Watchman Blog

The “Interfaith Alliance” and Islam, followup

CARM (Link) - Matt Slick (July 12, 2011)

An organization called “The Irnterfaith Alliance” promoted a “Faith Shared” project where churches across the U.S. would do things like have a Muslim Imam read the Quran at the Christian Pulpit.

The churches that participated were listed on the Faith Shared website. They consisted of United Methodist churches, some liberal Lutheran churches, a few that were Catholic, several that were United Churches of Christ, along with Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Unitarian universalist churches. There was a Baptist church and one church called “The Church of our Savior.” Undoubtedly, these “churches” are so liberal they probably aren’t Christian. After all, why would any Christian church want anti-Christian literature read from the pulpit, the place where the truth of God’s word is supposed to be preached?

Why? The answer is simple; they have ignored God’s word and trampled underfoot the gospel of Christ so they might follow the liberal call of political correctness and social tolerance. Fortunately, there were less than 75 churches that participated. But even one is too many.

Ezekiel 37 and End-Times Bible Prophecy: Fulfillment Before Our Very Eyes

Christian Post (Link) - Blog: John Claeys (June 28, 2011)

Frederick the Great of Prussia, who had been listening to Voltaire’s agnostic ideas, asked one of his court chaplains: “If the Bible is true, it ought to be capable of very clear and succinct witness. Generally when I ask if the Bible is true, I am handed some long scholarly volume which I have neither the time nor the patience to read. If your Bible is true, give me the proof of it in one word.” The chaplain answered in this way: “Sire, Israel.”

Israel is the one-word demonstration of the veracity of Scripture because God has chosen the Jewish nation to be at the center of God’s kingdom plan. In addition, the miracle of Israel demonstrates the trustworthiness of Scripture. After all, the Bible predicted Jews would be scattered from the land—which occurred in 70 A.D.—and then would be brought back to form a nation.

Never before in the history of human-kind had a nation been dissolved and then, after many years (in Israel’s case, almost 1,900) resurrected—until it happened with Israel. Never before had a language been lost to the world and then resurrected—until it occurred with Hebrew, the language of the Jews of Israel.

Revolution in the Middle East and its connection to Revelation

The Examiner (Link) - Nicole Horrelt (February 7, 2011)

In response to the recent wave of Arab revolts and current uprising in Egypt, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his February 4 Friday Prayer sermon in Tehran, welcomed the “revolution and awakening” and interpreted in detail his ideological analysis and aspirations with regard to the “explosion of sacred anger” in the Middle East.

Khamenei, identifying himself as a ‘brother in religion’ to the Arab people, concluded that the recent wave of unrest shaking the nations was an “earthquake” triggered by the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and condemned the Mubarak regime for siding with the West; choosing to support the ‘Zionists’ rather than the Palestinians, pointing out that since Camp David a great divide was created between the Egyptian people and the government.

During Friday prayers the Ayatollah addressed the Egyptian protestors saying “the uprising of the Muslim Egyptian nation is an Islamic and freedom-seeking movement. I, in the name of the people and government of Iran, send salutations to you and pray to God for your complete victory. Of you and your uprising I am filled with pride.”

Can evolution determine right and wrong?

Creation Science Evangelism (Link) (January 13, 2011)

A critique of an article entitled “The Science of Right and Wrong” in the January 2011 edition of Scientific American.¹

The science of right and wrong

Scientific American has recently published an article on the science of moral issues, written by the atheist publisher and author, Michael Shermer. The purpose of the article—which quotes favorably from Sam Harris’s book, The Moral Landscape—is to claim that morality is something which human beings have acquired by a process of evolution.  As one would expect in an article by an atheist, Shermer’s writings contain a number of presuppositions and logical fallacies.

For example, Shermer begins his article by declaring: “Ever since the rise of modern science, an almost impregnable wall separating it from religion, morality and human values has been raised to the heights.” In fact, the majority of scientists of the modern era were men who believed the Bible to be true—men such as Newton, Lister, Hooke, Boyle, Kelvin, Faraday, etc. All of these subscribed to a morality based not on naturalistic principles, but on God’s law.

The Fig Tree Has Budded

Douglas Hamp (Link) - Douglas Hamp (December 2010)

Evidence from Matthew 24 that the Lord will return in the span of a generation from Israel’s Birth

As a boy I remember feeling the rush of the wind strike my face, the sky grow dark as ominous clouds rolled in and covered the sun. Then the sounds of the thunder could be heard in the distance and the sky flashed. It was a time of great anticipation and excitement. Even though the storm was several miles away, it was clear to all that it was coming. The end times can be likened a great deal to a coming storm. We can see the storm coming and feel its effect even though it has not yet arrived fully. So it is with the Lord’s return, the signs are evident even though the event itself has not yet arrived.

Concerning the time of the Lord’s return, Jesus’ disciples asked him: “what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24:3b ESV). Jesus then began to describe the many things that would precede His second coming – many of which are being fulfilled before our eyes. Jesus said “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many,” (Matt 24:5). Since 1900 there have been many dozens who have either claimed to be Jesus or the Christ in one form or another. Some of the most notable are Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church and David Koresh of the Branch Davidian religious sect, Ariffin Mohamed from Malaysia and Sergei Torop from Russia.

He then spoke of wars, rumors of war and nation against nation.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows, (Matthew 24:6-8).

Only in the twentieth century have we seen the entire world at war not just once but twice. The projected death toll for the Second World War alone is upwards of fifty million people – a number unheard of before in human history. The past century could easily be classified as wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There are many signs of the Lord’s second coming just as there were for his first coming and the Lord rebuked the leaders of his day for not picking up on the revealed signs that were evident of his first coming.

