All posts tagged: feature

Was a heart attack part of God’s providential care?

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I just wanted to get you a bit of a health update. In late February, both my wife and I were pretty excited when I got a call asking if I was available last minute for a knee replacement operation. I suspect there had been a last-minute cancellation. It was providential. My knee was steadily worsening, and all the more remarkable considering I had only been on the list for a full replacement for just a year and four months. Today, most are told the wait list is now four years for a new knee. I immediately said yes, and the next week was a world wind of tests and picking up the needed equipment for my extended recovery. My knee had started acting up several years back. I went for arthroscopic day surgery, which did help. But it didn’t last and when the pain returned a few years later, the doctor told me that knee replacement was the next option. Now over the years, I had prayed for God to heal my knee, but …

So much religion. Did we just make it up?

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So, is religion just something that we made up? Are the Atheists correct, do we invent “spiritual” things to make us feel better? Yes. There is a story here, and it’s worth knowing: Jupiter by Jove. Here are some other god words: deity, dios, dieu, Zeus; or some very old names like Deva, Deywos, and Dyo. We also have Jupiter and Jove, and a very old form Dyo Pitr. That last one, from India, is an old form of Jupiter. We also have a related word “day” meaning the time when the sky is lighted. Those god words, in many languages, refer to a God in the sky, or heaven. “Pitr” or “Ju … piter” refers to a father, and we can see how our word “father” is related to “piter.” If you are wondering, our English word “God” comes from an ancient word “gudan” which means to call on, or to pray to. In history, and before history was recorded, tribal people lived on the grasslands of southern Russia, with herds of animals. They …

Israel’s red heifers will soon be of age

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Orthodox Jews were excited about the arrival of five red heifers in Israel last fall as they are a necessary step in preparing for the construction of a third temple in Jerusalem. CBN reports, that the excitement is mounting as the red heifers have still not developed off-color hairs, white or black, that would disqualify them for the ritual sacrifice. The ashes from the red heifer are used to purify the priests and since a sacrifice produces such a huge reservoir, there have only been 9 red heifer sacrifices in Israel’s history. The red heifers are being kept at a secured location in Israel and are between 1.5 and 2 years of age. They will not be sacrificed until they are three years old and will not be used if they become ritually impure by growing a single black or white hair. They will be inspected with a magnifying glass to ensure their purity. According to Rabbi Mamo, the Temple Institute already has what he described as “nine pure priests” who are ready to perform …

Opentheword Update

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I just wanted to give you a bit of an update on why there there has been a drop off in posts on opentheword.org. Early last week Monday, March 6, 2023, I went into the hospital for elective surgery which quickly and unexpectedly became much more serious. This resulted in me being unable to write. Thankfully, the more serious underlying health issue has been for the most part resolved and God willing I expect the site to return to normal over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to all who have been praying for us it is much appreciated.

Believers and Hollywood: Which side are they on?

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Are you woke, or base? I am learning more about these terms, and they are interesting. We could use the older terms “left wing” and “right wing” but I believe most of us could not define those positions, in one sentence. Definitions are emotional, these days. The question really is, what tribe do you belong to? For you, which side is always right? And who is wrong, before they even speak? We are polarized by in our modern society. With polarized sides, and conspiracy theories, what happens if you believe in something spiritual? What side is God on, woke or base? I am a Christian, and for me, “spiritual” means God, and we find our way back to God through someone named Jesus. So, what does God think about Covid vaccines? Is God a Socialist, or a Capitalist? Does God approve of fifteen minute cities? What about climate change or global warming; yes or no? Is there any place for God in Hollywood? And for Americans, Republican or Democrat, and God? Other countries have their …

