Michael Brown admits he has tackled many controversies over the years but says he’s not “looking for more trouble.” The errors of the hyper-grace movement, however, are something every believer must understand. Check out Dr. Brown’s explanation as you watch the video:
{eoa}
According to a new report published Tuesday by the Australian website, the same Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden is now training in South Korea for a mission to take out North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
The report states:
South Korean media claims the famed Seal Team 6—which killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011—is part of the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercise being carried out from March 7 to April 30 in South Korea.
While U.S. military would not confirm the reports, it said “ground, air, naval and special operations” are taking part in “several joint and combined field training operations” which involve up to 17,000 troops.
The special operations teams are thought to also include the Army Rangers, Delta Force and Green Berets. The training commenced one day after U.S. deployed its state-of-the art THAAD missile defense system to the region.
The participation of SEAL teams in joint operations exercises like Foal Eagle and Key Resolve is not uncommon. Special operations units would be key to the early stages of any large-scale military operation.
Technically, North and South Korea are still at war with one another. The Korean War ended only with a truce, not a peace agreement. And, with Kim conducting missile tests and nuclear detonations at an alarming rate since 2016, it may be only a matter of time before that truce is permanently broken.
President Donald Trump’s decision to immediately deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense—or THAAD—system to South Korea is in part a reaction to Kim’s saber rattling. On the other hand, the president has also been engaged in high-level discussions with other leaders in the region, particularly the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China.
Tuesday, the president tweeted:
I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!
North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! .
But, Wednesday morning, he tweeted:
Had a very good call last night with the President of China concerning the menace of North Korea.
The president met for a working dinner Tuesday evening with “senior military officials,” according to the White House official schedule. It’s very likely North Korea and the training exercises underway in South Korea were hot topics in those conversations. {eoa}
In a world fascinated with Caitlyn Jenner, are teens trying to be transgender because it’s popular?
An Australian expert who works with transgender clients discovered that may be a possibility.
Adolescents are “trying out being transgender” to stand out or gain attention from their peers, psychiatrist Stephen Stathis told The Courier Mail last week. “One said to me, ‘Dr. Steve … I want to be transgender, it’s the new black,” he recalled.
Stathis runs Brisbane’s Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital. He said a gender dysphoria diagnosis is rare and affects only a minority, 180 minors, he will see at his clinic this year.
He said most young patients he sees outgrow the feelings of gender variant interests and behaviors and don’t need treatment.
“You might get a 6- or 7-year-old girl wanting to dress as a boy,” he said. “She may even say she wants to be a boy. When she hits puberty, she says, ‘No, I’m just a girl who likes to do boy things.'”
According to The Brisbane Times, Stathis requires children and adolescents to undergo intensive mental-health screenings before he prescribes hormone blockers. Teens must also prove that they have “socially transitioned” to their preferred gender for at least six months. {eoa}
Copyright The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., All rights reserved.
“Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we also be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6:4-5).
When you receive Christ into your life, you also receive the heavenly reality of His death and resurrection. When He was crucified, so were our sinful natures, our sicknesses and our separation from God. When He was resurrected, we were resurrected with Him into a victorious new life.
Our Christian life is a journey with God in which He gives us supernatural power to walk in victory over sin and to bear fruit that glorifies Him. If you feel burdened by a continuing struggle, addiction or heavy past, you can be free and you can change. I want to share with you my own story of being reconciled to the Father through Christ and give you practical insight into how you can receive the reality of the cross into your life.
Encountering the Holy Spirit for the First Time
When I was saved in 1973, I was a drug addict and a high school dropout. I felt about as far from God as you could get. Although my father was a pastor, at that time I was totally disinterested in Christianity, and was experimenting with Eastern religions like Zen Buddhism. My compass was off, but I was hungry for spiritual truth.
One weekend when I was 17, I was at a wild party at my friend’s house when I looked around and realized I was actually bored. I found a quiet, vacant bedroom in the back of the house, where I found myself beginning to talk to God. In an audible voice, I cried out, “God, I don’t know if you exist. But if You do exist, and what my parents told me as a little boy is true, that You died for my sins and that there is a heaven and a hell, I want you to reveal Yourself to me and reveal the truth to me.”
