John 17
1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
John 10:15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
John 8
12. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
13. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
14. Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
15. Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
16. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.
17. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.
18. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
19. Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
Throughout His ministry our Saviors primary detractors were the religious hypocrites in positions of authority, the educated, those religious wealthy and leaders who always appeared righteous but were inwardly full of death and darkness.
In our day we have the same and similar groups taking a stand against righteousness, people who profess knowing GOD but have never known Him.
Religious leaders around the world, of all faiths, are following the dictates of corrupt governments, turning in those who stand against the Governments narrative of fear and lies. Churches shut their doors because they were ordered to while liquor stores remained open. Whether it was masking đˇ or the mRNA shots the world, including Christianity bought into the fear porn of something that has a 99.7% survival rate.
Am I taking this in an awkward direction, not really, because the belief system of those who follow the dictates of the Covid narrative do so with a mind that is deceived with half truths and outright lies. They blindly follow whatever the narrative is with what some could define as faith based assumptions.
Those faith based assumptions are whatever the talking heads are screeching in their ears đat the moment.
So in regards to the Scriptures noted above, Christians are being separated, the wheat from the chaff, the world is being separated also, the mindless from those who could respond to the Gospel.
A Great Winnowing in occurring and we are witnessing it, if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus the Christ I would recommend that you begin praying for the Lord to open your heart to His Spirit.
Ignorance of the Bible isnât just a problem in our culture. Itâs a problem in the church, and itâs scandalous.
While Americaâs evangelical Christians are rightly concerned about the secular worldviewâs rejection of biblical Christianity, we ought to give some urgent attention to a problem much closer to homeâbiblical illiteracy in the church. This scandalous problem is our own, and itâs up to us to fix it.
How bad is it? Researchers tell us that itâs worse than most could imagine.
Only half of all Christian adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the twelve disciples. According to data from the Pew Research Center, nearly half donât even realize that the Golden Rule is not one of the Ten Commandments.
Multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms. Most Christians in the United States believe the Bible teaches, âGod helps those who help themselvesâ (and some even believe this quote is a Bible verse). A series of Barna surveys shows that only 19% of âborn again Christiansâ hold to the simplest elements of a basic biblical worldview.
We would not expect secularized Americans to be knowledgeable about the Bible. A Barna poll once indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc might be Noahâs wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that Billy Graham preached the Sermon on the Mount.
The larger scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians. Choose whichever statistic or survey you like, the general pattern is the same among professing Christians. Americaâs Christians know less and less about the Bible. It shows.
How can a generation be biblically shaped in its understanding of human sexuality when it believes Sodom and Gomorrah to be a married couple? No wonder our culture has so quickly embraced the normality of same-sex marriage. And itâs little wonder that Christians show a growing tendency to compromise on such issues.
Worse, many who identify themselves as Christians are similarly confused about the gospel itself. An individual who believes that âGod helps those who help themselvesâ will find salvation by grace and justification by faith to be alien concepts.
Christians who lack biblical knowledge are the products of churches that place too little value on biblical knowledge. Paulâs words to Timothy are as valuable today as ever: âGive attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrineâ (1 Timothy 4:13). Bible teaching now often accounts for only a diminishing fraction of the local congregationâs time and attention. And while the increasing emphasis on small group ministry has certainly increased opportunities for fellowship, many of these groups never get beyond superficialBible study.
Youth ministries are asked to fix problems, provide entertainment, and keep kids busy. But how many local church youth programs actually substantially increase their Bible knowledge during the critical junior high and high school years?
Even the pulpit has been sidelined in many congregations. Preaching has taken a back seat to other concerns in corporate worship. The centrality of biblical preaching to the formation of disciples is lost, and Christian ignorance leads to Christian indolence and worse.
