Three Incredible Stories

There is a good chance you have never heard the name Yi Sun Shin. There are great men in every culture of which Americans are unaware. Understandable, but here is one you would truly have profited in knowing. Easily equal to the likes of Sir Francis Drake and Lord Nelson - some say superior to these western naval stars - Yi towered above the petty power-seekers of his day and became a hero beloved of all.

Imagine it. Twenty three major naval clashes with the Japanese who had invaded Korea in the late 16th century. Twenty three victories. After the Japanese landed and destroyed village after village, even to the taking of the capital, the first positive news that came to the King of Korea, in exile, was that of Yi's first battle that crushed a fleet of Japanese vessels.

So you expect me to say that Yi's popularity landed him titles, riches, honor. In fact, jealousy among the ranks led him to prison in the midst of his finest triumphs. That, to me, is the most unbelievable and awe-inspiring part of his story. The seeming failure in the midst of all the triumph.

Consider one Jesus. Healer, comforter, gentle Teacher. Blind eyes made to see, broken hearts forgiven, hungry mouths fed, all by His compassion. Anyone who had faith to receive something from Him, did. Victory after victory. Never defeated.

Then hung on a cross.

Hmmm. That last line doesn't seem to fit either. Seems like we should rip that part of the story out, as Peter tried to do before it even happened. "Not you, Master! Stop talking negative things!"

Incredible stories, these. Yi Sun Shin, Jesus Christ. No, they are not in "the same boat" in terms of significance, I know. Yi Sun Shin's resurrection from prison to return to the battle front and continue his unbroken string of victories is great history and very inspiring, but cannot be compared to Jesus' rising from the grave to give life to all who will receive Him forever and ever. But the parallel is there.

But my title promises three incredible stories. Stories of persons who were incredible in their feats, incredible in their defeats, but somehow rose again. The third story is being lived out as I write. It's going on in North Korea, among those we label the "baekjeong", the low class, because we do not have the same sense of high and low as Heaven does...

The lowly Christian believers of that land do exploits every day. Finding enough food to eat. Working long and hard hours in a mine for money that is not sufficient to support their families. Worshiping carefully and hidden, so as not to incur the wrath of a hostile government. Hiding Bibles and guests. Yet victories. You would expect that someone somewhere would honor these folks and call them heroes.

Unfortunately they are called by at least two governments traitors and criminals. Escapes are often tragic in outcome. Many end in death. All end in some sort of wrenching separation. Even coming to the "free" world can mean enduring suspicion and persecution by those who ought to know better.

So why call this an incredible story along the lines of Yi and Jesus? Because those who are faithful will be raised up with Christ. Their story is not yet complete. It is the lowly for whom Jesus came. They are the only ones who will see thier need of a Saviour and continue to the end. High-born materialists have only a slight chance of making it, according to Jesus.

High, low, baekjeong... Do we really know what these words mean? And "incredible".. Can your story and mine be called incredible when compared to the ones I have described? Have we known the experience of defeating the enemy during a long and difficult war? Have we seen the Power of God move through us to change our sphere of influence? Have we then been sent to further humiliation instead of the reward we expected?

May we search our hearts daily, and always be a friend to the lowly Christ Who still works His wonders among us in the form of Baekjeong...

Look for Bob Faulkner's home page on http://sermonaudio.com There you will find a combination of love for the Scriptures and a desire for North Korean believers to have their needs met. There are nearly 300 blogs, over 200 Bible teaching MP3's, lists of resources, NK picture albums, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos3@gmail.com.

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

The Carnal Mind

It has come to my attention, many years ago, that the mind, body, and spirit, are at war with each other. This knowledge coming threw the teachings of the Holy Spirit. The Mind is carnal, seeking after the control of the flesh, and the spirit. The carnal mind is a self serving entity and will resist all out side influences to change or control. The mind of man controls, memory, and all decision making processes. The choice to sin or not, comes from the mind.

The Bible tells us that where there is no law, there is no sin, for sin is a transgression of the Law. Sin comes into being when the mind accepts the idea that there is good and evil. A man is born into sin, but he is not born with sin, this comes later, when the mind obtains freedom of choice, and the knowledge of good and evil.

This is proved in Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

David stated; Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psa 51:5) The flesh controls nothing, but is controlled by one, or the other, spirit or mind. The flesh is a container of both of these.

Is the mind necessary to the function of the body? Yes. The body tells the mind when it is hungry, thirsty, or in pain.With this knowledge the mind takes the appropriate actions. The flesh does have the ability to influence the mind, when it desires to be satisfied by its own lust for, pleasure, or satisfaction. But within itself it can do nothing.

As I have said before, the carnal mind is a self serving identity, it begins it quest for control at the time of conception, and resist change. We are carnal when we allow the mind to control all aspects of our lives, this also includes the workings of good and evil. The mind does not only control the decisions that we make, but it also resist the very faith that we exercise. Yes, the carnal mind resist faith. Here is when the carnal mind starts putting doubt within the believer, and doubt turns into unbelief. For me unbelief is the second greatest sin of all, preceded only by the blaspheme of the Holy Ghost. Where does the mind gain all of its power? From God. This is what God explains as the freedom of Choice, the fallen angels had it, as we do. So with this power, the mind does everything it can to control.

The mind becomes a danger when Satan gets control of it. This is where we see lawlessness and war, greed and lust, theft and murder. The mind will resist only the truths that interfere with its control of the lust of the flesh, and the pride of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is why many reject Jesus, because they are still carnal minded. We see this also in the double minded. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:7-8.)

A double minded man is allowing the mind, to share control of the body, with the spirit. This is a dangerous situation, and must be eliminated. For a mans salvation depends upon total faith, in Jesus being the Son of God. With doubts taking over from time to time, this mans life is a miserable one, with many pitfalls, and trouble.

The carnal mind will allow deception within itself, to stop, or at least, hinder the truth, from becoming easily known. We see this here in 2Pe 3:16 ; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. We even have a witness to this control in scripture, when Jesus had to explain flesh, and spirit, to Nicodemus. (John 3:8-10) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? To be carnal minded is to be un-regenerated; not renewed in heart; remaining at enmity with God. Many say they speak from the heart, but what they are actually saying is, they are speaking from their spirit. Each and every man has a spirit, also do the animals of the earth, but what separates us from the animals is, our freedom of choice, the mind, body, and spirit, in wisdom of good, and evil.

Those that refuse the truth, and those that are in doubt of the promises of God, are still yet carnal minded. This is proven in; 1Co 3:3; For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? We cannot allow the carnal mind to take hold of our way of life, this will lead to destruction of not only the body, but also the soul.(Spirit.) I see a wonderful explanation of this in James 4:17; Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. If we know to have faith, and then refuse to allow the spirit free reign over our actions, do we not then commit a sin? If we see our brother, hungry, naked, thirsty, or in need of the carnal things, and close up our spirit to him, do we also sin? Yes. For if we say the Love of God dwells within us, and we do not do that which is good, we have lied, and the Love of God does not dwell within us.

As the carnal mind resists faith in God, we must look within ourselves, and seek additional faith, and strength, to resist doubts. Is faith easy to show, is it easy to obtain? No. Faith must be first accepted by the spirit, and forced on the mind. For the carnal mind will resist things that it cannot see or feel. Faith must be practiced and grown. Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Our spirit overcomes the world by over coming the carnal mind. If we control the mind, the world can do nothing to change us, even when the greatest of trials and troubles befall us. We are made overcomes by the word of God.

1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. My brothers and sisters, control the mind, and the mountain can be removed, control the mind and the sickness shall be healed, control the mind and we can see the gates of heaven open up to us. Ars.

Temple of Spirit & Truth Ministries A.R.Smith Ministries http://www.ourchurch.com/member/a/arsmithsermons

Who Is The Antichrist? A Short Answer

Who is the coming antichrist, according to Scripture?

1. Jesus says this age will begin to come to an end shortly following the world's greatest catastrophe, which itself follows the revealing of the "abomination of desolation."

2. Jesus points us to the prophet Daniel for preliminary definitions of that abomination.

3. In Daniel we are introduced to Antiochus Epiphanes who began an anti-God, anti-Jew campaign decades before Christ appeared.

4. Gabriel leads us to believe that though Antiochus began his career in ancient history, his final blasphemous rise to power will be at the end of all things.

