May 21 - The End?

By now you've probably heard of Harold Camping or at least you are probably aware that on May 21, 2011 the rapture is going to take place - that is if you believe Harold Camping.

"And now, we have no option. We can't say 'maybe' 'it's possible' 'it looks very probable...' No way! We have to say this is what the Bible teaches! This is fact! May 21, 2011 is the day of the Rapture, it is the day that Judgment Day begins..." - Harold Camping

You may have even seen a billboard or a bumper sticker proclaiming May 21 to be the date of the rapture. Recently I was in Rosales Philippines and much to my dismay there was a very large billboard there proclaiming Camping's rapture prediction. 

So, is May 21, 2011 the date of the rapture? Just remember what Deuteronomy 19:21-22 says: "You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed."

With that in mind here's something else Harold Camping falsly predicted: "When September 6, 1994, arrives, no one else can become saved. The end has come." - Harold Camping (1994)

The Demise of the Church

The following is an excerpt from a great post by Billy Birch entitled, "The Demise of the Church: The Church's Love Affair with Modernity":

"The apostle Paul wrote: "I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22 NASB, emphasis added). Many modern Christians have taken this for support of their particular manner in presenting the gospel, even when the means either appear as ethically suspect or are clearly unbiblical or immoral. But was Paul trying to convey the idea that Christians, in an effort to reach people for Jesus Christ, should use whatever means imaginable to capture the sinner's attention?

Paul also admitted, "I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it" (1 Cor. 9:23 NASB). His motive was rooted in the gospel, not shock value. And since his motive was grounded in the gospel itself, the means he used had to correlate with the holiness of the gospel. The following syllogism will suffice:

1. The gospel is holy.                                                                                                                                                            2. Christians use means in proclaiming the gospel.                                                                                                    3. The means Christians use in proclaiming the gospel must be holy..."

Click here to continue reading this great post

I wonder...

How long until this kind of thing starts happening in our country?

There's a crisis all right...

As you will see in the video below President Obama is making sure that everyone knows that there is a "crisis" and he is using fear to try to accomplish his agenda. However, there is a much bigger crisis in our country right now - one that is far bigger than our economic situation. Click here and read this story and you will see just what the crisis is - all I can say is God help us and God have mercy!!

Interesting and thought provoking

What does all of this mean to us about the urgency of spreading the Gospel? What do we need to do to adapt? What are your thoughts?

This is sad...

I had a lot of different emotions as I read this story but the primary one was sadness...let's pray for him and let's wake up to the fact that stories like this are going to only increase in the days to come. If we are going to stand for what the Bible stands for (and against) there is going to come increased persecution from both those who are not Christians and those who claim to be.

Kaboom! (That was my head exploding...)

I tried. I've not posted a video that made my head explode in several weeks. Some have expressed that they would rather not even see some of the false teaching and heresy that is taking place. However, this piece of work that you will see in the video below is so outrageous that you've got to see it to believe it. Here's a hint - my Church will not be starting any morgue outreach anytime soon! Grab a roll of duct tape and click play on the video below.

 

I don't know how to title this one...

Good Question

Are you ready?

HT: Jon Plank

Signs of the times

As I read this story (which Joel Byer linked to from his blog) the words to the songs "Signs of the times are everywhere..." were going through my head.

Signs of the times...

Click here

Chips ahoy!

I know that some of you have probably thought I am crazy when it comes to my opinion that RFID computer chips are leading the way to what may someday be the Mark of the Beast, but here's more evidence which leads me to my conclusion:

According to this New York Times story, over in China they are installing at least 20,000 police surveillance cameras which will be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.

This isn't even the scary part, here's what I find really scary:

...residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child” policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.

It seems to me that these "cards" will probably be lost very easily or stolen.Why not just implant a chip in everyone's forehead or hand? We all know how bad credit card and identity theft is - this would be the "perfect" solution. And terrorism, this could be the solution, if everyone has to have this "mark" then we would be able to tell who ever one is, and we would know where they are at all times, and what they are purchasing etc.

I'm sure it will take a world leader to accomplish the spread of this idea all across the world - i.e. the Antichrist. The world leader who will convince nearly everyone to take this "mark" which I'm sure will be billed as a great thing to have for some of the reasons named above. At first it will be a voluntary acceptance, but then it will become forced - take it or die...

Okay, now that you all think that I've totally lost my mind, I'll go back to my studying now. Perhaps it's the 110 degree temperature I was visiting in today....

Chipping our way to 666?

Are we chipping our way to the Mark of the Beast? Click here to read an interesting news story about this. I happen to be one who believes that it is this kind of technology in humans which will eventually lead to the mark of the beast. Who knows? Call me crazy, but we had better keep our eyes open!

Why the Emergent Church is so dangerous

If you've read my blog for very long you've probably detected that I am concerned about the effects of the emergent church on the church world at large. What concerens me the most is the effect that it is having "holiness" denominations. You don't have to look far within the Wesleyan and Nazarene churches to see the emergent church. Sadly, there is even some probably in the more "conservative holiness movement" who are picking up pieces of this "movement."

So, why does it concern me so? Well, watch this video about the emergent church by those within the emergent church. If you watch this video and don't feel concerned, you had better do a spiritual check-up.