Recovery starts at home. Parents are to be the first and most important educators of their own children, diligently teaching them the Word of God (see Deuteronomy 6:4â9). Parents cannot pass their responsibility off to the congregation, no matter how faithful and biblical it may be. Even if they have had little training themselves, it is no excuse. God assigned parents this nonnegotiable responsibility, and children must see their Christian parents as teachers and fellow students of Godâs Word. (Spiritual leadership is far more important than second jobs, second cars, and the many other distractions of modern life.)
Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical teaching and preaching, and refuse to sideline the teaching ministry of the preacher. Pastors and churches too busyâor too distractedâto make biblical knowledge a central aim of ministry will produce believers who simply do not know enough to be faithful disciples. (Worse, they will fail to pass down a clear understanding of the gospel to the next generation sitting in the pews.)
We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in our homes and churches.
This generation of Christian parents and pastors must get deadly serious about the problem of biblical illiteracy, or a frighteningly large number of AmericansâChristians includedâwill go on thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah lived happily ever after.
Without a mature knowledge of Godâs Word, how can churchgoers expect to make new disciples of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19)?
Luke 22
2. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
3. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
4. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
5. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
6. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
In our society today it’s becoming increasingly popular in Churches to follow the fads of the Day, to give up their moral clarity to follow sin and wickedness. In His day Jesus introduced pure and undefiled religion to the people, going against the norms placed by the religious rulers of His day, those who corrupted the faith of an entire nation.
Nowadays in the west Christians who goes against the so-called norms or fads of the Day are ridiculed and condemned by an evil society. Some face jail time for expressing their faith. In England a ruler in a church turned in a congregant because he expressed views opposite to the popular fad, that being the acceptance of the LGBT XYZ garbage.
Just as our Savior was killed by the religious leaders of His day, in our time in the west the Lord is separating the wheat from the chaff, the goats from the sheep, and we are seeing the fulfillment of the words of Christ when He said, The world hated me without a cause, so now the world still hates Him without a cause, th world hated Him, the world hates those who follow Him.
Don’t be afraid when persecution comes knocking on your door but praise GOD in that you are counted worthy to suffer for His sake.
For years now I’ve been waking before the alarm fires off its annoying sounds. I guess one becomes conditioned through the years, I don’t really know although I consider it a blessing because I do find myself thanking GOD and doing my morning prayers as I begin my day.
Being an early upper allows for more time to begin whatever routines one may have, mines pretty basic, get up, prayer & reflection time, wash off, get dressed, get coffee, drive…. ’bout it. After 31 yrs of sitting behind a windshield and over 3 million miles I’m beginning to think my wandering days are kinda coming due for some closure.
My 31 foot liveaboard sailboat is down in the Carolinas and that sealonging is starting to tighten its grip on my heart and mind.
Getting my affairs in order on land has taken its own sweet time, some of it was due to me, some to work and other external events that had to take their due course to finish. But now that next chapter is about to start, I’m praying the Lord will bless the coming move and use it for His glory.
And to close with Psalm 37
4. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
Bless GOD and may He bless your day.
Luke 14
7. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
8. When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
9. And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
10. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
11. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Always remember humility is a good thing.
Micah 3
9. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
by Tom DeWeese
November 16, 2010
NewsWithViews.com
Teachers, Preachers and Greens: The Unholy Alliance to Transform America
When Communism âfellâ in the late 1980âs, those who were busy scheming to impose global governance on the sovereign nations had a problem. Suddenly, the only super power in the world was the United States â the only nation on Earth based on the ideals of limited government, individual liberty and free enterprise. If American bedrock ideals of freedom took hold in the emerging nations of the old Soviet Empire, global governance was impossible.
What to do? The answer was obvious. Change America. Get her to join the community of nations with a proper attitude. Force her to learn her proper place. Target: Americaâs attitudes, values and beliefs. And to force us to quickly question those American ideals, elements of guilt and fear would be essential.
