Aled Jones’ live TV comment raises concern over injustice

Posted on Thursday, 17 October, 2013 by Richard Barker

A British breakfast TV interview circulating ‘over the pond’ among American Christians brings attention to injustices suffered by a couple of hoteliers at the hands of our courts.

I was intrigued to find two translations of the Bible directly relevant to both sides of the interview’s controversial point!

First of all, thanks are due to John McTernan for linking to a transcript in Monday’s blog Real Christianity on display, and to Tony Puccio for informing me of its email circulation in Arizona.

NB: this post’s stats occasionally show ‘peak viewing’ when it gets circulated. So I’d ask that it be read in the spirit it is written.

Let’s look at the issue together as I ‘flesh it out’.:

ITV, Britain’s first commercial station, broadcasts Daybreak as a morning magazine. Its presenters Aled Jones and Lorraine Kelly interviewed Peter and Hazelmary Bull the day before they appealed to the UK Supreme Court over a £3,600 fine for refusing to rent one of their hotel’s double-bedded rooms to a homosexual couple. As clearly stated on their website, rooms were available for married men and women only. (The Bulls are supported by The Christian Institute and further details, including on-going reports may be found under Bulls’ B&B Trial.)

Aled Jones’ faith

Aled Jones is well known as a former treble chorister and singer with many albums to his credit, as well as presenter of BBC’s Songs Of Praise (see MirrorTV brief ‘bio’). It’s a typical anodyne BBC programme, however when speaking to journalist Catherine Francis for Inspire magazine, he said the programme attracts millions of viewers from around the world and,

“Songs Of Praise aims to uplift and spiritually enhance its viewers, whether or not they’re Christian, and they need to feel comfortable watching it. It’s a genuine honour to be associated with it…”

She continues, ‘And Aled’s passion is clear to see about the Christian faith,

“Christianity is real, it’s now, it’s happening and it’s exciting – it’s not sedate or simply part of history. Jesus toppled over the market stalls in the Temple – this is a person with passion, a person with love, with blood running through his veins. That’s what it’s all about for me.”

Well said sir, and I think it’s important to keep that in mind when considering today’s matter. Has he changed his views?

The Daybreak interview

The interview has been transcribed fairly accurately by Dr Michael Brown, a scholar, speaker and author of 22 books, including The Real Kosher Jesus. He blogged it a week ago today as An older woman puts today’s compromised preachers to shame. Therein he sets the scene.:

At a time when so many of our Christian leaders are guilty of compromising the gospel before the media, dishonouring the Lord as they try to make God’s Word palatable to the world, it was an older British woman…who displayed a backbone of steel, a deep and consistent faith, and a theological clarity while being grilled on national TV. Cheers for Hazelmary Bull!

And make no mistake about it. This is not some slick, camera-friendly couple, versed in the latest clichés and fitted with the coolest wardrobe. This is a couple grounded in the Word and committed to Jesus. Today’s Christian leaders could learn well from their example.

Jones took the lead and started with a neutral ‘voice-over’ video outlining the case. The presenters were not unpleasant but wanted to know why the Bulls were contesting the loss of their Appeal in 2012. It may have got intense because of their seeming inability to grasp the Bull’s Biblical position. Or were they just acting professionally on behalf of a religiously illiterate British audience and consequently asking questions from a simplistic viewpoint?

Whatever their approach, it helped the Bull’s present their case clearly and admirably. Take a look at the video clip:

Here’s the transcript section of Dr Brown’s short article; his comments in italics.:

When asked why they were going ahead with the appeal after all they had been through, Hazelmary replied,

“The reason we have continued with this is because we feel there are arguments still to be made, because we are hoping that some way or another, a pathway will be found through this so that two different lifestyles—which at the moment have had a head-on collision—two different lifestyles could live together in our society.”

Her purpose, then, is marked by conviction and conciliation: How can we live together in the same society when we have such different convictions?

Lorraine Kelly: “May I suggest that maybe you are in the wrong business? Because when you think about it, only 47 percent of couples now are actually married, so when you do that, you forget all the arguments and all the rest, but actually from a business sense, sure, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Hazelmary Bull: “No, on the face of it, it looks like that because we have always refused a double-bedded accommodation to unmarried heterosexual couples.”

When challenged by Kelley, Hazelmary explained, “It’s Bible-based; it’s entirely Bible-based.”

(Pastors, take note of her words. This is how we should operate our local assemblies as well, based on the Word, not on marketing principles.)

Aled Jones: “As a Christian, the God you worship is a loving God, is a tolerant God. And if people are in a civil partnership, they are obviously in love, so what is wrong with them sharing a bed?”

(Note that Jones came to national fame as a hymn-singing child, and in 2004 he was voted Religious Broadcaster of the Year by the Churches Media Council for his work with Songs of Praise. He still hosts BBC’s Songs of Praise show, and within the last four years he has released albums featuring hymns and Christmas songs. What in the world happened to Aled Jones?)

How does Hazelmary reply to his challenge? You’ve got to love this!

HB: “I think it’s a myth to believe that entirely. He is a loving God, that’s true. He’s a forgiving God, but there is—

AJ: “And a tolerant one?”

HB: “He is a longsuffering God; He’s not entirely tolerant because the Bible is full of cases when He does finally bring judgment about. We felt that we wanted to, as far as possible, live according to His instructions, and the Bible is very clear about marriage.

Boy, did she nail it! There is a difference between God being longsuffering and God being tolerant, and yes, “He’s not entirely tolerant because the Bible is full of cases when he does finally bring judgment about.”

Do you think we’ll be hearing a lot of lines like that from some of the pastors featured on The Preachers of L.A.?

LK: “It’s 2013…2013!”

MB: “God hasn’t changed; Jesus says He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. He hasn’t changed, the Bible hasn’t changed, and we are wrong—we are living in a dream—if we think that He has changed His laws to suit us, because that’s not the case at all.”

Exactly! Most of the world is living in a dream. In fact, much of the church is living in a dream too, having been put to sleep by smooth-tongued preachers who have watered down the Word in a futile attempt to make it “contemporary.”

LK: “So you don’t accept that you have done anything wrong at all? You don’t accept that, that was offensive?”

MB: “We find this thoroughly regretful, because we clearly state that we prefer to let double-bedded accommodations to married couples.”

(She then explains, in answer to Kelly’s question, that this is clearly stated on the website.)

LK: “When two people come check in, how do you know that they are married or not?”

HB: “That’s a fair question. We have a script, and we try very hard not to offend. Remember, we have been there for 28 years, and this is the first time we have had any problems. We have a script whereby where we say very gently and politely, if one person shows up at the door—say it’s a male—we say, “Is this for you and your wife?” And oddly enough, they will say, “No, well, not actually my wife. We’re partners, or it’s my girlfriend or whatever”.”

How telling! They never had a problem when refusing an unmarried heterosexual couple over the course of 28 years, but when it comes to two gay men, the Bulls are brought to court.(RB emphasis)

Kelly then pointed to the low percentage of couples in the U.K. who are marrying, to which Hazelmary responded, “Well, I don’t know the numbers, and I’m not entirely interested in the numbers because of course we’re running this—”

LK: “Well, you should, as a businessperson…“

HB: “Well, we’re running this under our own roof, and God demands that our faith doesn’t end—”

LK: [interrupting with some hostility] “Your God demands. Your God.”

HB: [without batting an eyelash] “God demands that our faith doesn’t end at the kitchen door. He means for your faith to run in every corner of your life. You can’t just section Him off like that. So one would think that dealing with Christians, we would be fair and honest and upright and honourable and live according to the Bible, because the Bible is the Christian’s textbook.”

Bravo, Hazelmary Bull!

Now go watch the video, give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends. It’s a testimony like this that should go viral, rather than the words of some preacher who is waffling, unclear and not wanting to sound closed-minded or offensive.

Let’s speak the truth in love without making excuses, just as our courageous sister did. God Himself will back us, and the haters and mockers will not be able to shout us down.

Jones’ controversial question

As ‘good cop, bad cop’, Kelly and Jones played atheist Scot and anodyne believer who bowls a doctrinal googly,

“As a Christian, the God you worship is a loving God, is a tolerant God. And if people are in a civil partnership, they are obviously in love, so what is wrong with them sharing a bed?”

Bull: “I think it’s a myth to believe that entirely. He is a loving God, that’s true. He’s a forgiving God, but there is…”

Jones: “And a tolerant one?”

Bull: “He is a longsuffering God; He’s not entirely tolerant because the Bible is full of cases when He does finally bring judgment about. We felt that we wanted to, as far as possible, live according to His instructions, and the Bible is very clear about marriage.”

Many viewers, and readers, could take Jones’ point as reflecting his own conviction. However, is it not just as possible for him to have played ‘devil’s advocate’ in asking from a political stance, thereby to elicit and show the Bull’s strength of conviction?

Also, he may have had in mind a verse form Apostle Paul’s grand theological letter to believers in Rome, wherein he chides them over judging one another:

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness leads you towards repentance? (Romans 2:4)

That’s from my New International Version Insight Bible, but Mrs Bull adroitly responds from the very same verse as given in my New King James study Bible:

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

Fascinating. The ‘protagonists’ use the same concept from slightly different translations. The original Greek is ‘anoches’, which means ‘tolerance’ but is rendered ‘forebearance’ in the Interlinear Greek Bible. Mrs Bull correctly clarifies it as being a conditional term, not a never-ending presumption upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Hence, the vital importance of their being in right standing with God’s decrees as revealed in His Word.

But not so for Aled Jones. Out of the confession from his own mouth, he has declared ‘As a Christian’ that there’s nothing wrong in homosexuality. Even if any of the reasons we considered above are relevant, nevertheless the declaration from his heart is what counts in heaven. It’s a far from sensible stance! It’s apostasy – the falling away from the tenets of Christian faith.

As Dr Brown queries, what has happened to Aled Jones?

Dubious doctrine

The controversial point of Jones’ question, of course, is not only his presuming God will turn a blind eye to sin (of any sort!) – but also the inference that gay relationships are approved by God. So, anyone unfamiliar with the issues could infer from his claim of being a Christian that such practice is sanctioned by believers, if not by the wider church.

Nothing could be more mistaken. Aled Jones is unwise to entertain dubious doctrine.

