Category: Resource Notes

                The time is fast approaching when the Church will need to remember the lesson of German Pastor Martin Niemoller.

                Pastor Niemoller was a man of great courage. He had been a submarine captain before he entered the ministry. As a minister, he spoke out against the atrocities of the Nazi regime. On March 2, 1938 he was sent to prison, where he spent the war because of his Christian beliefs.

                Nevertheless this Christian Hero apologized for his delay in opposing the Nazis. Here is what he said:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

You may think that Nazi Germany is far removed from today’s America, but you should think again. There are forces in America which no longer believe in individual liberty and democracy. Our freedoms are being diminished day by day, and most Christians remain silent.

When the courts in California overruled the democratic vote against gay marriage, there was little outcry. When the Government sabotaged the Defense of Marriage Act few noticed. When Christians were fined for refusing to participate in gay marriage ceremonies we were told that we were bigots. After the Supreme Court forced gay marriage on the nation, hundreds of florists and bakers have been attacked because of their beliefs. Now the “Progressives” want our daughters to be forced to shower with confused boys. We are getting perilously close to the old Soviet Communist concept of religious “freedom”, where you could have religious beliefs so long as you said nothing and did not act according to your faith.   

Freedom of Speech has been under attack in the cause of “Politically Correct” speech. University students, who used to demonstrate for free speech, new demand censorship on college campuses. In the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision, so adamantly opposed by the “Progressives”, the Government actually argued that they had the right to censor books and movies. Must we wait until they are burning books to arouse from our slumber?

Under the guise of fighting crime the Government has passed thousands of laws which entrap innocent Americans every day. People have gone to jail for getting lost in a snowstorm on Federal lands or failing to follow packaging regulations of foreign countries. The Government can seize your money without proving anything and you have to hire a lawyer to get it back, except that you can’t pay a lawyer because the government took your money. You can become a criminal even if you have no criminal intent, and the “Progressives” fiercely resist any attempt to bring this elementary human right back into our legal system.

You may not have much sympathy for a business man who can’t defend himself because the government took his money. You may not agree with Catholics who are persecuted for their opposition to birth control. And the airways and internet are full of obnoxious political speech.    

Just remember that if you are cheering for the government as it moves against others, you are only bringing the day of destruction closer to yourself.

Stand up for freedom before there is no one left when they come for you.                     

On February 27^th in 380 AD Roman Emperor Theodosius made Christianity into the official state religion. It was one of the most catastrophic events in Church history.

Up until the time Constantine legalized the Church in 313 AD, the great strength of the Church was the fact that the Kingdom of God resided within the believers. Under Constantine the Church became “respectable” and began to attract the ambitious and worldly who would make a show of outward piety without an inward transformation. After 380 AD, the Church was swamped with unconverted Pagans and the outward rituals replaced the inner power for most Church members.

                The first to clothe themselves in the new mantle of the State religion were the emperors themselves. The Bishop of Rome was eventually forced to trade Church recognition for military protection in Western Europe, beginning with Frankish King Clovis, in order to remain independent of the Eastern Roman Emperor. When the European Church split between Protestants and Catholics the local Kings and rulers forced their own views to be followed in their realms and millions of Christians were martyred. The marriage between Church and State meant that religious questions would be solved with the sword instead of the Spirit.

                The religious wars of the 16^th and 17^th centuries left much devastation and little change, and the idea of religious toleration, espoused by Paul in the 14^th  chapter of Romans, began to take hold. The idea that Christians with different doctrines could be united in their diversity appeared in the 18^th century with The First and Second Great Awakenings and the interdenominational missionary societies. The United States, itself a patchwork of states with Catholic, Anglican, Quaker, Methodist and Congregational backgrounds, became a symbol of unity in diversity and its religious freedom is still a light to the world. The sword, which brought division, had begun to give way to the spirit which brings unity.

                The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements which swept the world in the 20^th century brought a Holy Spirit awakening in much of the Church. However the Spirit movements also cried out that “The Broken Body of Christ“ would be healed. Now, in our time, a historic video sent by Pope Francis to Evangelist Kenneth Copeland has opened the door for spiritual unity in the body of Christ in answer to the prayer of Jesus in John 17.     

                We believe that 2017 is a strategic year for Church and nation. It is the 500^th anniversary of the reformation and God is calling His Church to reconcile in answer to the prayer of Jesus. We invite you to pray with us for unity at the unitedinchrist.com and Teshuvah2017.com websites.     

