Call me paranoid if you like, but I’m simply quoting what Tim Gill, the foremost LGBT political donor says in his own words “We’re going into the hardest states in the country,” he declares. “We’re going to punish the wicked,” by which he means Christian conservatives. In short, if you will not comply with LGBT activism, be it as a minister or as a businessperson, you will be punished. That is Gill’s goal, and to deny it is to be in denial.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, which interviewed Gill last month, he is the “Megadonor Behind the LGBTQ Rights Movement” who “turned a $500 million fortune into the nation’s most powerful force for LGBTQ rights.”

His accomplishments are impressive indeed: “Today, Gill’s sprawling network of LGBTQ advocacy groups rivals any big-money operation in the country. The Gill Foundation, which he started in 1994, underwrites academic research, polling, litigation, data analytics and field organizing. Gill Action, a political group launched a decade later, has helped elect hundreds of pro-equality lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels.

OutGiving, his donor club, coaches the country’s richest pro-LGBTQ funders on how best to spend their money. Gill’s fingerprints are on nearly every major victory in the march to marriage, from the 2003 Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Healthcase, which made Massachusetts the first state to allow same-sex marriage, to the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision two decades later that legalized it in all 50. ‘Without a doubt,’ says Mary Bonauto, the attorney who argued the Obergefell case, ‘we would not be where we are without Tim Gill and the Gill Foundation.’”

So, when Tim Gill says he wants to “punish” Christian conservatives who do not affirm LGBT activism, you can take him seriously.

I understand, of course, that for him this is a matter of equality, and in his mind, he is fighting against discriminatory practices and laws. For him, this is a matter of fairness and justice, and so we who oppose LGBT activism are “wicked” people who should be “punished.” When your worldview is upside down, that is a logical conclusion.

Those who believe a child should have a mother and father are the KKK. Those who cannot participate in a same-sex “wedding” are Nazis. Those who don’t want a biological boy sharing a locker room with their daughter are transphobic bigots. And obviously, the KKK and Nazis and bigots are wicked people, and wicked people deserve to be punished. Such is the logic of LGBT activism.

I just returned from Ontario, where a child can be taken from his or her parents and raised by others if the parents do not affirm the child’s perceived gender. And throughout Canada, you can be penalized for not using a person’s preferred gender pronoun.

Here in the States, CBN News reports

California is on its way to passing a new law that makes it illegal to call transgender senior citizens a pronoun they don’t like. For example, if an elderly person who was born male and lives in a long-term care facility wishes to be called ‘her’ or ‘she,’ the workers there had better do it or face the consequences. The proposed law would even apply to Christian facilities.

But again, none of this should surprise us, just as we should not be surprised with the latest LGBT attempts to indoctrinate our children

That’s why I’ve said for years that those who came out of the closet want to put us in the closet, referring, of course, to LGBT activists. And as much as critics scorned my words more than a decade ago, mocking me as paranoid and crazy, it’s hard to scorn those words now.

That’s why we must be all the more determined to stand up for what is right, regardless of cost or consequence, and we must do this while still loving our neighbor as ourselves. That means that we can be kind and loving to our LGBT co-workers, family member, and friends without celebrating their relationships or affirming their causes. As Christian conservatives, this is how we live.

You might say to me, “Who cares about being punished? If gay activists come after us for doing what is right, so be it. Our brothers and sisters in other countries are being slaughtered for their faith, so the least we can do in America is take a righteous stand. Gay activists are hardly beheading us or throwing us to the lions.”

In principle, I agree with you, and I’m quite happy to take a stand, come what may. But there’s something else I think about. What about our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids? What kind of world are we leaving to them?

That’s why we must push back against those who want to punish us for our faith. Liberty is not something to be surrendered without a godly fight.

My mother dropped out of school to marry her first husband when she was 16.  She proceeded to have three husbands and numerous other partners over the next 15 years or so.  She had nine children that I know of, and I was number eight, from a partner between husband two and three.  There would be one child after me, on the record.

She had trouble parenting the three children she had not lost yet, between her sex, alcohol and drug addictions.  Just before the age of two, my sister and I were taken by the state child welfare system because she failed to return from her night out, and the high school baby sitter had to go home.

