Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...• Featured Article: The Last Trumpet
• Analysis: Why Iran is escalating conflict with Israel • Nearing Midnight: The Invisible Foe • The End Times According To Zechariah (Part 1) • Daily Jot: Beware of communists in political party clothing • Daily Devotion: Read the Right Way 
The Last Trumpet - By Daniel Payne -
http://www.raptureready.com/2018/04/25/last-trumpet-daniel-payne/ The Feasts of Jehovah administered through the nation of Israel provide a chronological summary of the entire Word of God. Understanding what these Feasts represent can provide additional awareness of things to come. The Sabbath refers back to God's rest after His creation. The Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread illustrate Calvary. The Feast of Firstfruits signifies the resurrection of Christ. The Feast of Pentecost embodies the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Feast of Trumpets characterizes the regathering of Israel. The Day of Atonement foreshadows the time when a remnant of Israel will repent and acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles represents Israel enjoying the millennial reign of Christ. After the Feast of Weeks-or Pentecost-there was a long interval lasting 4 months before the next feast-the Feast of Trumpets-began. This span of time may represent the present Church Age during which we eagerly await our Savior while going on about the mission work of His Spiritual harvest. The Feast of Trumpets-also known as Rosh Hashanah-means "head of the year" in Hebrew. To begin the Feast of Trumpets in ancient Israel-a trumpet was blown to signify the end of the harvest year. Jesus referred to the mission field of the Church as a harvest: "Then He said to them, 'The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest'" (Luke 10:2). At the sound of the trumpets on the first day of the month at the Feast of Trumpets-a solemn time of preparation for the Day of Atonement followed. The prophet Joel associated this time with the coming of the Day of the Lord: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand" (Joel 2:1). During the Day of Atonement which follows the Feast of Trumpets-God commanded that no work should be done. This was a time of fasting and prayer. The only person active on this Day was the high priest. This of course signifies that all of the work for our salvation was performed by our High Priest-the Lord Jesus Christ: "Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work'" (John 4:34). "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work" (John 9:4). The Lord Jesus Christ has already worked the works of our salvation that only He could perform for us: "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7). During the current (Church) Age of Grace-God's gracious Holy Spirit leads those who want to be with God to accept His free offer of salvation through repentance, confession, and belief in the perfect sacrifice of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ-for all sin-and His resurrection from the grave. This will then result in those believers being with the Lord in heaven while His Tribulation judgment is being poured out on the earth. In some cases, those who reject a Pre-Trib Rapture also reject the idea of God's judgment. The two go hand in hand-those who hate the idea of being judged also hate the idea of God's judgment. It seems there are many who don't truly understand how easy it is to avoid God's Tribulation judgment-targeted toward those who hate Him and reject His free offer of salvation. During the Tribulation, God will judge those who truly don't want to be with Him-those who reject His love and return it with their hatred. He will also reach out one final time to those who have thus far not accepted His free offer of salvation-to those who will achieve victory through the power of Christ by not worshiping the Antichrist or his image, and by not receiving his mark (Revelation 20:4). There is a different judgment for those who currently believe and love God. The Judgment Seat of Christ which takes place after the Rapture is a judgment to determine rewards of service-not to determine salvation-when each believer "will receive a reward according to his own labor" (1 Corinthians 3:8). The Apostle John represented the Church at the Rapture when Jesus instantly translated his spirit into heaven at the sound of a trumpet, preceding the judgment of the Tribulation: "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.' Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne" (Revelation 4:1-2). The Apostle Paul taught that the sound of a trumpet will also announce the Rapture of the Church: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15:51-52). The "last" trumpet is the last trumpet that the Church will hear before being removed from the earth. Israel and the rest of the world will hear more trumpets during the Tribulation. The "last" trumpet may also represent the last trumpet of the final Spiritual harvest of the Church Age: "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors" (John 4:35-38). After the first trumpet of the Feast of Trumpets-a 10-day period followed-which was a time of self-examination and repentance leading up to the Day of Atonement. This time period during the Feast of Trumpets may represent a span of time to take place after the Rapture of the Church and before the 70th week of Daniel begins. The Day of Atonement was a solemn time of fasting and prayer. If the Day of Atonement represents the time of the Tribulation, then the Feast of Tabernacles which follows represents the time of rejoicing during the millennial reign of Christ: "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4). Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! Analysis: Why Iran is escalating conflict with Israel - Yochanan Visser - https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/244873 Israel expects a new Iranian cross border attack from Syria, as Iran seeks to end increase in anti-regime activity. A day after Israel celebrated its 70th birthday the conflict with Iran escalated, as a host of Iranian and Hezbollah leaders threatened the Jewish state with destruction and annihilation via a two-front missile war which they said would drive the Jews into the sea. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu immediately responded to the new threats and said on Friday that anyone who dared to harm Israel would pay a heavy price. "We hear threats from Iran, and the Israeli forces are prepared for every possible Iranian move. We will fight whoever tries to harm us. We will not shy away from action against those who threaten our security. They will pay a heavy price," Netanyahu said during a special cabinet meeting in honor of Israel's 70th Independence Day. The deputy head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Gen. Hossein Salami immediately shot back and said that Israel's military bases are "within range" of Iranian missiles, which would be launched at Israel's "vital interests." "Do not trust your air bases they are within the range of fire. Our fingers are on the trigger and the missiles are ready to launch. The moment the enemy decides to act against us, we will launch them," Salami said. Tensions between the two countries spiked at the beginning of February when an explosive-laden Iranian drone entered Israeli airspace near the Sheikh Hussein border crossing between Jordan and Israel, in the northern Jordan Valley. The drone, which apparently was on its way to launch an attack on the nearby Israeli city of Bet Shean, was shot down by an Israeli AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The serious incident was followed by 12 Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria and marked the first direct confrontation between Israel and Iran. One of these targets was the T-4 air base near the northern Syrian city of Homs, where Iran was operating its fleet of drones. The base was again attacked by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) on April 10th - this time to destroy an advanced Iranian air defense system which was installed after the earlier IAF strike on February 10. Israel and the US military are reportedly working together to stop Iran's encroachment on Israel's border with Syria and to counter the Iranian attempt to take over the devastated country. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week said that Israel had entered a "face to face struggle" with Iran and on Saturday again threatened to launch his impressive missile arsenal at the Jewish state. "The forces of the resistance (Iran and its Shiite proxies) today have the ability, the power, and the missiles to hit any target in Israel," Nasrallah said during a speech on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station in Lebanon. Israel is now expecting a new Iranian cross border attack from Syria. This the reason the IDF released new satellite images showing Iranian air bases in Syria via which the Islamic Republic flow of weapons arrives in Syria. The IDF believes the attack will come in the form of precision-guided missiles, according to an anonymous IDF official who was interviewed by Arabic Sky News. The anticipated attack will be overseen by Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, who aspires to become the successor of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei's top adviser, former Iranian FM Ali Akbar Velayati, has promised "a powerful response" to Israel's latest attack on the T-4 base near Homs which he said, "will not remain unanswered." According to the Lebanese news site, Ad-Diyar, Iran has already attempted to launch a new drone strike on northern Israel. Middle East analyst Michael G Pregent reported that on April 19. Russia prevented the new Iranian attack by shooting down three explosive-laden drones. The three drones reportedly departed from an area between Daraa near Jordan and Sousa south of Damascus and apparently flew the same route as the drone which entered Israeli airspace on Feb. 10, according to analyst Jennifer Dyer. The mounting tensions between Iran and Israel caused the IAF to cancel its participation in the Red Flag drill in Alaska which is tol run between April 25 and May 11. Iran's increasing belligerent behavior toward Israel could be connected to what is currently happening in the Islamic Republic. The popular protests against Khamenei's regime have not died down as became clear from video footage recorded inside a mosque in Iran on Friday. Worshippers shouted slogans against the regime and chanted that Iran's real enemy is the Islamist regime and not the U.S. or Israel. "Our enemy is right here. They're lying when they say it's America," the crowd chanted referring to the regime of the mullahs. Across Tehran, one can see graffiti expressing displeasure with Iran's current foreign policy. "Leave Syria, think about us! No to Yemen! No to Lebanon and Hezbollah! Our lives for Iran," anti-regime activists have painted on walls of buildings in Iran's capital. The regime seems to be in serious trouble after Iran's currency, the Rial, plunged further against the dollar last week while inflation in the country soars. The Iranian currency has lost close to half of its value against the dollar since September 2017. The price of vegetables rose