Category: Resource Notes

            This week we celebrated our public holiday marking the epic changes brought about by the landing of Christopher Columbus in America and his dream to create a Christian society here.

The Native American people he found were descendants of ancient Siberian immigrants, but had lived in isolation from the rest of mankind for about three thousand years. Nevertheless, their pyramids, their religions, and their culture still contained the stamp of their origins with the rest of mankind in ancient Babylon. Unfortunately, they also retained some of the worst pagan practices of Babylonian Religions, as the Aztecs demonstrated by sacrificing 50,000 human victims every year.

Our study of history shows that human sacrifice is a flash point for God’s judgment, and we believe that the Aztec and Inca civilizations were judged and destroyed by God through the technology and diseases of the Europeans. Sadly, the Conquistadors enslaved the survivors and forced them to “Convert” to Christianity, thus losing the opportunity to achieve a real Christian society. Those sins were compounded by bringing in African Slaves to replace the decimated populations working the European Plantations.

The establishment of a Christian society did finally occur when a small group of English Christians landed in New England. Over time the English settlers in Eastern North America adopted the concept of religious freedom and went on to build the greatest Christian society on earth, the United States. And, with all its failures, backsliding, and flaws, the United States, with its 250 million who claim to be Christians, remains the World’s most powerful beacon of the Christian Dream.

Christianity has also experienced a comeback in Latin America, thanks to the Catholic Charismatics and the Evangelical Christians. Today Latin America is 92.5% Christian, the highest proportion of any continent.

So, on this Columbus Day, let us join with all North, Central, and South American Christians in praying that we will continue to follow the dream of living in a Christian Society in the Americas.

           Last week on October 1^st the Chinese celebrated their national holiday marking the day Mao Tse-Tung officially established Communist rule in China. As his followers drove Christian Missionaries out of China and persecuted the 1 million Chinese Christians, no one expected Christianity to survive.

To many Chinese the Church had become associated with the Western powers which had humiliated China over the previous century. The traditional religionists who had seen their deified emperor overthrown in 1912 blamed the Church for their decline, while the Secular Communists painted the Christians as enemies of the state. Many Christians died or were sent to prison as Mao tried to crush Christianity.

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 115 million Believers today.

We thank God that Mao is dead and that the Church is alive. We pray for continued strength in the Chinese Church as it faces intermittent persecution and a new threat of Godless materialism arising from China’s adoption of a capitalist economic system.

And may we in America learn to be as faithful as God’s Church in China.

Somehow we have made it to the end of September without seeing any of the catastrophes predicted in the blogosphere.

The dreaded Shemitah dates passed with no financial or other collapses. The Doomsday predictions were, in our belief, based on bad economics, bad arithmetic, and failure to understand the blessing intended for the Shemitah years. We are in a Stock Market correction, but there is no 7 year economic collapse cycle. The actual Shemitah years tracing back to the Exodus occur in 2011 and 2018, and the Jubilee years are 1991 and 2040. Shemitah is the Year of the Lord’s Favor, setting us free from bondage to worship the Lord. As Christians, we can enjoy the benefits every year (See our Blog of 9/2/15 “The Shemitah: Year of the Lord’s Favor”).

Similarly, the Blood Moons passed without disaster. To those who predicted that the Pope’s visit to the U.S. would start one world government and religion, the Pope delivered an eloquent refutation at Independence Hall, championing religious freedom, individual rights, limited government, and appreciation for diversity. The Blood Moons actually picture an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, revival, and overcoming evil by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We are, we believe, entering into a revival based on unity in Church which will let the world know that God has sent us (See our Blog of 9/23/15 “Blood Moon Revival”).

This is not to say that we do not live in troubled times. Revival often comes out of trouble, as people realize that their sins have caught up with them and begin looking for answers. But we must be ready with the Gospel message of hope and love, not judgement, if revival is to become a reality.

Our sister organization, The International Star Bible Society, has written a book detailing the history and the hope of the Blood Moons, The Mystery of the Blood Moons. The book, published by The Creation House arm of Charisma Media, is available at Amazon and other bookstores.

This is not a time to be hiding in our cellars eating bean sprouts. We must rise to the challenges of our times and work with God as He calls us to the Harvest.

Let us pray for repentance and revival. And let us go forth in boldness to offer salvation to a lost and frightened generation.

