We live overseas and have dual citizenship and therefore, we may still have the privilege of voting in the USA elections. We vote for the one we believe will continue to uphold the Constitution as the founding fathers intended. Nevertheless, the enemies of freedom have been at work since the founding of the nation and are today doing all they can to tear down America morally, finically and spiritually. Sometimes it seems like a losing battle but God is still on the throne. May this reading of Psalm One be a blessing to you as you meditate not on man but on the Creator and Sustainer of all life! Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
God
All posts tagged God
Genesis 1:21a “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly…”
‘Ask any scientist and he’ll tell you that blades designed to operate in fluids, like air or water, are best designed to have smooth edges. It only makes sense that a smooth leading edge is more efficient.
That’s why, when a biologist noticed bumps on the front edge of a model of a humpback whale fin, he knew it had to be wrong. With some study, he discovered that the model was indeed accurate. The bumps are called tubercles. Testing has shown that the bumps result in an almost ten percent increase in the lift of a fin or blade. It decreases the drag of a blade or fin by one-third. In fact, one scientist concluded that the design is much better than “what [our] systems can accomplish.” Inspired, scientists investigated whether similar tubercles could increase the efficiency of manmade blades such as those used on wind turbines. You may also find tubercles on helicopter blades and fan blades, as well.
While science can discover the excellency and superiority of God’s design, it cannot learn of His spiritual wisdom by investigating the creation. That is revealed to us in Holy Scripture which tells us that He designed and created the whales as well as planning and carrying out His plan for our salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.’https://creationmoments.com/sermons/our-logic-and-gods-are-not-the-same-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=our-logic-and-gods-are-not-the-same-2&mc_cid=3be6982d27&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
‘The Coming Plagues & COVID-19
The coronavirus, COVID-19, has caused worldwide death and has had devastating effects on the economy of the USA and other nations. The Lord Jesus Christ, surveying the future, warned: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Mt 24:7). Are the future plagues predicted by Christ far worse than COVID-19?
What Will Future Plagues Do?
The Bible predicts a future seven-year period of horrible judgments before the return of Jesus Christ. The future will witness successive waves of warfare, bloodshed, and widespread famine (Rev 6:3-5), the death of a fourth of the world’s population (6:7-8), the death of a third of sea-life (8:8-9), the poisoning of a third of the fresh water (8:10-11), and the darkening of a third of the heavenly bodies (8:12-13). Then “the bottomless pit … [will be] opened … and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power … And to them it was given that they should … tormen[t] [men] five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (9:1-6). Following this plague, demonic beings will be loosed on the earth “to slay the third part of men” (9:13-21).
The Antichrist (1 Jn 2:18) will control a one-world government in which “he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor … to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast [Antichrist, compared to a bloodthirsty animal], or the number of his name.” He will seek to kill all who refuse to worship him and his image or take his mark (Rev 6:1-2; 13:11-18). Those who take the Antichrist’s mark will be able to get this world’s goods, but the Bible warns: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name” (14:9-11).
The final plagues before Christ returns are described as: “a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. … The sea … became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea … the rivers and fountains of waters … became blood. … The sun … [will] scorch men with fire … [following which the sinful world will be] full of darkness; and [men] gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (16:1-9).
Then the kingdom of Antichrist will be destroyed (17-18) and Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord, will return: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (19:11-16). Christ will rule the world, and His enemies will have to stand before Him in judgment: “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire … the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (20:11-15; 21:8). “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (6:14-17).
These judgments of God will be unutterably horrible—far worse than any plagues humanity has experienced in all its sinful history. In the worst plague of all—eternal torment in the lake of fire—“the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (19:15) will be manifest, as He shows to all what the infinite weight of His unrestrained wrath, fury, and fierceness is upon the damned (Rom 9:22) who get what they deserve for their sins.
Why Is Judgment Coming?
Judgment is coming because you—and the rest of the human race—are sinners who have broken the holy law of the pure and righteous God. He commands: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16), but “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God … there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10, 23). You have a sinful nature passed down from the first fallen man, Adam (Rom 5:12-19). God “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). You are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1); controlled by Satan (2:2); and are “fulfilling the [sinful] desires of [your] flesh and … mind” as by “nature the chil[d] of wrath” (2:3). Because your “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9), unless your sin is taken away, you “cannot please God” but are “defiled and unbelieving” with “nothing pure” (Rom 8:8; Tit 1:15). At this very moment you are “condemned already” (Jn 3:18). “Kno[w] therefore the terror of the Lord” (2 Cor 5:11), and tremble before Christ’s warning: “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell” (Mt 23:33)?
