What do you believe?
And you thought this was going to be a travel blog of where we are? Well, it is, it really is. However our journey isn't just a physical one, it's a spiritual one as well.
So many things are happening in the world and so much deception too. The media says things that after awhile we either tune it out or we start to believe it. Just like the TV shows, all the stuff that's out and we have to discern right from wrong, evil from good.
Last night I listened to Pastor Michael Youssef, he talked about 1 Thessalonians 5:16 -24
In New King James: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-25New King James Version (NKJV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
Amplified:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-25Amplified Bible (AMP)
So many things are happening in the world and so much deception too. The media says things that after awhile we either tune it out or we start to believe it. Just like the TV shows, all the stuff that's out and we have to discern right from wrong, evil from good.
Last night I listened to Pastor Michael Youssef, he talked about 1 Thessalonians 5:16 -24
In New King James: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-25New King James Version (NKJV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
Blessing and Admonition
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.25 Brethren, pray for us.
Amplified:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-25Amplified Bible (AMP)
16 Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always);
17 Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];
18 Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].
19 Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit;
20 Do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets [do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning].
21 But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast.
22 Abstain from evil [shrink from it and keep aloof from it] in whatever form or whatever kind it may be.
23 And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
24 Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].
25 Brethren, pray for us.
How can you be happy in your faith? And rejoice in it continuously, even when it's the "worst" day of your life? Because God is with you no matter what. He's there, just ask.
We can easily forget the Holy Spirit, we can even squelch him when he is trying to help us.
Stay away from evil, how? The word of God gives us guidelines, rules if you will, about what is evil and wrong. Some will say well HE does give us grace, yes he does, but ... How? Believing the lies of the devil. Believing what the world says to believe now, that is okay to be... It's not!
Here's what Pastor Youssef wrote:
Posted on 
Monday, April 12, 2010 at 06:00PM
Monday, April 12, 2010 at 06:00PM
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
Using biblical imagery to elevate oneself to a biblical-character status is not new in presidential politics, but to use these imageries to deliberately mislead people is a new low level in personal ambition.
Barack Obama knows he does not believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation. "For there is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved." This is the cornerstone of true Christianity.
All other "Jesus believers" who don't embrace this biblical truth are not "true Christians." Neither Obama's former church nor his former pastor for over 20 years embrace this foundational fact. Yet Obama uses Christian lingo, such as "I came to Jesus" or "I committed my life to Jesus" or "I knelt before the Cross," which gives the impression that he is a true believer.
Secondly, "true Christians" know that the task of taking care of the poor is their responsibility, not the government's. The Bible makes it clear that "justice" is the government's task, but "mercy" is God's and His children's. Yet to alleviate the guilt of semi-religious people, Obama detracts the attention of the unsuspecting from his position on killing babies in their mother's womb and the recognition of sodomy as an alternate lifestyle, and centers their focus on the so-called "poor."
Thirdly, his calling himself the Joshua of the "Joshua generation"is the ultimate in the misleading of the uninformed and the biblically illiterate generation. This is to say nothing of desecrating the entire plan of salvation of God's people.
When God delivered His people from the slavery of Egypt, they reached the land that God promised them through the Sinai Desert. God asked Moses to take them out of Egypt and Joshua to bring them into the land. Even a nonreligious person can see the fallacy in Mr. Obama's comparing himself to Joshua the prophet.
I question into what type of Promised Land Mr. Obama is promising to transform America. A welfare utopia state for those unwilling to work?
When Dr. King used the biblical imagery of the Promised Land, he was giving hope to an oppressed group of people who were far from being on a level playing field with the rest of society. But today with so many multi-billionaires who are African-Americans, and of every hue, talk of going to the Promised Land is pure deception.
As an African-born person who is now an American citizen by choice and one who paid for his own education, I am grateful to be an American (before Mr. Obama turns it into a Promised Land). I deplore this false use of biblical imagery. It is a tragedy for those who are blessed to be born an American to talk America down in order to lift up their personal ambitions. In our worst days of economic slow down we are better off than 95 percent of the world's population. To what kind of a "Promised Land" can one go from here?
America is a generous and kindhearted nation because its people are. May God protect it from false messiahs with false promises who may come from either side of the political divide.
May we as a nation hold our government leaders to a higher standard of truth and integrity as we cast our vote this November. It is tragic enough that many people did not vote in the last election. I hope that this November you will not only go out and vote, but will urge all of your family and friends to vote. This may be the most important vote in our lifetime.