After a few months of attempts of the state trying to rehabilitate my mother, she dropped out of the picture and my sister and I were placed in foster care.  I would not find out until I was eighteen that a couple years later (when I was four, and she was 34), she was murdered.  Her case was never solved.

My sister and I spent a couple years in a foster home, and the memories are spotted.  We were adopted by a farming husband and wife with a young son at home when I was four years old, the day after Christmas.

At first glance, it seemed a dream come true.  We had found a family, and the home was Norman Rockwell-ish.  Our new dad was an agricultural and cattle farmer, and our new mom stayed at home to care for the farm and the children.

I honestly don’t remember how long it took for me to acclimate to the environment there.  It seemed I could do nothing right, our brother could do no wrong, and there were a lot of spoken and unspoken rules and expectations I was having trouble getting right.  I probably did plenty wrong, though I can’t recall just what all of my offenses were.  My mother had decided early on that I was a liar, so it didn’t matter what I said, in my mother’s mind it was a lie.  My actions, motives and words were questioned nonstop, and there was never a benefit of the doubt for me.

The details are too much to get into right here, but a few key memories will give you an idea of the environment.  When I was seven or eight I awoke to my parents waking me up.  It was dark, but I had no concept of the time.  I shared a room with my sister, and my parents motioned for me to be quiet and get my house robe on and go downstairs.

When I got to the kitchen, I had to squint because the lights were on and my eyes were adjusting.  There was a large box in the centre of the floor and I was told to put my favourite toys in it.  After filling it, I was told to put my shoes on.  I walked with my parents outside as my dad carried the box.

We walked past the clothesline to the burn barrel, where they put the box and lit it on fire.  I don’t remember what I did to warrant this punishment.  They may have told me, but I don’t recall.  When I awoke the next morning I tried to remember if it was a dream or real.  I went to the toy box and looked for the items I remembered putting in the box, but they weren’t there.

If that was an isolated memory, I would be inclined to shrug it off as a false memory.  But there were several times I wet my pants and my mom clothes-pinned my soiled underwear to my nose and I was made to carry on my day like that.  There was the time my mom stood my sister and me up in the kitchen and with an angry face and wagging finger told us, “Don’t ever tell me you love me.  Don’t write it in a card or on a paper, and don’t speak it in words.   You don’t love me and you cannot tell me you do.”  I was six; my sister was seven.

There was the night I was made to stand in a corner all night with my nose pressed to the corner, under threat of more severe punishment if I moved.  I fell asleep sometime in the wee hours of the morning and fell over.  I hopped up back into the corner and my entire body trembled with fear for what felt like hours at the thought that maybe my mom heard me move and would be coming.  I was “released” from the corner the next day sometime mid-morning.  I was nine.  I don’t remember what I did wrong there either.

I was constantly threatened with being shipped to an all-girls boarding school, a military school; back to the state, and later a mental hospital.  The details of my childhood could fill a book (and I have written it), but what I learned was emotions were not to be expressed, truth was subjective, and authority was absolute.  I had no voice, no identity, and no one I could trust.

The rules constantly changed, the expectations were altered by the mood of my mother, and I became very, very good at reading body language, tone, and circumstances.   I was not allowed to talk on the phone, have friends over or go to friends’ homes, or socialize apart from parental supervision.  School and nature were my only escapes.  I dared not tell anyone of my life at home.  As far as they knew, we had a perfectly normal family.  Until I started running away in high school…

My parents were swift to hospitalize me in a mental institution, where my anger hit boiling.  By this time, some concerned adults in my life had started to work to help me, but it would take years for help to manifest.  In the meantime, some unique circumstances led to me being locked out of my home when I was sixteen.  I had only the clothes on my back, no car, no money, no job, not even a driver’s license.  This continued for a few months until my parents took me to court to terminate their parental rights, which was granted and I became a ward of the state one more time.

This is an abbreviated nutshell of my formative years.  Before I was a legal adult, I had come to the conclusion love was conditional, (if it was real at all); people cannot be trusted; my merit had to be earned and even then could be stripped away; and a host of other “lesser” things.

