Close, very very close.

[brakelite]

Matthew 24:6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled:for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
There is a great escalation in verse 7 from the previous verse where war was simply rumour and hearsay. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the world was full of confidence and great expectation of a coming millennium of peace and safety brought about by very recent remarkable advances in scientific knowledge in industry and medicine. Christianity was held dear by the vast majority of those living in the world, before communism took over in Russia, before the Chinese shut out the missionaries from the west, before Japan turned away the church from their doors. And by far the vast majority of Christians believed in a soon coming millennium to be brought about by the efforts of man himself. Most saw the future with an eagerness and expectation of God’s kingdom being established in their lifetime… Bible Societies were springing up all over the world, missionaries were entering places never before thought possible; stories were coming from people like Taylor in China, Livingstone in Africa. These stories were hugely popular and helped imbue a great missionary zeal throughout the Christian world.
Until WW1. This dashed hopes and shocked many. Any remaining hope was expunged by the great depression and WW2. Instead of society improving into a godly utopia, the world crashed into chaos. The 20th century turned into a bloodbath. The planet began to turn itself into one vast war cemetery. More wars and war related deaths than the previous 6000 years of man’s history put together. All in just 100 years. Not only 2 world wars, but also Vietnam, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Chechnya, Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kuwait, Kosovo, Serbia, Chad, and on and on and on. And it hasn’t stopped.
and there shall be famines,
War is evil and devastating both on man and beast. Add to that famine , and things escalate exponentially. Hunger , in any sense of the word, is not good. During wartime, it is infinitely worse.
and pestilences,
War and famine is bad enough, but add disease and it gets ten times worse.
and earthquakes, in divers places.
And then we have those hungry, diseased war-torn people without anywhere to live because their homes are destroyed and once again you see an escalation in these sorrows,and these disasters can be natural, or man-made as a result of the wars, yet
8 All these are the (Only the) beginning of sorrows.
However, notice something else about the previous scenario. At first we see nations and kingdoms divided. They are at war with one another, there is strife among the nations of the world, there is no accord, no peace, and no agreement.Yet just 2 verses after reading the “nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom,” we read
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Who is the “they” who are doing the persecuting? Well surely it must be the nations which were not long before fighting one another. And here we see them united against God’s people!!

10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

And not only do the nations hate God’s people, but God’s people are being offended and turning each other over to the authorities. (Jesus warned us elsewhere of the time when our enemies will be those of our own household, and that there will come a time when those who kill us will think they are serving God.) Who are these who get offended? See Matthew 13:21. Those who get offended are fellow Christians who do not endure the coming persecution of the nations. All this however leads me to the following question. What was it that changed the mindset of the divided nations to make them unite? What was it that motivated the nations to give up their hatred against one another, and turn it toward God’s redeemed ?
Take another look at the above verses. Verse 7 describes war. Verse 9 describes the united front against the church. So what happened in between those two verses? The natural disasters!!! It is the natural disasters that bring the nations together.
What has happened in recent history? After WW1 the league of nations was formed. It failed. After WW2 the Untied Nations was formed. It also has been a failure, and continues to be. After 9/11 the president of the US called upon all the nations of the world to unite against terrorism. That call has brought nothing more than more war and bloodshed, instilled a great suspicion wiothin tghe minds of many who believe that it has been merely an excuse to further tighten the controls on the general population (security to the cost of freedom). We have seen unprecedented international support following hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami last year, the Haiti earthquake this year, and October 2010, another major earthquake in Indonesia. And more recently in Christchurch NZ a series of earthquakes that still rumble on after 2 years continue to gain sympathy from many.We have seen just what the prophecy portrayed, a massive escalation in natural disasters. And we also see more and more the world uniting to help the victims and repair the damage. After the economic crash a few years ago we saw the same. Calls for a “New World Order” are coming now thick and fast, from political leaders the world over, and even the pope. In fact the former pope has gone on record saying that he was the only person with the standing and moral integrity to lead this NWO. Many leading politicians of the world agree with this, and have been queuing up outside the Vatican front door to show their support in droves. And the latest is climate change. In Copenhagen we saw for the first time the words “One world government” in an international treaty. One world government has leaped confidently from the conspiracy basket to current affairs. Note the following quote from the newly elected leader of the EU.
In accepting his appointment as the first president of the European Union, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy announced that “global governance” is the only way to address the crises that beset the planet.
In a Christmas speech of 2005 Pope Benedict first spoke these now favored global warming scare tactics of pandemics, economic situation, and terrorism as good reasons to “let the child of Bethlehem take you by the hand” into a much needed global government that will fix all these problems.