At that moment, I felt a surge of energy envelop my body, touching me with warmth and love I had never experienced before. My mind suddenly cleared as if someone had pulled up a window shade, and I knew that Jesus was real. His death on the cross was a real event, and His act of love was directed to me. I immediately left the room and told all of my friends about my encounter with God, and although they believed I was just high on drugs, this was no one-time event. That encounter with God, and the reality that I could be reconciled to Him through Jesus’ blood, changed my life forever.
A Life Reconciled to God
“And you, who were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight” (Col. 1:21-22).
Now reconciled to God, I broke my addiction to drugs. Not only was I able to overcome sin, I desired to spend my life glorifying Him. When God met me in that back bedroom over 40 years ago, He did not condemn me or tell me how terrible I was; He overwhelmed me with His love and forgiveness. When we truly experience revelation of God’s abundant, extravagant love, we begin to walk in “newness of life.”
His grace will empower you to change. I encourage you today to think of anything specific that makes you feel far from God. Then follow these three steps to help you receive the reality of the cross:
1. Draw near to God today. Spend time in His presence, thanking Him for His goodness and listening for His voice (see Heb. 10:19-22).
Beginning a New Journey
Even if you have believed in God for years, you may have never fully received the reality of the cross: the fact that you have been resurrected with Christ, and reconciled to your Creator. This Easter, let’s meditate on the reality of what Jesus has done for us and how His resurrection also means we can experience resurrection life. God has a wonderful destiny planned for you, including a victorious life in Christ; a full, satisfying relationship with the Father; and incredible purpose. {eoa}
Ché Ahn and his wife, Sue, are the founding pastors of HRock Church in Pasadena, California. Ché serves as the founder and president of Harvest International Ministry (HIM) and the International Chancellor of Wagner Leadership Institute (WLI). With a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary, he has played a key role in many strategic outreaches on local, national and international levels. He has written more than a dozen books and travels extensively throughout the world, bringing apostolic insight with an impartation of renewal, healing and evangelism.
This article originally appeared at .
One of my most memorable experiences in Israel happened many years ago right outside the Old City of Jerusalem. I was living at a school on Mount Zion at the time, pursuing a master’s degree in Judeo-Christian Studies. As students often do, we came up with a bright idea that provided adventure while burning off pent-up energy from days spent in class. Our idea was to hike to the top of the Mount of Olives to watch the sunrise.
Early one morning, while it was still dark outside, a group of about six of us began the hike around Mount Zion, alongside the southern walls of the Old City, down into the Kidron Valley, and then up the Mount of Olives, passing the Garden of Gethsemane along the way. We had only just begun our trek around Mount Zion when we unexpectedly heard a rooster crow.
In the still of the night, the sound of that rooster reverberated off the stone walls and hills of Jerusalem and could be heard throughout the area. I was immediately transported back some 2,000 years. It was in this same vicinity of Jerusalem that Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times before hearing a rooster crow for the second time, just as Jesus had said would happen. I could just imagine how loud it had sounded to Peter, jolting him into the realization of what he had done and how Jesus had predicted that very moment.
A rooster crowing in the middle of Jerusalem was not something I would have expected to hear. “But then again,” I thought to myself, “it is the Middle East.” What I did not know then, but I came to learn some years later, is that we were walking right beside the church that commemorates this story in Scripture—and this church keeps a rooster on the premises. We probably woke the poor bird up!
The Beginning of Jesus’ Sufferings
The church is called St. Peter Gallicantu and is thought to be built over the remains of the High Priest Caiaphas’ palace. Peter’s triple rejection of Jesus “before the rooster crows twice” took place in the courtyard outside of the high priest’s house (Mark 14:30).
The remains of a first-century aristocratic home can be seen beneath the church, and below the home is a dungeon, chiseled out of the Jerusalem bedrock, that was used to hold prisoners. From the dungeon guards could look down into a deep, dark pit that was used to hold someone in solitary confinement.
This dungeon is always a very moving experience for Christian visitors. Whereas prisoners would have been lowered by rope into the dark pit below, tourists today can walk down a set of stairs and gather inside to pray and read Psalm 88. What a moving place to meditate on the loneliness and rejection Jesus would have felt in the pitch-black darkness of a cold stone pit.