Transformed by a touch  

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By Dr. Harold Sala Jesus reached out His hand and touched… Luke 5:13 When Elisabeth Elliot was visiting Dohnavur fellowship in South India to do research for a book on the life of Amy Carmichael, she met a remarkable woman who was working with the mentally challenged. The woman herself was greatly handicapped by the loss of one eye. “I have no professional training,” she explained, adding, “The Holy Spirit gives me new wisdom each day to deal with them. Some are like wild animals but the Lord Himself is my helper. I can’t see on one side, but even in my weakness He has helped me.” When Elizabeth Elliot inquired as to how she had become involved in such a work, Pungaja explained that one day, tremendously burdened by life, she went to Amy Carmichael, who was affectionately known as “Amma” by nationals of India. “When she hugged me,” she said, “all my burdens went away!” The Indian men and women who followed in her footsteps serving others have been a powerful witness to …

An Encounter with God is More Powerful than TikTok

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By Dr. Michael Brown

The influence of TikTok on America’s young people has become so pervasive that this past February I asked, “Is China Using TikTok to Control the Minds of Our Children?” As outrageous as that question may sound to some, I only raised it because others had already drawn attention to the disparity between TikTok in China and TikTok in America.

It’s Time for You To Stop Acting Like You’re a Victim!

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And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it — Colossians 2:15 By Rick Renner We can count on the fact that there are unseen evil forces that have been assigned to kill, steal, and destroy everything good in our lives. The Bible clearly teaches that these devilish forces band together to commit acts of aggression against the saints — and that includes you and me! This truth is quite evident in Scripture, for Paul wrote many verses about spiritual weapons, spiritual armor, and how we are to resist these unseen, demonic forces. Yet it is very important that we approach this subject with the right attitude! Because of Jesus’ death on the Cross and His resurrection from the dead, the forces of hell are already defeated. However, even though they have been legally stripped of their authority and power, they continue to roam around this earth, carrying out evil deeds like criminals, bandits, hooligans, and thugs. And just like criminals who refuse to submit to the law, …

The Warning Signs of Toxic Religion

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By J. Lee Grady

After Elisha watched Elijah ascend into heaven, the prophet went to the city of Jericho and performed his first miracle. The men of that city faced an environmental crisis: Their water was toxic, most likely because of the sulphur and other chemicals that had rained down upon nearby Sodom and Gomorrah years earlier. This poison had made the land barren (see 2 Kings 2:19-22) and it was probably affecting people and animals as well as plant life.

Did Kelsey Grammer receive a sign from God about his role in ‘Jesus Revolution’?

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American actor, Kelsey Grammer, who plays Chuck Smith in the Jesus Revolution, a movie about the Jesus People’s movement that swept America in the late 60s and early 70s may have received a sign from God leading him to accept the role, the Western Journal reports. Kelsey Grammer is best known for playing psychiatrist Frasier Crane in two hit TV series, Cheers and Frasier. Grammer shared the unusual story that led him to accept the role in an interview with Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s Tonight Show. “The truth is I was having sort of a meditative evening one night in my home, and I was up pretty late. It was about 3, 4 in the morning,” Grammer told Fallon. “And I started to think, ‘I want to do something worthwhile, something that has a bigger purpose than just me.’ And I was kind of saying a prayer, I guess. And the next morning the script lands on my door. And I read it and I said, ‘OK, that’s it. I’m doing this Jesus story.’” When …

2,500-year-old inscription of Persia’s King Darius found in Israel

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Eylon Levy serves as an advisor to Isaac Herzog, the president of the state of Israel. In December, he and a friend were walking among the paths at Tel Lachish National Park, when he saw a piece of pottery. Picking it up he realized immediately that it had writing etched on it, Israel365 News reports. When he saw this rare find, Levy immediately thought it had been planted, and he expected cameras to show up as part of an elaborate joke. However, they didn’t appear and Levy knew there was more to this discovery and turned it over to Israel Antiquities Authority. In a few weeks, he would find out how significant it was. Written on the shard, were the words “Year 24 of Darius”, a reference to one of the Persia’s greatest kings, Darius the Great, who ruled about 2,500 years ago. It was the first reference to this Persian king found in Israel. This is not the Darius mentioned in the book of Daniel, but rather the Darius found in the book of …

