AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM, SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND.
*** REVELATION 14:9
“Duty, stern duty, has a twin sister, which is kindness. If duty and kindness are blended, decided advantage will be gained; but if duty is separated from kindness, if tender love is not mingled with duty, there will be a failure, and much harm will be the result. Men and women will not be driven, but many can be won by kindness and love. Brother S has held aloft the gospel whip, and his own words have frequently been the snap to that whip. This has not had an influence to spur others to greater zeal and to provoke them to good works, but it has aroused their combativeness to repel his severity.” {3T 108.2}
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On January 28, 2016, actor Leonardo DiCaprio showed the whole world where his allegiance was when he kissed, in worship, the Jesuit pope’s ring on three occasions. He’s the example of the world wondering after the beast in Revelaiton 13:3.
His meeting with pope Francis follows his speech on climate change at the United Nations in September 2014 which was followed almost a year later to the day by Jesuit pope Francis’ speech on the same topic at the United Nations.
Many people are unaware of the sinister reasons behind the present Pope’s pushing of climate change all over the world and especially in the United States via his pawn Barack Hussein Obama in the White House.
Sadly, most people don’t read their Bibles and so this climate change agenda is going to be very effective in getting most people to stand in line in agreement with the Pope about “doing something” to get the Lord to stop the calamities.
Climate change was prophesied. But not in the way the Pope is claiming! Floods, droughts, etc. are God’s judgments on earth. There were droughts in Moses’ and Elijah’s day. There was the great worldwide flood in Noah’s day. Both were of God’s judgment on humanity for their sins, which represent the transgression of God’s immutable law, His holy and eternal ten commandments.
Today, we see droughts and especially floods worldwide as a sign of God’s judgment on humanity for their sins. These signs of God’s judgment are harbingers to His seven plagues which will fall on those who will take the mark of the Vatican beast (Revelation 16).
For more information on the mark of the beast and the plagues of God, please watch the videos on these two topics on this channel.
It won’t be long now before Christ’s return.
For more information and videos on Christian beliefs and prophecy, please visit www.theseventhdayremnantchurch.org; www.remnantofgod.org along with SDRMinistries.org and NicholasPoGM's YouTube channels.
Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.
Kirk Franklin tries to create a "horizontal Jesus" on his new album, Losing My Religion.Courtesy of the artist
Over the past 25 years, there's been no more prominent name in gospel music than Kirk Franklin. In that time, the singer has been no stranger to controversy. By merging hip-hop with gospel, he brought the stars and sound of the club scene into the church — and not everyone in the church has been comfortable with that.
Franklin continues to challenge audiences with his latest album, titled Losing My Religion. He spoke with NPR's Michel Martin about pursuing faith without dogma, and why he wants to make God a cultural celebrity. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read more from their conversation below.
Michel Martin: So we have to get right to the title track. It's a lengthy spoken-word piece, and it concludes with,"I'm losing my religion, Thank God / Helping you lose yours is my job." What was the inspiration, and what was your message here?
Kirk Franklin: Well, I feel that the pursuit of trying to know who God is, and trying to be known by God, can be lost in religion. Because religion, all that it is, is man's attempt to try to put a definition on something that is very hard to define. We haven't seen God with a physical eye, so we're trying to understand him — sometimes from an academic approach, from a scientific approach, from a literal approach.
We end up missing the incredible story — God made man, man rejected God, and God won't stop chasing man until he wins him back. And that's the simple story of God. Religion can create so much of a dogma and so much of a cloud to that simple story that people don't want to know God. They see God as someone with the big belt, that's gonna whoop you every time you do wrong.
For centuries, people have been debating this question of whether our structures get in the way of our faith. And I just wondered, was there an epiphany for you? Did you have kind of a moment on the road to Damascus where something struck you? Or has this been something that's been churning for some time?
Yes, I think there's something that has kind of been part of my psyche for many years. I mean, even in the song that I wrote years ago called "Revolution," back in '98 when I was 28 years old, there's a line I said about, "sick and tired of the Church talkin' religion."
I've always seen that framework as challenging. Because I don't see people that have fallen in love with God through religion. I've seen people fall in love with God, or come to see God loving them, through a relationship.
Well tell me about the closing line, then: "I'm losing my religion." What is that a call for?
Rules without relationship leads to rebellion. So, what I want to be able to do is to not let rules be the premise that drives us to God, because rules will never drive us to God — rules will drive us awayfrom God. My job on Earth, the reason why Kirk is created, is to make God famous. I just want God to be well-known. And I think it's created a dialogue — I think it's opened up conversation, and people have started to talk about what religion is to them.
The big hit on the album is a song called "Wanna Be Happy?" And again, I'm sure people are going to hear it in different ways. What was your inspiration for this song?
Four members of the Phoenix City Council moved late Friday to block a Satanist group from delivering the traditional prayer before a council meeting next month.
Stu De Haan
Stu De Haan, a leader of the Satanic Temple in Tucson
Members of the Satanic Temple of Tucson are scheduled to deliver the invocation Feb. 17. Group leaders say they are a religion but they do not worship the devil.