Whether this is truly Caiaphas’ house and where Jesus was held overnight is not known. But his house would have been in this general proximity and would have included a place for holding prisoners—just like this one.
If this house is not that of Caiaphas, then Jesus walked right beside it, because next to the church is a set of first-century stone stairs climbing Mount Zion from the Kidron Valley. We can be certain that Jesus climbed those stairs, bound and guarded by soldiers, as He was taken from the Garden of Gethsemane to be questioned by the Sanhedrin in Caiaphas’ house.
This was the beginning of Jesus’ imprisonment and sufferings leading up to His crucifixion. While Peter stood outside in the courtyard and denied knowing Him, Jesus may have been crying out to God from inside a dark pit:
“You have laid me in the depths of the pit, in dark and deep regions. … You have caused my companions to be far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot escape” (Psalm 88:6, 8).
St. Peter Gallicantu is a “must” for any Christian tour group. It allows a small glimpse into the loneliness and abandonment Jesus felt on His final night when He was “despised and rejected of men,” while He bore “our griefs” and “carried our sorrows” (Is. 53:3–4). {eoa}
Susan M. Michael is U.S. director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem , and her “Lessons from the Land” articles can be found at . For information on the ICEJ’s tours to Israel, go to
Fresno State University said they will fully cooperate with any federal investigation after a professor posted a series of Twitter messages calling for President Trump to be hanged and for Republicans to be executed.
“To save American democracy, Trump must hang,” Professor Lars Maischak wrote on his Twitter account in February. “The sooner and the higher, the better.”
“Has anyone started soliciting money and design drafts for a monument honoring the Trump assassin, yet?” the professor asked in an earlier tweet.
Fresno State President Joseph Castro said the professor’s comments, first reported by Breitbart News, “warrant further review and consideration.”
“Professor Maischak’s personal views and commentary, with its inclusion of violent and threatening language, is obviously inconsistent with the core values of our University,” Castro wrote on the university’s website.
“The review of these and any other statements will be conducted in the context of rights of free expression, but also for potential direct threats of violence that may violate the law,” he added.
Maischak, who is a history lecturer, also went after Republicans, tweeting, “Justice = The execution of two Republicans for each deported immigrant.”
Maischak told Fox26 News he was “appalled that the president of the university is allowing himself to be instrumentalized for a right-wing smear campaign.”
“Specifically, the suggestion that I had made ‘potential direct threats of violence that may violate the law’ is unwarranted,” he wrote. “It constitutes an embrace by the university of the claims made by right-wing propaganda outlets.”
The professor is not a big fan of the “right-wing” media.
“The function of articles like the one produced by Breitbart and affiliates is to whip up a digital lynch mob of people sending threats and insults to my email and Twitter accounts, with the ultimate goal of silencing dissenters,” he told the newspaper.
He went on to say he does not condone violence even though that’s exactly what he advocated in his Twitter feed.
“From the context of the entirety of my tweets, this should be evident to anyone reading them in good faith (as opposed to malicious intent),” he said.
In other words, he’s taking the “It all depends on what the definition of hang is” defense.
Republican students at Fresno State have every right to be deeply concerned about their safety and well-being inside that man’s classroom.
That’s why I believe Professor Maischak should be fired—immediately.
And should Fresno State University decide to retain his services, we should call on the federal government to defund the school. There’s no good reason for our tax dollars to pay the salary of a man who wants to execute the president.
So Fresno State should be given a choice: Either fire the professor or lose federal funding. {eoa}
Prophetic author and speaker Doug Addison shared a new word Tuesday with readers of Elijah List in which he said we must prepare for a new time in which God will bring provision in unusual ways—and that even though we might yet have clarity, the Lord will provide greater insight over the next 30 to 60 days.
Big changes are coming, though, he said.
“The scepter of the wicked over the land (and callings) allotted to the righteous is being returned to the righteous who will use it for peace,” he wrote. “The Lord is restoring lost fortunes, land and callings.