The Occupational Hazard for Prophetic Voices
Whenever prophetic voices rise to explain world events from a non-secular perspective, those voices are minimized as “fringe” and “lunatic.”
But that is simply an occupational hazard of offering a prophetic voice. They will be beaten to a pulp by competing godless voices until they give in or give up.
For example, consider today’s voices in the wilderness that connect this country’s moral collapse to the twin scourges of terrorism and financial indebtedness. Anyone that connects our current struggles to our own spiritual and moral vacuum will be labeled a “nut.” I mean, who wants to hear about such things, right?
But even a cursory look at biblical prophets during times of crisis will quickly reveal how the godless voices of their day attacked them.
Immediately prior to God sending His people into Babylonian exile, the prophet Jeremiah tried to remind the people, again and again, that their abandonment of biblical morality was the reason for the impending disaster.
Their rejection of God’s law then is the equivalent of today’s attack on Christianity in our court system and the “loosening” of sexual ideals across our country.
Prior to the exile, Judah’s priests rationalized their own moral failure, and worse, legitimized the power of kings to legalize immorality and uphold it as a virtue. In modern times, too many of our pastors and priests have sought to go along with our pagan culture, and have in essence, told the typical pew sitter to go ahead and “live it up.” Certainly, God does not do anything so medieval as to punish disobedience, they believe. Surely, He would never allow disaster to come upon us.
Today’s religious leaders have preached fun, entertainment, and sports. We should grab all we can from this life and expect nothing but indefinite happiness. After all, God just wants us to be happy and free to pursue our pleasures.
Meanwhile those leaders act to silence any voice that warns of the impending consequences to unbridled heathenism.
They label prophetic voices as “bigots.” Such voices are “narrow-minded” and full of all sorts of “phobias.”
In ancient times, such rejection of the prophets was well-and-good until disaster struck and the king of Babylon conquered Jerusalem, taking its inhabitants into exile.
For many people today, that’s just a sad story. But it will be an all-to-real story when history repeats itself.
What will be the equivalent of exile in our time? Devastating terrorism that ends our way of life? Complete financial collapse from irrecoverable debt?
Ancient nations always lived with the threat of war and conquest. But we naively refuse to believe that anything really devastating could ever happen to us. In the tradition of the ostrich, we believe that our way of life will continue on forever.
But whatever we may face in the coming years, we can be sure that our response will be just like Jerusalem’s. We will never say: “We brought this on ourselves.” We will never declare: “We should have listened to the prophetic voices”; nor will we ask: “How can we find our way back to God?”
Instead, we will blame the prophetic voices. And we will throw in a good measure of blaming God, too.
May we as a nation, and a church, wake up in time to turn to the only Truth that is worthy.
These are noteworthy news. Wake Up and Know that Jesus Is Lord!
We follow Perry Stone Jr. as well. Take a look at these videos and see for yourself. We have followed Perry for a long time, attended his Pastor's conference.
http://www.voe.org/media/watch-manna-fest-online/
Using biblical imagery to elevate oneself to a biblical-character status is not new in presidential politics, but to use these imageries to deliberately mislead people is a new low level in personal ambition.
Barack Obama knows he does not believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation. "For there is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved." This is the cornerstone of true Christianity.
All other "Jesus believers" who don't embrace this biblical truth are not "true Christians." Neither Obama's former church nor his former pastor for over 20 years embrace this foundational fact. Yet Obama uses Christian lingo, such as "I came to Jesus" or "I committed my life to Jesus" or "I knelt before the Cross," which gives the impression that he is a true believer.
Secondly, "true Christians" know that the task of taking care of the poor is their responsibility, not the government's. The Bible makes it clear that "justice" is the government's task, but "mercy" is God's and His children's. Yet to alleviate the guilt of semi-religious people, Obama detracts the attention of the unsuspecting from his position on killing babies in their mother's womb and the recognition of sodomy as an alternate lifestyle, and centers their focus on the so-called "poor."
Thirdly, his calling himself the Joshua of the "Joshua generation"is the ultimate in the misleading of the uninformed and the biblically illiterate generation. This is to say nothing of desecrating the entire plan of salvation of God's people.