Today, the terms “global government”, “one world government”, “new world order” and similar expressions are so common place coming from the lips of world leaders, that the media has stopped reporting on it.
Note the following words of Jesus…
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

With perplexity. This means that the nations are faced with such an insurmountable set of problems that they see no way out. The coming financial crash that is no doubt about to take place may very well be the tipping point. Whether this is a natural disaster is debatable, nevertheless....So they unite in an attempt to solve the crisis. And we see that happening before our very eyes.
But why attack the church?
Because they are united not only politically, but also in a global counterfeit Christian system of religion ( Babylon the Great)..View attachment 197 They not only establish political laws, but also religious. They establish , as can be read in Rev 13, laws that pertain to worship, but because the disasters continue, against their most cherished hopes, the crisis only deepens, and they end up blaming those who have not bowed themselves to the NWO. … God’s true people.
It is this war that ensues between Babylon the Great and the true followers of Jesus Christ who by faith keep all His commandments, (see Revel. 12:17) that the Bible calls the battle of Armegeddon. It is Satan's final grand attempt to destroy the church of God. It is a global war, and will involve every single member of the human family. Every individual on the entire planet will have to decide which side they are on. If you decide for Jesus and His commandments as opposed to man and the commandments and doctrines of man via the world church, most of your neighbours, most of your friends, a large portion of the church you belong to, some even of your family, as well as every institution you are a member of , will be out for your hide.

The time is right upon us. Even at the doors. Look up, for our redemption draweth nigh

 

[RANDOR]

Yep.............there is a new book coming out..forgive me...forgot author..........but titled.........

Christian vs Christian

I knew it was coming down to this........

My book is called.........."You Don't Have To Die To Meet God"

My next book...........which is a thought right now.....will possibly be titled...."Choose This Day Whom Will Recieve Your Last Breath"

 

[brakelite]

The aforementioned article was an updated version of something I wrote several years ago. Below is a follow-up to the original. In this article may be some things that may cause some angst. I do not mean to offend, but would sincerely ask that you consider the principles I espouse, and not take that actual incidentals to heart. I appreciate that that actual incident I speak of is now relatively old news, but would like you to take the principles and apply them to our day, and ask yourselves what it really means to protect religious freedom.