I had found God in the Midwestern landscape.  I saw Him in the sky, in the fields, and especially in the thunderstorms.  I talked with Him constantly through high school, and though I never heard Him, still knew He was there.  I don’t remember ever thinking it was His fault suffering was in my life.

As I grew older the charades at home grew more and more difficult to navigate.  I wanted something true, something real.  I was tired, and tired of being afraid.  I pulled out a Bible and began reading it.  My mom made fun of me if I read it, so I began reading it at night by the outdoor light at my window, when everyone else had gone to sleep.  I asked a friend at school that I knew to be a Christian how to get right with God.  I was looking for a list of rules, as that is all I knew.

She explained to me Christ’s sacrifice and I was in utter disbelief that I had to do nothing to receive pardon from God!  I finally made the decision to put my faith in this Man who died for me.  Shortly thereafter my whole world hit the crescendo and the end of life as I knew it, and I was left alone, without a family, and no idea what to do.

Though I would stumble and fail miserably over the next few years, including a failed marriage, I started ministering to high school youth from a sincere desire to in some way help someone else through what had been tumultuous years for me.  In the meantime, I was building my own faith.

You’ve heard me tell some of my favorite stories.  You know about the time I drove to Denver and fell asleep while the sun was still up, but woke up sixteen miles out of Denver, in the dark, with the car driving on the road and my lights on.  I had been asleep for almost two hours.  Or the time I had to move to Texas but had only $60 to my name, and no credit card.  I was moving in a U-Haul that got 10mpg AND a personal car, and was driving 583 miles with BOTH cars.  I reckoned that if God could multiply loaves and fish, He could multiply gas as well, and He did.  At my final destination I had exactly ¼ tank of gas in each tank and no money.

Or how He challenged my trust 23 years ago and asked me, “Who made your body?”  When I replied that He did, He asked me, “Don’t you think if I can make your body I can wake it?”  The challenge was to trust Him at a time I didn’t have an alarm clock to wake me.  I trusted Him and He was faithful, and then I threw my alarm clocks away and have not used one once in 23 years.  He has never failed to wake me, whether I needed to be up at 4 am, 8 a.m or anything in between.

I told you how He has been faithful to physically heal our family of various illnesses over the last 22 years, without prescriptions.  How He even healed our St. Bernard of West Nile Virus when we anointed her with oil and declared her healing.  You know He has healed ear infections, throat infections, skin infections, and sprained ankles, because I’ve told you.

I’ve told you how He has healed my heart, how He was faithful to bring me freedom and healing from childhood loss, pain, abuse and traumas.

I told you how He brought me my husband and then gave me a clear sign with His own voice that this is who I was supposed to be with.  I’ve let you know how He delivered me from perpetuating abuse to my daughter, and healed our relationship from the damage of my own sins.

I have not hidden His miracles in my life from you, nor have I shielded you from my disappointments, struggles finding God, and my failures.  I have been forthright with you that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son of God, that He died on the Cross for humanity to procure salvation and be reconciled to God, and that He rose from the dead in victory over death so we can too.  I’ve challenged each of you to consider that Good News and respond.  But I didn’t stop there.  Why?

Because I know that the Israelites forgot God after He parted the Red Sea and sent supernatural plagues upon Egypt but saved Israel out of it.  I know that the Israelites forgot God after He brought water from a rock and bread from Heaven.  I know that the Israelites forgot God after He gave them an abundant land full of provision and blessing.  I know that the Israelites forgot God after Elijah called fire down from Heaven in the midst of hundreds of witnesses.  I know that Judas betrayed the Son of God after he saw Him heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and feed the multitudes.

The human heart is short-sighted and shallow.  We forget the good our friend has done for years when our friend hurts us today.  We are fixated on how we feel right now, and we are woefully short on gratitude.  We’re inclined to forget a God our human eyes can’t see, especially when there’s so much in front of our eyes to bedazzle us constantly.  We choose the golden calf that can’t think, feel or speak, when our God has been too long getting back to us.

I know that God is worthy of our worship if He NEVER does a thing for us because He is God and there is no one higher than He.  We should want to worship our Creator simply because He is God, even if He never does a thing for us.  Even if I died in the dysfunction of my childhood home, He would be worthy of my worship.  Even if He never healed one thing I asked, or saved me from an accident, or never supernaturally provided a thing for me.