5. The abomination of desolation, the sacking of Jerusalem, the persecution of believers, spoken of by Daniel the prophet is fully orchestrated by Antiochus in a three and one half year period of supernatural power.

6. John confirms all by using the same visual demonstration that there will arise such an evil man, who will do the same destruction, the same persecution, the same blasphemies, in the same time frame as Daniel has already recorded. He will even rise to power from the same "Great Sea." John and Daniel agree.

7. John lets us know that the final world dictator will be one who has been raised from the dead, thus allowing for one who began in antiquity to end in the last days. He will be the eighth of a line of antichrists, yet one of the original seven too.

8. Paul agrees with all of the above, using the man of sin and his abomination as the sign that must happen before Jesus comes. Thus he says exactly what Jesus said.

9. Paul says that even now this one is being held back, so that he will be revealed at the right time in history.

The evidence is then clear and concise. There are things all along the way that we cannot quite figure out. Like, exactly how shall he appear? But then, we believe Elijah shall return and we do not allow that question to stop us from believing it. Our faith tells us that, as a detail is needed , it will be provided.

For now it seems to me important for us to take on a last-days mind-set that is more accurate than that with which we were raised. It demands more faith, more acceptance of the Word as is, less "explaining away" of hard things. But a solid faith has always demanded this. May the Lord keep our eyes open, ready to see and know what is happening in God's plan.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Struggling With Spiritual

I have wrestled with this thing called your spiritual side for many a year. When someone would say to me, you need to get in touch with your spiritual side I would close down. I was brought up in a strict religious, church going family. I started rebelling against the church when I was a teenager, so when someone said I needed to get in touch with my spiritual side; to me they were saying go back to church.

Now for me that was not an option. I had tried going back to a few different churches and I could never find one that I felt comfortable with. A few years ago I started re-reading the Bible, it had been at least forty years since I had even looked at one. I guess I picked up one that had been changed, because it was saying things that were different than what I had been taught as a kid. Of course it was the same bible that my folks had given me when I was about fourteen. I guess maybe because I was just reading it without any preconceived notions, or maybe because I read the whole thing and not just the selected parts.

This started me on a quest, which Ill probably be on for the rest of my life. The problem I have with most churches is that they accept the bible as the final word and wont even look at any other evidence of history. If there is anything said that might contradict how they have been told to interpret it, they just say its not possible. To me that is just not acceptable. Im sure there are those who say we dont have to look because we know this is the truth. For myself, I have found that a lot of what we thought we knew as truth, turned out to be something entirely different.

About this point your probably wondering ok where is he going with all of this, weve heard all these religious arguments before. True enough, I am just trying to establish where I am coming from. This spiritual thing is a whole new ball game for me.

OK what is this spiritual side? To me it is getting to know and accept yourself. Once you start down that path, then you start to realize, you have to also love yourself. For those of us that have been around for over a half a century that is a little hard to come to grips with. After all, men had to be tough, showing emotions was not allowed. Wonder whom the insidious jackass that came up with that was?

Lets go back to loving yourself, just what does that mean. Like any form of love putting it in words is never easy. I mean, gee whiz I want to be taller, more muscular, better looking, etc. I dont believe that is what this is about. We have to accept our inter-self, how we think, act and react. When someone cuts you off in traffic, can you just forgive them? How about when it happens apologize to them for being in the way. Wow now hes gone off the deep end. Well maybe, but I have read some who say that any negative reaction is caused by our own self and if we apologize to the person that we think created that negative reaction then both will benefit.

If we cant love ourselves then how can we love anyone else? Is love, hate too strong? Well if we are uncomfortable with who we are, isnt that going to cloud how we see others? When you look up the original word for devil in the bible, one of the definitions in Strongs concordance when translated into English is adversary. Now who is our biggest adversary? In my opinion our biggest adversary is our own ego. Does your own ego keep you from loving yourself? I think it does, because we dont want to admit that we are wrong, or something we did caused the problem, no it had to be the other person. That brings to mind a saying I heard years ago, My situation is myself. Darn I think that means Im responsible for myself.

Once we can love ourselves, we can begin to love others. Now the bible says to love your enemy, thats a tough one. Well how about when someone does something that we disagree with or is against your core beliefs. What if instead of getting mad or upset with that person or thing you stopped and thought to yourself, that poor person sure must be lacking in love. Put your love out, if you cant direct it directly to that person or thing just put love out to the universe and let it go where it will do the most good. If they will accept it good if they cant then someone else can have the benefit.

If I had heard that a few years ago, I probably have said what in the world is he talking about? Has he become one of those New Ager guys with all kinds of wild ideas? Putting love out into the universe, how can you do that? Maybe thats what this spiritual side is about. Because it makes sense to me now and I can feel love and wish love to go out from me to someone or just out to the universe for whom ever needs it. Its actually a great feeling when you do it and as the old saying goes what goes around, comes around. Now I dont know about you, but for me I prefer to have love coming back to me.

Charlie Phillips has been in construction, and has done everything from labor, carpenter, heavy equipment operator and contractor. Owned and operated of his own truck over forty-eight states and three provinces in Canada. He never attempted much writing until he came across a little tool called spell checker. There are no titles after his name, just a lot of life experiences. Website: http://www.charliephillips.net

There is a Generation

Pro 30:11-14; There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. There is a generation that Jesus spoke of, a generation that would see the end begun. A generation that would be unmerciful to parents, fathers against the sons and daughters against their mother in laws.

A generation without the love for God or self. This is a generation that will be self serving and full of greed and hate.
A generation that will be faithless and perverse. Today I read of men and women, marring animals, a woman to a cat, a man to a dog and another man to a spider.

Mat 24:32-34; Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(This is a sign of the beginning of the end, or should I say the beginning for those that trust in the Lord. Israel was reborn in 1948 and has prospered to become the Major force in the Middle East.)
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. (This verse is stating the truth, when you see all these signs of Israel being renewed, wars and rumours of wars, nations rising nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, famines, pestilences, earthquakes in divers places, and the Love of God waining away, fading away, these are the beginning of troubles.)

Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
and War, famines, Petulance and the others, it is near, even at the door. The door is almost open, the end is closer than you think. This generation is secpectable, with out faith nor knowledge in the word of God. This generation is full of hate, lust, greed and anti- Israel. This generation is looking for a fresh path, new things to do, their appetite is not satisfied with what was or is but they are looking for those things to come.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. The generation spoken of hear is not the generation that Jesus was speaking to but rather the generation of the end days. This generation that Jesus was speaking of is the generation that thinks upon fleshly lust and evil continually. The generation of free sex, animal husbandry, and homosexuality, as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, a generation that allows all manner of sin and debauchery. A generation that refuses to obey parents and the law of decency.

Deu 28:59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. The plagues that are, and will begin to fall, will be of great measure, this generation will begin to curse God for the Heat and suffering of millions. Curse God for the plagues and suffering, the famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. This generation will run for the mountains seeking relief from the heat but will find no rest, they will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall upon them to hide them from the Face of Jesus. All these thing will this generation suffer but they will still refuse to worship God, they will refuse to believe in Jesus, they will suffer for their sins.

Ecc 1:4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. All these things will this generation suffer and at the end, the Earth will remain, never to pass away. This is contrary to what may are teaching but the Bible is truth. Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. There is a generation that will curse their father and Mother, that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness, beauty will fade away, those with beautiful hair will be bald, those of fine appearance will not be noticed, the high will be brought low, the mighty will be brought down to weakness.

There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth. There is a generation that will want the poor and weak to be eliminated, removed from among man. There is a generation that have Four kinds of hateful persons - (1) graceless children, (2) hypocrites, (3) the proud, (4) cruel oppressors, full of vanity, pride, and insolence. Is this the generation that we see? Is this the terminal generation that will fight against God and His Son Jesus? Is this the generation that will run to battle of Armageddon? Call upon the Name of the Lord and thou shalt be saved. Ars.

