The Scarlet Cord - the story of Rahab

There's a lie in this story, if you read Joshua 2, but Rahab's story takes you deep into the New Testament as well as the Old.

She's an amazing woman, and James the brother of Jesus - a descendant by Joseph and Mary - mentions her with Abraham in his letter.  Matthew puts her in his genealogy and she is in the Hebrews' Hall of Fame.

She is also linked with the Good Wife of Proverbs and Lydia, Europe's first Christian. It just keeps on coming - she is amazing.

Enjoy!

I'm sick and tired of being lied to - a call to prayer. Part One.

I'm not claiming to be perfect. I've lied to myself more times than I care to admit, but generally speaking, I try to avoid lying. I've never liked it and when, on the handful of times I have consciously lied, it has been to spare someone else's feelings - usually female.  I dare say it works the other way as well. I hate it and I regret the times when I have felt that it was necessary.  All this is to demonstrate that I find lying inimical to whom I think I am, let alone whom I think God is.

Consequently, deliberate lying really winds me up. Unsurprisingly, I find today's media a source of increasing displeasure. We are being lied to. Sometimes for reasons of policy, sometimes because they want to sell papers and and why let facts get in the way of a good story?

It's August, it's the silly season, but this August there's very little silliness - of the harmless sort - about.

We have been lied to over MH17 and possibly MH370. We have been lied to over the Ukraine. We have been lied to over Assad. In the UK, we are regularly lied to over the UK Independence Party and over the European Union. We are lied to about fracking and climate change. We are lied to about same-sex 'marriage' and the 'protections' afforded to the Church of England - but only the C of E. We have been lied to so many times that it is difficult to decide who is telling the truth.

And most of all, we have been lied to over Israel and Gaza. The reputation of the BBC as a purveyor of accurate reporting is now in tatters, but so strong is the lie that they still haven't understood this.

What follows will be a selection of lies, truths and possibilities, along with a call to prayer. The call? Simply, that God will restore honesty, objectivity and truth to the media and that He will raise up honest and God-fearing politicians and clergy.

Faith moves mountains, so start praying.

 

The Psalm 83 war and ISIS. The Terrorist Question.

There is already a great deal of speculation about the Psalm 83 war. Until now, it has been assumed that the nations involved would be commanded by their official governments. Recently,  we have seen many of these governments destabilised. In most, if not all, of the countries surrounding Israel there are significant terrorist presences..

Psalm 83 describes an alliance of Nations conspiring against Israel which has never taken place. However, prophetic scholar Bill Salus, has observed  that the Psalm could be seen as a prophetic. In short, it describes a war that has yet to happen.

I have begun to wonder whether the Psalm describes an alliance of terrorist groups within the listed nations. The war would not require the approval of official governments. All it would need is sufficient terrorist support backed by military units sympathetic to their cause acting in alliance with a central command.

I.S.I.S could be such a suitable command. In recent days, it has begun to describe itself as, 'The Islamic State'. If sufficient people rally to its cause,  then I.S.I.S could cause a great deal of trouble before its eventual defeat.

To put it more simply, will Psalm 83 be a war of terrorist conspiracy against Israel and not a war of national governments?

If I am right, then we could see the Psalm 83 war within months, rather than years, and possibly, within weeks.

I do not claim a revelatory, prophetic insight. It is simply a question that came to me whilst I was considering the prophetic significance of recent developments in the Middle East.

If I.S.I.S are defeated before provoking the Psalm 83 war, my question still holds good as another terrorist centre of command could, and probably will, arise. If I.S.I.S are defeated after provoking the Psalm 83 war, then we can expect to see major changes in the map of the Middle East.

I would not be surprised if it resulted in the rebuilding of the Temple, the extension of Israel's sovereignty and a significant period of peace. This peace will not last.

I would also expect to see a corresponding revival of the Christian church and then an in-gathering of converts to the faith even, and especially even, in the Western Church.
  I have to update this with a link to an article in the Daily Mail. It seems that ISIS have been rebuked, but have they? The Taliban have issued a coded rebuke, but it is also an invitation to consult together. ISIS may not be popular with some Islamists but they are slowly being recognised.