almost 100 percent last week while chicken prices increased by 30 percent. Unemployment may have reached a staggering 45 percent, according to Iran watchers. Factories and other businesses had to lay off workers because they are no longer able to import goods and materials. As expected, Valiollah Seif, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, is blaming the financial crisis on Iran's enemies. "Enemies outside our borders, in various guises, are fueling this issue and are going to some effort to make conditions tougher for the people," Saif told local media last week. Saif was most likely referring to statements made by John Bolton, the new security adviser to US President Donald Trump. Bolton is a proponent of regime change in Iran as a way to counter the growing threat posed by the regime. "The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change and, therefore, the only solution is to change the regime itself," Bolton told members of the Iranian opposition several months ago. He later said that new sanctions would have a crippling effect on Iran. Trump has indicated he will pull out the U.S. from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers brokered by former US Secretary of State John Kerry. If that happens, sanctions against Iran will snap back and under the current circumstances, this could disrupt Iran's hegemonistic drive in the region, which gained momentum significantly after the defeat of ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. All this explains why Khamenei last week suddenly warned that Iran is in the middle of a war against a "huge powerful front of enemies" and has to develop "offensive strategies". The Iranian Supreme Leader also instructed his intelligence services to get ready to fight an "intelligence war over public opinion and the integrity of the country's ruling ideology." His words signaled for the first time that the Iranian dictator realizes his regime is in serious trouble. Nearing Midnight: The Invisible Foe - Todd Strandberg - http://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ The current policy of all news organizations is that acts of terrorism by Muslims are now reported without mentioning the names of the actors or what religion they belong to. The media have decided that the primary motivation behind Islamic terrorist attacks is the perpetrator seeking fame for himself. Some terrorists do post notes on social media, but in most cases, hatred seems to be the primary motivation. A couple weeks ago, we had a major test of their media blackout when a man drove a camper van into a group of people sitting outside a restaurant in the German city of Muenster, killing two people. There was no mention of his name. The regional interior minister would only say he was known to the police and he appears to have had mental health problems. A few days ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to condemn a street assault in Berlin on two young men wearing Jewish skull caps. In a surprising twist, one of the victims of the attack told German TV that he wasn't Jewish, but an Israeli from an Arab family. He had just worn the skullcap to see what would happen to him. The press passed on the chance to make this a teachable moment by saying it was a Muslim ironically attacking another Muslim. It is just insane that European authorities would go to this level to protect Islamic terrorists. It was bad enough when they knew who the attackers were and they did nothing to solve the problem. Now Muhammad's minions can kill without any fear of shame coming to their religion. There are clear indications that silence is a horrible way to manage violence committed by Muslims. The citizens of London have made a huge mistake in electing Sadiq Khan as mayor. Because this man is a Muslim, he has had a head start on the failure to react to crime carried out by fellow Islamists. The city's crime rate has exploded. Data from the London Metropolitan Police showed a sharp rise in acid attacks in 2017 when authorities recorded the record number of 465, up from 395 the previous year and 255 in 2015. The murder rate in London has surpassed New York City's homicide rate for the first time. According to the latest statistics, the Met Police has launched 56 murder investigations in 2018 so far. In response to the rising levels of violence, Khan has announced a crackdown on knives and other sharp objects. People are being stopped on the street and searched for items like screwdrivers and pliers. The mayor wants to block the sale of cutlery and acid. He came up with this weird idea for the public placement of black box containers that have a slot for people to turn in their knives-weapons. I can only wonder if this Campaign had the advisement of the Monty Python comedy troupe. The boxes have the sappy slogan "Only Cowards Carry." Also on the boxes is a picture of the Cookie monster, and one of the weapons pictured for turning in is a broken wine bottle. Anyone foolish enough to deposit a good knife into these boxes might find himself later being stabbed with his own utensil. An odd voice of reason in London is Morrissey, the former frontman for the 1980 group the Smiths. The singer said: "London is second only to Bangladesh for acid attacks. All of the attacks are non-white, and so they cannot be truthfully addressed by the British government or the Met Police or the BBC because of political correctness." Morrissey also declared the term racist is now meaningless: "But of course, we are all called racist now, and the word is actually meaningless. It's just a way of changing the subject. When someone calls you racist, what they are saying is 'hmm, you actually have a point, and I don't know how to answer it, so perhaps if I distract you by calling you a bigot we'll both forget how enlightened your comment was.'" The invisible foe I'm most concerned about is Satan. If he has become powerful enough to blind people to the source of most of the world's terrorism, then he is only a few steps away from taking full control of the earth. Once the Church is gone, London's official crime rate may go to zero. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Ephesians 6:12-13). The End Times According To Zechariah (Part 1) - Jack Kelley - https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-end-times-according-to-zechariah/ Zechariah assumed his role as a prophet in 520 BC, a few years after Israel's return from the 70 year Babylonian captivity. The first half of his book describes eight visions that all came to him on a single night, February 15, 519 BC. Then there's a short interlude where he relates the Lord's answers to questions the Jews had about their current situation. Chapters 9-14 were written nearly 40 years later. 9-11 deal mostly with prophecies for the times leading up to and including the Lord's first coming, and 12-14 focus on the End of the Age. These final three chapters are the object of our interest because they describe the End Times According to Zechariah. Chapter 12 ... Jerusalem's Enemies to Be Destroyed An Oracle This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.'(Zech 12:1-5) In case there's any doubt about Who's speaking, the Writer identifies Himself as the One Who stretches out the Heavens, lays the foundation of Earth, and forms the spirit of man. The fact that these verbs are all in the present tense indicates that this is an ongoing effort. Notice the two separate thoughts here. First the Lord says He's going to send all the surrounding peoples reeling. I believe this is a reference to the Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 battles that only involve Israel's next door neighbors and will set the stage for Ezekiel 38, the battle that will reawaken Israel to the Lord's presence. These battles will take place before Daniel's 70th Week begins. Later, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against Israel, He will show His ultimate strength in the battle we call Armageddon. This battle takes place at the end of Daniels 70th Week. "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. "The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.(Zech 12:6-9) Jerusalem will not fall completely and the surrounding areas of Judah will be spared as well, but by the time it's over Jerusalem will be rescued and all the attacking nations will be destroyed. Mourning for the One They Pierced "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.(Zech 12:10-14) But before the final battle begins, the Lord will send His Spirit of Grace, and the eyes of the spiritually blind will be opened, and they'll behold their Messiah, Jesus, the One they crucified. They'll all grieve bitterly, as if for a firstborn son, from the royal line of David, to the rest of Judah, represented by Solomon's brother Nathan, to the priests of Levi and the other Levite families under Shimei, and to all the tribes and clans of Israel. It's the National Awakening into a New Covenant relationship as foretold in Jeremiah 31:31, and both civil and religious authorities will lead the way. By the way, there are two un-translated letters in the Hebrew text following the phrase "look upon me" in Zechariah 12:10. The two letters are the aleph and the tau, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Their better-known equivalents are the alpha and the omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used to describe the Father in Rev. 1:8 and 21:6 and the Son in Rev. 22:13. The same two un-translated letters appear in the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 following the phrase "In the beginning God ...". Are these clues that God placed there to identify Jesus as the Messiah, and to confirm His role as our Creator as well as our Redeemer? Does the use of the phrase "alpha and omega" at opposite ends of The Revelation and attributed first to the Father and then to the Son mean that they are One as Jesus claimed in John 10:30? It certainly seems so. Zechariah 13 ... Cleansing From Sin "On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. "On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother, to whom he was born, will say to him, 'You must die, because you have told lies in the LORD's name.' When he prophesies, his own parents will stab him. "On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his prophetic vision. He will not put on a prophet's garment of hair in order to deceive. He will say, 'I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.' If someone asks him, 'What are these wounds on your body?' he will answer, 'The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.'(Zech 13:1-6) As they finally see and accept Jesus as their Messiah, the blood He shed on the cross will wash them clean, and the life He gave will ransom them, just as it has us. The Angel Gabriel told Daniel that six things would be accomplished during Israel's final 490 years, and one of them, sealing up vision and prophecy, is accomplished here. (Daniel 9:24) No longer will God use prophets to communicate with man, He'll soon be dwelling among them again, and will deliver His Word personally. Anyone claiming to be a prophet will be executed by his own friends and family if necessary, to avoid offending the Lord. The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the LORD Almighty. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land," declares the LORD, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' "(Zech 13:7-9) Here's an overview connecting the Lord's first and second coming. He quoted from this passage on the night of his betrayal. (Matt. 26:31) Today many well meaning but scripturally inept Christians go running through Israel telling people that they'd better come to Jesus because two thirds of them are about to die in the coming Great Tribulation. As far as I know, not one convert has resulted from this misuse of Scripture. Even a casual reading shows that two thirds are struck down first and it's the remaining third that the Lord brings into the refining fire, a euphemism for the Great Tribulation. By most accounts, there were 9 million Jews alive in the days before World War 2. Six million, two thirds, perished in Hitler's extermination programs. Many of those left alive at the end of the war came to the newly re-born Nation of Israel and became its first residents. After the Battle of Ezekiel 38-39, the Lord will gather the rest of them, not leaving any behind. This is the remaining third that will experience the Great Tribulation and upon whom He will pour out His Spirit. (Ezek. 39:28-29) It is this remaining third, the remnant of Israel, who will call on His name and be saved. "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.(Joel 2:28-32) Next time we'll cover chapter 14, the day the Lord arrives. See you then. Daily Jot: Beware of communists in political party clothing - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com The Democratic Party is housing communists and passing them off as progressives-a word used to gain general public approval of communistic ideals. Failed presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is one such individual. He is introducing a federal jobs proposal that would guarantee every adult American a $15-an-hour job with health benefits. The Hill reports that two additional Democratic Party presidential hopefuls, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) have expressed support for similar proposals. Our economy, religion, speech--pretty much the entire Bill of Rights--are threatened by sweet sounding proposals laid as snares to liberty, baited by emotional self-righteousness. With guaranteed government jobs and mandatory healthcare the government would have control over the financial and physical lives of every individual in the nation. This is where the guarantees of free speech and freedom of religion come into play. Jesus said in Luke 4:18,19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." He commissioned us to make disciples and to carry on his mission. The fundamental mission of government is far different than that of church. From a Christian worldview, it is Christ's people, not a centralized government, that must minister to the poor, and provide healing, restoration, comfort and vigilance over Liberty. The earliest account of American history provided by Mayflower leader William Bradford indicates that the ability to worship freely was the central theme of the Pilgrims. And in that, he writes, "We are knit together as a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we hold ourselves straightly tied to all care of each other's good." And they proved this when they were dying sometimes two or three per day in their care for one another's health. When the Pilgrims were starving while trying to grow food communally, Bradford gave them their own land to till, which turned the colony around. He says, "The failure of this experiment of communal service, which was tried for several years, and by good and honest men proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times--that the taking away of private property, and the possession of it in community, by a commonwealth, would make a state happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God....community property was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment which would have been to the general benefit and comfort." Beware of communists in political party clothing lest we repeat this disastrous example. Daily Devotion: Read the Right Way - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. -Psalm 1:2 Billy Sunday, who became one of the greatest evangelists of his generation, received this advice as a young man: Spend fifteen minutes a day talking to God in prayer. Spend fifteen minutes a day letting God talk to you through the Bible. And spend fifteen minutes a day talking to someone else about Jesus. If you do these things, you never will be called a backslider. That was good advice. I've never met a Christian who was failing spiritually and at the same time was studying the Bible diligently. You see, the Bible doesn't just contain truth; the Bible is truth. It is the standard by which we measure all other so-called truth. Psalm 1 tells us, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:1-2 NKJV). The word meditate means to ponder, to think it over. Sometimes we read the Bible with no comprehension. We see it as a religious duty. You may read three chapters a day, but if that doesn't affect your life, if you don't understand what you're reading, then you'd be better off reading three verses. It's possible to read the Bible out of pure duty and not remember anything. Or maybe you read the Bible like a self-help book. The Bible is much more than that. It is the very Word of God, and we should read it that way. Success or failure in the Christian life is dependent on how much of the Bible we get into our hearts and minds on a daily basis and how obedient we are to it. 
FROM THE HEART
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