City Manager Ed Zuercher said in a statement Friday night that, at the council members' request, he would add an agenda item for next Wednesday's meeting that would change the way the city schedules groups that lead the prayer.
The current system allows groups to call the city clerk's office to schedule a date. The new system would mimic what the state legislature does: The mayor and eight council members would select the prayer leader on a rotating basis.
The four council members -- Jim Waring; Sal DiCiccio; Bill Gates; and Michael Nowakowski -- want the new rule adopted with an emergency clause, allowing it to take effect within 24 hours. Waring told 12 News that the Satanists would then be disinvited.
"If they want to commit a constitutional violation, we will respond in turn," said Stu De Haan, a Tucson criminal defense lawyer who is a leader of theSatanic Temple chapter. "We have people everywhere (in each council district), and we'll adjust."
"This is clearly discriminatory and targeting one group," he said.
Mayor Greg Stanton was unavailable for comment. The mayor's spokesman said his office had received 19 emails and 15 phone calls about the Satanist invocation.
Stanton said earlier this week after the Satanist invocation was first reported:
“I strongly disagree with this group’s message. However, the First Amendment protects free speech. As offensive as that message may be, the Constitution demands equal treatment under the law.”
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling two years ago requires government bodies that have prayers before meetings to "let in everybody," said Dianne Post, an attorney and humanist who was the first non-religious speaker at a council meeting, last February.
"If you allow God in the building, you have to allow the devil in the building," she said Friday, before word that the council members would attempt to overhaul the prayer rules. "The First Amendment says you cannot favor one church over another church, or a religion over a non-religion."
Earlier this week, the council convened in closed session to discuss legal options for turning away the Satanists. City Attorney Brad Holm told me Friday that the Supreme Court case tied the city's hands.
"People are trying to get attention with this, they're trying to make splash, they're trying to get us to get rid of the invocation," Waring said earlier Friday. He wanted to take the Satanists to court, even in the face of almost certain defeat.
Opponents of public prayer have used the Supreme Court ruling to pressure government bodies to eliminate prayer before meetings in favor of a moment of silence.
No, the lumbersexual trend has not reached the seminary. While their facial fuzz might make them welcome in Bushwick dive bars, the reason British priests are now growing beards is an effort to reach out to the Muslim community.
The Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, recently commended two priests—Rev. Adam Atkinson and Rev. Chris Rogers—for sporting bushy beards. Their motivation, Chartres said, was to telegraph their holiness to their broader community.
Writing in the Church Times, Chartres said that the priests work in parishes where “most of the residents are Bangladeshi-Sylheti, for whom the wearing of a beard is one of the marks of a holy man.” Rev. Atkinson further said that he was motivated by the fact that 85% of the members of his parish are Muslim.
In other places in the world the similarities between Christian and Muslim dress are much more pronounced. In the Middle East, for example, Christian women not only wear long dresses and thick coverings to attend mass, but also wear this attire in their daily lives. Head coverings have a storied history in Christianity; in the Roman Catholic Church they were mandated for women until the mid-1960s and are prescribed by the Apostle Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians. The fact that these clothes appear to be similar to those worn by Muslim women has more to do with geography than religious accommodation. Unlike Chartres hipster priests, they aren’t trying to emulate or placate members of other religious groups.
When the standards of contemporary society are rejected it is almost exclusively in favor of more aesthetic, simple, and conservative attire. The majority of Mormons, both men and women, wear temple garments (the famous “Mormon underwear”—a white T-shirt and shorts) underneath their clothes, and insist on high necklines, covered shoulders, and long skirts for women. Modest is hottest, they say, and many other Christian groups agree. Historically speaking, the emphasis has often been not on concealing the flesh, but rather on downplaying wealth and status. 1 Peter 3:3 condemns women for wearing fancy braided hairstyles and gold jewelry. In the late fourth and early fifth centuries, Jerome, the theologian who translated the Bible into Latin, advised virgins against drawing attention to themselves either by dressing as paupers or advertising their wealth. All of these perspectives on Christian dress take their rise from the Bible. There aren’t a lotof Christian nudists, but even they see themselves as emulating pre-fig-leaf Adam in the Garden of Eden.
In advocating for the growing of beards, the Bishop of London appealed to historical precedent to make his case. And he is certainly correct that throughout history, and in Eastern Orthodox traditions especially, the beard has been a mandatory part of the clerical wardrobe. For example, Euthymius the Great, a fifth-century hermit, would admit men to his desert community only if they wore beards. But one has to wonder the Rt. Rev. Chartres has thought deeply about the rationale that underlies the ancient preference for beards.
For many, beards were promoted because they said something about the masculinity of the wearer. The turn-of-the-third-century Christian philosopher Clement of Alexandria, in his Paedagogus(an ethical instructional manual of sorts for Christians), argues that men should grow their beards. Not only does the presence of a beard “grant solemnity to the face and instill terror,” he says, but it also prevents a man from appearing “womanish.”
The connection between male body hair and masculinity runs deep for Clement. Men have beards and body hair like lions, whereas women (ahem) grow hair only from their heads like horses. It is not only manly to sport a beard, it is what nature intended. The philosopher Epictetus agreed, remarking that given the fact that there is nothing “less useful” than chin-hair its purpose must be to distinguish between the sexes. “For this reason,” he writes, “we ought to preserve the signs which God has given.”
