Prophecy Update Newsletter
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...
5 Reasons Satan Hates the Rapture - By Jonathan Brentner -
https://www.raptureready.com/2018/08/31/5-reasons-satan-hates-rapture-jonathan-brentner/ Satan hates the pretribulation Rapture and throughout the history of the church has sought to either bury the doctrine under layers of false teachings or discredit it. If ever there was a time in which this rings true, it's today. His hostility to it, however, began in the earliest days of the church. In the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul promised his readers they would not see the "wrath" of the Lord (1:10, 5:9-10). I believe that "wrath" in these passages refers to the judgments of the tribulation, referred to in the Old Testament as the beginning of the "day of the Lord." It's clear from 1 Thessalonians 5:2 that Paul is writing about the "day of the Lord" judgments, not hell. With the ink scarcely dry on the parchment of his first letter, false teachers forged a message to the believers in Thessalonica stating that the day of the Lord had already begun. Even though this contradicted what Paul had earlier written to them, it created considerable panic among these new followers of Christ who thought the tribulation had begun (2 Thess. 2:1-2). Do you see what happened? Satan immediately contradicted the apostle's reassuring message in 1 Thessalonians that Jesus would come for them before this time of wrath. In response, Paul penned a second book to reassure them that the day of the Lord had not yet begun. Why does Satan hate the Rapture? Scripture gives us several reasons for this. #1 - The Rapture Enables Us to Stand Firm First, the devil hates it because the hope of Jesus' imminent return encourages us to persevere in our faith against fierce opposition. After writing about Jesus' appearing and the transformation of our "lowly" bodies "to be like his glorious body" (Phil 3:20-21), Paul said this in Philippians 4:1, "Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved." The apostle based his admonitions in here upon our hope of a glorified body at Jesus' return. In Paul's day, to "stand firm" meant standing strong in a battle; the word pictured a soldier holding his position as the enemy attacked. For us, it denotes persisting in a biblically-centered walk with the Lord in a world hostile to all we believe and hold dear, especially our hope of Jesus' imminent return Paul used the same word in Philippians 1:27 to describe believers as "standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel" in the face of opposition. Such a courageous stance, he says, "is a clear sign to them [the persecutors] of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God" (v. 28). Our hope in the Rapture strengthens us in the face of persecution. #2 - The Rapture Motivates Us to Purity In 1 John 3:2-3, we read this about the Rapture: "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." Here the apostle John identifies purity as the result of focusing on Jesus and His imminent appearing. If we walk in the reality that at any moment we could find ourselves in the presence of the Savior, it will have a refining impact on both our behavior and thought life. In 1 John 2:28 the apostle tells us to "abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame at his coming." This warning is for believers who lose sight of Jesus' imminent appearing and drift away from abiding in Christ. Once in the presence of the Savior, their lifestyle at the time causes them to back away from His splendor and righteousness. Let me make clear that I am not at all saying that only those who watch for the Rapture abide in Jesus; however, I am asserting that those who eagerly anticipate it have an additional incentive to do so, one which the devil hates and seeks to eliminate. #3 - The Rapture Encourages Steadfast Service I love how Paul concludes his 1 Corinthians 15 discussion of our future resurrected bodies, "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (v. 58). Notice the connection between our work for the Lord and the Rapture. Our anticipation of the immortal bodies we receive at Jesus' appearing encourages our "steadfast" service for the Lord. This expectation not only enables us to stand firm, but also inspires us to persevere in our work for the Lord. For the past 34 years, I have written adult Sunday school curriculum for David C. Cook. Despite the fact tens of thousands study each of my lessons, I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard from people who have read them. What matters, however, is not the feedback I receive but the certainty that the Lord sees all I do and will reward accordingly when He comes. #4 - The Rapture Comforts Us in Sorrow The Jews in Thessalonica not only chased Paul and Silas out of town, but also persecuted the young church. On top of that, the believers in the city were grief-stricken because some of them had died. In response, Paul gave them further teaching regarding the Rapture two times telling them "to encourage one another" with his teaching on it (1 Thess. 