‘Jesus Revolution’ shocks at the box office

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Industry experts were shocked when Jesus Revolution scored third at the box office this past weekend bringing in an estimated $15.5 million as it played in 2,400 theaters across America. It finished behind Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Cocaine Bear. This was more than double early projections that estimated opening weekend sales would be between $6-$7 million. It is all the more remarkable considering tens of thousands had seen the movie prior to its theater release, as Lionsgate had organized pre-viewings in churches and universities. The movie portrays the start of the Jesus People movement in the late 60s and early 70s that swept the disenchanted American hippies in the USA. Many consider it among the greatest spiritual awakenings to sweep the country. It was led in large part by Chuck Smith, the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA, who is played by renowned American actor, Kelsey Grammer, 67. Kelsey, a Christian, is famous for his portrayal of Frazier Crane in two TV series hits, Cheers and Frazier. According to Rotten Tomatoes, …

The growing reality of spiritual warfare

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We live in interesting times. While, Christians witnessed an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asbury college in Kentucky, CBN reported on an unusual counter event that will be taking place in Boston at the end of April. Called ‘SatanCon 2023,’ the event is being hosted by The Satanic Temple (TST) based in Salem, Massachusetts and is billed as “a weekend of blasphemy and remembrance in Boston.” According to TST’s website, the event has already been sold out and promises to be the largest satanic gathering in history. This will be the second convention sponsored by TST and this year’s event will mark the group’s tenth anniversary. The event, which will run from April 28-30, will coincide with an ancient German holiday called Hexennacht or ‘witches night’ a two-day event that typically runs from April 30 to May 1. During this festival, witches across Germany gathered at Mount Brocken to revel with the devil. Mount Brocken has been associated with the demonic since the Middle Ages and the popularity of the celebration is growing among …

Mindful Self-Compassion? Should I do that?

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Mindful self-compassion: Love yourself, forgive yourself, accept yourself, be aware of yourself … Do you believe in those concepts? I had a visit with some neighbors today. We have a coffee shop close by, and we are supposed to do a health walk and end up at the coffee shop. Winter is on us, and we drove to the destination and walked across the parking lot. Don’t judge us. We are all near retirement age, and the coffee conversation found a topic right away; family. In our fitness/coffee-break group, we have all lived long enough to know that people should get along, and we should be kind to each other. This is not just some feel-good lesson our mothers taught us. We need human kindness to survive. We are old enough to know that. We all had stories. In any family, when a large inheritance is passed out, there may be some terrible stories. If you can’t relate, someday you will. Family problems happen to us all. So, how do we deal with strife and …

How the Asbury revival is uniquely impacting ‘Gen Z’

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One thing that has struck me about the Asbury Revival is that by targeting this Kentucky university, the Holy Spirit has specifically chosen to move upon what some would describe as a lost generation, Gen Z. These are people born between 1997 and 2012, with many in the latter years attending colleges and universities. This was very similar to the Jesus Movement that also impacted Asbury University in 1970, which saw the Holy Spirit move upon the disillusioned hippies made up of people in their late teens and twenties. With many Gen Z abandoning the church, it is easy to look upon this generation as spiritually disconnected, but research shows that despite outward appearances, they are very open to spiritual things. In fact, polling reveals that they may be more spiritually open, than their older peers. The authors of a recent poll conducted by Barna stated, “Younger non-Christians are more than twice as likely to express a personal interest in Christianity compared to older non-Christians.” In an article for Denison Forum, Laurel Wood added that …

Guard the Holy Flame!

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By Dr. Michael Brown When I served as a leader in the Brownsville Revival (which ran from 1995-2000), I started to write a book on hindrances to revival, laying out 20 ways to put out the Spirit’s fire. Put another way, if you do these things, the revival will come to a premature end. When I finished compiling my list, I was amazed to see how similar it was to Charles Finney’s classic sermons titled “Hindrances to Revival.” Some things never change! For a number of reasons, I did not finish writing my book, but several years after the revival, I got the strong impression that I would need to finish the book in the future. In other words, I would live to see another wave of revival. That wave, in its early stages, is already here in America, because of which I feel a real urgency to finish writing that book and get it out to the public. For the moment, though, let me share one of the principles I address in the book, …