“Right now, the books in heaven are being balanced and those who have sown in tears in this past season are now going to begin to reap with joy. Those who have wept before the Lord, carrying the words of the Lord, are now going to return with songs of joy and sheaves from the harvest. You are going to weep for joy as you are going to reap from your weeping.”
Addison also shared a word about Washington, D.C.
“In the next 45 days, the wind of change is going to hit Washington and the White House,” he wrote. “I am encouraging people to pray for President Trump on a regular basis. Whether you voted for him or not, agree or disagree, he needs your prayers right now, as the weight of his office is settling upon him.
“There has been a sense of unrest in the government during all these changes. This is common during an administration change. Pray that God will rest upon the leaders to make godly decisions.”
Click here to read the entire article at the Elijah List website. {eoa}
It’s called a “binding ritual,” which, they say, is the spiritual equivalent of a judge blocking the president’s actions. The Boston Globe even directs readers to links to perform the spells themselves.
Can you even imagine media outlets printing or providing links to an occult spell against our president?
Can you further imagine the media actually giving a witch’s hints on how to invoke curses on the president of the United States?
You might expect this in a country where voodoo is venerated, but not in America.
Scripture deals very specifically with witchcraft.
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Sam. 15:23).
“And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” (2 Kings 9:22, KJV).
The word “witchcrafts” here is plural: That means there are at least two distinct types or levels of witchcraft.
Paul tells us in Galatians 5:20 that the first category, the lowest level of witchcraft, will begin as a work of the flesh, which is the desire to control others. Some wish so desperately to control, they’re willing to resort to occult practices as spirit-cooking, Ouija boards, and binding rituals.
Unless a person repents of the desire to control others—the fleshly level of witchcraft—they will subsequently plunge into a preternatural and dangerous level, attracting the realm of the demonic. Witchcraft as a work of the flesh will quickly shift into the demonic form of witchcraft, and could lead to demon-possession or deep demonic oppression in the one practicing it.
The Bible says that in the last days, “But evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Tim. 3:13, MEV ).
Today, witches say they are uniting to rid the planet of President Trump through demonic incantations. They plan to meet every crescent moon to invoke their demonic rituals against the president and allege that additional spells will continue being cast until Trump is no longer president.
Watchman on the wall, Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries, says, “Christians should band together and pray against the entire Antichrist agenda.”
Genuine Bible-believing, Spirit-filled Christians must these two things now:
1. Conduct spiritual warfare on behalf our president and our nation.
“Therefore I exhort first of all that you make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Tim. 2:1-3).
“Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:11-12).
The word “intercede,” as mentioned in Timothy, in the Greek language is entungchano, which means to pray on behalf of others, but also to pray against evil and the forces of darkness.
It’s spiritual warfare. Why not get together with other Spirit-filled believers, remembering that greater is he (the Holy Spirit) in you that he (the devil) that is in this world.
And how about this? As you pray over your meals, make it a point to follow Paul’s admonition to pray for those in authority. Ask God to help our president, and that any curse would fail to stick.
Remember Proverbs 26:2: “As the bird by flitting, as the swallow by flying, so the curse without cause shall not alight.”
And Proverbs 26:27: “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will return upon him.”
Haman, Balaam, Ahithophel, and Judas Iscariot all sought to curse that which was blessed by God—and it cost them their lives.
2. So, remember to pray for those trapped in New Age occultism and witchcraft.
They haven’t found the supernatural power of the living God through Jesus Christ.
We live in a high-risk time. If we give up now, our nation will be lost. But if we, like Gideon, King David and the Apostles, put our trust in the living God and take our positions confidently as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom, we’ll see a great genuine revival, huge advances and a sure and secure future for America.
Dr. Dave Williams served for over 30 years as pastor of Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan, with over 500 outreach ministries around the world. During his tenure, Mount Hope Church gave over $40,000,000 to world and local missions. His leadership training course, The Art of Pacesetting Leadership, is credited with catapulting one church from 226 to over 4,000. Another church went from 8 to over 1,000. His all-time best-selling book, The New Life: The Start of Something Wonderful, is a practical, step-by-step guide to help new believers become established in their Christian walk and has sold over 2.5 million copies. On May 2, 2017, Charisma House will release his latest book, Hope in the Last Days. Dave now focuses on helping young ministers whenever he has an opportunity.