Two specific targets were identified: the American public school system and Americaâs Christian churches. These were the breeding grounds for the out of step American ideas. The schools taught us of the Founding Fathers and their courageous battle to recognize that we are all born with our rights as free individuals. And they taught us that its governmentâs job to protect those rights. Moreover, the very source of those ideals, as stated by the Founders over and over again, came from Christian teachings. In short, Christianity is the root of American culture.
The guilt and fear elements of the scheme were to come from a campaign that told us that American selfishness and mass consumption were destroying the planet. In short, the modern environmental movement was chosen as the shock and awe tactic to force America into the global village. Over the next three decades these forces combined to rapidly and drastically change America in a very significant way. As Ronald Reagan said, âWe are but one generation away from losing our liberties.â Change the attitudes, values and beliefs of just one generation and America will forget its founding principles and fall in line with the globalist world view.
School reform = Indoctrination
Throughout American history parents took on the role of teaching children boundaries, without which a free society cannot function. Children were taught at a young age to respect the rights of others; they were taught the rules of games, without which they could not be played; they were taught to not go into a neighborâs yard without permission; they were taught modesty and loyalty and pride in their school, town, and nation. They were taught to be independent and take care of their own, without expecting someone else to do it for them. And they were taught that their property, ideas and dreams are their own, to control and pursue. These are attitudes, values and beliefs that make a free society possible. To get America to fall in line and accept the concept of global governance, these things needed to be changed â and fast.
It is fairly well known what has happened to American schools since the 1990s, when massive âreformâ took place through the establishment of the federal Department of Education and programs with names like Goals 2000, School to Work, Workforce Development and later, No Child Left Behind. Local control of American schools disappeared and a federal curriculum based on behavior modification, focusing on a global outlook replaced basic academics and true American history. A psychology-driven curriculum instead focused on breaking down the structure of American society.
Parents were virtually eliminated from the education process, kept from visiting classrooms, participating in homework assignments and banned from seeing copies of tests and evaluation exams. In time, Americans began to notice that their children changed after entering school. Children were not learning to read and write. Math skills declined. Knowledge of basic American and world history was near non-existent.
But children suddenly announced that they were now vegetarians (usually at about the third grade). Parents began to notice that environmental questions or statements started popping up in math, language and history text books. Children were obviously learning little about Americaâs unique history or the ideals of the Founders.
Today, in the classroom, rather than basic academics, the children are fed a steady stream of pictures and stories of environmental destruction, supposedly caused by man. The text books speak of the earth only as a fragile victim of manâs development. The students are taught that the earth is their âmotherâ for which all good derives.
A fourth grade math book called Quest 2000 contains âmathâ questions like this one: Mindy read that a typical goldfish lives for 6 years. Mindy has a goldfish six years old. Should Mindy continue to buy goldfish? Explain your thinking.
Representatives of groups like the Sierra Club and People for the ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) are brought into the classroom for days on end to talk to the children and indoctrinate them in the âgreenâ message.There are no opposing views introduced (because that would interrupt the behavior modification process). Some children have been forced to watch Al Goreâs film, âAn Inconvenient Truthâ as many as four times during their school days.
The children, after being fed a constant diet of such dribble, are then assessed and evaluated on the progress of their behavior modification. Parentâs think those tests are about testing for academic ability. If children fail to respond with the proper attitudes, they are given special courses and âpersonalizedâ computer programs to help them along the way. And then they are tested again and again until they submit.
After twelve years of this indoctrination your children will certainly have all of the proper environmental attitudes, unable to think or reason for themselves, ready to accept and support whatever message those in charge hand down. In other words, your child has become the perfect anti-property, anti-technology, anti-industry, unquestioning, simple-minded, global village idiot.
And the indoctrination is taking its toll. Children have been known to break out into tears when meat is served for dinner because theyâve been assaulted by PeTA in the classroom â told not to eat their friends, the animals. One six year old girl refused to sleep in a beautiful old four poster bed inherited from her grandmother. When asked why, sobbing, she told her mother, because they had to kill trees to make it. Another young boy compared lumber jacks to rapists and murderers.