Rev 16:9 -
scorched: or, burned
blasphemed: Rev_16:10,Rev_16:11, Rev_16:21; 2Ki_6:33; 2Ch_28:22; Isa_1:5, Isa_8:21; Jer_5:3, Jer_6:29, Jer_6:30; Eze_24:13
and they: Rev_16:11, Rev_2:21, Rev_9:20; Dan_5:22, Dan_5:23; Luk_13:3, Luk_13:5; 2Co_12:21
to give: Rev_11:13, Rev_14:7; Jos_7:19; Jer_13:6; Amo_4:6-12

Pro 30:13 -
Pro_6:17, Pro_21:4; Psa_101:5, Psa_131:1; Isa_2:11, Isa_3:16; Eze_28:2-5, Eze_28:9; Dan_11:36, Dan_11:37; Hab_2:4; 2Th_2:3, 2Th_2:4

Temple of Spirit & Truth Ministries A.R.Smith Ministries http://www.ourchurch.com/member/a/arsmithsermons/

The Story of Chosun, Part 1

They say all of history is "His story." I agree with them. As I begin with you today an accounting of some of the major moments in Korea's past, I offer the accompanying encouragement that what I shall be sharing is not just the past. You will see how Korea was shaped and eventually prepared for the call of God on her life. Yes, the Gospel finally came to that land, and has produced in the South a harvest unimaginable.

But it took a long time for the Koreans to see their need and to reach out for something better than they had. Because of that long refusal and/or ignorance of the Good News, the pattern of independence followed by attacks and foreign domination and independence again, clung to this nation for thousands of years. Homer Hulbert, who will be our guide through most of this history, lived in the 19th - and wrote at the beginning of the 20th - century:

"Hulbert saw that Koreans of the nineteenth century were held captive by a small elite group of aristocratic bureaucrats whose vested interests lay in maintaining government by intrigue and corruption and in keeping the people as isolated as possible from the egalitarian influences of the West..."

That was true then, it was true through much of her history, and even to this day, a portion of the peninsula is dominated by an oligarchy. This particular dynasty of our day represents a foreign power. It is an alien government, a decidedly non-Korean turn of events. But all of that in good time.

For now, let's go back to the beginning, as far as we can anyway. Using Hulbert's classic 2-volume set, History of Korea, 1905, we begin.

PART I: ANCIENT HISTORY. 2322 BC- 892 AD

Legend has it that Korea was founded by a "son of God", God being the creator "Whanung". This was supposed to have happened somewhere between the days of the flood and Abraham. So far we're not as distant from the truth as you might expect. Following the flood account in your Bible is the story of the beginning of nations, especially focusing on one Nimrod, the real man behind all the myths of ancient peoples. Korea's mythological wonder man is "Tan-gun." Tan-gun was born when Whanung breathed upon a woman who wanted a son. That sounds pretty Biblical too. (Did I mention that the woman had once been a bear?)

It is not Seoul but Pyongyang that is Korea's first capital. Today this city is North Korea's number one place. Tan-gun reigns there until about 1122 BC, around the time of the judges of Israel, then disappears from the earth. If long lives trouble you, remember that our Bible has a Methuselah.

The word "chosun" arises during this period. "Land of morning calm" will be the idea attached to the Korean peninsula. And it probably had its calm moments. But the name, historically, is as meaningful as Jerusalem, "city of peace." It's a great idea, and in the future the idea will be realized, but for now...

It is from China that Korea is to be given its first major endowments:leadership, poetry, manners, music, medicine, sorcery, silk culture, weaving. And many attempted take-overs.

For the next 1000 years, the area covering the two provinces nearest Pyongyang today is governed by one Kija and his descendants. Kija is the son of Li, who is the 2nd son of Wuyi, Emperor of China in the 1100's BC. Kija first becomes an advisor to Emperor Tajung, known as the "Nero" of China. Kija actually places himself in exile but later is granted permission by the Chinese government to set up a kingdom on the nearby peninsula. It is independent of China, yet China seems to have regretted the decision at times, and tries to bring it under its control. All these attempts are rebuffed by the growing people group in Chosun.

This Kija kingdom is the first recognizable dynasty. One dynasty will follow the other in Korea until South Korea forms a republic in the mid 20th century. The world is hoping for the end of dynasties altogether in Korea. Somehow the word hasn't gotten up North that dynastic power is not the most efficient way to deal with 21st century citizens.

That's where you and I can come in and change Korea's history. Heart-felt, gut-involved, loud persistent knocking on the door of Heaven. Jesus has let us know that that kind of prayer really does work. Will you join multitudes worldwide in this movement of true liberation?

Look for Bob Faulkner's home page on http://sermonaudio.com - There you will find a combination of love for the Scriptures and a desire for North Korean believers to have their needs met. There are nearly 300 blogs, over 200 Bible teaching MP3's, lists of resources, NK picture albums, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

The Deity of Jesus Christ - Psalms

The Divinity of Jesus is all over the Book of Psalms.

2:6, 3:4, God of the Holy Hill. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of his holy hill." David praying to the Lord. (3:4) But according to 2:6, God has set His King (the Messiah, Jesus) on that very hill! So the one David is crying to and being answered by, is Christ!

5:2 , the King. "Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King..." David calls out to God. But as noted above, the "King" has been placed by God in Zion. We know that King to be Jesus. Micah looks ahead to a time when Bethlehem, "...little among the thousands of Judah" shall produce the One "that is to be ruler in Israel." (5:2) Micah had previously said that "The Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." (4:7) It was this prospect of a King coming that threw Herod the Great into such a rage (Matthew 2:1-3) that He attempted to dethrone Jesus before His reign could be a threat. Zechariah was first to see King Jesus riding into Jerusalem, hailed by the crowds of Israelites: " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee.."(9:9) Matthew 21:1-11 gives the account for us as it happened in history. Even a Roman Governor, Pilate, gets in on the act. His interview with Jesus (John 18:33-38) turns up some information he had not been expecting. Convinced that Jesus is a King, he announces to the city of Jerusalem via that sign for which he always will be remembered: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Right you are, Pilate. The King for whom the Lord has a special message: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." God at the right hand of God. An identification so close, so real, that to see one is to see the other. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," said Jesus.(John 14:9)

8: 2, Praised by Infants. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies..." 8:2. David, speaking to his most excellent Lord. But Jesus did not consider it robbery to take that very verse unto Himself when being praised by some small children in the temple. It seems to have temporarily stopped the mouths of the chief priests and scribes(Matthew 21:15-16)!

23:1, Shepherd. David: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." Asaph:"Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel...Thou that dwellest between the cherubims..."And Isaiah, looking ahead to a Shepherd on earth: (40:11) "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them..."By John we are introduced to this one that David could only imagine, that Isaiah could only see in vision. We know Him as Jesus. (John 10:11) "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." Jesus knew His Bible. He had read David. He did not stumble onto an allegory that was fitting for the moment. Deliberately He calls Himself the Shepherd of Israel. Because He is that Shepherd, the Lord God.

27:1, Light. "The Lord is my light ..." Jesus "I am the light of the world!" John 8:12

29:2, worthy of glory. "Give unto the Lord the GLORY due His name!" 29:2 "To [our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ] be glory both now and for ever. Amen." II Peter 3:18

84:11, a sun. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield..."But we see a star of equal magnitude in the New Testament, named Jesus: "He was transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun..." (Matthew 17:2) Visit that final City, and you will have no need of the sun. "The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Fascinating. Is there any difference between "did lighten it" and "is the light thereof"? None that I know of. This is two ways of saying the same thing! Is there any difference then between "God" and "the Lamb"? Not a one! Two ways of saying the same thing.

136:3-4, the only wonder-worker. "O give thanks to the Lord of Lords,... who alone doeth great wonders." Alone? Alone! Anyone doing wonders of the magnitude of this Lord of Lords must be the Lord of Lords. And can you think of One who healed the sick, spoke to waves, raised the dead, changed elements?

139:7, Source of the Spirit. I offer Psalm 139:7 as one of a multitude of passages that suggest that God has a Spirit. We call Him the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and sometimes just the Spirit. How does Jesus relate to this One? Well, we learn from Paul that the sum total of Spirits in the Godhead is one. "There is one Spirit..."(Ephesians 4:4). But in Philippians 1:19 we read of "the Spirit of Jesus Christ." We assume this is the same Spirit, given that there is only one to deal with! So the mystery expands here and lets us know again our finite nature when it comes to figuring out things we cannot see. God has a Spirit. Jesus has a Spirit. But there is only one Spirit. Jesus must be God.

146:8, Blind-eye opener. "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind..." John 9:30, let an ex-blind man tell it like it is to the religious establishment of Judea: "Why, herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes!...if this man were not of God, He could do nothing!" Right , friend. Not only is He of God, He is God Himself!