4:18, 5:11). The hope of Jesus' return for His followers was something the young believers were to use in comforting "one another." Whether we face persecution for our faith or the loss of a loved one in Christ, the Rapture reminds us that a better day is coming, perhaps very soon. This hope comforts us in the worst of times. #5 - The Rapture Helps Us Maintain a Healthy Perspective Although not a verse we typically associate with the Rapture, Colossians 3:4 speaks of a time when we will suddenly find ourselves in glory, "When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Imagine walking down a sidewalk one day and your next step is in heaven, in the presence of your Savior! This verse speaks of a sudden transition from this life to eternity! Earlier in Colossians 3, Paul encourages us to "seek the things that are above" and to focus "on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth" where our lives are "hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:1-3). How do we retain such a perspective? We remember that someday Jesus will return for us and we will immediately be walking at His side with our new immortal bodies! Paul also wrote about this healthy outlook on life in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 where he said that "the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." I like to call this a two-world perspective where we value eternal realities over the temporal things of this life. My wife recently bought a hibiscus plant that has big, beautiful, raspberry-red blossoms that are eye-catching to say the least. Unfortunately, the blooms only last a day or two at best before their grandeur fades. Isn't this like our lives on earth? The Lord gives us many good things to enjoy in this life, but like the hibiscus blossoms they are temporary. We laugh and enjoy the good things He sends our way with the perspective that they are temporary and not our ultimate hope. Our lasting joy resides in our expectation of a better day that will exceed all our earthbound dreams and blessings. In addition, our anticipation of Jesus' appearing also gives us courage to persevere through trials and times of sorrow, knowing this life is but a vapor compared with the joy we will experience in eternity. With all the many benefits of eagerly anticipating the Rapture, is it any wonder that our enemy hates it and does all he possibly can to take our eyes off of it? He surely does not want us to anticipate anything that increases our focus and dependence on Jesus. Lately, I have felt a little depressed at all the teachings that not only deny the Rapture, but also Jesus' glorious return to set up His kingdom on the earth. My solace for these thoughts is that this false teaching is yet another sign of the departure from faith Paul said would happen in the last days (1 Tim. 4:1-5). Jonathan C. Brentner [email protected] https://jonathanbrentner.com/ Trump's 'Peace Process' Starts by Ending the Fake One - Caroline Glick - https://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/09/04/caroline-glick-trumps-peace-process-starts-by-ending-the-fake-one/ President Donald Trump's decision last week to defund the UN Refugee Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) may not seems as significant as recognizing that Jerusalem is Israel's capital and transferring the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But it is. Both actions involve rejecting myths embedded in the failed peace process between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Both actions ground U.S. Middle East policy in reality. And consequently, both actions clear a path for a more stable future for all actors in the Middle East and for the U.S. in its relations with the states and peoples of the region. On September 13, we will mark the 25th anniversary of the peace process between Israel and the PLO. The process, which was supposed to take five years to complete, was based on the idea that peace would be built on incremental moves that would gradually enmesh the two sides in a virtuous cycle of peace. The peace process is popularly dubbed "the Oslo process" because it was initiated through a series of secret negotiations between Israeli and PLO officials in Oslo, Norway. In the first stages, Israel was supposed to transfer land to the PLO in Gaza, as well as Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), for the Palestinians to manage as an autonomous proto-state. To that end, Israel was expected to legitimize the PLO, an international terror group, funding its operations and lobbying foreign governments to underwrite the PLO-run autonomy, known as the Palestinian Authority (PA). For its part, the PLO was supposed to use the land, governing power, funding, and international recognition it received to build the foundations of a functioning Palestinian state. It was supposed to cultivate Palestinian society as a free people at peace with Israel. The Oslo process's gradualist approach assumed that the intractable differences at the foundation of the conflict - first and foremost, Jerusalem, and the so-called "Palestinian refugees" that UNRWA is responsible for - could be left until the end of the process. The idea was that after five years, (or 25 years, as the case may be) of building peaceful