Copyright © 2008 Jon Straumfjord
The Spirit of Prophecy is as involved in the Church today as She ever was. Because the Lord never changes, and since the Lord Himself instituted prophecy and commissioned prophets in the past, both prophecy and prophets must continue to exist and be an influence in the Church, even though the Enemy continually seeks to discredit legitimate prophecy. But how can we discern true prophecy from false prophecy?
the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelations 19:10, NKJV)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3, NKJV)
"If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods' - which you have not known - 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. (Deuteronomy 13:1-4, NKJV)
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. (1 Corinthians 14:29-31, NKJV)
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Posted by Walt as Bible Study, Prophecy at 12:55 AM EST
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by Thomas E. Brewton
But too many of us can't understand it
The sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was delivered by Pastor Larry Fullerton. His text was Daniel, chapter 5, the famous account of the fateful writing that mysteriously appeared on the wall at Belshazzar's feast.
Neither Belshazzar, nor his sorcerers and magicians could understand the message. But Daniel, a righteous man of God, understood and delivered God's message of doom, a message that unhappily applies to our modern-day, largely Godless society.
"King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
"Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
"The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
"Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.
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Posted by Walt as Prophecy, The Bible at 7:55 PM EDT
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by Michael Bresciani
Stars come in various sizes, shapes, ages and brilliance. It is their brightness that is the most noted of all their attributes. Astronomers still engage a system for measuring the brightness of a star that was developed by one of their own named Hipparchus at about 120 BC. The scale he developed rates the brilliance of stars from 1 to 6. One is the brightest and six the faintest. The brightest stars are said to be of the first magnitude. The brightest star in the skies today is Sirius and it is rated a 1.42. Hipparchus method of rating the luminescence of the stars is used to this very day.
The Star of Bethlehem falls outside of Hipparchus method. It was apparently a one time event. It was never seen before and there is little reason to believe it will ever happen again. The account of the Star of Bethlehem is found only in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
Hundreds or perhaps thousands of people saw the brilliant star pulsating in the eastern skies. The stir it created was so great that it reached the ears of Herod, a man, who later was to become the King of Judea. The Romans did not allow anyone to be called a king throughout their empire except by special dispensation. Herod successfully wrangled the title from the Roman senate through great coercion, which bespeaks of his manic megalomania.
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Posted by Walt as Prophecy, Witnessing at 1:25 AM EST
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by Rev Michael Bresciani
Question
With all of the various interpretations of the second coming today how do we know if we are on target, or off on a wild tangent?
Answer
This question seems to be the one that plagues the believer most often and it is easy to see why. Do we go with a pre, mid or post tribulation rapture? Should we believe the teachings of the pre, post or ah millennialists? And there are many other questions swirling around today in a dizzying melee that will confuse anyone, regardless of how well grounded in God’s word they may be. There is an answer to this dilemma, and it is the only answer that can prevail against the confusion.
To start with we can split the whole field of second coming teachers and interpreters into two camps, this rule also apply to teachers and interpreters of any part of the Bible. They are either conservative or liberal in their approach. We hear these terms being used largely in politics, but for the teacher or the student of the Bible these terms have a slightly different meaning.
The liberal interpreter of the Bible doesn’t take God’s word nearly as serious as conservatives do. Mostly they do not believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant or infallible. They may believe the Bible to he inspired in spots, and that occasionally, they may be inspired to spot the spots. Some liberals may hang to the moderate side, and think that God is only serious about the most serious things like, thou shalt not kill, or thou shalt not commit adultery. But the dyed in the wool liberal is not sure God is serious about anything.
This kind of biblical liberalism winds up using terms to describe God’s word like, poetry, allegory, symbolism, simile, myth, or fable. Liberals may also use terms like unknowable, questionable or false. They are often in doubt about who wrote the scripture and if it has any practical place in our lives. They may question the historicity not only of the Bible, but of the characters of the Bible as well. The list of attributes seen in the liberal is much greater than I want to mention here.
