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It has become fashionable in some circles to deny the Christian foundations of the United States. Next week, when we remember President’s Day, would be a good time to listen to the words of our national Fathers and join them in their prayers for America:

Benjamin Franklin: On the Need for Divine Guidance
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; out projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down on future ages.

And what is worse, mankind may thereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” – June 28, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention

George Washington: Prayer for the United States
“Almighty God, We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Thomas Jefferson: National Prayer for Peace
“Almighty God, Who has given us good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners.
Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindred and tongues.

Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those who in Thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.
In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail, all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

Abraham Lincoln: National Day of Prayer and Humiliation
“Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
And insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subject to punishment and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been recipient of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sin and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.

And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping that day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand to caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln.”

To which we can only add: Amen.

This week, beginning on February 5, people around the world are celebrating Chinese New Year. It is a good time to pray for our Brothers and Sisters in China and celebrate China’s Christians.

It was the dream of the great Catholic Evangelist Frances Xavier to bring Christianity to China, and after his death off the coast of China in 1552 others followed in his footsteps. However the Emperors feared the Church and ultimately passed laws outlawing Christianity. In the 1830’s, after Europeans forced open the ports of China, Christianity came to the treaty ports. Then Hudson Taylor and a host of missionaries carried Christianity into the heartland in the late 19th Century.

There were 1 million Christians in China when Mao Tse-Tung established Communist rule in 1949. Like the Emperors before him Mao feared the Church. As his followers drove Christian Missionaries out of China and persecuted the Chinese Christians, no one expected Christianity to survive.

Like the ancient Caesars, however, Mao did not understand that the Kingdom of God was on the inside of Believers, giving them strength to endure under persecution. The removal of the Missionaries did not end Christianity, but simply made the Church into a Chinese enterprise. When its property was confiscated it moved into the homes. And when its Chinese leaders were imprisoned, the Holy Spirit provided new leaders. As it had done during the Roman persecution, the Church provided hope in a brutal society and continued to grow. Instead of fading away, the Chinese Church has over 100 million Believers today.

Unable to stop Christianity, the Communists attempted to control it by establishing a state of controlled Church structure, the Three Self Church. Some Christians elected to participate in the state church, but many others refused. Instead, they formed the House Church movement which is still outlawed in China. For Catholics whose fealty to the Pope is considered to be treason, the Communists have appointed their own bishops and viciously persecuted Catholics.

Today the new “Emperor” of China, Xi Jinping, is still afraid of the Church. He has declared himself as an opponent of Christianity and increased the persecution of Christians. Bibles and churches have been burned. Church members are under surveillance by facial recognition cameras and new regulations prohibit those under 18 from attending church. Social media is being used for oppression and religious expression on line is heavily restricted. The Communists have even launched a plan to rewrite the Bible more to their liking.

Meanwhile Pope Francis, in a conciliatory move, has agreed to allow the Communists to appoint Bishops, subject to his review. The Pope’s decision is controversial among Chinese Catholics, but he seems to be hoping for peace between the Communists and the Church.

Let us pray that the Pope’s gesture will overcome Xi Jinping’s fear and eventually lead to an end to the persecution of Christians. But let us also pray that the Chinse Church will continue to boldly proclaim the Gospel no matter what obstacles must be overcome.

May we in America honor and support our Chinese Brothers and Sisters. May we have the courage of the Chinese Church to pray in the face of persecution the prayer of the Church in Jerusalem:

“Now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” Acts 4:29

Most Christians recognize Nimrod as the builder of the Tower of Babel, but few know the whole story and recognize his influence down through the ages.