Just look again at the opening of Psalm 83:

O God, do not keep silence;
    do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
² For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
    those who hate you have raised their heads.
³ They lay crafty plans against your people;
    they consult together against your treasured ones.
⁴ They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
    let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
⁵ For they conspire with one accord;
    against you they make a covenant—


I'm not saying that this is it, I don't have that authority. But it would be a foolish man who ignored these developments.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

What the blind can teach us about walking by faith - and why so many churches are empty.

A bit late for church on Sunday, but it was God's timing , all the same. As I drove down Trinity Street towards the church, I saw one of our elderly members walking away from the church. This was most unusual for a faithful member.

We are currently meeting in the church hall, as we have scaffolding up in the main building whilst workmen carry out essential repairs.

I parked my car and walked back to meet with him. He is almost blind, somewhat deaf and quite elderly. It turned out that as he could not get into the main entrance and he only knew how to get to the hall from the church, he was going home. He thought that if he entered the church from the side (North) door he would have to negotiate some very difficult steps, for him, so he was returning home.

By then two more of our congregation had arrived and we convinced him to let me take him, by car - it was quicker -, to the hall and that this would avoid any steps. I eventually arrived with him holding on to my arm.

It was during the service as we sang 'By Faith' that I realised what the Lord had shown me.

Blind people need a mental map to help them get around their homes, streets etc. This is made up, not of visual cues, but cues from the other senses. It get harder if they are deaf as well. They also need to trust friends, family and neighbours more than most of use do. Finally, they may also have the help of a guide dog.

Our brother simply did not have the mental map to get him, by another route, to the church hall. He had no guide dog, he thought that he was alone, so he gave up and was going home.

When we walk by faith, we also need a map. God has provided us with one. It's called 'The Bible '. 

When we walk by faith, we need to trust our brothers and sisters in the Lord all the more and not less. It's called being built into the Church.

When we walk by faith, we have one other guide, a Guide God. He's called 'The Holy Spirit'.

If we take away reading the Bible and the faithful teaching of the whole counsel of God and listen to false teachers or no teachers;

If we take away a loving Christian fellowship and treat Church as a club or don't even go;

If the Holy Spirit is quenched, derided and mocked, or simply not listened to;

Then we cannot walk by faith, and like our elderly brother, we will have no choice but to give up and go home.

And this is why so many Western churches are empty.

You abandoned us! - Is this how we see God?

I seem to be having a lot of interesting dreams lately. I have never known anything like it.This one occurred last Tuesday, just before I met with my prayer triplet. ( Now about three weeks ago as I have been very busy).

I had been very tired and decided to take an extra half-hour of sleep. It was during this period that a story in dream unfolded.

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A man had escaped from some oriental, communist country and made his way to England. (This is not so unusual. The Vietnamese Boat People are an example).

Some years later, his daughter made it to England. She was hostile towards him, seeing him only as a source of money which she clearly felt she deserved. When he finally confronted her about this lack of love and respect, she replied, " You abandoned us!"

He was astonished at what she said, but after comparing stories, the truth emerged. He had been sending money faithfully, via a transfer agency, to his wife. He had also been sending letters saying how much he cared, what he was doing for them and how he longed to be reunited with them. Neither the money nor the letters had reached his wife and daughter.

In the dream, for some reason, I was dispatched to find out what had happened. The Agency and the local Post Office handling the money and the letters had been corrupted. The money had been stolen and used to build a house for someone else and the letters had been destroyed in order to prevent exposure of the crime.

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When I awoke, I wondered what it was all about and then the interpretation came to me.

The woman and the child represent generations of the Church. The man is Jesus. The money is God's provision for His Church, being both material and spiritual (i.e. The Holy Spirit). The letters are the Scriptures and the sound exposition of the Word by faithful preachers.