The chaos that erupted on a United Airlines flight yesterday should never have happened.
I was in the vicinity of two unfortunate United Airline situations over the past week.
First, I was on my way to preach at the Strike the Match Conference in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada last Thursday. My flight from Chicago to Toronto was delayed most probably due to a fake bomb threat on a Toronto to Chicago flight earlier in the day.
Second, I was at O’Hare International Airport again, this time on my way back from the conference recently (which, by the way, was an electric and supernatural explosion of Holy Spirit power) —the same day passenger David Dao was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight.
The police never should have been called. David never should have been dragged off the airplane. He never should have been bloodied or knocked unconscious. This never should have become a trending story on social media.
David Dao should have obeyed the directive to walk off the plane.
I have to admit, I am disturbed at the number of Christians who are knee-jerk reacting against United Airlines and in favor of the unruly passenger. While the police may have possibly employed regrettable actions, the airline was acting within their rights, just as they do many times a day in similar situations. Submission to authority is an elementary level truth for believers. David Dao and every one of the nearly 1 billion air travelers in the United States agree to very clear, non-negotiable terms when they buy their ticket. The Contract of Carriage allows airlines to remove and rebook passengers.
Complaining, refusing to comply and rejecting the directives of our authorities is ungodly behavior. Period. David may or may not be a believer, but Christians, you should know better.
Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may be blameless and harmless, sons of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world (Phil. 2:14-15).
Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You hurt Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your eyes, that You lay the burden of all this people on me?” (Num. 11:11).
My United Airlines Experience
Everybody who travels by air is well aware of the fact that there is a chance you won’t make it on time. My trip to Canada and back was negatively impacted both directions. I was exhausted in both instances and easily could have been grumpy and unreasonable with the decision-makers who were putting stress on my journey.
Two flights were delayed on the way to Canada, and air traffic control issues forced the cancellation of my flight from Chicago to home last night. I missed my daughter’s birthday because of it. Plus, the airline only paid half of my hotel. I’m out at least $160 for hotel, food, toiletries and so on. Guess what? That’s life, folks! I wasn’t pounding my fist on the United Airlines customer service counter (after waiting in line for an hour) demanding better treatment. I didn’t strong-arm them into finding my luggage that was unnecessarily checked through to my final destination at the gate, by the way, so I could have clean clothes to wear today. I was tired, probably a little smelly and ready to go home. Instead, I emptied my wallet because of no fault of my own, checked into a hotel somewhere in Chicago, slept just a little, woke up early, wore the same smelly clothes today, and finally flew home.
How sad a story that is, right? You have to be kidding. That’s simply called travel.
Come on, people. It’s not all about us. Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned. Yes, the man in Chicago who refused to deplane was extremely in the wrong.
It’s our job as lights in a dark world to smile and reveal the life and love of Jesus in challenging and unfair situations and not grumble and demand that our rights be met.
Ironically, just as I emerged from the jet bridge in Springfield, Missouri, I saw the group of people waiting to board the plane for their own flight. The attendant said, “This flight is overbooked and we are looking for volunteers to surrender their seats.” I’m sure those who either volunteered or were forced to give up their seats acted much more maturely and appropriately than the gentleman did yesterday.
The Lost Art of Submission to Authority
Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil works. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from him, for he is the servant of God for your good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him who practices evil. So it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for the sake of conscience (Rom. 13:3-5).
We aren’t only to submit to authority that is fair or right. We don’t turn our submission on and off based on our own analysis of the situation. We should have no fear of authority, of pastors, of leaders, of the police, if we are doing what is right.
Regardless of whether David Dao was treated properly or not, he disobeyed a clear and direct order. He was wrong, no matter how important he believed himself to be. Entitlement must go. Humility and submission to authority must find its way into our independent, narcissistic culture.
As I said above, I’m stunned at the Christians who are instant in their defense and outright celebration of David’s clear indiscretion. In today’s society, it seems it’s the authority that’s always the villain. Corporations, pastors, police officers, parents and others are held in suspicion at best and rebelled against without apology at worst.
Airlines absolutely have the right to remove people for any reason. Refusal to comply is against the law. That simply cannot be argued. We are required, per Scripture, to obey. Our supposed “rights” are not more important than our responsibility to submit.
