Tag: Religion

Blessed Old Man – A True Tale of God’s Provision

In one village in southeastern Fujian near the Guangdong border, Chinese believers told a remarkable story of God’s provision and power. An elderly brother had believed in the Lord for many years when the Communists took control of the area in 1949. The Blessed Old Man, as other believers affectionately dubbed him, came from an impoverished family and had never learned to read or write properly. Despite these simple impediments, after he received the Lord Jesus he proved to be a powerful evangelist, leading hundreds of people to faith in Christ throughout the district.

Hatching a plan to give Christianity a black eye and to show the supremacy of Marxism, the government decided to make an example of the old preacher by giving him the best house in the village and a generous supply of food. They also appointed him chairman of the village’s Communist committee, thinking that when he abandoned his religion they would display him as a shining example of the goodness of Communism and the futility of Christianity.

The Blessed Old Man, however, belonged to Jesus Christ. Instead of being seduced by the Communists,

…he used the large house he had been provided to hold house church meetings and distributed the food he was given to those believers in need. After some time, the government saw that their plan was badly backfiring, so they issued an ultimatum  to the “chairman”. He had to choose between his faith and the new lifestyle and status he had been afforded by the authorities. Although he knew that he would return to a life of extreme poverty and hardship, the old brother did not hesitate for a moment.  “ I choose Jesus!” he boldly declared.

The enraged officials threw him out of the house. He had nowhere to go, but another believer provided him with a small room on the side of a shack. China at the time was suffering terribly from Mao’s disastrous economic experiments, and millions of people were starving to death. Although the old man now had somewhere to stay, there was no food available to eat. All the meager crops were taken by the government, and the other Christians were too poor to help him.

For some days the old man wasted away in his tiny room, with no food passing his lips. He grew weak and ill and knew that his life would soon be snuffed out. Then one morning he awoke to find a hole in the bottom of the wall. He didn’t know what had caused it and repaired the damage. A few hours later he found another hole and started to wonder if these strange occurrences were from the Lord. While he was still pondering it, a large rat came through the hole with some food in its mouth. After entering the room, the rat dropped the food on the floor and then left. A short time later it returned and did the same again. A small collection of nuts and vegetables lay on the dirt floor!

Each morning the rat paid a visit to the elderly brother. In response to his commitment, God had saved the old man from starvation by instructing a rat to feed him! The miraculous provisions continued for several months. On some days the rat brought more food than usual. Those were the days when the old man was expecting a visitor!

Excerpt from Fujian – The Blessed Province – The China Chronicles, Paul Hattaway, Asia Harvest (Langham Global Library), p. 245-246

God says “I will not, I will not cease to uphold or sustain thee; I will not, I will not, I will not forsake someone in a state of defeat or helplessness in the midst of hostile circumstances.” (Expanded Greek Translation of Hebrew 13:5 by Dr. Kenneth Wuest.)

Be encouraged Saints… regardless of your circumstances. God sees you, is in you, and has not forsaken you.

Love,

Carl

Christianity, Islam and the double standards of leftist media

During a city council meeting last week, Dearborn Heights, Michigan Mayor Abdullah Hammoud uttered remarks that, in any other context, would have incited a nationwide media firestorm.

When a Christian resident objected to renaming a local road after a news publisher who glorified Hamas and Hezbollah, the mayor responded that he was simply “not welcome here.” The leftist media responded to this inflammatory comment by ignoring it.

During public comment, local resident Ted Barham registered his objection to the county renaming a section of Warren Avenue after Osama Siblani, the publisher of Arab American News, due to his support for terrorism in statements like, “The blood of the martyrs irrigates the land of Palestine.”

“The best suggestion I have for you is to not drive on Warren Avenue or to close your eyes while you’re doing it. His name is up there, and I spoke at a ceremony celebrating it because he’s done a lot for this community,” retorted Mayor Hammoud. He reviled Barham as “a bigot,” “racist,” and “an Islamophobe” before concluding, “Although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here. And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of this city.” So much for inclusion.

“Dearborn is one of … a couple of cities now … that has a Muslim mayor. It has a … majority Muslim community,” responded former Brown University researcher Dr. Andrew Bostom. “From the mindset of a leader of really what’s a Muslim community, he did nothing wrong. He’s protecting the mores of this Muslim community … The problem is the non-Muslim political and religious leaders that are afraid to call out these behaviors and just label them as unacceptable.”