The American public education system has become a major tool in the drive to destroy from within the American ideal.
Green Invasion of Christian Churches
Some worried and concerned parents try to find comfort that their children are at least safe in their church Sunday school, where they will at least learn the proper attitudes, values and beliefs from a solid Christian view. They are about to be shocked out of that comfort zone.
The lesser noticed and perhaps more covert effort to modify American society has been the assault on Christian churches. Itâs an invasion specifically designed to change the very root of Western culture. Beginning in 1993, 67,000 Christian congregations were targeted by a highly organized and well funded effort to change, and ultimately remove Christianity as a threat to their agenda.
The driving force behind the assault on Christian churches is called the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE). The Partnership is a formal agreement among four of the nationâs largest religious organizations, including the U.S. Catholic Conference, National Council of Churches, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network. In addition, The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) holds a special âconsultativeâ relationship with the Partnership. Funding comes from (among others) Pew Charitable Trusts, Stephen C. Rockefeller, the Turner Foundation, W. Alton Jones Foundation and the New World Foundation.
Story here https://newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom183.htm
Ezekiel 3
18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
Psalms 123
A Song of degrees.
1. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
2. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
3. Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Philippians 4
4Â Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
5Â Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
6Â Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8Â Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
2 Thessalonians 3
1. Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
2. And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
3. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
Psalms 90
1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
In the Book of Revelation Chapter 18 we read about the coming judgment of a nation/kingdom/people referred to as Mystery Babylon the Great.
Here are those beginning verses,
2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
This begins with the announcement that Babylon has fallen. This fallen state happened because of their sins. We read further about that fallen state; it's become a habitation of devils, I would assume literally and metaphorically. The cultural social cohesion of this place collapsing into literal evil.
We read it becomes a home to every foul spirit, again literal and metaphorical in nature. These foul spirits are a reflection of the hearts of those living there; anger, deceit, bitterness, malice, theft, lies, murders, adulteries and sexual abominations, all of the vices of wickedness manifesting themselves in its cultural and social collapse.
This wickedness doesn't remain localized or regional but spreads outward across the borders to reach all the world. We read that the kings or rulers of nations committed fornication with this nation, again literal and metaphorical. Through lies and deceit rulers and merchants of the world became rich from the abundance of this nation's delicacies and merchandise.
International trade is one of the hallmarks in identifying who this Mystery Babylon is. Not only trade but the other identifiers, the public evil of this place as well as its abundance of goods and services, its dealing in pleasures, both sexual and non-sexual.
Then in verse 4 we read "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
Here we can see that believers and those of faith do indeed reside in this place. In what state I'm not sure, but reflecting on the cultural and social conditions that exists one would assume the faithful are not in a very amicable environment where they can worship freely.
Believers are told to leave, to flee from this nation because judgment and plagues are coming.
In our day, today, in my mind there's only one nation on earth that can even come close to matching the descriptions defining Mystery Babylon and that is the United States.
This country has collapsed, both spiritually, culturally, and socially, matching the wickedness which describes Mystery Babylon.
Our political and economic situations reflecting similar relationships describing Mystery Babylon. Our major exports are dollars and pornography. Money and sex are two main features of Americaâs modern exceptionalism which are also highlighted in Mystery Babylon.
All of those vices mentioned in Scripture about Mystery Babylon are reflected in American culture and exported around the world.
Those few faithful remaining in this place are called to leave, I wonder how many will heed that call?
The fallen state isn't an overnight phenomenon, it takes some time but when the cup is full judgment is issued and no time will be left.
I do pray that the Spirit will give whomever this foreshadowing, that judgment is coming, that there is a call going out. That call maybe faint right now for some, but that call will continue to become louder as more eyes and hearts are opened.
A Laymans Discourse 
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