Posted in john macarthur, prayer, rcc

A note about the brethren who live under the shadow of the Catholic Church

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday, Pastor John MacArthur posted an introduction to a new blog series. It is called, A Timely Critique of the Catholic Church.

He wrote,

“Last week Pope Benedict XVI made the historic and unexpected announcement that he will soon retire … In the coming days and weeks, you’re likely to find yourself in a variety of conversations about the Catholic Church with friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors—each one an opportunity to shed biblical light on a topic that everyone will be talking about. And when the Lord brings those opportunities, I want you to be able to speak with clarity and authority regarding the truth of God’s Word and the corrupt idolatry of Roman Catholicism.”

In the first installation of the series, Pastor MacArthur pulled no punches. He said, “The fact is, the most formidable, relentless, and deceptive enemy in Satan’s long war on the truth has been Roman Catholicism. It’s an apostate, corrupt, heretical, false Christianity—a thinly veiled façade for the kingdom of Satan.”

His blog allows comments and I read them all last night. I came to one comment in particular, and I was just stricken to the heart. I admit, I did get emotional over it, and I prayed. The comment may not strike you the same way as it did me, but I post it here for you to consider. It is from a brother in South America. He opens with blessing Pastor MacArthur:

God bless you. Thank you for this resource. I live in Colombia where Catholicism has a huge influence and evangelical Christians are seen as an apostate sect.

I’m a journalist with a tv show in a secular channel, where I dedicate many programs to spread the truth and present many Christian testimonies. In my Facebook page I’ve had strong debates against many Catholic positions in many topics. The latest was the spiritual significance of the carnival (Mardi Gras) in our city, Barranquilla. It is the world’s second largest after Rio de Janeiro, according to Wikipedia. I’ve been alerting everyone about this, being the son of a carnival queen and the father of a carnival queen, member of the board of the entity which runs the carnival. Opposing to that is the Catholic Church. It’s archbishop and priests give their blessing to this pagan and satanic festival. It’s outrageous!

I can’t say enough about the spiritual damage the Catholic Church does in countries like mine where their influence is enormous.

Resources like this one are very helpful for people like me that like to preach the Truth not being a pastor or teacher of the Word of God, and only a disciple of Grace to You and John MacArthur’s teachings and writings. I listen to you daily on the web through KDRY of San Antonio, have your podcasts and read your books.

I just dream that we could have a Grace to You church in my town, dedicated to the teaching of the Truth of Scriptures. That would be a gigantic blessing because we have a lot of Christian Churches of all sizes, but many don’t preach the Gospel as it is and others are preaching the prosperity gospel.

So, there is a ton of work to be done and I just try to contribute from my position as a public figure in journalism to spread the true Gospel of Jesus.

Thank you for all you do and I must say you have been a blessing to me and my understanding of God’s Word “one verse at a time”!

May God bless you and your marvelous ministry.

Manuel De la Rosa; Barranquilla, Colombia, South America

There are two missionaries I know in Guatemala right now. They came and spoke to our church about the deep spiritual darkness of Central and South America, directly due to the Catholic Church. Their talk touched me deeply, and aroused a fervent inclination to oppose the Catholic Church where and when I can.

Mr De la Rosa of Barranquilla, Colombia’s comment was deeply humbling. As I prayed, I envisioned the darkness of so many millions in that place; the delusion of so many Catholic congregants; the wails and gnashing of teeth on the Day of the LORD when they discover to their eternal regret of the horrific ramifications of their spiritual choice.

But more than that, the comment touched in me a joy for our brethren who labor in obscurity in the dark places. In addition to spiritually cold and dead locations like Europe, and dangerous places like in the Muslim nations, the task is monumental for our Christian brethren in South America, as Mr De la Rosa indicated.

It is hard for an ’emotion’ or an ‘attitude’ to bleed through the monitor of the laptop, but this one did. His joy in persevering, his graciousness in accepting the sphere in which the Lord has placed him, and the heartfelt love for Jesus that is obvious from this man all touched me deeply.

Please remember to pray for our brethren who do not enjoy the liberties as we have in the US, and where spiritual warfare is more real and present and in greater force. And please, if you would be so kind, think of Mr De la Rosa, and the people like him, who humbly preach the truth in obscurity in a mature and gracious way.

It was a joy to read a fellow believer’s struggle and to see his servant’s heart. Though the task is daunting, we are one united body, spread all over the world, to be the Light for Jesus and to give Him glory. And…there are brethren who toil tirelessly, UNdaunted by the task, because they know who their Master is.

Pray for each other.

“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,” (Ephesians 6:18)

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,” (1 Timothy 2:1)

Posted in damascus, iran, israel, north korea, tribulation

Syria conflict: Many dead in huge Damascus bombing

Posted on by elizabethprata

BBC News reported yesterday,
“A huge car bomb in the Syrian capital Damascus has sent smoke billowing across the capital’s skyline.

“Syrian media and pan-Arab satellite station al-Jazeera have spoken of deaths and injuries resulting from the blast, which state media have blamed on “terrorists”. Ambulances rushed to the scene near headquarters of the ruling Baath party. The violence comes as Russia and the Arab League say they want to broker direct government-opposition talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the violence as “a road to nowhere”.

“The opposition Syrian National Coalition is holding a two-day meeting in Egypt to discuss a framework for a possible solution to the Syrian war. Some 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, the UN says.”

Other estimates have the casualties over the two-year civil war period as high as 90,000.

This photo from Syrian State Media Sana of the bombing shows a tragic story.

When Jesus said in Matthew 24:6 that as a sign of the end there would “be wars and rumors of wars,” that was a statement meant for the Tribulation. The discourse Jesus gave in Matthew 24 was regarding the 7-year Tribulation AKA Time of Jacob’s Trouble. The Tribulation as prophesied in Revelation 6-20 has not begun.