Can I Escape the Coming Judgment?
God has made a way for you to escape His judgment. In fact, before the coming seven-year period of plagues, He will take to Himself those He has redeemed, sparing them from the punishment He will bring on the world (1 Th 5:9; Rev 4:1ff.). Those of His people who die before these judgments begin are immediately in the bliss of heaven (Jn 14:1-3), while those who perish in their sin are immediately “turned into hell” (Ps 9:17). To escape judgment, consider that “the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:15).
Repent: “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin … turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die” (Eze 18:30; 33:11)? You will experience the coming “great tribulation” unless you “repent of [your] deeds” (Rev 2:22). Do not be like those who “were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols … neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts … [but] blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds … they repented not to give him glory” (9:20-21; 16:9, 11). Turn from your sins and submit to Christ as Lord!
Believe the gospel: The “gospel” is the good news “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day” (1 Cor 15:1-4). The Lord Jesus is “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16). He is the Son of God, who has existed from all eternity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, the three Persons of the one and only true God (1 Jn 5:7; Mt 28:19). Christ became a Man, lived a sinless life, and then died on the cross, where His Father “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21). He died to pay in full what you owe for your sin, and then rose from the dead, conquering death and Satan and proving that His payment was enough to remove sin forever. You cannot take your own sins away, but Christ “loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev 1:5). You cannot be saved by your works, but you can be saved by Christ’s perfect and complete work on the cross.
You must “believe the gospel” (Mr 1:15). “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16). Commit or entrust your soul to Jesus Christ alone. Forsake all confidence in any good works or religious rituals you have done, are doing, or plan to do in the future: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:8-9). If you think you will be saved by being a good person, you reject Christ’s work on the cross: “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal 2:21). You must be “justified [declared righteous based on Christ’s death] by faith without the deeds of the law” (Rom 3:28) or you will certainly perish eternally. After justifying you, God will change you so that you love Him and His commands, and hate sin, not in order to be saved, but because you are already saved: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17).
Because of the plague of sin, God will soon send plagues that are worse than anything the world has ever experienced, culminating in the worst plague of all—eternity in the lake of fire. Christ promises: “Surely I come quickly” (Rev 22:20). Are you ready for the coming plagues—have you been saved from your sin?’ https://faithsaves.net/coming-plagues/
Without doubt it was the totalitarian Communist Party that is responsible for this pandemic of Coronavirus around the world! The China Communist Party knew what the West just might do to conquer this virus and that the freedom and liberties we once knew and loved would be eroded. That is exactly what the ‘Former Supreme Court Justice, Jonathan Sumption, QC, warned this week that we are in danger of becoming a police state. He was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 World at One on Monday, and it is worth reflecting on some of his comments.
This is how freedoms are lost
Lord Sumption explained that the lesson of history is that freedoms are lost in exchange for protection from a threat.
“The real problem is that when human societies lose their freedom, it’s not usually because tyrants have taken it away. It’s usually because people willingly surrender their freedom in return for protection against some external threat. And the threat is usually a real threat but usually exaggerated. That’s what I fear we are seeing now. The pressure on politicians has come from the public. They want action. They don’t pause to ask whether the action will work. They don’t ask themselves whether the cost will be worth paying. They want action anyway. And anyone who has studied history will recognise here the classic symptoms of collective hysteria. Hysteria is infectious. We are working ourselves up into a lather in which we exaggerate the threat and stop asking ourselves whether the cure may be worse than the disease.”
Lord Sumption does not deny that the threat from Covid-19 is serious, but questions whether the measures are appropriate:
“So yes this is serious and yes it’s understandable that people cry out to the government. But the real question is: is this serious enough to warrant putting most of our population into house imprisonment, wrecking our economy for an indefinite period, destroying businesses that honest and hardworking people have taken years to build up, saddling future generations with debt, depression, stress, heart attacks, suicides and unbelievable distress inflicted on millions of people who are not especially vulnerable and will suffer only mild symptoms or none at all, like the Health Secretary and the Prime Minister.”
