All posts filed under: z166

British pastor raised from the dead through world-wide prayer chain?

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This past November, Christopher Wickland, 47, who pastors the Word Pentecostal Church in Fareham, Hampshire, England suffered a heart attack after jumping on a trampoline, along with three of his children, at the Flip Out trampoline park. According to the Daily Mail, the park staff immediately rushed to Wickland’s aid thinking he had just passed out. However, when they realized he wasn’t breathing and his heart had stopped, it took four defibrillator shocks to restart Wickland’s heart. The ambulance arrived in about 15 minutes and transported Wickland to St. Mary’s hospital in Southampton, where he was put in an induced coma. But because he had been dead and not breathing for 15 minutes, doctors at the hospital told Christopher’s wife, Tracey, to prepare for the worst. Even if he survived, there would undoubtedly be brain and heart damage. After receiving this dark news, Tracey immediately posted what happened to her husband on Facebook: “I put it on Facebook and it was amazing because hundreds of people from around the world contacted me and told me …

Is Amazon paving the way for the Mark of the Beast?

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Several Christian websites are expressing concerns that Amazon’s plans to create technology allowing people to make purchases with their hand is paving the way for the Mark of the Beast warned by the Apostle John in his vision of the end times: 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. Revelation 13:16-18 ESV In this passage, John very clearly ties the Mark of the Beast on either the hand or forehead to a person’s ability to buy or sell presenting a dystopian type of world controlling what a person can and cannot do. There has been speculation for decades on what the Mark of the Beast might entail and the recent announcement by Amazon caught everyone’s attention. The Wall Street Journal alleges that Amazon has applied for patent involving a “non-contact …

War!

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“War, huh, yeah,“What is it good for“Absolutely nothing” These are the lyrics of an old song by Edwin Starr. Originally recorded by The Temptations, Starr recorded it as a single in 1969. I remember this song and the power and conviction as a whole generation protested war, especially the Vietnam war. Those of us who were around in the sixties and seventies sang and still play a number of anti-war songs like Run through the Jungle, We gotta get out of this place, and Eve of Destruction. War! Rumors of war! The book of Matthew (Matthew 24:6) tells us that these things must happen before the end of our time. War is in the news again. A lot. And it is in the Bible too. Lots of places. Ecclesiastes 3:8 even tells us that is “a time for war and a time for peace.” These things have caused us hurt and pain. But what if there was a war that wasn’t bad. It would be tough and hard, but it would be worth it? What …

We Almost Lost It All Last Week

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Where I live, we are just recovering from some severe cold weather. Apparently, we were colder than the South Pole. The people who tell us about the weather like to tell stories about the weather, but in the middle of the cold spell, we nearly lost everything we have at home, possibly including our lives. This really happened. Last Sunday, we had a stay at home day. I like to go to church, but I had vehicle problems in the cold, and it seemed wise to stay safe at home. We had a boring day, but when we thought about going out, we just looked out the window and changed out minds. Late in the day, I asked my wife if she wanted to take a break and go out, and we were thinking about it. That’s when we heard the noise. I thought I heard the sound of a vehicle backing up outside. You probably know how a back-up alarm beeps many times. This alarm beeped too many times. It almost seemed like someone …

Obeying the ‘do not enter’ signs

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I was talking with a friend at a Christmas party last year, and we both recognized our need for healthy boundaries and wished we had understood this principle sooner as we could have avoided some unpleasant experiences. Healthy boundaries are vital because they help keep us on track with the important things in our lives. We both agreed at times, we had given more attention to the needs of others than we did to our families and personal needs. And out of my friend’s mouth came the final answer that I needed to secure everything I had been learning about boundaries.  She said maybe this is what ‘entering the narrow gate’ means because the Bible talks about how easy it is to take the broad path and how hard or difficult it is to take the narrow path: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it.” Matthew 7: 12 -13 I sincerely believe the path to life is choosing …

The new violent enemy of the Evangelical church: Radical feminists

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In the past we could hold different opinions. If you didn’t agree with someone, you would agree to disagree. But that is rapidly changing. Increasingly, we see a world where radical groups are resorting to violence in an effort to intimidate those who don’t hold similar opinions into silence. Shortly after Christmas, an Evangelical church in Tübingen, Germany was attacked resulting in damage estimated at 40,000 Euros ($45,000US). The vandals set fire to the congregation’s mini-bus parked on the street in front of the church and as well spray painted the church building. Attacks on churches are definitely on the increase, but what was unusual about this one was the source of the attack. According to the National Catholic Register, a radical group of feminists, who called themselves the “Feminist Autonomous Cell” (FAC) claimed in a post on line that they were behind the vandalism. In their diatribe, the group said it attacked the church because of its “anti-feminist” views and its pro-life stand. Then a few days later, the same group claimed it was …

Did the ‘Revealer of secrets’, expose Jeopardy’s botched attempt to cut a question?

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The popular TV quiz, show, Jeopardy, was first created in 1964 by Mel Griffin and has gone through several renditions and the current format being broadcast today, currently hosted by Alex Trebek, was created by Sony in 1984. Its unique format provides answers and then requires competing contestants to phrase the question. However, its episode that ran on Friday, January 10, 2020, caused quite a controversy. Under a category called “Where is the church?,” the contestants were then posed with the answer: “Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity.” The Church of Nativity claims to be on the very site that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Show host Alex Trebek specifically noted the contestants had to give the current country. In response to this answer, one of the Jeopardy contestants quickly answered “What is Palestine?” When Trebek revealed that answer was incorrect, another contestant quickly answered “What is Israel?” and was awarded the right answer. But the answer and resulting question was hugely controversial. Though it is not a country, Palestine does …

The One Thing

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Curly Washburn told Mitch Robbins that the secret of life is to find one thing. He didn’t elaborate but as the movie and its sequel roll on Mitch figures it out. Find the one thing that makes you happy and stick to it. Is this advice from an old movie, City Slickers, good advice? According to the world it us sound and solid. You can’t please everyone so you got to please yourself is more than just lyrics from the song, Garden Party, by John Fogerty.  It is an anthem of the modern world.  What if I told you that both these bits of advice parallel the Holy Word of God? They don’t point us in the right direction but they have the same idea of focus and intent to walk our own path in a world telling us who we are  Jesus told us that all the prophets and laws in the Bible can be summed in a simple two sentence statement and that we are to focus on that. Although Curly wasn’t that far …