The correct Christian position on this subject was defined in the first formal gathering of strategic church leaders within twenty years of Jesus’ ascension. This apostolic event is known as the Jerusalem Council. We can be sure, therefore, of their thorough familiarity with Jesus’ teachings and instructions and, assisted by The Holy Spirit, would therefore make the correct decisions on any doctrinal issues.

The Council was called to discuss the admission of non-Jewish believers as followers of ‘The Way ‘ of Yeshua Ha Meshiach, Jesus Christ. According to the account in The Acts of The Apostles, the Jerusalem Decree sent to those Gentiles of Antioch, Syria, closed with the following basic stipulations upon admission to fellowship in Jesus.:

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. (Acts 15:28-9 NKJV per BibleGateway.com; emphasis added)

That requirement to abstain from improper, non-marital relationships has never been rescinded. Only folly pretends redefining ‘marriage’ will alter the divine intention behind that declaration against immorality and fornication (porneias; Greek ‘of prostitution’).

It is logical, therefore, to state any consideration or claim to there being nothing wrong with allowing ‘porneia’ within the precincts of a Christian house is utterly absurd.

On the same day John McTernan blogged about this interview the news broke of Aled Jones and Lorraine Kelly being axed as presenters on Daybreak. Also, comments made online around that time haven’t been complimentary about them. Even back in August his position was in question.

It’s intriguing that a definite decision came fast on the heels of Aled’s declaration! Is it part of the promised ‘shaking’? I wonder…

How say you?

A Biblical relevance to Cameron’s ‘judgement call’?

Posted on Tuesday, 3 September, 2013 by Richard Barker

Truly, I much prefer covering prophetical rather than political/military matters. But some things based upon the Word of God need saying when the occasion arises. So I’ll be brief:

This time last week I read reports of mobilisation around the eastern Med and the Gulf in preparing for a US missile strike upon Syria by the weekend. In view of the ‘ready-to-go’ status, I wasn’t surprised my son’s flight in that region set for Friday was brought forward to early Thursday. PM Cameron had urgently recalled Parliament from its Summer recess and later that day sought all MP’s backing for military support of the US and associates’ attack. The PM has been concerned over the very dreadful plight of civilians in Syria and long canvassed Obama for action of one sort or another.

(The US has trained Syrian rebels in Jordan, who’ve already been in action. Assad had warned this would trigger retribution, including use of chemical weapons – see DebkaFile’s analysis with their original report of mid-August).

Thursday evening’s news referred to PM Cameron stressing that military action is a “Judgement call” – see Channel4 News and Friday’s The Independent. As we know, the PM lost the House’s vote. Much has been written about this and so I’ll be succinct. It’s noteworthy that after having heard Cameron tell him UK is unable to help the US, Obama suddenly changed his mind about the strike – not even telling his military chiefs or allies! (DebkaFile refers.)

What struck me is, not so much the complete about-turn by both leaders, as a likely connection with both having forsaken the ways of the Lord and failing to stand on his Word – God is not mocked!

Let’s recall from a previous post on the US Administration’s problems how the Amplified Bible spells out chapter 6 of Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. ⁸For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [BibleGateway]

We cannot pretend to know how the Lord is working in all this, but it’s instructive to note the PM’s “judgement call” may have a deeper connotation than is ordinarily assumed!

Cameron railroaded through Parliament a completely unnecessary Statute to redefine marriage. His American mentor has led nationally and internationally in this and now faces troubles across several fronts, including the Muslim Brotherhood (see this by Joel Rosenberg).

Thus, they’re reaping as they’ve sown within their very own political system. AND it has come through attempting to deal with an evil regime in cahoots with another – but how can our leaders expect to be righteous in this issue when they’re not in others?

So, this round has been won by the ‘Ezekiel 38 Alliance’, or ‘axis’ as David Blair terms it in his commentary West’s failure to act. Analysing America’s three main interests in the Syrian issues, Caroline Glick hits the nail on the head in Obama’s bread and circuses. International Business Editor for the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, also makes several good points in A Fairly Honourable Defeat. This comes with insights from his father’s involvement in Syria in 1942.

Yesterday’s development is the proposed transfer of Assad’s chemical weapons into deep shelters in Iran, thereby averting any US attack (report here) and possibly using the move as a bargaining chip. [Debka reported ahead of the invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein’s WMD stock was moved into Syria. Many years later I noted the ‘Vicar of Baghdad’, Canon Andrew White, corroborate this claim on TV.] A fortnight ago Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned,

“Syria has become Iran’s testing ground….Iran is watching and it wants to see what would be the reaction on the use of chemical weapons.”

Today brings news of joint US-Israel tests at sea of interceptive missile systems for protection of Israel and Jordan in the event of the conflict expanding into the region.

So tensions continue to simmer near boiling point….

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

Posted on Thursday, 1 August, 2013 by Richard Barker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+ SALVATION + WORD + HOLY SPIRIT + RIGHTEOUSNESS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Something good in UK’s ‘marriage’ Act for Christians?

Posted on Tuesday, 30 July, 2013 by Richard Barker

The coffee-time conversation with Steve continues. Nina and Simone catch up with us on our way to the cafe’s bar for fresh, full mugs and hear Steve exclaim,

“What! What on earth’s good for believers about the ssm Bill?” The startled looks our wives dart at each other convey; “What on earth have our men been talking about?”

Back in our secluded corner, Steve summarises our conversation and he’s ‘champing at the bit’ to take charge. I want to steer it another way but Simone beats us to ‘the off’. As a solicitor she brings a fresh view.:

Legal eagles’ views

“How the Bill was rushed through and given royal assent clearly smacks of censorship in a totalitarian state. A barrister and senior lecturer at the University of London wrote a splendid professional paper quite relevant to this issue. David McIlroy explains why a democracy’s legal system can’t have a morally neutral playing field. I noted his opinion that,

A public square from which religious influences are excluded is not a neutral public square. It is a public square in which all influences bar the secularist ones have been censored. That is not a public square in which everyone’s voice is heard and everyone’s views are respected, it is a public square in which religious voices are silenced and anti-religious views are imposed. This is not a tolerant society, it is a tyrannous society.

“What he also says about the double-importance in a Christian society of how the Last Judgement affects the law is especially interesting…I recall bits like:

…It means today’s rulers are understood, and (should) understand themselves, to be answerable to a higher authority in their actions. They know they will be judged for how they exercised their power and this accountability is the foundation of accountability to the people.

…citizens know the ultimate judge isn’t the government but almighty God, and this contributes hugely to human freedom.

“It’s an exciting summary of how Christianity has provided a sound basis for secular law..”

“I know, Simone, I’ve got a copy thanks to a fellow blogger – an excellent document! And I wrote about examples of creeping tyranny back in 2009!” [See 1 & 14 below]

“Also Richard, contrary to what you said about Archbishop Welby and bishops being overwhelmed in the House of Lords, the barrister who founded Christian Legal Centre issued them a written challenge over his version of events and concluded:

I am surprised that the Church of England appears to be vacating the public square when it comes to the issue of marriage. Given the rich teaching of Scripture and strong tradition of marriage, this is something that the CofE should be able to comment on clearly, intelligently and winsomely. Marriage is something to be celebrated, promoted and, at this time, preserved. At a time when the nation needs to hear a prophetic voice on marriage, the CofE’s message is sadly mixed and, as a result, unclear.

“The account of her corresponding with him and CoE’s response laments their inability to copy the politicians’ action in ensuring full attendance for voting.” [2]

Raising my finger, “I like her bit on ‘prophetic voice’ as I was struck by the sharp contrast between the Telegraph’s report on Welby’s ‘cop-out’ and what Sharon Stone taught and did [3] – the first started my morning and the second closed it in a much Godlier way!

“Also, in one of many debates on that other blog I pointed out that wise leaders would wait and watch what happens to other countries before foisting it on the British public. It’s opening Pandora’s Box – next will come legal recognition of bigamy, bestiality and paedophilia, as in the customs that defiled ancient Canaan which God spoke against when Hebrews took it over as the land ‘vomited out its inhabitants’.”

“I’ve read John McTernan’s excellent teaching on those socially sanctioned practices,” . adds Simone. “I said to Stan to read too” nodding at her husband. [4]

Nina expresses her deep concern over Her Majesty giving assent to the Bill in view of her Coronation oath “to maintain the laws of God and profession of the Gospel”.

My long spoon lances a hole in the cappuccino’s thick froth as I respond, “Being a constitutional monarch, there was absolutely nothing she could have done about its passing into Law as the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act.

“But from my perspective as lookout on the walls – as it were – our national leader became much more motivated to introduce the Act – come hell or high water – by President Obama during his state visit. So it’s possibly a result of that influence…”

“I’ve read,” reports Simone, “Obama is a long-standing ‘gay pride evangelist’, as can be seen in his recent call to African nations to be ‘converted’. Their righteous leaders have repudiated his overtures…on fact they’re sparked a real backlash!” [5]

“That’s so,” I add. “I’ve followed it all closely through Bill Koenig, a Christian White House journalist. Cameron’s now copying Obama as an ‘evangelist’, which His Grace Cranmer scathingly lampoons [6]. He notes Cameron’s clearly stated intention [7]:

Only other thing I wanted to say is that I know that the job isn’t yet fully done. It is something to celebrate that Britain is now – and it’s official – the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe. That is a great achievement. That’s not my measure; that is an inter-nationally recognised measure. But there’s still a lot more work to be done.

“God is not and will not be mocked and these national leaders are treating Him with the utmost of contempt. Unless they humble themselves, repent deeply and renounce their ways there is very little hope for their future – but God may have mercy.”

“But at least they’ve not committed the unpardonable sin,” interjects Nina, to which Steve asks, “What’s that?”

She replies, “That’s saying a work of the Holy Spirit is of Satan. In my opinion, many believers have unwittingly done that when attributing God’s presence and His work to the demonic! Some think so about a Canadian whom we know. Whilst at a church in Bath, he sensed God wanted to heal and that evening I was able to walk and dance again – I went from permanent disability to normal ability in an instant! As we all love Jesus, then that could not have been of the devil.” [8]

“Now,” I ask, “Do you want the good or the not-so-good news first? Let’s keep the best for last – after some opinions encountered in fellow believers.”

Not-so-good points

“I’ll try to be brief on what’s very unsettling to my spirit. As I don’t want to have a closed mind on this issue I’d monitored Gillan Scott’s several well-balanced posts on the topic, to which some readers gave a window upon the state of their souls.