                Let us pray for reconciliation of the Church and focus on expanding the whole Kingdom of God. Pray that the world will know us not by our swords, but by our love and unity in the Spirit.      

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 20, 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 30^th 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.

Next Tuesday, February 14, we celebrate Valentine’s Day by sending love notes like St. Valentine sent them to his Church from prison. But February 14 is also a day set a side by the Church to remember two brothers who translated God’s love note, the Bible, for millions of people. The two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, are revered as the Apostles to the Slaves.

In the Blood Moon Tetrad year of 860, Cyril was sent as an ambassador to the Kazars, who were vacillating between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Ultimately the Kazars chose Judaism, but they agreed to stop Islamic intrusions into their region of southern Russia. Because of this agreement, Russia was open to the Gospel Message when it arrived in the tenth century, carried along by the Slavic alphabet, Cyrilic, developed by Cyril and Methodius.

The brothers are responsible for two breakthroughs which enabled Christianity to spread into Eastern Europe and Russia. Firstly, their alphabet allowed Slavic believers to understand the Bible in their own languages so they could respond to God’s love and be converted. Secondly, the brothers developed a system allowing each Nation to have its own national Church so that the Kings would accept Christianity without fear of losing their power. In 863 Cyril brought the first King so converted, the King of Bulgaria, and his people into the Kingdom of God.

Our research has shown that the Blood Moon Tetrads of the Church age were signs of the expansion pf the Church (See our book The Mystery of the Blood Moons). The first, in 162-163, marked the first Charismatic Revival and allowed Christianity to recover the spiritual power needed to overcome the Roman Empire. The Tetrad of 860-861 was one of three in the early Middle Ages that led to a breakout of the Church from the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. Today there are 184 million Christians in Eastern Europe and Russia because of the breakout initiated by Cyril and Methodius.

For 100 years, since the revolution of 1917, we have looked at the Russians as enemies. But after the fall of Communism, most Russians returned to Christianity even if their leaders have not. Russians are not our enemies. They are our brothers in Christ.

Perhaps we should mix a little of the love spirit of St. Valentine with our remembrance of the Apostles to the Slavs this February 14.

Let us pray God’s blessings for the Russian Christians, and even for those other Russians who are still our enemies, as Christ commanded us to do.   

             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. 

During the 2016 election cycles a number of prophetic voices announced that God was sending a “Cyrus” to rescue the Church from an increasingly Anti-Christian government.

What we got was Donald Trump, a foul-mouthed, arrogant former playboy, and a merciless competitor. But, like ancient King Cyrus, he befriended God’s people and 81% of the Evangelicals voted for him. Mr. Trump will become our 45^th President on January 20.

Like King Cyrus, Trump rose against a corrupt system and promised to change it. Cyrus targeted the ancient city of Babylon, which was suffering from mis-rule by King Nabonidus and his son, the famous Belshazzar whose doom was prophesied by Daniel (Daniel 5:26-28). The people, already oppressed by the government, suffered from a declining economy, loss of productive land, and plague. On top of it all, the kings disrespected the pagan religious leaders, who opened the gates of the city to Cyrus without an arrow being fired. In Trump’s case it was the Christian leaders, not the unbelievers, who helped an oppressed people open the gates for change.    

Like Trump, Cyrus saw the wisdom of working with God’s people. He fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jerimiah 25:9, 11, 12) by allowing the Jews to return to Israel. He also decreed that the Temple would be rebuilt and all of its furnishings returned, as prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 44:28). Because of his generosity, Israel supported Persia and helped guard Persia’s contested border with Egypt. Like Cyrus, Trump can help bring God’s presence back into our land as the Christians defend him against attack.  

As we await Trump’s inauguration on January 20 we must pray that Trump will be successful in moving with the Cyrus anointing. Pray that he can “Drain the Swamp” of corruption and mis-rule in Washington. Pray that he can remove the yoke of oppressive government and bring prosperity to our people. Above all, let us pray that Trump will be faithful to his promises to Christians and Jews, guarding our freedom of religion and protecting Israel.

Our President Cyrus, like ancient King Cyrus, has given us an opportunity to return to the presence of God. But it is up to God’s people to act on the opportunity to bring healing to our land.

We believe that God has called us to join in the Jewish season of prayer, repentance, and returning to God’s presence known as Teshuvah. Beginning with a spectacular Solar Eclipse running through America on August 21, symbolizing unity in Christ, the Church will have 40 days to seek God leading up to Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It is a time for personal repentance, unity of believers, and healing our land.   

Pray that we will be faithful to God’s call, returning to His presence and bringing a desperately needed revival to America.