It would be simple to condemn Hammoud’s comments, if the media or Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) cared to. Hammoud made these comments in an official meeting, on video, for the whole world to see. “He said this from the city council in his role as the mayor. So it wasn’t like he posted this somewhere on social media. He said it from his official post and capacity!” exclaimed FRC President Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch.”

But the only tune being played by the leftist media is crickets.

Perkins anticipated a critic’s response, “There are going to be people who say, ‘Well, you believe in religious freedom. What if a Christian was the mayor?’”

Consider the hypothetical scenario: a predominantly Christian community decides to name a street after the late James Dobson, to honor his labor for American families; a local LGBT activist stands up at a city council meeting to protest Dobson’s affirmation of a biblical view of marriage and sexuality; and the (openly Christian) mayor calls the activist a string of unpleasant names and invites him to pack his bags.

Of course, local Christian churches should be the first to rebuke such an un-Christian response. Christians want to see everyone come to know Jesus; they don’t want people to move away simply because they don’t yet know him. But equally certain is the ensuing denunciation across the leftist media landscape. Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla would write another breathless prediction about the imminent takeover of Christian nationalism. “60 Minutes” would sympathetically film an in-depth portrait of LGBT rights in the town. The New Yorker would run a snooty essay implying that they expected nothing less from a pack of rabid Bible-thumpers.

In other words, if the roles were reversed, the current media silence would swell into the roar of Niagara Falls!

So, why is the media silent now? Why does it show no interest in the exclusionary discrimination directed by a Muslim government official toward a Christian? Where are the condemnations of Islamic nationalism, or the pleas for non-sectarian neutrality?

To ask these questions is not to equate Christianity and Islam. “Christianity allows freedom,” Perkins pointed out, while Islam requires submission. The Muslims in Dearborn Heights want to honor a man who praised terrorism. If a Christian town did honor Dr. Dobson, they would honor a man who praised God’s design for the family. It’s also telling that the case of Muslim exclusion is real, while the case of Christian exclusion is hypothetical.

Such exclusion “is not considered negative from an Islamic perspective,” Bostom stated. “This is the way Christians are supposed to behave in a Muslim community. They are supposed to bend to the will of the Muslim majority and not do anything that offends the sensibilities of Muslims.”

In fact, “there’s not a single Muslim country or region where Christians are free and safe,” he continued. “Countries such as Nigeria, Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, the Central African Republic have massacred or forcibly displaced millions of African Christians [as] jihadists [have been] allowed to roam free in these countries within the past 10 years.”

“Christians in many Muslim countries can be detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned,” Bostom added. “They’re incarcerated for their faith in Bangladesh and Iran. They’re being driven underground in places like Yemen and Algeria.”

In fact, it’s worth asking why the media says so little about the extensive persecution Christians face across the Muslim world. Sixteen million Christians have been driven from their homes across Africa, said Bostom, compared to two million residents of the Gaza Strip. But who gets all the media sympathy?

Notably, Muslims in Western nations do not suffer the same sort of religious discrimination that Muslims experience in Islamic nations. “Muslims … have a protected status in this country,” said Bostom. “There’s all kinds of public opprobrium cast upon anyone … who says something that’s deemed negative about Muslims.”

The difference is that Western nations have been influenced by the liberalizing values of Christianity (in the classical sense where “liberal” is simply a synonym for “free”). Thus, Western nations — at least before they became post-Christian nations — have long recognized inalienable human rights, based in a person’s inherent dignity, which ultimately comes from God. Christianity teaches that a man cannot be forced to believe anything against his will, so Western nations allow that man should not be forced to say anything against his will. Christianity extols the value of work, so Western nations protect the right of property.

These human rights are nowhere more secure than in America, where constitutional amendments have codified the right to free speech, free religion, free assembly, and more. “That’s why, in America, you have a Muslim mayor in a Muslim community,” said Perkins. “Not that I endorse it, but because of the freedom that’s allowed under the Christian ethic. You don’t see that in a Muslim-majority country.”

Islam, by contrast, is illiberal. In many nations conquered by Islam, the native population was forced to convert or die. To this day, many Islamic nations still have laws discriminating against non-Muslims, prohibiting any Muslim from changing his or her religion, and punishing anyone seeking to convert a Muslim. Where Muslim countries have moderated these laws, it has usually been due to diplomatic pressure from Western powers like the United States.