O yea, I had better warn you that since this is a video of people from the emergent church talking, there is a some bad language in a couple places...

Idols...

I'm currently preaching through the book of Romans on Sunday mornings at my church (and I probably will be until the Lord comes back).

This past Sunday part of my sermon was on these verses, "1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."

Then today I see these two stories: it's sad what men choose to worship rather than the Living God...

An ice formation inside a Morton, Texas, grocery store's freezer is prompting tears from people who see it and has apparently answered the prayers of some visitors, according to a Local 6 News report. Morton Thrifty Foods employee Alma Avalos said when she went to the back she noticed that some drops of water from the ceiling had frozen. As more and more people began to hear about the Virgin Mary, they started traveling in droves to see the ice. Some people cried when they spotted the ice and others said it answered their prayers. "I had a lump in my breast and yesterday when I went home it disappeared," a woman said. "I don't have it no more."

Man-made religious decorations are a common sight at this time of year, but the image on a tree in an Arlington man's front yard is natural and some neighbors have begun calling it a holy tree, according to a WJXT-TV report. Neighbors near Daryl Brown's Arlington home said a tree in his yard bears the image of Jesus. The likeness has created a buzz in the neighborhood and has many residents at a loss for words. "I see the face, eyes, and you can see the crown," said one neighbor. "I can't say what I feel, I just feel it," said another neighbor. The image was discovered a week before Christmas by a woman walking her dog, the report said. Overjoyed by what she saw, the woman shared the news with her neighbor.

Microchip tracking bill in North Dakota

I've posted several times about the issue of microchip implants that are being implanted in humans. It is my opinion that this is what will lead to the mark of the beast.



Anyways, in North Dakota they are debating a bill regarding employees that are wanting to force employees to have chip implants for "the purpose of closer supervision."



Quote from the article:

“How far does it really go?” asked Bismarck resident Jim Oshanyk, who said the implanted microchips could keep track of an employee’s movements down to the number of hand repetitions. “They can keep very close tabs on you. My main concern is privacy.”



Oshanyk listed examples of microchip implant uses, including a business in Ohio that required some employees working on top-secret projects to have implants. He mentioned that in some areas, newborns receive implants that could track them if they were ever abducted.



Steve Bitz, also of Bismarck, said the microchip implantation could work like a UPC code, but could differentiate products individually and not just by type. In a human, it would work like an ID.

Click here to read the whole story.

U2 Church

Crack out the duct tape, this makes my head explode! No explanation necessary!

One World Church?

There's a new ecumenical movement getting started. Thirty-six churches and national Christian organizations representing over 100 million Christians will be the founding members of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT), which is said to be the only venue where all the major groupings of churches come together and also the most extensive ecumenical effort in U.S. history.

This new movement is bringing together Evangelical, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Protestant, racial and ethnic, and Roman Catholic churches.

I don't know that much about the movement yet to offer an informed opinion, but appears to me to just be another step toward a one world church - hopefully I'm wrong...

• Christian Post story

• CCT home page

Churches/Organizations which have agreed to join and become founding participants:
AMEN
American Baptist Churches, USA
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
Armenian Orthodox Church in America
Bread for the World
Call to Renewal/Sojourners
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Reformed Church in NA
Church of God Ministries (Anderson, IN)
Church of God of Prophecy
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Coptic Orthodox Church
Evangelicals for Social Action
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Free Methodist Church
Friends United Meeting
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
International Council of Community Churches
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
Moravian Church*
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches
National Baptist Convention of America
National Baptist Convention, USA
Open Bible Churches
Orthodox Church in America
Reformed Church in America
Syrian Orthodox Church
The Episcopal Church
The Evangelical Covenant Church
The Korean Presbyterian Church in America
The Presbyterian Church USA — provisional until 2010
The Salvation Army
United Church of Christ
United Methodist
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
World Vision
*provisional until 2006

Churches/Organizations in decision making process or present as observers:
African Methodist Episcopal Church
AME Zion Church
America's National Prayer Committee
Association of Vineyard Churches
Baptist General Convention of Texas
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Church of God (Cleveland)
Church of God in Christ, Inc
Church of the Brethren
Church of the Nazarene
Community of Christ
Mennonite Church USA
Elim Fellowship
Evangelical Free Church of America
Mission America Coalition
Nat'l Missionary Baptist Convention of America
Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc

Blasphemy...

This is probably one of the saddest things I have ever heard in my life...I can't explain to you just how much this breaks my heart. God help us!

It shows you the age we are living in and it breaks my heart. Below is a video of the news coverage, and here is a link to a news story from Newsweek.

Tracking cows... and people

Call me crazy. But, chips for tracking people are not that far away. Really they're already in existence and being used in some instances (I've posted about this previously), but there coming and soon they'll be injecting these chips in people like crazy.

Call me crazy. But, I believe this is leading to the Mark of the Beast. What I fear is we have a bunch of people who think that they're never going to face persecution because Jesus is going to come back before the Tribulation begins and so they're not going to be on guard against it.

Now that I've opened a very large can of worms let me get back to the whole issue of tracking cows...and people. Engadget has an interesting little article about this today - check it out!

While you're at it, make sure to check this out - notice the parts about this being safe for animals and people...