But I know that we don’t do that well or easily.  I know that God being God is simply not enough for our humanity left to itself to reconcile.  And so I have shown you that He is not only God, but He became my Father.  And if that weren’t enough, I showed you that He is not only my God and my Father, but He has become my Friend.  So that you would know that God loves us.

God loves you.  He is perfect and faithful and true, and He is worthy of your love, your admiration, your worship, your life.  It is enough that He created us, but He also saved us when we needed saving.  And it’s enough that He saved us, but He has called us who have received Him His sons and daughters.  And if all that wasn’t enough, He also can be our Friend.

So I urge you to know this amazing God yourself.   Love God for who He is, not what He does, and realize He still does good, good things for us.  Be faithful in a faithless world.  Live your life in such a way that Heaven knows your name when you get there.

I hang up my “youth leader” hat with Acts 20:24-35:

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

 And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again.  I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault, for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.

 So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders.  I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.  Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.  Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you—my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

 And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

 I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes.  You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me.  And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

If you’ve made the decision to follow God, and have placed your faith and trust in Christ who died for your salvation, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Heed the words of Paul to guard yourself and your faith.  Recognize that there is treachery within the church and without.  Follow God, not man.

Release and forgive your parents for their failures, most of them did the best they could with what they had and meant well.  If they didn’t, forgive them anyway.  Look to God for your healing, your deliverance, and your salvation.

When you’ve trusted Him as Saviour, trust God as Father, and learn to know them both as Friend.  Your life won’t be easier or simpler, and you won’t have abundant wealth just because you walk in faith.  You may face increased tribulation, suffering or trials.  Trust your Maker and let Him teach you and grow you into maturity.  Care more about what God thinks than anyone else, (even yourself).  Love God and keep the faith.

I leave you with more of Paul’s words and pray you heed them.  Do not live for yourself and refuse to obey the truth.  Keep on doing good.  Seek after the glory, honour and immortality God offers us.

Romans 2:4-11  (emphasis my own)

Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will judge everyone according to what they have done.  He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.  

But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.  There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.  But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.  For God does not show favoritism.

© 2017 M. Smallback – All Rights Reserved

Smallback is a researcher, writer and speaker from the Midwest. Titles from her experience box include teaching, homeschooling, lectures, drama team directing, but predominantly educating in various forms. She has spent two decades and more researching a variety of topics, writing on them, speaking on them, and teaching about them. Her primary focuses are: following God; overcoming adversity, trauma and crisis for breakthrough in personal lives; the return of Christ; and hidden truths of American politics behind the propaganda of the American media. Website: www.eternalissues.com E-Mail: M.Smallback@cox.net

Looking back over history, there have been numerous books and articles rating our United States presidents. Various criteria are considered along with the obvious subjective element.

From the title, the reader knows whom I believe places last. From a biblically informed perspective there are 10 reasons for the unfavorable ranking. They’re listed following three disclaimers.

1. When Barack Obama came into office launching his “fundamental transformation of America,” I had a strong sense of foreboding yet prayed for him daily, repeatedly affirmed his God-given gifts and spoke of him respectfully.

2. I tried to separate the person from his positions in evaluating our former president in light of Scripture and tried to not be influenced by his charismatic personality or persuasive communication skills.

3. I was intentional in not giving him a pass because of our past racial history, as many in the media did, risking the standard liberal accusation of “bigot.”

Since Barack Obama left office, I want God’s best for him and have continued praying for him and his family every day. As a 40-year board member of Intercessors for America national prayer ministry, I encourage others to do likewise.

Best and Worst Presidents

When people list America’s best presidents, we usually hear George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt; there’s a reason they’re on Mount Rushmore. We also may hear the names of Truman, Monroe, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eisenhower.

Listed among the worst presidents are usually James Buchanan, who allowed the spread of slavery and the Confederacy; Warren G. Harding, whose administration was riddled with scandal; Herbert Hoover, who exacerbated the Depression; Andrew Johnson, who opposed Reconstruction, barely surviving impeachment; Franklin Pierce who added slave states, setting the stage for the Civil War; and Richard Nixon, who’s forever identified with Watergate.