relations, the disputes that were irreconcilable at the outset of the process would suddenly seem unimportant. Indeed, they would solve themselves. Israel, for its part, did what it agreed to do. It transferred almost the entire Gaza Strip and all the Palestinian population centers in Judea and Samaria to the PLO within two years. By 1997, 98 percent of Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza - including so-called refugees living in UNRWA camps - were living under Palestinian control and jurisdiction. Israel collected taxes for the Palestinian Authority and forgave its debts, including hundreds of millions of shekels in unpaid medical bills for Palestinian patients that Israel cared for in its hospitals. Israel lobbied foreign governments to underwrite the PA budget. It appealed to the U.S. Congress to turn a blind eye to PLO terrorism and fund the PA. It gave arms to PLO security forces and encouraged the U.S. and the EU to train PLO forces later deployed to the areas under PA control. For its part, rather than build the foundations of a state, the PLO used all the resources Israel, the U.S., the EU, and the rest of the international community placed at its disposal to build a terror state. Rather than teach Palestinian children to build their future in freedom with Israelis, the PLO indoctrinated its children to work towards Israel's annihilation. The Palestinian economy, which had grown every year since 1967, suddenly began to contract. Unemployment levels skyrocketed. Large swathes of donor-funded budgets were siphoned off to the personal bank accounts of top PLO officials. As for its newfound legitimacy in international forums, the PLO used its power to delegitimize Israel's right to exist. So far from solving themselves, by 1998 (and by 2016) those same issues that were supposed to be negotiated in the final stages of the peace process were more intractable than ever. The PLO and its erstwhile partners in Hamas used Jerusalem as a rallying call for jihad aimed at Israel's destruction. They used the so-called refugees that UNRWA has cultivated as an argument for their refusal to accept Israel, and their dedication to its annihilation. The Palestinians' behavior showed that the architects of the 1993 peace process had it backwards. For any peace process to have had a chance of success, the issues of Jerusalem and the so-called refugees had to be settled at the outset. By leaving them to fester, the peace processors legitimized the PLO position that Israel has no right to exist. In that way, the architects of the peace process paved the way for the PLO to build its kleptocratic terror state and wage its ever-escalating political war to delegitimize Israel's right to exist. After all, Jerusalem has been Israel's capital for three thousand years. The Jewish people's attachment to Jerusalem forms the basis of Jewish national identity and faith. Non-recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital involves not recognizing the Jewish people's existence. This, in turn, necessarily engenders rejection of the right of the Jewish state to exist. By the same token, UNRWA was founded in 1949 after the infant state of Israel beat back five invading Arab armies. UNRWA's purpose was officially to care for the Arab refugees who left Israel during the war. But its actual goal was to reverse the outcome of the war. Whereas the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is tasked with permanently resettling refugees, UNRWA was tasked with perpetuating the refugee status of the Arabs who left Israel in 1948-1948. Not only were the Arabs not given permanent homes, but those who found permanent homes and were naturalized in other countries still remain on UNRWA's refugee rolls to this day - and so do their descendants. This is the case because UNRWA automatically registers all descendants of these Arabs as refugees. UNRWA has exploited its perpetual mandate to inculcate its "refugees" with a national identity based entirely on rejecting Israel and seeking its annihilation. Not surprisingly, and largely as a consequence of this basic fact, UNRWA's installations are operated by Palestinians who reject Israel's right to exist and devote their lives - whether through indoctrination or direct involved in terrorism - to its destruction. As the Middle East Forum has demonstrated, while UNRWA claims that from the half million Arabs who left Israel in 1948-1949, there are today 5.5 million Palestinian "refugees," there are a mere 20,000 individuals who left Israel during the pan-Arab invasion who have yet to be given a permanent home. The rest of the people on UNRWA's rolls are at best, welfare recipients. It ought to go without saying that an agency that exists to perpetuate the Arab war against Israel cannot peacefully coexist with Israel. And yet, operating in accordance with the 1993 peace process's principle of gradualism, the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations spent the past quarter century expanding U.S. support for UNRWA. Likewise, in the interest of advancing the so-called peace process, all three administrations refused to enforce the 1996 Jerusalem Embassy Act that required them