This is a follow up to my previous article which was based around Matthew 24:6-10. I would suggest that if you haven’t read that yet, please do so, as it forms the foundation of what is to follow. For those who did read it, as a reminder I would like to provide a brief summary.
We are presently living in a time of intense war and strife. The past 100 years has seen this planet turned into one vast graveyard as a direct result of war, and compounding disasters in every land and continent. Matthew 24:6 and 7 are being played out before our very eyes. And not only nations are at war, but we also witness sectarian violence, terrorism, gang warfare in our local suburbs, and family violence in our homes. So poignant are the words of Jesus when He described the last days as being as the days of Noah, “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” Genesis 6:11.
But Matthew reveals to us a subtle change. After describing a period war and natural disasters, Jesus tells us that these are just the beginning of sorrows, with the real heavy stuff beginning in verse 9 where He tells us that Christians will be hated of all nations for His name’s sake. The nations, after being at each others throats for millenia, finally find something that unites them. A hatred for God’s people. The reason for this, I believe is clear. They blame the church for all the troubles that have come upon them. In Luke, Jesus said that the nations would be perplexed at the troubles. They have no solutions, no answers. But why blame the church? Because they have turned to religion as a last resort to solve their problems. Revelation informs us in chapter 13 that the whole world will worship the beast and its image. Believing it is the will of God and to appease who it believes is an angry God pouring out His last day judgments upon mankind, Babylon the Great decides that the only way to avert annihilation is to destroy the only remaining people who refuse to bow their knee to his authority. This ‘remnant’ the scriptures inform us are they “who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus”. (Revelation 12:17; 14:12)
So how could such a scenario come about, especially in a nation like the United States which has religious freedom enshrined within its constitution? I read an article in my local paper here in NZ just this week-end which made my heart race. A reprint of an article in Newsweek magazine written by Lisa Miller, the headline reads…
Fear and Loathing at Ground Zero, with the subtitle …
A proposed mosque near where nearly 3000 died in terror attacks tests the limits of American tolerance.
We are all aware of the recent furor and debate over the plans to build a mosque by New York Muslim leaders a block or two from the former site of the World Trade Centre. And from my side of the world, it seems the debate is getting very very heated indeed. I can fully understand the angst and heartache that many must feel at what they deem a frontal assault upon their most sacred and cherished memories, an insult many claim to the memories of the many who lost their lives, some of whom simply disappeared without trace. But aside to this, there is a much bigger issue at stake here.
The headline I quoted above deeply concerns me. Is it true that religion in America is now only tolerated?
Has religion in America now been reduced to something one may practice only by permission? Toleration certainly is far better than intoleration, for I would far rather be tolerated in my religious practice than be bundled off to the nearest gallows or bonfire for choosing to worship God in a manner different than what the government deems ‘appropriate’. But is that what religious freedom in America is? Toleration? If I should come to America and take up residence there, if I should practice my religion, being a member of a minority faith, would I be merely tolerated? Or would I truly be free as your founding fathers intended I should be? You see, to be tolerated is not the same as being free.
Thomas Jefferson said, “God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion.” If religion is between man and God, and not between man and the state, then the state (nor the people who live in the state) has no more right to ‘tolerate’ my religion than do I have the right to ‘tolerate’ fishing in Alaska.
The Act of Toleration in Britain permitted religious freedom for everyone, except Jews, Catholics, and Unitarians. The founding fathers of your great nation wanted something better. Having the forefathers live through what amounted to ‘toleration’ during the dark ages in both Europe and Britain, they desired true freedom. Your Bill of Rights states, “That religion, or the duty we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, being under the direction of reason and conviction only, not of violence or compulsion, all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of it according to the dictates of conscience.”
Intolerance, as practiced in Communist Russia and Saudi Arabia and in Europe under the medieval papacy assumed the right of the state or the church, or a combination of both,to withhold the right of conscience. Toleration, as it appears to be now making itself manifest in the United States, particularly in relation to the current argument over the building of a mosque in Manhattan, assumes the right of the state to grant the right of conscience. The rights of religious minorities in this world, regardless of recent history and hurt feelings, are just that, rights. For “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” and surely, among those “unalienable rights” is the the right to “full and free exercise of it (religion) according to the dictates of conscience”. This is religious freedom. And it goes way beyond what is constitutional and what isn’t, it is who we are as created beings. And if we should demand that freedom for ourselves, so ought we demand it for everyone else. The states role is not in defining that freedom, nor is it in tolerating it, but solely in protecting it. And the moment the state, or the people starts down the road of intolerance or tolerance, then true religious freedom disappears under a tide of popular opinion.
When Babylon the Great or Antichrist, in his attempts to placate God and defuse His judgments he will influence the state to introduce legislation that enforces a particular brand of worship. That is what Revelation 13 is all about. Worship. Worship and deception. And this religion I speak of is not a secular/humanist type of religion nor is it Islam, nor is it any other of the worlds main religious branches. The religion of the Antichrist, Babylon the Great, is a form of apostate Christianity. And the entire world is deceived. Jesus warns us time and time again of false prophets, false Christs. Mohamed is not a false prophet. He is a true prophet of a false religion. False prophets are false prophets of the true religion. And the greatest false prophet of them all is soon to come, speaking as a dragon and causing “all both great and small to receive a mark”. This false prophet is a beast. A nation. A nation that once had horns like a lamb’s, innocent and Christ-like.
To tolerate is to suffer that which at some future time you may prevent or prohibit. Professor Robert Alley in his book “The Despotism of Toleration” writes…
“evidence is persuasive that whenever persons advocate some form of a Christian state or argue for the messianic role of the United States as God’s chosen nation, there is a corollary, the introduction of toleration as a principle. And while the implementation may be benign in the beginning, the departure of Madison’s principle of religious freedom as a natural right is replaced with the ‘despotism’ of toleration”.
However distasteful it may seem, however awkward it may feel, all Christians in America should be demanding the right of Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf to build his mosque. For if we believe that we are merely ‘tolerating’ Islamic culture and religion in America, and deem it appropriate to remove said ‘toleration’ then we have planted both our feet upon the slippery path to fulfill Revelation 13 to the tee.
Abraham Lincoln once said: “Familiarise yourself with the chains of bondage (or withhold Imam Rauf his right to build his mosque) and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample upon the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you.”
When the dragon makes war with the woman and the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus; when ye shall be hated of all nations for Jesus’ names sake; and when he ( the false prophet) cause all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead , whose side will you be on? Do you truly agree with and support the concept of true religious freedom as an unalienable right, or do you believe certain minority religions are only to be tolerated if certain conditions or agreements met?
The mark of the beast is not a code or tattoo or chip giving people the right to buy and sell. That is not what Revelation 13 is all about. The mark is a form of false worship, and those who don’t submit are forbidden to buy or sell as an inducement to comply. The death sentence will be the final inducement. Upholding true religious liberty, regardless the cost and pain or embarrassment this may cause, is the first step in resisting Babylon the Great. And it starts today. Islam is not the real enemy. The real enemy is to be found within our own churches. The whole world will not be deceived by Islam, but the whole word will be deceived by a form of apostate counterfeit Christianity, a counterfeit so close to the real, that only by the scriptures can the differences be discerned. And freedom to make that choice must be protected, in whatever country we live in. It is our unalienable right, and everyone else’s also.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