A number of these unfortunate ones were admittedly dealing with the issue of slavery or had little time in office to achieve anything substantial. For example, William Harrison was commander in chief for just 30 days.

Biblically informed, not emotionally driven, I humbly submit these 10 reasons Barack Obama was America’s worst president:

1. He presented himself as an authentic Christian, yet his life revealed a counterfeit convert, bringing reproach to the cause of Christ worldwide.

Jesus taught seven distinguishing marks of a genuine Christian. He also said, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. But a corrupt tree bears evil fruit” (Matt.7:17).

Examining the beliefs, policies and character of Barack Obama reveals a compromising, deceived man not living according to biblical teachings in numerous consequential areas. He led millions to follow his wayward ways and, like all of us, will one day give an account to God.

2. As a candidate, Obama assured Americans of his conviction on the sanctity of marriage as only between a man and a woman, then once elected, pivoted to endorse homosexual marriage and said his finest moment of 2015 was celebrating the SCOTUS ruling as he lit up the White House in rainbow colors. He emphatically and unapologetically gave hearty approbation to what Scripture calls an “abomination.”

3. Upon election, he became a staunch proponent and defender of both the dismemberment of unborn babies in abortion plus endorsed financial support for Planned Parenthood, which executes nearly 900 children daily. He pronounced “God bless you!” on them at their convention, shocking the sensibilities of tens of millions of pro-life Americans.

4. He pledged to bring us out of the recession and reduce the national debt by one-half before he ended his first term in office but instead allowed it to double from $10 trillion to $20 trillion by his lack of leadership regarding reckless spending, entitlements and waste. Forty-seven percent of America’s debt was accumulated during his eight years in office.

5. He promised affordable health care for everyone and promoted it with what has been called the biggest lie of the decade: “You can keep your doctor, and you’ll save $2500 yearly!” As foretold, premiums and deductibles skyrocketed as ObamaCare imploded, revealing it wasn’t affordable but a debacle driving us towards socialized medicine.

6. He jeopardized national security by refusing to identify or even mention radical Islamic jihadism as the world’s greatest threat, goading them as a “JV squad” which was “being contained” while they laughed and advanced their terrorism worldwide. He irresponsibly cut strategic missile defense programs now being restored in light of North Korea’s defiant nuclear threat. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared in disgust that Obama “is the greatest threat to national security ever in the Oval Office.”

7. He repeatedly acted in a lawless fashion regarding drug enforcement, illegal immigration and religious liberty issues, setting an appalling example replicated in cities throughout America. His repeated uncalled for, insensitive remarks regarding police officers, engendered suspicion and disrespect for law enforcement and encouraged left-wing radicals, even those in political office, to act accordingly in defiance of the rule of law.

8. His aggressive advocacy of the LGBTQ agenda brought devastation to the future of the traditional family as he endorsed gay marriage, promoted transgenderism in schools, undermined the Defense of Marriage Act, celebrated the homosexual lifestyle by affirming people “coming out” and appointed unprecedented numbers of gay proponents to government and military positions. His policy instructing the military to recruit transgenders is only one example of his initiatives promoting what’s been labeled the “gayification” of the U.S. Armed Forces.

9. He refused to heed the counsel of our military experts regarding withdrawal timetables and strategic initiatives in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya which led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of people, destruction of holy sites that can never be restored. This created a vacuum which birthed ISIS in addition to engendering the catastrophic refugee crisis.

I still remember a 60 Minutes report featuring a Christian leader in Iraq tearfully saying, “The United States walked away, and now ISIS is a cancer that has come to kill and destroy. It’s a cleansing of Christianity!” Former President Barack Obama is directly responsible for the carnage and destruction.

10. He alienated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly and jeopardized the future of Israel, one of our strongest allies, in recklessly granting billions to Iran with the empty assurance they would not proceed in developing the nuclear weapon they continue to build to “wipe Israel off the map.”

Obama’s Legacy

In spite of a fawning liberal media and progressive left-wing secularists committed to a “fundamental transformation” of America, millions of patriotic Americans have recognized the astronomical consequences of Obama’s leadership from a Christian perspective.