Countries are not guaranteed to maintain their character if their people and customs change theirs. For America, this means that our traditions of freedom will not survive an Islamic takeover. “What you’re seeing play out [in Dearborn is] what a lot of us have feared,” said Bostom. “In a predominantly Muslim enclave, city, town, etc., you will see application of Islamic law.”

“But is that the American way,” asked Perkins, “that we have to surrender our First Amendment freedoms, because we’re living in an enclave of Muslims?” Not according to the model of ordered liberty that prevailed in previous eras of U.S. history, he concluded. When President John Adams said the U.S. Constitution would only work for a “moral and religious people,” he said, “I would bet my life … that he was not referring to the Quran. He was referring to the Bible.”

“The problem is that we don’t have … the political strength, the religious strength, the social strength to just say, ‘This is intolerable,’” Bostom responded. That weakness is due to American culture unmooring itself from its “common religious ethic” in the word of God, said Perkins. For decades, an anti-Christian ideology has crept through the institutions, sowing division, mistrust, and the spirit of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

This refers, of course, to the Marxist ideology of the Left, which rejects the very notion of “good authority” in order to establish its own totalitarian rule. It offers a profane facsimile of freedom, which is merely a rejection of all norms. In practice, Marxism is every bit as illiberal as Islam, demanding submission and persecuting those who refuse.

Perhaps this ideological fraternity is the more fundamental reason why the leftist media has failed to criticize Islam’s persecution of Christianity.

Such conditions should surprise no Christian, because sinful nations — allied only because their common master is Satan — have joined forces to conspire against God’s people for at least 3,000 years. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed,” wrote David (Psalm 2:1-2). The goal of sinful people and sinful rulers is to throw off God’s authority (Psalm 2:3), but God’s triumph is already sure (Psalm 2:4-9). It was true in David’s day, it was true in Jesus’s day (Acts 4:25-28), and it remains true today.

For this reason, Christians need not stoop to the censorious tactics of our enemies. God’s kingdom advances by open profession of the truth. “We persuade others” (2 Corinthians 5:11); we don’t silence them. Let evil men do what they will, but Christians rely on free and open debate, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Originally published at The Washington Stand. 

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand, contributing both news and commentary from a biblical worldview.

Source: Christian Post

Unmasking UFOs, aliens and demonic deception

By Dan Delzell, Christian Post Contributor Sunday, December 01, 2024

As reported by The Economist earlier this year, “UFOs are Going Mainstream.” Believe it or not, 20 million people in the United States claim to have seen a UFO, and four million claim to have been abducted by aliens. So, what in the world is going on here? Are UFOs and “aliens” real?

Before attempting to answer this paranormal question, first consider an easier question: Are fallen angels (demons) and holy angels real? Yes indeed, as Scripture makes abundantly clear. And if UFOs and aliens are demonic manifestations, as many Christians believe, we would expect to find some clues in the Bible. 

Once when Jesus encountered two demon-possessed men, the demons shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” (Matthew 8:29) Demons instantly become terrified once Jesus arrives on the scene.

So, what about “alien abductions” today? How do these traumatic experiences compare to demonic encounters in the New Testament? And most importantly, do today’s harrowing “alien” episodes abruptly cease when the name of Jesus is introduced into the equation?

Gary Bates has researched this issue for over 25 years. As a best-selling author on the matter who also has an award-winning movie on “aliens” and UFOs, Gary said, “There are over 400 cases that I am aware of where these abductions have been halted by people calling on the name of Jesus Christ … the instant His name was called, it stopped.”

Christians of course are not surprised that the name of Jesus stops things like nightmares and other frightening phenomena, including “alien” ordeals. (See my 2011 CP op-ed, “How to Say ‘No’ to Nightmares.”) Since we are not alone in the universe, we do at times cross paths with angels and demons. 

As Gary stated, “The Bible has always talked about another dimension. And we’ve had visitors from that dimension, and they’re called angels. Good ones, bad ones … God’s angels always bring a message that is consistent with what we read in God’s Word. The bad guys…are there to deceive and deflect and to take people’s eyes away from the Creator.”