to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. In acting as they did, those administrations did not facilitate peace: rather, they made it impossible. They gave the Palestinians hope that they will one day achieve their goal of destroying Israel because these actions signaled that the U.S. did not fully accept the Jewish people's right to self-determination. By refusing to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel's capital, and by refusing to openly state and act on the fact that there are not 5.5 million Palestinians refugees who have a right to overrun Israel in a mythological "right of return," Washington gave the Palestinians reason to believe that one day the U.S. would one day abandon Israel entirely. Trump's recognition of Jerusalem and his defunding of UNRWA remove all doubt about America's recognition of Israel. Unsurprisingly, Trump's moves have made upset the Palestinians. PLO chief and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies insist that the U.S. has no right to end its welfare payments to pretend refugees. They can be excused for being indignant. After all, for 70 years, the U.S. refused to recognize reality on either Jerusalem or UNRWA. For 25 years, three administrations ignored PLO support for terrorism, political warfare against Israel, corruption, and embezzlement. And now, suddenly, Trump and his team are paying attention and basing U.S. policies on reality. The Palestinians are not alone in their indignation. Over the past 25 years, as the fundamental lies at the heart of the failed peace process continued to inform the policies of successive U.S. administrations, the gamble of the peace process became the religion of the peace process. Israeli leftists, like European and American leftists, embraced the PLO's anti-Israel narrative as an article of faith. It is all but impossible for them to walk away from it after all of these years. Moreover, the peace process's false assumptions didn't perpetuate themselves. Over 25 years bureaucracies were spawned in Israel and across the world on the basis of the failed peace process and its false belief that, once empowered, terrorists become model citizens and pioneers. Trump's moves expose these bureaucracies' incompetence, strategic blindness, and corruption. And just as Trump's determination to ground U.S. policy in reality harms those dedicated to perpetuating fantasies, it empowers millions of people who have been marginalized and silenced for a quarter century. It gives them - Israelis, Palestinians Arabs, and Arabs in the wider Middle East - the possibility for the first time to build relations based on reality. That may not lead to fancy signing ceremonies with doves and balloons on the White House lawn. But it does provide the first realistic basis for honest and cooperative relations between Israel and its neighbors since 1993. Nearing Midnight: The Sodom Syndrome - Terry James - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ Satan's assault on America as originally constituted increases daily. Human participants in the attack declare for the most part that their rage is justified. America was flawed from its beginning and has gotten its superpower status on the backs of other nation-states whose treasures it has illegally taken in one way or another. The United States was, they are taught, built on the backs of slaves; otherwise, it would never have achieved its heights of dominance. This is the rant against capitalism-against everything and anyone who champions the individual's right to make it on his or her own. The collective-i.e., government and its ever-growing largesse-is the route to Utopia, they declare. These believe in freedom, but only in the first four letters of the concept of the word. Free stuff, they think, makes for happiness and success. The young are more and more embracing this definition of freedom. They are promised free college, guaranteed income-whether one has a job or not-and even complete freedom from financial responsibility within the technological activity they love most-social media. Polls show a growing number who would thus elect Santa Clause if they could. And there is a growing number of people within the camp of the political left who will be willing to offer themselves for such tax-and-spend positions. Within this political/ideological equivalence of primordial soup gestates the Sodom Syndrome, if I may coin that term. Satan is, in my estimation, using this insane offer of something for nothing-a free lunch-to throw in the proposition that freedom also means freedom to break from traditional American values. Further, it is incumbent on this progressive army of the young to break from all other norms held by previous generations. Their mentors-some in their seventies and eighties-are telling them they can be any gender and of any sexual persuasion they wish. Those rules are all inhibitors to true freedom and Utopian progress placed on humanity by founding fathers whose desire it was to enslave for their own selfish, racial, purposes. The devil thus has unleashed the same infection he has employed in generations down through history. Greece, Rome-all fell to such promises and nudges