October 16, 2016- Archbishop Cranmer “At several steps on their path to death by beheading and crucifixion last month, 11 indigenous Christian workers near Aleppo, Syria had the option to leave…
Shane Idleman – Christian Post – July 15, 2015
A paraphrase that is often attributed to Alexis De Tocqueville—a Frenchman who authored Democracy in America in the early 1800s, helps to open this letter: “I looked throughout America to find where her greatness originated. I looked for it in her harbors and on her shorelines, in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and in her gold mines and vast world commerce, but it was not there.”
“It was not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her success. America is great because she is good, and if America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Over the last few decades, Americans have seen the destruction of the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, the removal of God’s Word in several areas, and the blatant murdering of millions of babies. This is an indictment against America and the pulpit is partially responsible – our silence speaks volumes.
The pulpit regulates the spiritual condition of God’s people which affects the nation. A lukewarm, sex-saturated culture (and church) simply reflects the lack of conviction in the pulpit as well as the pew.
Sadly, many pastors are exchanging truth for passivity, boldness for cowardliness, and conviction for comfort…they are not aflame with righteousness. We aim to be motivational speakers rather than preachers of righteousness.
4/7/2015 Franklin Graham
At the core of the Islamic State doctrine is the belief that their adherents are waging warfare against unbelievers—infidels—in order to usher in an apocalyptic end-time battle in which Islam will finally and ultimately triumph.
Many Muslims believe that the Syrian town of Dabiq—near Aleppo—is the location predicted by the prophet Muhammad for this confrontation. In the ISIS journal Dabiq, the dark, evil mind of the terrorists is clearly stated: “As the world progresses toward al-Malhammah al-Kubra (the Great Battle), the option to stand on the sideline as a mere observer is being lost.”
Of course, the Bible speaks of a great conflict at the end of the age that will be waged at a place called Armageddon. The location is often interpreted as the mountain of Megiddo, located on the north side of the plain of Jezreel and frequently identified in the Old Testament as a military stronghold.
Described by the Apostle John as the “battle on the great day of God the Almighty” (Rev. 16:14), it will be the Lord Jesus Christ who returns in glory to vanquish every foe: Satan, his demonic legions, and all who are allied with the prince of darkness and have refused to bow their knee to the Savior.
11th July 2014 Daniel K. Norris
Not being able to use the oven as an 8-year-old, I became quite skilled at cooking meals for myself in the microwave oven. Nearly every morning I would make a full breakfast complete with scrambled eggs, bacon and grits buttered to southern perfection. My mom was amused by her little chef and let me enjoy my little space of independence—even if it meant a little extra work for her cleaning up my messes.
One day I found a recipe for microwaved chocolate cake. For this preteen kid I might as well have discovered gold. I was incredibly anxious to try this one afternoon after school. I could already taste the sweet warm soft cake in my mouth with a tall glass of milk. When I arrived home that day I dropped my bags and headed straight for the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards looking for the ingredients.
The recipe called for cocoa powder (sweetened). We only had unsweetened but I figured cocoa is cocoa so what difference does it make? Next I needed baking powder. To this day I’m not sure I can tell the difference between a box of baking soda and baking powder. They look the same, so I put a little baking soda in. I couldn’t reach the sugar, but salt looks a lot like sugar and it was conveniently sitting on the table.
I mixed everything up, with the rest of the ingredients and popped it into the microwave, punched in 10 minutes and went to pour my milk as I waited for my fresh cake to come straight out of the (microwave) oven.
You can imagine my expectation quickly became disappointment as I put in my spoon and took a big bite. It was awful! It tasted like a mouthful of dirt. That afternoon I learned a valuable lesson—change the recipe, change the outcome!
Thirty years later I hunger for something different. Not for a natural meal that can be prepared in an earthly kitchen, but for a supernatural move than only comes from the fires of a heavenly altar in answer to fervent prayers. Our nation is in desperate need of such a move. No doubt, the days have grown dark and continue to grow darker. The only hope we have is found in revival!
Thankfully God has provided us a recipe for revival within his word. Like a family recipe passed down from generation to generation it is a favorite passage of scripture that is often quoted in times prayer. But I wonder… is it possible we are guilty of changing that recipe and thus changing the outcome? Are we trying to rush what requires time and patience? Are we substituting our ideas for his proven ingredients?
The late revivalist, Leonard Ravenhill said often, “We will live without revival, as long as we are content to remain without it.”
I see a divine discontent coming back to the body of Christ and hear fresh calls for revival. If we want to see God’s results then we must return to God’s ways. To truly experience revival, we must look to the pattern the Lord gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and throw the following on to the fires of his altar. (more…)
Dear friends & family in Christ, 1) This Pentecost Sunday 8th June beginning at 7:30pm Pr Daniel will be speaking on a must watch live webcast right here at www.reformationharvestfire.com…
The Clarion Project
In the first of its kind, a hard-line Islamist group vying for power in Syria, live “tweeted” the amputation of an accused thief’s hand on Twitter.
The gruesome photos released by the group ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) on a live internet feed came in a series: The first one showed a blind-folded man being held next to a table with one man dressed in a traditional white robe reading a statement. Standing next to him is a man in a traditional black balaclava holding a large sword.
The second shot shows the man being retrained while the sword comes down on his hand. The last shot shows the man looking like he has fainted with his severed hand lying bloodied on the table.
ISI claimed that the man asked for the punishment “in order to cleanse his sins.”
Twitter subsequently suspended the account from its website.
ISIS, an outgrowth of the Al Qaeda-linked ISI (Islamic State in Iraq) was formed in Iraq nearly a year ago but was disowned by Al Qaeda Feb. 3 for being too extreme. The group, composed of mainly foreign jihadis, has become a major player in the war against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
August 29, 2013 – By Mark Ellis of Godreports
He was attending a business convention with his brother and another family member when random shots sprayed a crowd outside an Atlanta restaurant.
Three intoxicated young men were denied entrance to the eatery and retaliated with a burst of nine-millimeter bullets from an Uzi submachine gun. One of the shots entered the back of Matthew Botsford’s head, lodging itself in the frontal lobe of his brain.
“They were angry, so they took a shot straight up the sidewalk,” says Matthew. “If you took a hypodermic needle, heated it up, and stuck it in your head, that’s what I felt,” he says. “It was a searing hot pain, then things went black.”
His body slammed to the pavement and the last thing he remembers is the cold, hard cement amid “inky” darkness.
He was at the edge of death – if not clinically dead — three times after his heart stopped once on the sidewalk, once in the ambulance, and once in the emergency room of Piedmont Hospital. But weak vital signs returned and doctors induced a coma that lasted 27 days to reduce brain swelling.
Matthew’s wife, Nancy, described the horrifying ordeal in her book, “A Day in Hell; Death to Life to Hope” (Tate Publishing).