“Whatever gay folk say and do they’re no different to any believer for we’ve fallen short of the glory of God and are deeply loved by Him, otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have died for them too. So we love them too as individuals but, as with all sin, we don’t like their sin but hate it for what it is and does in preventing their accessing the fullness of life in Christ.

“Some who claimed to be Christians, however, were not only very supportive of this anti-Biblical Bill but also muddled and confused about what scripture says – even twisting its meaning – as well as being ignorant of sin! One pastor to the gay community even tried to explain why I’m mistaken!

“One regular pundit couldn’t understand what’s wrong with redefining marriage! We got the measure of one another when I commented: if that were correct there was no need for me to have repented of having been in the occult.”

“Just an aside and reminder,” whispered Simone, “I’d like to check the dangers of yoga as its spirit may be messing around with me.”

I continued, “My remark met a haughty, incredulous retort, ‘Upon what basis do you equate same-sex relationships with occultism, Richard? Your logic is seriously skewed, to put it mildly…!’ It was both sad and amusing because the answer was simple…so very simple.

“I parried it by alluding to the oft-quoted legal totem of ‘equality’, as well as its proper mathematical meaning, and took precise aim: ‘Your own logic has missed the point, to put it bluntly…The basis of my equation is straightforward, namely ‘equality of sin’ (ie. ‘missing the mark’).’ We ended up agreeing to disagree.

“But there were lamentable tales of some dear folk engaged in unions they think the Lord has ok’d and then wonder why things went wrong. For example, the miscarriage of a child being carried by one of a female partnership – a terribly sad state brought about by sin to their detriment. It reminded me of sin crouching ‘by the door’ to take Cain and make him murder his brother Abel. (Genesis 4:6-7)

“The accounts and opinions come with a sense of despoiling. I recalled Nathan Morris’ strong preaching on Jesus’ admonition to the early churches infected by sexual sin of their needing to be cleansed from wearing defiled robes. No wonder many wise and anointed preachers sound the alarm bells.” [9] & [10]

THE GOOD POINTS

“From a Christian standpoint, the good things of this Act are not so much the adverse ones but more the scriptural ones. We can, for instance, be most positive about these facts.:

This Bill and Act were never in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto. Thus, in my opinion, the electorate as a whole can’t be held responsible for the revolt against God and traditional values and the consequences.
In requiring and enforcing the Queen’s compromising of her Coronation oath her Prime Minister actually took upon himself the full personal responsibility before God for having broken and contravened it – I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes for deliberately being ignorant in such a gravely foolish action.
David Cameron and everyone voting for the Bill is personal accountability to their Maker for going against His revealed and express will for all mankind – no matter whether they believe in God or not. I pray they’ll have personal revelation on this and take the opportunity to repent before they take up their post-mortem existence – as happened to me when I stood on the trapdoor down to hell [11 In Your wrath remember mercy, Lord.
The sweeping international attempts to redefine the meaning of marriage are so intensely orchestrated that even conspiracy theorists would be left dumbfounded. Therefore, it is and can only be a dark spiritual phenomenon – not one of God but from the one who’s always wanted to usurp His place. But its time on earth is now very short so it wants to take as many humans it can and prevent their salvation.
This so-called cultural change was announced well in advance, in fact 2,000 years ago by no less a person than Jesus Christ himself!”

“How do you make that out?” thrusts Steve with one of his bespectacled glares that reminds me of a hen pecking seed. I hear ‘tap-tap-tap’ and turn to see a solitary man at the next table tapping on his tablet. His face and sound mirrors my friend’s and I gently smile. But then I grin in self-deprecation over my natural tonsure as I reply:

“Off the top of my head…a couple of Jesus’ sayings spring to mind.:

“First of all, His teaching about persistent prayer (Luke 18:8) refers to a time like today; one lacking in not only personal but also corporate faith – as widely shown in ditching Christian values for purely hedonistic aims. This is what Jesus foresaw:

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

“Secondly, He instructed His disciples about the coming of the Kingdom of God and to expect exceptional consequences for socially sanctioned wickedness (Matt 24):

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. ³⁷But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ³⁸For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

“Dr Luke’s carefully collected account of Jesus’ life from witnesses adds (Luke 17):

Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

“Also, His apostle Paul confirmed that Jesus told him the same about a future ‘Last Days’ great apostasy or falling away from faith in God. One of his letters to the early Greek church in Salonika (2 Thessalonians 2) refers to it this way:

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

“Paul carries on with extra details to the gospels, which you can check yourself.

“Moreover, rabbinical teaching is said to confirm the connection between Noah’s time and today’s. Five years ago two separate people on a radio show spoke about the ancient Babylonian Talmud’s interpretation of Genesis and the cause of the Flood. ‘America’s Rabbi’, Aryeh Spero, said the Talmud’s writings show, “before the Flood people started to write marriage contracts between men…which is more than homo-sexual activity…in other words, giving an official state stamp of approval, a sanctifica-tion of homosexual partnership.”

“Rabbi Spero went on to say, “Even in ancient Greece they did not write marriage contracts between men. There was homosexuality, and it was wrong, but there was not an official ‘blessed’ policy. … Marriage is ‘sanctification’ (not simply a partnership).” He said to confer the title of sanctification and holiness upon this behaviour is “probably one of the greatest sins of all that one does against God’s plan for this world.”

“Another source quotes from the Midrash Rabbah Genesis, a specific commentary upon the Torah, and from the Second Book of Enoch, both of which support the claim about the real events of the ‘days of Noah’, from which we may infer they’re the festivities of which Jesus knew and was referring to. I’ve not yet completely cross-checked those sources, but I can let you have them for checking. [12&13]

“Also the widespread persecution of Christians in Africa and Middle East connects into the Daniel 7 end-times prophecy!” [14] On top of that, the status of Jerusalem is being discussed in Washington. With three major aspects of prophecy now at the fore we’re definitely entering the End-Times, as stated at the outset of my writing four years ago – The End-Time Is Now In Play – maybe you’d like to check it out?” [15]

Nina adds, “What’s going on proves the Bible is absolutely true and correct!”

“We’re definitely entering into times foreseen by the Lord Jesus and His first apostles as well as Old Testament prophets. What’s happening across the world has been written about and we know the outcome – the return of King Jesus for His Bride. It can’t be much longer now…As Jesus said when teaching about signs of the end of the Age.:”

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28)

Sources:

Theos website article, Is Secular Law Possible?
Challenge issued to Archbishop of Canterbury.
Revd Dr Sharon Stone: Britain is at a crossroads.
Homosexuality vs Holiness – Ordinances of the Amorites.
US and British promotion of LGBT rights sparks backlash
Exporting gay marriage – the ‘gospel’ of St Dave.
Prime Minister thanks campaigners and workers .
From Disabled to Enabled – how Jesus healed Nina’ spine.
Are ‘Christians’ leading homosexuals to hell?
Steve Hill: Warning for this hour – stop spiritual avalanche.
Part 2 of From Death to Life.
WND Janet Porter: How SSM Points to the End of the World.
End-Times Prophecy Watch: Days of Noah:
Muslim Persecution of Christians.
The End Time is Now In Play.

Is Britain taking a totalitarian route?

Posted on Tuesday, 23 July, 2013 by Richard Barker

“Your blog about new decrees for the UK was a tad off-beam,” remarks Steve as we take our coffees into a quiet corner – our wives chat about the new baby prince with some friends seen sitting by the bay window. Revealing what’s bugging him, our friend of long-standing continues…

“The Coalition For Marriage [C4M] had already circulated its grave concern at how the voting had been hijacked! They emailed me about leaders of all three main political parties using their muscle to force through the same-sex marriage Bill without any proper debate whatsoever – totalitarianism, is what it is…copied from Hitler and Stalin!”

Sitting down stems Steve’s flow as he adds reflectively, “Seems the lady preacher you quoted may have been mistaken. Maybe we are at a crossroads, but what she said was supposed to happen didn’t – quite the opposite!!” [Ref 1 below]

I’m taken aback, not knowing Steve to be a secret reader of my blog! When we four lunch together, all talk about ‘glory stories’, ministry or scripture goes straight over his head. Being a keen golfer and do-it-yourself guy, his skills prove useful in the local parish church. Maybe having a newly licensed vicar who’s passionate on prophetic preaching has inspired Steven to dip into my musings?

“I received the same mailing”, I replied. “In debate on other blogs I’ve pointed out there’s no real electoral mandate whatsoever for this Bill to have been introduced. It’s a mockery of parliamentary democracy. I agree – it is a totalitarian procedure. They ignored over half a million protest signatures in preference for a sham so-called consultation. Not even the gay lobbyists were wanting this Bill.”

Steve nods, “That Bill’s not had unanimous support. According to C4M, it has not been plain sailing for the Government with over 300 MPs and Peers voting against it. C4M effectively highlighted many problems with this legislation. Many Peers tabled amendments to protect civil liberties but none of the Bill’s backers – leaders in all parties – saw to it that they were voted into the Bill.

“Moderate and reasonable changes were wanted, according to C4M, yet both Government and Opposition objected – even hysterically! – and made sure none were added to the Bill. A shameful travesty – tyranny, if the truth be known!”

Taking the email out of a pocket he points out its second page’s points on legal protections required for

> Teachers > Workers > Chaplains > Councils > Free Speech > Siblings.

I read the details and what C4M’s Colin Hart writes:

We wanted Clauses on the face of the Bill to protect civil liberties. Instead Government ministers only agreed to a couple of amendments and gave verbal assurances that people should not be victimised, saying that people would be protected by equality laws.

Evidence from the very recent past proves the brazen falsity of that empty promise. No wonder my friend is so annoyed.

Re. Prophetic Decrees

I ask Steve, “When you read my piece did you think what Sharon Stone and her team did would change the course of events?”

“Your blog implies she said what God had given her would affect Parliament’s votes on redefining marriage…”

“Hold on Steve, not quite so. The news I read in that morning’s paper on the overwhelming opposition the Archbishops and Lords Spiritual encountered was a clear sign of difficulties [2]. Archbishop Welby is reported as saying,

Anyone who listened to much of the Same Sex Marriage Bill Second Reading Debate in the House of Lords could not fail to be struck by the overwhelming change of cultural hinterland. Predictable attitudes were no longer there. The opposition to the Bill – which included me and many other bishops – was utterly overwhelmed, with amongst the largest attendance and participation and majority since 1945. There was noticeable hostility to the view of the churches.