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosen together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

Paul And The Place Of Women In The Church

The Scriptures are not silent or obscure regarding the issue of women and their place in the church of Jesus. Neither should we be.

Before sin came into the world God created, first, a man. Then in response to man's need , and out of that man, God created a woman. Woman is from man. Woman was brought to man. Woman was to be a helper for man. That is the Divine order. All else falls short of His glory.

We must remember that this was before the curse. When that curse came, the natural submission of woman to man became law. Now the man was to rule over the woman. She would be at his mercy. It was her enticement that brought man down, so man would bring her down.

Now, in Christ, the curse is done away. Men are to "rule" women, but in love, and women are to return to natural and holy submission, as before sin came into the world. The error into which women fall in our day is the departing, not only from the curse, but from the very order of creation. This, Paul tells us, cannot be in the true Church.

By the time Paul takes pen in hand to address the issue of female leadership, over 4000 years have passed. But in the great apostle is no desire to remove the ancient landmarks. 2000 years from Paul, we should be similarly steadfast in our resolve to pass to the next generation, unchanging truths.

Paul's letter to the Corinthians contains a number of straightforward commands. Flee sexual immorality. Flee from idolatry. Earnestly desire the best gifts. Let all things be done decently and in order. Few would have a problem with any of that. In the midst of all of this command giving (chapter 14) is this command, of equal authority: (verse 34) Let your women keep silence in the church.

Oh my! We have a serious problem with that one. That was cultural, we say. That was historical. That was temporary. Oh a multitude of "reasons" are elevated to truth status by those who would excuse the woman teacher, for this is not an age when one wants to confront women's rights!

But Paul's statement stands. In fact, in many translations, including the Greek rendition available in the Parallel New Testament, part b of verse 33 is connected to verse 34, making the statement even stronger:.."As in all the churches of the saints, let your women keep silence in the Church." I am assuming that modern translators found textual evidence to be sufficient for such a rendering.

"Silent" means "silent." "Women" is translated "wives" by some, though the same word is rendered "women" in other passages. Consistency will not allow such random changes. I Timothy 5:2 commands younger "women" (same word) to marry. Try "wives" there! But even if it were "wives", the command is generally disobeyed. And why the word "your" ? The letter is addressed to the church. The "your" refers to that church, not to the men of that church only!

They are not permitted to speak. And permission is denied because of God's original commands in Genesis, not because of some local restraint placed on them by "woman-hater" Paul. (Such rubbish actually circulates among us!)

In Paul's mind the opposite of female authority is female submission, and he places it here as being a command from God in "the law". In the same chapter (verse 21) he refers to Isaiah 28:1 as the "law". For him it is a broad term that encompasses Genesis to Malachi.

Verse 35 mentions a possible incident that may have given rise to this apostolic injunction, but this does not in any way affect the strong language of verse 34. It is possible that women were shaming their husbands by raising their voices in the assembly and boldly questioning the speakers, ignoring the fact that their own husbands could supply them the knowledge needed. At least this is the gist of the "myth" that has been created to make this verse understandable to us. I am not aware of the historical proof-text from which this story is lifted.

Paul tells them that such action is not called for, that women are to be silent. He settles that Corinthian issue, but in so doing he has settled our issue too, if we will hear him. Silence means no more questions! It follows that this also means, no teaching! If the simple asking of a query is met with such consternation by the man of God, with what spiritual rage would a full-blown lesson be met? Unthinkable!

Keep silent. It is shameful. Is this not clear enough? Much of the New Testament was written to correct a local issue. But for the most part, we do not shrug off the teachings because they were first written to the "early" Christians. We assume the eternality of a Word from God. Why not here?

He goes on to ask, (verse 36, paraphrase) Are you the originators of Scripture? Are you in charge here? Is it to be your feelings and experiences that will dictate the practices of the church of God?

More than that! (verse 37), even if there be among you a "godly" person who basks in his great revelations from Heaven, let him come down out of the clouds long enough to realize that we're dealing here with the Prophet Moses and the Apostle Paul!

Of course (38) he adds, if you'd rather be ignorant, go ahead, but to your own peril.

Paul knew his teaching was not popular, and I know it too. But what does that have to do with the dissemination of truth? Let's say what God says and see what happens.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Enter the Baekjeong

The Koreans say "1," that's baekjeong to us, or if you prefer, paekchong. Who are they, and why in the world am I writing about them? Good questions, and deserving of a good answer. Let me try.

Question one: "Member of the lowest class of old Korean society. Executioners (that's pretty low). Grave Diggers (lower still, but somebody's gotta do it). Butchers (no offense, butchers of the world, but in some societies meat-eating is not cool).Leather workers (same problem!). And there's another word I'm not free to print.

So there you have it. Now the answer to your second question becomes even more difficult. Why devote space to persons such as these?

Well, let's just say it's an old family tradition. Now, the oldest family on earth is God's. We can say 4,000 years old if we want to start with Abraham. And from the beginning, and all the way down to modern-day North Korea, (although "modern" and "North Korea" may not sound too well together), God has had this tradition of pulling up baekjeong from nowhere and bringing them somewhere. From nothing, making something.

Whoever said "Out of nothing, nothing comes," didn't know our God!

God loves these "members of the lowest class", these "untouchables", these unspeakables, these folks... well let's just say we might not invite them to dinner. But they're crowding around His table all the time. We might as well get into the flow. And what better place to begin than North Korea?

Look what God did with a bunch of southward-bound refugees on that peninsula! Back in the 40's and 50's, terrible tragedies pushed many of God's people and a whole lot of people that were not His into some new turf. For a long while South Korea hung in the balance. But Christ, at first Himself a baekjeong of Korea, lonely, unknown, has now become , as missionary Arch Campbell put it, "enshrined in the hearts of hundreds of thousands who know Him as an intimate friend... who love Him with a deep passion seldom found in the sophisticated West."

This Christ was preached and this Christ was accepted by these terribly poor and terribly unacceptable (by the world's standards). And now? Some of the biggest churches in the world grace that small but mighty Korean nation.

Just think what will happen when Christ is given His due place among the northern baekjeong. Oh my, do I want to see that!

Next in this series, a baekjeong story. Then you judge for yourself what God just might want to do...maybe through you?

Look for Bob Faulkner's home page on http://sermonaudio.com - There you will find a combination of love for the Scriptures and a desire for North Korean believers to have their needs met. There are nearly 300 blogs , ovber 200 Bible teaching MP3's, lists of resources, NK picture albums, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos3@gmail.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond .

Who Knows The Truth About The Antichrist?

Who knows the clear facts about the antichrist that shall attempt to rule planet Earth prior to the coming of Jesus Christ? I have assembled several witnesses always eager to take the stand:

Go to Jesus first, in Matthew (with Luke as a back-up) and listen in on His response to the question posited by the disciples: "When is the end? When will You come?" Now, we are to be faithful and productive whatever the answer is to their question, but it is still a fair question, and Jesus gives a very precise answer. In the process, He answers the question we all are eager to have answered.

Jesus leads His hearers to Daniel. Following this lead we study in detail the definitions of the "sign" Jesus gives in Matthew 24. By the time one has drunk in Daniel's visions in chapters 8-12, the mind is reeling. Along with Daniel we will be overwhelmed with the truth before us.

This truth is then corroborated by similar visions given to the apostle John in his Revelation, specifically chapters 13 and 17. We are not dealing with some "Old Testament truth," but instead the same Spirit spoke to both men a complementary message. Daniel and John are one in their proclamation of this outstanding end-time truth.

The final expert is none other than the apostle Paul, obviously a student of Daniel, but also a man who by the Holy Ghost surpasses Daniel and adds to the revelation as only a Spirit-filled apostle is allowed to do. We don't often think of Paul as a "prophet" but we forget that he was caught up to Heaven (II Corinthians 12) and offered an incredible array of revelations, most of which he was not permitted to share with us. He has very important information to add to the antichrist doctrine. And if he warned his first-century flock about the coming man of sin, how much more should we be heeding the warning?

What will be the sign of Jesus' coming? When will be the end and the beginning of the end? And what man, before the coming of Jesus, will be at the center of it all? Prayerfully read the chapters I have suggested, with no commentary at all. See what happens!

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

All Worked Up

It's always important to say in articles like this one, that God can do whatever He wants. His church is His church. We need to be very careful in criticizing people and things we do not understand.

