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The Lesson of May Day

This week, on May 1, we mark a pagan holiday which has been celebrated from the most ancient of times until the present.

 The European Druids celebrated May 1 as “Beltane”, a holiday named after their god “Bel” and the word for fire, “Tane.” On Beltane all fires were extinguished except for the sacred fires of the Druids, which were then used to start new fires. The ritual actually traces back to Babylon, as does the name of the pagan god “Bel.”

 Another ritual of Beltane was celebrated by gathering around the “May Pole.” The pole actually represented the Cosmic Axis, or North Pole, and this type of celebration has been found as far away as the North American Indians. The pole is also a Phallic symbol, similar to the Egyptian obelisk, echoing the pagan claim that their god is the “Seed of Woman” (See Gen 3:15), a title which belongs only to Jesus Christ.

 Another feature of the May 1 celebration is its position 52 days, or one seventh of a year, from the Summer Solstice, an important pagan worship date and the focal point of the ancient Stonehenge monument. The day 52 days after the Summer Solstice, August 15, is also a Druid holiday known as Lughnasa. Interestingly, these dates are also celebrated by the Mayans, and form the structure of their 260 day, or five sevenths of a year, calendar. The Egyptians also built a 52 day period into the Great Pyramid, although their periods are tied to the Winter, not summer, Solstice.

 These amazing connections between Babylon, Egypt, the Druids, and the American Indians are merely one of many examples worldwide of common cultural practices. For those who understand that the Bible presents an accurate history of humanity, it is a simple matter to trace those beliefs back to the time when all humanity was gathered into one place: Babylon. It was the event we call the Tower of Babel, actually a civil war, which scattered the people and their practices across the earth. And it was God who sent Jesus to save humanity from the false religion born in Babylon.

 This week we can celebrate a May Day where we recognize the goodness and mercy of God as He has poured out his grace on our societies. The National Day of Prayer, May 1, gives us the opportunity to thank God for His mercies and humble ourselves to pray for our nation.

 The lesson of May Day is the provable reality of God’s word. Let us learn our lesson and pray that our nation will not go the way of the Babylonians, Egyptians, Druids, and Mayans who turned away from God on May Day.

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Carbon 14 and The Bible

              For years some scientists have been using Carbon 14 dating to undermine the Biblical timeline of History and attack the truthfullness of the Bible. Now they are having to rethink their arguments.

 

            The Carbon 14 dating method measures the amount of the radioactive Carbon 14 isotope in organic material and, comparing it with modern levels of Carbon 14, productes an age based on the radioactive decay of Carbon 14. This dating method is assumed to be good for 40,000 years, and produces very old dates for archeological sites.  However, it also produces dates which clash with historical dates derived both from Biblical information and other historical and archeological sources.

 

            The problem with Carbon 14 dating is simply that the current levels of Carbon 14 are much higher than past levels of Carbon 14, and this produces a much earlier date than the actual date.  Based on the more  accurate data about past Carbon 14 levels, one scientist documented 15,000 findings and found that none were over 7000 years old, and that many were about 4500 years old, the date of the worldwide catastrophe we call Noah’s Flood. Thus , for example, an American Indian artifact claimed to be over 11,000 years old may really be only 3,000 years old.

 

            Now archeologists are joining in the criticism of the Carbon 14 dating system. At a recent meeting, a noted archeologist observed that “In some circles it has been a crime to cast doubt on the accuracy of radiocarbon dating.” Nevertheless, this scientist showed conclusively that radiocarbon levels fluctuate from season to season and vary with location, providing erroneous age readings. When added to historical fluctuations in Carbon 14 levels, the whole Carbon 14 dating method becomes very suspect.

 

            The reason that some scientists cling to the inaccurate Carbon 14 system is simply that it produces results which are much older than actual. They fear that the real dates would be more in line with Bible history, and they would rather be wrong than give up their Anti-Biblical bias (See our Blog of 1/22/2014 “The Battle Over Biblical Archeology”). Their problem is that the more Science learns about the past, the more it supports the Bible (See our Blog 1/1/2014 “Looking Back to Look Ahead”).