“To my mind his words contrasted strongly with Sharon’s solid teaching from a completely different stance – one to be taken by the Anglicans, if they knew how!”

“What do you mean Richard?”

“Rather than being browbeaten by sinners within the worldly, unclean House of Lords it is much better to speak from where they are in spirit – seated with Christ in heavenly realms above. That is, to take real spiritual authority from over and above the darkness. Now that you’re into my blog I’d suggest checking out Sharon’s ideas on ‘perspective’ in her words for 2013 [3].

“Parliament’s approval was already a foregone conclusion when I wrote about her mentoring day’s profound declarations. Even so, I went ahead and published and thought readers may question it. So, I doubt you’re alone Stan.

“Yes, an immediate turnaround would have been fantastic – and proof of answered prayers. My understanding is; what we declared vocally and from our spirits was released into higher realms. The same way Jesus spoke ‘woe’, that is, cursed a barren fig tree, we were breaking and overwriting thoughts and attitudes seeded and concreted into people’s minds by pronouncements from the unrighteous who are in power and authority over them. Therefore, it will take time to change but it will – and so the near future will be most interesting, even if things get even more difficult as the darkness increases.

“I’ve only to think of a couple of profound changes the Lord showed me many years ago and are now taking place here and in the Middle East.

“The good thing about this SSM Bill from a Christian viewpoint is…”

Our wives head toward us and so we head to the bar for a top up.

To hear what’s good, and not so good, click to continue the discussion >

References:

Amazed by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

Posted on Monday, 15 July, 2013 by Richard Barker

Charles Moore writes,

I am amazed. I first saw this man 40 years ago, when we were both pupils at Eton. Later, I was with him at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was the shyest, most unhappy-looking boy you could imagine. Now he is 105th in the line that began with St Augustine. He seems to be loving it. I remark on the change, and he agrees. “That’s something to do with the Christian faith,” he says.

The Most Rev and Right Hon Justin Welby had just led Charles Moore into the garden of Lambeth Palace with a tray heavy with coffee cups (sorry no photo), down its wide steps and into wider lawns. Past editor of The Sunday Telegraph and Daily Telegraph, following The Spectator, who continues to write for the last two, Moore finds fellow Old Etonian Welby to be by far the most relaxed Archbishop he’s interviewed in that ancient abode. (This archive photo doesn’t do justice to that of Saturdays’ News Review & Comment section by Heathcliff O’Malley.)

Charles Moore’s op-ed pieces are expressed now and then upon a firm Christian faith which, I believe, is from a Roman Catholic perspective. I recalled my pleasant surprise when the New Year edition covered His Grace’s pre-inaugural visit to – of all places – a conference at Trent Vineyard Church where the Elders laid hands on him in prayer and blessing (here and a video). Journalist Charles Moore may have had that event in mind when opening his interview with a question on charismatics – and got more than he’d bargained for!

More morsels from Moore.:

Is it necessary, I ask, for a true Christian to have had a personal conversion experience? “Absolutely not. There is an incredible range of ways in which the Spirit works. It doesn’t matter how you get there. It really does quite matter where you are.”

Does he know Jesus? “Yes. I do. He’s both someone one knows and someone one scarcely knows at all, an utterly intimate friend and yet with indescribable majesty.” (emphasis added)

(On the Pope’s Ignatian and Franciscan spirituality) It is spirituality that the two men share, and it is overcoming the divisions of 500 years: “One of the most exciting trends in western Christianity is that the Spirit of God is drawing Christians together.”

Where will his discussions with the Pope lead? “I haven’t a clue,” he says, disarmingly. He thinks that the ordination of women bishops, though he vigorously supports it, is the biggest obstacle to unity with Rome, but he also believes that both Churches now accept that they must “walk together’’.

As ever, it is a highly readable and eloquent example of journalism and an interesting informative interview with a man who is, ‘trying to find new ways in which this country, despite the secular age, can give its allegiance to God again’.

But what particularly amazed his interviewer and how did this Archbishop become a Christian? Read Charles Moore’s I Was Embarrassed – It Was like Getting Measles to learn the answers to those and other questions.

This Saturday feature came a week to the day I read the Telegraph’s Religious Affairs Editor’s remarks about His Grace Welby’s concern over the ‘overwhelming’ sea-change in attitudes toward sexuality (here). In part, he is reported as saying,

“Anyone who listened to much of the Same Sex Marriage Bill Second Reading Debate in the House of Lords could not fail to be struck by the overwhelming change of cultural hinterland. Predictable attitudes were no longer there.

The opposition to the Bill – which included me and many other bishops – was utterly overwhelmed, with amongst the largest attendance and participation and majority since 1945. There was noticeable hostility to the view of the churches.

“In some things we change course and recognise the new context.

“In others we stand firm because truth is not set by culture, nor morals by fashion.

“But let us be clear, pretending that nothing has changed is absurd and impossible.”

Quickly scanned that early Saturday morning, these claims made a deep contrast with what was to come during that mentoring day in Windsor. I started writing about that in connection with the Book of Esther (here) and will continue to unravel that theme.

Is Obama’s impeachment now on the cards?

Posted on Tuesday, 4 June, 2013 by Richard Barker

Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. ⁸For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [Galatians 6:7-8 Amplified Bible]

Lots of national news and personal thoughts fill my mind in getting back into the swing of blogging. And where did May go? There was lots happening and I want to write on the ‘new season’, especially on the Lion of Judah, as well as the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty’s Coronation on 2nd June 1953.

After dealing with email, however, maybe I ‘sense’ someone’s got something significant and open my ‘Favourites – Blog’ and click at the foot of its long list. This opens to Walid Shoebat’s site (ex-member of PLO and Muslim Brotherhood, now born-again Christian). I found his Barack Obama’s Blue Dress? is a good summary of posts about the ‘Uber-Scandal’ gathering around the US President.

I beg indulgence of my American readers familiar with their administration’s failures, and of readers elsewhere for not recounting the full background. A couple of pre-blog emails (The Gravity of Current Events and Revelation on Israel) of 2011 refer to the possibility of Obama’s impeachment. Other issues, especially many unanswered questions about Benghazi, gave rise to my reservations over the 2012 election, as outlined in If I were an American citizen…

In commenting upon my short post on its results, Tony asked for my ‘take’ on Obama’s re-election. I replied, “Maybe it’s (God’s) intention a 2nd term will either enable Obama to repent or make corrections?” (The latter seems to have happened regarding Israel, but I kept a tight rein on my thoughts that re-election may allow time for Gal 6:7-8 to be applied with its consequential outcome – it’s better to bless and be gracious, for the Lord will work out the detail.)

New York Times’ Jonathan Weisman summarises what’s facing Capitol Hill this week after a week’s recess and Congress’ ability to balance its twin responsibilities of legislating and of investigating. How that works out may make the difference between landmark legislation for Obama, or his being consumed by charges relating to several scandals:

…House leaders and committee chairmen appear to be giving themselves over to an expanding and aggressive oversight effort — on the I.R.S., the Justice Department’s targeting of reporters, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s statements to Congress on that targeting and the Sept. 11 attack on the United States Mission in Benghazi, Libya.

The previous week, Bill Koenig had opened his Inside The White House briefing with, Obama’s slow-coming judgment is picking up steam:

The judgment against Barack Obama and our nation — which elected him — has been exceedingly slow in unfolding, but does have deep foundational consequences. Many of us were surprised that there weren’t more major judgment-type events in his first year in office and through his first four-year term. In many ways, events and activities seemed to go smoothly with no apparent bumps in the road, even his re-election efforts went very smoothly, but the damage to infrastructure being done daily was considerable.

Koenig briefly recaps upon Obama’s immediate implementation of an LGBT agenda whilst taking his oath of office on January 19 2009 and his appointment of numerous activists to key positions. He briefly covers financial and diplomatic issues and what the Lord put on his heart about national accountability for having elected this leader. Then he closes with a brief summary, Acceleration of events:

The recent acceleration of pressure on Israel — both overt and covert; Obama’s defiant support of Planned Parenthood; his public support of the Morning-After Pill for young women 15 years old and up; his continued and active public endorsement of LGBT; have been followed by the Benghazi debacle which has ensnared the White House, the National Security Council, the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA; the public disclosure that the US Justice Department was wire-tapping media figures; and the discriminatory actions of the IRS against certain Christian and conservative groups and the revealing of the extreme bias of those responsible… (emphases added)

I understand there may be a connection between the two emphasised matters. The IRS took inordinately longer than normal to grant tax-exemption approval to many Biblically based opponents to Obama’s policies. Eg. Billy Graham’s evangelical association and its humanitarian aid associate Samaritan’s Purse (see Politico). His son Franklin sent a strong letter direct to the President and concluded,

‘I believe someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us. This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American’.

That’s extremely irregular in any leading democracy but it suggests deep corruption lies at the heart of US federal government!

Yet more

Today, Walid Shoebat adds yet another indictment to the pile in what could be the straw to break the camel’s back.:

The signature of senior IRS official Lois Lerner sits at the bottom of a letter addressed to the Barack H. Obama Foundation (BHOF) in general, Malik Obama in particular. The letter – dated June 26, 2011 – not only granted the BHOF tax-exempt status in record time but did so retroactively to April 30, 2008.

In back-dating the tax-exempt status of Malik’s organization more than 27 months, Lerner committed a crime – a serious one.

However, she didn’t just commit a bureaucratic snafu. Lois didn’t just cross a line of legality by back-dating Malik’s tax-exempt status to a point in time that violated the law. You see, the issue for Lois involves the matter of whom she granted that status to. (Click to read full article)

Just who is this Malik Obama – none other than Barack Hussein Obama’s brother. AND what does he do? In drawing to a close, Shoebat claims.:

We now know that Malik is in bed with a government – Sudan – that has been identified by the U.S. State Department as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and that President Omar al-Bashir is a genocidal maniac; Malik works with him. (Click for detailed account)

With Nixon, it was the tapes. With Clinton, it was his own DNA. With Obama, will it be a letter that implicates his own flesh and blood?