As supernatural beings originally created by God to serve as holy angels, demons are fallen angels who rebelled against God and went the way of Lucifer. Demons are highly intelligent and also skilled impersonators. These shapeshifters can appear at your bedside as your deceased relative, or show up during a seance. They can also impersonate the mother of our Lord through various apparitions of Mary. And when people take part in certain New Age practices, demons even pretend to be “Jesus” the “ascended master.” And yes, demons can take on an alien appearance, or even the shape of a UFO. 

Demons want humans to interact with them in order to draw people into the spiritual clutches of the occult. If you open a wrong door in the spiritual realm, demons will come through it to trick you, oppress you and lead you away from the one door that leads to everlasting life in Paradise. Jesus said, “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). 

Interestingly, many “alien” abductees are told they were chosen because they are special and are needed to spread the message of their “alien” abductors. An obsession with UFOs and “aliens” can even become a substitute religion. For example, the Heaven’s Gate cult was a UFO religion that produced mass suicides by its members in 1997.

While demons distract and disorient people in order to lead them further and further away from Christ, God’s holy angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Angels and demons are invisible to the human eye, unless of course they choose to visibly appear, such as when two holy angels appeared at Christ’s empty tomb. They asked Mary, “Woman, why are you crying?” (John 20:13)

Demons fear the risen Savior because the Messiah “triumphed over them by the cross,” (Colossians 2:15) and “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). The fate of every demon is sealed, just like the fate of their master, Satan. 

The Apostle John wrote, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). And this is why “Satan is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12).

UFOs and “aliens” are merely one way the devil and his demons seek to distract people from accepting the good news of the Gospel (see John 3:16). Some people become so mesmerized by UFOs and “aliens” that they actually start pursuing mysterious phenomena. It is a seductive doorway into the occult.

Dr. Hugh Ross is an astrophysicist who points to “a connection between occult involvement and UFO encounters.” Christian UFO investigator David Wimbish agrees. He has “engaged in significant research into the UFO phenomenon, and has suggested that not only can the occult lead one to have a UFO encounter, but interest in UFOs can also actually draw one into the occult.” 

Dr. Ron Rhodes writes, “Many UFO investigators have followed a path that has taken them directly into the world of the occult. They believe they are rediscovering ancient spiritual truths and uncovering new realities about the universe … it has led many to experiment with astral projection, to believe in reincarnation, etc.” 

Jacques Vallee, a well-known (secular) French UFO researcher says, “The phenomena reported by (UFO) witnesses involve poltergeist effects, levitation, psychic control, healing, and out-of-body experiences. Vallee has personally investigated countless UFO sightings. His comments are based on years of firsthand experience.”

Negative consequences and dark side effects occur whenever demons interact with humans, even if the devious impersonators initially tell you they want to help you. This diabolical charade is one way they gain access into the lives of unsuspecting victims. Don’t forget that their master “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Thankfully, there is a way to effectively counter and overcome every type of demonic deception. Repent of your sins, receive Jesus as your Savior, (see John 1:12) and then walk closely with Him. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). 

UFOs, aliens, demons and the devil himself have no power over Jesus Christ. You see, if you are a follower of Christ, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). 

Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska. 

Source: Christian Post-December 1, 2024

Reading the Bible brings about human flourishing

During trying times like these, with many storms upon us (literally and figuratively), no book provides greater comfort than the Bible.

Yet how many actually read it? Although there are studies noting a drop of Bible-reading among Americans in recent times, nonetheless, 47 million are reported to be “Scripture engaged.” No other book would come close to that kind of readership.

As of this writing, the education department of the state of Oklahoma is planning to purchase 55,000 Bibles for the public schools. I’m sure the left is gnashing their teeth over such a plan.

But historically the Bible was the reason that education for the masses was developed in America in the first place. The Puritan forefathers created schools for the masses (a forerunner to the public schools), so that children could learn to read, so they could read the Bible for themselves.

Someone might argue, “Well, that was the Puritans. But surely the founding fathers didn’t agree with that.”

But actually, they did argue for that in 1787 and in 1789 when the founders adopted the Northwest Ordinance. As new territories became states in the newly formed United States, they were to follow the same basic template.

Here’s what Article III of the Northwest Ordinance had to say about schools, which were voluntary at that time and often run by churches: “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

The Bible was the chief textbook in one way or another for the first 200-300 years of America — and that’s when the children could read, because of it. It was the Bible that gave birth to Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, and so on.

It was only when the schools explicitly went against the Scriptures that American education went off the rails. Now there are major portions of society who can’t read, despite years of schooling.

