Defiance

Last night we went to see the movie Defiance. It is rated R for violence and language, but it is a movie I totally recommend to anyone. We took our teenagers to see it and they were deeply impacted.

Defiance is a true story of a band of Belorussian Jews during WWII. Courageously, in the face of great loss, they hid and survived the holocaust unleashed by Nazi Germany.

Everyone came away with the deep sense that once again, believers will be called upon to protect and defend God’s chosen people from those who are demonically inspired to exterminate them. We talked about our responsibility to the Jewish people and talked about Romans 11 which tells us that a day is coming when ALL of Israel will be saved.

There is a fabulous LIFE message within the movie too. Funny…pro-life in the face of a culture of death. satan tries to wipe out the innocent and God’s chosen over and over. I’d have to agree with Solomon, “there is nothing new under the sun”.

God bless and protect all the Children of Israel. Lost and found.

Roar!

Job 37:1-5
“At this also my heart trembles,
And leaps from its place.
“Listen closely to the thunder of His voice,
And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.
“Under the whole heaven He lets it loose,
And His lightning to the ends of the earth.
“After it, a voice roars;
He thunders with His majestic voice,
And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.
“God thunders with His voice wondrously,
Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.

I was catching up on Randy Bohlender’s blog the other day and happened across this entry.

I’m going to paste the whole entry also.

There Comes a Roar
Posted on January 9, 2009 by randybohlender
I was jolted out of my half-sleep this morning over coffee and a bagel as I scanned the news. There, among the earthquake reports in California and the airing of varies celebrities’ escapades, a headline jumped out at me.

FOXNews – Mystery Roar Detected From Faraway Space
It seems that the 213th annual meeting of the American Astronomer’s Society is abuzz with the discovery of a very loud, unidentifiable, other-worldy sound.

In Astronomy, variations are often described in minute increments. One degree of difference spread over a light year makes a big difference. Measurements are very precise and meaningful…so when they describe this sound as six times brighter than all radio waves in the universe, they’re not speaking in hyperbole.

Scientists are not sure where it’s coming from. They’re not sure what it means. But they’re sure as heck not denying it. Something or someone just cranked the cosmic subwoofer to 11 and it is pounding loud and proud.

NASA Astronomer Alan Kogut says “Something new and interesting going on in the universe.”

Can we all just agree that Alan can be dubbed Captain Obvious? I showed that quote to my friend, Hal, who rolled his eyes and said “I could have told him that.”

They’re saying there aren’t enough stars in the universe to make a sound like this. Where ever it’s coming from, it’s beyond the stars in scope.

It transcends the universe as we know it, and it’s roaring to us.

There is a sound coming to this earth. It is a sound that has not been heard before. It’s been called the roar of many waters. A sound like a trumpet. It will resonate with that which resonates with it, and it will shatter that which does not.

People get ready. The experts tell us that something new and interesting is going on in the universe. And our spirit knew it all along.

Does your heart resonate? Do you know that nothing combined in this universe is as mighty, majestic and vast as our GOD? Do you know that He has not left us as orphans, but that He is returning to this planet, our home?

My heart resonates! My heart sings at the sound of His ROAR!

Pounding Loud and Proud…Here comes the Lion of the tribe of Judah! Let us go out to meet Him!

Fox New: Mystery Roar Detected From Faraway Space

Merry Christmas

I’ve tried all day long to figure out this angst in my heart.

It was a good day. Everyone was happy – though slightly under the weather. The gifts were good. There was no quibbling between siblings. It just wasn’t Christmas.

One of my gifts was an amazing book called the Christmas Sweater.

One sentence at the end of the book caught my heart, and actually I added more than Mr. Beck had intended when he wrote it.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, but by doing so, sometimes we miss the real meaning of the season. It is what that infant boy, then perfect man did at the end of His ministry that makes the birth so special.

Without His death, the birth is meaningless.

It is so very, very true. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has been the focal point of history. It’s power changes lives, forgives sin, makes a relationship with God possible, brings joy and hope to everyone who receives the great gift.

But there is more…so much more. Because He isn’t done. He’s returning and coming back to set everything in order. “To make wrong things right.” “To make all things new.” There is a second Christmas if you would want to call it that.

That’s my longing today. The second Christmas. I love my family. You blessed me today. I love being your mom and wife. But the thing I long for most is just Jesus. The power of that longing surprises me and is more than I can put words to. And praying into that and preparing the way for that moment, and preparing God’s people for it, I think that is now my life’s goal. This isn’t just a one year resolution. It is the longing of my heart.

Even so Lord Jesus, quickly come!