‘Jesus Loves You’ card viewed by millions on Turkish media and Instagram

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Turkey was rocked by yet another earthquake yesterday (Monday, Feb 20, 2023), with a magnitude 6.3, killing several people. Two weeks earlier, Turkey and Syria were hit with a 7.8 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes which has resulted in nearly 47,000 deaths, 41,000 in Turkey and 6,000 in Syria. Those numbers are still expected to climb. It is considered one of the worst natural disasters in human history. God TV is reporting that a small card with the words ‘Jesus Loves You’ is showing up all across Turkish media and Instagram after the country’s religious leaders had several Awakening Europe (AE) Christian missionaries arrested for distributing the cards. Though an Islamic country, it is not illegal to hand out this type of religious material. Responding to the earthquake, AE sent nearly 30 missionaries to Turkey to distribute food, clothing, and tents to those ravaged by the earthquakes. Some members of the group ended up in an area of Turkey hardest hit by the earthquake. It is also an area with some of the strictest Islamic influence, …

God Uses Imperfect People

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By Dr. Michael Brown It is not just outside the Church, in the secular realm, that God uses imperfect people. Even within the Church, in the spiritual realm, God uses imperfect people. But there’s a simple reason for that. Imperfect people are the only kind of people that exist. Who else can God use? There’s an old joke about someone who is looking for the perfect church. They tell a friend, “If I could just find that church, I’d attend regularly and become a member.” The friend replies, “But the moment you join it would become imperfect.” Exactly. That is the state of the human race. In that same spirit, it has been said that heaven will be at one and the same time a great eye opener and a great mouth closer. You will be shocked to see certain people there, and they will be shocked to see you. Of course, we can smile at these anecdotes and jokes, but when the rubber meets the road, it can be a little unsettling. We wonder …

Dolly Parton puts prophetic dream to music

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With a career spanning over 50 years, Dolly Parton, 77, is a country music legend and also a Christian. Recently she wrote a song entitled, “Don’t Make Me Have to Come Down There,” which was based on a dream that she described as ‘something special,’ CBN reports. “I had a dream that God was standing on a mountain and looking down at us saying ‘don’t make Me come down there’,” Parton explained on Instagram. “It woke me up, and I got up and started writing this song over a period of weeks and months.” This divine warning became the basis of the lyrics for her song: “Last night I had a dream about God/He was standing on a mountain top/Looking down, around in such dismay,And in my dream, I heard him sayDon’t make Me have to come down thereMy children, you had best bewareIf you don’t pay attention, consequences will be direDon’t make Me have to come down there.” In the song, Dolly also speaks about natural phenomena such as earthquakes, erratic weather, and pandemics …

Statue described by some as satanic pays homage to abortion on top of New York courthouse

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A new horned female statue, called Now, with tentacles for arms, has been temporarily set up on the roof of a New York state courthouse in New York City alongside the statues of historical figures. Across the street, a sister 18′ statue entitled Witness has been set up in Madison Square Park. The statues are the work of a Pakistani-American artist, Shahzia Sikander and will remain on the site until June when they will be transferred to a location in Houston, Texas. The Blaze described the statue appearing on the roof of New York State’s Supreme Court alongside ancient historical lawgivers, such as Moses, as: “An eight-foot sculpture of a horned female fused to a lotus flower with what appear to be tentacles has been erected above a state courthouse in New York City. The statue joins nine others portraying historical lawgivers, each representing the world’s purportedly great legal systems.” Sikander added that her inspiration was her opposition to the recent overturning of Roe vs Wade, by the US Supreme Court. She dedicated the eight-foot …

Prove that God exists! Or be an Atheist!