However, it is interesting to note the severity of the current situation both in the Middle East and in the Asian spheres (North Korea vs. South Korea, & China vs. Japan). It is even more interesting to note this in light of the fact that those two regions are specifically mentioned as being participants in the global end time Tribulation wars. (Isaiah 17, Isaiah 19, Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38-39, Rev 16:12, etc)

In Israel, war has taken on a heightened priority. Iran is nearing the red line in which there would be no turning back if they get close enough to developing a nuclear bomb. The red line refers to the moment of no return that Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel would not let Iran cross, when he spoke to the UN in September 2012. He said at that time that Iran would be close to finishing a bomb in the spring.

Israel-watcher Joel C. Rosenberg has more.

Netanyahu warns: IAEA centrifuge report shows Iran nearing nuclear “red line.”
“Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant, a UN nuclear report said on Thursday,” according to Reuters and the Jerusalem Post. “In response, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Iran is closer today than ever before to obtaining the necessary enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. … Netanyahu termed the report “very grave,” and said it proved that Iran is moving swiftly toward the red line he set out at the UN in September. He said during that address that Iran must be stopped before it crosses that line, something he said at the time could happen as early as the spring.”

Several weeks ago, North Korea released a video that seemed to show an American city, likely New York, in flames due to a NK nuke. They have released another video, this time, depicting Obama on fire from flames in a nuclear blast. It is a crude response to the world condemnation for North Korea’s latest nuclear test. It does, however, remind us that our most potent enemy perhaps is North Korea.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Iran’s boast that claimed they were already nuclear. In that piece I said that in my opinion nuclear exchanges will take place during the Tribulation, and showed how several verses from the bible seemed to show us either death from a nuclear war and cleanup from a nuclear war. In the same piece I’d linked to above, Joel Rosenberg write about Iran, NK, Israel, US and nukes, stating,

“This is particularly troublesome in the light of the fact North Korea recently conducted another nuclear warhead test. Guess who was present at the test? The head of Iran’s nuclear program. Did Pyongyang just help Iran test an A-bomb? As I’ve written on my blog, there is growing evidence that Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove in developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Netanyahu warns that the North Korea nuclear bomb test proves that economic sanctions are not enough to stop Iran. …”

As I drove to work today, the car ahead of me was decorated at the back bumper with stickers. One said, “If you’ve seen one nuclear war, you’ve seen them all.”

That sentiment, as darkly humorous as it is, will soon be all too true.

Posted in higgs boson, new heaven, particle physics

Fireballs of doom: Scientists say Higgs boson makes the universe unstable

Posted on by elizabethprata

Science does a good job of telling me what my temperature is, streaming Netflix to my TV, enabling GPS to help me navigate my yacht, and cure polio. Science does a less stellar job when it comes to explaining the universe. Please note the pun.

When it comes to some things regarding the deeper mysteries of science, any scientist that does not have a Christian perspective will miss the boat. They will come oh, so close. However, as Maxwell Smart used to say, “Missed it by THAT much.”

One example of being close to being right is the recent news of the Higgs Boson. You may recall the hullabaloo when the Large Hadron Collider seemed to have produced evidence that the Higgs Boson particle existed. This is the particle that gives mass to the universe. It is the particle that completes the Standard Model of particle physics. It is the particle that is so fundamental to the universe’s cosmic infrastructure that it’s called The God Particle.

Here is a great explanation from How Stuff Works to explain the Standard Model of particle physics, and the Higgs boson’s place within it.

The model comes to us by way of particle physics, a field filled with physicists dedicated to reducing our complicated universe to its most basic building blocks. It’s a challenge we’ve been tackling for centuries, and we’ve made a lot of progress. First we discovered atoms, then protons, neutrons and electrons, and finally quarks and leptons (more on those later). But the universe doesn’t only contain matter; it also contains forces that act upon that matter. The standard model has given us more insight into the types of matter and forces than perhaps any other theory we have.

Here’s the gist of the standard model, which was developed in the early 1970s: Our entire universe is made of 12 different matter particles and four forces [source: European Organization for Nuclear Research]. Among those 12 particles, you’ll encounter six quarks and six leptons. Quarks make up protons and neutrons, while members of the lepton family include the electron and the electron neutrino, its neutrally charged counterpart. Scientists think that leptons and quarks are indivisible; that you can’t break them apart into smaller particles. Along with all those particles, the standard model also acknowledges four forces: gravity, electromagnetic, strong and weak.

Scientists think each of the four fundamental forces has its own specific bosons. Electromagnetic fields, for instance, depend on the photon to transit electromagnetic force to matter. Physicists think the Higgs boson might have a similar function — but transferring mass itself.

Can’t matter just inherently have mass without the Higgs boson confusing things? Not according to the standard model. But physicists have found a solution. What if all particles have no inherent mass, but instead gain mass by passing through a field? This field, known as a Higgs field, could affect different particles in different ways. Photons could slide through unaffected, while W and Z bosons would get bogged down with mass. In fact, assuming the Higgs boson exists, everything that has mass gets it by interacting with the all-powerful Higgs field, which occupies the entire universe. Like the other fields covered by the standard model, the Higgs one would need a carrier particle to affect other particles, and that particle is known as the Higgs boson.

The article isn’t that long and clearly explains why scientists think the Higgs boson is so important in explaining how the universe works.

With their recent discovery of the Higgs boson, came another startling discovery. The universe could end.

Higgs Boson calculations add up to new Armageddon scenario

Calculations that came with the likely discovery of the Higgs Boson last July also show that the particle’s mass qualities could spell out the end of the universe said Fermilab theoretical physicist Joseph Lykken yesterday, according to NBC’s Cosmic Log. Theory on the particle indicates that mass can be transmitted to other fundamental particles in the universe, which is how the possibility of the end of the world comes into play. This idea of mass transference suggests that the universe is not completely stable — it’s actually in a “metastable” state.

Aha! So if the Higgs boson transfers mass to other entities as they pass through the field, the very act of transference makes the universe inherently unstable. Hmmm.