Oprah again

Just one more thought on the Church of Oprah.

As a female, I can get away with quoting this verse from 2 Timothy 3:6-7.

For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I had my days as a stay at home mom and days when I flipped Oprah on when I got home from work. I’ve enjoyed her show and wished I had tickets. I’ve been there done that to quote the tired old phrase.

This new teaching came into the homes of Oprah’s predominately female audience and captivated them with its hypnotic trances and “new” ideas. They are learning, learning, learning absolutely nothing. From what I’ve listened to all I get is a bunch of words that run around in circles. Sounds deep and wise, but what the heck did you just say? Blibber blabber. Weak willed women are being suckered into a false religion/cult.

Allow me to be a prophetic voice here. This new religion may look freeing and liberating at the onset, but it will be a vain chasing of “the knowledge of truth” that will never be fulfilling.

I’ve read comments on other blogs where people are saying that they are not even going to waste their time commenting on Oprah’s foolishness, but here’s my point. There are women who are in our congregation and connected to women in out congregation who are embracing this teaching wholeheartedly. They are thrilled to learn more about “god” from their trusted talk show host. If we don’t comment on it, if we don’t point out TRUTH then how can we halt their rush towards the deception of New Age, neopaganism.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:5 That these false teachers would come at the end of the age and “hold to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” Ekhart Tolle and Oprah are endorsing a “form of godliness” that has no power. AVOID THEM!

I am my brother/sister’s keeper. It is the job of every believer to rescue the perishing.

Endurance – What on earth am I complaining about?

Jeremiah 12 starts out with Jeremiah having a talk with God. He tells the LORD that he (Jeremiah) would like to talk about justice and to have the opportunity to “plead” his case.

Many treachous, wicked people all around Jeremiah are prospering. Their lives are successful and fruitful. They talk about God, but hypocritcally they have nothing to do with Him.

But Jeremiah, who is unswervingly faithful to God, is not doing well. He is harrassed and abused on every side. So he asks God to deal with these evil men who contrast so starkly with Jeremiah’s righteousness.

God replies with this in Jeremiah 12:5

If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how will you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

The horses are coming and the competition with these “footmen” problems will be nothing compared to what will come in the end of the age. God is sending me today problems and complications and opposition to make me stronger. Hebrews 12:4 makes me compare my whiny responses to believers in persecuted lands and finds me lacking:

You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

These are my training ground. These are the trips to the spiritual gym where I will build the habits that will see me through the last days. I must learn to conquer the things I deal with today through prayer, worship, the infilling of the Spirit and the planting of the Word deep in my heart, so that when the heat turns up, I will be ready.

I cannot give in to fear, anxiety, nervousness. My strength is built when I respond the right way…knowing that the God who formed me, saved me, purifies me and prepares me will not leave me or forsake me.

Help me to persevere and be transformed into your likeness LORD Jesus. Make me hungry like the hunger of a long fast for your word. Help praise and worship to be my reaction to adversity.

Caution!

Mark 13:22-23

For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

I have heard stories from with in our own church family of those who are being swept up in the Church of Oprah. This video exposes some of the false teachings of this new movement. It is over six minutes long, but worth a watch.

The Glorious Cause

With all my heart, I believe the old adage that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. American history is full of of moments of divine intervention, of godly men and women who made courageous decisions, and moral characters that can teach us much about how to respond to the battles of our day and age.

So here’s the book I am reading right now. Shaara is one of my favorite authors of all time. As a historian, he has a commitmment to write about these familiar characters through the lenses of their own times and their own words. So often today, there is a need to make these figures “human” through our 21st century mindsets. Titillating situations and ways to blacken characters of the past whose moral standards were a product of their day and time are invented or enlarged to denegrate those who have been heros for centuries. Our need to make them more like us reflects so dramatically on the moral decay that is our normal lens on life and the world around us. I’m not saying that these men were flawless, because they did make colossal mistakes in many areas particularly in the area of natives and slaves. BUT for the most part their integrity and character shine a spotlight on the putrid decay of our society today.

Scripture emphasizes our need for purity in thought, word and deed by showing how far the world will fall in the last days.

II Timothy 4:3-4 talks about the way that truth will be supressed in doctrine, but I think this will apply to anything that would inspire us to take up a cause that is counter to the mindset of the last days.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

For example, the world wants to hear that abortion is a remarkable alternative to life, so they find authoritative people who can’t decide when life begins. Is it when the cord is clamped? Or even when, as Barak Obama says, “when it is welcomed into the human family”/”loved”.

Who are your teachers, and what are they teaching you about the glorious cause of Christ?