God will always support authority that is wrong before he supports one under authority who is right and in rebellion. Those who don’t understand this set themselves up for great bitterness both against authority and God.
We presume God is most interested in right vs. wrong. He is not. He’s interested in our response, our reaction.
It doesn’t matter if United Airlines was wrong (though I personally do not think they were), David’s reaction was unacceptable. The airline had the right to do what they did. They had no obligation to explain themselves. They along with the lawmakers write the rules.
There are many “unfair” rules the flight attendants must enforce on flights. They are irritating. I really don’t think my seat being two inches more upright is really going to save me in an air disaster. However, they are in charge. What they say goes, whether it’s when we can wear headphones, get up to use the restroom or whether we get to fly that day at all. They—and ultimately, the captain—are our authorities in the air. It doesn’t matter if we like the rules or agree with the rules. We simply have to obey the rules. I think introducing, “Yes sir, yes ma’am; no sir, no ma’am” back into our culture would do us all a lot of good.
False Human Rights
From my Charisma News article False Human Rights Destroying the Church and our Nation:
Today we are absolutely overwhelmed by the constant, self-centered shouts of those who demand that their country—or their church—gives them what they believe is rightfully theirs.
It’s a false human rights movement.
The right to abortion. The right for same-sex marriage. The right to be equal. The right to be heard.
It’s a sickening, selfish focus that is driven by human desire instead of a willingness to take up our cross and die. How often have people left churches because their supposed rights weren’t addressed? How much dissension is in the workplace because people are looked over in favor of another?
I’ve said it before—today, when people’s self-centered pursuits are rejected, they abandon relationships, leave churches and cause division, but when Jesus was rejected, He didn’t abandon people. He didn’t forsake the church.
An offended people will destroy a nation. A surrendered people will build a nation.
All over social media today I’m reading about who was right and who was wrong. Some are screaming that United Airlines was wrong and that David is the victim.
Friend, it’s not about right or wrong. It’s about our response.
Christians are being tortured, raped and murdered as martyrs all over the world, and we think someone being required to vacate a seat on an airplane is a violation of human rights? We’d have to be sick to think such a thing!
Covens in the Church
From my book on authority, Covens in the Church:
The enemy has caused many to believe that we can’t experience freedom while being submitted. This is simply not true.
Freedom from authority is rebellion.
Freedom in the absence of authority is anarchy.
Freedom under authority is liberty.
It must be made clear now that while God desires leaders to serve with great love, humility, passion and care, there are some in the body who simply do not do so. While God will hold those leaders deeply accountable for their leadership, God will hold the rest of us accountable for how we respond to them. Do we serve from a position of great love, humility, passion and care–or not?
Loving submission to authority is non-negotiable and more important now that it has ever been.
God loves you very much and is capable of protecting you even as He has placed you under the authority of imperfect men and women. Remember, we are not to be self-governing in an attempt to protect ourselves from flawed leaders. That is the wrong response to the problem. Using a spirit of control to fight a spirit of control doesn’t work. This is the core idea of the entire book. As we submit to those whom God placed over us, be they good or evil, God will ensure our protection.
We may have to go through difficult situations that seemingly limit us, put our dreams on hold or even violate our pet ideas and opinions. The situations may last years, but we must submit in love without failure! God is able to bring us through!
We never speak against or elevate our own opinions above God’s established authority. Pastors, prophets, apostles, politicians, policemen, bosses, etc. We humbly support them, unless, and only unless, they were to cause us to violate a clear Scriptural truth. That’s it.
It’s important to understand that to submit to God’s appointed leaders in our lives only to the point where we agree with the order is not submission at all.
Submission is actually spotlighted when someone honors his or her authority when the order is contrary to their own opinions, experience or position. We can agree with our authority while not agreeing with the order or instruction or position. It is never appropriate to remove ourselves from a position of submission if the order given is inconvenient, bothersome or irritating.
Honor of Authority Must Return—to the Nation and to the Church
It’s time to crucify our narcissistic, independent flesh and love and honor—and obey—the authorities God has put in our lives. We don’t have to be afraid. We can be free.