But my observations today come from a desire to warn the people of God about things that are happening in that church. Speaking out in some situations is as important as being silent in others.

Consider with me the Western style "revivalist" of our day. Some of them have mastered techniques that they use to milk and fleece God's sheep. Unfortunately a multitude of congregations have dozed off, and a razzle-dazzle performance geared to "waking up the saints" can work wonders. Or so it would seem.

I'm a skeptic about much of what I see and hear and read because the church, and I'm part of that church, has been lied to too often. That does not mean that I discount a genuine miracle or an all-powerful God.

The written revelation continues to be the standard by which we can judge all things. Thank God that He took the time to pass along to us principles and examples that we can hold up to the men who stand before us and would carry us away to who knows where.

Look at the prophets. Granted, they did some things we would have to call strange. Walking around essentially naked, or stretched out on the ground, first on one side then the other. But their motivation was obedience. This was not their style, and none of this unusual-ness "worked up" an audience to give money. Until the interpretation of their actions was given, the crowd did not know what to think.

And Jesus. Individuals were worked up with anxiety and pain, to be sure. They wanted to be well. And yes, there was power to meet the needs, definitely. But the miracles came, for the most part, commensurate with the faith of the inquirer, not the emotion of the crowd. And that emotion, when it did come, came in response to a miracle, not to make one happen. Miracles are free.

The apostles followed their Master. They preached. Signs followed, as a bonus. No one was told to do anything so that the power of God would fall. Pentecost, and all subsequent outpourings were directed by God on unsuspecting groups of people. Never once did an apostle demand or perform a show so that God would "show up."

Remember Jonathan Edwards? Well, he was a little before our time. He's the one considered to be the main spark of the "Great Awakening" of the mid 18th century. And the one who preached "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." He was not considered a great orator, though his words were intense. But his hard stand against sin and for judgment brought a true revival.

Yes, there were strange things that happened in his meetings. People passed out under conviction, for example. They call this fainting by other names today, even though the Bible does not name the phenomenon. Edwards did not encourage a response or try to make it happen. Men and women simply confronted themselves and their God at the same time. An awful and dangerous experience.

When challenged about the things that happened in his meetings, Edwards stressed that they were all incidental to the preaching, that they were not to be emphasized, nor was favor to be reckoned to those whose "bodily effects" were more noticeable. Gradually though the "bodily effects" people changed the course of the revival, as they always do.

It's a different world today, at least to some degree. It becomes obvious early on in some "revival" meetings that the leader is trying to "make something happen." Some preachers will suddenly yell, or blow into a microphone, or run around. The crowd is sure that the Spirit is moving, and it reacts accordingly and unpredictably, throwing caution and order and compassion for those who have come along with them, to the wind. But with all the smoke, often there is not a word of conviction spoken in the entire meeting. It's all for show and money in some cases.

We want to say, "nevertheless, Christ is preached" as the gracious Paul could say, but that might not even be true in some of these meetings, as people have stopped looking for sound teaching and the true power of God, and are seeking out feel-good shows of signs and wonders that they can talk about to their friends.

Let me say this. We insult and endanger folks when we tell them they must get "all worked up" in order for Jesus to move. That's not how it happened as our church was being formed. And that notion is nothing more than a revival of the old "works" mentality so prevalent in the institution(s) out of which we have come.

Preachers, preach Christ! Preach the Word! Preach grace! Don't imply that I must do something to receive the gifts of God. Just fill my mind and heart with God's Truth and let me deal with it. Oh I may get excited and even loud but not because of shenanigans and not to meet your needs. Or silently God may do a work in me that you could never imagine, that God will never tell you, lest you be lifted up with pride and think you did it.

People of God, it's going to get worse. Keep the discerner's fine-tuned, the eyes wide open, the heart turned only to Jesus Christ.

Look for Bob Faulkner's home page on http://sermonaudio.com There you will find a combination of love for the Scriptures and a desire for North Korean believers to have their needs met. There are nearly 300 blogs , ovber 200 Bible teaching MP3's, lists of resources, NK picture albums, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

Love and Prayers to Heal Divisions in the Christian Church

More than same-sex marriage and pedophile priests molesting choir boys, what tears the Christian Church apart is its own followers' biases and prejudices against each other.

As Christians, we tend to focus too much on our diversity that we forget what it is that unites us: our faith in Jesus Christ, his death for sins, burial, resurrection and our desire to follow His teachings.

But is it possible to have unity in the Christian Church? The answer is yes. Love, understanding and praying for unity are what we need to break down denominational walls in the Church.

With two billion followers, Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion. If a family consisting of a father, a mother and their two children may not always see eye to eye, how much more such a huge number of people? Dissension cannot be avoided and there will always be disagreements. It is when we begin to ask, "Whose views are more superior?" that judgment starts. This leads to alienation, and alienation is what creates disunity among us.

Wracked by issues as child sexual molestation by the clergy, contraception, abortion, stem cell research and divorce, the moral authority of the Christian Church is continuously under scrutiny. Also, some denominations within the Christian Church openly support homosexuality and gay marriage even among male priests and consecration of openly gay bishops. This triggers denouncement from other Christian groups which perceive these practices as blasphemous to the Church's doctrines and damaging to the already fragile image of the Christian faith.

Another issue that has drawn criticisms from both Christians and non-Christians alike is the growing number of churches being established in areas in close proximity of each other. One example of this is a particular town in Texas which only has a population of around 20,000 but 51 churches were built in the area. It seems the Christian Church is taking the words, "Go forth and multiply" too literally. With the problems hounding it, it seems that the Church's response is to build more churches much like social networking sites sprouting on the internet instead of unifying the members of the existing ones.

Instead of addressing these glaring problems within the organization, church leaders hurl blame against each other. Different denominations preoccupy themselves arguing about non-essential matters like worship styles, Arminianism, Calvinism, etc., instead of uniting on the foundation of Christianity. This somehow proves what most people fear all along, that the Christian Church is the Church of the Disunited.

How can the Christian Church summon enough credibility (and focus as obviously its energies are scattered) to continue to preach the word of God? How can it defend itself from the attacks of other religions when a war is raging within the Church itself? Division and bickering is like a disease that attacks the Christian Church from within, much like an auto immune disease.

How differences can be healthy

A little dose of differences among the members of the Christian Church can be healthy because it leads to dynamism. "For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you,"(1 Cor. 11:19).

According to Romans 14:1-12, we may have differing opinions, but we should not judge each other because "To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind..." God himself will be the judge.

Not one denomination of the Christian Church should consider itself superior and regard the other groups with contempt. Christians may operate under different names, but it should not matter because God gave us no name but his under which to rally.

Unity in the Christian Church is possible

Unity is not achieved by ramming one's opinions down someone else's throat and the other person blindly conforming to these. We need to recognize that our differences of opinions and worship styles are fine, but we need to constantly work and pray for unity.

What is important is for us to practice God's loving and accepting attitude across denominational barriers. When we reject others whom Christ has accepted, it conflicts with the very nature of the Christian faith which preaches about love, forgiveness, self sacrifice, humility, and unity. What God truly meant for us to do is to practice His teachings and spread His word, not sit as judge of the other person.

Would it not be a good way to preach to the world about Christianity if the Christian Church is able to unite despite its differences? Would it not please God if Christians, regardless of denominations, are able to accept and love each other?

Love, acceptance, and praying for unity

Love, acceptance, and praying for unity are the perfect unifying bond for the Christian Church, and these should be tightly woven into the spiritual and moral fiber of the Christian faith. The unity of the Christian Church begins with individuals praying for unity.

It is for this reason that the Missionaries of Prayer, an interdenominational Christian Prayer Ministry committed to praying for the world and praying for unity in the Church, holds a daily time of prayer for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from January 18 - 25 at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/missionariesofprayer. The daily intercessions are aimed at healing the divisions within the Church, as well as promote dialogs among Churches and Christian communities.

How Imminent Is The Return Of Christ?

The doctrine of Imminence is one that is sworn by these days. Suggest that you don't quite believe in it and you're out!

"Jesus could come at any time, today, this hour." That's the watchword of believers in this teaching. I know what the people who say this mean, but we must take objection to that statement as it stands. For, Heaven has a day circled on the Heavenly Calendar when Jesus must come. [Acts

17:31, "(God) has appointed a day in which He will judge the world by the Man Whom He

has ordained."]