Next week as we celebrate Yom Kippur, the Hebrew Day of Atonement, we should also remember the miracle of the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

After their miraculous victory over the Arabs in the 1967 war, Israel had become complacent and confident in its military superiority. Its 1967 enemies, Egypt and Syria, seethed with resentment and desire to avenge their humiliating defeat. Together they developed a plan to attack Israel in the Sinai dessert and the Golan heights using new tactics and new technology. The attack was set to take place on a date which would hit the Israelis when their preparedness was at its lowest point, the Yom Kippur Holy Day.

The Israelites were taken completely by surprise. Worse, the Egyptians inflicted defeats on Israel tanks and air power using their new Soviet technology while the Syrian tank forces overwhelmed the few scattered Israeli tanks on duty. Israel was days away from a total collapse, but the Egyptians outran their technical protections and the Syrians were stopped by a handful of Israeli tanks. Miraculously the war turned around, resulting in a massive defeat of the Egyptians and Syrians. As a result, Egypt entered into a momentous peace treaty and Israel’s borders remained secure. God had turned disaster into security.

In the years since the Yom Kippur miracle the hand of God can be seen as He has watched over Israel. The terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization has been defeated and rendered impotent in the West Bank. Saddam Hussein, who wanted to take Jerusalem, attacked his Kuwaiti bankers instead and he and his threat to Israel have been eliminated. Another anti-semetic terrorist, Gadaffi, has been overthrown in Libya.

The so-called “Arab Spring” brought instability and new threats to Israel, but God’s protection continues to be manifested. For a while it appeared that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would wage war on Israel, but the Brotherhood was overthrown and its ally, the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, has been cut off from Egyptian support and defeated by Israel in a 2014 invasion. Syria has fallen into a full scale civil war where Israel’s enemies Iran and Hezbollah are fighting Israel’s other enemies Al Queda and ISIL, and leaving Israel alone for now. Thanks to God, the miraculous peace won in the 1973 Yom Kippur war is still holding.

This is not to say that Israel is not still threatened.  We believe that Israel is in the middle of a 150 year war which is described in Revelation 9:1-11 (See our Blog of 5/13/15 “The Peace of Jerusalem”). But we also know that God watches over Israel.

Let us thank God for His continued miraculous intervention on behalf of Israel.

And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

            Next week we celebrate the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah.

The Feast of Trumpets is one of the Seven Feasts of Israel established in the Bible. It was set on the first day of the seventh Lunar month and celebrated by the blowing of Trumpets, a sacred assembly, and a special sacrificial offering. The Jewish Rabbis stated that the Trumpet blasts were to bring Israel into remembrance of the Lord, to confound Satan, and to call men to repentance by awakening their slumbering spirits. Rabbinic teaching also holds to the idea that on the Feast of Trumpets the books were opened and those whose names were in the Book of Life were kept alive, those in the Book of Death died, and a third group were given the chance to repent and be Judged on the Day of Atonement 10 days later

At some point the Feast of Trumpets also became celebrated as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish civil New Year. Some say that Moses established this custom, although Moses also recorded God’s instruction that the religious year would began in the Spring. Others believe that the custom began during the Babylonian exile. And still others think that the Civil New Year was set in the Seventh Month because of a Jewish tradition that the world was created in the seventh month. Our research indicates that the Jewish New Year date was set to conform to the year adopted by the Greek rulers of Israel in the third century B.C.  In any event, the day was celebrated along with the Fest of Trumpets, with special benedictions for the Kingdom of God, the remembrance of God, and the blowing of the horns.

For Christians the Feast of Trumpets and the Seven Feasts of Israel are a prophetic picture of God’s plan for redemption. The first three feasts, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits, celebrate the atoning death and resurrection of Christ which occurred during those festivals in 30 AD. The Feast of Pentecost, celebrating the beginning of the harvest, was the birthday of the Church Pentecost in 30 AD. Trumpets, with its emphasis on repentance and judgment, is equated with the trumpet sound at Christ’s Return (See 1 Cor 15:52). Some think that the awakening of the dead at Trumpets is the source of the saying “Wake up O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:14b).

But the feast of Trumpets is more than a prophetic picture for Christians. The Church needs to hear the trumpet call to remember God, confound Satan, and repent, just as the Israelites did. We need to awaken our slumbering spirits as the Israelites did with their trumpet blasts, and remember God and His Kingdom as we come into a New Jewish Year.

Let us pray that the Church will hear the clarion call of the Trumpets and awaken from her slumber.

                Recent writings about the Shemitah, the Hebrew name for the Years of Release, or Sabbath Years, which occurred every 7 years, have created the impression that the Shemitah Years are times of fearful judgment. We disagree.

