two days when I buy ‘yesterday’s news’, we read the front-page cartoon and I head straight for the inside – not for editorial, but informative op-ed comments and spot that headline. As Nina writes letters into tiny boxes of the puzzle, I find I’m scribbling notes around this article!

Business, financial commentator and assistant editor Jeremy Warner’s opening shot is,

“Here’s a scary statistic for those meant to know about such things…”

But what rocks my boat in his first two paragraphs is not his mundane explanation – so startling as it is! It’s his reference to this scary statistical financial indicator as being at “one of the highest in nearly 40 years”.  Also, that “business cycles last little more than seven years…”.

Subscribers to this blog who’ve ventured on my recent sorties into the nature of cycles will recognise the import of those remarks.

In fact, well-informed Christians would also recall the financial and biblical facts taught in depth by messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn in his intriguing books The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemitah. (We are said to be in a ‘Shemitah Year’ that’s coming to its climax in September.)

However, those books are hardly known on this side of ‘the Pond’ to anyone other than a small fraction of Christians. Therefore, I surmise Cahn’s thesis isn’t well known to the City of London’s financial and business world.

So, it’s particularly poignant that Jeremy’s above-quoted opening continues,

“…After a six-year bull market, the typical stock in America’s S&P 500 shares index is valued on a multiple of more than 18 times estimated forward earnings. This is not just expensive by historic standards, but super-expensive. In fact, according to analysis by Goldman Sachs, it ranks as in the top 98th percentile of historic valuations since 1976, or in other words one of the highest in nearly 40 years. It scarcely needs saying that these peaks tend to signal the top of the cycle, with some kind of bear market or crash just around the corner.” (Emphases added.)

Read his brief article online at How central banks have sown the seeds for the next financial crisis. ‘Strap line’ is, ‘The notion that central governments have somehow got on top of the forces of financial stability is for the birds’, which is the last, and summation of, several notable points I’d underlined for use.

J Warner

Jeremy briefly sketches the state of play for US and UK economies and the prospect of Greek default on its debts to the Eurozone. He then considers why economic prospects are precarious when stocks, bonds and other asset prices as are so high. In his opinion, the reason is the aggregation of:

  1. Policies of ‘quantitative easing’ whereby central banks print money, which creates new sources of financial instability within the banking system.
  2. Consequently, portfolios of conventional asset managers have become so swollen that they match those of the largest banks, thereby shifting credit supply from the banking to the non-banking sector. This has thus become the main threat to stability.
  3. Buying power of central bank’s money printing is insensitive to price fluctuations and thereby renders normal market judgments meaningless. Therefore,

“all the conditions are in place for a major train crash”.

Also Friday, Greece’s failure to pay the due installment of loan repayment to the IMF was in the news – but this time its chief, Christine Lagarde, was completely taken off-guard. As analyst Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes on the same day,

“The International Monetary Fund is in very serious trouble. Events have reached a point in Greece where the Fund’s own credibility and long-term survival are at stake.”

In the midst of all these complexities it’s interesting to read reference to the 7 year cycle as well as a hint regarding that of 40 years, both of which feature in the Bible. The first came to prominence as of vital economic importance in ancient Egypt when Joseph told pharaoh his dream of 7 fat cows and 7 thin cows was prophetic. Joseph interpreted it to mean there would be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 of famine and thus enabled Egypt to prepare for the worst (Genesis 41).

It’s so good we can look to the Lord, for He’s in charge…

Further reading:

  1. Brief introduction to Biblical and economical cycles and the work of Erik Hadik.
  2. Financial analyst Eric Hadik – Crash Cycles, starting with the Boston Tea Party!
  3. Erik Hadik’s website – 40 Year Cycles
  4. Update on Euro crisis (links into EU 40-year cycle)
  5. Wall St considers Biblical basis of financial crashes
  6. Prophetic points to ponder on 9/11 (re The Harbinger)

Brief bullet points on the Lord’s action in Britain

Houses of Parliament: courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.netLast week I asked “Is God behind the General Election results?“. If you weren’t able to note my observations on why that may be so, the following will update and prepare you for the next post:

  • ‘A handful of prominent Christians…lost their seats, but this was more than compensated for by an influx of new Christians across the political spectrum… and Prime Minister David Cameron is back in power with a Cabinet full of Christian ministers.’  [‘His Grace’ Cranmer on LibDem leader Tim Fallon, as #3 here.]
  • Two Christian street preachers have been cleared of all charges after arrests in Basildon and Hereford.’ [Christian Concern report 27th May – praise the Lord.]
  • Intercessory group noted significance of 70-year period for Britain – see next post for details. [Item #6 of and conclusion to ‘Stunning General Election results’ refer.]

NEXT bullet point: Another result of the Lord’s post-election action.

Also, you may like to read Listening to Jesus in the Palace of Westminster, 3 July 2012.

[Houses of Parliament by Vichaya Kiatying-Angulsee, courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

PS: legal-eagle’s opinion post-election

As ever, learned lawyer-cum-blogger Frank Cranmer offers stimulating opinion on the General Election and Christians in Law and Religion UK and in Archbishop Cranmer. NB: see correction from Frank in comments below.

For your enlightenment, here are opening/closing remarks to three of his latest blogs, to which I’ve added a few emphases.

Images are courtesy of his blog. Please click them for links to the full articles.:

1. A British Bill of Rights is wholly contingent upon Britain leaving the EU

Noteworthy how the Human Rights Act is now coming into focus in view of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta (see previous post). His Grace Cranmer opens:

Bill-of-Rights

‘(Yesterday’s) Queen’s Speech is the first to be delivered on behalf of a majority Conservative government since 1996, when John Major was Prime Minister and ‘Europe’ was tearing his party asunder…..

[Closes:] ‘A British ‘Bill of Rights’ is supposed to embrace British values. These would include the foundational principle of the Common Law, which is antithetical to the EU Napoleonic model of law, Corpus Juris. It has been found by experience that Common Law is the bulwark against state tyranny and the best guarantor of our liberties.

‘So, as the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor summon their commission of consultation, could they ensure that it includes those voices which may define what British values are or ought to be included in a British ‘Bill of Rights’? And, having done that, might they explain how this new British ‘Bill of Rights’ might justify Anglican Establishment in an age of moral relativism and religious equality? And, having done that, could they please clarify how the Bill might be consistent with the Prime Minister’s stated preference for remaining a full and participating member of the political institutions of the European Union?’

See also, Will plans for a British Bill of Rights be reduced to a Bill for England only?

2. The Christian Deception about Conservatives and Human Rights

Reference to foundational Magna Carta and its subsequent importance in English history is implicit. Cranmer opens:

Gove-More‘There is a lie permeating the Christian social-media detachment that the Conservative quest to repeal New Labour’s Human Rights Act amounts to an assault upon fundamental human rights; that somehow Tories are inherently opposed to limitations on the state and to the basic protections and assurances of justice and liberty which have been set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights – the ‘Human Rights Charter’ – which the UK helped to draft in the aftermath of World War II. No doubt the Church of England (or, rather, certain anti-Conservative bishops and clergy) will be vocal in their opposition to repeal, insisting (erroneously, not to say misleadingly) that the Government’s intention to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a British ‘Bill of Rights’ constitutes an immoral political degradation, if not a grave social evil.

‘Michael Gove is the new Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor. The role is not quite as it was when Sir Thomas More kept the Great Seal with “like place, pre-eminence, jurisdiction, execution of laws, and all other customs, commodities, and advantages”. But like More, Gove is a lay churchman of great intellect and integrity with a profound understanding of theology, ecclesiology, social philosophy and jurisprudence…

[Closes:] ‘And those Christians who spread the lie that to oppose Labour’s Human Rights Act is to oppose the very notion of human rights need to consider the temporal repercussions of perpetuating grave injustice, as well as the eternal consequences of spreading such disinformation. Michael Gove may not be a man for all seasons, but he is the Queen’s good servant, if not God’s first.’

3. Tim Farron ‘clarifies’ his Christian convictions in pursuit of LibDem leadership

Cranmer opens (emphases added):

Tim-Farron‘There is no doubt that Christian representation in Parliament came out well in this General Election. A handful of prominent Christians including Simon Hughes, Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy lost their seats, but this was more than compensated for by an influx of new Christians across the political spectrum. Ed Miliband failed to become this country’s first atheist Prime Minister and David Cameron is back in power with a Cabinet full of Christian ministers.

‘Now that we are moving into the traditional phase of post-election leadership contests, there is a very real chance that for both Labour and the LibDems their new leaders could well end up being Christians, too….

[Closes:] ‘The LibDems have traditionally had a sizeable Christian presence in Parliament, but also have a strong and vocal LGBT and pro-abortion contingent. Any leader of a party needs to hold the views of its members in tension, but Farron’s desire to reach the top would appear to be leading him to pander to certain groups. In his essay, he writes: “To be a Christian is to submit to ultimate truth, fairness and goodness – some of which will jar with our current state of socialisation.” Sometimes that means sticking up for certain values even if it makes you unpopular and draws criticism. For a Christian, submission to God should always come before submission to man.

