Obama: America is 'no longer Christian'

Last week President Obama said in addressing a press conference in Turkey last week: "Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers,". View on Youtube.

The naïveté of His words (which merely echo what most of the world believes) speak for themselves. Bending over backwards to appease the enemy isn't going to get him any points, in fact it only proves to them we are weak. Which we are! Watching last weekend several presentations commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day only helped me see that even more clearly! This nation isn't what it used to be BECAUSE it forgot God. God brings wrath on those who reject Him, and this country is guilty of doing that big time.

If you are not a Christian, know and accept that Jesus was the Son of God who came and died for your sins.

As a Christian, don't be disgusted, this didn't start with the current administration, it started long ago. Most importantly, remember God's plans cannot be thwarted, and the Scriptures tell us that every ruler is put there by God ("the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes" Daniel 5:21). Rejoice at the signs of the times, as it shows us our redemption IS very, VERY close.

These futile attempts on the part of politicians and diplomats to achieve Middle East peace have been searching for peace for Israel for decades. Why? Why is this small and insignificant country (in the eyes of the world) such a concern? America has ignored many other skirmishes throughout the world, why is this one so important? It's all leading to the end of time. Zechariah 12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Referring to the siege of Jerusalem before the battle of Armageddon. Thankfully those of us who have put our trust in Jesus Christ before then will be watching, as one of my favorite Bible teachers puts it......"from the mezzanine".

While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:13

The Debate Over Antichrist (by Walid Shoebat)

From Prophezine.com

THE DEBATE OVER ANTICHRIST
By Walid Shoebat

THE THREE CHALLENGES

Does the beast of Revelation involve Middle Eastern Muslim nations, is it exclusively European, or is it both? Some say the notion that Islam could play a prominent role in the coming revival of the Roman Empire is impossible, unorthodox, untraditional, the work of ‘Lone Ranger’ type interpretation, and even revisionist.. 1

The majority of American evangelicals believe that the Antichrist system must be exclusively European, yet this view is changing after the last few years with the rise of Islam.

So, could Islam play a role in this end-times scenario? You might think to yourself—so what? Why should we care? Well, why then did the Almighty give us Daniel and Revelations? Even better still — why did God give us all the Messianic prophesies regarding Jesus’ first coming? Careless followers that missed these ended up without salvation, regardless of whether they sacrificed lambs in the Temple or obeyed the law—when it comes to the issue of Messiah, they missed the most crucial event in history. All for not paying close attention to Bible Prophecy. And what about the second coming? Are we to be careless with respect to the evidence presented in the Bible? I am not saying that you could lose your salvation, but if you end up on the side of Antichrist, you never had salvation in the first place.

Yet today, the debate is brewing—what about the threat of Islam? Did the Bible warn us about it? Are we supposed to keep our focus exclusively on Europe ?

To shed light on the implications of such detailed evidence (which spawned countless challenges and questions) I decided to write God’s War on Terror regarding Islam’s involvement in end-times. Consequently, I get challenges daily, not only by Muslims that want me dead but also from Christians who are dogmatic about their views. Ironically, we have no record of any Christian minister killed for exposing the E.U. as the work of Satan, yet we have millions who gave their lives for standing up to Islam. So please allow me to alleviate some pressure and present you with only three challenges:

CHALLENGE 1: Did traditional Prophecy scholars teach that Europe is exclusively the Antichrist kingdom?

You might be shocked to know that the highest caliber commentators of old did not believe that Europe was the exclusive player in the End-Times. A revival of a Roman Empire never meant a revival of a European Empire.

Many of our best western scholars on Bible prophecy believed that Islam would be a major player and will revive in the end of days as part of this end-time beast.

John Wesley interpreted the Iron in Daniel 2 as Islam (Works, 1841).

Hilaire Belloc foresaw Islam‘s rise.2

Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica interpreted the martyrdom of Christians during the Great Tribulation to come from Islam.

Josiah Litch interpreted Revelation as the ushering in of Islam.3 He even described the magnitude of Islam’s role being Antichrist to the extent of calling it the “general agreement among Christians, especially protestant commentators.”

Cyril of Jerusalem (315-368 A.D) in his Divine Institutes believed that Antichrist proceeds forth from the region of ancient Syria 4, which today extends from Syria well into portions of Asia Minor ( Turkey ).

Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (560-638) and Maximus the Confessor (580-662) identified Islam with Antichrist and lived through Islam’s invasion of Jerusalem .. Maximus was also an important theologian and scholar of the early Church who helped defeat the Monothelite heresy referred to the Muslim invasions as “announcing the advent of the Antichrist.”

John of Damascus (676-749) was another very important figure in the early church. In his famous book, Against Heresies, he identified Islam as the forerunner to the Antichrist.

Eulogius, Paul Alvarus and the Martyrs of Cordova (9th century) believed Muhammad to be a false prophet and the precursor to the Antichrist. 5

Many are not aware that while Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation, believed that the Papacy played the role of the spiritual harlot, he also believed that the Muslims were the Kingdom of Antichrist . 6

John Calvin interpreted Daniel 2 eastern leg as the Eastern-Roman Islamic Empire and that Daniel 11:37 applied to the Muslims. 7

Even Jonathan Edwards the great American congregational preacher, revivalist, and president of Princeton University , like Luther and Calvin, saw Islam as one of the premiere elements of the Antichrist Kingdom . 8 Calvin even interpreted Islam’s fall at the sound of the great trumpet 9 Islam falling at the sound of the great trumpet even carries Islam into the Great Tribulation and not as many of our contemporary prophecy analysts who allege that Islam must be removed prior to Christ coming.

Even Sir Robert Anderson, perhaps one of the best prophecy experts who unlocked the seventy weeks of Daniel, in his remarkable book The Coming Prince, insists to focus on the Levant (Eastern) parts rather than the Adriatic (West). 10

Countless other Bible commentators warned about Islam being the kingdom of Antichrist—Selnecker, Nigrinus, Chytraeus, Bullinger, Foxe, Napier, Pareus, John Cotton, Thomas Parker, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, and George Stanley Faber. 11

Also added to the list is Rev. Professor Dr. Francis Nigel Lee who sums up the traditional view in his excellent work Islam in the Bible: “from the seventh century onward – [the two legs] would degenerate respectively into the Papacy (which progressively took over the West) and Islam (which progressively took over the East.” (p. 5)

Making Europe the exclusive body of Antichrist kingdom is not the orthodox or even the traditional view. Some insist that Antichrist is Italian since he comes from the Roman Empire, but Roman does not strictly mean Italian, just as Alexander the Great was Grecian, this does not mean Athenian—he was from Macedonia . Antiochus Epiphanies, another biblical prediction was Syrian not Athenian or Cypriot. Why then, when it comes to Antichrist, insist on an Italian ignoring the whole empire. Even Jesus insisted that Pergamum in Revelation 2:12-13, was the seat of Satan and not the gymnastically altered interpretation for an archeological relic that sits in Berlin .

While contemporary prophesy analysts trumpet the idea that the fourth composite of Daniel 2 iron metal as strictly European, traditionalist views differ. Dr. Matthew Henry comments: "Who is this enemy—whose rise, reign and ruin are here foretold? Interpreters are not in agreement. Some will have the Fourth Kingdom to be that of the Seleucidae and the ‘little horn’ to be Antiochus.... Others will have the Fourth Kingdom to be that of the Romans, and the ‘little horn’ to be Julius Caesar and the succeeding emperors, as Calvin says. The Antichrist, the Papal Kingdom , says Mr. Joseph Mede.

Others make the ‘little horn’ to be the Turkish Empire [Muslim]; so Luther, Vatablus, and others. Now I cannot prove either side to be in the wrong. Therefore, since prophecies sometimes have many fulfillments, we ought to give Scripture its full latitude (in this as in many other controversies)—I am willing to allow that they are both in the right.” 12

NORTH AFRICA

Most students of prophecy that ascribe to a revival of the Roman Empire ignore that North Africa (Phut) encompasses five Muslim nations historically part of the western wing of the Roman Empire, and already mentioned literally in several end-times references. In order for the exclusively European model to fit, the whole of this Muslim region must be irrelevant. So what part of the Roman pie do we slice off and what parts do we include?

CONTEMPORARY VS TRADITIONAL

So what happened? Why do we have such a variation between contemporary versus traditional? The problem began in 1981 when Greece joined as the tenth nation in the European Union and many sounded a false alarm that announced they unlocked the mystery and have the fulfillment of Revelation 17, all with its ten horns, to later be embarrassed when the European Union mushroomed into twenty some nations.