into breaking with truth that God set in order for His creation called man. Sodom and Gomorrah are prime examples of this insanity-the Sodom Syndrome-from which America is suffering, in my view of things that have developed as of late. My thought processes were piqued while listening to a TV preacher the other day. Some who read this commentary, I'm sure, will have heard his message, thus will recognize to whom I refer. He was talking about the current situation in America with regard to the satanic attack led by those who are attacking God's view of righteousness. The preacher gave the story of how the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, beat on Lot's door demanding that he send out the two men who were in his home. They wanted to "know" them, meaning, of course, to have sexual relations with them. They said if Lot didn't send them out they would deal worse with him than with them. The TV preacher likened this to things going on today in the volatile societal and political arena of American culture. He said that when any nation or empire becomes so full of iniquity that it is spilling over the edges, God's judgment will fall. He-and I, incidentally-believe that cup of iniquity is indeed overflowing. The minister brought out that the men of Sodom asked Lot the question: "Who are you that judges us?" The preacher then asked: "Have you ever heard that question?" Of course, the answer is a thunderous Yes! This is the question those who embrace this ongoing assault on American traditions and values-on godly rules for His creation called man-always throw back at those who look at things from a righteous perspective: "Who are you to judge me?" The preacher said further that the men of Sodom threatened Lot-whom God called "righteous"-with extreme violence. Some of today's movements within the "hate America and Christianity" crowds threaten and even carry out acts of violence. They will not abide righteousness, but want to do what is right in their own eyes. I'm convinced that many of these would kill those who oppose their self-willed ideology if they could do so. This is yet another indicator that America's cup of iniquity must be filled and overflowing in God's holy view of things. Finally, the TV preacher said that God told Abraham, Lot's uncle, that He would spare the city of Sodom if God could find ten righteous people. He could not. The television preacher's contention is that the righteous living in America and the world constitute the reason He has thus far spared this generation. But, he said, the warnings of impending judgment might be about to make evident God's acknowledgement that the cup of iniquity is overflowing. God sometimes gives extremely dramatic forewarnings before His judgment is implemented. Could we be nearing the time when He will give such warning to America? My own exhortation is that all believers pray like I believe we did leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The Lord answered those prayers with what most consider a miracle in election results. Pray for God to intervene and continue to restrain the evil assaulting from every angle in our national life today. We are experiencing what I term the Sodom Syndrome. The ultimate intervention might just be that which the Lord prophesied as recorded in Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30. I believe that intervention to be the Rapture of the Church. It sure looks like we are in a time "as it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot." What Happened to My Church? - By Jan Markell - www.olivetreeviews.org Church issues are the most frequent inquiry I get here at Olive Tree Ministries. Other leaders tell me the same. What has happened in the last 30-40 years? Many people visit church after church only to walk away disheartened. Others are lifetime members of a church and have seen changes that left it unrecognizable -- spiritually speaking. At first, members and attendees wonder if they are being a bit too judgmental, but the sad reality eventually sinks in that something has gone terribly wrong. My background is in a fundamental church in Minneapolis that delivered verse-by-verse messages and had frequent prophecy conferences. Try to find that today! You will find a few but they are few and far between. This same church warned me about a coming apostasy back in the 1970s, but who knew it would get so bad starting somewhere in the 1990s. Nothing could have prepared me. First it was music that became the great divider. Nobody minds some guitars and a bass but into the second decade of the 21st Century, ear plugs are handed out as one enters the church sanctuary. Some churches open with a secular song, dim the lights, add some smoky fog, and have an atmosphere similar to the local bar. All of this is to enhance choruses that will be sung two-dozen times by hypnotized church members. I would learn that it is to attract "seekers" -- a 21st Century term. Bill Hybels admitted that he came up with the term but confessed it didn't work well in his church! Organs and pianos were tossed out 25 years ago because they did not promote "church growth." The over-age 55 crowd was on their own. Some churches threw