‘This is what a police state is like’
Police in Derbyshire were criticised for releasing drone footage of people out walking in the Peak District. Lord Sumption was scathing about this, describing it as “disgraceful”, and pointing out that going for a walk in the countryside is not illegal – it is just something that government ministers have said they prefer that people not do. When the police start enforcing guidance, we are in the realms of a police state:
“This is what a police state is like. It’s a state in which the government can issue orders or express preferences with no legal authority and the police will enforce ministers’ wishes.”
Derbyshire police subsequently admitted that Lord Sumption was right and they did not have authority to stop people from walking in the Peak District.
Phone tracking
The government has been given legal permission to use mobile phone data to track whether people are complying with coronavirus regulations. The government can then watch where you go and how often to travel to see whether you are in compliance. This extreme invasion of privacy is deemed worthwhile because of the health risks at the present time.
Informants
Several police forces have set up websites encouraging people to inform on their neighbours if they see them breaching the coronavirus regulations. This means that we now face the prospect of law-abiding citizens worrying whether a neighbour might report them for leaving the house more than once a day! In fact, the BBC has reported that a police force has had a surge in calls from people reporting their neighbours for “going out for a second run”.
No parliamentary scrutiny
What is more, with parliament now disbanded, the government is now acting with no scrutiny or accountability. After explicitly telling parliament that there would be no changes to abortion rules, the government then went ahead and made changes shortly after parliament was closed. Changes that would most likely not have been possible if parliament was sitting. The government is therefore now not acting democratically. Is there really no possible way with modern technology for parliament to meet and scrutinise these things?
Unimaginable a few weeks ago
Just a few weeks ago, such restrictions on freedom in the UK were unimaginable. I would never have believed that within a few weeks we would have people reporting their neighbours for leaving the house more than once in a day. If someone had told me this would happen, I would have dismissed them as an irrational crackpot. Yet here we are!
I understand the fears. I understand how dangerous this virus is. I know that the nation needs to take action to try to stop its spread. But stopping people from going for a run more than once a day? Just how many lives will that save?
It is incredible how quickly this has happened. Freedoms not fought for are freedoms forfeited. Our freedoms are being forfeited before our eyes in real time. Freedoms are hard to obtain, and easy to lose. I hope and pray that we will recover them and recover them soon. I pray that the Lord would have mercy on us. Our nation is spiritually sick and needs the healing that only God can provide.’ https://christianconcern.com/comment/are-we-becoming-a-police-state/
This is from Creation magazine Vol. 42, No. 2 2020.
One would have to be a blind Freddy not to see that the coronavirus is not an avenue for China to exercise more power over other nations! This power is both political and economic.
Sadly, in Australia the national broadcaster, the ABC, is a loud mouthpiece for the dispensing of Chinese propaganda as is CNN in the USA. However, also ‘The Economist is running Chinese propaganda from an outlet that is violating U.S. law to spread the message that Chinese president Xi Jinping has done a masterful job handling the coronavirus pandemic.
The propaganda advertorials, which are ads designed to look like news stories, come from the Beijing Review, an entity backed by the Chinese Communist Party. The outlet has never registered with the Department of Justice as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and does not include a legally required disclaimer that the ad is being pushed by a foreign nation.
“President Xi [Jinping] leads the battle against COVID-19 outbreak toward victory,” an advertorial published in the March 21 edition of the Economist reads. “China has rolled out ‘probably the most ambitious, agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history.'”‘ https://freebeacon.com/media/economist-runs-chinese-coronavirus-propaganda-disguised-as-news/?utm_source=actengage&utm_campaign=FreedomMail&utm_medium=email
Liar, liar pants on fire! This leads us to ‘The opacity of the Chinese Communist government obliges responsible outside observers to look for clues to the truth of the coronavirus 
epidemic, instead of merely repeating official information without question.
The official count from China is 3,277 fatalities from 81,171 infections as of Tuesday, but the Epoch Times noted the troubling disappearance of some 21 million cell phone accounts in China over the past three months – an unprecedented decline that hints at more fatalities than Beijing is prepared to admit.
It should be stated at the outset that we should not be forced to read tea leaves to figure out what really happened in China, especially in the virus epicenter of Hubei province and the city of Wuhan, where Chinese officials are currently making claims of zero new infections that no one seriously believes. While more responsible governments issue troubling warnings of a second wave of infections, severe enough to prompt the re-imposition of quarantine procedures that were only recently lifted, China claims it has no second wave and all of its new coronavirus cases are imported.