False teachers have diverted resources for their own uses. Some have built themselves mansions, others have funded ungodly causes. The have quenched the Spirit or abused the gifts and brought Him into disrepute. All of these have failed to preach the Word as this would have promoted discernment and exposed their wrong doing.

My part in the dream is that of all those who seek to preach the truth and work with the Holy Spirit in the hope of Revival and the Return of Jesus.

If you agree with this message, then I represent you and your call to your part in bringing true Christianity back into the hearts of all denominations and people who are called by His Name.

God has not abandoned His people, but some of His people have abandoned Jesus and His Church.

Does Obama care about Meriam Ibrahim? Update.

There are suggestions that the Sudanese government has realised that it has gone too far and will overrule the barbarous sharia law that has sentenced Miriam Ibrahim to death. See the BBC news here.

See also articles in the Telegraph and the Daily Mail .

However, this is by no means certain and it remains to be seen if the fanatics will take the law into their own hands as they have done in Pakistan and other Islamic nations on many occasions.

International outrage has been immense.The UK can, for once, be proud of its leaders.

Prime Minister Cameron, the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats and Ed Miliband, leader of the Opposition have all condemned this outrage and are putting diplomatic pressure on Sudan. They cannot withdraw aid to Sudan as there is no direct aid to withdraw.

The silence from the USA and, most especially, the White House has been deafening. I know that US politicians have been protesting about this situation, but there is no voice that can speak for the nation coming out of the USA.

Why is President Obama so silent about this Christian family. Do they not resemble him closely enough?

You may find some answers at the following websites:

The PJ Tatler Just how much of an apostate is Obama?

Grumpy Elder

Maggie's Notebook

I find these whilst searching for an explanation of Obama's silence. If they are to be be believed then one of Obama's brothers is working for the Sudanese at a high level.

The USA has some hard questions to put to its silent President.

In the UK, a protest is being planned outside the Sudanese Embassy see here.

Does Obama care about Christian, Black Americans? Not if they are in a Muslim prison for being Christian.

If you live in the UK, you may well have read about this. If you are a US citizen who reads WND or the USA's most read online paper The Daily Mail (UK!) then you will have read about it.  If you read Mark Steyn, you will have read about it. You could also try The Telegraph. Other than that, it will probably be news to you.

The Mail link shows why she was accused in the first place. Her Muslim family want what she's got, without earning it.

Two US citizens are about to be forcibly removed from their parents and brought up as Muslims, because by sharia law they are Muslims and not Christians. Their mother will be flogged 100 times for adultery. She married their father when she was not married to ant one else, but her absentee father was a Muslim. She was brought up a Christian. After that she will be executed for apostasy - leaving the faith of her father and believing the faith of her mother, who brought her up as a Christian.

If nothing is done then this brave sister in Christ will die a martyr.

Mark Steyn documents it here.

 

You can sign anyone of a myriad petitions by Googling "Miriam Ibrahim petitions" or going here.

A quote from Mark Steyn:

On Saturday, President Obama issued a Tweet in observance of International Anti-Homophobia Day:

"No one should face violence or discrimination—no matter who they are or whom they love." —President Obama

Fine words, but, as is often the case with this man, utterly empty. An American citizen is about to have his life ruined because of "whom they love". Daniel Wani suffered discrimination from the US Government because he fell in love with Meriam Ibrahim. And, because of that discrimination, he now faces violence from the Sudanese Government, which presently has his entire family - his wife and unborn child, and his two-year-old son - shackled in Khartoum. After Meriam gives birth, she will be hanged, and Daniel, because he has committed the crime of being a Christian, will never see his children again.

Those children are American citizens, and this is not a Sudanese news story but an American one.

The United States bureaucracy failed Daniel Wani, grievously. Washington should make Meriam Ibrahim a US citizen. The Ambassador in Khartoum should then demand access to the family. And the US Government should make plain to its Sudanese counterparts that it expects the entire family on a plane out of there in 48 hours.

Everyone, even the U.N., is protesting. Your former 'oppressors' the evil Brits are protesting. Some of your politicians are protesting. Where is your President?

On the golf course?

Don't hold your breath.