Loving God, our families and this great nation, may we reconsecrate ourselves to pray for our current political leaders and ask God to continue intervening, as He obviously has, extending mercy on America. Only a true, heaven-sent spiritual awakening can turn things around so we regain lost ground and recapture the city on a hill vision upon which we were originally established.

Copyright 2017, Charisma Magazine–All rights reserved.

During a period in church history from A.D. 100 to 314, literally thousands and thousands of courageous Christian men, women and even children sealed their fate with their blood.

Secular historians agree that there were 10 great persecutions against the church, 10 major attempts to wipe out Christianity, starting with the wicked Caesar Nero and ending with Diocletian. Believers were fed alive to wild animals. They were taken to Roman arenas for sport. They were torn apart. They were tortured. They were burned at the stake.

Diocletian thought he was so successful in obliterating Christianity from the face of the earth that he actually had a special medal struck, which was inscribed with these words: “The Christian religion is destroyed and the worship of the [Roman] gods restored.” Needless to say, Diocletian was wrong. Instead of becoming weaker during this time of persecution, the church actually grew stronger. Instead of being destroyed, it became a lean, mean preaching machine. Persecution can have that effect.

In a way, persecution will separate the genuine from the fake. If you are a true follower of Jesus, you won’t back down if a little persecution comes your way. And if God allows it in your life, he will give you the strength to face it.

History tells us of a great hero of the Christian faith, Polycarp, who was the pastor of the church in Smyrna. He was martyred on Saturday, Feb. 23, A.D. 155. The public games were taking place, and the city was overrun with people. The crowds were whipped into a frenzy, and someone cried out, “Let Polycarp be searched for!”

Knowing this, Polycarp could have easily escaped, but he had a dream the night before in which he saw the pillow under his head on fire. When they came and arrested him, he asked for the privilege of having a final hour to spend with the Lord in prayer.

When Polycarp entered the Roman arena, God spoke to his heart and said, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” The Roman proconsul gave him a choice: either curse the name of Christ and make a sacrifice to Caesar, or die.

Polycarp said, “For eighty and six years have I been his servant, and he has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?”

The proconsul threatened him with being burned at the stake, and Polycarp replied, “You threaten with the fire which burns for a time, and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and in everlasting punishment. But why are you waiting? Come, do what you will.”

The crowds went crazy, pouring in with firewood and kindling. They wanted to nail Polycarp to the stake because they were afraid he would flee.

Polycarp said, “Let me alone as I am: for He who has given me strength to endure the fire will also enable me, without your securing me by nails, to stand without moving in the pile.” There Polycarp stood as they set the wood around him on fire. Amazingly, the fire did not harm him. It came right up to him and would not burn him. He sang praises to God. Finally they couldn’t take it anymore, and they thrust him through with spears.

That is called persecution. That is called courage.

You may think, “I could never do anything like that.” But Jesus promised that if you are delivered up to be persecuted, he will give you the words to say under such circumstances (see Matthew 10:18–20). He will give you the courage to make your stand.

Understand, if you are living a godly life, then you will be persecuted in some way, shape, or form. Jesus said, “‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20 NKJV).

If you are a true believer, you will face persecution in some fashion. The word persecute means “to be chased down, driven away, and pursued.” The good thing about it is that persecution can help you grow strong spiritually.

I read a story about codfish that were being shipped from the East Coast to the West Coast. The problem was that the fish arrived spoiled. The fish were frozen and sent off, but were still mushy to the taste. They tried sending the fish alive, but they arrived dead. Then they sent them alive with one change.

In the tank with the live cod, they included their mortal enemy, the catfish. By the time the cod arrived, they were alive and well, having run from the catfish the entire journey. The people who ate it said it was the best cod they had ever tasted.

God may put a catfish in your tank, so to speak, to keep you alive and well spiritually. Maybe he will allow some kind of persecution to keep you on your toes. Maybe you will be the brunt of other people’s jokes. Maybe it will be the loss of a job. Maybe it will be the loss of friends.

Persecution causes us to cling more tightly to Christ and reminds us of two very important things: 1) we are children of God, and 2) this world is not our home.

I do believe that persecution will intensify as we get closer to the Lord’s return. I have found that people who say they are so liberal and open-minded seem to be very much closed to the idea of the Gospel.