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Do you believe in God? Ok, prove that God exists. And if you can’t prove that God exists, we know that God does not exist, and we should all be Atheists. It’s a common argument: Prove that God exists, or I refuse to believe. It goes back to the Middle Ages, at least, and you still might hear it today, or use it. The speakers in the video try to be reasonable and neutral. For them, it is enough that God is a possibility, but they are sure that we can never prove that God exists. So, do we have two stark choices, believe or be an Atheist? People on both sides want us to make a decision. They want us to fall into one side or the other, so we are coerced to believe something. The truth is, we are all free to decide, and we always have been. Researchers have found that most people are somewhere between believing and not: When we are not forced, we really don’t know, and we are not …

Seven Steps to Help Unite the Church of America

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By Dr. Michael L. Brown

It was Jesus Himself who said, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) The same applies for the Church: If we are divided against ourselves, we will be ruined and we will not stand. And if we, the people of God in America, will not stand, neither will our nation. But how we can unite when there are such deep divisions and differences among us?

Does an ancient mosaic point to Peter’s home in Bethsaida?

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Archaeologists, Prof. Steven Notley from New York’s Nyack College and Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Israel’s Kinneret College believe they have found an ancient Byzantine church located in Bethsaida said to built over the home of the Apostle Peter. The Bible tells us that Peter, Andrew, and Philip were from Bethsaida (John 1:44). It was also the town that Jesus condemned because of its refusal to repent after all the miracles that had been performed there (Matthew 11:20-25). The site, referred to as El-Araj, is located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The archaeologists, who had previously found the remains of an ancient Byzantine church, announced that they recently discovered a round Mosaic medallion that was part of a larger mosaic floor in the church’s sacristy. This is the room where those leading the church service gathered to prepare. The medallion contained two lines of Greek script, which refers to the donor, “Constantine, the servant of Christ,” and a petition to Peter who is called, “chief and commander of the heavenly apostles.” This …

Did the Pope get it wrong? … or right?

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Most of the world knows, now, that the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church has just finished a visit to Canada. He is eighty-four years old, and sometimes he was transported in a wheelchair. I live close to some of the sites that he visited, and I know, the weather was hot. Apparently, he is now talking about retirement. So, what would motivate a man in his eighties, to travel to the other side of the world, and speak to huge crowds? The stadium, where he held a mass, holds about sixty thousand, and about fifty thousand attended the mass. The local authorities warned about traffic disruptions on major highways. The motivation was clear; there is a history of church-run boarding schools for native people, and the Pope now describes that as “genocide.” He traveled to Canada to apologize for something that his church did. He believes his church was wrong. Can we judge the Pope? Was he wrong? Or was he correct? Was it important for an old man to travel so far, and …

How gratitude rewires your brain

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In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul writes that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). The Greek word translated ‘transformed’, metamorphoō, speaks of an utter and complete change. It is where we get the English word metamorphosis, which describes the process when a caterpillar builds a cocoon, dissolves, and reforms into a butterfly. The change is so dramatic that the butterfly can no longer eat the same thing that it did when it lived as a caterpillar. But for the believer, Paul adds that this transformation takes place as we ‘renew’ our minds. Paul uses the same Greek word, anakainoo, when he writes that we are ‘renewed in the spirit of our mind’ (Ephesians 4:22-24). Anakainoo means to ‘make new,’ ‘make different,’ ‘to renovate’ and refers to a dramatic change, and it’s this change in thinking that transforms us. But when Paul speaks of the spirit of our mind, he is speaking about what controls and directs our thinking. Some Bible versions, such as the NIV, …

German citizens pay a ‘church tax’

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Premier Christian News reports on an interesting story out of Germany about thousands of people leaving their faith because of the country’s ‘church tax.’ Germany is one of a handful of countries in the world, including Austria, Denmark, and Italy, that imposes a ‘worship’ or ‘church’ tax on its citizens. It is a form of income tax and depending on where a person lives, the tax can range from 8% of income in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria to 9% in the remaining states. Since it was first implemented in 1919, German citizens pay the tax if they are registered as a member of a protestant and Catholic Church or as a member of the Jewish faith. This also includes anyone who has been christened or married in a German church. Churches, including Evangelical, can then apply to receive funding from the ‘worship tax’ and those eligible typically receive about 70% of their income from the state’s church tax. According to Simplegermany.com, in 2020, the German government paid out 12.1 billion Euros to protestant and Catholic churches. …

Lies and Deception: Are you a fact-checker?