This article from LiveScience says-

For example, the mass of the new particle is about 126 billion electron volts, or about 126 times the mass of the proton. If that particle really is the Higgs, its mass turns out to be just about what’s needed to make the universe fundamentally unstable, in a way that would cause it to end catastrophically in the far future. That’s because the Higgs field is thought to be everywhere, so it affects the vacuum of empty space-time in the universe.

“The mass of the Higgs is related to how stable the vacuum is,” explained Christopher Hill, a physicist at Ohio State University. “It’s right along the critical line. That could either be a cosmic coincidence, or it could be that there’s some physics that’s causing that. That’s something new, which we didn’t know before.”

Strikingly, if the Higgs mass were just a few percent different, the universe wouldn’t be doomed, the scientists said.

A ‘cosmic coincidence,’ lol. I would really be laughing out loud if it wasn’t so tragic. The scientists are so CLOSE to the truth. They search and search but never get there. 2 Timothy 3:7 says of the Godless in the last days, that they are

“always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth”

The tragedy is, the universe will collapse. The scientists say that it will end like this:

“The Higgs Boson doom scenario won’t be a drawn out event and will occur at light speed. But when it does happen, well, it’s going to be a spectacular show. “Fireballs of doom will form spontaneously and destroy the Universe,”

Hmmm, a faster than the speed of light instant implosion by fire? Let’s see what the bible says–

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” (2 Peter 3:10-12).

Here is a preacher’s exposition on the verse:

“And the universe will pass away. What does that mean? Go out of existence. Isaiah spoke of this in Isaiah 34. And it will go out of existence, this is so interesting, with a roar. Now that’s a hard word to translate. I suppose roar is an option but it is one of those words that we call an onomatopoeia, you know. You remember your English class and figures of speech and an onomatopoetic word is a word that sounds like its meaning. In English we would say, whizzing. There is a word that sounds like what it means…whizzzzz. This word is rhoizedon…rhoizzzedon, rhoizzedon. It has to do with the whizzing, whistling crackling sound of something whizzz, disappearing. That’s the way it’s going to go.

At the same time the elements will be dissolved or destroyed with intense heat.” (Source)

Fireballs of doom, indeed.

This planet is a temporary one. It is disposable, only around for as long as God has His plan of redemption in play. When His work of redeeming souls is done, the planet and the entire universe will melt. However, not to worry, Peter says in 2 Peter 3:12 that there will be a new heavens.

Back to “so close”. Scientists are so close to understanding that it is God who holds the universe together. (Colossians 1:7). They are so close to understanding just how unstable the universe is. It is all held by Jesus and the moment He lets go, with a roar the universe will melt. (2 Peter 3:10). They are so close to knowing that it is Jesus Himself who is the field of power through which all things pass. (Colossians 1:15).

They are so close that we have a tendency to say, as Maxwell Smart did, “Missed it by that much!” But that is wrong thinking. They are not so close to the truth. It is far.

There are two roads, Jesus said. (Matthew 7:13-14). Neither road is close to one another. One is toward life and one is toward death. We see a picture of that enacted in the story from Luke 16:26 where the rich man was in torment in hell. He looked at Lazarus in Abraham’s Bosom and asked for Lazarus to come put a drop of water on his tongue to salve his tormenting thirst. Abraham replied that there is a great gulf fixed between the two places.

“Besides all this, between you and us there is a great gulf set, so that they which would go from hence to you, cannot: neither can they come from thence to us. ” (Luke 16:26).

Another verse intimates that the distance between heaven and hell is vast. In Matthew 8:12 we’re told that the unsaved will be cast into outer darkness.

If you are on the narrow road you will inherit a Light of glory that permeates the city and heaven itself.(Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5). If you fail to repent you will inherit an eternal darkness at the outer edges from where Jesus is. Psalm 103:2 says that He will remove our transgressions from us and make them be as far as the east is from the west.

So close is an eternity afar. It is painful as a Christian to read of great scientific advances such as the potential unification of the Standard Model of physics. (if they ever figure out where gravity comes from, but that’s another story). To see that the universe will be destroyed, but not to see how the bible already records that it will happen, and in exactly the way that the scientists already see and understand…it is painful. They are so close but devastatingly far from the truth.

We Christians in turn, though, can and do praise Him for His power and His plan of redemption!

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11).

Posted in jesus

Heavenly minded is good

Posted on by elizabethprata

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we read of a moment when two pilgrims on their way to the celestial city (heaven) are conversing,

One of the two pilgrims says to the other, “When do you find yourself in the most wholesome and most vigorous spiritual state?” To which the other pilgrim says, “When I think of the place to which I am going.”

Bunyan understood that. When he wrote that he understood that heaven on your mind changes your life. The living in a joyous anticipation of the presence of God changes everything.

Sadly, I suppose most Christians are more like the cynical Mark Twain who when told about heaven remarked flippantly, “You take heaven, I’d rather go to Bermuda.”

~John MacArthur, The New Heavens and the New Earth

How you think of heaven changes your perspective. It can be changed either for the better, toward a more vigorous and fervent love for Christ and His soon appearing and His taking us to heaven, or it can change it for the worse, in making us apathetic and earthward grasping. Do not be shamed into ceasing talk of heaven and the glories and THE glory of Jesus who awaits us there. In the above sermon, Pastor MacArthur said this:

“A true and vivid longing for heaven has many marvelous implications and many marvelous benefits. A true and vivid longing for heaven, for example, is an evidence of genuine salvation because when a person longs for heaven, you know they’re longing for God. They’re demonstrating love for the Lord. They’re showing you where their heart is.”

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
(Colossians 3:2)
Posted in prophecy, rapture, second coming

The differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

Christ coming for His church (Rapture) is not to be confused with His second coming (Judgment). These are two separate events:

Click to enlarge

Prophetic outline of Revelation explained in Revelation 1:19–

John is told by Jesus to write down the things which he has seen, the things that are, and the things which will take place after this.

