Christian based commentaries and observations.

Quote of Note

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation



: 'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free.
:
: Amen!'
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Friday, September 08, 2006

War on the People of God


There has been a lot said in the last few years about why "they" hate us. Here is my take on the subject.
First of all let me define the "us" and "they" of my opening line. The "us" is the United States, but also inseparable from the "us" are the people who worship the God of heaven, that is the Jews and the Christians. The "they" are the smaller subset of Islamic extremists within the larger group known as the "World". The World (capital "W") is not the globe of the Earth. The World is:
...That organized body of people, contrary and opposed to the things of God and Christ, whose head, whether they know it or not is Satan!

Why "they" hate "us" is as simple as Cain and Able.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
GE 4:6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
GE 4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Cain and Able were presenting sacrifices to God. Cain's sacrifice was not of the kind that God wanted. God needed there to be a blood sacrifice to remind them, and be representative, of the sacrifice that was to come in the person of Jesus. The supreme sacrifice for sins, once and for all, would be the Christ, Messiah, Son of God. Until that day happened, animal sacrifice with the shedding of blood, reminded the presenter of sin = death, and a price must be paid. There could be no relationship with God and life without first paying the price of sin.
Who exactly was Cain angry at, was it God or Able? I think he was jealous of Able and angry at God. Notice that his face was "downcast" that is a position of sadness but also of shame.
Didn't God say, "If you do what is right, will you not also be accepted?" Cain sought to erase the shame of his unacceptance, but on his pride filled terms. He couldn't make war on God so he made war on the man of God's favor! As if God would change his mind once the favored standard had been erased.

4000 years later...

Roll forward 4000 years. The scene is the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus is in front of the
Sanhedrin...The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." MT 26:64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Filled with pride of their position, they were faced to acknowledge Jesus as God and worship him properly or kill him. 4000 years after Cain killed Able the Jewish leaders did the same to Jesus. In both cases Blood was indeed shed to cover shame of guilt. Some even shed their own blood, while killing others, in a futile attempt at acceptance.

2000 more years...

Another two thousand years have gone by. Once again it is time for the Living God to show up and receive the sacrifice of worship from his beloved creation, and once again those who are filled with pride are attempting to erase the accepted of God: the standard of righteousness from the Earth. Those who hate us are filled with pride. They can't make war on God so they make war on the people of God. The Jews are the "chosen people" and God has said that at the last they will know their Messiah. Satan is once again attempting to make God's word a lie. Once again he is attempting to exterminate the Jews so that all of God's word concerning them cannot become truth in fact. And while the Jews did not accept the Messiah at first, they still insist on worshipping the God of heaven instead of Satan. Satan hates the Jews for this and because God has said, "they are his". Satan controls the "World" with the ring of pride in their nose and will use the "World to TRY to destroy the Jews.
Christians have offered up the proper sacrifice. That is to have "believed on Christ". Paul says, "RO 11:17 If some of the branches [Jews] have been broken off, and you [gentile Christians], though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root" That makes "us" in the eyes of God accepted, favored, and chosen people of God as well. Therefore the "World", which is angry at God and jealous or our acceptance and blessing, hates us as much as the Jews, and wants to destroy us!

A world without God and guilt

The "World" wants a world without God and guilt. They have made up their own gods who tell them what they want to hear and do. They feel that if they can erase the standard of truth, they can erase the guilt of sin, and so they make war on the people of God.
America, though not all Christian, is viewed a Christian, and as a protector of the Jews. The "World "cannot create the world that they want until America has been brought down to insignificance. At the present all we are hearing through the media is that everything USA and everything religion is bad. It seems to be that the "World" mantra is if you can't say anything negative about USA, Israel, and Christianity, then don't say anything at all. All good publicity and good deeds are suppressed and ostracized. America's enemies are inside this country as well as outside. This country and the truth and freedom that it stands for will not last long in its present form. Satan knows his time is short. He wants ALL the people of the earth to be subject to him and worship him. He will not stop until he reaches that end or until intervened upon by God.

In the late 1700's Jonathan Edwards wrote, " if there is not an revival soon, there will be a Christian holocaust". We are again at that point in time. Pray for another "great awakening" and remember that Jonathan Edwards went out and started one.

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