The historical Sumerian Kings list records him as “Enmer Kar”, a name which translates into vowelless Hebrew as “NMR” (Nimrod) with the name “Kar” meaning “The Hunter” (as Nimrod is known in the Bible). The Sumerians credit him with introducing the worship of the “Queen of Heaven,” a false pagan goddess which has come down the ages as Inana, Asherah, Isis, Venus, and numerous others. The Tower of Babel was a Ziggurrat, or a magical model of heaven, where the pagan “Gods” from heaven could be contacted. Josephus tells us that Nimrod rebelled against God because he hated God for judging mankind in Noah’s Flood. His name “The Hunter” indicates a violent disposition, and many believe that he was a Tyrant who hunted men.
Nimrod had set himself above the plans and purposes of God. After the flood God had commanded mankind to fill the Earth, but Nimrod kept them under his thumb in Mesopotamia. Nimrod went so far as to set himself up as the “Seed of Woman”, the Messiah promised in Gensis 3:15, to cement His political power.
But God sent the Tower of Babel judgment, producing a civil war which overthrew Nimrod and scattered humanity over the Earth. Sadly, however, many ambitious men had learned from Nimrod and took the Nimrod Spirit with them to enslave their fellow men.
So we see the Nimrod Spirit echoing through the ages in rulers like the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler and Mao Tse Tung, to name a few, following Nimrod’s path to power. The Nimrod Spirit comes upon those who want to rule over other men, establishing tyrannical government and putting themselves above God and His purposes. The Nimrod Spirit deceives the followers of the Tyrant through a false religion such as paganism, or a false philosophy such as Communism, which legitimizes the power of the Tyrant. For those who are not deceived, the Hunter rules through fear and terror.
Even today, the Nimrod Spirit controls most of the nations of the Earth. Nimrod is constantly looking for ways to subvert those nations with shared power or democratic institutions, as in the African tragedies of “one man, one vote, one time” after Colonialism or the subversion of Russia by Putin. Religious tyranny from the Nimrod Spirit can be seen in ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and in many Islamic nations such as Iran. Even in the United States individual liberties are being eroded by an increasingly powerful government. Outside of government the Nimrod Spirit is active in large businesses and social institutions. The Church is also plagued by the Nimrod Spirit as many pastors and leaders are more intent of building their own kingdoms than in building God’s Kingdom.
The answer to the Kingdoms of the Nimrod Spirit is to move into the Kingdom of God. God’s Kingdom comes within the believers, giving them discernment to see through Nimrod’s deceptions and power to overcome the fear weapon of Nimrod. Christians should be on guard against the Nimrod Spirit in their churches, remembering that Jesus established a standard of Servant Leadership which is diametrically opposed to Nimrod. Churches are to be run by the mothers and fathers, called Elders in the Bible, who are interested in the outcome of their flock, rather than Nimrod Spirit leadership which is often interested only in the income from the flock.
Let us begin our prayer warfare against the Nimrod Spirit at home by praying that the Nimrod Spirit will be exposed and driven out of our churches. Pray for a revival of Servant Leadership and a spirit of Unity between church leaders which will bring them together to advance God’s Kingdom, not their own.
Beyond the Church it is easy to identify the Nimrod Spirit in action. Washington, D.C. is full of Nimrods, as are corporations, unions, universities, and the media. Even Christians have been deceived by false philosophies such as Socialism or the attempt to submerge individual rights into group rights, as in some labor unions, which create group leaders who are often little Nimrods. We are desperately in need of a Christian Awakening to remove the blinders and drive the Nimrod Spirit out of our government before it is too late. Only a revival, expanding the Kingdom of God, can save us from the Nimrod Spirit.

Throughout the world the Nimrod spirit continues its bloody march through history, keeping billions of people in tyranny and the resulting poverty. In the last few months we have seen bloody results of the Nimrod Spirit operating in Venezuela, Syria and Afghanistan. As in America, the only answer is the Kingdom of God, which has liberated some two billion of us from the Kingdom of Darkness ruled by Satan, the ultimate Nimrod. In the end Satan will rally the Nimrods of the Earth to fight against Jesus as He returns to establish the outward Kingdom of God, and then Nimrod Spirit will finally be broken.

Until then, we must use the spiritual weapons of our warfare to keep praying for the expansion of the Kingdom of God and freedom from the Nimrod Spirit.

On Monday, January 21 the U.S. celebrates the Martin Luther King holiday, honoring the life of an American hero and a Christian martyr.

Dr. King grew up in a world where many people believed that the black African people were inferior to the white Europeans. This belief, which was used to support slavery in the U.S. and the colonization of Africa by Europe, directly contradicts Biblical teaching that all humans are from the same family and that God commands us to love our brothers. However, the rise of Secularism and a Darwinistic view of the human race gave a scientific veneer to the myth of racial superiority. To their shame, even some Churches went along with the lie. Modern science has now proven that all humans came from the same mother, as the Bible teaches, and that there is more genetic difference within the races than between them.

So Thomas Jefferson was right when he said all men are created equal. But making that statement a reality has been a long battle in the U.S. We fought the Civil War to end slavery, and the war brought God’s judgment, as one soldier died for each person left in slavery after the American Revolution, and the slaveholding South was devastated. Nevertheless, racial inequality was reborn in the “Jim Crow” system of laws which discriminated against black people in the South. After the Second World War black servicemen who had proven themselves the equal of their white brothers found it more and more difficult to accept their oppression.

In many countries oppressed minorities had taken up arms, but the U.S. was spared from this fate. Instead, a black Baptist pastor called on his people to use nonviolent Christian principles to bring about change. Dr. King’s Civil Rights crusade eventually bought an end to the Jim Crow laws and led to a broad level of reconciliation between the races. Sadly, he and many others gave their lives to bring about the nonviolent Civil Rights revolution.
We still have some work to do to reach Dr. King’s goal of a color blind society and full racial reconciliation. But on this day we celebrate a Baptist pastor who used Christian principles and his Christian faith to bring his white and black brothers together.
Let us pray that Dr. King’s memory will be honored by reconciliation and unity, and that those who would divide and promote hatred, whether white or black, will be exposed and repudiated.