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You probably have a phone like mine. I get news that I didn’t ask for, and it comes to me all day, every day. Some are information, some are manipulation, and some are advertising for things I could buy. I also can learn about the lives of movie stars. We also have polarized truth. The vegans believe they have found the truth and the truth is meat-free, but the carnivores think they have the truth, and it is vegan-free. We also have political arguments, and polarized news about our health, and what did I miss? We are divided. I used to try to read it all, but I have learned, there are news sites that I can go to any time. I can just pick a favourite, and it will give me a summary of just about everything I should know. If a site seems biased and slanted, I can change to a new one with just a click. Since I learned that, I start my day by scrolling to the bottom of the “news” …

The Bible’s description of how Esarhaddon became Assyria’s king, confirmed by archaeology

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Though secularists like to discount the Bible by portraying it as a collection of myths, even its smallest, seemingly insignificant details are proving to be historically accurate. In a few passages, the Bible refers to Esarhaddon, an Assyrian King who ruled between 681-669 BC. The son of Sennacherib, he is considered one of the greatest kings of the Assyrian empire. In 2 Kings, we are told that Esarhaddon came to the throne after his older brothers assassinated their father: 37 One day, while he [Sennacherib] was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king. (2 Kings 19:37 NIV) The lead-up to this started when Hezekiah became king of Judah and refused to continue paying tribute to the Assyrian empire. As a result, King Sennacherib invaded Judah to bring them back into line. What followed is confirmed several times in the archaeological record. The invasion involved the sacking of several smaller …

The power of believing

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By Rick Renner When our TV program was broadcast on Channel One in Belarus, every home in the entire nation had the ability to watch it. The proof of how many people watched our program was the mountains of mail we received every week from Belarus. The impact we had was simply phenomenal. So at the urging of a pastor in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, we took the train to that city and held a three-day meeting for our television viewers. People came from all over Belarus, to the point that the auditorium could not hold everyone who tried to get into the meeting. It blessed us to see such a response to the Gospel message delivered through our TV program. However, the first night of the meeting was a real struggle because they gave me an interpreter who knew almost no English. All night he and I wrestled back and forth on the stage, trying to understand each other, and I knew that the crowd was missing what God wanted to say to …

How the man who led the Dec 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, became a believer in Jesus

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Today marks the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and CBN had an interesting story on how Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese pilot, who organized and led the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec 7, 1941, became a Christian, ironically, due to the influence of Jacob DeShazer. Because DeShazer was an American air force service man, who was captured after his plane went down in China after the Doolittle Raid, that saw US B-25 bombers target several industrial sites in Japan in 1942, as a direct response to the Pearl Harbor attack. Since the bombers did not have enough fuel to return to their carriers, they were told to fly on to China to hopefully be rescued by friendly Chinese soldiers or citizens. DeShazer and his B-25 crew were captured by Japanese forces the day after their plane ran out of gas earlier than expected, forcing them to parachute into Japanese-controlled, Chinese territory. DeShazer spent the next 40 months in prison of war camps in Japan and China. He was not only starved, …

Forgiveness vs the ‘eye for eye’ law

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Atheists and agnostics like to point to inconsistencies in the Bible as a way of discrediting Christianity. One that surfaces from time to time is the difference between the Old Testament law that spoke of an eye for eye justice (Exodus 21:24), and how it starkly contrasts Jesus’ statements in the New Testament that we are to love and forgive our enemies (Matthew 5:38-39). While Moses demanded a harsh form of justice, Jesus demanded forgiveness. These two ideas seem irreconcilable. Well, there is a simple explanation for this, and we see it playing out in a recent court case involving the death of a Minnesota pastor, Verlyn Strenge, 69, who was killed by a drunk driver in Nov. 2020. Strenge was pastoring the First Baptist church in Clearbrook, when he was rear-ended by David Nelson, who had a blood alcohol level of .267 and was travelling at nearly 70 mph when he smashed in to the back of the pastor’s car. The speed limit was 30 mph. The collision killed Pastor Strenge and critically injured …