Revelation 1:9-18 the things which John has seen
Revelation 2:1-3:22 the things that are: letters to the seven churches (church age)
Revelation 4:1-22:21 the things which will take place after the church age.
In Revelation 4:1 it says after these things, which are, is when the rapture occurs: The Greek word here is meta tauta “after these things” referring to the church being received in heaven. After this event the church is not mentioned on earth but in heaven.
Revelation 4:1-5:14 the church worshipping in heaven
Revelation 6:1-18:24 the tribulation period
Revelation 19:1-21 the second coming of Christ, coming with His church
Revelation 20:1-5 millennium kingdom
Revelation 21:1-22:21 new earth

Go to this source for more information and essays and explanations.

Posted in arrest, indictment, pope benedict, rcc

Did Pope Benedict resign to avoid an arrest?

Posted on by elizabethprata

News today from the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church & State reveals that according to the ITCCS an arrest warrant was imminently going to be issued against Pope Benedict for certain crimes.

The ITCCS claims that “on Friday, February 1, 2013, on the basis of evidence supplied by our affiliated Common Law Court of Justice (itccs.org), our Office concluded an agreement with representatives of a European nation and its courts to secure an arrest warrant against Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict, for crimes against humanity and ordering a criminal conspiracy.”

“This arrest warrant was to be delivered to the office of the “Holy See” in Rome on Friday, February 15, 2013. It allowed the nation in question to detain Ratzinger as a suspect in a crime if he entered its sovereign territory.”

“A diplomatic note was issued by the said nation’s government to the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, on Monday, February 4, 2013, informing Bertone of the impending arrest warrant and inviting his office to comply.”

The organization claims that no reply from the Vatican’s Secretary of State was issued but that six days after the indictment was received, the Pope resigned. The ITCCS plans to issue a commercial lien through that nation’s courts against the property and wealth of the Roman Catholic church commencing on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013. They do not name that nation.

The Pope resigned on February 11, 2013 and the resignation will take effect on February 28, 2013.

It should be noted that for all the fancy-sounding title of this ITCCS organization, it is a new organization, formed in 2010 and giving itself these stated powers. The ITCCS did not reveal which “European Nation” they are working with. The ITCCS says they were “established to enforce common law and try and convict the institutions and their officers responsible for such historic and ongoing crimes against humanity. We therefore constitute a de jure Court under common law, with full power of arrest, conviction and enforcement.”

Please note that as of now (5:15 PM on Tuesday, February 19, 2013) no official government, media, or organization has confirmed the alleged arrest warrant or proposed lien. However, saying that a warrant was issued is a monumental claim to make on a whim, incorrectly, or capriciously. And … the pope DID resign just after.

The ITCCS says that they plan to continue with the indictment against whoever Pope Benedict’s successor is, and further, that they plan to continue to put a lien on the entire Roman Catholic Church’s “property and wealth.” How much IS that wealth?

As Bill Keller stated yesterday in the NY Times, “Yes, the business of the church is saving souls, but it is nevertheless a business: a closely held conglomerate with a work force of more than a million, 1.2 billion more-or-less regular customers, 10 times as many outlets as Starbucks, more real estate than Donald Trump dreams of and lobbying clout to rival that of any secular industry.”

No one is quite sure exactly how much money in property, investments, money, and gold the RCC has. Avro Manhattan wrote an expose of the wealth and property holdings of the RCC/Vatican, and in his book titled “The Vatican Billions,” he states,

“The Vatican’s treasure of solid gold has been estimated by the United Nations World Magazine to amount to several billion dollars. A large bulk of this is stored in gold ingots with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, while banks in England and Switzerland hold the rest. But this is just a small portion of the wealth of the Vatican, which in the U.S. alone, is greater than that of the five wealthiest giant corporations of the country. When to that is added all the real estate, property, stocks and shares abroad, then the staggering accumulation of the wealth of the Catholic church becomes so formidable as to defy any rational assessment.”

“The Catholic church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. She is a greater possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government or state of the whole globe. The pope, as the visible ruler of this immense amassment of wealth, is consequently the richest individual of the twentieth century. No one can realistically assess how much he is worth in terms of billions of dollars.”

As for the office of Pope himself as a man, Rachel Donadio asked, When a Pope retires, is he still infallible? She wrote, “In transforming an office with an aura of divinity into something far more human, Benedict’s decision has sent shock waves through the Vatican hierarchy, who next month will elect his successor. But it has also puzzled the faithful and scholars, who wonder how a pope can be infallible one day and fallible again the next — and whether that might undermine the authority of church teaching.”

It already is. Italians are already despondent and doubting.
“The pontiff has long been the one stable element for Roman Catholic Italians in a modern state that has become a byword for political instability and flawed politicians. All that changed a week ago when Benedict announced he would be the first pontiff in 700 years to resign, causing alarm and despondency among many faithful in a country whose history has been shaped by the presence of the headquarters of the Church for 2,000 years.”

The world desperately seeks a strong leader, someone that they can count on to be there to bring the world through troubling times. And now 1.2 billion people have been rendered leaderless, the rug pulled out from under their feet. They have all been made more ripe to receive someone, anyone, whom they perceive to have answers and solutions.

Interestingly on February 15, Reuters reported that the Pope will be allowed to live inside the Vatican walls. The Vatican is a sovereign nation. The reasoning was that first, it is easier to guard the Pope inside the Vatican since the Guard already knows his habits, second, that if he retired say to a German monastery, for example, it might become a pilgrimage site, and third, a distant third the Vatican said, is that he’d be protected from prosecution.

In hindsight that distant third reason might not be so distant after all.

The conclave of 117 cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church is expected to start between March 15 and 18, about two weeks after Pope Benedict’s resignation Feb 28. Under the church rules, the conclave is to begin between 15-20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, to give cardinals time for the arrival in Rome, reports Zee News in India.