‘There is a belief among many Christians that party politics and faith can never really mix. To have a party leader with a sound grasp of the gospel and who is fully committed to his or her faith – to the point of demonstrating it in the voting choices they make – would go a long way to disproving this view. Tim Farron has that chance and he carries the hopes of many Christians and non-Christians both within and outside of the Liberal Democrats. This could be an opportunity for him to forge ahead with a leadership built on personal integrity and strong moral conviction. He has many fine qualities that will serve him well should he win, but, as it stands – certainly on recent evidence – the indication is that when it comes to political ambition and Christian conviction, there is only one winner.’

It’s said that, when in power in the previous coalition, the LibDems pushed for same-sex marriage. So their loss of almost all MPs is poignant.

Conclusion

I trust this will enable us to gain a handle on what’s happening, especially in regard to the continuing need to pray for our leaders as Apostle Paul urged in 1Timothy 2:1-2.

Stunning General Election results – is God behind them?

Cloud over Windsor June 2011

Three weeks ago today citizens of the United Kingdom voted for their representatives as Members of Parliament. Overnight exit polls and the next day’s final results shocked most analysts and pundits.

MAGNA CARTA

In fact, such a change is highly appropriate for this 800th anniversary year of a far more revolutionary political act: King John’s agreement to affix his seal to the Magna Carta. The gathering of his barons in a Thames-side meadow at Runnymede, a few miles outside Windsor, to present the large petitionary document to the king, will be commemorated in a civic ceremony on the actual anniversary,15th June, at a memorial built by our American cousins.

The world famous Magna Carta or ‘Great Charter’ was a practical solution to the political and financial crisis facing the king in 1215, yet it laid the foundation of liberty – of individual freedom, parliamentary democracy and subjection not to royalty, but to the supremacy of law.

That is, it established for the first time the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the common law of the land. The British Library states that, although nearly a third of the text was deleted or substantially rewritten within ten years, and almost all its clauses have been repealed in modern times, Magna Carta still remains a cornerstone of the British constitution. I’d add that its great influence extends to the Commonwealth’s and to the United States of America’s legal systems.

Now let’s consider some apolitical observations and possibly prophetical points.  I’m rather ‘long in the tooth’ and therefore cynical about politics. At the time of the election we were preparing to go away for some rest and recuperation. Hence the delay in blogging. Even so, when I got around to starting this post’s draft last week I was directed to look up a special photo, as above, which sync’d into what I had in mind, as explained below.

ELECTION RESULTS

Three of UK’s main political parties got thrashed and trashed on 7th May 2015. Leaders of the coalition Liberal Democrats and opposition Labour parties resigned and the leader of the UK Independence Party lost his seat with ensuing furore over leadership. Astonishing wins of the Scottish Nationalist Party in taking its seats from 6 to 56 brought a wholesale change to politics north of the border, as indicated in this cartoon by Adams (click image for more). It was a night of shocking surprises for many well-known MPs in the loss of their seats.

ADAMS20150508end3_3296199k

Something unique happened and marked 8th May as a historic day – maybe a tipping point in not only Britain’s political but also spiritual status?  It presages remarkable winds-of-change blowing right across and re-shaping the political spectrum. It stunned not only politicians but also pundits – and particularly in proving the latter unsound.

We’d taken scant notice of pre-election news and discussions for we loathe carping speculation of ‘talking heads’. As Christians, we have serious reservations about most parties’ policies, but the Prime Minister’s saving grace is that of not being anti-Israel. As the Lord was behind the changes, that point may well have helped David Cameron. AND, he is going to sort out the BBC at long last! (See Tories going to war with BBC.)

That said, here are my observations in sequential relevance:

1. Cloud Over Windsor 2011

Alan May’s above photo of a cloud taken from Windsor on Garter Day June 2011 seems prophetical.  Does it hint at a separation between Scotland and mainland Britain?  The fact it was taken there may be of profound significance. (More details in this post about prayers in Parliament and about Windsor – note reference to ringing of bell in the first. The link to the photo has been taken down because of overwhelming demand upon the source article – a newspaper in Newbury, Berks.)

2. Vision of Bells in Scotland 

Does Tony Puccio’s vision in far away Tucson, Arizona, of bells ringing in Scotland relate to the great jubilation of the SNP and voters? It sure does! In early April Tony blogged:

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and post this. Earlier in the afternoon of 4/16/2015 I was driving home and I began to hear bells ringing. I saw and heard church bells in steeples ringing smaller bells as well were ringing. They were ringing over Scotland.  I’m not sure as to their purpose but I just am posting what I was seeing and hearing.”

It attracted many comments and I remarked, “Ha bells again Tony – that’s how we linked up in 2012! (see ‘Get Ready’ – Paul Revere’s Ride and revival in UK) This time my first impression is of definite warning in view of next month’s elections…nationalist party strongly rocking the boat, probably going to trash Labour Party… There have been plenty of strong prophetic words for Scotland, however, and maybe it’s time to ‘ring out these changes’!” (eg see Dr Sharon Stone, Jane Hamon and the McKies – emphasis added)

Regarding deception over voting in Scotland and divisive power see Revd Dr Clifford Hill’s warning Call to pray for the UK.

3. Lord, Turn The Tide!

I was astonished the election results could show that my prayer request “Lord, turn the tide in the UK” seems to have been met in a promising way. Also in connection with the strongly anti-Christian policies dominating and contributing to the decay of society’s moral fibre, maybe it relates to the Rock (being Christ) I saw emerge through a tear in the rotten fabric of our national life, as in the open vision that confronted me in 2004. (For details read Comments upon the collapse of Society.)

4. Sharon Stone’s Remarks

At her Windsor mentoring day on 9th May Dr Sharon Stone taught on patterns and principles of developing a ‘forerunner’s heart’. She said on these occasions there is always a tug-of-war between disappointment and excitement but this shaking leaves a vulnerability because of people resigning and leaving their positions. So, there’s now an unexpected period of re-establishment and things manoeuvering around that the enemy can take advantage of.

Therefore, prophetic intercessors should be taking advantage of this to turn things around because, even though there have been significant changes, all these things need praying through. As a historical example, Sharon referred to the monarchy’s actions in Windsor of calling out the sick to line up for healing prayer! (Akin to Maunday Thursday practices?) She then said,

“God is shifting the church today. We all have to be more inclusive in all areas, we’ve got to ascend from the priestly area of worship and devotion to that of prophetic revelation and to the apostolic decree as well in both worship and prayer – (thus) we can proclaim what He says.”

Sharon taught on how the account in Acts 12 of Peter’s supra-natural release from prison can be applied to opening up civic and governmental places and situations to the Kingdom of God – keys to open and shut gates of our cities. We’re not just to watch and protect but open up our communities to the purposes of God, that Jesus be glorified in the midst of people, seen for who He really is and that He be loved and accepted there.

5. Revd Ken Gott

The next session on the power of Godly inheritance was delivered by Ken Gott of House of Prayer Europe in Sunderland. He gave an example of how this happened personally via the influence of a man, whose mother had been saved through a miraculous, re-creative healing at a meeting held by early 20th Century evangelist Stephen Jeffreys. That young son’s very first convert was Ken’s great-grandmother.

On the recent election, Ken remarked,

“Something of God happened in the election….I confirm that something of the Spirit moved in that election, moved in our nation. Political commentators got it drastically wrong, the commentators were shocked, the pollsters were amazed how wrong they got it – and everybody’s looking at each other saying we never saw this, we never saw it!

“I’m not saying I’m for the Tories, for a Tory government, for David Cameron, or whatever – but what we need is God. And God orchestrated it…

“I believe we will yet find out that God orchestrated something in the last couple of days! I’m 100% totally, totally convinced of it!”

“We’d been praying all day that we would have Godly men, men who were taught righteously, that they would be courageous in their decision-making and be Godly. We prayed and covered the whole election from the time the polling stations were opened to the time they closed and the ballot boxes were opened…and God heard…

“And yet when that exit poll came out I knew God had answered that prayer, not only of ours but of others too…”

6. 70-year Period 

After his message I approached Ken and Michael Marcell, who was with him, and asked both if they’d noticed the ‘coincidence’ of the previous day’s doubly historic events being related to a 70-year period – and possibly a Biblical one at that!

The 8th May not only brought the amazing election results for a new government’s historic victory but also celebrated the 70th anniversary of VE-Day (1945 Victory in Europe over Nazi Germany). Also, that day’s VE-Day memorial service at the Cenotaph, Whitehall, was attended by all political leaders – The Telegraph’s sub-line: ‘Cruel quirk of timing throws defeated leaders Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg together with victors David Cameron and Nicola Sturgeon’.