 

            We salute the courageous Scientists and Archeologists who challenge the Anti-Biblical Orthodoxy of their peers. Let us pray that God’s truth will prevail and that proofs of the accuracy of the Bible history will continue to be discovered by truth seeking Scientists.

 

            And may the attempts to destroy the faith of believers by false, Anti-Biblical, Pseudo-Scientific theories be exposed. Let no weapon formed against us prosper.

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Capital Hill Prayer Partners Night Watch Signup for April

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“My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.” (Psalm 119:148)
The NIGHTWATCH was not birthed out of the heart of men, but out of the heart of God. From its inception, those who have been involved in the NIGHTWATCH have had no set agenda of their own, except to obey God and to follow His promptings in all matters related to this watch. They have always prayed “in secret,” trusting God for His open reward, according to Matthew 6:6.
On November 30, 2005, at 8:00 p.m., Sara Ballenger, Founder, Capitol Hill Prayer Partners, was talking on the phone with another intercessor from Maryland who had called with a deep burden in her heart for the ongoing war in Iraq. In desperation, they cried out together unto the Lord, asking, “God, is there ANYTHING ELSE we can do to serve You in this hour?”
IMMEDIATELY, Sara was given a vision . . .
“As soon as we cried out to God, I ‘saw’ a clock, with the hands both set at MIDNIGHT. As we continued to pray, I saw the hands SWEEP DOWN to the hour of 6:00 a.m. Those hours seemed to light up like LIGHTNING — the LORD was clearly speaking about something to do with those six hours in the night. The Lord then caused me to know that, if we opened our conference call line at those hours for the next 30 nights, He would move upon the heart of our president, and we would begin to see a change in the war effort in Iraq . . . And for the blessing of ISRAEL, too.”

And that was the birth of what is now called THE NIGHTWATCH!

And, Now You Can Join Us In The Nightwatch for America and Israel!
Each night from midnight to 6 a.m., EST, intercessors nationwide are praying for the leadership and peoples of these two countries and other nations that are near to God’s heart. He has established three periods of “watching,” now called:
Night Owls (Midnight – 2 a.m)
Midwatch (2 a.m. – 4 a.m.)
Early Birds (4 a.m. – 6 a.m.)

As this work has grown, we’ve been blessed with other nations also participating in the NIGHTWATCH. These include: Israel, Germany, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, India, Australia, Greece, Norway, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and China (underground church) — materials translated into Chinese. Working in coordinated combinations of teams, and always using the One-Year Bible Online as their prayer guide, each American and international prayer team has covered our country from Midnight to 6:00 a.m., Eastern Time.

Please Join Us In Prayer for America and Israel on the Nightwatch!  

Choose a date for your team between April 4th and April 24th & submit it for the calendar NOW as we are getting ready NOW!!  As the Intercessors of Texas step up to take the National Night Watch For the Capital Hill Prayer Partners 2014.

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Prayers of Our Fathers

Resource Notesfounding fathers
February 12, 2014
Corporate Prayer Resources

Prayers of Our Fathers

It has become fashionable in some circles to deny the Christian foundations of the United States. This week, when we celebrate President’s Day on February 17, 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.

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Dismal Day

Resource NotesDismal Day
February 5, 2014
Corporate Prayer Resources

Dismal Day

In the early Church the date of February 4 was set aside as “Dismal Day”.

Dismal Day was a somber day set aside to remember the plagues of Egypt during the Exodus. The name “dismal” itself means “Evil days” and was intended to memorialize the woe and suffering of the Egyptians. Rather than celebrate the victory of the Israelites, the purpose of the day was to serve as a reminder of the consequences of disobeying God. Thus, the reflective and introspective mood of the day.