A recent radio show discussed all these very serious issues and stressed that Sudan is, globally, one of the four worst terrorist states. As Shoebat comments about the show.:

If we had one critique, …it’s just so difficult to wrap your head around just how big this Uber-Scandal is (even if you don’t factor the president into the equation).

Conclusion

My coverage of these disreputable matters may seem a tad gross but it is important for my readers to appreciate what’s happening and it’s relevance to Biblical understanding. I’m aware of details known to White House press circle about Obama’s proclamation in his first term of officially designating every June as ‘LGBT Pride Month’. To say the very least, those details are unsettling.

As the Word of God is alive and active and does not return to Him void of accomplishing His purpose, perhaps He’s designated June 2013 as God Is Not Mocked Month ??

Footnote: Galatians 6:8 uses ‘phthoron’ meaning ‘corruption’ for ‘decay’ – how apposite! (Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible)

The Church’s biggest crisis?

Posted on Saturday, 18 May, 2013 by Richard Barker

Biggest crisis? I think not! Nor that ‘Christianity is facing a catastrophic collapse in Britain’, as one religious affairs editor sensationally posits. I agree in the main with Gillan, especially that the church has failed in its duties, and that our encountering Jesus is key. This must be personally experienced and practised outside church walls. Yet how many have that personal, continual relationship? How many encounter God in church today? How many ministers allow His weighty glory to come into ‘their’ meeting? That is, does God attend church?

Thankfully, our Lord’s rectifying the lack of anointed leaders who regularly meet and hear Him, and who can thus teach and disciple ‘hard-core believers’ in doing so too. (Last week I met one such 30 years-old who’d visited the underground Chinese church. They have to worship in silence yet their deafening praise arose before God’s throne!) So it’s not only an intellectual issue as Gillan explains, but also and more essentially one of moving into revelatory and prophetical insight as well as accessing heaven direct.

Imho, the remedy is for church to be remodelled upon the pristine New Testament Church where the presence of Jesus was the sole authority, and Holy Spirit the sole power base for all ministerial and missionary activity. Then, the designation ‘Christian’ would revert to its original meaning of ‘Little Christ’, or ‘Anointed one’: those functioning with the very same power and authority as did their Lord and Saviour. Then, will real revival to which Gillan refers – and others foretell – begin. And it will. Father is already making the Bride a suitable spouse for His Son…

7 great lies in church today – Steve Hill

Posted on Tuesday, 16 April, 2013 by Richard Barker

Thank you to my friend Revd Bill of Blandford for emailing me with news of Steve Hill’s message published in Charisma Magazine and its News Blog. I first heard him deliver it in March at the Revival Reunion of worship leaders, preachers and leaders who were in the Brownsville/Pensacola and Bay of The Holy Spirit revivals. So, it’s good to see it in print.

As with all Steve’s calls for repentance, it is deeply moving and the fact of his personal ‘resurrection’ brings a poignant emphasis to the urgency of this vitally important matter. It is essential for each of us to make sure we’re in right standing with the Almighty.

Steve refers to a raft of deceptive doctrine and errors severely affecting believers’ lives, especially in the United States, namely:

overemphasis on prosperity
exaggerated view of grace
antinomianism – ‘anything goes’
deification of man (humanism)
challenging the authority of the Word
rejecting doctrine on existence of hell
universal reconciliation.

The full content of this message may be read here. It is directly connected with Steve’s warning given from a dread vision of a spiritual avalanche, covered earlier here.

Bill makes these observations:

Having spent a couple of weeks among believers of diverse backgrounds, it is easy to see whole areas of misunderstanding of the truths of scripture. How vital that we encourage all to focus on Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth.

[I’m grateful our church minister, Lindi Masters, is firmly against easy grace and taught in depth on grace and ensured familiarity with foundational teachings listed in Hebrews 6:1-3; The Peril of Not Progressing is NKJV’s very apt heading for these verses!]

To listen to Steve deliver his profoundly moving message click here and scroll forward to 2hr 16min. This commences with an introduction by Revd John Kilpatrick and Steve begins in acknowledging his spiritual heritage from mentors David Wilkerson and the English evangelist Leonard Ravenhill, whose mentors were A.W. Tozer and Smith-Wigglesworth.

Are ‘Christians’ leading homosexuals to Hell?

Posted on Tuesday, 12 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

Thank you to Tembisa for this link, which reinforces Steve Hill’s warning of a spiritual avalanche. It is an excellent analysis of a better approach to unhelpful, even dangerous, attitudes which could promote a false Gospel. Also, Hilary White’s linked article provides some keen insights into the Steve Chalke issue. More about this subject may be found in Gillan Scott’s solid review, Unconditional: Rescuing the Gospel from gays vs. Christians Debate. There are extensive comments on this and to his related posts, in which I’ve participated lately. I have, however, one ‘off-side’ reservation. It is recommended by Prof.Tony Campolo, whom I saw many years ago. In reading his Conversation about politics at the time of the last US elections, I was concerned over his using Ephesians 1:18-22 to stress God’s action through earthly politics whereas the verses are about powers in heavenly realms. I trust our professor will acknowledge the King’s soon return to rule on earth?

Steve Hill WARNS – Stop Spiritual Avalanche!

Posted on Monday, 11 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

On 11th Dec 2012 Steve Hill wrote.:

This is coming to you from a man who has just passed through the valley of the shadow of death. Since my close call with eternity just a short while ago … everything has become clearer. I can hear His whisper. Unabated obedience has become my mandate. That is why I’m writing this word from the Lord..:

THE SPIRITUAL AVALANCHE THAT COULD KILL MILLIONS

A few days ago, after enjoying quality time with Jesus, I was surprised by an alarming vision. I saw a massive, majestic mountain covered in glistening snow. It reminded me of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. Its peaks were sparkling white and I was amazed by God’s attention to detail. It was so realistic I wanted to go skiing! But I sensed that there was more that the Holy Spirit was about to reveal. As I closed my eyes, I was in a winter wonderland bustling with thousands of vacationers. The ski lodge, condos, hotels and cabins were at full capacity at this popular resort.

Day quickly turned to night as the skiers, snowboarders and sports enthusiasts were settling in. Anticipation grew as the snow began to fall. Everyone headed to bed believing tomorrow would be a day of sheer enjoyment on freshly covered slopes. For an avid skier, the exhilaration of being the first one to race down a new blanket of snow is a dream come true.

Throughout the night, winter storms dropped several feet of new snow on the slopes. The night ski patrol was put on full alert. Their mission was clear. With the potential of killer avalanches they took to their posts.

I began to weep as the vision continued to unfold along with its spiritual application.

The ski patrol operated like a well-trained platoon. Some boarded helicopters manned with small bombs, others jumped on snowmobiles loaded with hand-held explosive devices. What seemed to be a strategic group of sharpshooters were stationed at the base maneuvering anti-tank weapons aimed at the snow-covered peaks. They fired their weapons at strategic points in the “avalanche zone” to force avalanches before the snow accumulated to a life-threatening depth. Left unchecked, the accumulation of heavy, dense snow packed on top of lighter snow could easily slide down with incredible speed and force, resulting in enormous damage and loss of life.

The Lord began to speak. I trembled. The fresh, new snow represented the false teaching that is steadily falling on the ears of the body of Christ. It has been, and is, a heavy snowfall. The skiers represented believers and non-believers, trusting the resort for a safe and memorable experience. As Christians, we have been warned to be sober and vigilant (1 Peter 5:8). However, the present, awe-inspiring teachings have lulled many into a deeper sleep.

The layers upon layers of snow have been steadily covering the solid traditional truth of Christ. The truth is that foolish teaching in these days will become so fashionable even the most dedicated believer could become deceived (Matt. 24:24). It’s happening before our eyes. One (of our) spiritual leaders said the other day: “You guys are old-fashioned ‘holiness,’ we are modern-day ‘grace.’ You live in bondage while we can do anything we want.

Pastors and teachers worldwide have succumbed to heretical teachings including universal reconciliation, deification of man, challenging the validity of the Word of God including His judgements, and even lifting any boundaries, claiming His amazing grace is actually “amazing freedom.” You are free to live according to your own desires. Sound familiar? “They had no king and did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6). These popular self-proclaimed ministers of the gospel are covering the “slopes” and will be held accountable for the spiritual death of millions.

Just as the ski patrol did in this vision, those who are aware of what’s happening must take swift and accurate action. Their weapons of warfare must be aimed at the peaks and the ‘avalanche terrain’ to dispel the lies. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers must be willing to drop spiritual bombs, fire anti-heresy missiles, and even drive into the danger zones armed with explosive truth to confront this potential avalanche. The generals of this generation must leave the war room and put their years of experience on the front lines.

Friend, I humbly encourage you to heed this vision and take it before the Lord. I’ve written it just as it was given. My responsibility is to share with the body of Christ His words to me. The ears that hear and the hands that obey are out of my control. This is not just Steve Hill telling a story. Most of what the Lord shares with me is personal and remains in my heart. But I sincerely believe that this is a warning for this hour.

Satan is “snowing the saints” but it can be stopped. In the vision I heard explosions. I saw dedicated Christian soldiers scrambling to do anything it took to bring down this avalanche before devastation occurred. One of the most powerful weapons we possess to combat this onslaught is the tongue. Let God set yours ablaze by preaching ALL the words in RED. If we take action now the result will be a tearing down of false teaching and a remaining layer of solid, God-given, Biblical instruction that will save the lost, heal the sick and strengthen Christians to do the true work of the ministry.

Footnote by RB

Underlining and emboldened text are added. My post of 12th December, Does David Cameron’s decision line up with the Bible?, closes with reference to Steve’s article. His stirring message at The Revival Reunion was about the implications of living in or near Sodom in Lot’s day, as it applies today. In passing, Steve mentioned a vow he’d made to the Lord as he was about to die. He vowed that, should he be restored back to life, he’d continue evangelising for the sake of millions of Muslim souls!

In the circumstances, therefore, it behoves every reader to take the preceding message extremely seriously, as though issued with the holy ‘imprimatur’ of Jesus Christ Himself.

Counting the cost of the S-S Marriage vote

Posted on Thursday, 7 February, 2013 by Richard Barker

Gillan, 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.)