7. Cindy Jacobs’ Word for UK

A few days later Michael met Cindy Jacobs, who too remarked upon the significance of the election and brought a greatly encouraging prophetic word for the UK, as copied in this earlier post.

HA, LOL – an unintentional 7 items yet again!!

Significance of 70-year cycle

Now, 70 years after victory over a common foe, could Britain at last have an opportunity to move out of ‘Babylonian captivity’ (as in The Babylonian aspect of the Church’s ‘New Era’)?  The ancient Jews were held captive there for 70 years after the fall of Jerusalem in 586BC before being allowed by Persian king Cyrus to return to their holy city.

I will be making several points on this cycle in due course, as intimated in closing Lion Bites God-incidents:.

Meanwhile, read PS: legal-eagles’ opinion post-election as well as Intercessors note 70-year election significance too.

Hillary Clinton wants Christians to give up their Biblical beliefs

The following brief report from Bible Prophecy Blog comes as no surprise to those watching the signs of the times: Hillary Clinton Wants Christians to Give Up on Bible Beliefs.

No doubt our American brothers and sisters have already decided who is unworthy of their votes?

Does a spiritual yet political trend link USA to Britain?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BillKoenig_hdr2. Friday’s Eye View From The White House from William Koenig connected right into Rick’s remarks  about Clinton. He opens from his personal, frontline coverage with header; Defiant Obama Completely Misses the Point of His Political Party’s Shellacking (transl: ‘thrashing’)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

H O L D  O N – wot woz zat?

Suddenly, I sense an invisible jigsaw again taking shape…

Puzzle in sky - Idea go

A corrective trend?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To summarise:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

POTUS’ party pummelled – a Jerusalem connection

US CapitolPolitical pundits over the ‘pond’ earned their pay on Tuesday and yesterday! (Potus = President Of The United States)

President Obama’s party – the Democrats – were trounced in mid-term elections by the Republicans (aka GOP, ‘Grand Old Party’). The GOP decisively won majority of seats to seize the Senate and gain full control of both chambers of Congress. CNN reports this empowers the GOP to pin down President Barack Obama during his last two years in office.

However, such swings with a low turn-out of voters aren’t unusual for mid-terms, as had happened for Republican GW Bush’s second term. It makes for a ‘lame-duck’ leader, but I leave it for my American readers to debate over whether that’s new for Obama.

Now I won’t pretend to know anything about USA’s governance, but want to point out later a coincidence of Biblical relevance. (Anyone like me needing to learn more will find this BBC briefing, or a fuller Wikipedia article, are helpful – as well as fictional The West Wing TV series!)

According to The Telegraph’s Washington reporter Raf Sanchez,

“Voters vented their frustration with Mr Obama’s six years in office on his Democrat political allies, giving the Republicans a majority in the Senate for the first time since 2006…In a particular snub to the President, voters in his home state of Illinois cast out their Democrat governor and replaced him with a Republican, despite Mr Obama campaigning on his behalf…

“Although Democrats had been braced for a bad night, the results were even worse than many had feared. The President’s party lost key races in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa – all states that first propelled Mr Obama to the White House in 2008…”

I’d like to draw your attention to Rick Joyner’s assessment in his Prophetic Bulletin – Hope & Change.

A Jerusalem connection

Students of prophecy are only too aware of the significance of Jerusalem and its pivotal importance in international affairs and events, as in my recent post on William Koenig’s alert, Nations set on collision course with God.

John McTernanWilliam and John McTernan have followed developments since the mid-1990’s and 1986 respectively. In 1996, William published his work as Koenigs’ International News (now at Watch.org) and in 2001 he became an accredited White House correspondent. With John that year, he co-authored Israel: The Blessing or the Curse. They’ve written other works and their monitoring and correlating of events related to the US governments’ policies toward Israel and its biblical land have empirically tagged causative actions against Israel directly to consequential effects upon America. There’s so many instances I suspect they’d make a scientifically proven case!

Yesterday, John blogged the following observations with links to sources,

“Obama was humiliated as he was totally rejected by the American people at the very time of the statements about Jerusalem before the Supreme Court!” (…New political dynamic)

“The American people repudiate Obama at the very time he is attacking Jerusalem!”  (…Smackdown to stop Obama)

He refers to Adam Kredo’s article, Solicitor General: Israel has no claim to Jerusalem, just as Russia has no claim to Crimea, in connecting the voting debacle with the Obama administration’s failure to recognise Jerusalem’s true status…

“…This is the most outrageous article that I ever read about a US president dealing with Israel. I was shocked, and it takes a real lot to shock me!
“God used this Supreme Court case to expose what is in the heart of this man for all to see…”

Adam’s account of both sides of the argument is well written and even-handed. It makes fascinating reading. John quotes Adam’s opening remarks,

“Lawyers for the Obama administration compared Israel’s control of Jerusalem to Russian claims over the Ukrainian territory of Crimea during oral arguments this week before the Supreme Court in a case concerning the rights of U.S. citizens to list Jerusalem as part of Israel on their passports. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who is rumored to be in the running to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, drew the comparison on Monday while he attempted to convince the Supreme Court that Jerusalem is not officially part of Israel.

This historic case demonstrates the quandary produced by political ineptness and lack of Godly direction upon a nation.

Parents of a child born in Jerusalem wish to have the birthplace officially stated on the US passport as being in “Israel”. This has been denied because the administration’s policy is to disregard the city as a part of Israel.

Consequently, the appointed Supreme Justice seemed to argue several times it would be a “lie” for the US government to acknowledge on a passport that Jerusalem is in Israel. That is, the executive branch does not believe it to be true as a matter of policy. Therefore, the parents are asking the government to lie. [SEE PS comment below]

What is amusingly fatuous are contentions about POTUS’ foreign policy, viz:

“Obama administration lawyers argue that the case infringes on the president’s executive right to conduct foreign policy. By acknowledging Jerusalem as Israeli territory, the White House would lose its credibility in the peace process, as well as its jurisdiction to manage foreign affairs, the government maintains…”.

To the claim that adding ‘Israel’ to the passport isn’t official recognition and thus doesn’t breach policy announcement, the administration, “countered that such a declaration would harm President Obama’s “credibility” in global affairs.  Foreign governments, foreign peoples will not be able to have complete confidence that the position that the president announces on behalf of the United States is, in fact, the position of the United States,”. 

Credibility? LOL…Derisory!

Is the Solicitor General and legal team living in cloud-cuckoo land?

POTUS’ popularity has not only plummeted at home but he’s also lost any credibility he had, not only in the supposed ‘peace process’ but also in global affairs!   (My blog done in August about attempts to bring a peace deal for the Gaza war was only one of many commentaries on this issue from more expert observers over recent years: eg. see the ‘Sultan Knish’ on Why Obama hates Netanyahu.)

This leader’s defiance of the Lord’s heart toward Jerusalem and intentions thereto have led to his humiliation – he’s only to look to himself!

Also, it may be an example what Neville Johnson said of the Lord shortening the time-lapse between sowing and reaping – see point 3 in Urgent prophetic words about a cut-off time in God’s timeline.

 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV courtesy BibleGateway.com)

PostScript (10.11.14):

Dr Mike Evans writes as follows upon reading the Supreme Court transcript of Justice Sotomayor’s words:

They’re asking the government to lie,” Sotomayor said. “How could you tell me it’s not a lie?” Sotomayor asked Alyza Lewin, the lawyer representing the Zivotofsky family. “You, the United States, are being asked to put on the passport that you believe the place of birth of this individual is Israel, and the government—and the executive has said, no, we don’t think it was Israel, we think it was Jerusalem.” (emphasis added)

You will never see a better example of the folly of men contrasted with the wisdom of God!!

[US Capitol building by Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee; courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

Update to Koranic scholar’s warning re. ‘British values’

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

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

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

Bingham_60_1757326jUPDATE:  “Christian group warns ‘British values’ rules imposed after ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal leading to schools with a religious ethos being marked down by inspectors for failing to promote ‘tolerance’.”

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

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

 

God has used Britain to do great things but now man seeks to tear us apart

Gillan’s guest blog by Ciaran reinforces the earlier post on Justin Abraham’s visions of the UK and that, “We will need the strength of Scotland for what’s coming”.

If Scotland votes ‘Yes’ all of us will have a part wrenched out that will never be replaced

Christians need to be carefully prayerful on this major issue and get back to first base > are Scottish nationalist leaders personally blessed by God, or the opposite? Whichever is the case it will rub off on our fellow Brits beyond the border. Alex Salmond is not only  in favour of boycotting Israel but his party also funded a Scottish affiliate to Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood, per The Centre Left!  According to Genesis 12:3 that doesn’t bode at all well for Scotland. Just look what happened to the UK in 1967 within 6 months of the Wilson government preventing arms being shipped to Israel for its survival against armies amassed on all borders – Devaluation of the Pound! SO I suggest being very, very wary on this voting and that we stay together as a United Britain.