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Posted by Walt as Apostasy, Prophecy at 7:09 AM EDT
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I am not given to prophesying, and I fear that the fixing of dates and periods has been exceedingly injurious to the whole system of premillenial teaching; but I think I clearly see in Scripture that the Lord Jesus will come—so far I go, and take my stand—that he will come personally to reign upon this earth. At his coming it appears clear to me that he will gather together the Jewish people, that Jerusalem shall become the metropolis of the new empire which shall then extend from pole to pole, from the river even to the ends of the earth. - C.H. Spurgeon
Posted by Walt as C.H. Spurgeon Gems, Prophecy at 11:25 PM EDT
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The world is heading into Armageddon and most of the worlds population is unaware of the events that will be leading us up to the end-times. Even though the exact date and time of the second coming of Christ can not be predicted, world events show that we are getting closer to that eventful time.
by Rev Michael Bresciani
al Qaeda ran up the clock, the clock struck one (Hezbollah) and the rest barely escaped with their lives. No it is not that simple but as analogies go it is not all that far from the truth.
As Americans viewed the history channel's piece on the antichrist they heard the narrator ask the question, is the re-birth of Israel in 1948 really the ultimate sign of the end of the world as we know it. With full blown skepticism the commentator proceeded to show how it might be, but it could also be an overrated notion of the preachers, theologians and eschatologists.
That Israel is God's clock is not an obscure or hidden theology it is rather one of the clearest markers in the entire scripture. God doesn't take us by the scruff of the neck and force our faces into the clock, he says only, let him that has ears to hear, let him hear.
Hear this. In the history of this world no nation has endured more than fifty years removed from its own soil and then returned to become a free and independent nation again. Israel endured 2500 years under the rule of other nations and a dispersion or removal from their own soil that has lasted nearly a millennium. When Israel became a nation again under the British mandate of 1948 she broke every record in history.
If only one prophet said that Israel's re-birth was the beginning of the last generation that should be enough. But all the prophets have unanimously agreed that this is the marker or the beginning of the great countdown of God.
Since the city of Jerusalem must be included in all of those prophecies than some would say the countdown did not begin until after the result of the six day war of 1967. This point cannot be argued against but it still puts us quite a few years underway on this cruise through what is known as the last generation.
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Posted by Walt as History, News Events, Prophecy at 10:36 PM EDT
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WHEATON, Ill., May 2 /Christian Wire Service/ — Who better than the authors who’ve sold 
more than 63 million books featuring the antichrist, Left Behind Series writers Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, to use the number most closely associated with “the beast” as the street date for their next title? The duo’s fifteenth book together, "The Rapture" ($25.99/Tyndale), releases on June 6, 2006 or 06-06-06.
LaHaye and Jenkins are not the only ones to give a nod to the 666 sequence. The remake of “The Omen” featuring the young antichrist Damian releases on June 6 as well.
“Why not make the connection?” says Jenkins. “Our novels use the Book of Revelation as a framework and it’s in Revelation 13:18 that 666 is used in reference to the antichrist. The funny thing is that number never appears anywhere in our books.”
Jenkins thought it was too predictable to use 666 in the Left Behind® novels, but he’s found a few clever ways to work it in. For instance, the number 216 occurs often in regard to the antichrist character Nicolae Carpathia.
“Almost every significant number in the story is the sum, remainder, product, or divisor of 666, i.e., 6+6+6, 6-6-6, 6×6x6, etc.,” answers Jenkins. “In this case, 216 = 6×6x6.”
But LaHaye and Jenkins don’t stop with math problems. Note the name of the antichrist’s assistant, Viv Ivins. Look carefully and see that it is 666 in roman numerals.
On June 6, some Christian retailers are embracing the 666 theme by selling paperback editions of the Left Behind books for $6.66.
“It seemed very natural to release ‘The Rapture’ on June 6,” says Cheryl Kerwin, Tyndale marketing manager. “We knew it would make the street date memorable. We’ve had a few people who were a bit rattled by the number call and ask ‘Do you realize what day that is?’”
Jenkins advises that people have nothing to fear on June 6. “People are naturally afraid of the number because of who it is associated with. It’s just a number. It’s the antichrist who is evil.”
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Posted by Walt as Book Reviews, Prophecy at 4:48 AM EDT
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By Rev Michael Bresciani
We could choose dozens of references to the second coming to show that these are the times predicted just prior to the second coming. For example Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars. It is no secret that most of the wars fought throughout history have been fought in the last seventy five years. Or that most of the earthquakes ever recorded have taken place in the last twenty five years. But it is not these general signs that give us the greatest insight into the timing of the second coming. It is the four pillars of prophecy that place us smack in the middle of the last generation before Christ’s return. The four pillars are as follows.