Weekend catch-up: UK events

Posted on Tuesday, 18 December, 2012 by Richard Barker

A few paragraphs to update the last posts and temporarily ‘close the lid’ on the matter.: [PS. inserted below on Wed 19 Dec]

1. David Cameron

‘This will be no small furore’, I observed here over his decision to introduce legislation to change the millenia-old understanding of marriage and, therefore, mentioned political aspects. Clerics had been dealing with this for some time and on Friday the political blogger Cranmer was scathing of the contemptuous way in which a Prime Minister had treated the Anglican Church. I note he links his final paragraph to an informative article I’d also read by the editor of The Spectator (Fraser Nelson) and thereby concluded:

His Grace prophesied earlier this year that gay marriage would turn out to be Cameron’s Poll Tax. He was wrong: it is the Poll Tax, hunting ban, Clause IV and the Iraq War all rolled into one. It is a disaster for both the country and the Conservative Party: Cameron has pitched the State against the Church and started a culture war of which there will be no end, there will be no end, there will be no end.

In an op-ed in Saturday’s Telegraph Charles Moore eloquently outlined some legal complications of Cameron’s decision:

Because he gave too little thought to the depth of the issue, he did not bargain for the trouble he is starting to get. And because no proper preparatory official work is ever done nowadays, there is confusion and embarrassment over what the new law will actually say. This week, poor Maria Miller, the minister on whose desk this has landed, was unable to tell MPs how gay adultery will be defined in law. There will be lots more questions like that. One I like is, Will the heir to the throne be allowed to have a gay marriage? If he is male, will his husband be King too? If, by surrogacy, their union is blessed with a child, will that child, though of the blood royal, be excluded from the succession? If so, how, in the name of equality, can that be right?

In his sanguine manner, Moore then asks about some collateral effects of the new Act of Parliament and considers political nuances behind Cameron’s decision (he’s not the first to connect it with mimicking Barack Obama). Moore then drives his argument to the irrefutable impossibility of same-sex weddings bringing the principal and tangible benefit of matrimony (as originally conceived and designed, I’d add!)…

Children exist because of men and women. Homosexuals may love one another just as much as anyone loves anyone else – and all disinterested love is a social good – but their domestic arrangements make no difference to the human future. Marriage is all about the human future (emphasis mine). It is mankind’s main investment in it.

He consequently concludes:

If you are conservative, you respect the past in order to secure the future. It is not easy to see how a policy which puts homosexual rights at the apex of public morality can possibly do that. Strange that the head of a party which calls itself Conservative is leading us down a cul-de-sac in the history of mankind.

Today’s (Monday) Daily Telegraph’s front page refers to ‘a cross-party rebellion’ and the centre page displays a letter signed by over 50 Parliamentarians written “in support for the institution of marriage as defined in law as a union between a man and a woman”. Furthermore, they state:

At the last election, none of the three main parties stood on a platform to redefine marriage. It was not contained in any of their manifestos, nor did it feature in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. These facts alone should have led to extreme caution on the part of those calling for this change to be made(emphasis mine).

[PS: 19 Dec – see objections from the Muslim Council of Britain and Cranmer’s take on this and the related sickening hypocrisy and inequality from liberal brigade’s claptrap.]

2. Maria Miller

Also on Saturday the same paper quoted Sir Alistair Graham, the ex-chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, as stating that the minister who announced the new matrimonial law would be “vulnerable to having to stand down as a minister” if she is disciplined by an inquiry into her claims for a second house where her parents lived.
This is only the latest in the Telegraph’s deep investigation into the outrageous scandal of widespread theft from the public purse by MPs. So Sir Alastair is reported as saying,

“My view is that ministers are in a key leadership position and if they are found to have broken the rules they can no longer continue to be part of the Government. We really can’t have a situation where the taxpayer is putting MPs parents in special position of being subsidised by public funds.”

3. Census 2011

The results of last year’s Census for England and Wales brought to light details of the massive immigration that has occurred as a result of the previous Labour government’s bad management and poor policies. Also, atheists have crowed over its findings upon religious belief. This aspect is capably covered by Gillan Scott in Census 2011: Atheist vs Christians and what the numbers don’t tell us.

Perhaps, in view of my dealings earlier this year with the lady behind the HOTS vs ASA issue, a humanist and two men with closed attitudes towards verifiable healings, you may care to dip into that post with its several informative contributions?

Cameron’s ‘gay weddings’ minister under investigation

Posted on Thursday, 13 December, 2012 by Richard Barker

DON’T ROCK THE BOAT – THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON..!

FORGET MIXED METAPHORS – BLENDING BLOGS IS THE NEW THING!

And maybe it’s a new mode of prophetic gifting? 🙂

Perhaps you noticed my last two postings took a similar tack on the PM’s decision and the ministerial announcement in Parliament about same-sex weddings?

Buried in the 3rd para of the first blog was a reference to the Telegraph’s investigation into that same minister, Maria Miller. My remark was updated earlier today with [PS. The investigation continues, as here, and may lead to an interesting outcome, maybe ‘fall’?]

Also, I modified the existing comment to read, Moreover, is all this going to be part of the ‘holy shaking’; ie. of everything not of God?

NOW, upon visiting the local store I saw this morning’s edition refers to The Telegraph being warned off the investigation by No.10 yesterday – rather Machiavellian, is it not?

JUST NOW I find online latest Maria Miller under investigation over £90,000 expenses and another article with video David Cameron: Maria Miller has my full backing. On how many occasions have we heard the very same?? The plot thickens…

Maybe my comment should now read ‘THERE’S A HOLY LOT OF SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON? especially as the PM’s communications chief at 10 Downing Street told the Telegraph – Don’t rock the boat!

Perhaps it was unwittingly right of me to write DON’T MISS THE BOAT! about the other same-sex wedding minister (Lynne Featherstone) in my last post?

Well, we’ll see what happens next. What do you, my reader, think?

Don’t miss the boat!

Posted on Thursday, 13 December, 2012 by Richard Barker

La Nina Have you ever missed a bus, or a boat? Can you imagine how annoyed people were at not getting on board Noah’s huge boat when mighty prolonged rains brought sweeping, widespread flooding? But he’d been warning them a long time. All they wanted to do was their own thing and not change because ‘all the people had corrupted their ways’. In fact, ‘the earth was filled with violence because of them’ (Genesis 6).

The only ones to survive were Noah and his family because he had time for God and walking with him. Many moons later a number of his descendants were to again corrupt their ways and, again, only a righteous family escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his daughters got away but what was wrong with the lot Lot left behind?

In renouncing the abominable sins of Jerusalem the visionary prophet Ezekiel, or rather the Living Lord God, explained what was disagreeable about those ‘losers’:

Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. (Ezekiel 16:49-50 NKJV – emphases RB)

My previous post referred to Jesus’ prophecy that the attitudes of people everywhere will again be as in ‘the days of Lot’ – and then He will return in all His glory and power in the company of the heavenly host of angels and all saved souls.

PRIDE

The unsavoury aspect of this attitude within government has now been reported by my friend Gillan Scott. His blog publishes and comments upon an email from the previous Equalities Minister : ‘Lynne Featherstone proudly takes credit for railroading gay marriage legislation’.

On the face of it her remarks rightly convey a sense of relief in an objective achieved. But this post, which deserves to be read in its entirety, reveals how spiritually dead at worst, or clueless at best, our national leaders really are – and many commentaries lack an appreciation of the gravity of the situation. Our politicians urgently need to be raised to fullness of life in all its abundance because this email shows how this deathly attitude has sought to prevail throughout national life.

Therefore, I added the following to the debate on God and Politics in the UK:

‘The minister’s email conveys the woeful ignorance of the implications and price to be paid. I believe Rev Billy Graham’s late wife said something along the lines that if LGBT agenda becomes legally ‘right’ then God would need Sodom & Gomorrah’s forgiveness!

‘But Jesus said their inhabitants would have repented and lived had they witnessed His miraculous works, whereas His fellow Jews refused. Therefore, He decreed “…it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgement than for you” (Matt 11:20-24). So, if not just pockets of ‘God’s Presence’ but the wider church starts doing ‘the greater works’ Jesus spoke of, then there will be hope for modern disbelievers awakening to spiritual – NOT religious – realities. (Bless them Lord out of their ignorance of the difference.)

‘The core of the issue is ‘LGBT Pride’, and this arrogant attitude is proudly displayed in the email. Those in Christ know God’s attitude to the proud. Pride was found in the king of Tyre and likened to that of Satan (Ezekiel 28) and is ruled by the Spirit of Leviathan.

‘What the Lord told Job about Leviathan is instructive in implying a link with ‘equality’ : “..Nothing on earth is his equal – a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud”. (NKJV has ‘king over all the children of pride’) Job 41.34 NIV.’

Does David Cameron’s decision line up with the Bible?

Posted on Wednesday, 12 December, 2012 by Richard Barker

Eagle-eyed, detail therof: John Mark Long propheticartists.com WHAT THREAD links Prime Minister Cameron, yours truly and a revivalist – and scripture? This evangelist’s already arranged funeral was cancelled because he did not die of cancer. His wife had even bought the burial plot!) To learn more, please carry on reading.

WHICH DECISION? The one to go ahead with redefining marriage to include same-sexes and by a consenting religious organisation (except for specific ones). After Mr Cameron’s decision was announced last Friday many felt angry, deceived and betrayed (see Links below). This will be no small furore. The first casualty is the consultation exercise which totally ignored over 500,000 objections and 64,000 agreements – see Ministers accused of ‘sham’ consultation over gay marriage. The main headline in my Daily Telegraph of 11th December reads, Ministers ‘dishonest’ over gay weddings.

And today’s front page headlines of Gay weddings are not the answer, Cameron told (in MP’s open letter) and The minister and a warning to the Telegraph before expenses story, PLUS editorial and item on the legal challenge and op-ed comment Does he not care who he’s losing? all indicate increasing unease within Conservative party ranks. I particularly like the ominous warning from the minister ‘for redefining marriage’ over her expenses and implementation of the Leveson Report, ie. gagging the press!! [PS. The investigation continues, as here, and may lead to an interesting outcome, maybe ‘fall’?]

Moreover, is all this going to be part of the ‘holy shaking’; ie. of everything not of God?