In this day and age, it seems as though people can believe anything but the Gospel. Everything is fine except the Gospel. Why? Because it really bothers people when you say that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father.

If you are a Bible-believing Christian, you can say no less. Jesus himself said that he was the way, the truth and the life. If we really believe it and really proclaim it, then we will face persecution.

Copyright 2017, WND– All rights reserved.

It is not just Christians who can see that the nation is in trouble. Everyone can see that things have not been going well in Britain recently. The terrorist attacks, the Grenfell Tower inferno, and the hung Parliament all confirm that something is wrong in the nation.

Many Christians know that as a nation we have rejected the word of God in many ways which has resulted in Britain being no longer under God’s cover of protection, prosperity and blessing.

‘Confusion’ is one of the signs of judgment upon a nation, according to Deuteronomy 28:20. But Jeremiah 18:7 reminds us that even when things go badly wrong, if we repent of our wrongdoing and ask for God’s help, things would quickly improve. Through Jeremiah God says:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

God still speaks to us today so that we can understand what is happening and how he is working out his purposes. This enables us as Christians to speak to others, Christians and non-Christians, reassuring them of God’s love and his desire to bless the nation, restoring peace and prosperity.

The latest word received by my colleague David Noakes (we have worked together since 1984) brings this reassurance. We reproduce it below noting that we do not claim that modern prophecy carries the same authority as the Bible. But God does speak to those who are listening to him, although we express what we are receiving in our own human language and understanding. It is for each of our readers to weigh this prophecy.

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Prophetic word, first given at East Grinstead (17 June 2017)

David Noakes

Beloved, you are living in momentous days. These are truly the days of a turning point in the affairs of your nation. It is a time of my appointing. I have allowed you to go your own way but I have never let go of you.

There are many voices in your midst which are full of pessimism and I understand that if you look upon your circumstances, pessimism is often the outcome. But I want you to perceive as I perceive.

Beloved, when there is turmoil and upheaval, do not look upon it with dismay; do not look upon it with foreboding; do not look upon it with fear. But look upon it with eyes turned to me with a questioning heart: a heart questioning what your God is doing in the midst of it. For beloved, all these things taking place are under my hand. I have brought about a remarkable work in your nation in recent times. This is not accidental, nor is it sudden, but has come about at my appointed time.

I do not have accidents; I do not have coincidences; I do not have sudden unexpected events. I have appointed events, at appointed times, and I am the one who is seated in the heavens and does whatever He pleases. Do not lose heart, because I am in charge. My hand is on your nation and I have not given up my purposes for you.

I have blessed your nation in the past and truly you have been faithless; but beloved, I have remained faithful. Your enemy has done much to sow lies, to sow false doctrine, to try to bring down all that is good and all that is of God. But I have kept for myself a remnant. My Word remains true for all time and all eternity and I will fulfil my purposes.

This is a time of turmoil and upheaval because your adversary is in great rage and great fear. He is in great consternation that I will use your nation to tear his purposes apart. But that is exactly what I intend to do. I intend to bring his purposes crashing down. There will be turmoil and upheaval; there will be blood in the streets; there will be anxiety amongst those who do not know that God is in charge and do not understand what I am doing.

Beloved, there cannot be victory in war without war taking place; and war is indeed taking place, because I have joined battle. I have joined battle against the forces of darkness which desire to bring your nation to nothing and I have declared I will not have it so. My purposes for you are from all eternity. I have known exactly what I will do at this time. I have known exactly what I will do in the future and I purpose to glorify my name through your nation once again.

Therefore do not be disheartened. Do you think of yourself as being just a little flock? Truly there is only a small remnant who hold fast to My word. But beloved, continue to hold fast to my word and pray that the purposes that I have begun to reveal will come to fruition and fulfilment, and I will visit you afresh with my Spirit.

I will visit you afresh with my Spirit that you may be empowered: Not for your glory, but for Mine. Not to build empires but to build my Church. I desire also to visit you with my Spirit that you may be instruments in my hand to go into the fields which are ripe for harvest, and bring in a harvest; for there is a harvest waiting to be brought in.