Prosperity Gospel Treads Fine Line Between Blessing, Materialism, Say Theologians

The Christian Post (Link) - Michelle A. Vu (October 29, 2010)

There needs to be a clear distinction between true biblical prosperity and the gospel of materialism, said two African theologians who are experts in the area of prosperity gospel.

The message that God blesses those who give crosses the line from biblical into prosperity gospel when it becomes self-serving and is used to support the preacher’s extravagant lifestyle, said Kwabena Asamoah, the academic dean and associate professor of Religion and Pentecostal Theology at Trinity Theological Seminary in Legon, Ghana, at the recent Lausanne III conference.

Asamoah, who also served as senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religion at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., in 2004, defines prosperity gospel as “preaching, interpreting, teaching the word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord in a self-serving manner that places its emphasis on consumerism to suggest that the possession of material things, of those wealth are necessary indicators of general Christianity and God’s approval.”

“Prosperity is not alien to Scripture,” explained Asamoah last Saturday at the multiplex session titled, “Poverty, Prosperity and the Gospel.”

“God does promise to bless His people. But prosperity gospel distorts the blessing to mean only material blessing.”

Strange Prophetic Silence

Bible Prophecy Today (Part 1 | Part 2) - Rapture Ready - Terry James (October 18, 2010)

Todd often makes the observation these days that there seems to be a strange lack of prophetic activity; nothing in the news rivets the observer in the dramatic way, say, that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities might grab one’s attention.

This Strandberg perception of a lull in prophetic progression, as he calls it, might seem at first nonsensical, considering the tremendous procession of probable end-times issues and events that we at Rapture Ready address each week. Geopolitically, there are many signals of biblically prophetic significance. The European Union (EU) continues to consolidate power while remaining at the same time loosely confederated. Certainly, we legitimately can and do make the case for this strange entity being the likely candidate for producing revived Rome – the ten toes of iron and miry clay given in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream-vision of the final world empire (Daniel 2).

Russia is a brooding giant to Israel’s north, and at every opportunity, Iran threatens the Jewish state with oblivion. These nations combine with Turkey and others to constitute a coalescing agglomerate that has the characteristics of the foretold Gog-Magog military machine of Ezekiel 38 and 39.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin openly displays ambition that easily qualifies him as one who might aspire to be the Gog of the Ezekiel prophecies. Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spouts the kind of hatred for God’s chosen people that the prince of Persia no doubt will use to inspire Iran’s (Persia’s) leader to join with Gog in raging against Israel in that satanic attack (Daniel 10:20).

Economy Nucleus of Tribulation

Bible Prophecy Today (Link) - Terry James (August 30, 2010)

One prophetic element stands out in considering the seven-year Tribulation era, with regard to the Antichrist regime. That is the economic platform prophesied to be at the heart of the beast system.

With so many signals in view that point to the brewing Tribulation tempest, we should expect - if we are reading the end-times signals correctly - that this heart of the Beast should be well along in its construction. We have covered all of the indicators found within current issues and events that we believe are signals like those given by Jesus and the prophets. National and world economies have been dealt with in our efforts to make prophetic sense of the dynamic rearrangements taking place in recent years, months, weeks, and days.

America’s staggering weight of debt and swift economic decline is front and center in pointing to the fact, we believe, that this is the generation that stands at the end of one dispensation – the Church Age - and upon the precipice of the next – the Tribulation. Each hour seems to bring additional confirmation that the Tribulation storm is about to break upon an uncomprehending world. Such confirmation is present in abundance in the realm of geopolitics and global economics.

Since Bible prophecy clearly foretells that the Antichrist government, thus the economic engine that will power that absolute dictatorship, will emerge from Europe, we need keep our prophetic antennae pointed in that direction - i.e., we must be especially alert to news involving movement within Europe to cause significant changes to global economic structure.

7 Signs of the End Times

Bible Prophecy Today (Link) - Britt Gillette (August 26, 2010) crooked

What are the signs of the end times?

It’s important to know so we can explain to others why Christians believe what we believe.

As Peter says:

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

Unfortunately, too many Christians are unable to explain why they believe we’re in the last days when the opportunity presents itself.

One argument in particular seems to catch today’s Christians off guard.

Peter forewarned us of this argument:

“Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, ‘What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.’” 2 Peter 3:3-4

The particular version I hear most often is, “Sure, you think Jesus is coming, but so have previous generations.”

Heaven, Hell, and Emergent Heresy

Bible Prophecy Today (Link) - Eric Barger (July 25, 2010)

When one does a careful evaluation of the teachings of Emergent leaders, such as Doug Pagitt, Rob Bell, and Brian McLaren, it becomes apparent that they do not believe that Heaven, as described in the Bible, actually exists. Even clearer is their denunciation against the notion of a literal Hell. Their focus is only on the “here-and-now” existence of this life and experiencing the “journey” and “conversations” it presents.

Pagitt, for example, bristles at the notion that Heaven and Hell are actual places. According to Pagitt, God interacts with all people the same way. When asked what happens to the “good Muslim” when he dies, Pagitt told commentator Todd Friel,

“God’s going to judge the life and repair and restore and heal the life of everybody in the same way.”

Pagitt then stated that God will interact with Christians in the same way that He will with Muslims after they die. He is very clearly stating that every orthodox idea of Christianity has been mistaken and that in the end God reconciles ALL people, regardless of what they believe or even if they believe. This is the heart and soul of so-called “reconciling” universalism. (See: YouTube clip)