Friday

I’ve not taken up time keeping apace of developments, save for occasionally keeping an eye on some debates online. Eventually, I commented on Stuart James’ popular blog upon his item on the PM’s response to Anglican mainstream (see post), and we sent a letter to David Cameron. After learning on Friday about his decision I recalled my unanswered comment, which reads as follows:

“I rarely dip into this topic but would be interested if anyone could furnish answers (on a postcard) to some simple questions:

1: what did Jesus say about marriage? 2: did he define who should be married? 3: on what grounds did he make any comment? 4: what does Jesus have to say about our PM’s proposals? 5: how would the PM respond to these questions? 6: if a Christian, how will the PM respond to Jesus?”

On this blog I’ve commented upon Mr Cameron’s support of Christianity and was therefore disappointed to learn about his decision. I tried not to be judgemental towards him or others, or to speculate upon how he’d answer my questions, especially that of accounting for his actions before Jesus Christ. But I considered him to be completely out of order. Were the PM to be given a preview of his judgement as had I, he’d realise the error of his false assumptions and become deeply convicted and repentant about his sinfulness – as indicated in my personal account of this inevitable event awaiting all disbelievers.

How, therefore, could someone who holds his own future life in jeopardy be fit to lead a Christian nation? And, furthermore, unwittingly would thus bring the consequences of such a governmental decision upon the whole population? David Cameron has, more or less, associated himself with those who stick fingers up to the Holy God and to Jesus Christ, the one He sent to deliver us from such unrighteousness.

Saturday

Early Saturday brought a realisation that, although highly unwelcome, David Cameron’s intention may accord with holy writ – but not as one may surmise. Almost everything of what little I’ve read on this issue is personal opinion and where the Bible is mentioned it’s usually belittled, taken out of context or misunderstood, even by some confused and scripturally uninformed Christians!

Nevertheless, I awoke at peace over this highly contentious issue, as though having an insight from God’s perspective. I recalled what Jesus said in the Gospels about sifting and the harvest of unsaved souls.

After teaching the public in parables Jesus explained their meaning to his disciples (see Matthew 13). The one about the field of wheat and tares is significant. Tares, or ‘darnel’, are identical to wheat and are indistinguishable until the grain appears. Jesus gave this explanation of that parable:

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. ³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness ⁴²and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

On the occasion of their eating the Passover meal (‘Last Supper’) Jesus again spoke about sifting to his leading disciple, knowing that one (Judas) had already been sifted and taken by the adversary (as at Luke 22.3):

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.(Luke 22 vv 31-32 NIV)

John records his master’s reference to the betrayer during an intimate prayer-time that reveals Jesus’ identity and mission (contemplate John 17). In praying for the disciples the way He spoke of Judas Iscariot strikes the reader with reverential fear of God:

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. (John 17.12 NIV – emphasis mine)

Now, that parable means ungodliness is ripening throughout nations at the same time as many are coming to faith in Christ, and that the Church is ripening into how it should display Christ. So the harvest is ripe and will be gathered but only after the ungodly has first been removed and eradicated from within the mixture. Thus, the unwarranted and unauthorised attempts to redefine what God ordained; ie. marriage between man and woman, are leading into – if we’re not already part of – that End-time scenario.

[PS. I’d forgotten all about the prophetic word for 2012 entitled ‘A Ripening Season’ from Dr Sharon Stone, which goes into detail about the developing ‘shaking’.]

The instruction, again with metaphorical reference to wheat, about sifting indicates that God will use whomsoever He will to achieve His purpose – and it could be inimical to our own survival. He’s used many rulers and persons in authority, some of whom came to acknowledge Him, but we have no knowledge that they gained life everlasting. So what of our national rulers David Cameron, Barack Obama, et al.?

But such thoughts were merely in passing as they led into Jesus’ description of what the world would be like just before He returns. Read what the careful doctor Luke recorded of Jesus’ prophetic words, which the New King James Version prints under a sub-head, The Coming of the Kingdom:

The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. ²⁴For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. ²⁵But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ²⁶And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:22-30)

Now Jesus didn’t refer to people having beliefs or Godly practices but were doing what so ever they desired whilst utterly ignorant of the gravity of their dire situation. Their situations were grave because, in the day’s of Noah, ‘The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time‘ (Genesis 6.5). In the day’s of Lot ‘ the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous…’ (Genesis 18.29). There was no need for Jesus to spell it out because his disciples were familiar with the holy writings.

Who can deny this is the same today? ‘Wickedness’…thousands murdered by Islamists just because they’re of a different religion, millions of babies murdered, children viewing and circulating pornographic images as well as committing murder, millions are sexually promiscuous, commit adultery and/or deny or ignore their obligation to their creator…etc etc. In Sodom and Gomorrah sodomy was legally permissible and practised in public and was thereby a societal ordinance, as it has become today.

I think it’s only because of the existence of millions of righteous people (ie. who believe God) around the world that His grace continues, and so we don’t yet receive the penalty we deserve for all our obnoxious behaviour. (Abraham’s pleas in Genesis 18 refer.)

BUT the truly better news is that such undesirable conditions mean Jesus’ promised return is very, very close. As revealed in January this year,

“…I am setting the stage for that which I have foretold in My Word and it will quickly and swiftly come to pass. For the days are coming when the lawless one shall be revealed and the son of perdition shall take his stand.

“Let my people know that those who are lukewarm, those whose hearts are far from Me, even this year satan will seek to sift you – but they will not hear My voice!… (emphases mine – read full post here.)

See also, Follow-up on recent prophetic words concerning the return of Jesus.

AND the fact this Parliamentary announcement has been made during Advent is also of significance. As noted in my previous post, Advent’s principal focus is upon the Second Coming, or return of Jesus Christ to reign and rule, as well as to judge of the world. So there seems to be a connection with the PM’s decision and what Jesus said about the days of Lot.

FURTHERMORE, the arrangement for consenting (my term) religious bodies to marry same-sex people will greatly facilitate the SIFTING within churches, as considered above. Thus, ‘churches’ that compromise and are disobedient to Jesus’ commands as in The Great Commission (Matt 28) will no doubt be pruned as unfit to become His Bride.

Sunday

In view of the preceding two day’s events described above, a third day brought more from a totally different source. We decided to spend the evening catching up with the 5 hour Revival Reunion of leaders and evangelists from the Brownsville and Bay of the Holy Spirit revivals.

steve-hill-portrait Steve Hill, the renowned evangelist from Brownsville days, took the lead speaking upon the effects of living in or near the city of Sodom. Under a strong unction Steve taught about how the Days of Lot apply to today! This message begins at 3hr 10m here, and in tears Steve explains.:

Forgive me, this message has never been preached except alone with Holy Spirit…and I have cried and cried and cried as revelation after revelation was downloaded into my spirit…by the One who wrote these words..

When Steve drew to a close, hundreds of Christians attending the Reunion had come to deep repentance and a personal re-commitment to their Lord. Thus, it was necessary to cleanse and purify the Church by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

To sum up, a scriptural appreciation of current events suggests that David Cameron’s decision on redefining marriage does line up with the Bible, BUT not how people would think! However, as he has no mandate whatsoever from the people or his party for his actions, he has assumed personal responsibility for them with all the consequences that ewill bring – a most invidious position.

After a ‘coincidental’ walk-through of pertinent scriptures on subsequent days, it appears the Lord is indicating that the Church needs to be aware of the full implications of living in the Days of Lot and of Noah and to seek His face, as well as to intercede for our leaders and nation.

PS. Please read Steve’s account of his miraculous recovery from terminal cancer – and his very recent vision about a warning for the Church at this hour, which opens.:

This is coming to you from a man who has just passed through the valley of the shadow of death. Since my close call with eternity just a short while ago everything has become clearer. I can hear His whisper. Unabated obedience has become my mandate. That is why I’m writing this word from the Lord…(cont’d in The Spiritual Avalance)

Note: in view of its great importance in the light of debates within the Church and in the blogsphere over the recent vote in Parliament, I have ‘re-blogged’ the full article here.

A few good links:

echurch – a good introductory overview that refers to the legal implications

Cranmer – Roman Catholic Church to Cameron: “You are out of your depth”

Cranmer – Cameron not only redefining marriage, he’s constricting Conservatism

God & Politics – Gillan Scott’s first comments on Cameron’s decision with debate

God & Politics – Today is the day Government seizes control of marriage

God & Politics – A prayer for marriage

More than 6 million so-called ‘evangelicals’ voted for Obama. Why?

Posted on Thursday, 8 November, 2012 by Richard Barker

Joel provides a useful analysis of the US election results with interesting observations. No 6 doesn’t surprise me but is nevertheless shameful regarding non-existent Biblical convictions in voters. Regretfully, it’s confirmed by comments about the elections from some UK believers who seem somewhat clueless about the spiritual dynamics.
Last Sunday, Maryland’s Rev Harry Jackson stressed, “Vote Vertical Values!” But USA now continues with a man who professed that his decision on gay-marriage was based upon his family’s discussion, NOT upon prayer and submission to his Saviour. Hence, my reservations about his personal faith – we can but pray for a Damascene revelation and obedience to the Living Lord God Almighty. Amen

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

[CORRECTED VERSION: In the first version of this column, I incorrectly reported a figure of 25 million evangelicals voting for Obama in 2012. The actual number, as now noted below, is about 6.4 million. Please forgive my error.]

As the smoke clears from the wreckage of the Romney defeat on Tuesday, some intriguing yet disturbing facts are coming to light.

* Fewer people overall voted in 2012 (about 117 million) compared to 2008 (about 125 million).

* President Obama received some 6.6 million fewer votes in 2012 than he did in 2008 (60,217,329 in 2012 votes compared to 66,882,230 votes in 2008).

* One would think that such a dynamic would have helped Romney win — clearly it did not.

* Incredibly, Governor Romney received nearly 1 million fewer votes in 2012 than Sen. John McCain received in 2008. (In 2008, McCain won 58,343,671 votes. In 2012, Romney…

View original post 1,263 more words

Prayer Alert: landmark cases in European Court

Posted on Tuesday, 4 September, 2012 by Richard Barker

Copy of circulated email:

Friends – you may wish to join Christian Concern’s specific prayer request (~~as below~~):

Since my previous I’ve delved into details of submissions provided by Christian Concern and grasped their gravity. I believe it behoves each of us to be familiar with the issues.