Brakelight

Every few years someone comes up with a new end of the world story

But we are wusses today

Hundreds of millions of people have died in plagues , wars , etc , before our time .... heck just WW2 killed 60 million people.

All we have to worry about is how many apps fit on our cell phone.

If we break a fingernail on the drive to church we think the world is coming to an end

We have no clue about tribulation.

 

[Madad21]

Brakelight

Every few years someone comes up with a new end of the world story

But we are wusses today

Hundreds of millions of people have died in plagues , wars , etc , before our time .... heck just WW2 killed 60 million people.

All we have to worry about is how many apps fit on our cell phone.

If we break a fingernail on the drive to church we think the world is coming to an end

We have no clue about tribulation.

How long are your finger nails dude!!

 

[brakelite]

Brakelight

Every few years someone comes up with a new end of the world story

But we are wusses today

Hundreds of millions of people have died in plagues , wars , etc , before our time .... heck just WW2 killed 60 million people.

All we have to worry about is how many apps fit on our cell phone.

If we break a fingernail on the drive to church we think the world is coming to an end

We have no clue about tribulation.

Absolutely agree Arnie, we have it so comfortable today, and we have no excuses for not sharing the gospel. We should be taking full advantage of every opportunity while we can. The time is coming when our witness will be illegal, and our opportunities few. As for the coming crisis, not one of is really prepared, not even the self-sufficient preppies who have their wilderness fortresses all set up with arms and food. The time is coming when the only safety is our faith in Jesus. Yes, in the meantime we will certainly be better if if we live in the country.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

How long are your finger nails dude!!

Fairly short . nicotine stained , and helicopter grease under them

Guys like me dont even go to the doctor if we break bones.

True story .... I am 62 , I just had my body CT Scanned from top to bottom in the department of nuclear medicine checking for bone cancer (none)

When looking at the results my doctor asked why my broken leg , ribs, and fingers do not show up on my medical records

I said because I never went to a doctor , we just limp around until everything heals on its own , plus a bit of duct tape here and there.