Provocative ‘coincidence’ at the kick-off for redefined ‘Marriage’

Courtesy Watcharakun‘Provocative’ because a couple of associated events in tandem can make people pause for serious thought. ‘Provocative’, because how and what happened has generated a growing furore not only in Parliament but also amongst voters.  ‘Provocative’, because a key spiritual principle is involved which many ignore or refuse to consider, let alone concede it’s correct.

‘Coincidental’ – ha, is it? How can two apparently unrelated events happen yet again, that is, together at the same time by mere random chance. This re-appearance pivots around one lady intimately involved in both events and who directed the main one which closely involves her boss. And now he’s stuck in the second strand. The timing of this ‘chance’ strongly points to the distinct possibility of its being fore-ordained, even a sort of ‘God incidence’.

I humbly submit that the coincidental events around these matters indicate the Lord is keenly aware of what’s going on, and is pointing to His ‘behind the scenes’ activity – for those who may discern it.

Before we proceed, a caveat is necessary. As in previous coverage of this topic, all my comments are observational and not to be construed as being judgemental. I wish only to reiterate what the Lord stated through His Son, as revealed by Holy Spirit inspiration  of anointed apostles, prophets and teachers, and add my personal opinion. So let me first explain:

A key spiritual principle

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV)

Over twenty years ago it was important for me, a new believer rescued from the New Age and occult, to get the past healed and its ‘klingons’ dealt with. This was beyond the skills of the Baptist church the Lord directed me to, and so He pointed out certain books by those who’d also come out of Satan’s camp, as recounted here.  Then I was directed to a ministry in the north of England specialising in the inner healing and deliverance I’d already read about.

Books by John Sandford were foundational reading and I found he’d been in the same groups as me.  Having a scientific background, I was struck by the claim that scripture has laws which are universal in function and application – as in physics – one of which is sowing and reaping. (Read an excellent outline at Elijah House Ministries.)

Therefore, I’ve referred to that principle, as in Galatians 6 above, when blogging about the redefining of marriage as, for example, in several posts of December 2012.

In asking Does David Cameron’s decision line up with the Bible? I noted a developing scandal involving Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who’s  responsible for introducing the new marriage law. Therefore, I also asked,  “…is all this going to be part of the ‘holy shaking’; that is, of everything not of God?”, bearing the promise in mind of Hebrews 12, viz:

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. (BibleGateway – emphases added)

And now guess what?

Within hours of the new law coming into effect the scandal erupted over that minister’s abuse of Parliamentary allowances for personal expenses!

On Friday 28th March, whilst several same-sex couples were looking forward to being legally ‘married’ just after midnight, journalists at the Telegraph were drafting the latest in that paper’s 5 year investigative scoop on the MP’s expenses scandal.  At 10.00 pm, just ahead of the new marriage laws becoming operative, the paper’s Senior Political Correspondent, Investigations Editor and Whitehall Editor broke the news online.

Already going to print was Saturday’s broadsheet Daily Telegraph with inside pages reporting, ‘Cameron welcomes first gay marriages’, plus a few related items. One about priests being urged to defy the Anglican Church crept into the bottom of the front page, BUT the topmost headline reads:

Cabinet minister abused expenses -Maria Miller, Culture Secretary, made £1m profit after overclaiming for her mortgage

Oh what a surprise? I don’t mean about the minister’s activities, but the fact this news has coincided with the manifestation of what she and David Cameron engineered.

A busy week in politics

Last Friday’s lead editorial Mrs Miller should say sorry to taxpayers opens:

‘It is almost five years since The Telegraph broke the parliamentary expenses scandal. The revelation that some MPs had abused the expenses system – perpetrating, in some cases, outright fraud – rocked public confidence in British democracy. It led to resignations, deselections, electoral defeats and even the imprisonment of some of the worst offenders. Promises were made that things would be different in the future, that there would be house-cleaning and reform. Failure in some quarters to live up to those fine ambitions is why voters remain so disdainful of Parliament and politicians…’

Readers unfamiliar with this sorry saga wanting an overview will find the whole affair  summarised in:

This last by an ex-trade union official points to the danger in this affair: threatening the freedom of the press. The penultimate item from the Guardian refers to Miller’s other indefensible threat against the independent Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. That is, not so much questionable expense claims, but her other consequential actions are doubly  dangerous!

The whole affair stinks! It is an exceptionally outrageous situation and, as she refuses to resign and PM Cameron refuses to dismiss her, then maybe his ‘fate’ is tied to hers. Not an unreasonable conjecture in view of their mocking the Lord’s ordinance on marriage and the family.

A personal opinion

Personally, as a retired servant of Her Majesty with responsibility for inviting and letting works contracts, and the financial control of major building projects directly responsible to HM Treasury, I am appalled by the unconscionable conduct of this MP.

Is the Living Lord God indicating He isn’t to be mocked and, thereby, letting those who are responsible fall into personal difficulties of their own making?

[Hand Pressing News Icon by Watcharakun, courtesy Freedigitalphotos.net]

The rabbi’s note, the PM’s death and the angel’s word – part 1

What do last month’s death of Ariel Sharon, previous Prime Minister of Israel – a sealed note on a revelation to that country’s leading rabbi, Yitzak Kaduri, that was kept for the first anniversary of his own death 8 years earlier – and Gabriel’s prophetic word to Jesus’ mother 2,000 years previously – all have in common?

A Matter of Timing

‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck what’s planted…’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

That wisdom would apply not only to the connections between the above three persons but also to today’s blog. Note I didn’t write, ‘to the three persons’ lives’. Of course it does relate to that but, I’d submit, it also applies to their prophetic common denominator!

[Aside: interesting to note the preceding verse 2:26 begins, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight…]

Days before last Christmas I was struck by one of the main verses always featured in the festivities – something angel Gabriel said to young Mary, as blogged a few weeks ago (here). That post considers the prophetic and creative nature of his words brought direct from The Almighty. It closes by promising to explain the relevance of Gabriel’s prophecy of Jesus’ kingship to a vision received by rabbi Kaduri.  Prior to that continuation, I suggested readers may like to read a brief blog on Jewish expectation of a saviour, or messiah.

Good as the promise is and with first paragraphs already drafted, I didn’t get around to finishing it in view of other topical material and home priorities.

In fact, it seems the time just wasn’t right. The unintentional delay opened up a window of opportunity for a confirmation to come along that I was on the right track. It must have been the Lord’s doing – and it’s good to know I wasn’t off-beam or had gone off at a tangent!

Now, in writing about it, I believe He’s pointing me to relevant scriptures and bringing  further insights…bring it on Lord!  I trust you will bear with my building upon what started out as a brief flash of inspiration – it all hangs together.

[Am reminded this is Jewish year 5774 (The Open Door) and what I’ve described above is like entering that doorway and noticing what’s at hand, then looking all around when  past the threshold. Also, on checking this draft I hadn’t thought to write ‘flash’ but now recollect seeing several in the sky just before waking today. The last and brightest flash filled the whole sky and I thought it could be the lightning of Jesus’ return in glory.]

SO, back to what Gabriel said:

Gabriel’s Declaration

After reading out Luke 2 at a carol service I wanted to check the first chapter. There, part of what Gabriel said popped up off my Bible’s page and ‘hit me between the eyes’! And it buzzed in my brain for days, nay weeks, afterwards!

It was one of those ‘aha!’ moments when a scriptural insight strikes like a lightning bolt. Since childhood I’d heard of Jesus Christ as ‘King of the Jews’ many times. But this time a new understanding took me by surprise.  More was yet to come about that prophecy recounted in the first part “I am Gabriel, …”. But what set everything off was distinctly different to what I wrote about in there. To recap:

In speaking to Mary, Gabriel told her about conceiving a child and giving him a specific name. And he went on to state what Jesus would become, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end…”.

An Insight

Suddenly, I realised the phrase underlined above meant Jesus would become the king of all descendants of the ancient Israelites, and the Jews in particular. But far more than that – Jesus has always been King of the Jews.

It hit me hard that in The Almighty’s sight, the crucified saviour of all Jews and Gentiles has been ‘King of Jacob’s descendants’ ever since His life on earth.  Although not enthroned, proclaimed, recognised and reigning as such, none of that makes any difference as far as Yeshua Ha-Mashiach (Jesus the Christ) is concerned.

That is, He regards each and every Jew as one of His subjects and loves each of them – from His birth and throughout 2,000 years of rejection, and then to His return to reign and into the future ‘forever’…which is what I’m about to focus upon.

But the people’s leaders didn’t want to acknowledge that fact. They saw the northern rabbi from Galilee of the Gentiles as a dire threat because the populace had watched Him bring dead Lazarus out of his tomb alive, and thus believed in Him and may become followers.