It’s difficult to unshackle the authors promoting beard-wearing from the views of gender that underpin their arguments. Beards my be good for men, but promoting traditional “manly” dress for men is a tacit endorsement of ancient standards of gender. When the Bishop of Chartres appeals to the history of Christian dress, he may be unaware of the kind of gender dynamics and norms he is promoting. Or, given the Church of England’s recent position on same-sex marriage, this might be part of a larger statement about the proper relationship of the male and female sexes to one another.
Cultivating interreligious dialogue and respect in the community is a good thing, no doubt, and shows a refreshing sensitivity to Muslims in a country that is predominantly Christian. But arguably accommodating one’s appearance in a manner explicitly linked (in both Muslim and Christian history) with male dominance and power does as much harm as good. At the end of the day, this strategy might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Evangelicals are among the most reliable caucus-goers every four years
They're torn between choosing Donald Trump, Ted Cruz
Clinton, Iowa (CNN) The final days before the first-in-the-nation caucuses are agonizing for many Iowa evangelicals as they waver between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
At events for both GOP presidential candidates across the Hawkeye state, voters say they are torn between backing the committed Christian conservative who is solid on their principles, or the once-liberal, thrice-married candidate who they believe would make the stronger president.
Sherry Benson, a 57-year-old graphic designer from Marshalltown, said she is still trying to come to terms with Trump's evolution on abortion. Benson calls abortion "the biggest sin of our country." The anti-Trump television ads detailing his shifts—with arresting clips of the candidate talking about his support for abortion in 1999—have kept that issue fresh on her mind.
"It's been a really, really big struggle for me this time," Benson said after listening to Trump speak at a rally last week. "I think people can change, but I don't see him as the biggest conservative."
Still, Trump's forceful personality has convinced her that he could be effective as commander-in-chief.
"My Christianity and my conservative values tell me that Cruz is the logical choice," she said. "I could forgo, I think, some of my Christian and conservative principles slightly if I knew that Trump could repair the mess that the country is in. And that is something that I see in him, he might have the ability to just -- 'Boom' -- take care of things very quickly."
Retired schoolteacher Paul Thompson, 75, ranks Cruz at the top of his list because "he is an evangelical Christian, as I am," he said. But he too is feeling the gravitational pull to Trump's candidacy.
'We want to see a winner'
Thompson had a simple answer when asked to explain why Trump, a Presbyterian, is leading among evangelicals in some polls given his personal history and changing stances over the years.
"We want to see a winner, and I think we perceive him as a winner," he said.
Cruz has worked diligently for months to court evangelical voters, who often show up in droves every four years to caucus for Republicans. That decision for many evangelicals between head and heart could very well decide who wins Iowa on Monday night after a tight race between the Texas senator and the real estate magnate. The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll released Saturday evening found Trump leading Cruz 28% to 23%.
While many had assumed that Cruz would have a lock on white evangelical voters, particularly as support for retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson has waned, Trump has shown surprising strength within that voter group. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released Thursday, Trump notched the support of 31% of evangelical Christians to Cruz's 28%. But in a poll of likely Iowa caucus participants released earlier by Quinnipiac University, Cruz led Trump among white born-again evangelicals 34% to 27%.
Nationally, Trump was leading Cruz among GOP evangelicals 39% to 25%, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday.
Slide presentation examining the past and present of the Jesuit movement, known as the Society of jesus. Tracing their influence from the 16th century to more recent times in government and religion.
Presented in Australia 1986.
LLT Productions, Inc., was started up in 1985 by James Arrabito, artist, photographer, and lay evangelist. James Arrabito was tragically killed in an Alaskan small plane crash in 1990.
Many mothers who deplore the intemperance which exists everywhere do not look deep enough to see the cause. They are daily preparing a variety of dishes and highly seasoned food which tempt the appetite and encourage overeating. The tables of our American people are generally prepared in a manner to make drunkards. Appetite is the ruling principle with a large class. Whoever will indulge appetite in eating too often, and food not of a healthful quality, is weakening his power to resist the clamors of appetite and passion in other respects in proportion as he has strengthened the propensity to incorrect habits of eating. Mothers need to be impressed with their obligation to God and to the world to furnish society with children having well-developed characters. Men and women who come upon the stage of action with firm principles will be fitted to stand unsullied amid the moral pollutions of this corrupt age. It is the duty of mothers to improve their golden opportunities to correctly educate their children for usefulness and duty. Their time belongs to their children in a special sense. Precious time should not be devoted to needless work upon garments for display, but should be spent in patiently instructing and carefully teaching their children the necessity of self-denial and self-control.
The tables of many professed Christian women are daily set with a variety of dishes which irritate the stomach and produce a feverish condition of the system. Flesh meats constitute the principal article of food upon the tables of some families, until their blood is filled with cancerous and scrofulous humors. Their bodies are composed of what they eat. But when suffering and disease come upon them, it is considered an affliction of Providence.