them a bone with an 8 a.m. service for those with gray heads. That trend began "the great divide" between generations. Someone made a conscious decision that we should have a "new way of doing church", although many members and attendees agreed there was nothing wrong with old ways of doing church. Terms began being used like "purpose-driven," "seeker-sensitive," "church-growth movement," "postmodernism", "Emergent", and more. People started to hear about love, unity and tolerance. We must be known for what we agree on, not what we disagree on. Everything and everyone must be accepted. Aberrations must be accepted. Sin must be accepted. People loved having their ears tickled. They would be encouraged to "feel good" and have their self-esteem built up. Sound doctrine was being set aside. The saving of souls was being set aside for the entertainment factor and social justice causes. It seemed that many in the church no longer cared that so many were on their way to hell! What an offensive, intolerant thought. But clearly sound doctrine will separate and divide so we must tread lightly in that area. Relevant issues have vanished. Pulpits have become afraid to talk about voting biblical values. Pastors quit speaking in favor of marriage and against abortion. It seemed like an "eleventh commandment" came into the church: Thou shalt not offend. Taking a stand was clearly over. When it came to issues like Bible prophecy, the silence became deafening! People were told this was "divisive" although rock music in the church apparently was not! Millions are going to be left behind at the Rapture of the Church but there are no warnings about this going out from hardly any church. Instead, pulpits are dispensing Osteen-type messages that talk about "your best life now" on this broken, corrupt planet. This is just a short explanation as to why e-mails and letters pour into this ministry and others asking about how they might find a healthy, relevant church in their neighborhood. In 2017 my friend Terry James invited me to submit a chapter in his proposed book titled "Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception." I had been doing Christian radio across the country for many years and as I researched programs, I was reminded daily that there had been a straying from sound doctrine. I was confronted with the fact that I had two choices: I could overlook this trend or expose it. I took the warning to watchmen in Ezekiel 33 very seriously and I determined to confront the false teaching head-on and tell the truth about it. I did not want the blood on my hands! I knew this would cost me listeners and friends. I would soon find out that certain radio stations would marginalize me and even ban me for the naming of names. Was this too high of a price to pay? I had to seriously ponder that and count the cost. Could I stick with my plan? It's a big, lonely world. We need all the support we can get. My plan would not win friends -- but it might save some people from making lifelong theological mistakes by revealing who and what could be trusted and not trusted. I began my research by tracing the history of false doctrine and reckless church movements going back to the early 1900s to the present. From mystical madness such as so-called Christian Yoga to the experiential of the New Apostolic Reformation, wolves were prowling around the flock. At the same time I saw that discernment was going over a cliff as books like "The Shack" and "Jesus Calling" were embraced as much as the Bible. An entire movement sprang up around Todd Bentley who kicked sick people with his biker boot to heal them and this was celebrated. Evangelical organizations like the NAE embraced global warming and called for America to destroy all her nukes. What does this have to do with the gospel? Ecumenism soared and Protestants began embracing Catholicism. Kenneth Copeland announced that the Reformation was over. I observed something called the "laughing revival" and I concluded that it wasn't so funny. I could go on and on. You can see that the odds of you having a healthy, well-balanced church are slim but they are out there! If you have one, thank God for it daily. If you don't, know that you are not alone. Millions visit nearly every potential church in town and walk away perplexed and heart broken. Are they looking for perfection? A few may be but most are not. They just know today's church would most likely not be recognized by their parents or grandparents. Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18). Having said that, the gates of hell are trying like crazy to penetrate the church, change it, change its message, change its purpose, distort the gospel, and wear down the saints -- pastors included. In summary, GotQuestions.org says, "....the church is not a building or a denomination. According to the Bible, the church is the body of Christ -- all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13). Local churches are gatherings of people who claim the name of Christ. Members of a local church may or may not be members of the universal church, depending on the genuineness of their faith. The local church is where believers can fully apply the 'body' principles of 1 Corinthians chapter 12: encouraging, teaching, and building one another up in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ." Christ died for the Church and we cannot give up on it! A heavenly endless church service awaits us in Eternity with a celestial choir and orchestra. The preaching will also be out of this world! We'll all be one denomination. The bickering will be over with. We won't insist on our own way. We'll finally be in one accord. Daily Jot: Disgusting behavior - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com The Senate is elected by the people to serve six-year terms and there are only two per state. It is considered the upper chamber of Congress and is supposed to be wiser and more experienced. Article 1 Section 3 of the Constitution states: "No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen." There is a certain decorum within the Senate to treat members civilly and, in the very least, serve with the pretense of restraint and honor. This, however, is not the case with the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The leftist news media has been hyping Kavanaugh's hearing for months, saying it will be fierce, a battle, testy, and so on. Certainly, the protesters were ready, many of them being paid and coached on what to shout on cue when the media was filming them. They disrupted the hearing, yet police were very tolerant before arresting some two dozen "protesters." Democrat Senators were also prepped and on cue, arguing, insulting, interrupting, essentially acting like arrogant bullies with no sense of respect for the chamber, its history or the office they were elected to hold. Leftist Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) admitted that the Democrats had planned their behavior during a phone call the previous day. The hearing was so raucous that Kavanaugh's two daughters were ushered out by their mother. The Washington Examiner wrote: "As Democratic senators fought to delay the hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and as spectators jarringly heckled the process Tuesday, his two young daughters were rushed from the hearing room...And at times hecklers in the audience shouted out, apparently scaring the young girls there to support their father. One screamed, "This is a mockery. This is a travesty of justice. Cancel Brett Kavanaugh, adjourn the hearing." The current political environment has been reduced to this: visceral showmanship, fake (paid) opposition, and dishonor. It is the fake news cycle in action. These "protests" were designed to induce the storyline that somehow the hearing was unfair, that information was being withheld, and to stir the politically intolerant, ideological bigoted base of the uniformed voters who believe this garbage to be real. The behavior of these Democratic Senators is disgusting and a disgrace to the country. The willing media dupes were so focused on the "protests" that the substance of Kavanaugh's positions were muted by the noise. Advise and consent does not mean rebel and obstruct. Proverbs 17:11 says, "An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him."Hopefully, the American people will consider this behavior with a message at the ballot box. Daily Devotion: America's Great Awakenings - By Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. -Psalm 77:11 Jonathan Edwards said, "It has been found by experience, that the tidings of remarkable effects of the power and grace of God in any place, tend greatly to awaken and engage the minds of persons, in other places." Stories of revival often spark other revivals. We have had four Great Awakenings in America. The first, from about 1740 to 1742, was led by men such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. Around fifty thousand people were added to the churches of New England during the First Great Awakening, which was significant for a population of about 300,000 at that time. The Second Great Awakening, from the 1790s to around 1840, was led by many, including Charles Finney. This was during the days of the Wild West, when camp meetings were held in tents with sawdust floors, and itinerant preachers shared the gospel. Thousands and thousands of Americans came to faith during this time. America's Third Great Awakening, from 1857 to 1859, had a unique beginning. A forty-eight-year-old businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier began a prayer meeting in New York City. Though small, it exploded after the stock market crashed, and within six months, ten thousand New Yorkers were gathering daily for prayer. Around one million people came to believe in Jesus during the Third Great Awakening. That brings us to the Fourth Great Awakening and the last one in American history. I was privileged to have a front-row seat for it. I am talking, of course, about the Jesus Movement. I came to Christ in 1970 and found myself in the middle of a full-blown spiritual awakening. Could it ever happen again? Could we have another Jesus Movement? Or, are the best days of America behind us? God wants to send revival. But He wants us to participate in the process. 
FROM THE HEART
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