In council with chief priests and Pharisees over how to prevent the Romans quelling the inevitable disturbance, high priest Caiaphas rebuked his fellows, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish”.  A negative political stance, it was nevertheless a prophetical utterance. Jesus’ disciple John explains that peculiarity as, and making this the latest ‘whack on the forehead’.:

Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. (Emphasis mine)

[Note: John was known to the high priest and recorded his above presumption about the Romans taking away their temple and nation. Caiaphas warned Pontius Pilate  against releasing Jesus and accused him of acting against Caesar. So, the continued reliance on the term ‘King’ by the Jews is key in the decision to crucify Him.  See John 11:45-57 and 18-19. Also, let’s not forget the magi came seeking Jesus as ‘King of the Jews’, which disturbed king Herod.]

Gospel accounts state Pilate was reluctant to order Jesus’ execution and then caved in to pressure from Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, who all wanted Him dead. Thus, it’s easy to assume Pilate pacified them in order to avoid disturbances when Jerusalem was packed with pilgrims. However, the fact Herod Agrippa was the Judean monarch, as vassal of the emperor, indicates the Jews’ claim about Jesus, which Jesus did not deny, was similar to a charge of treason.

Therefore, Pilate had the reason for the death sentence affixed to the execution stake, or cross, namely ‘I.N.R.I’, which means ‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews’.

In so doing, Pilate unwittingly validated what the angel had declared in a message from the Throne of God. (The second he’d been assigned to deliver and declare with all the creative power of prophecy, as discussed in my earlier post.)

Regrettably, throughout its history the Church has been no better in its treatment of those who refused to recognise Jesus as their real Messiah. Until Emperor Constantine’s reign the Roman church financially supported churches in the Holy Land led by ‘desposyni’; that is, ‘The Lord’s blood-kindred’. However, this brotherly provision ceased after a dispute with Pope Sylvester. Under the new emperor the church in Rome became officially recognised and established with power across the empire.

Son of David

Although Gabriel hadn’t explicitly described Mary’s future child as ‘King of the Jews’, that’s what ‘the throne of his father David’ implies.  And reference to Jesus as reigning over ‘the house of Jacob’ means He would be not only king of the tribe of Judah but also of the other eleven tribes descended from Jacob.

David had ruled 1,000 years earlier and unified Judah and the other eleven tribes, or Israel. Collectively they were known as ‘Bene Ya’aqob’, Sons of Jacob, also as ‘Bene Yisrael’ from his new name after having wrestled like a soldier with the Lord, or an angel – Yisrael, or ‘Prince with God’. (See Genesis 32, interlinear)

As a nation-state once again exists in the ancient land God promised to descendants of Abraham then that title of kingship applies to modern Israel too! In other words, Jesus is that nation’s unrecognised and unseen King, but Who is destined to rule and reign in the flesh, as proclaimed by the ancient prophets and himself during His last Passover meal.

Furthermore, as John explains, Caiaphas’ prophecy refers not only to Jesus giving His life for the Jews but also for other people. Also that Jesus would gather together from all over the world, uniting all who believe in God the Father, no matter whether Jew or Gentile.

Is this stupendous prophetic plan of action being fulfilled in our lifetime?  That possibility will be considered in part 2…

Update 4 Dec 2014 – that second part remained unwritten but, as in the first section’s header, it was really a ‘matter of time’. What I intended writing has been overtaken by events, as reported on 26th November in Israel Today – see Arabs and Jews unite to agree only solution to Israel-Palestine issue.

Archbishop of Canterbury’s approach to banking continues to win admirers

Courtesy of James Mark Long, www.propheticartists.comVery interesting news indeed Gillan, especially in the light of prophetic words for 2013 about working with God ‘to restructure governmental and legislative structures’. Also, your concluding paragraphs mirror that prophet’s emphasis upon seeing issues from God’s perspective.

God is in the House(s)

Courtesy of James Mark Long, www.propheticartists.comAmen, and Lord may Your Holy Presence come and put the rising spirit of rebellion and anarchy under Your feet…Thank you to Gillan, for I believe this is more timely than we may conceive, and to Richard Parkhouse for your contribution too.

Chatting over morning coffee…

… 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).

DSC_4610edAlso, 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.

Thank you Gillan for drawing attention to this Christian action of walking in the huge footsteps of our past pioneering evengelicals.

Counting the cost of the S-S Marriage vote

Courtesy of James Mark Long ; propheticartists.comGillan, a commendable commentary in view of the controversial circumstances.
In all this, three facts point to the ignored core issue and to the truth of scripture. These are: 1. people deny their sin, thereby making God a liar and repudiating what Jesus did for them on the Cross (1John 1:8-10)  2. many believers are unclear, confused and even deceived (2Tim 3, Matt 24) 3. the underlying role of the EU in this confirms its link with the ‘end of days’ messianic vision in Daniel 7 (see Cranmer).
Behind those facts (not to mention hatred of righteous expression and twisting of many definitions!) one can discern the source and strategy outlined in Revelation 13. Oh by the way, the technology for implementing the Mark of the Beast (666) is ready and waiting! (John McTernan 666 Surveillance System, updated with more items including Britain’s superdrone.)

Prophetic words for 2013 from Dr Sharon Stone

Windsor 2Forget about the Mayans’ calendar, here’s my transcript of Dr Stone’s revelatory teaching for 2013 given at the Mercure Windsor Castle Hotel on 3rd November. This hotel is close by the world-renowned residence of Queen Elizabeth II.  Built after the Norman Conquest, Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world.

When Sharon receives and delivers words from the Lord she speaks rapidly to avoid the hindrance of mental analysis.  Hence, what He’s saying is brought as clearly as possible. In this first session of the day Sharon had a lot of material to cover as quickly as possible. So it is better to read this transcript as a continuous, whole piece.

Therefore, paragraphs and coloured text have been introduced only for ease of reading. I’ve made only minor editorial clarifications and inserted the first two sub-headings for ease of reference. Sharon’s varying vocal emphases are conveyed by underlined and, where stronger, emboldened text.

Also, except for opening and closing prayers, other prayers, intercession, declaration, impartation, commissioning etc, shown <…>, have been omitted. Those who purchase the CDs direct from CIEurope will be blessed upon hearing the prayers.

So, in your mind’s eye come and sit with me on the back row of upholstered chairs in the hotel’s ballroom. Practically all seats are taken and as the worship leader, his wife and an accompanist leave the stage petite Sharon enters, opens in prayer and makes a few announcements. Her soft American accent adds the charm to clear diction as we  listen carefully and follow her fast-paced teaching.:

2013 – WHAT GOD IS SAYING

Rev Dr Sharon Stone, Senior Minister Christian International Europe; courtesy CIE“Father, we declare that you would open the eyes of our understanding, Father that we may be able to see and perceive the things we could not before.

“Now as we begin to move into revelation it’s difficult not to list it because you’re trying to say so much, so if you’ll give me grace in doing that there’s several things that have to be listed. But, in saying that, I also recognise that you are God’s prophetic people – that you’re hearing some of the same things, or you may be hearing more in one direction than I’m hearing, or even a different area than I’m hearing – and what we want to know is that I do not believe that when I bring forth a prophetic word it’s “the beginning” or “the end” of what The Spirit of God is saying; it’s just my part that God has given me at that time. But I also believe there are different types of prophetic gifting, and I realise that about myself.

“I am not called to deny the darkness, or even the judgement or the shaking that is going on in the earth, but the type of prophet I am is; I am called to be a voice of hope and solution in the midst of the darkness and in the midst of the shaking. And so it is not a denying of the one or the other.

“And so as we speak these things today I think that the season that we’re moving into can no longer be measured by a year: we say “Give me a word for this year”. I believe this is a ‘roll-on’ season for the Last Days and it just keeps rolling forward. And so we cannot any longer say this is where something began or that is where it ends.

“We have a panel this morning and they are going to bring forward some of their revela-tion for the season and I think we’ll find that’s true for their words too; it’s not something that begins or ends with a date on a calendar. It’s a rolling forward of what the Spirit of God is doing…so I’m going to jump right in:

Glory

“On my last trip to Israel I had this strong urge and I kept asking my guide, “Do you think you could take me to the Mount of Transfiguration?”, “Do you think you can find time on this trip to get me there?” You know I’ve studied and know there’s a couple of places that people thought it might be – probably on Mount Hermon, there’s three different summits up there – and you know the Word of God says Jesus took his disciples and they went up on the summit.

“The best we could do the whole time I was there was we could get close enough to see it and we could see the three summits and I wondered when I left, why was this type of urgency in my spirit that I wanted somehow to connect to the Mount of Transfiguration. I’m going to use that as an introduction and a launching point into this season’s revelation.