That is to say, God knows when Jesus is coming. It is not a random day. It is clearly and definitely scheduled. Jesus cannot come at just "any" time, but only on the day He has appointed. The problem is not that there is uncertainty in Heaven, but that we are uncertain. The question then is, just how far is that uncertainty to extend?

When the disciples asked Jesus, "What shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3) why did Jesus even suggest a time frame? Why did He answer such a thing at all, if we are not to know something ? Why not say, as we hear commonly today, "Don't worry about it! It will all pan out. I'll come when I come."

That was not His approach. Jesus for all time laid out a clear description of a particular generation, a season, when He will come, so that those believers living in that generation will know it is time! All others of all time, not totally certain of what He was saying, since the time was not ready, have been commanded to watch, and be ready. Of course, the coming of Jesus at a man's death is reason enough for any person, any time, to be on guard against foolish behavior.

The importance of knowing a particular season is confirmed by our dear brother, the apostle Paul, in I Thessalonians 5. First he says to the ungodly (verse 2) that Jesus is coming as "a thief in the night." This is the concept that has been passed on to godly people as their own norm

for looking for Jesus to come! But moving even one more verse leads us to : "For when they say, 'Peace and Safety' then comes sudden destruction upon them..."Who are they and them? The world! The unbelievers! Verse 4 insists, "You are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief!"

That means we can and should know the general time of His coming, especially if we are living in the last generation. That generation is described further by Paul in II Thessalonians 2:3. In words that could not be more clear, Paul demands that that Day will not come unless there is a noticeable world-wide apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin .

Oh my! Jesus could come at any moment? Yes, in death. Yes, theoretically to those who walk in darkness and have not read the words of the apostles. But in fact? No! He must come when Paul says He must come, and that is after the great apostasy, and after antichrist.

The man or woman who is seeking God with all the heart about the coming of Jesus will see the plan unfold clearly and will indeed be watching when He comes. The ungodly "carnal" Christian, if there be such a thing, will be loudly proclaiming His love for a Jesus who might come just any time, and for him the coming will be a surprise, for that person has never dug deeply into God's Word to find the truth. I am saying that more light is

revealed to those who seek, and those who do not seek will be still in darkness and fulfill their own prophecies about how "we can never really know."

The only information that has been denied to us is the very day on the calendar and the very hour on the clock when Jesus will come. Let us be diligent though to comprehend with all the saints what are the times and seasons God has revealed to us.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

What Do They Have that We Don't Have?

They, meaning the suffering church. The persecuted church. The church in pain. We, meaning the western church. The comfortable church. The prosperous church.
Are they really different from us, or is it only that there is a government in place that hates Jesus more than ours does? Or does it mean that we don't speak up and speak out enough for Jesus? Do we speak the whole truth about Christ or are we afraid of political correctness?

Consider the relatively recent stories of the following brothers and sisters (these are current stories.) Perhaps in the reading, God will convict us of work we are not doing, or at least make us grateful to belong to such a wonderful family of people.

In CHINA, a pastor serves a 3-year prison sentence in a labor camp. His wife has just been released, and now fearfully cares for their son. The pastor's church has been raided during a worship service.

In PAKISTAN, two evangelists working with Muslim converts are attacked by the Taliban. One is shot and killed instantly. Threats to the other. Two Muslims wounded, one escapes.

In INDIA a law has been passed in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Under it, anyone forcibly converting someone can be imprisoned up to two years. In this state of six million, only eight thousand are Christian. Using this law, Hindus beat three Christian brothers, giving them internal injuries.

In LAOS, 12 pastors are arrested after meetings. One of them is being denied visitors.

And so on and on the cross of Christ is carried . How we appreciate those who take upon them the very character of Christ. May God give us grace to die with them and with Him.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed , lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond .

Image of the Beast & Image of God Comparison

"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Revelations 13:14-15

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Revelation 14:9-11

I know these verses are speaking for a time yet to come. Some say that this is speaking about a human being that will be manifested in the Earth, and that will have nature of the devil in himself, e.g. Antichrist. Others say that is speaking of a whole system, and not just a mere man. Whatever the case might be, there are spiritual principles we can draw from these verses.

1. The devil has an image. Of course, it's exactly contrary to God's image.
2. The devil will impose that image of his upon this human being (AntiChrist), or upon a whole demonic system (kingdom), trying to rule upon the Earth. We see that this human representation and extension of the devil is Anti-Christ, Anti-God, Anti-The Anointed One, Anti-The Savior, Anti-His destiny, purposes and intentions.
3. The devil's final purpose is every person to receive the same image of the beast in themselves - some because of deception, others because of fear. This image was given power to speak, act and perform miracles (Revelations 13), so it does require the people that have received it to act accordingly, speaking its language, doing his works, even receiving its supernatural power.

It's main purpose - the self to be promoted and rise against and above Almighty God Himself.

We know that the devil fooled many angels to join him in his battle against the Lord in Heaven and they were all cast out. Now, in the Revelation events, we see him trying to do the same thing with men on Earth, gathering an army that is meant to attack the Lord when He comes from Heaven to the Earth (Revelations 19:19, 20; 20:7-8). That will be an army consisting of totally deranged, mentally distorted and emotionally destroyed people. Why? Because they will have all accepted the beast's image and that's exactly what the devil is.

Somebody will say, "Well, what does that have to do with us? The AntiChrist (man or system) is not yet manifested and nobody has yet accepted the image (mark) of the beast as Revelation says".

Here's the spiritual parallel we must draw. It's point number 4.

4. The Bible says in (1 John 4:3 and 2:18-22) that the spirit of the AntiChrist is already working in the world.

"and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

1 John 4:3

It is definitely trying to creep into the Church, into all it's structures and to respectively permeate every area of the Church life, Christian thought patterns, ways of behavior, ministry ethics, Christian moral, Bible standards and all else.

That's the spirit of religion we are dealing with. Not the pure religion that Apostle James is speaking about in James 1:27. This pure religion is actually a lifestyle of hearing God's word of truth and obeying it; it's a lifestyle of being pure, holy, separated and trustworthy. It's a lifestyle of doing good and breaking every yoke of the devil (Acts 10:38). It's a lifestyle of following the Lord every step of the way, receiving His image in us and exercising His authority in doing His will by bringing His purposes and destiny to fulfillment on the Earth, as it is in Heaven.

The spirit of religion and of the AntiChrist I'm talking about is exactly the opposite. It's being hearers only, but not doers of God's word (James 1:22-25). It's going to Church, but not actually being an integral part of the Body of Christ. It's being like the Priest and the Levite that saw the wounded man lying half dead on the ground and that passed by him, without helping him. It's being religious politicians, deceiving ourselves and the others. It's saying, but not doing, being a Pharisee, a religious fanatic, a fault finder, seeking always to find faults in others, but never checking ourselves at the same time, beholding the mote in our brother's eye and ignoring the plank in our own one. The examples are endless. That's the image of the beast - the image of self-righteousness, raising its ugly head above and against God's humility and grace.

Now these 4 points show the devil's side of things. But we all know that the devil is not a Creator - He is a counterfeiter. he takes from the Lord's principles and thwarts them, perverting them. So, let's look at the original structure:

1. The Lord has an image. It contains all Himself, His Glory, His power, His authority, His Character, His gifts and fruit, His ministries, His dreams, purposes, intentions and destiny.
2. The Lord sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ (as opposed to Anti-Christ). Jesus was the human representation and extension of God. We can see that clearly in the following Scriptures:

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

2 Corinthians 4:3- 4

"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell"

Colossians 1:12-19

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."

Colossians 3:1-17

3. The final purpose of God is to place that same image of Christ on the inside of every one of us, so we can be, speak and act as God is speaking, acting and being.

The main purpose - God's Character to be developed in us in full humility, grace and peace, so we can be mature sons and daughters of God, ready to enter into the inheritance the Lord has for our lives, our families, our children, our ministries, our Churches, our jobs and careers, our neighborhoods, our cities, our nations, and to the ends of the Earth.

4. God's Holy Spirit has been working in God's people ever since Genesis 1:1-2 when He was hovering above God's Planet Earth. In our new birth, He even came to live in us. Will we ever be able to grasp what the Lord has done for us? We have the Lord of Glory living in our hearts, through His Holy Spirit.