During the Shemitah Years, Hebrews were forgiven from all debts and released from slavery. The land was also to lie fallow as the Hebrews lived off of the prior year crops and the “volunteer” produce. After 7 Shemitahs, or 49 years, the first year of the new 7 year Sabbath (the 50^th year) was the Year of Jubilee when slaves were freed, debt was forgiven, and the land was returned to its original owners.

According to Alfred Edersheim’s authoritative book The Temple, the Rabbis held that the first Shemitah Year began 21 years after the Hebrews entered into the land, or 1385 BC. Following through on the math, the last Shemitah Year was 2011 and the next will be 2018. The last Jubilee Year was 1991 and the next will be 2040.

There are a number of significant ancient Shemitah Years which seem to have the common thread of God’s presence in the land. His presence came to Solomon’s Temple in 958 BC and departed it in 586 BC when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. He came to the Second Temple in 516 BC, miraculously aided its rededication at Hanukkah in 167 BC, and moved on Herod to renovate the Temple in preparation for the coming of the Messiah in 20 BC. Christ came to the Land in 5 BC and returned to Heaven 30 AD. The promised Holy Spirit came to the land, and the believers, in 30 AD, bringing the permanent presence of God indwelling all believers thereafter.

Some have thought that Shemitah Years are flash points for judgment based on the judgment which fell on Jerusalem during the 587-86 Shemitah Year. However, it should be remembered that the 70 years of Sabbaths for the land which followed (See 2 Chr 36:21) represented centuries of increasing apostasy. The cycles of Judgment we see in Israel’s history are the result of denial of God and sin, not a 7 year Shemitah cycle. The same is true in the modern world as the “Business Cycle” is really a cycle of godlessness, sin, and judgment, followed by repentance brought on by the judgment.

Instead, the Shemitah is a time to worship God with our land (or Finances) and receive freedom from financial, personal and other bondage. The Shemitah and the Year of Jubilee were used by Jesus to describe His ministry (See Luke 4:18-19 quoting Is 61:1-2). Shemitah Years remind us of our freedom in Christ and the “Year of the Lord’s Favor”.

As Christians, every year is a year of the Lord’s favor, not just one in seven.

Shemitah Years are times of freedom, release, and God’s favor. They are not times of judgment and fear.

On August 20, 1619, the first African slave was brought to Virginia. Along with him came the curse of slavery.

The slave trade is as old as humanity, with African slaves being sold to Arab slavers long before Europeans appeared. The Europeans, however, took slave trading to a whole new level as they used Africans in the New World to replace the Native American populations who had been decimated by European diseases. By the time African slave trade had been brought to an end, almost 10 million Africans had been brought to the New World. Millions more died to in the passage.

The curse of slavery fell hardest on Africa. The work of catching and selling slaves was done by local African kings and traders. In exchange they received European goods and weapons, enabling them to expand their power to catch more slaves. However, the incessant warfare depopulated and destabilized both victors and victims. Ultimately the African kings were subjected by the Europeans. Even today, much of the poverty in Africa can be traced back to the slave trade and its aftermath.

European slavers also suffered greatly from the slave trade. Since they had no immunity to African diseases, over half died in their first year in Africa and only 10% made it back alive. The slave ships took yellow fever and other African diseases to the New World, creating deadly disease zones in the jungles of Central and South America. Areas like the Amazon River Basin, which had supported large Native American populations, became virtually uninhabitable. Only in modern times has science rolled back the areas dominated by the deadly African diseases.

The Americans also fell prey to the curse of slavery as the institution undermined American values and then divided the country. The American Civil War was fought to end slavery, and one American died for each slave brought into the country. Even today, race relations remain strained because of the curse of slavery. Every so often we get a reminder of our past, as we have with the racial riots in Fergusson, Missouri and Baltimore.

Some have tried to use the Bible to support slavery, but they twist the Scriptures to do so. Slavery was a fact of life in the ancient world, but God established Israel with laws that forgave debts and gave liberty to slaves every 7 years. Our modern bankruptcy laws come from God’s debt forgiveness laws.

Slavery, like its modern cousins Socialism and Communism, is a manifestation of the Spirit of Money, or Mammon, which steals the labor of its victims. Make no mistake, God wants to see people set free from bondage.

Let us pray that the curse of slavery will be banished from our world. We must ask and give forgiveness so that God’s blessings can bring healing, and reverse the curse.