‘With all the ruckus in the Mid-East try your hand at the test below as The Creation Guy, John Mackay, and the world-wide Creation Research team share both blessings and difficulties in this 19th May email.
MIDDLE EAST IQ TEST
Q. Which nation did God promise He would make great?
Answer: The descendants of Ishmael – the founder of the Arabs (Genesis 21:18)
Q. What is the only nation in the world that can claim God-given land rights?
Answer: The descendants of Israel, aka Jacob, grandson of Abraham via Isaac. (Genesis 15:18-21, 26:1-5 and 35:9-12)
Q. What is the basic cause of the conflict in the Middle East?
Answer: A man listened to his wife instead of listening to God. Read about Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 16.
Q. What caused Abraham to ignore God’s promise to give him and Sarah a son?
Answer: Abraham’s Sin
Q. MULTICHOICE: What is the solution to conflict in the Middle East?
Take the oil wealth off the Arabs?
Send more American smart weapons to Israel?
Get all Christians to support Israel?
None of the above?
Only Answer: It certainly was none of the above which don’t deal with the basic problem of sin that afflicts both Arabs and Jews. As you pray for the peace of Jerusalem, show real love when you share with both Arabs and Jews that their only hope lies in Jesus Christ, who alone can provide forgiveness of their sin. And remember there are Christians in both nations (Arab and Jew) who are doing it tough at present and need your support.
As you do so, remind your friends and enemies that the Creator God has kept His promise to both groups of Abraham’s descendants. The Arabs are certainly great nations actually enriched by the wealth of oil purchased by the rest of the world, and the Jews are certainly tenacious about their God-given land rights, all of which points to another of God’s promises – Christ will be returning as Lord and Judge of all the earth so make sure you are ready!
PS: The Middle East situation is a good illustration of the scriptural principle that the origin of something always determines the meaning, so beware any who skip Genesis in order to preach the Gospel. It can’t be done!’https://creationresearch.net/
Churches
As most of my readers know I am an independent Baptist for the New Testament knows of no other type of churches. However, I found this video from Founders Ministries which is composed of Southern Baptist men interesting as they speak about the issues within the Southern Baptist Convention.
‘Today on The Sword and The Trowel, Tom Ascol and Jared Longshore welcome Mike Stone, Georgia pastor and 2021 Southern Baptist Convention presidential nominee, on to the show. They discuss the current state of the SBC, the vision for the days ahead and the need for biblical resolve in SBC churches and entities.’https://founders.org/interviews/tstt-pastor-mike-stone-biblical-inerrancy-women-pastors-resolve-in-the-sbc/
Speaking the truth in this present society will all too often have a real personal cost.
“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)
‘It is no compliment to say about a Christian that he has no enemies, for that is the same as saying he has accomplished nothing. The apostle Paul had many bitter enemies, and they finally got him executed. In fact, almost all of the great heroes of the faith, through all the centuries since Satan gained his victory over Adam and Eve, have had to overcome bitter opposition from that wicked one.
So, instead of resenting our enemies, we should thank God for them, for they enable us to become more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Only through such experiences can we learn what it means to say with Paul: “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Only if we have enemies can we learn to obey Christ’s difficult command to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
The Lord Jesus easily could have called on 12 legions of angels to rout His enemies (Matthew 26:53). Instead, He submitted to their vicious insults and cruel tortures, even praying in His agony on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The enemies of Christ killed Him, but had they not done so He would not have died for our sins, and we would be lost eternally. This is a mystery to ponder and difficult to comprehend, yet, as the Bible promises, “surely the wrath of man shall praise thee” (Psalm 76:10).
The enmity of men can thus be a channel of divine grace to the believer, for “tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3), and “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).’https://www.icr.org/article/12749/?utm_source=phplist9379&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=May+17+-+The+Virtue+of+Having+Enemies
We don’t need to look for the enemy as they will show up very quick when we live for the Lord Jesus!
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
This video is based on the Pacific Garden Mission’s radio program Unshackled. This story is about Georgia who as a child was abused and failed terribly to thrive as an adult. She turned to crime but was caught and spent time in jail. Upon her release she learns a lesson that redirected her to the true path of freedom found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust you have found that same freedom.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Romans 10:9-11 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
‘Over the weekend, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America became the first mainline Protestant denomination to elect a transgender bishop.