We repeat: Intemperance commences at our tables. The appetite is indulged until its indulgence becomes second nature. By the use of tea and coffee an appetite is formed for tobacco, and this encourages the appetite for liquors.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. Gal. 6:15,16.
What is the New Testament view of the Israel of God? What determines whether a man is a real son of Abraham?
To the Jew it was most important that he could prove he was a son of Abraham, for "to Abraham and his seed were the promises made." Gal. 3:16. The Pharisees were certain of being part of the Israel of God because they could trace their physical descent back to Abraham. John the Baptist declared that they were resting on a false confidence. ". . . think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father," he warned them, "for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." Matt. 3:9. Mere physical descent would give them no claim on God and no right to be included in the Israel of God.
Again, the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Abraham is our father." John 8:39. But Jesus denied their confident claim, saying, "It ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." John 8:39. Jesus categorically denied that they were children of Abraham.
When Zaccheus showed by his works that he had the faith of Abraham, Jesus declared, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham." Luke 19:9, R.S.V. Jesus was not saying that Zaccheus was saved because he was a physical descendant of Abraham—for there were many Jews in Palestine who were not saved. Jesus was saying that Zaccheus' faith constituted him a real son of Abraham. The Lord could have said to him, as he said to the repentant woman, "Thy faith hath saved thee . . ." Luke 7:50.
Again, Jesus greeted Nathanael with the salutation, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" John 1:47. The word "indeed" signifies a true, or real, Israelite. Jesus therefore declared that a real Israelite is a man "in whom is no guile." According to Psalm 32, the guileless man is not a sinless man but the man who honestly continues to confess his sinfulness and who finds forgiveness at the hand of a merciful God. St. Paul cites Psalm 32 and shows that this guileless man (the Israelite "indeed") is the man who is justified by faith (see Rom. 4:1-8).
The clear teaching of Jesus about the real Israel of God is found also in the Epistles of His great apostle. Could words be clearer than the following?
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Rom. 2:28, 29.
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed by called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Rom. 9:7, 8.
. . . even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Gal. 3:6,7.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. 3:29.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. Gal. 6:15,16.
Christ the Seed of Abraham
God made promises to the seed of Abraham. The Jews are still waiting for God to carry out His promises to them, and more amazing, many Christians are now waiting for God to carry out His promises to the Jewish nation as the seed of Abraham. This is what happens when people read the Old Testament without the light and interpretation of the New Testament.
Now let us get two simple facts straight once and for all:
1. God made promises to Abraham's seed (Gal. 3:19).
2. Christ is the Seed of Abraham. ("Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of One, And to thy Seed, which is Christ.") This is why Christ is called the Mediator of the covenant. It is only by Him, in Him and through Him that God carries out any of His promises to Abraham.
The Seed of Abraham is Jesus Christ. It includes all who are in Christ and excludes all outside of Christ. So the apostle affirms, ". . . if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29.
When the apostle declares, "And so all Israel shall be saved . . . " (Rom. 11:26), he is certainly not teaching us that every member of the Jewish race will be saved. But the seed of Israel shall be saved — that is to say, all those who are in Jesus Christ — and not one shall be lost.
Neither Jesus nor Paul are speaking in mere allegories when they tell us who are the children of Abraham. They are telling us who are real children of Abraham. Abraham was justified by faith and therefore became the father of Israel. All who are justified by faith are real children of Abraham (Gal. 3:8). The Seed of Israel is Jesus Christ. He is also the "King of the Jews." If a man is related to Jesus Christ, who can deny that he is a real Jew according to the Scriptures? For those who believe in Jesus Christ are born again (1 John 5:1), and they actually partake of the nature of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4).
The Gentile Church Not a Separate Identity
The Judaizers at Galatia were contending that the Gentiles had to become children of Abraham by means of certain changes in their flesh. The apostle Paul did not dispute the necessity of Gentiles becoming part of the Israel of God. Indeed, "all Israel shall be saved," and only Israel — for as Jesus said, "salvation is of the Jews." John 4:22. The apostle refuted the wrong method of trying to incorporate the Gentiles into the Israel of God. His message was clear: Abraham was justified by faith, and every Gentile who is justified by faith becomes a son of Abraham (Gal. 3:8). The promises were made to the seed of Abraham, and Christ is that Seed. Therefore, all who are truly baptized into Christ are in Christ and are part of Abraham's seed (Gal. 3:28, 29). Those who have become new creatures by faith in Jesus and walk according to the rule of faith are "the Israel of God." Gal. 6:15,16.
Gentiles who believe the gospel become "fellow heirs" with the faithful Jews. They do not make up a separate body, but they become "fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel ..." Eph. 3:6. The Gentiles, "being a wild olive tree, were graffed in among them [the Jews], and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree . . . " Rom. 11:17. Once "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise," the Gentiles are "made nigh by the blood of Christ." Eph. 2:12, 13. Being now children of Abraham, part of the commonwealth of Israel and partakers of God's promises to Israel, believing Gentiles make up "the house of Israel" to whom the new covenant promise is given: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people . . . Heb. 8:10.