“In Mark 9.1 Jesus said, “Assuredly I say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God present with power”…

“Now we know that it was not unusual for Jesus to speak about the Kingdom of God, so what He was doing here was He was speaking about another dimension of Kingdom revelation, and that’s what I’m speaking over you. Another magnitude of His Kingdom Come – another scale of His Kingdom is here – another level of His Kingdom is with you – a deeper meaning of His Kingdom is at hand – and a greater manifestation of His Kingdom has come. < Lift up your hands in this place. Father… >

“Now, where I read the verses of that scripture, the reason I started with that is that it says they would see the Kingdom of God present with power. Now what most people do is the stop that verse at that point and they begin a different story at verse 2 – “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves and He was transfigured before them”.

“So right after He’s showing them a different, a fresh dimension, or a manifestation, of His Kingdom, He took a few and went up the mountain and there He was transfigured.  And I have to look at those words and I say what does ‘transfigured’ look like? Verse 3 – “His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow such as no launderer on earth can whiten them”.

It was His glory that was evident, of Him being transfigured, wasn’t it? That shining, that brightness, the whiteness that no level of launderer could possibly bring Him.

Now with that in mind, hold this: Romans 12.2 – “And be not conformed to this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good the acceptable and the perfect will of God.”

That same word, ‘transformed’, is the exact same word that is used here where it says “Jesus was transfigured”. And I believe that as we’re moving into this season God is saying that He wants to bring His glory upon you, He wants to bring His transformation ability upon your mind so that you can think God’s thoughts and you can think God’s ways and that you can align and that you can partner with them, even in a greater way, proving what is the good, proving what is the acceptable and even proving what is the perfect will of God in any situation.

“And I also believe this: the Lord wants you to be a voice of hope in any situation. < Lift your hands, Father…>”

Perspective

“Now I honestly believe, and I’ll talk more about this in our time of national prayer, I want to talk about this: where you are positioned is what you see and so this evening I want to talk a little about being seated in heavenly places.

“When you pray, from your position in the earth, it’s usually only a prayer of petition because it’s; “O help God, look at this mess and look at all that’s happening in the world, and look at the chaos. Look what’s happening on the news…the abuse that’s going on…the tyranny…injustice… lives that are lost.”

“There’s nothing wrong with praying that prayer of petition…but when you’re seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus and you’re looking at things from a different  perspective, from a fresh paradigm that God is showing you, when you are looking at things from that place there is a different focus, and the Bible says that there will be a day when we will even look upon Satan and say, “That, is the little worm that has tormented the world and tormented the nation? That’s a little worm!”

“What is that? – it’s perspective. He didn’t shrink in size – it’s the perspective of your position! If there is one word I can say covers this season it is:

“Your perspective based upon where you are seated in releasing hope and the solutions of God to whatever you’re facing personally, business-wise, your churches, your ministry, your region, your nation – I don’t believe you need to go in and tell people simply what their problem is…and for so long we have looked at the prophetic as just identifying the problem.

“Now there are times when we honestly don’t know, where we have blind spots, where we just can’t figure it out and we need God to bring clarity, but for the most part we know our problem – what we need is a solution and a hope and I believe that we have entered in the time that that’s what the world is going to start valuing the Church for in a greater way; it’s hope and a solution….

“Now Isaiah 60.2 – you’re going to have to remind yourself of this, probably for the rest of your life! – says, “Behold the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people.”

“What did the Lord just say? He says it’s getting dark and it’s getting darker! It’s going to affect lots of people, but He doesn’t stop there! ‘But the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you!’

“We’re not denying the darkness but the glory of God through you is going to be a solution and a remedy to any darkness around about you. That’s what we’re positioning ourselves for and that is how we’re aligning ourselves, and that is affecting our revelation, our view and our perspective that we be transformed by the renewing of our mind, the Mind of Christ, proving what is the good, the acceptable, the perfect will of God.

“Now in Jeremiah 29.11 – I know we quote this scripture a lot – but I’m just going to stop with this point: the Lord says, “I know My thoughts toward you”.

“Did you hear that? If we start looking at all that is going on in the world, the world is not looking for our opinion or our reflection of what is going on in the world, the Lord says, “I know My thoughts already concerning you!” and He says, “I know My thoughts and they are thoughts of peace not of evil to give you a future and to give you a hope”.

“There, is revelation, there is prophetic solution, there is remedy, there is direction and strategy, there is anointing and there is glory that has the ability to release peace, not evil, and to give a future and to give a hope to people regardless of any other situation or circumstances that are going on.

“Now if you’re not one that has learned to walk in the Shalom of God, if you’re not even one who has learned to war in the spirit from a place of rest… seated together…it doesn’t mean we don’t have war, the Bible says we do…but we’re doing it from a position of being seated together with Him; if you haven’t learned to do that – you’re being fast-tracked right now… because we don’t have a choice. For us to be able to have the right perspective, we’ve got to have the right position to be able to operate in that.

“God says, “I know My thoughts toward you”. <Lay hands on yourself: Father…>”

Hurricane Sandy

“Now all of us had our eyes last week on Hurricane Sandy and I don’t want to make this all about hurricane Sandy, and I’m not going to, but we didn’t have television in our home because we’d just moved into Windsor and we haven’t had phones other than our mobile until yesterday. We have a television system that came with the house and it’s so complicated we had to a have a technician come out and hook all that up and show us how to use it…So we weren’t able to keep up except on the internet with tracking some of the things that were going on in the world at his time.

“So every time I saw a picture of Sandy – and I don’t want to talk about the hurricane only hitting New York – it hit the Caribbean, it hit New Jersey, it hit New York, it went on up into Canada. There were deaths everywhere and so we don’t downsize any of that. In matter of fact, its eye hit actually New Jersey but its greatest amount of damage was done in New York and I think the reason people put the emphasis on that is simply because that’s the financial district, that has the Statue of Liberty, a place of identity for the nation, a place of rule in the nation. And so that’s why I believe people’s focus is upon there, even though that’s not the only place it touched.

“Every time I would see this – I only got to see it once in a while – I didn’t see a flat picture because I wasn’t watching the news on television….and one time the Lord said, “The Hurricane Sandy is punctuation” and that’s what the Lord told me.

“And so when I would see it, one time it would look like a full stop – with the eye in the middle – when I would see it another time with it swirling, it would look like a question mark with the dot – and when I’d see it another time it was elongated and it looked like an exclamation mark with the dot on the bottom.

“And the Lord kept saying that this hurricane and these winds are “a punctuation”, not just in the US but a punctuation in the world. Now a type of punctuation means that it draws the line – and it brings a separation and there is an alteration after that, and this is what the Lord said, He says:

“These are re-arranging winds and they’re changing the course of nations.”

“Anybody here that felt that resound in their spirit just wave your hand…do you see that…you didn’t have to make that happen. This is a “re-arranging winds and a changing of the course of nations” and the Lord spoke this – forgive me as I’m going to read some of this because I want to get the words right:

“The Lord says,

“The Old World’s time has cycled around again to become a New World – we’re part of that Old World, here in Europe – to rewrite history, no longer a Constantine conversion that advances religion without Christ. Hidden winds of change have been developing on the inside of My people and they are now blowing change into the world. The western New World, particularly the USA, will enter accelerated crisis-shaking to hasten their journey to learn that I am their true resource and I am their defender. The USA has been a champion of freedom for much of the oppressed world, but you cannot represent freedom without representing Me, Jesus, Who is the provider and Who can bring sustainable protection to the nation.”

“The Lord says,

“Parts of these winds that are blowing, part of these winds that are bringing a re-arranging, are blowing away what has confused nations of their identity.”

“We’re not the only nation that has been in an identity crisis. I believe that many of our nations have had skewed identity and the Lord is saying this, He says:

“I will bring you out of what you have designed by your own thinking and by your own hands” – listen to that! – “that I may redesign it by My thoughts and by My plans.”

<Lift up your hands…repentance and in-depth prayer covering all points of that word>

Economics

“People are nervous about the economy but the Lord is saying that there is a sweeping financial change in the nation – turn to your neighbour and say, “No surprise!” – and the Lord says when you look at the USA it’s going to look like economic collapse. Listen carefully, the Lord says,

“It’s not judgement but it is a reaping of what’s been sown through governmental unsustainable spending.”

“Prophetic people, we have got to have our perspective right. It’s easy to say when we see something shaking that “God’s judging that!”. There’s plenty of times in our lives when we’ve been shaken but it’s not been a judgement of God but He’s been shaking things so that that which cannot be shaken remains – or the fact that there’s a greater moulding, or He’s bringing us into a greater focus – the Lord says the Dollar is falling and its falling to what looks like a North American-Mexico new currency. The Euro is weakening also and the Lord said it will fragment.

“Now people have tried to push me to get me to say this before my time – but I wouldn’t – they know that! They’ve really asked me those questions, so let me say it again:

“The Euro is weakening, also it will fragment, and the Lord says it will eventually restructure Europe. Are we listening here? The Lord says,

“Watch Finland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and possibly France as there is (coming) part of a restructured core group of countries.”