Scandal is not new to the Church. The pedophilia claims won’t go away. And last March 2012 it was noted by International Business Times that the Vatican was charged with money-laundering. The IB Times reported, “The Vatican bank is facing a possible money-laundering scandal after it emerged JP Morgan was closing one of its accounts due to a lack of information about the source of deposits, Italian newspapers report.”

The most interesting part of all this are the prophetic implications. First, the Lord our God is taking down leaders at an amazing rate. The Pope is the world’s most powerful man. He really is the most powerful and influential man on the entire planet, presiding over a sovereign nation (Vatican), having billions of subjects, immeasurable wealth, is said to be THE substitute on earth for Jesus (a claim to divinity), and being infallible in all his decisions.Yet he resigned abruptly,so suddenly the whole world was shocked. Just like Libya’s Qaddafi being deposed after 40 years and Egypt’s Mubarak after 30. Men who have been in power and seemingly held on to their position through many upheavals, suddenly caving in like a house of straw.

Secondly, it’s critical to watch the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) at this juncture in world history. If there is a scandal of magnitude that brings down the Vatican, it would leave a vacuum of unimaginable proportions. Make no mistake, the pope’s resignation, though not illegal in Vatican law, is definitely unprecedented. His decision opens the floodgates to all sorts of traditions being broken and doubts and questioning to begin. If compounded by a scandal, the effects will be very interesting to see.

Will the next pope (maybe the last pope) be the antichrist? The false prophet? None of the above? Will the Vatican be reduced in power and influence to such an extent that Islam becomes the dominant religion in the last days? Or will it be something else that prior to February 11 the world would never have suspected could or would happen?

Very interesting developments. Even if the arrest warrant turns out to be bogus, just the fuel it added to the very large fire is worth noting in itself. Please keep watching, These events in and around the Roman Catholic Church is without a doubt supernatural work of God. He is doing something. I praise Him for all His work and plans, known and mysterious!!

Posted in martyr complex, pre-trib, tribulation

What, are you chicken? I double dog dare you to go through the Tribulation!

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Chicken! Bwaawck bwaawck bwaawck!” Children on the playground pretend to be tougher than they are, and taunt others into doing deeds which are in effect, kind of dumb or downright dangerous. Kids don’t like to be called chicken, or be to be seen trying to get out of a punishment that all his mates are enduring.

These kind of puffed up playground games are just that, children’s games. However, a new kind of game in the sandbox of theology is emerging and that is the ‘bwaack bwaawck bwaawck! You’re too chicken to go through the Tribulation’ game.

Post-Tribulation doctrine believers, or believers who are not sure which stance to take on when the rapture will take place in relation to the Tribulation, level an accusation against Pre-Tribulation believers. They say that we are either chicken, or not a strong Christian, or have some kid of pride to even think we will escape all these things. (but we will … says Luke 21:36).

Theirs is wrong thinking. It actually is a kind of perverse, reverse pride in itself, something I’ll explain in a moment. I’d like to address several of the misunderstandings that a person who thinks these things betrays.

Chris Koelle, Book of Revelation, Graphic Novel

But first, to make something clear, far from being angry or upset that a person isn’t fully understanding of the biblical reasoning behind a pre-Tribulation doctrine, I am sad for them. It must be very scary to think that they are going to enter the worst time on earth where billions will die horrible deaths. But in these people who level sandbox charges of an ad hominem flavor, I ask for moderation and patience from you.

Now, in my opinion, a person charging pride or arrogance or chicken-ness in stating one will be removed prior to the Judgments, labors under one or more of the several following misunderstandings. They either-

-misunderstand what pride is,
-misunderstand what the Tribulation is prophesied to accomplish,
-misunderstand the Church Age believer’s position before Christ, or
-have a false or superficial understanding of just how bad the last 7 years will be.

First, what is pride? We already know that God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13). We are not talking about the kind of pride we feel about a job well done. The kind of pride God hates is pride that stems from self-righteousness. This is a sin, and God hates it because it is a obstacle to seeking Him. Pride is seeking satisfaction in something we have accomplished, instead of seeking to be weak so He will be strong in us. That kind of pride is giving ourselves the credit.

Having arrived at a doctrine via prayer and diligent study and which is supported biblically is not pride. It is study. As GotQuestions defines biblical study:

“First, through prayer and humility, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us understanding. Second, we should always study Scripture in its context, recognizing that the Bible explains itself. Third, we should respect the efforts of other Christians, past and present, who have also sought to properly study the Bible.”

I have done these things and I arrived at an understanding of when the rapture will take place. I am comfortable in my understanding and I adhere to it, because it makes sense in the large scheme of things- and by that I mean from Genesis to Revelation. (As a commercial for the bible- Genesis and Revelation are marvelous bookends, one is controlled Creation with a forward-looking redemptive intent and the other is controlled UNcreation with a backward-looking redemptive intent). I have a biblical response to support my Pre-Trib stance.

The second misunderstanding a person often has is a misunderstanding of what the Tribulation is prophesied to accomplish. The pre-church age and the current church age are different. Before the Church Age began (which started at Acts 1:8) God was working through His people the Jews to bring the message of salvation. As the blog Compelling Truth states,

“They were chosen as a nation to receive instruction on Who God is and how to worship Him. Their mission was to embody this knowledge by obeying the laws God gave them and spreading the truth about God to other nations. Since God chose Israel as a nation, His blessings and their obedience were to be on a national scale.”

However, the Jews rebelled, and they rejected their Messiah. The mystery then became that Jesus was going to use the Gentiles to bring His message. (Ephesians 3:6, 9, 11). He partially hardened the hearts of the Jews so that they would become envious. (Romans 11:7, 11).

“But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!” (Romans 11:12)

But make no mistake, God will release that hardening when the full number of the Gentiles comes in (Romans 11:25) and then His work with the Jews will resume. From the cross until now, He has set Israel aside in the timeline of things, in a 2000 year pause. This was so that He would build His church. That pause is noted in Daniel’s prophetic timeline, a chapter also called the Prophetic Clock and the Seventy Weeks of Daniel.