When God delivered His people from the slavery of Egypt, they reached the land that God promised them through the Sinai Desert. God asked Moses to take them out of Egypt and Joshua to bring them into the land. Even a nonreligious person can see the fallacy in Mr. Obama's comparing himself to Joshua the prophet.
I question into what type of Promised Land Mr. Obama is promising to transform America. A welfare utopia state for those unwilling to work?
When Dr. King used the biblical imagery of the Promised Land, he was giving hope to an oppressed group of people who were far from being on a level playing field with the rest of society. But today with so many multi-billionaires who are African-Americans, and of every hue, talk of going to the Promised Land is pure deception.
As an African-born person who is now an American citizen by choice and one who paid for his own education, I am grateful to be an American (before Mr. Obama turns it into a Promised Land). I deplore this false use of biblical imagery. It is a tragedy for those who are blessed to be born an American to talk America down in order to lift up their personal ambitions. In our worst days of economic slow down we are better off than 95 percent of the world's population. To what kind of a "Promised Land" can one go from here?
America is a generous and kindhearted nation because its people are. May God protect it from false messiahs with false promises who may come from either side of the political divide.
May we as a nation hold our government leaders to a higher standard of truth and integrity as we cast our vote this November. It is tragic enough that many people did not vote in the last election. I hope that this November you will not only go out and vote, but will urge all of your family and friends to vote. This may be the most important vote in our lifetime.
The Occupational Hazard for Prophetic Voices
Posted on Friday, September 5, 2014 at 09:06AM
Friday, September 5, 2014 at 09:06AM Whenever prophetic voices rise to explain world events from a non-secular perspective, those voices are minimized as “fringe” and “lunatic.”
But that is simply an occupational hazard of offering a prophetic voice. They will be beaten to a pulp by competing godless voices until they give in or give up.
For example, consider today’s voices in the wilderness that connect this country’s moral collapse to the twin scourges of terrorism and financial indebtedness. Anyone that connects our current struggles to our own spiritual and moral vacuum will be labeled a “nut.” I mean, who wants to hear about such things, right?
But even a cursory look at biblical prophets during times of crisis will quickly reveal how the godless voices of their day attacked them.
Immediately prior to God sending His people into Babylonian exile, the prophet Jeremiah tried to remind the people, again and again, that their abandonment of biblical morality was the reason for the impending disaster.
Their rejection of God’s law then is the equivalent of today’s attack on Christianity in our court system and the “loosening” of sexual ideals across our country.
Prior to the exile, Judah’s priests rationalized their own moral failure, and worse, legitimized the power of kings to legalize immorality and uphold it as a virtue. In modern times, too many of our pastors and priests have sought to go along with our pagan culture, and have in essence, told the typical pew sitter to go ahead and “live it up.” Certainly, God does not do anything so medieval as to punish disobedience, they believe. Surely, He would never allow disaster to come upon us.
Today’s religious leaders have preached fun, entertainment, and sports. We should grab all we can from this life and expect nothing but indefinite happiness. After all, God just wants us to be happy and free to pursue our pleasures.
Meanwhile those leaders act to silence any voice that warns of the impending consequences to unbridled heathenism.
They label prophetic voices as “bigots.” Such voices are “narrow-minded” and full of all sorts of “phobias.”
In ancient times, such rejection of the prophets was well-and-good until disaster struck and the king of Babylon conquered Jerusalem, taking its inhabitants into exile.
For many people today, that’s just a sad story. But it will be an all-to-real story when history repeats itself.
What will be the equivalent of exile in our time? Devastating terrorism that ends our way of life? Complete financial collapse from irrecoverable debt?
Ancient nations always lived with the threat of war and conquest. But we naively refuse to believe that anything really devastating could ever happen to us. In the tradition of the ostrich, we believe that our way of life will continue on forever.
But whatever we may face in the coming years, we can be sure that our response will be just like Jerusalem’s. We will never say: “We brought this on ourselves.” We will never declare: “We should have listened to the prophetic voices”; nor will we ask: “How can we find our way back to God?”
Instead, we will blame the prophetic voices. And we will throw in a good measure of blaming God, too.
May we as a nation, and a church, wake up in time to turn to the only Truth that is worthy.
These are noteworthy news. Wake Up and Know that Jesus Is Lord!
We follow Perry Stone Jr. as well. Take a look at these videos and see for yourself. We have followed Perry for a long time, attended his Pastor's conference.
http://www.voe.org/media/watch-manna-fest-online/
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