“OK?  That’s why it’s important that you order the recording today. The Lord says we’re still under the topic of economics…

“China’s increasing scope is going to continue in the midst of human rights violations, and because there is going to be economic growth people are going to avoid dealing with some of the human rights violations because of the benefit of the Yuan.

“People are asking about investments and I don’t know that I know anything about investments right now. If you’re wise enough and mature enough that you can hear me when I say I have inklings – you know you can take them that way – but the Lord’s speaking to me about Japan’s currency offering a form of stability at this time, and the Lord started speaking to me two days ago about white metals. I had to go to my husband and ask what would you consider are white metals, and of course the most obvious would be silver. And so I looked up on the internet and this is what I saw:

“Gold is already at 90% of its top value. So that means if you buy gold most likely you probably could earn another 10% over how much time, who knows…but silver is only at 40% and so that means that if it’s one of those things that goes up – and you’re listening with mature, discerning ears – that means the basic statistic is that if it’s going to do its rise now, it’s got 60% to rise, which means that your investment would have greater benefit. Right, does that make sense?

“So the Lord was speaking about Japan’s currency having a form of stability for this time, also for white metals at this time and that we were going to see some blessing upon those things.

“And then the Lord reminded me of things I’ve shared with you for the last couple of months:

“One, ravens and camels. Remember you will want supernatural resources from God but you don’t want the raven dropping them off as that signals you’re in famine and it was only ever supposed to be sustaining for a temporary time. You want the camels coming with an abundance for yourself and the Kingdom of God, and that is what you are looking to, and so we’re not changing from supernatural resources and connecting to God at this time but what we’re doing is we’re changing our areas of alignment and of expectation. I am not looking for the ravens, I am looking for the camels at this time. That means you’re going from surviving to thriving – repeat that after me, you’re going from surviving to thriving – surviving to thriving is where we are going.

“Now I’m going to touch on;

The Weather

“You know the Bible already tells us about the Last Days. It talks about earthquakes, it talks about floods, it talks about famines, it talks about wars, and it says these things must come, and they’re the beginning of birth pangs. So any prophet who says any of those things you have to say “amen” to because it’s already in the written Word, but I believe that there are different focuses for different seasons that we’re in. And this is what the Lord spoke to me:

“The Lord said that we’re going to enter into a season of solar storms that are going to disrupt electronics in the earth and in the sky. I don’t think it’s long term disruption, I think it’s short term disruption. The Lord said there will continue to be eruptions and earthquakes that have the ability to change the axis, just like the one in Chile did (and Japan), you know it actually changed the axis of the earth.

“For those who didn’t know, it actually took away a few – I don’t know how they measure parts of a second – but it took away some time from every day, the shift that happened. I don’t know if you realise this but the magnetic north is moving 40 miles towards Russia, is it every year now? – If I don’t have that right you may read it for yourself – that’s not prophetic word it’s something I read in the newspaper. (RB: as here)

“So things are changing and the Lord says part of this is that we’re going to see the grain reserves in the earth hit a historic low. And that, of course, always affects the poorest nations more (those) that live on the grain and rice. And the Lord says even the heat and the droughts of this year, particularly in Russia, Eastern Europe and the United States was going to be one of the major contributors that are going to bring us into this all-time low in the area of grain.

“Remember, we’re not one that just recognises the problems, we’re ones that every time we see this we say “God, I want a solution to that, I want to be a solution to that, I want to be part of the remedy, I want to be part of the answer in that situation”.

“And then the Lord spoke to me and He said,

“You’re going to have to remember I have I’ve already given you authority over plague but you have to rise up and use that authority.”

“And so what I believe is even in this weather thing that God is saying has affected crops I believe that we will see what some people call a plague, and the Lord say’s this isn’t one for those who say “O come, help God!”, the Lord says,

“I’ve already given you authority over the plagues. You rise up in the midst of that authority.”

“Now I want to look at;

Anti-Semitism

“Several months back we said we have got to switch the way we’re praying for Israel; we’ve got to spend more time praying for how our nation aligns with Israel because how a nation aligns with Israel determines whether it’s blessed or whether it’s cursed.

“I felt that as we’re going into this season that has got a greater emphasis upon it than any other time that I’ve ever known before, because as times get dark and things shake, throughout history there has always been a blaming of Israel. And I believe that there’s going to be people that are going to put pressure on their national leaders to disalign with Israel because of the hard times and wanting to blame shift.

“And you are going to hear the most ridiculous things that Israel will be blamed for. One of them is, Israel’s going to be blamed for the gas price, the oil prices in the Middle East – Israel’s going to be blamed for that! – not the people that are charging it, but Israel! – how that works I’m not quite sure! But you cannot be one that your point of perception and paradigm is moulded by the media but that you hold true to what the Spirit of God is saying.

Government

“Governmental legislative prayer – which we’ll speak a little bit about about tonight – can shift the way earth is structured. That is why when we moved into this year this  anointing of governmental rule, God has been watering that, God has been nurturing  that within you – this is not a Dominionist message like what was presented to the church twenty five years ago – it’s not about, “You were created in His image and now you rule!”.

“No, there is something else that is going on at this time as the Spirit of God is speaking about governmental prayer. He is talking about, listen; the throne of heaven and the court of heaven, I can’t tell that it’s a different place, because wherever Jesus is and wherever He’s enthroned He has the ability to rule from, and so when I look at that we are more ones that are saying “I’m going to enter His gates, and I’m going to enter His throne room and I’m going to worship and do this…”, the Spirit of the Lord says:

“I want you to, but then I want you to partner with me once you’re there.”

“Listen, I believe that worship is not a means to an end but I also believe that it positions you to operate in an authority, a partnership and a co-operation with the Spirit of God that nothing else gives you the right to do! And so once you’re in that throne room, once you’re in those courts of heaven, once you know that you are seated in heavenly places – not just ‘Oh I have faith in my heart’ – from knowing you’re there and it has changed your position, how to see what is going on in the earth, He says,

I am looking for those who are going to governmentally, legislatively restructure the structures of the earth together with me!”

<Lift your hands. Father, I release a commissioning over your people right now….>

“Now I just want to touch on one more thing about government before I go on. You know in this last season we saw with a great shaking that there were several dictators that fell in the midst of their nation. You know how the Word of God says that if you have a victory and you don’t fill that void the enemy comes back seven times worse, and the end result is more negative than the beginning (the first) result? The Lord said we left a void.

“I want you to know cringed when I heard that! Where dictators have fallen in the earth, He says,

“My Church left a void in that place” and He says, “Now you’re going to see nations and new dictators rising up from so many different directions at this time.”

<Father,..> Now we get to the part everybody likes;

Revival

“I do love this part but I’ve got to give you the definition that I’ve been carrying in my spirit for this last season before I go into this.

“I believe that there are currently revival pockets in the earth and I believe that after this year, when the calendar changes, we are going to see what looks like many more revival pockets. And it is not a fairy tale to believe that God is actually looking to world-wide revival – He is. And so you don’t be one that downsizes your hope based upon what you’ve experienced. No, because of where your perspective is you agree with what the Spirit of God is doing. But what I have felt like I needed to pray over so many this last season is if you’re not careful revival is something that you wait for and you pray about for God to do but you don’t know what else to do about. And the Lord said this:

“People do not understand that a new wineskin for revival, so it can be sustained, is an apostolic, relational, reformational, societal wineskin.”

“And that He really does intend for His glory to cover the earth and for nations to come to their desire; Jesus. But right now He is starting the glory spots in the earth and God says He’s been awakening us, awakening us to the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit in us and through us, awakening us to new intimacy and encounters with Jesus, awakening us in worship so that we can host the Presence of God.

“But, you prophetic people, He’s also awakening you in the area of revelation because the epitome of revelation is not what you see in each other and not even what you see in the earth but as it says, when He has come, where we have seen through a glass darkly now we’re going to see with an area of clarity. And what are we going to see? We are going to know Him even as we are known by Him.

“That there is a shift here with looking at revival, looking at revival thoughts, looking at awakening, looking at glory spots in the earth, looking at a reformational wineskin, there’s a shifting of perception going on here. The height of what you have to deliver to the earth and to steward the atmosphere with is your revelation of Him. I should have heard a whole lot more amens at that point (everyone was busy trying to jot all this)

“It is your revelation of Him because that is what gives you the clarity of everything else, and you as prophetic people you know you’re made for the weight of God’s words upon your lips, you know your made to handle words of life, you know you’re made to handle revelation, you know that you’re not content to live in the present and judge the future by what the news says.

“You know that you’re called to read the times and you know that you’re called to prepare a people and to make a way, and you are one that God’s eyes look to and fro on the earth and when He wants to speak into the nation He speaks to you because you are married to the land and you have a passion for the purposes and the destiny of a nation and He says the way that this is going to be is that you’re going to see Me! We’re going to see Him! It cannot be separated as a work order or just a description or just a strategy from the connection with him and the intimacy level that brings and the knowing Him, and the authority and the rest that brings to be able to put His pattern, the will of heaven, upon the earth so it becomes the will of the earth.