Instead of pulling back their books, these analysts ran back to the drawing board, not to confess their error, but to insist that the E.U. model must shrink to only ten.. They still chose to finagle with the theory. Some, like Arnold Fruchtenbaum, realized that this was wrong: “It has become common today to refer to the ten kingdoms as being in Europe only, especially the Former Common Market, now the European Union. But the text does not allow for this kind of interpretation. At the very best, the European Union might become one of the ten, but it could hardly become all of the ten.'' 13

According to Fruchtenbaum, the European model comprises only one tenth, a mere slice of the whole pie. Jamieson Fausset & Brown insist that, “the ten toes are not upon the one foot (the west), as these interpretations require, but on the two (east and west) together, so that any theory which makes the ten kingdoms belong to the west alone must err..”

CHALLENGE 2: Besides the argument on whether Magog is Russia , can anyone cite any literal reference to a nation that God destroys in the End-Times that is not Muslim?

Only if you ponder this question can you grasp its magnitude. On one occasion during a lecture to a group of prominent Bible prophecy teachers in the Pre-Trib Prophecy Conference in Dallas, I asked this question and no one raised a hand to answer.

In frustration, I pointed to Dr. Randall Price, a known Prophecy teacher and asked him to respond, in which he pointed that when it comes to literal references there are none. Grant Jeffrey, another known author, once attempted to respond with Cush, not realizing that biblical Cush (a reference sometimes translated as Ethiopia) is defined in the Unger Bible Dictionary as a landmass south of Egypt . Today this will be Sudan and Somalia .

Grant Jeffrey chose one of the most fundamentalist Muslim nations as a response to find non-Muslim nations in end-times. David Reagan of the Lion and Lamb Ministries with frustration pointed to Mystery Babylon 14 ignoring that the crucial word in that question is “literal”. If Babylon is a response to cite any literal reference for a non-Muslim nation that God destroys, this would still support my view— Mystery Babylon is an allegoric reference.

CHALLENGE 3: In every portrayal of Christ’s return to the earth, is He not fighting a nation that today is Muslim?

The significance of this question is as follows —scholars are unanimous, that Christ’s second coming must happen after Antichrist appears on the scene. Christ’s mission will be to destroy Antichrist and establish His Millennium kingdom. The European Union model has the Muslim hordes destroyed before the Tribulation period. Yet the text shows that Messiah Himself deals with Muslim nations.

The next prophecy conference you attend ask, “Is Jesus on earth on the Day of the Lord?” Ezekiel tells us of that day, “For the day is near, even the Day of the Lord is near” (Ezekiel 30:3). Yet this is when “ Cush and Phut , Lydia [ Turkey ] and all Arabia, Libya and the people of the covenant land will fall by the sword along with Egypt ” (Ezekiel 30:5). Other prophesies show these nations are cast into Hell, including Asshur – “ Iraq – Syria ”, (Ezekiel 32:22-23) Elam – “ Iran ” (Ezekiel 32:24-25) Meshech & Tubal “Asia minor— Turkey ” (Ezekiel 32:26) – Edom – “ Arabia ” (Ezekiel 32:29). These nations are punished for striking terror against Israel and the believers (Ezekiel 32:22-24 & 27).

Perhaps sharing a few from the volume of hundreds of prophecies of Jesus’ wars during the Great Tribulation can shed more light on the matter: “See Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt . The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them” (Isaiah 19). Does this remind you of the song “behold He comes riding on the clouds”? Yet rarely are we told that Jesus here is fighting Egypt —a Muslim nation.

Even in Christ’s judgment of the nations (Joel 3) He is fighting Muslim entities. “Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon [Lebanon] and all you regions of Philistia [Gaza]” (Joel 3:4) It couldn’t be more clear! It was as if Jesus Himself was speaking directly to Hezbollah ( Tyre and Sidon ) and Hamas ( Philistia ), challenging them regarding their bloodlust against the Jewish people. Their fight against Israel is in reality a declaration of war on the King Himself.

In Isaiah 25:9-10 at the time of the Lord’s return, we have Christ fighting Moab “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under Him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.” (Isaiah 25:9-10).

Even in Isaiah 63, scholars unanimously agree that He fights Edom ( Arabia )..

Are the Muslim nations in prophecy destroyed prior to the Christ’s coming? Will the Antichrist then establish his European rule? Can anyone find a verse in the Bible in which Christ fights and nations are literally mentioned which are not Muslim?