Today there seems to be a new uprising against the establishment, against leadership almost continually.
We can contend for cultural change. In fact, as kingdom Christians, we have a mandate to do that. But, we do it with intercession, love and honor for our leaders.
God will not affirm those who use control, manipulation, unrighteous anger and an independent spirit to affect change.
Entire movements of zealous intercessors and godly social activists can do wonders in society—as long as their hearts are right.
Come on friends, let’s change the world the right way. Let’s go the way of honor. God will have our backs. {eoa}
As the birth of Jesus was announced by the light of the Star of Bethlehem, so the death of Jesus was announced by the darkness of Calvary (Luke 23:44-45).
It is not likely that an atmospheric phenomenon caused the unusual darkness because of the astonishment expressed by observers. Further, the cause of the darkness at noon is stated to be cessation of the shining of the Sun, a celestial event. The most logical celestial cause to look for would be a solar eclipse. Indeed, the early Christian writer Africanus quotes two first-century historians, Thallus and Phlegon, who both stated that an eclipse occurred during a full moon during the reign of Tiberius.
However, the darkness could not have been caused by an eclipse, because the sun and moon were on opposite sides of the sky during the full moon which marks the Passover and the Crucifixion. A similar effect could have been caused by a large celestial body, like some recently discovered in the outer reaches of the solar system, or a stellar cloud, which could have passed between the earth and sun at that time. Alternatively the sun itself could have seemed to black out in a fashion similar to stars such as R-Corona Borealis, which suffer sudden catastrophic decreases in light emission caused by conditions in the stellar atmosphere. Thus, it is possible for the sun to have stopped shining for a time.
If the cause of the sudden solar darkness was celestial, one effect of the darkness would have been to bring the stars into visibility at noon. Off to the west the Northern Cross would have stood upright on the horizon, aligning with the actual cross when viewed from Jerusalem. South of the Cross Delphinus (The Dolphin) promised the resurrection, while to the North Cepheus the King stood directly over Draco the Dragon. Draco lay on the horizon, illustrating the fact that blood of Christ shed at the crucifixion ended Satan’s access to heaven as man’s accuser, and Satan was cast out of Heaven down to Earth (Rev. 12:12).
Directly overhead at noon was the eighth chapter of the Star Bible, Aries (The Ram) which pictures the promised victory of the Lamb of God. The constellation shows the sacrifice of Christ, replacing the Ram of Abraham sacrificed on the same hill of Zion 2084 years earlier, as confirmed by the Star names El Nath (Wounded) and Sheratan (Bruised). But the slain Lamb of God is also the Lamb who will open the seals of the book of Revelation (Rev. 5:6-14) as we move toward the end of the Age.
Christ’s enemies at the end of the Age are represented by the constellation Cetus (the Sea Monster) which pictures the same seven-headed beast we see in the book of Revelation (Rev. 13:1, 17:3). Star names Mira (the Rebel), Diphda (the Overthrown), and Minkar (Bound Enemy) confirm the character and fate of Cetus. The One was overthrows and binds Cetus, Christ, is pictured in the constellation Perseus (The Breaker), who is shown carrying the severed heads of his enemies in the star Algol (Evil Spirit).
The third constellation associated with Aries is Cassiopeia (The Enthroned Woman). This constellation reminds us that the nation of Israel, which had rejected Christ and is represented by Andromeda (The Chained Woman) in the Church age, will be restored and lifted up when Christ returns (Is. 60:1-2).
On April 19 the sun enters Aires, obscuring it in the light. However, you can find Perseus and Cassiopeia near the Northwestern horizon in the early evening this week. Cassiopeia is especially easy to find because of its distinctive “W” configuration.
Aries tell us that God keeps His promises, whether they be of grace or judgment. Encourage a friend tonight to move into the grace side of God’s promises. {eoa}
Ron Allen is a Christian businessman, CPA and author who serves in local, national and international ministries spreading a message of reconciliation to God, to men and between believers. He is founder of the International Star Bible Society, telling how the heavens declare the glory of God, and the Emancipation Network, which helps people escape from financial bondage, and co-founder with his wife, Pat, of Corporate Prayer Resources, dedicated to helping intercessors.