Meanwhile, is there a correlation between reading the Scriptures and human flourishing?

Many social science studies have shown that church is good for society, that attending church on a regular basis lengthens your life (on average), and that attending church often improves the quality of your life as well.  Dr. Byron Johnson of Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion has spent years assessing studies on the impact of applied religion (generally, Christianity) leading to positive personal and societal improvement. Dr. Johnson even wrote a book showing how Christian belief and practice help lower criminal behavior. The book is appropriately titled, More God, Less Crime.

But what about Bible reading? A recent study that Dr. Johnson wrote, along with M. Bradshaw and S. J. Jang, is entitled, “Assessing the Link Between Bible Reading and Flourishing among Military Families.”

Before exploring their results (which were positive), the study mentions earlier related findings: “Previous research shows salutary associations between multiple dimensions of religiosity (including reading sacred texts) and different aspects of flourishing (e.g., physical health, psychological well-being, character and virtue, social connections and support).”

The abstract of the study noted: “Bible reading may promote overall mental, physical, and social well-being.”

They list at three of their findings on how the Bible fosters human flourishing: “First, Bible reading is likely to promote psychological well-being by helping individuals develop a close relationship with a loving and caring God who engages in the lives of individuals.”

They continue: “Second, Bible reading may facilitate feelings of divine control that help cope with stress. Third, positive and encouraging messages in the Bible may also promote purpose in life and guidance seeking, which may also enhance flourishing.”

I have found personally that when I started reading the Bible myself as a young man, it was such a great source of knowledge, for wisdom, for direction, for personal relations, etc.

The Bible was important to great Americans like George Washington, whose writings and speeches are filled with Biblical phrases, such as “And every man shall rest under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid.” This was Washington’s vision for America.

Even Jefferson collected many of the teachings of Jesus (including a few miracles) in a document for Native Americans, so they could benefit from them, just as we have. People mistakenly call this unpublished work “The Jefferson Bible.” But as Jefferson noted once, the morality of Jesus is the most sublime and greatest moral teaching of all time.

President Lincoln called the Scriptures “the best gift God has ever given men,” through which we learn about the Savior.  Millions of Americans have revered the Bible.

As Ronald Reagan once said of the holy book, “Inside its pages lie all the answers to all the problems that man has ever known.”

To promote human flourishing, spread the message of the Scriptures.

Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is the executive director of the Providence Forum, an outreach of D. James Kennedy Ministries, where Jerry also serves as senior producer and an on-air host. He has written/co-written 33 books, including George Washington’s Sacred Fire (with Providence Forum founder Peter Lillback, Ph.D.) and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (with D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.). http://www.djkm.org?    @newcombejerry      www.jerrynewcombe.com

Source: Christian Post

Cause of Fanaticism

“Woe to the man whose religion is completely perverted.”

History of the Crusade Against The Albigenses In The Thirteenth Century –J.C.L. Simonde De Sismonde – 1826

Just Enough But Not Enough

“We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” Jonathan Swift –

“Some of the meanest people are church people.” –Anonymous

“Minister, we been praying for revival of religion. And now God poured out his Spirit, we all ‘fraid for it.” –A Believer participating in the 1860 Jamaica prayer revival

Religion is dangerous in the sense that it is unregenerate man’s attempt to reach God by church membership, rituals, sacraments, obeying man’s commandments and teachings and performing other good works. It can only reform man, not change him. Religion can not cause man to be born again; therefore, it does not free man from his enslavement to sin. It still dominates him; therefore, though religious, he still hates and can be as mean as a snake. Listen to Brother Paul writing to the Christian church in Colossae concerning the keeping of religion’s commandments:

“These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” Colossians 2:23

Religion can not give us victory over our sinful nature. Paul said this about religious people: “…holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power…” (2 Tim. 3:5). The power to radically change our sinful life only comes when we are born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3).

Flee to Jesus Christ, and to Him alone, to escape man-made religion s0 you can experience true life. Ask Him to save you today and to forgive all of your sins and be your Lord and Savior. He will cause you to be born again and the Holy Spirit will come to you and be your Comforter and Guide in this life. And He will change you by causing you to will (desire) and do of God’s good pleasure, bringing freedom from the human sinful nature.

Flee to Jesus today!

Thank you for your precious time. God bless! Carl