At the time of the Exodus in 1446 BC Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. The Israelites, who had come in 1876 BC, had settled in an area of the Eastern Nile Delta known as Goshen. After the death of their champion Joseph in about 1806 BC, the Egyptian Pharaohs became fearful of the Israelites and made them into slaves. One of the Pharaohs had even initiated an infanticide against the Israelite children in about 1526 BC. It was a survivor of this holocaust, a stuttering 80 year old named Moses, whom God chose to confront the most powerful man in the world.

Of course the Pharaoh refused to submit to God’s command to let his people go, and God sent the famous Ten Plagues of Egypt. Because of their stubbornness, the Egyptians saw their river die, their crops fail, their livestock destroyed, and finally their children die. Then, to top it off, their army was destroyed chasing the Israelites and the entire country of Egypt was later overrun by foreign invaders. Certainly “Evil Days” for the Egyptians.

It is unfortunate that the Church no longer sets apart Dismal Day to remember the consequences of rebellion against God. To remember how the most powerful Nation on Earth brought judgment on itself by mistreating God’s people and killing God’s children. To remember how their river died, their agriculture economy shriveled, their children were lost, and their military was humbled. To remember how defiance of God’s commands destroyed the most powerful Nation on Earth. And to seek God because it is beginning to unfold again right before our eyes.

For his people, God had set aside the land of Goshen as a place of safety, and they were spared from the seven last plagues sent on Egypt. Today many Intercessors believe that God has set aside Lands of Goshen in America, and that He will make a distinction between those states, cities, and people who follow Him and these who do not. Just compare the economies of places like Texas where God is honored with California where He is not. This is no time to disregard God’s plans and purposes.

The Nation is in serious trouble as it suffers more and more from its disobedience. The Church needs to humble itself and pray for an Awakening.

Dismal Day would be a good time to start.

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The Battle Over Biblical Archaeology

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Resource Notes

January 22, 2014
The Battle Over Biblical Archaeology

One of the great resources available to those interested in learning from the past (See our Blog post “Looking Back to Look Ahead”) is the Biblical Archaeology Review magazine.

The BAR, as it is affectionately known, provides current information on historical and archaeological finds which impact the Biblical lands. But the BAR is not the sedate scholarly magazine you might expect. Instead, interspersed between discoveries the religions and political fault lines of the Holy Land are played out in the scholarly and legal controversies covered in the BAR.

One of the major fault lines comes between the religious and the secular world views of scholars. The secular scholars are constantly attacking the work of earlier Christian and Jewish archaeologists, with a “Minimalist” school which argues that such Biblical giants as David are mythological. Another line of attack comes from Palestinians who, for political reasons, want to deny Jewish history and try to prevent archaeologists from digging up the Jewish past. There is also an occasional conflict between Jewish and Christian acceptance of findings.

While the BAR is a secular, not religious, publication, they do try to fairly present the issues. They gleefully reported an artifact which substantiated the existence of the “House of David”, to the chagrin of the Minimalists. In their January/February 2014 issue, they published an article which proves that the site of David’s palace in Jerusalem has been found. Some years back the BAR demolished Palestinian political arguments by proving that the very name of the Palestinians was derived from the Greek word for “wrestler”, which translates into the national Hebrew name of “Israel”. In another case the BAR argued against Israeli authorities for a balanced approach to “James Ossuary” box which may have contained the bones of Jesus’ brother James.

Our prayer is that secular, political, and religious attacks on Biblical archaeology will not be allowed to obscure the truth of God’s word. We pray for the BAR and Biblical archaeologists who will fearlessly stand up to those who want to rewrite history to suit their agendas.

And we thank the Lord that He has left us plenty of evidence to confirm the veracity of the Bible as the solid rock on which our faith can rely.

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Celebrating Reconciliation

MLK

Resource Notes

January 20, 2014
Corporate Prayer Resources

Celebrating Reconciliation

Today, January 20 the U.S. will celebrate 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. 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 a war to end slavery, and the war brought God’s judgment, as one soldier died for each slave imported into the country 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.