The Israel of God are all those who are in Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham, the King of the Jews, the One to whom the promises were made. And in Jesus Christ all national distinctions are broken down. ". . . there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek . . ." Rom. 10:12."... ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:28. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism . . ." Eph 4:4,5. Therefore, in the things of the gospel any national distinctions deny the reality of the atonement of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:14-17) and are a Judaizing perversion of the New Testament message.
There are some who take pride in their literal interpretation of the things of prophecy, especially Old Testament prophecy. No sound Bible scholar will deny that the Bible should be read in its historical-grammatical sense or that "literal wherever possible" is a good rule. But many prophecies of the Old Testament cannot be taken with strict literalness. The stone of stumbling to both houses of Israel was not a literal stone but Jesus Christ. Malachi's Elijah was not literally Elijah but John the Baptist. Many more examples could be given, but our point is this: How would we know the true interpretation without the New Testament? Does not the gospel determine our use of the Old Testament?
Besides, a crass literalness is in keeping with the method of interpretation employed by the Pharisees. When Jesus gave a nonliteral application to the Messianic prophecy about delivering the captives, they were angry. They refused to have anything to do with His spiritual kingdom, which could be seen and entered only by those who were born again. When Jesus spoke of destroying the temple and raising it up again, they insisted on giving His words a literal meaning. Jesus even had to rebuke his disciples for taking literally his warning, " . . . beware of the leaven of the Pharisees . . . " Matt. 16:11. Because they thought Jesus spoke about literal bread, He asked, "Do ye not yet understand . . .?" Matt. 16:9.
The New Israel
Just as the Bible presents an old covenant and a new covenant, so it presents an old Israel and a new Israel. The old Israel was constituted under the twelve tribes named after the twelve sons of Jacob. When Jesus chose twelve apostles, He was taking steps to constitute the Christian church. Yet why did he deliberately choose twelve apostles? And why did the apostle James1 address the church as "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad"? James 1:1. It was because the New Testament church, comprised of Jews and Gentiles, constituted the new Israel of God.
When Christ died on the cross, national distinctions were ended. The old national religious economy was as extinct as the old covenant. Henceforth the Christian church, founded on the teachings of the twelve apostles, would be the new Israel, the inheritor of all the promises and responsibilities of Israel of the Old Testament.
The following chart illustrates how the New Testament church has become the new Israel:
Old Israel
New Israel
Holy nation — Ex. 19:5,6
Holy nation — 1 Peter 2:9; Matt.21:43
Kingdom of priests — Ex. 19:5,6
Kingdom of priests — 1 Peter 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6;Rev.4:4;5:10
A peculiar treasure — Ex. 19:5,6
A peculiar treasure — 1 Peter 2:9
God's people — Hosea 1:9,10; Rom. 9:6-8
God's people — 1 Peter 2:9
A holy people — Deut. 7:6
A holy people — 1 Peter 1:15,16
A people of inheritance — Deut. 4:20
A people of inheritance — Eph. 1:18
God's tabernacle among Israel — Lev. 26:11
God's tabernacle among Israel — John 1:14
God walked among them — Lev. 26:12
God walks among His people — 2 Cor. 6:16-18
Twelve sons of Jacob
Twelve apostles
Twelve tribes
Twelve tribes scattered abroad — James 1:1
Christ married to His people — Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; Hosea 2:19; Jer. 6:2; 31:32
Christ married to the church — James 4:4; Eph. 5:23-33; 2 Cor. 11:2
Conclusion
Abraham was justified by faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3). Just as Abraham had two sons — Ishmael and Isaac — so there were always two classes of Jews. Not all were true sons of Abraham. The prophets frequently referred to the faithful remnant, who were the real children of Abraham.
Finally, at the time of the apostles there was a saved "remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 9:27; 11:5). This remnant were those who welcomed their Messiah and were justified by faith in Jesus. God's word had not failed (Rom. 9:6). These alone were the lineage of Isaac, and the rest were counted as Ishmaelites — illegitimate children. All Israel — that is, all who were justified by faith — would be saved according to God's promise, which could never fail (Rom. 11:26). And all from among the Gentiles who would believe on Christ and be justified by faith would become children of Abraham. There is one way of salvation, one body, one faith, one baptism. Christ is the Seed of Abraham. The promises of God are by Him, to Him, through Him and in Him. He is the Elect One (Isa. 42:1), and the chosen people are those who are chosen in Him (Eph. 1:4).
For all the promises of God in Him are "yea", and in him "Amen", unto the glory of God by us. 2 Cor. 1:20.
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Footnotes:
1 From ancient times the Epistle of James was classified as one of the "catholic epistles" — meaning that it was written to the church in general and not to a particular segment of believers.
13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Every year since 1971 the world's elite have gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. What started as a small conference about management has ballooned into a famously exclusive gathering of business people, academics, and government officials.
The stated goals of the non-profit World Economic Forum are noble: the conference is organized around the principle that business leaders should work with leaders of government to address the world's problems.
But for many, the problem with Davos is rooted in exactly that premise. Critics point out that it’s big corporations, and their wealthy CEOs, that have lobbied for years against higher taxation of corporate profits and better regulation. While some of the world's wealthiest have become advocates against the policies that some say let them accumulate their billions, critics allege that many are in Davos to simply pay lip service to solving issues like growing inequality or climate change.