This was a very broad summary of the complex and wondrous plan of God regarding His people the Jews and His people the grafted-in Gentiles. But understanding that God has a plan for each, and that plan is not the same, is critical to understanding what the Tribulation is due to accomplish. So, what exactly is God planning, and why? The what is mainly contained in Revelation, though parts of what is going to happen are scattered throughout the entire bible (Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel, etc). The why is in Daniel 9:24.

Again, Daniel 9 and verse 24 has the specifics:

Credit

“The prophecy contains a statement concerning God’s six-fold purpose in bringing these events to pass. Most scholars believe that we are now living in a huge gap between the 69th week and the 70th week. The prophetic clock has been paused, as it were. The final “seven” of Daniel is what we usually call the tribulation period. Verse 24 says the seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thine holy city, 1) to finish the wickedness, and 2) to seal up the sins, and 3) to reconcile the iniquity, and 4) to bring in everlasting righteousness, and 5) to seal up the vision and prophecy, and 6) to anoint the most Holy.”

Note that the main intent is to resume dealing with Daniel’s people (the Jews) and the holy city (Jerusalem). The Tribulation focus is NOT THE CHURCH. Of course, all sinners who are left behind in the Tribulation will be part of the effects of His dealing with the Jews, and one of His intents is to stop sin globally, but the part the church plays in Hie eternal plan will have been accomplished when “the full number comes” in. (Romans 11:25).

In one sense, it is prideful to think that the church is the focus of everything all the time. It isn’t. We are a special blessing, and we are His bride, but He will return to working with His remnant the Jews during the last 7 years. It is their time, not ours! And that is to the glory of Christ, who will see His people finally mourn the One that they pierced and accept Him as their Messiah! They will come to accept Jesus as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10). God will restore their relationship with Him (Ezekiel 11:17).

The third kind of misunderstanding a person shows when they charge a Pre-trib believer with pride or  arrogance or cowardice for their beliefs is a misunderstanding of who we are in Christ. As Daniel’s verse explains, 3 of the 6 purposes of the Tribulation are to deal with sin. Though I pasted the verse above, here is what the NLT says-

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.” (Daniel 9:24 NLT)

However, those in the Church have a position before God: clean. (Revelation 19:8; Revelation 3:4; Isaiah 64:10). He has forgotten our sin. (Hebrews 8:12). They were nailed to the cross. (Colossians 2:14). He remembers them no more. (Hebrews 10:17). Why would He keep us on earth to punish us for our sins when according to Him, our sins are as far from the east as the west? (Psalm 103:12). If He keeps the Church, His Bride, on earth to punish us for our sins, then all those other verses become lies.

“Robe of Righteousness” by Lars Justinen

No, our position before Christ is clean, arrayed in White linens, the robe of righteousness. He is not going to drag His clean and washed Bride through the mud of the Tribulation to punish our sins. Our sins are finished. The sin of the Jews is not.

As an aside, oftentimes people make the mistake of using the word Tribulation as a general term for trials or trouble. The two words are different. Of course Christian people throughout the ages have endured trials or tribulations. But THE Tribulation is altogether different. The word that the Gentiles use comes from Matthew 24:9. In Matthew 24:9 Jesus did say “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” But the official term for the 7-year time period is “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble.” (Jeremiah 30:7). It is also known as The Day of the LORD.

Saying that THE Tribulation is the same as general tribulation is like saying that THE Antichrist is the same as an antichrist mentioned in 1 John 2:22. The pockets of persecution Christians have endured since the beginning are definitely not the same as the worldwide testing with a 6-point plan that the entire inhabited world will endure at the end of time. (Revelation 3:10). In the former, glory was brought to Christ via the deaths of the martyrs and the effect was to spread the Word. In the Tribulation/Time of Jacob’s Trouble, it is not glory but punishment and the effect is that the saints will be wearied (Daniel 7:25) and eventually overcome. (Revelation 13:7) so that satan’s sin will be made full.

As for the perverse, reverse pride in saying that a saved person of His church will go through the Tribulation, John MacArthur spoke to that.

“If a person comes along, and this is popular today, there are a lot of people who…who wanna go through the Tribulation. It’s become…got sort of a martyr complex, you know? In a very mechanized society and a…and very high-powered society and a very…a very easy kind of existence, a lot of people would try. They kinda think it’s neat to go through the Tribulation, and they see the movie about thief in the night, and they can see themselves running from the beast and all this intrigue; … sometimes I’ll listen to a Christian…those Christian television programs, and they’re talking about, “Well, you know, I’m not convinced that we’re going to be taken out. I think we may go through it…” you know, and it’s all very dramatic. Listen, folks, well, I don’t wanna be there. It doesn’t sound good to me at all. If I have my choice of being here with the beast, to be in Heaven with Jesus, it isn’t even a question.”

A person who even dares to think that they can withstand a moment of the Tribulation is wildly self-deluded. I say this lovingly but pointedly- the last 7 years will be hell on earth. The Holy Spirit will not restrain men from their evil inclinations. Everything will be happening. Child slavery, perverse molestation, bestiality, violence and gore unparalleled. Demons will chase you, the ground will collapse under your feet, the volcanoes will be going off, and probably Yellowstone’s supervolcano too. Half of America will be blown away. Sulfur will rain down from the sky. The sun will burn you to a crisp and there will be no water to drink. You will be cold, hot, hunted, starved, lonely and grossly diseased. And that will be just the first half. The second half will be worse.

Jesus said that it will be the worst time on earth that ever was or will ever be again (Matthew 24:21). You think you can withstand that? Half of the stricken cruise ship Carnival Triumph had a bunch of whiny babies on it that didn’t last 3 days before they turned into savages grabbing for the last lobster. You do not want to withstand 7 years of hatred and being stalked tot he death!! You most likely cannot. Most will not. The Holy Spirit will not be indwelling you to aid you in resisting sin, so you will not have His help there. If they are beating up innocents now just to see them bleed, and raping 100 year old women, what do you think they will do when the RESTRAINT is gone!?!?