This is why many who exclusively see Europe as Antichrist insist on removing Islam from the scene prior to the coming of Christ. Since the Muslims still exist on earth upon the Lord’s return fighting against Him, their whole premise of an exclusively European Antichrist falls apart.

Walid Shoebat, God’s War on Terror www.Shoebat.com (720)935-2826

REFERENCES

1 Lamplighter Newsletter, David Reagan, January 2009 edition.

2 The Great Heresies, chapter 4 March, 1936, page 127-128

3 Hosiah Litch, The Three Woe Trumpets, Fall of The Ottoman Empire , August 11, 1840

4 Divine Institutes, 7:17

5 Paul Alvarus, Memoriale sanctorum 2.4

6 Martin Luther, Tischreden, Weimer ed., 1, No. 330

7 Calvin On Islam Revelation Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, Lamp Trimmers El Paso , 2000

8 Jonathan Edwards, The Fall of Antichrist, Part VII, page 395, New York, Published by S. Converse 1829

9 Jonathan Edwards, The Fall of Antichrist, Part VII, page 399, New York, Published by S. Converse 1829

10 The Coming Prince, Page 273

11 Froom: op. cit., II pp. 323f, 325f, 331, 340f, 412f, 458 & 518f and also III pp. 40f, 74f, 125-31, 149, 183, 240f, &352f.

12 M. Henry: A Commentary on the Holy Bible, with Practical Remarks andObservations, London : Marshall Bros. Ltd., n.d., IV:1270f.

13 Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah, page 36

14 Lamplighter Newsletter, David Reagan, January 2009 edition.

Whose Name Is In The Book of Life????

A question was posted to me.......what are the qualifications for one to go to heaven (to have one's name in the Book of Life?, and conversely, the qualifications for one's name to be omitted? The items in bold italics below are his questions.

My problem is I love everyone and my hope is everyone is saved; though, I know this will probably not happen, the Bible teaches us there will be those thrown into the lake of fire.

Of course everyone will not be saved - wish though we might, that they all be. I dare say more will be unsaved due to the fact that there is ONE book of life and BOOKS of the unsaved. Hope and pray as we might, it's not up to us, it's up to the individual. Hell was created for Satan and his angels (those who followed him) - NOT for man. God did not intend for man to go there, but anyone who chooses to follow Satan, will. [Mat 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;] (emphases mine)

First of all, anyone who sins is going to hell UNLESS he accepts that Jesus' blood washed their sins away. Not just "major" sins like murder, even one lie will get you into hell without Jesus (Rev 21:27 [below]). It doesn't matter how earnestly you look for "god" and how many poems you write about "god"! You can be looking right at something and not accept it as truth.

The Truth is Jesus Christ. It's the act of accepting Jesus into your heart/life that gets you to heaven.

Some feel there are many paths to heaven. That God is a universal force, and all sorts of nonsense. Worshiping one god does not make you saved. The Egyptians eventually moved from a polytheistic society to a monotheistic one and worshiped only 1 god: Ra, the sun god. Is that the same as worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac & Israel? Is that being saved? NO.

The Bible says about the Book of Life:

Rev 21:27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

At the judgment throne of God this is the criteria for who will be in the book of life:
He who is righteous will be in the book of life:

Psa 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.

Those who spread the gospel - i.e. spread the good news that Jesus Christ is our Savior:

Php 4:3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

He who overcomes the world (does not succumb to its deceptions) and who therefore is not a Christian in name only - i.e. a "carnal Christian":

Rev 3:5 `He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

He who has been washed by the blood of Jesus - who has more than his "good works" with which to defend himself at the throne of Judgment. Since we, and even our BEST deeds are as filthy rags to God, it won't be enough to save us from hell:

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. Rev 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

NOT in the book of life:

Those who remain after the rapture, who are deceived by and worship the beast:

Rev 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Rev 17:8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

I know some people like Judas and Pharaoh probably will not make it; they were selected for the purposes of God to be who they were. Now that we know this; did God select entire cultures to be thrown into the lake of fire and a select few not to be?

There WERE Egyptians who believed, I was just reading about the 10 plagues in Egypt. They had a choice, as humanity as always had!

Are all the Jews from the time of Jesus gonners? If they are, what does it mean to be God's chosen people? Moses pleaded with God not to destroy them for His name sake; how would it look if he delivered them just to destroy them?

&

If God can save the Jews what are his limitations and if He is going to destry them where is His mercy?