Nikola Dimitrov

Pastor, Bible Teacher, Preacher, Translator, Educator, Author

http://www.life-of-jesus.org

The Monotheistic Lie

Avraham who is known as the father of nations is credited with bringing monotheism to the world 3500 years ago, opposing those of many gods and beginning a tradition that has spread throughout the world-but, that is simply not true. There was never a question among the ancients as to the reality of the Creator of Heaven and Earth, but their contention was the Creator had abandoned creation into the hands of the stars and constellations to who they prayed.

True it was the affluence that fed the earth was conveyed on the wings of angels attached to the tenuous little shafts of star-light that surround the world with illumination; were it not for the darkness of space a mantle of light covering the solar system would be visible. They called the Creator-God of gods. The only question was: where is God.

Since God, Creator, is neither physical nor spiritual, therefore nothing in creation from the lowest physical manifestation until the highest metaphoric hint of the truth can encompass God; to the Creator creation is but a small thing, an easily done accomplishment. Perhaps, thought the ancients, God created, but God left. Avraham came to announce to the world that God was present in the seven outer worlds of the solar system and in the four corners of this physical earth where life abounds.

This knowledge of God's presence was conveyed through a single word: Echud/One; the Talmud-Book of Law breaks down each of the three letters, reducing them to numbers then extrapolates: the Oneness of God (Aleph/One) is in the seven heavens and the earth (Chet/8) and the four corners of the earth (Dalet/4). One is a philosophic idea portraying the relationship forged between Creator and creation.

The idea of One goes beyond the first of many-the dot progenitor of a line-One is unique and indivisible. Those who say God is the accumulation of all existence diminish the idea of One. The beginning and the end is comparable one to infinity; infinity is made up from many ones and one is the beginning of infinity-thus the comparison to God falters. There are no parts to God, only the effluence of God is divided up into particulars according to the needs of creation.

The Creator is not defined by creation in any shape, form or fashion; being beyond creation God is available to everybody and everything all the time everywhere. It is why we pray in our minds and in our hearts because this innate knowledge permeates the human experience. It is this knowledge that Avraham brought into the world by means of his life which was full of miracles giving witness to the fact that God was truly in the world.

This fundamental idea of Echud/One was later enshrined in what is known as the Shema Yisroel, a saying of six words-the mainstay of Jewish faith declaring: God is One. When religion came along 2000 years ago this pristine idea was adopted, usurped, expropriated and finally manipulated into something other than the truth: God is one among many instead of One indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Monotheism is the lie of religion trying to reduce the important message delivered by the father of nations, Avraham, who came to help the world from the darkness of chaos. It is the purpose of religion to hide the truth so the seeker will become reliant on a poor substitution-dogma. In the laws of charity, the greatest gift one can give to a poor person is a means to become self-supporting. The Talmud-Book of Law insists wealth is only found in the knowledge of the truth.

Dovid Krafchow lives in San Francisco and is the author of Kabbalistic Tarot published by Inner Tradition and a new series of five ebooks called The Dance of the Pig: a cosmology and world history based on the Cabala, available only at JewishBohemian.com Dovid is a Jewish elder and teacher, unaffiliated and non-religious. He stridently believes that in the end it is the individual who changes the world

North Korea - Unbroken Succession

How is a strong leader brought to power? Some say it takes a people who are conditioned to receive him. Surely the Korean people were so conditioned. Centuries of harsh rulers have been permitted to hold sway over the minds of the citizens of Chosun. Take Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. He was the founder of the Ming Dynasty that ruled Korea from 1364-1666. He required absolute obedience. He was the law and the source of all laws. When he died, generations after him were forced to sit under lectures mouthing his philosophies.

Such lectures take place in modern North Korea, but their subject is not Emperor Zhu.

Over a thousand years earlier much of the peninsula was ruled by the Silla kings. In those days a man's hereditary position determined his place in the social standing. Top aristocracy did not have to sign up for the military. They went instead to the top administrative offices in the land.

A practice carried down to today's Korea.

Later came the Koryo State, equally conscious of rank, whose "caste" system rivaled that of modern India and persists in North Korea as well. One third of the nation was actually a slave class in ancient Koryo. This practice was only outlawed in 1894, but was quickly picked up by the occupying Japanese.

And of course, by today's labor camp mentality . Most did not consider it unusual. This is how things had been "forever".

Caste continued in the final Choson dynasty. The different groups wore tags that branded them as high or low in Korean standing.

Today's system has changed only in name, and involves 50 or 60 ranks according to class background. There are "families that fought the Japanese," " veterans of the Korean War," "poor peasant farmers" etc etc. One's rank determines where one lives and how much one eats and if one lives or dies.

There are many other intriguing similarities between the present oppression and the oppression of his predecessors. North Korea is starved for liberty and truth. Starved.

Can Koreans be free? Where shall we look for hope, for faith that things can ever be different? That's easy. South Korea, and the God upon whom so many South Koreans call every day. South Korea is the constant argument against feudalism, brutal monarchies, Communism, Juche, and the government of the North. Koreans really can be free, given the proper God and the proper leadership.

For this we pray.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

The Gift Of The Sleeping Christ

Look for a picture of "Jesus calming the storm" on a search engine and you will see many depictions of the dynamic Son of the Living God towering over the wind and waves and showing His great authority. It is much harder to find the scene that took place only seconds before. A sleeping Saviour, surely aware of the difficulty, but not allowing it to affect His peace of mind.

As I pondered over that in my morning's devotions, something inside went yes! That's the gift from Jesus I so long to have, and the gift I wish for my brothers and sisters in North Korea today. Oh don't misunderstand. I desire deliverance. I'd like it even better if there were no storm from which to be delivered. But I read of no such promise. And since storms last longer than the deliverance from them, I want a gift that covers the great majority of my time on earth.

It's relatively easy for a man to receive an outpouring of grace that so confounds the enemies of our soul as to hear them say the word "miracle." How easy is it to sit for literally years, as Richard Wurmbrand of Romania, Haralan Popov of Bulgaria, and a host of others, knowing God is powerful but that He is doing something different in your life, in accordance with His eternal purposes?

We must be honest with ourselves and honest before God. All of our deliverance prayers, personal or for others, are not going to be answered the way we want. In the Scriptures there is a Peter who was delivered but we know that eventually there was one who was tortured and killed. There is a Paul who with Silas was miraculously set free. There's also the Paul who from Jerusalem to Rome to the end of his life was a prisoner of Christ.

There was the great success of John the Baptist, then the waning ministry, the jail cell where doubt entered, the end by decapitation. And must we not add Christ Himself to this difficult list? Amazing miracles, constant escape from death experiences, then betrayal, crucifixion.

There's a pattern here. We see it in the boat. A Christ who is unruffled by anything Hell can stir up, and a Christ who when He needs to, can do the stirring Himself.

Many and precious are the stories of suffering saints from Jesus' day to the present who looked death in the face and received deliverance. Only recently a brother was arrested in Chosun, prayed for by believers all over this world, and released! What rejoicing, what relief. But it does not always happen that way. Oh we need the gift of the sleeping Christ. Absolute perfect peace.

Then join me today in prayer for the land of morning calm, that its citizens will know the peace that only Christ can give. Oh how we long for the day when peace will settle over that entire nation, when Christ is Lord over all Chosun, when the Gospel is preached freely to every citizen. But until the deliverance comes, may God touch His own with the peace that He promised:

"My peace I leave with you... let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

http://chosunhouse.com is a website made to ask believers to pray for North Korea. Recently I have added Bible teachings to the menu. There are nearly 300 blogs , a live news feed , lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com. Audio teachings at sermonaudio.com under my name.

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond .

Tithe Versus Free-will Giving

Ten has always been the symbol of fullness, and when giving a tenth of your income, it symbolizes the total; it represents everything that you've earned. All things belong to God & has to be seen as such (cf. Ps.50:10; Hag.2:8; Deut.8:18; 1Cor.4:7; Jas.1:17).

However, it is important to distinguish between the tithe & free-will giving to the church.

The tithe was implemented in O.T. times when Israel was a theocracy and not a democracy, i.e., when it was a God-ruled nation. The tithe was meant to provide for the rulers of Israel ... the Levites' tax (Lev.27:21, 28, 30, 32; cf. Lev.7:34, 36; Num.18:26). They were required to give another ten percent every year that was to go for the funding of the national holidays & national feasts, etc. (Deut.12:17; Deut.14:22-26). This was to take care of national unity & national religion. And yet another ten percent was required every third year that was to go to the poor as welfare (cf. Deut.26:12; Deut.14:27-29).