There are many in fear and trepidation and utter confusion, and I want you to be a people who know their God and do exploits. I want you to be a people of compassion; not of judgement; not of condemnation. Judgement is mine, I will repay. But I ask you to be a people of love and concern; of compassion for the lost, and of deep desire that the truth should be brought to many who will understand it and be saved. For surely there are those whom you think are your enemies, who are longing for truth.

Do not be down-hearted, therefore. Do not be dispirited. Yes, I know all too well that you are surrounded by those who wish you ill. Beloved, do not heed them but look to your God who wishes you well. Look to your God who wishes them well. I desire a people who are willing to bless their enemies and to do good to those who speak evil about them.

As you do this they will see your light. Many will reject, but many will see the light in the darkness and will desire the only light they can see. For all their plans and schemes will have fallen to the ground and then they will turn to the only truth.

Do not give up therefore. Hold fast. Hold fast to Me. Hold fast to My Word. Hold fast in love and unity, to one another. Be loyal and faithful to each other. Forgive each other all offences and stand together, that as one you may show the character of your Lord and Saviour.

Beloved, understand that I have not given up, and I say to you: do not give up either, but look to Me and hope in Me that I will do what I have planned.

Copyright 2017, David Noakes, Dr Clifford Hill, Prophecy Today

Photo courtesy: Home School Legal Defense Association

In October last year, in a blog titled We are the state: we are the parents I wrote about Graham Badman’s 2009 Review of Elective Home Education in England, the recommendations of which were soundly defeated in Parliament. It was almost immediately followed by the Ofsted report Children Missing from Education – a titled premised on the assumptions that education can only happen in school and parents who opt for an alternative are up to no good.

Next came the Local Government Association, asking for new powers to check on home schooled children because ‘any Elective Home Education learning situation potentially puts a child in a very vulnerable position … because the child is isolated, they are not visible to their peer group and professionals don’t keep an eye on them … It is unacceptable for any child of compulsory school age not to be receiving a suitable education’.

So parents are definitely up to no good and they aren’t suitably educating their children who are lonely and isolated. Anyone who knows anything about the home ed community knows how far from the truth this really is.

But the desire to make everyone conform to central statute didn’t abate. In January, I blogged about the Casey Report which attempted to review educational opportunity and integration. It rang some significant alarm bells for home educators, using the same arguments that have already been defeated. Alan Wood is currently conducting an enquiry into the role of Local Authorities and home education is one of the areas which he is considering. It’s not difficult to work out what his conclusions and recommendations will be.

This week, a seemingly innocuous private member’s bill appeared in the House of Lords, brought by Lord Soley and introduced by Estelle Morris. Innocuous for two reasons – private members’ bills rarely make it onto the statute books and Lord Soley has a previous track record on the subject, not least via Lords of the Blog so this is merely an extension of previously expressed views. But in reality, it is far from innocuous.

In 2014, Diana Johnson introduced a private member’s bill on sex education. As expected, it didn’t go anywhere, but three years later, we saw far-reaching legislation on Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) sneeked into law using the Children and Social Work Bill as a Trojan Horse. The private member’s bill was just part of the normalization process – raising the issue, provoking debate and testing the water.

And that is exactly what is happening here. The bill won’t go anywhere – Lord Soley knows that. But it is part of the softening process, a piece in the jigsaw which is designed to remove a parent’s right to educate their child as they think best. And the consequences are likely to be far reaching, with parents required to deliver on comprehensive RSE and PSHE regardless of their faith position.

As my previous blog demonstrates, Ofsted judges that teaching our children about gender reassignment and sexual orientation takes priority over faith.

So what can you do? If you’re a parent, whether or not you home educate your child, write to your MP expressing concern about this bill. Say that it will remove from parents their legal right to educate their children according to their own philosophy. You might also draw the parallel between this bill and the Badman legislation, which was soundly defeated.

Ask your MP to raise your concern with Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for Education, so that the DfE can monitor the reaction. You can also keep track of what is going on via Facebook

In another context earlier this week, I was directed to Psalm 11. It asks: ‘When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ The answer is clear: ‘The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne’ (Psalm 11:3-4).

Copyright 2017, Christians in Education-All rights reserved