VICE News traveled to Switzerland to try and understand what really happens in Davos.
Read "This Year in Davos, Opponents Aren't Even Bothering to Protest” - http://bit.ly/1lXisIj
Read "Kiev's Heavyweight Boxing Champ Mayor Wants to Knock Out Corruption in Ukraine” - http://bit.ly/1UtdYVF
Read "Justin Trudeau Told Leonardo DiCaprio to Stop Being Mean to Canada's Oil Sands” - http://bit.ly/1SlEsJM
Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) looked back on an eventful year of development, which saw the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He shines a light on what is yet to come, the implementation phase of the 17 highly ambitious Sustainable Development Goals.
This homeless man stays under the 8 Mile overpass on I-75 and accepts credit card donations. (Photo: Mike Campbell/WWJ) DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Volunteers in Detroit and across the nation spent the night counting the homeless, and one of those men who lives in the cold is dealing with it in a, shall we say, unusual way.
He calls himself “Honest Abe” and he panhandles not just for pocket change, but also for the donor’s credit and debit cards. He accepts cards with a reader attached to his cell phone.
His real name is Abe Hagenston and he’s been homeless in Detroit for seven years or so. The 8 Mile overpass on I-75 is home.
Looking at that bleak, gray freeway facade with the wind whipping through, one could imagine he’s happy about the relatively mild winter metro Detroit has experienced so far this year.
Not so fast.
“It’s not really that easy, what we’re lacking is snow,” Abe told WWJ’s Mike Campbell. “Of course, there’s no snow removal. I used to look forward to that, doing some shoveling.”
Without the extra cash, he hasn’t made enough money this winter to buy new eyeglasses, he said, and he could use a new prescription.
But as a bonus, with the extra time Abe says he and a group of fellow homeless have organized themselves “like a union” to panhandle in shifts. He also used the extra time to figure out a way to make donations more efficient. Don’t have any change in your pocket? No problem.
“I take VISA, MasterCard, American Express,” Abe told Campbell. “I’m the only homeless guy in America who can take a credit card. It’s all done safely and securely through square.com.”
Square readers attach to credit cards and basically turn a smartphone into a card reader. They cost about $10 and square providers charge vendors a fee per transaction. In the case of itunes, the charge is 2.75 percent per transaction.
It’s unknown how many homeless occupy Detroit — or how many people have trusted Abe with their credit card information — but last year’s count of people who live on the streets of Detroit included a rough estimate of 2,700.
This year’s count isn’t ready yet, but people like Stacy Brackins, a case manager with mental health agency Detroit Central City spent the night cruising around town with gloves, hats, sleeping bags to count homeless men and women and try to encourage them to seek shelter.
Hundreds of volunteers were involved in the count. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the number of homeless in Michigan had declined 6 percent in the most recent report. There were an estimated 578,424 people experiencing homelessness across the country in 2014.
How many homeless were ready to accept offers of warmth and shelter in Detroit Wednesday night? Some were, others were not.
“Some, they just don’t want to come inside — they want their freedom,” Brackins told the Detroit Free Press.
Are we officially in bear market territory? Is the economy “officially” in a recession or not? These are the types of questions you hear on every financial show, including the video below with Peter, but the question I would have for anyone asking, is does it matter? Do current market conditions need a name for people to be suffering? Do the owners of the $3 TRILLION DOLLARS of American wealth that has evaporated since January 1st care what it’s called, if it doesn’t end in zeros in their account?
Nonetheless, everyone wants to label the current economic condition something, so as Peter explains, as of right now, “officially” we are in “correction territory,” which means the market is at least 10% off its highs. Even though a ton of stocks are off far more than the 20% required to be an official “bear market,” since the market as a whole is “only” down 13% since January 1st, it’s not officially a bear market yet.
I’m not sure which is worse, how badly Obama was lying when he made the comment “Anyone who says there is trouble in the economy is peddling fiction,” or what I bet he does to paper over the problem just long enough tor him to get out of office, and then watch every American get financially wiped out. If he can, I have no doubt he’ll do the latter, however I’m not so certain that’s even possible at this point.
As we’ve all learned for 7+ years, the best way stop a recession from getting worse (temporarily), or the best way to dupe Americans into thinking there is a recovery happening, is to do what Barack has done, drop interest rates to zero and print yourself roughly $7 TRILLION dollars out of thin air. Obviously Obama isn’t Fed Chair, but equally as obvious, is Janet Yellen, like all Obamabots, is a “Yes sir” kinda gal, and does whatever she’s told.
As Peter blurts out in the video, “Whatever Obama was calling a recovery is OVER, and what we’re in now, will be MUCH longer and MUCH deeper. Many sectors are already down over 20%, but the market in general isn’t, so people are whistling in the dark that everything will be fine. Guess what? It won’t. The smart money says get ready for QE4, which will make things seem better for a while, but we just keep prolonging a bigger and bigger crash every time you hear QE. Pray Obama man’s up, and we take the punishment now, but count on him at least trying to kick the can down the road by firing up the printing presses, that way he can blame someone else.