• The re-birth of the nation of Israel. The Jewish people will possess the same general area as ancient Israel and be in full possession of the city of Jerusalem. Hosea 2:14:23, Ezekiel 16:58-63, Ezekiel 37:27-27
• The birth of a nation in the same general geographic
area as the old Roman Empire. Daniel 2:lf. Daniel 7:lf. Rev. 17:lf
• The building of a new temple in Jerusalem where oblations and burnt sacrifices will be offered daily by the Jewish priesthood. Ezekiel 40: 1f
• The rise out of the European continent of the world’s last, and worst dictator. He will present himself to the world as its very savior in the new Jewish temple, which causes the final judgments to fall on the earth, Gods wrath, Armageddon and the physical and literal return of Jesus Christ to the earth. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. 1John 2:18-27.2, John 1:7, Daniel 7:8- 20, Daniel 8:23-25, Mt. 24:24, Rev.16:lf, Rev.13:11-18
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Posted by Walt as Prophecy at 10:07 AM EST
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Mathematics expert, ex-skeptic helps prove God’s authorship.
Bible Code Bombshell: Compelling Scientific Evidence that God Authored the Bible is written by Edwin Sherman, an internationally recognized mathematician and statistical expert who was a skeptic of Bible codes, and, in fact, set out to nullify theories connecting them to ancient verses.
In 1997, the The Bible Code, written by Michael Drosnina which was based on the work of Israeli mathematician Eli Rips. Drosnina claimed that future events, such as the Holocaust, Yitzak Rabin’s assassination and the Gulf War were encoded in the Bible base on Eli Rips research.
But many mathematic researchers and statisticians view The Bible Code with skepticism, believing that anything can be read into the Bible using Rip’s research.
Along comes R. Edwin Sherman who found much of the facts in Drosnina’s book trivial. Sherman was very skeptical and started to write his book to prove the the fallacy of The Bible Code. Instead, he uncovered a bombshell. According to his book, he was able to uncovered long statements that had a mathematical probability of happening of about one in a million.
Using the ancient Hebrew text which had no vowels, as a baseline. He created long strings of the letters and inserted vowels following the standard rules based on the sequence of consonants. Using Isaiah 53, a chapter filled with known messianic prophecies, he found 42 long hidden messages relating to Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension.
Therefore, Sherman concluded that the Bible was written by God Himself, as the hidden messages could not have been possibly created by the prophet Isaiah.
Posted by Walt as Prophecy at 12:51 AM EST
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Hal Lindsey’s program on TBN Sky Angel has not been broadcasted for the last two weeks. It has been removed from the broadcast schedule for the month of December, and may never be broadcasted again. Apparently, TBN felt his International Intelligence Briefing program was too much anti-Muslim and too much pro-Israel.
Someone, somewhere apparently fears the truth to be broadcasted.
The following article, TBN Cancels IIB, is Hal’s explanation as posted on his website.
While on my recent thrilling tour to Israel, I received a distinct warning from the Lord. This warning came at just the time the Lord was making me fully aware of the exponential increase in outreach my International Intelligence Briefing program on TBN has experienced in just this year.
Emails from all over the world continuously inform me of the people who regularly watch the IIB program. They share how many of their friends came to faith in Christ as a result of watching it. Several shared how they gather a group each week in their homes to watch the IIB program. Two different missionaries in Kenya said that they did this. Both reported that a number of young people have accepted Christ in these sessions.
Tourists, not only on my tour but also on many other tours in Israel, repeatedly stopped me to say that God has blessed them through IIB. He has used the program to make them aware of the certainty of prophecy and the soon coming of Christ. It has helped them to understand the complex perils that face our world today. Many Jews both in this and other countries also watch the program regularly.
I am continually stopped wherever I go by people who tell me the same things. And many who are not Christians (yet) watch the IIB show regularly. They say that they find the news reports to be unique and eye-opening by revealing information that other news sources either choose not to report – or are afraid to report.
It was in this light that God prompted me while in Jerusalem that Satan was going to attack my IIB ministry and me personally. I shared this with my wife and related my past experiences with Satan’s attacks at just the time God has used me most. So we prepared for spiritual warfare.
This warning proved to be accurate immediately after my return to the US. The International Intelligence Briefing has been removed from the air on TBN for the entire month of December (and perhaps never to be broadcast again?). Some at the network apparently feel that my message is too pro-Israel and too anti-Muslim. This is confusing to me because my message is the same as it has been for the entire twelve years of presenting the IIB program. It has not changed one iota.
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Posted by Walt as Prophecy at 12:23 PM EST
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