They are going to tear out your eyes with their fingernails just to hear you scream, and get bored halfway through and wander off to do something worse to the next person.

No, I know I do not want to be here. Yes, I am a chicken. I am scared of all that. Any sane person would be.  Call me chicken, I am. I am strong enough to know my weakness. I am low enough to know my high position before Christ.

I also know that through years of prayer, study, and a contextual understanding, Jesus is going to call His bride home and consummate His long-awaited reunion. We will finally be called Wife!

“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

If you want to be punished, that’s your thang. If you think you’re strong enough to withstand hell come to earth, go for it. If you want to fling sand my way, go ahead. But please refrain from extra-biblical emotional remarks because after all, you’re the Bride too. We are one in Christ. I love all my brethren, even the ones with a martyr complex 😉 And I hope you would love me too, the big chicken 😉

Or maybe, we can simply share what we believe and why from the bible, and love on each other without the sandbox games?

Posted in florida, salvation, signs in the sky

Another meteor-fireball, this one in South Florida

Posted on by elizabethprata

In the wake of four unexpected and spectacular astronomical events this week, comes another. By the way, the Weather Underground blog says that “The odds of the largest meteor strike in 100 years occurring on the same day as the closest asteroid approach in 15 years are about 1 in 200 million”.

Earlier this week, an asteroid flew by earth at a mere distance of 17,000 miles, very close. It was the closest fly-by in recorded history of a non-satellite nature. In addition, on the same day no less, three major meteor sightings occurred. The one that happened in the Russian Urals was especially interesting, being the largest meteor to crash to earth in 100 years, injuring 1,200 people and causing absolute panic. The two other meteor sightings occurred in San Francisco and Cuba.

It should be noted that there is no ongoing meteor shower the earth is passing through. These space rocks just appear and suddenly they are crashing down on our heads.

One thing to notice especially of the Russian Meteor is the suddenness of its appearance. With all the satellites, NASA money to roam Mars, and telescopes looking at and radios listening to space, the Russian meteor snuck by them all and boomed into land before we could say Boy Howdy. Now if that doesn’t bode ill for the Tribulation, then what does? It made me think of Revelation 8:10-11,

“The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.”

Or Revelation 8:8,

“The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.”

These events will occur in the time of the Tribulation, the 7-year period where Jesus punishes the world for its sins via His wrath in a series of judgments from 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Bowls. It has not begun yet but one can certainly see the suddenness of a burning mountain thrown into the sea could easily be a undetected meteor appearing out of nowhere.

Another meteor shower has occurred, this time in South Florida. They are calling this one a ‘sporadic’ meteor, because it is not attached to any known meteor shower happening anywhere earth. In other words, it appeared out of nowhere, all on its own. This just in:

Possible meteor shower sighting in South Florida
“Some South Floridians reported seeing bright, flare-like objects disappear into the sky Sunday night, in what resembled a meteor shower. The Coast Guard’s command center starting receiving reports of a possible meteor shower at about 7:30 p.m., said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Laberdesque. Laberdesque said the Coast Guard could neither confirm nor deny whether it was, in fact, a meteor shower. The Coast Guard sent out a helicopter to check on a report of a flare but found nothing. Laberdesque said there were no injuries and no boats in distress after the reported sightings. The Broward Sheriff’s Office also reported receiving several calls from locals claiming there were “lights in the sky.” On Friday, a meteor exploded about 15 miles overhead near the Russian town of Chelyabinsk. More than 1,100 people were reportedly injured.”

NBC Miami reported,
“South Floridians who happened to be looking in the right place at the right time Sunday night saw one spectacular light show – possibly a sporadic meteor. People called in, describing the flares “as orange or red fireballs in the sky,” Laberdesque said. The display was limited to the sky: No injuries were reported, Laberdesque said. A sporadic meteor is basically a rocky object that comes from the asteroid belt, said Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, based in Genesee, N.Y. The group logged 27 reports within about the first two hours of the event, he said. “This is a lot of reports to come in quickly,” Hankey said. Gauging by the reports, it happened somewhere over the ocean. “These fireballs are common,” Hankey said. “It’s rare for any one person to see one more than once or twice in their lifetime.”

http://media.nbcmiami.com/assets/pdk449/pdk/swf/flvPlayer.swf?pid=_yneGWiWDuuR

View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

They reported seeing it from Jacksonville to Key West, pretty much the length of all of Florida. I looked at the video, it IS pretty spectacular!

The most interesting part, to me, is where the newscaster says that because of our newly heightened awareness of meteors, that fewer people were scared, and more people correctly identified what it was. The citizen observer being interviewed confirmed this.

Are they becoming so jaded, so quickly, that seeing a spectacular sight that only occurs once or twice in a lifetime is now an “Oh, well, ho-hum, another fireball streaking across the sky”? I hope not.

The power of a creator God to alert His people to His presence should never get old, and hopefully would have the intent it should have: inquisitiveness toward the Gospel.

Pastor JD Farag reported that this indeed is happening. He is a pastor in Hawaii who gives a weekly prophecy update on Sunday evenings. He said that more non-Christians than Christians are seeking to know why it really does seem like it is nearing the end of the world. They sense that the things we have been saying are true and want to know more. This is a praise to the Lord, who seeks His sheep with all diligence. (Matthew 18:12).

As the gap between saved and unsaved grows ever wider, the fence-sitters will soon lose their standing and have to choose a side to settle on.

Source

The unsaved are looking up and seeing meteors. We Christians are looking up to watch for the coming of our Lord and Savior. May He come soon to collect His sheep! You can join us, by being saved today:

Posted in carnival triumph, christianity, mocking, MSNBC

MSNBC reporter takes mic from woman who is about to quote the bible

Posted on by elizabethprata
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a long time, America’s stand on religious freedom was a vanguard that allowed Christianity a more full expression than it has been allowed in other countries. It was only in my generation that public prayer was removed from schools (1962) and after that the slow but steadily increasing attacks of public expression of Christianity became common in the masses. I was born in 1960 so I have witnessed the movement of a tipping point from entrenched Christianity in all aspects of public and private life, to one of mocking and marginalization in the extreme. It’s amazing how fast Christianity has become hated in this most ‘Christian’ of nations.