It takes two consecutive quarters of negative growth to be in a recession, and as Peter points out, once the final revisions are in, there’s a good chance last quarter was negative, and it should be pretty obvious how this one is going. Since Obama is SO dishonest about everything, to avoid having to say we’re in a recession, don’t be surprised if last quarters revised numbers show a .1 growth or something like that. Then the “recession clock” won’t start ticking until this quarters numbers come in.
The problem is, while Obama plays politics, he misleads millions of Americans, and plenty of them will be feeling every ounce of the extreme pain that comes with a recession. To avoid a negative number for growth, expect some heavy Obama number fudging.
That just means by the time he’s getting ready to leave office, and there HAVE been two negative quarters, by then the situation will be 2008 compounded several times over. All the different bubbles that were in search of pins seem to have found them, and as the former President of the Dallas Federal Reserve said in an interview you can find in: Former Federal Reserve President Makes Shocking Confession on TV:
“It is not China,” It is The Fed that is at fault: “What The Fed did, and I was part of it, was front-load an enormous market rally in order to create a wealth effect… and an uncomfortable digestive period is likely now.” He concludes there simply can’t be much more accommodation. ”The Fed is a giant weapon that has no ammunition left.”
“An uncomfortable digestive period” he calls it. Sure. Remember that when you’re wishing you had food in your belly digesting. Echoing what the former Fed President said several weeks earlier, Peter says anyone who is blaming China or the low price of oil is a fool. All American’s problems are made right here in America, and sadly, that’s about all that’s made here these days.
I won’t ruin the interview with Peter and sum up the whole thing, but I will tell you the article following the Interview with Peter goes more into the actual numbers of how bad things are, and what is coming. To give you a sneak peak, in the last six months, over $15 TRILLION DOLLARS has evaporated globally. Also, just in case you didn’t know, In 2008, U.S. banks held about 187 TRILLION in financial derivatives. Today, the six largest U.S. banks hold roughly $278 TRILLION in those same financial derivatives. The Best part? As you can learn in the post titled, Peter Schiff: The Fed Systematically Sabotaged the Economy; So What’s Next, the Six largest US banks are using YOUR bank deposits as collateral on those ticking time bombs!
We are about three weeks into 2016, and we are witnessing things that we have never seen before. There were two emergency market shutdowns in China within the first four trading days of this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has never lost this many points within the first three weeks, and just yesterday we learned that global stocks had officially entered bear market territory. Overall, more than 15 trillion dollars of global stock market wealth has been wiped out since last June. And of course the markets are simply playing catch up with global economic reality. The Baltic Dry Index just hit another new all-time record low today, Wal-Mart has announced that they are shutting down 269 stores, and initial jobless claims in the U.S. just surged to their highest level in six months. So if things are this bad already, what will the rest of 2016 bring?
The Dow was up just a little bit on Thursday thankfully, but even with that gain we are still in unprecedented territory. According to CNBC, we have never seen a tougher start to the year for the Dow than we have in 2016…
The Dow Jones industrial average, which was created in 1896, has never begun a year with 12 worse trading days. Through Wednesday’s close, the Dow has fallen 9.5 percent. Even including the 1.3 percent gains as of noon Thursday, the Dow is still down nearly 8 percent in 2016.
But even with the carnage that we have seen so far, stocks are still wildly overpriced compared to historical averages. In order for stocks to no longer be in a “bubble”, they will still need to decline by about another one-third. The following comes from MarketWatch…
Data from the U.S. Federal Reserve, meanwhile, say U.S. nonfinancial corporate stocks are now valued at about 90% of the replacement cost of company assets, a metric known as “Tobin’s Q.” But the historic average, going back a century, is in the region of 60% of replacement costs. By this measure, stocks could fall by another third, taking the Dow all the way down toward 10,000. (On Wednesday it closed at 15,767.) Similar calculations could be reached by comparing share prices to average per-share earnings, a measure known as the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio, commonly known as CAPE, after Yale financeprofessor Robert Shiller, who made it famous.
Of course the mainstream media doesn’t seem to understand any of this. They seem to be under the impression that the bubble should have lasted forever, and this latest meltdown has taken them totally by surprise.
Ultimately, what is happening should not be a surprise to any of us. The financial markets always catch up with economic reality eventually, and right now evidence continues to mount that economic activity is significantly slowing down. Here is some analysis from Brandon Smith…
Trucking freight in the U.S. is in steep decline, with freight companies pointing to a “glut in inventories” and a fall in demand as the culprit.
Morgan Stanley’s freight transportation update indicates a collapse in freight demand worse than that seen during 2009.
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of global freight rates and thus a measure of global demand for shipping of raw materials, has collapsed to even more dismal historic lows. Hucksters in the mainstream continue to push the lie that the fall in the BDI is due to an “overabundance of new ships.” However, the CEO of A.P. Moeller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, put that nonsense to rest when he admitted in November that “global growth is slowing down” and “[t]rade is currently significantly weaker than it normally would be under the growth forecasts we see.”
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in mid-January reached seven-month highs, perhaps a sign that the rate of layoffs in the U.S. has risen slightly from record lows.