“Ok, so, revival. I believe we’re headed for worldwide revival and I believe in this next season we’re going to see some glory spots increasing but the Lord spoke a couple of issues into it:

“He said, some of the greatest places we’re going to see it is where men and women can work together, where generations can work together. And so what does that mean? It means the old clothes-line religion, the old gender separation of women in governmental authority in the church – where there is a stronghold of that, there’s also a limitation – and so it is something that has to be dealt with. So what do we do? We bind it in the heavens so that it is bound in the earth also.

“Now the Lord also spoke about young leaders. This is a time that we begin, as those that are more mature and have been around a while, we have to embrace and platform (sic) and support young leaders, not making them have our vocabulary but us be willing to change our vocabulary so that we are not obsolete but that we are effective into another generation.

“And I saw where these revival spots were there was a high-level interaction between men and women and leaders of all ages – isn’t that amazing!

“And then the Lord spoke to me about a type of unity that we have begun to think is impossible. The Bible uses the word ‘unity’ in 484 verses – I don’t know if you knew that – let me just mention a few to you: let us exalt His name together; gather My saints together under Me; we took sweet counsel together; break forth into joy, sing together; and all that believed were together; and when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together; for we are labourers together with God; wherefore, comfort yourselves together; not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together; God has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places.

“I believe that there are even some of us sitting here that, as the church was struggling to change itself into the new wineskin, we got ‘excommunicated’ or we didn’t know where we fit any longer, there has become that wonderful emphasis of “It’s Him and me”, “This is it, It’s Him and me” and it IS always Him and you. But what you’re going to affect in the rest of the earth is you and the others that are round about you and how you gather to do that; whether that is in a local assembly, whether that is in a football stadium, whether that is in a prayer gathering or whether that is in somebody else’s home, or whether it’s in a business – I don’t think that is the biggest issue of where it’s at. I believe, though, there is a place that some of us out of self-preservation we became isolated – ok?

“Do you know that in a gathering like this there is no responsibility upon your character? Do you know that in a gathering like this there is no title to be given and so there’s no manoeuvring for that? But at the same time it affects the level of unity you can walk in when you’re forged together and moulded together and you walk through things for each other in victory together!

“There is a place where what you agree on – you see it’s not the fact that “Oh I like what you’re saying so I agree that…” – No, what you agree on, why do you agree? I know this person, I’ve been in the fire with them, I’ve been in good days with them, I’ve been in bad days with them. I’ve seen when hell was breaking loose on their family and they’ve still stood and they’ve got the victory and now when we touch anything and we agree we know what position we’re agreeing from and the Lord says, “There’s nothing that will be withheld from us and that which we pray will be granted unto us. That’s a whole lot different to, “Give me your hand and let’s pray”. Isn’t that right?

“Now where’s the finance for this unity right now? – we’re God’s legislative body and where it talks in Matthew 16.18 of that ‘ecclesia’ we’ve spoken about. You cannot bind and loose and overlap the earth with heaven’s will without being not just legislative yourself, but without being that legislative body that God is raising up.

“Now we’re still talking about revival during this time and so the Spirit of God is saying, “There is a unity that is required”. And so, “Am I in places where we exalt His Name together?…Am I part of the saints that are gathered together?” – and just ask yourself that!

“Now I’ve got two more minutes and two more pages and so I’m going to go quickly….I didn’t know where to put this but the Lord started speaking to me in terms that I’d not heard before. And the Lord said you’re going to see…successful businesses right now are going to be:

Business driven solutions!

“I’m not even sure I have a definition for that so I’m just going to put that out…but I believe that part of that is to bring the impoverished into a new dimension of prosperity.

“I watched, because we had no TV for the last three weeks – it’s really been refreshing – but we’ve watched dvds of Greg’s Chain Reaction movies and at the beginning of this there was a scientist that said, “We have got to develop an energy source in the earth, and then we’ve got to give it away to all the nations and nobody has got to look to be able to gain money from it, otherwise what we’ll do is we‘ll increase wars and the increasing greed will do all this…”. Now I don’t know what else the movie said for the next hour and a half! I just kept hearing that one statement resounding on the inside of me.

“It wasn’t about an energy source. It is about supplying what the earth needs above witty inventions (Proverbs 8:12) supplying for you. It is about supplying the solutions that the earth needs at this time with a generosity of the Kingdom. It is about being a vesselfrom God tobring His way of thinkingthat releases the good, the perfect will in the earth for the things that we could never have thought of or aligned with or even have a way.

“I can’t tell you how many people come to me and say, “I’m just waiting for a backer and banker and then I’m going to have this great wealth and I can give money away”? How about giving your invention away? Listen! Is there a possibility that we could seek first His Kingdom in the earth and, because we do, ALL these other things will be given to us? (paraphrasing Matt 6:33) The Lord said:

“We have entered into that season businesses, churches and individuals are going to be valued by what they give away.”

“So if you’re looking for influence in the earth at this time it has just shifted, it is part of the “winds of change” – it has shifted what gives us influence.

“I’m finishing here: the Bible talks about in Jeremiah 30:7 – “The last day is great so that none is like it and it is a time of Jacob’s troubles but he shall be saved out of it.”

“Repeat after me, “God is reimbursing us for our sorrows”…God says, He’ll give you double for what you’ve been through. We’re not saying what you want, we’re declaring His character in the midst of this. But you’ve got to be careful not to seek to preserve what was, because I believe that what we’re looking at is different and it’s brand new. So, prophetic people, it is so easy to speak and call forth a future and resist change at the same time. We cannot afford to do that. We have got to be ones that can proclaim and create the future and I believe that God is still shaking but, don’t let things be shaken out of you that should not be shaken out at this time because we are growing up in Christ. Have two scriptures to read you:

“Psalm 34:1-10 – “I will bless the Lord at all times” – this is our way to escape from the past. His praise shall continually be in my mouth, my soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me….etc

“Psalm 24 – “Who may ascend unto the hill of the Lord, or who may stand in His Holy Place?”

“In this holy season we’re going into, who’s going to be able to ascend, who’s going to be able to go in, who’s going to be able to stand? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. First, out of your relationship with God who has not lifted up his soul to an idol nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, remember Jacob’s sorrows, the generation that seek him, who seek His face. Lift up your heads O you gates and be lifted up you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, lift up you everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? – the Lord of Hosts.

“The Lord is saying be not anxious and don’t get into fear, cast your burdens upon Him. Yes, some things are judgement coming upon the earth, some of them are not about us, they are not for us and some of them we have an ability to (make a) detour and reduce. So you just have to stay in relationship with God and from this perspective know how to deal with it. I believe that we can still reduce devastation. And so, if we’re in a place of great darkness and in a place of great glory, that means we’re also in a place of trials and triumph!

“And so you’re going to have to look at some things, but where there may look like trouble on every side there is hope from heaven on every corner! Did you hear that? Trouble may look like it’s on every side but there is help and hope from Heaven on every corner. The Word of God tells us in Proverbs 12:13 ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire has come it’s a tree of life’. I believe you’re helping nations come to their desire and the days that we’re living in require a hope. They require a hope within the midst of us and we spoke into that earlier this month when we were together about receiving a hope for what God is doing in this nation.

“There’s so much more I want to share with you but would you stand…..

“Father, in the name of Jesus we thank you that we just prophesy in part and these are such titbits compared to the mysteries that You told us are available to us, and available to our children. So Father, we ask that You would use each of these revelations as a deposit, as a seed, as an investment to open up the hidden things, to open up the mysteries, to open up the timings, to open up the strategies, the solutions and the remedies, Father not only for us but for our nation as well. And Father we recognise that in what is happening right now is we have the ability to change the course of nations and that’s why You have been building us and preparing us in any way. So Father, right now I pray over all these here and over those who will hear this recording, God we say right into their perception, right into their paradigm, God breathe that “wind of change”, Father, that “wind of punctuation” that declares an end and a beginning, breathe it right on the inside of us. Blow away restriction and limitation, Father, that we might rise up and realise we are setting the course of nations, right now. And Father, right now we declare over these people that what You have for them is greater still, is greater still, is greater still, what You have for them is greater still, greater still – in the Name of Jesus….Amen.”

Footnotes:

If you live in Scotland or Northern England you may like to know that Sharon will be in Glasgow 11-12 January at Start The Year Right, hosted by Emma Stark (one of the panelists on 3rd Nov). Details at http://www.glasgow-prophetic-centre.org.uk/shop/

1. For a brief personal introduction to Dr Stone as well as an understanding of the ‘roll-on season’ to which she refers above, see Prophetic Word for 2012.

2. Re.anti-Semitism: should Christians align with the state Israel?  See Thoughts below.

3. A selection of UK-related prophecies may be read in Library of Prophecies.

4. Transcribed with permission of CI Europe and a polite reminder; Copyright applies.

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