Although I’ve long been aware of these claims, their papers are very instructive about attempts to control our faith and why/how the European Court for Human Rights may be able to stop such discriminatory agenda. At point 26 of his Written Submission, former Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Rev and Rt Hon The Lord Carey states:

In case after case, the Courts have found against the Christian faith, by strict application of national Equality/ anti-discrimination law; and by voiding Article 9 of any substantive effect: (my emphasis)

He then cites 15 instances of legally enforced discrimination against believers in Britain!

Upon following the link provided in God and Politics in UK I was concerned to read this statement of fact, as quoted by Joshua Rozenberg in the Law Society Gazette, that the Court of Appeal said:

[The London Borough of ] Islington’s ‘legitimate aim’ was to minimise discrimination among its staff. ‘Ladele’s refusal was causing offence to at least two of her gay colleagues,’ the court said. Her objection was ‘based upon her view of marriage, which is not a core part of her religion…’ !!! (my emphasis)

PREPOSTEROUS CLAPTRAP! How can a higher legal court in our land pretend the creation of man and woman and the reason for their relationship, as ordained in the two opening chapters of the Holy Bible, IS NOT A CORE PART OF CHRISTIAN BELIEF! Just how can such supposedly intelligent people imply that Jesus’ own reference to this (Mark 10:6-9) is NOT a core part of Christian belief? ABSURD – IT IS AXIOMATIC!

So I’m very pleased to find this matter is one of the main planks of Christian Concern’s case (para 11 herein), which quotes European legal precedence that:

it is not possible for national authorities to identify “core areas” of a person’s particular religious belief.

Moreover, the UK’s Equality and Human Right Commission has claimed it would now support and apply the legal doctrine of ‘reasonable accommodations’! (Regular readers will be familiar with my complaints against EHRC.)

Thus, Christian Concern claims it is vitally important to pray, watch and keep abreast of developments. Let’s agree to do so…

PS: re. media reports, click here

Paws-4-thought: weather, quakes and cycles – part 2

Posted on Wednesday, 29 August, 2012 by Richard Barker

Continued from Part 1: “And then what? You were saying Richard, …”

Normally I’m offline Friday to Sunday, and longer over a Bank Holiday. But in between showers and odd tasks I planned to snatch 15 mins ever so quickly to re-blog an ace post. But I found WordPress playing up terribly and dipped into emails, spotted the ones from William K and John McT, and so I tried using them for a couple of direct email postings. I saw another from Tony P on his latest post Winds of Change, which fits the News Alert on the tropical storm/hurricane in Florida.

Bank Holiday Monday evening we planned to catch up with the second night of The Bay Revival team’s visit to Southern California but found the website unavailable, as was that of their church in Mobile. Perhaps this was down in preparation for the arrival of Isaac. Also, I was puzzled over the claims about its location and path – Tampa, Florida or central northern Gulf…which? We saw Weather Channel’s hurricane specialist show how he’d found tropical storm Isaac’s approach from mid-Caribbean had been split by a wedge of dry air and this made the main part head west nor-west towards New Orleans. The eastern leading edge was already over Florida. It seemed as though the massive storm was not going directly towards the Florida panhandle and neck of Alabama but veering off to once again join the ‘Southern Decadence’ – on yet another 29 August!

Question: was this accident, fluke or directed by a mind far superior to ours? Or could it be to allow some respite to the Pensacola-Mobile area because that’s been blessed by two Holy Spirit visitations? (Perhaps my dream recounted here has relevance?)

With regard to my previous reference to extremes of weather, the agricultural economy of both nations is already being affected, as in today’s Telegraph article The farmer’s hell after the heavens opened where Christopher Middleton notes:

Yes, while drought-stricken American farmers have been praying for rain, with 35 states declaring themselves disaster areas, we Brits have found the heavens to be open all hours of the day, in what is set to be one of the wettest summers on record. The combination is expected to send food prices soaring for the average shopper in the coming months.

The political price for this upon our government is not missed by His Grace Cranmer’s post, Cameron’s downfall will be the price of bread.

Too Coincidental?

The detailed information and conclusions William Koenig gives in his Eye-to-Eye alert arise from years of monitoring events that occur simultaneously with, or following closely, important matters to do with Israel. Thus, likely connections with Biblical teaching and prophecy can be demonstrated from the linkage and deduced by open-minded investigators.

In Koenig’s current examples the repeated four instances of related occasions should be of interest to those of a mathematical and scientific bent. Their repetitive nature almost makes the events worthy of scientific investigation, does it not?

And there’s more! Lots…

For example, his detailed analysis of record heat and drought in both 2011 and 2012, during June to August in both years, suggests a connection with President Obama’s LGBT and gay marriage agenda (Eye-View 3rd August). Earlier in July 2010, he’d observed that most of the states supporting this in the US northeast had experienced record-breaking temperatures during Jan-July. A thinking person would don his/her thinking cap!

Cycles

Earlier this year my Points to ponder 2011-12 introduced Koenig’s investigation of the work of internationally renowned financial analyst Erick Hadik. Hadik has recognised the affects of natural cycles not only upon our environment but also upon our spheres of political and economical activity. One in particular corresponds closely with the 11-year sunspot cycle’s peak this year 2012, that of Middle-Eastern conflict! For example, look at these dates:

end of WWII – 1945, adding 11 years:

Suez War – 1956, another 11 years:

Six Days War – 1967, plus 11 years:

Camp David Accords – 1978-1979 (also Iran’s Islamic Revolution):

Persian Gulf War / Desert Storm (Part I) – 1990-91, another 11 years:

Sept 11th 2001 terror events and subsequent Afghan and Iraq wars (Part II).

2012 – may introduce Persian Gulf Wars Part III? – Sunni/Shiite conflict? Israel v. Iran? Update > See blog 11-year cycle proves itself again! (posted 14 Sept: attacks upon US embassy in Cairo and consulate in Libya with ambassador’s murder) and News and Stories for 2012 for the year’s main events.

Hadik claims the above dates are, in fact, preceded by those for the Palestine mandate (1922) and Hitler’s ascension (1933). Furthermore, there is a 50/100 year cycle of major wars. He cites the Napoleonic war of 1812, US Civil War (1861-65), the Balkan Wars of 1912 as the real start of WWI, 1961-2 Cuban missile crisis and SE Asian wars. 2012 next! (Source: page 5 of Hadik’s Earth in Transition 3+3 II.)

Anyone wishing to dig below the surface will find fascinating facts! Be blessed…

What’s up with the weather?

Posted on Thursday, 5 July, 2012 by Richard Barker

Taken in case of need, this holiday photo is now serving its purpose – to remind me what wall-to-wall, cloud-less sky is like! And it’s not hard, but not easy, to recall what lies beneath this azure zenith! But 8.30am today I walked in warm sunshine, yet a bank of cloud soon rolled over like a gray blanket – but at least it’s not raining and occasionally getting a bit brighter as cloud thins now and then.

Regarded as the wettest April to June (see report and video) since full detailed records for temperatures and rainfall across the UK began in 1910 – they’re forecasting over a month’s rain in 24hrs! (In the night we heard it like never ever before – it fell so heavily and quickly it sounded like one long roar!) Even now in July it’s unwise to stow away one’s winter wear! There have been ‘exceptional’ torrential rains, stormforce winds, at least one small tornado and widespread flooding, sadly with loss of life – all as was anticipated in my dream reported in What’s prophetical about weather? )

But there’s a blessing, nationally and personally – although much earlier than usual, our holiday took place during a fine fortnight with cool winds, and only one wet day. Two winters of abnormally low rainfall left reservoirs and underground aquifers very dry but they’ve been replenished. Also, plans to ban the use hose-pipes have been scrapped. So thank you Lord – let the river of Your Holy Spirit flow…

Over the ‘pond’

On this side of the Atlantic we’ve got away with things very lightly! Over in the States it’s been a very bad month indeed, as I’ve noted from a couple of blogs. My older cousin south of Tucson, Arizona, is hoping for the ‘monsoon’ as it’s hot and dry (temperatures over 100 degrees F daily) with only a trace of rain this year. The extreme heat then headed eastwards, to affect 25 states and 45 million people, for example:

massive floods along Gulf coast and in Florida in wake of tropical storm Debby.
‘unprecendented’ Colorado wildfires, towering inferno doubled in size overnight.
100-120F from the Gulf to Great Lakes, from Kansas eastwards to Atlantic coast.
‘Heat wave smashes all-time records’ – ‘Death Valley’ heat (118F) in Kansas
‘super derecho slams US’ (very violent thunderstorms): ‘lightning gone wild in DC’.
inland hurricanes, loss of life and massive power outages affects 3 million.
and there’s the consequential drought effect upon crops and harvests!!

Now, it’s an interesting and pertinent fact that President Obama had declared June as being devoted to ‘gay pride’, as well as having declared shortly beforehand his personal interest in changing the laws to allow ‘marriage’ for such folk. Many black pastors have challenged and registered strong objections to his actions.

Now, it’s been noted that Obama signed off his official declaration as follows,

“IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Indepen-dence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.” (emphasis added)

Now, is it not an extraordinarily contrary thing to mix this matter with a reference to the life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour? Can we not sense where His heart is in this matter and what His response is? This president has surely put himself in an invidious position and I would not like to be in his shoes. After all, isn’t it written that Sodom and Gomorrah suffered from intense fire? (Genesis 19:23) Jesus indicated that those cities would, however, have repented had they witnessed His mighty works. Furthermore, His statement implies that there is hope for all who do not reject Him (Matthew 11).

Could this be why the United States has been suffering such stupendously atrocious storms, and continues to reap the whirlwind of darker days? (For fuller discussion see Dr John MrTernan’s Insights blog with journal of events: Defend & Proclaim the Faith.)

I criticised the content of President Obama’s speech in Cairo Speech and expressed reservations about the nature of his faith. After recent ‘clarifications’ on that issue and his address during the National Prayer Breakfast, I have reviewed my reservations – especially the claim that he may be ‘born again’. However, I’ve yet to be convinced.

The fact remains, that whomsoever President Obama is acountable to as his spiritual mentor or pastor seems to have ignored Jesus’ instruction to His Apostles, and hence to all those in spiritual authority, about how to make disciples of believers:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

This is New King James text, but New International Version renders verse 20 as,

“…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded…”

So just what did Jesus command?

=========================

Back to the blue sky…aaahhh. And what was beneath it? A favourite beach….

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Tag Archives: #Marriage

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Paws-4-thought: weather, quakes and cycles – part 2

What’s up with the weather?

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