Initial jobless claims climbed a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 293,000 in the seven days stretching from Jan. 10 to Jan 16, the government said Thursday. That’s the highest level since last July.
Since the last recession, the primary engine for the creation of good jobs in this country has been the energy industry.
Unfortunately, the “oil boomtowns” are now going bust, and workers are being laid off in droves. As I mentioned the other day, 42 North American oil companies have filed for bankruptcy and 130,000 good paying energy jobs have been lost in this country since the start of 2015. And as long as the price of oil stays in this neighborhood, the worse things are going to get.
A lot of people out there still seem to think that this is just going to be a temporary downturn. Many are convinced that we will just go through another tough recession and then we will come out okay on the other side. What they don’t realize is that a number of long-term trends are now reaching a crescendo.
For decades, we have been living wildly beyond our means. The federal government, state and local governments, corporations and consumers have all been going into debt far faster than our economy has been growing. Of course this was never going to be sustainable in the long run, but we had been doing it for so long that many of us had come to believe that our exceedingly reckless debt-fueled prosperity was somehow “normal”.
Unfortunately, the truth is that you can’t consume far more than you produce forever. Eventually reality catches up with you. This is a point that Simon Black made extremely well in one of his recent articles…
Economics isn’t complicated. The Universal Law of Prosperity is very simple: produce more than you consume.
Governments, corporations, and individuals all have to abide by it. Those who do will thrive. Those who don’t will fail, sooner or later.
When the entire financial system ignores this fundamental rule, it puts us all at risk.
And if you can understand that, you can take simple, sensible steps to prevent the consequences.
Sadly, the time for avoiding the consequences of our actions is now past.
We are now starting to pay the price for decades of incredibly bone-headed decisions, and anyone that is looking to Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve or anyone else in Washington D.C. to be our savior is going to be bitterly disappointed.
And as bad as things have been so far, just wait until you see what happens next.
A disprorportionate amount of chatter has flourished during the last week after Donald Trump's refusal to appear at the last Republican Presidential Debate on Thursday January 28, 2016, because Megyn Kelly will moderate the Political Event. Supposedly, Donald Trump was viciously grilled by Fox's Megyn Kelly during the first Republican Presidential Debate in 2015, and apparently Mr. Trump doesn't want a repeat of the harsh scrutiny before the American Audience in prime-time; Afterall, he is the percieved Republican Candidate for the Presidential Election this coming November (2016).
Upon a closer examination what is presented as a clash of personalities between Candidate Trump and Fox News Anchor, Megyn Kelly may not actually be what 'they' are leading us to believe it is. It seems to me that this might be a case of drawing attention to create interest. A ploy to pretend animosity when in fact it's done to achieve either favor or sympathy.
To examine my hypothesis, let's look at some details readily available online about Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump:
Trump has described his political leanings and positions in various, sometimes contradictory ways over time.[152][153][154][155]Politico has described his positions as "eclectic, improvisational and often contradictory."[155] He has listed his party affiliation as Republican, Independence Party, Democrat, and "decline to state."[156][155] He has also run as a Reform Party candidate.[156] Specifically, he has changed his positions on taxing the wealthy, abortion rights and health care.[155]
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Trump runs on a highly populist [20] platform that often appeals to the concerns of working-class voters who feels displaced by job losses and changes to America's ethnic and religious demographics. Trump has gained widespread support for what he and his supporters call "telling it like it is,"[216][217] with a disdain for political correctness.[218][219] He is running counter to the Republican establishment, which widely opposes his candidacy and worries that him winning could hand the election to the Democratic nominee.[220]
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Trump has employed strong rhetoric on religion, expressing negative sentiments about Muslims. Specifically, he has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. He has raised questions about the religious beliefs of other candidates, including Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.
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Trump is a Presbyterian.[320] In an April 2011 interview on the 700 Club, he commented: "I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. And you know I've had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion."[321][322]Trump told a 2015 South Carolina campaign audience he joined the Marble Collegiate Church, where he married his first wife Ivana in 1977. The church has said he is "not an active member".[323]
In 1983, the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, described in a New York Times profile as Trump's "pastor" and "family minister," said that Trump was "kindly and courteous in certain business negotiations and has a profound streak of honest humility."[52] Trump calls his own book The Art of the Deal (1987) "my second favorite book of all time", and has told campaign audiences: "Do you know what my first is? The Bible! Nothing beats the Bible."[324][325] Declining to name his favorite Bible verse, Trump said "I don't like giving that out to people that you hardly know."[323]
Trump has said that while he participates in Holy Communion, he has not asked God for forgiveness for his sins. He says: "I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture."[326]
Trump also has strong ties with the Jewish American community.[329] Asked in 2015 at an Algemeiner Journal awards ceremony about having Jewish grandchildren, Trump said: "Not only do I have Jewish grandchildren, I have a Jewish daughter (Ivanka, who converted to Judaism before her marriage to Jared Kushner) and I am very honored by that … it wasn't in the plan but I am very glad it happened."[330]
Note:
Both Megyn Kelly's and Donald Trump's personal info was found on Wikipedia.
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