God has NO limitations, but those are questions no one can answer, since He has not yet revealed their answers to us; however, we do know that Yahweh is a just and loving God, and perhaps He leaves that question unanswered in order to test OUR faith in His loving kindness!

Equally important is the fact that HE doesn't send anyone to damnation, it's man's choice. Punishment is so often built in to the curse. The verse that comes to mind is James 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

I saw Zola Levitt mention in his testimony (watch online free) that his parents were not believers of Jesus, and he was quite peaceful about the fact. It was just a "by the way" at the end of a sentence, but I was impressed by his faith in God's love.

Conclusion:
We all have such questions, and we all have people whose salvation we are unsure of. Frankly we cannot be sure of anyone's heart decision for Christ except our own. When such questions of life arise, remember, the answers come from God's word. We must pick up the Bible (praying first that the Holy Spirit will show us truth, or guide us to peace about what we are seeking). He won't necessarily reveal it during that study session, but He WILL grant peace and show us the truth you are searching for.

I pray that you find peace about those who you fear are lost. We ALL have them in our lives. The most effective thing we can do for the world is to pray for their salvation. It is in prayer that we have the greatest power.

Final thoughts on the book of Job

Following up on my post Prosperity Theology In The Bible, here are final thoughts on the book of Job (the last chapter, ch. 42, being full of insights):

It agreed upon by most Bible scholars that the story contained within the book of Job occurred (writer unknown) before Moses and the Law, mainly because within the last verses of the last chapter (ch. 42) contains the clue. V. 15 says that though Job had 7 sons, he gave his 3 daughters "inheritance among their brothers". In the OT this is only done if there are no sons. Also, I find it interesting that the 3 daughters' names are the only ones given, those are usually omitted in Bible.

The writing was post Moses (Torah) but obviously not pre-Abraham as we see that 2 of Job's friends are descendants of Abraham. See Job 2:11 (Eliphaz is a Temanite which is a descentant of Esau [cf Gen. 36:11], and Bildad is a Shuhite, descendant of Abraham by his 3rd wife Keturah [cf Gen. 25:2]....also, Job's 4th friend who doesn't come into the picture until ch. 37 is a Buzite, a descendant of Nahor, Abraham's brother [cf. Gen. 22:21].

Another interesting fact is the pre-law burnt offering (given by Noah, Abraham and Isaac). God Himself tells Job's friends to offer 7 bulls and 7 rams (42:8). This whole issue of pre-law burnt offerings is very interesting and deserves its own study.

Job 42:10 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, we see that Job's fortunes were not returned to him two-fold after he repented (in 42:1-6), but rather (v.10) "the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends". Showing us the importance of prayer, but also of intercessory prayer and what Jesus said in Matt. 5:44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous^."

On a lighter note, I heard Chuck Swindoll's study on Job on the radio a while back, and recall his humorous observation was that God is full of grace...because He gave Job two-fold of everything he owned (42:12-15).....except children - restored to him were exactly what he had before: 7 sons and 3 daughters). That one made me LOL!

May the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob bless you!
Lu

Can Women Teach in The Church?

Yes, women can teach.......other women - NOT on a pulpit to a mixed congregation:

1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

Now before anyone gets bent out of shape over that, I've had this discussion before so I know the main comeback and bottom line of those women who disagree with me is always that Paul was straightening out the Corinthian women............meaning we can choose to ignore this part of God's word because we're not them.

Using that logic, then I guess we can ignore about a third of the 10 commandments, because one can say that when God said "Thou shalt have no other gods, Thou shalt not make for yourself an idol, Remember the sabbath", He was only doing that because the Jews were in pagan territory, and those commandments were obviously meant to keep them from worshipping other gods.

A woman's ministry is to her family first, and to other women, as taught throughout the Bible in many places and in Titus 2:3-5:

Tit 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; Tit 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, Tit 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

God's not ambiguous about who's head over whom. It's not easy for a woman to accept that sometimes. I know, I've been there.

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

It's just as hard for a woman to be submissive to her husband as it is for a man to be submissive to God (and vice versa). I've seen that when one of the marriage partners does their part (i.e. either the man submits to God first, or the woman to her husband first), the other parter seems to follow suit and the marriage is GREATLY BLESSED.

For a woman not to hold to this concept and preach to men (especially on a pulpit), is not disobedience to her husband, but ultimately to God, because it's God's word, not husband's word she's breaking.