The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, who was born female but now identifies as male, using the pronouns “he” and “they,” was elected Saturday, May 8, to serve as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA.
Rohrer was approved by 209 votes, barely surpassing the Rev. Jeff Johnson, pastor of University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley, who received 207 votes, according to a press release from the denomination.
The transgender pastor, currently leading Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Francisco, will be installed as bishop Sept. 11 at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek, California.
Rohrer has made news before. In 2018, the minister was featured in Cosmopolitan. Rohrer, who identified solely as “they” at the time, said, “I haven’t really figured out how I want to have my body in the rest of my life.”’https://www.faithwire.com/2021/05/14/protestant-denomination-elects-first-transgender-bishop-who-celebrates-dismantling-theology/?utm_source=cbn&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-eu-faithwire&utm_content=20210514-2341183&inid=5f29ebc0-7f5b-eb11-b823-005056af0da1
There is NOTHING Evangelical about the ELCA but it is certainly an example of apostasy.
Now, Finland is seeking to silence Christians for voicing their beliefs. Yes, ‘A Christian member of the Finnish Parliament is facing six years imprisonment for allegedly committing three crimes, including “hate speech,” for sharing her opinion on marriage and human sexuality on social media, on television and in a pamphlet.
The country’s chief prosecutor has brought three criminal charges against Finnish Member of Parliament and former Minister of the Interior, Päivi Räsänen, according to the Austria-based Christian legal group ADF International.
The politician, who is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and former chair of the Christian Democrats, has been under police investigation since June 2019 for publicly voicing her opinion on marriage and human sexuality in a 2004 pamphlet, for comments made on a 2018 TV show, and a tweet directed at her church leadership.
A medical doctor, mother of five and grandmother of six, Räsänen now faces two years in prison for each alleged crime, the group said.’https://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-mp-faces-prison-for-tweeting-bible-verses-on-marriage.html
Biblical knowledge isn’t something many Christians seem to have today. For instance if the average Christian knew their Bible Rick Warren and his books wouldn’t have been so popular. Now, not surprising ‘The largest church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention ordained three women as ministers May 6, sending shock waves through the male-centric leadership of the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination.
Saddleback Church, founded by Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, in 1980, announced on Facebook that on May 6 it had ordained three women as ministers in a “historic night.”
On Mother’s Day, which fell three days after Saddleback’s ordination, the Sunday morning online message was given by Kay Warren. Although she is not among the newly ordained, her delivery of the Sunday morning message in worship was sure to further alarm the strictest of male leadership advocates within the SBC, who insist women should not preach sermons to men.
The three women ordained May 6 are Liz Puffer, Cynthia Petty and Katie Edwards — all long-tenured staff members within the vast network of the church’s 15 United States campuses and four international campuses. The church counts more than 24,000 members and lists 18 “campus pastors,” all of whom are male.
Because of the massive size of the church spread out over so many locations, no complete staff directory is published online. Petty’s LinkedIn profile lists her as children’s minister at Saddleback, where she has served since 1999. Puffer describes herself as a “minister” at Saddleback Church in both her LinkedIn and Twitter profiles. Her Facebook profile describes her as a pastor for pastoral care at the church. Edwards serves as student ministries pastor at Saddleback’s Lake Forest campus, where she has worked for 24 years.
Saddleback not only is the largest church in the SBC but one of its leaders in evangelism. The church’s emphasis on evangelism and church growth have been studied and duplicated worldwide. Warren was one of the early advocates for what came to be known as “seeker-friendly church,” meaning a church experience intended specifically to welcome unchurched people and bring them to faith in Jesus Christ. He wrote about this in a best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Church.‘ https://baptistnews.com/article/largest-church-in-sbc-ordains-three-women-as-pastors/
Canada is no longer a free country. This video shows just how much the Canadian government is frightened of a pastor who will not bend the knee to their bidding. The CCP China virus has been a tool used to take away freedoms and in this case the freedom of those who worship. Democratic governments have been too quick to shut things down for the HEALTH SAFTY OF ITS CITIZENS!!! If this video doesn’t disturb you then you are ripe for the total control of the CCP.
I know, people have died from the China virus but does the government of a democratic society really believe that closing churches is the answer to keeping people safe? Personally, I see Canada ready to fall to the CCP and unfortunately, Biden’s USA is next. This CCP China virus is only the beginning.
whatyareckon 