This week on January 2, 3, and 4 the morning stars tell their story just before sunrise.

The “Morning Star” Mercury is one of the “Seven Planets” which were visible to the ancients. The fourth day of the week, Wednesday, is named in English after the Norse god corresponding to Roman Mercury and Greek Hermes. The planet Mercury is symbolic of Satan in the Star Bible and is mentioned in a passage in the Bible about Satan (Isaiah 14:12), where he is described as the Morning Star Laid Low. The Greek name Hermes, meaning “The Burnt One”, also adds to the picture of Mercury as representing Satan.

The planet Mercury is very close to the sun and can only be seen as a morning or evening star. Most of the time it is too “laid low” near the sun to be seen at all. However, in early January it will be visible just before Sunrise. Then it will disappear into the fire of the sun, reminding us that Satan will one day be thrown into the fire.

The other Moring Star, Venus, is named for the pagan mother of the Seed of Woman (See Genesis 3:15) and the sixth day of the week is named for Venus. However, Venus represents the Seed of Woman Himself, Christ, and He describes Himself as the Bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). Venus is the brightest of the planets and shines brightly high in the Eastern sky dominating the Morning Star Laid Low as Christ dominates Satan.

About 30 minutes before sunrise there will be an impressive sight in the eastern sky as Mercury (Representing Satan) appears below Jupiter (representing Jesus the Suffering Savior). And both appear below Venus, the Bright Morning Star.

Adding to the picture is the waning crescent Moon, representing Believers (Psalms 89:37), passing next to Venus, Jupiter and Mercury, near to the bright star Antares (the Wounded) in the constellation Scorpio (the Scorpion), which represents the Rebellion of Men (Ezekiel 2:6). The Moon reminds us that the Church will overcome the rebellion of men and Jupiter shows how it was done through Christ’s sacrifice. So the Moon and Jupiter add to the picture of the defeat of the Morning Star Laid Low. It is worth remembering that, while the Moon often appears partly dark to us, from the vantage point of Mercury the Moon is always bright and white, reflecting the light of the sun, as the Church reflects the light of Jesus, the Light of the World.

So take some time to enjoy the story of Satan laid low, the dominance of Christ the Bright Morning Star, and the overcoming Church reflecting the light of Jesus.

According to a story published in the Wall Street Journal (“India’s Biometric Feat: Big Boon or Big Brother” by Newly Purnell, December 22, 2018), the nation of India has implemented an electronic data system which can control access to goods and services for India’s 1.3 billion people.

If this sounds like the basis of a system where “No one could buy or sell unless he had the mark” (Revelation 13:17), read on.

In 2010 India set out to develop a system which would provide national identification numbers to allow citizens to have access to government welfare. Many Indians are illiterate and are so poor that they have no electricity. So, to reach people living in primitive conditions, the Indian government turned to the rapidly developing science of biometrics. Using eye scanners for iris patterns and finger print readers, even the poorest and least educated can now be read into the most sophisticated data system in the world.

The system is named “Aadhaar”, a Hindu word meaning “Foundation”. True to its name, other uses beyond the intended welfare payment controls are being built on the “Foundation”. Aadhaar twelve digit personal ID numbers are now required to open a bank account or obtain medical treatment. In many cases the number is now required for school enrollment, train tickets, telephone purchases and even admission to sporting events. The “Foundation” has indeed been put in place for total government surveillance and economic control as described in Revelation 13:17.

Other governments have been watching the Indian program and are already using biometrics to control their populations. China uses finger print and facial recognition technology to suppress the Uighur people in Xinjiang province. They are planning a national system of ratings to limit or deny services and opportunities to those who are out of favor with the Government, including Christians who are coming under increased persecution. Authoritarian regimes around the world can be expected to follow.

So far the democracies of the U.S. and Europe have not joined in the rush to use biometric data for economic control purposes. However, pressure for a “cashless” society continues to build from tech companies and big government advocates, and some businesses are now refusing to take cash. We must pray that our leaders will continue to stand for individual rights and against biometric controls.

Let us not be fearful but instead remind ourselves that we live in the greatest revival in history, when millions and millions of people are being added to the Kingdom of God. Our prayers must also be focused on the Great Harvest.

But we must also be aware that before Christ returns the anti-Christ will come. His tool for economic control is in place in India, and we should watch the expansion of these biometric surveillance systems as another sign of Christ’s Second Coming

Even so, come Lord Jesus.