Mocking and marginalization, of course, is not persecution. I am reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and what American Christians are experiencing is nothing like Christians have endured since the time of the Apostles up until now in other countries. But we are seeing a rapid decline in tolerance for Christianity, and Christians in general, and this will quickly lead to the prophesied persecution that will come upon the whole world. (Revelation 12:17, Revelation 13:7, Revelation 20:4).

I think Americans have been insulated from the very real fact of the verse which speaks to this. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

If you have been a Christian for very long, I know that you have heard a non-Christian either directly tell you or indirectly say that you’re a moron for believing in Christ. That is because it is written that they will say that. The verse above, where is says the cross is ‘foolishness’, comes from a Greek word meaning moron. Here is how Strong’s defines the word moros:

“dull, flat (“without an edge”); mentally inert, dull in understanding; nonsensical (“moronic”), lacking a grip on reality, acting as though “brainless”.

And that is exactly what the non-Christian thinks of us.

I noted on twitter that I believe bible prophecy. That was all I said. The response was this:

“You like most believers have clearly not read the bible. Scrolled to the bottom & clicked I agree like a software agreement.”

It is the usual charge: the non-saved (perishing) world thinks Christians are brainwashed into a kind of opiate-laden stupidity, not sheep, but dull cows, munching mindlessly on cud that pastors force feed us.

The simmering intolerance of Christians is a slow boil that is going to erupt into a fury when the rapture comes. The Restrainer (Holy Spirit who restrains sin) is going to allow sin to have its full measure. What satan has been quietly building in the hearts of the depraved is going to erupt in an indignant, latent ferocious rage that will shock the left-behind fence-sitters who convert early. Non-saved people already think we are too stupid to live. In the Tribulation, they will kill us. What we see in the news reporter is a live reaction to what Paul says is the stumbling block of Christ. (1 Corinthians 18:23).

In the following clip from Newsbusters, originally airing on MSNBC (a very liberal channel) you see an interviewer asking two young ladies of their reactions to once again being on dry land. The two were on the aborted Carnival cruise where the ship had a fire and went powerless for days in the Gulf. The news reporter’s reaction the moment the girl brought up the Lord and the bible is a classic, living example of the Corinthians verse. And, the verse she was trying to get out is above. This blog essay opened with it. Now, isn’t that a comfort and a nice thing to say? Yet the non-saved newscaster was too afraid to even listen to a word of comfort, benign as it was. Below is the transcript, in case you can’t watch a video, and the clip is after that. I have titled the clip:

Aaargh! For the love of Zeus, don’t quote the bible!

“As stranded Carnival Cruise passengers began finally disembarking in Mobile, Alabama, late Thursday evening, MSNBC had NBC News correspondent Mark Potter on the scene to speak with them. One young lady during her over three minute interview tried to cite a Bible verse that helped her get through the ordeal, but Potter pulled his microphone away and quickly ended the discussion (video follows with transcript and commentary):”

http://www.mrctv.org/embed/120006

MARK POTTER, MSNBC REPORTER: It sounded like you guys handled it pretty well. Were there some passengers who seemed to have a really rough time on board?

BRITTANY FERGUSON, RETURNING STRANDED CARNIVAL CRUISE PASSENGER: Oh, absolutely.

POTTER: Tell me about that.

FERGUSON: Well there, it was just really frustrating. There’s rumors going around because we’re completely disconnected. We had no idea if like, “Oh my gosh, do people even miss us? Do people even know about this?”

KENDALL JENKINS, RETURNING STRANDED CARNIVAL CRUISE PASSENGER: They’d be running “extended vacation.” I’d be saying, “Absolutely not.”

FERGUSON: Yeah, not an extended vacation.

POTTER: And would you do this again? Would you take another cruise, or is this it?

JENKINS: No. We’re thinking about teaming up and sell ours. So if anyone is looking for a discounted cruise, we got one.

POTTER: You’re not about to go back?

JENKINS: No, but one thing I do want to say that really made a huge difference in my time versus some other people’s time is we knew where hope was. We knew the Lord was in complete control of the situation. Our verse for the trip was Joshua 1:9 which is…

POTTER: [Takes microphone away] Okay, well thank you both very much. Enjoy your trip home to Houston and enjoy that first warm shower and that warm meal. Thank you very much. Thanks for talking with us.

JENKINS: [Before walking away] Joshua 1:9, look that up.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Posted in mark dever

Mark Dever on church numbers & growth

Posted on by elizabethprata

Wikipedia- “Mark E. Dever has been the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. since 1994, and is the president of 9Marks, a Christian ministry he co-founded “in an effort to build biblically faithful churches in America.”

“Dever’s main emphasis, as evidenced by 9Marks, is in the realm of ecclesiology. He aims to help Bible-believing churches become healthy by recovering a Biblical view of the church. The 9 marks he provides are his positive prescription for church health. He does not intend the book as a comprehensive ecclesiology or even a comprehensive diagnosis of all the problems that may be found in contemporary churches. The nine marks are:”

“Expositional preaching
Biblical theology
Biblical understanding of the Gospel
Biblical understanding of conversion
Biblical understanding of evangelism
Biblical understanding of membership
Biblical church discipline
Promotion of Christian discipleship and growth
Biblical understanding of church leadership”

I have his book 9Marks of a Healthy Church and it is very good. In this clip, Pastor Dever is in City North Baptist Church http://www.citynorthbaptist.com in Queensland, Australia speaking about church numbers and church growth. No matter how large or how small your church is, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to send just the right people to it, for the glory of Christ. Man-made plans and programs are a gross interference to His work. It’s only 9 minutes, please watch: