All posts filed under: z87

Chehura desert in Peru Credit: Alma Apatrida/Flickr/Creative Commons

A prophecy about lost treasure

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A couple of decades ago, my wife and I were heading down to Peru to adopt our daughter. Just before we set out on our journey that would take a month and half to complete, we were at a small prayer meeting in our church when Brian, a man with a prophetic gifting, prayed and prophesied over us. He saw us taking a big colored doll down for our daughter. But then he gave me a word, which deeply concerned both my wife and I. He said I see you gathering your treasure, and then he held his hands out, spread his fingers and said it will slip away, pouring out between your fingers like sand. I asked Brian what he meant. He had no further revelation and simply told us what he saw. It was a disturbing word. Because we respected the man and his prophetic gift we were concerned that the adoption was going to fall apart. But we believed God had told us to go and decided to continue on our journey. …

Palouse region of Idaho Credit: Charmar/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

Christian Terrorists?

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Just before Christmas I had a coffee break with a good friend. He is not a Christian, and I am. Somehow religion came into the conversation and he said something I have heard before; words like ‘Sure, there are Muslim terrorists, but there are also violent Christians who persecute us.’ I started to argue, but then I realized, he might be right about Christians. And I will let the Muslims answer for themselves. There are some very violent people in the world who claim to be Christians. About two years ago I drove to Portland Oregon for some training. I could have flown, but I like driving, and because I live in western Canada, I drove to the U.S. border in northern Idaho. I arrived in the evening and it was obvious that I wasn’t driving much further in the darkness. I was hoping for a motel room about an hour down the road but they probably thought I was visiting friends in the area. Usually border agents are friendly with me, but the two …

The Magi visiting Jesus by Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678)

The promise of a ‘King’ born to a virgin?

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In the Christmas story recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, the Apostle does a very odd thing. He connects the virgin birth of Jesus with a prophecy given by Isaiah to Ahaz, the king of Judah, 700 years earlier: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23 NASV based on Isaiah 7:14) For many it has been a controversial connection. But it makes sense when we understand what was happening when Isaiah gave this prophecy with what Matthew emphasized in his account of the birth of Christ. In Isaiah 7, the prophet was dealing with a situation that was taking place in Judah. By this time, Israel and Judah had been ripped apart. Israel had fallen into abject idolatry, and Judah was the last remnant of God’s kingdom. In the first two verses, we read that back-slidden Israel and Syria had joined to rage war against Judah intending to remove Ahaz and set up a new …

Credit: Davide Simonelli/Flickr/Creative Commons

Angels among us?

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If the Book of Revelation is any indication, as we move into the end times, there will be an increase in angelic activity. Throughout Revelation, we see whole chapters dedicated to angels bringing about the judgements of God (Revelation 7:1; 8:2). However they were not just bringing in judgment, the Apostle John also saw another angel preaching the Gospel in the mid-heaven: 6 And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; (Revelation 14:6 NASV) I am not sure exactly what this means, but at the very least such angelic preaching would make people more responsive to the Gospel. But there is an interesting story on the Christian Broadcasting Network website of a young Jewish woman who became a Christian as a result of angelic activity. Alyce Merritt grew up in a strict Jewish home that rejected Christian beliefs. She didn’t even know that Jesus was a Jew thinking instead he was Catholic or …

Justin Bieber at Telenor Arena in Bærum, Norway in 2016 Credit: NRK P3/Flickr/Creative Commons

Justin Bieber’s faith-inspired Instagram post received over 2.2-million likes

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Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has 95-million followers on Instagram and recently he shared a message with them on his personal faith in Christ. The 23-year-old pop star took a photo of a white erase board on which he wrote a message with a black marker: “Do you feel you have exausted all options? Do you feel like you’re never good enough? What if I told you that there is a god that’s willing to meet you WHEREVER you’re at! What if I told you that he could take away your pain, shame, guit, and fears #Jesus.” The photo caption read simply “Jesus is changing me from the inside out every day! AND I MISSPELLED GUILT and exhausted.” Despite the typos and as someone pointed out maybe “god” should be capitalized, it was a heartfelt message. I loved the way it was hand written including even the typos because this showed it was real. Over 2.2 million, mostly young people, liked the post and 52 thousand commented. Not all the comments were positive, but the majority …

Antarctic Credit: Maxime/Flickr/Creative Commons

Antarctic tree stump fossils reveal what earth looked like at creation

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A recent discovery by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have added another piece to the puzzle of what earth looked like at creation when they discovered several fossilized tree stumps in the Transarcitic Mountains found in the Antarctic. They brought back fragments from 13 different trees that included deciduous, ginkgos (a nut bearing tree common to China) and evergreens. Fossils were first discovered in the Antarctic during the 1910-12 Robert Falcon Scott expedition. Though Scott and his four-man team died during the trip, their remains were discovered and in their notes the group mentioned finding beech-tree like fossils, describing in great detail their different-sized leaves. Since none of the rock samples they collected contained any beech fossils, many evolutionary scientists quickly dismissed the reference because it didn’t fit their world view. Since then, they have not only found tree stumps in the Antarctic, but coal beds and dinosaur bones. Because Antarctic’s climate today is much too cold for trees, this suggests that at one time it was much more moderate. What happened? One suggestion …

Polwarth, England Credit: Hamish Irvine/Flickr/Creative commons

The Critical Mass: How We Can Fail

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On Sunday, in church, the pastor told us about people who had been helped in the last year. He told testimonial stories about cancer patients and struggling families. And then he told us about a man who had walked into the church to learn more. He was not a Christian, but he was interested. The pastor talked to him and gave him a book, and a few weeks later the man called to say that he had decided to become a Christian. Now he attends the Sunday services as a new Christian, growing in his faith. The man’s name is Mohammed. We live in interesting times. Now Muslim majority countries are modernizing, and Muslims are migrating to other countries with high levels of personal freedom. That means people can break free from the group, and choose how they want to live. This is becoming a crisis, as some young Muslims identify as atheists. Others, like Mohammed, choose another religion. RELATED: Losing their religion: the hidden crisis of faith among Britain’s young Muslims: The Guardian The …

Revelation 6:12: The Great U.S. Earthquake?

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I have been doing a study of Revelation 6:12-13, where in his vision of the apocalyptic end times, the Apostle John saw an angel opening the sixth seal:  I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. (Revelation 6:12-13 NASV) God gave four signs that would show the sixth seal has been opened: (1) The appearance of a “Blood Moon” (Read: Blood moons, a sign of the times?); (2) a Solar eclipse; (3) Stars falling from the sky (read: Is ‘blind luck’ all that is stopping the opening of the Book of Revelation’s sixth seal? )and (4) a great earthquake In this article, I want to turn our attention to the Apostle John’s vision of a “Great Earthquake.”

Is ‘blind luck’ all that is stopping the opening of the Book of Revelation’s sixth seal?

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Former NASA physicist and astronaut Ed Lu and astronauts Tom Jones and Bill Anders released information showing that since 2001, there have been 26 known explosions on earth as a direct result of asteroids. This is upwards of 10 times more strikes than previously thought. They state it has been “blind luck” that a populated area of the earth has not been hit by an asteroid causing major destruction and death. Asteroids are called mini-planets with some big enough to have their own moons.

The ‘Spring Citadel’: the beginning and end of David’s kingship

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After the death of Saul, David officially became king of Israel. He had been anointed years earlier by the prophet Samuel, but never actually took the throne until much later. David’s first order as king was to take the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites who occupied the city. However, the Jebusites were confident of their ability to withstand a frontal assault from David. Obviously, there was some negotiation before the battle as David tried to convince the Jebusites to surrender.