That means that 231/3% were annual funding for the government. The tithe was related to that & was never related to free will giving or spontaneous giving. It was required taxation, and in Mal.3:10 where He says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, ..." it means that we should pay our taxes. I.e., the tithe in the Old Testament was not free will giving to God out of love, but it was a compulsory paying of taxes.

In O.T. times there was free will giving too (Prov.3:9), to give & honour the Lord with however much they wanted, and for that there was a principle (Prov.11:24). That principle was reiterated by Jesus in Luke 6:38 & similar ones are found throughout Scripture (see Acts 4:35; cf. Acts 6:5; 2Cor.8:2, 5; 2Cor.9:6-8; 1John 3:17; Jas 2:17,20,26). God wants us to do good to others, whoever they are, and so we have to be ready & eager to share wherever the government doesn't provide (cf. Heb.13:16; Acts 20:35).

So what is the proportion of giving? How much are we to give? What does Paul say in 1Cor.16:2? You are to give just exactly what you in your heart determine. Let every one of us purpose in his heart what he will give, but be sure that it's not grudgingly or of necessity, because the Lord loves a cheerful giver (cf. 2Cor.9:7).

The period for giving is the first day of the week, because that is what they did back then (cf. 1Cor.16:1-4). And this was done so that when a need came along, they didn't have to traumatise it & get everybody all worked up so that they gave emotionally. Likewise, we need to learn to deal systematically, week by week, with stewardship, so that when needs come there'll be money available. This forms a great part of our faithfulness ... giving to God out of love and not out of some emotional stimulation.

Deon (Ditto / D)

He is God? Or He is Nuts, a Liar, a Blasphemer?

"Christianity is not the only truth in the world but it is the only complete truth." C.S. Lewis

There is a big problem in our world today, "What do we do about or what do we think about Jesus. For the Christian, He is everything. For believers of Judaism He is yet to come, for the Muslim he is but a great teacher and for other religions he is insignificant. Regardless of what you, dear reader, believe on the subject, I would think you would have to agree that Jesus is probably the most divisive subjects and the reason for much of the hatred that exists in the world today.

The opening statement by C. S. Lewis, "Christianity is not the only truth in the world but it is the only complete truth," will be offensive to some, but I want to explore is merits or it faults with you. Lewis is saying that he is willing to declare that there are elements of truth in all religious beliefs, but after much study and "sole" searching, he has determined Christianity is the most complete of all beliefs. Is it?

For us to get a definitive insight into the statement by Lewis, we need to get a glimpse of Lewis in real life. C. S. Lewis (Better know for his books The Chronicles of Narnia) was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898. Lewis, a confirmed atheist, was accepted at Oxford; and two friends he met there, J.R.R. Tolkien (A Roman Catholic and author of Lord of the Rings) and Owen Barfield (a new Christian convert) challenged him and in 1929 Lewis became a theist, acknowledging the possibility that a God did exist; two years later, 1931, he became a Christian. Some of the other books by Lewis are: Pilgrim's Regress, Mere Christianity, The Abolition of Man, Miracles, The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, and the Great Divorce are a few.

Being inspired by the life and works of C.S. Lewis, I have determined to try to reason with those of you who do not believe in God, to those of you who say that somebody had to create the world (theist), to those of you who believe in only one God, (monothiest) to those of you who believe in a triune God, and to those of you who are in a state of spiritual confusion, a task for which I am not sure I am up to. Nevertheless, the following is my attempt at doing just that.

Theist, atheist, monotheist and agnostic

A theist is someone who believes that there is a creative force behind the universe coming into existence. An atheist is someone who simply does not believe in God. A monotheist is a person who believes in one God and one God only. An agnostic is a person who wants to believe in God but is always confused as to his existence.

I tell you about Lewis, because he goes from not believing in a God, to the possibility of there being a God and ultimately that not only was there a God, but that God became flesh and dwelt among men. In other words he came to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God as well as God Himself and that the Holy Spirit is God also. In other words, Lewis believed in the Trinity, that God was God, Jesus was God and the Holy Spirit was God.

That may very well parallel your life or it could be the complete opposite of your life. At this point in time I am not concerned with whether you acknowledge Jesus as being God or not. What I want to explore with you is both sides of the issue. If Jesus was not who he said he was, God incarnate, he was the biggest nut, liar and blasphemer the world had known at the time. Why do I say that?

One of the many problems a writer has to deal with is, "Where do I start?" I have chosen to start with Jesus Christ. He either was who he said he was, God, or He was the biggest nut, liar, or blasphemer that ever lived. Since we find his claim to be God, found in the Christian Bible, we will use that as a basis to prove or disprove his claim to be God and thus be able to forgive sins.

Let's explore some of the passages in the Christian Bible concerning Jesus:

" But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," is found in three of the Gospels: Matthew 9:6; Mark 2:10 and Luke 5:24.

If you walked down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana today and heard someone saying they had power to forgive sins, what would you think about that? Go back in time to when the above text was written. This "man" Jesus was telling the multitude that exact same thing. Was he nuts, or was he who he said he was, God incarnate and the very Son of God?

Suppose we are intrigued enough to continue listening to this prophet of Bourbon Street, and before long he said the following, which is found in the Gospel of John chapter 1:1-3: " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

The Prophet of Bourbon Street is intimating, that in the very beginning, not only was he with God, but that he was God and everything in the world that was made was made by him. Was he nuts, or was he who he said he was?

We are still standing there listening and we hear this said, as is found in John 1:10-14: He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

And now the Prophet of Bourbon Street is telling us he has the power to make you and I become the sons of God. And quoting from John 1:18: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. This Prophet of Bourbon Street is now telling us that you are looking at God. Was he nuts, or was he who he said he was?

I do not know about you, but I would be very skeptical about this so called Prophet of Bourbon Street and I would probably say not only was He nuts but somebody ought to lock the man up or do away with him completely. And that is exactly what happened in 33 AD/C.E. when the Jewish leaders of the day did not accept the words of Jesus and demanded that he be killed (crucified).

Matthew 15:9-10 : But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

Matthew 15:12-13: And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him.

Perhaps you are Jewish and are still looking for Messiah. Perhaps you are as skeptical, or envious, about Jesus too, perhaps not. Perhaps you do not know enough to "make the call one way or the other." Perhaps you are Muslim and believe as the Quran does, that He was a prophet but not the Son of God, and surely not God himself, but only a messenger of God.

Quran 4:171 O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" - Cease! (it is) better for you! - Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.

Quran 5:75 The Messiah, son of Mary, was no other than a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) had passed away before him. And his mother was a saintly woman. And they both used to eat (earthly) food. See how We make the revelations clear for them, and see how they are turned away!

This we know: The Jews are expecting Jesus to come someday. The Muslims say he came but was only a messenger from God. The Christians say not only has he come but that he is God. We can say for certain, that all of these religious viewpoints acknowledge a Jesus. Was he who he said he was, or was he a nut?

If he was not who he said he was, he was completely nuts and should not be taken seriously; If he was who he said he was, you need to find out more about him. That is what I have done, and I challenge you to do the same.

I believe that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe the Son of God came to earth where He dwelt for 33 years. I believe that the Jews of that time thought him to be a blasphemer and persuaded King Agrippa to allow his crucifixion. I also believe He was crucified and buried for the sins of the world and that three days later God resurrected him for the justification of man's sin.

You see, I do not believe Jesus was a nut nor a liar nor a blasphemer. I believe He was who he claimed to be: God.

In 1975 Obed began a non-denominational church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was the pastor-teacher there for twenty-five years. In 2000 he and his wife Linda moved to Franklin, Tennessee to be near three of his six grandchildren.

Obed has published two books on how one should study the Bible and numerous pamphlets on religious issues. He often travels to speak at Bible conferences in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and his adopted state of Tennessee.

Obed and Linda have three sons, Wayne, who lives in Brentwood, Tennessee with his wife Fran and three children, and is a songwriter/producer; Karey, who lives in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife Nada and three children, and is a screen writer/director; and Brent, who lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Agneiszka and is a singer/songwriter.