With that in mind, the Epoch Times thought it was a bit odd for 21 million Chinese cell phones to abruptly disappear, given that cell phone usage has been increasing constantly in China for years, and phones have been touted as an important tool for containing the coronavirus epidemic: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced on March 19 the number of phone users in each province in February. Compared with the previous announcement, which was released on Dec. 18, 2019, for November 2019 data, both cellphone and landline users dropped dramatically. In the same period the year before, the number of users increased. The number of cellphone users decreased from 1.600957 billion to 1.579927 billion, a drop of 21.03 million. The number of landline users decreased from 190.83 million to 189.99 million, a drop of 840,000.
In the previous February, the number increased. According to MIIT, the number of cellphone users increased in February 2019 from 1.5591 billion to 1.5835 billion, which is 24.37 million more. The number of landline users increased from 183.477 million to 190.118 million, which is 6.641 million more. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s population at the end of 2019 was 4.67 million larger than in 2018, reaching 1.40005 billion.’ https://outragedpatriot.com/21-million-chinese-cellphone-users-disappear-the-truth-about-covid-19-deaths-is-startling/
I do not trust China but thankfully we know the final end of that totalitarian regime along with all those who oppose God. It is found in Ezekiel 39.
How did Western society get to the place where the murder of the unborn was a right and when some ‘women’ even call their murder of an unborn baby ‘fabulous”? Personally, I believe murder of the unborn is a spiritual issue. Six thousand years after the Garden of Eden when Adam disobeyed the Creator ‘The St. Paul City Council waded into a national debate over abortion access Wednesday.
By a vote of 7-0, the council approved a resolution recognizing March 10 as Abortion Providers Appreciation Day in St. Paul.’https://www.twincities.com/2020/03/04/st-paul-city-council-approves-abortion-providers-appreciation-day/
“I am sure the happiest days of my life have been when I have tried to do the will of God as far as I know it to do…”
— D.L. Moody in a letter to his son, William
‘For a long time professional contentment escaped me. Despite what others might consider to be a successful career, I always felt like an underachiever whose main talent was disappointing the people in my life. The choices I had made in the past, my lackadaisical approach to life, and, as one of my bosses told me, my propensity to get by on my “good looks and charm” plagued me. I couldn’t help but think that I had sabotaged my professional life to such an extent that there was no salvaging it.
After a lot of soul-searching, some great advice from my wife, my executive coach, and my friends, I came to realize that my discontentment with my career wasn’t rooted in the past, but the present. While decisions have consequences, I came to realize that I was not defined by missed experiences and bad choices. Perhaps the more profound realization was that I was not defined by my achievements, either.
Our successes and failures say surprisingly little about who we are. Much can be achieved apart from God. Whether we look at those who came together at the Tower of Babel to use their abilities to make a name for themselves, to the Pharaoh who knew not Joseph who built an empire on the backs of the bruised, or to modern-day success stories that have no place for God, it seems clear that not all we are capable of accomplishing is in line with the will of God.’
D.L. Moody
‘Our successes and failures also do surprisingly little to make us content. D.L. Moody understood that if we want to find contentment, we can’t simply focus on results. Instead, if we want to find contentment, we would do well to learn a lesson from D.L. Moody who wrote, “I am sure the happiest days of my life have been when I have tried to do the will of God as far as I know it to do….” While Moody had great success in ministry and grew to prominence, he seems not to have been obsessed with achievement or notoriety. He was not seeking after a career.
Moody understood that, left to his own agendas and wisdom, he would never be content. There would always be reason for self-doubt and second-guessing. He could never be sure, when seeking to forge a path apart from God, that he was not missing out on something greater that he could have imagined. In looking back on his ministry, it does not seem to me that Moody would prove its worth by pointing to the 1,000,000+ people he reached with the gospel, the numerous students he helped to train, or the pastors he encouraged. Rather, he would have looked back on a life lived doing “the will of God as far as I know it to do,” and been content even if he had not reached a single soul.
Lord, give us the courage to set our agendas and ambitions aside to do Your will as far as we know it to do that we might experience all that You have for us rather than settling for all that we can imagine. Amen.’ https://m.facebook.com/notes/moody-center/dl-moody-on-finding-contentment/1137664059907477/
