The four hardest statements to make in a marriage or in any relationship are these: 1. I was wrong. 2. I am really sorry. 3. Forgive me. 4. I need help.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same. Forgiveness must take place in the heart for otherwise it is worthless. For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). Whereas reconciliation means a restoration of friendship after the injury.

If we have not truly forgiven, in our hearts, those who hurt us, then it will come out-sooner or later. But if forgiveness has indeed taken place in the heart, our words will show it. When there is bitterness, it will eventually manifest; when there is love, there is nothing in Him to make us stumble (1 John 2:10), even in our words.

It is for this reason that reconciliation is not always essential to total forgiveness. If it takes place in the heart, one does not need to know whether one’s enemy will reconcile. If I have forgiven him or her in my heart of hearts, and he/she doesn’t want to speak to me, I can still have the inner victory.

It is true that is far easier to forgive when we know that those who backstabbed, gossiped, maligned or betrayed us are sorry; but if I must have this before I can forgive, I may never have a victory.

Reconciliation takes two people, but the person you forgive may not want to see you. They may even be dead. Someone said, “It is remarkable how people love you in a casket.”

An injured person can forgive an offender without reconciliation. It is wonderful indeed should reconciliation follow, but some things can never be the same again because it takes two people to reconcile, a total willingness on both parties.

Forgiveness is an Inner Condition

It’s worth emphasizing that total forgiveness must take place in the heart. If those who hurt me don’t want to repent or reconcile, that isn’t my problem when I have totally forgiven them. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God (1 John 3:21).

Having a clear conscience and confidence before God is ultimately what total forgiveness is all about; it is Him that we want to please at all costs. He cares and knows whether I have truly forgiven, and when I know I have His love and approval I will be a very happy and contented child of God.

If someone says, I’m not required to forgive unless the other person repents first and says, ‘I am sorry’, then we have to remember Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them (Luke 23:34). If He had waited until they felt any guilt or shame for their words and actions, then Jesus would never have forgiven them.

We have to understand that most people we must forgive do not believe they have done anything wrong whatsoever; or if they did something wrong they believe it was justifiable. I would even say that most people I have ever had to forgive would be indignant at the thought that they had done something wrong.

God made me willing to do anything that I can do, consistent with the truth, for the sake of peace. For this reason I’ve had to give up what I believe are my rights in some instances and ask for forgiveness, though at the same time people justify themselves in all they’ve done and represent me as the only person guilty.

The Christian life requires effort. It is not just singing choruses in the church until you are taken to heaven, but it’s making every effort to know Jesus intimately. I have made a personal effort to be sure that I have a few ruptured relationships as possible in my Christian walk but sometimes it is not possible especially if you are reaping from an entire lifetime of very bad choices.

I have been reminded over and over again of the hurts I have inflicted upon others. As much as I would like to seek restoration, the means of doing so are no longer practically possible. While I believe that in Christ those past wrongs are forgiven, I sometimes feel a lingering sense of guilt and regret when I bring to mind those incidents.

Paul who persecuted and killed Christians before Christ met him, tells us to forget what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, we are to press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward (see Philippians 3:12-14).

When God forgives us, He forgets what we once did, but we never will, and Paul’s reflections demonstrate this. The New Covenant is based on forgiveness. I think the most amazing miracle is that when God forgives, He also forgets. Our trouble is, we can’t forget it, and so we struggle to forgive ourselves.

You and I are charged to do everything in our power to be found in peace, without any quarrelling, and without any unresolved complaints or bitterness. Most of us have at least one or two damaged relationships.  We’ve not picked up the phone and spoken to loved ones in years because of petty squabbles and arguments about land and properties which belong to the Lord anyway!

The Bible makes it clear that it is not always possible to bring peace in every relationship. However, it also states that as much as it is in us to do so, we should live at peace with all men:

Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble aiming to be above reproach in the sight of everyone. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for God’s wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good (Romans 12:17-21 AMP).

I remember meeting someone, who overlooked the truth that they had terribly hurt me and instead claimed that, if they had not released or forgiven me, I would not have even afforded an airline ticket to come and reconcile with them. They totally believed that they had done nothing wrong whatsoever. What is hypocritical about this is they claimed they were praying (soulish prayers) for me and doing it for God and His glory!

How would you describe that dichotomy? A person like that mistakenly believes they are operating in the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, they will believe that all their perceptions, words and opinions come from God.  Because I am more interested in the Kingdom and not harbouring personal vendettas or grudges, I chose love over hate.

Love Keeps no Record of Wrongs

Love doesn’t let anybody know what someone said about you or did to you. This is exactly what Joseph did when he cried out in Genesis 45:1 “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. Why would Joseph make everyone leave? Because he did not want a single person in Egypt to know what his brothers had done to him twenty-two years before. 

The reason why we keep wrongs is to use them and prove what happened. You might say to your husband, ‘I remember how you looked at that lady…I can never forget it’. That shows you’ve kept a record of wrongs. Love is a choice and total forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling, but an act of the will and we do it by faith.  Forgiveness is not initially a feeling; it is a painful choice at first. But by God’s grace, it later becomes lodged in the heart.

The Bible tells us:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

It is easy to love strangers but very hard to love those who are closest to us. Why? Because the ones we love the most can hurt us the most, although we are commanded to love them anyway. So the love that is described in this passage is supernatural love, far beyond anything that we can offer or hope for without supernatural means.

It is impossible for an individual who has not been consumed by the fiery love of God to understand or express that love to another human being. First John 4:19 teaches that the only reason, the only means, through which we are enabled and empowered to love is to first be loved by God.

In First John 4:7-21, God gives us the recipe for this supernatural love. It’s Him! John admonishes us to “love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.…because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).

Although scientists tell us, there’s a thin line between love and hate, we as Christians are told,

If anyone says, I love God, and hates (detests, abominates) his brother in Christ, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, Whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister (1 John 4:20-21).

Not only does God live in us, but His love is made complete in us through the power of the cross and through His Holy Spirit.

Forgiveness is the Absence of Bitterness

What is bitterness? It is an inward condition. It is an excessive desire for vengeance that comes from deep resentment. It is one of the things that grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) I love how the Amplified version describes this verse:

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (do not offend or vex or sadden Him), by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).

Bitterness is one of the most frequent causes for people to miss out on the grace of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us to “strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will ever see the Lord.” He goes on to say that we are to:

Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look after one another, to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favour and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it—That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 

For you understand that later on, when he wanted to regain title to his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made, although he sought for it carefully with bitter tears ( Hebrews 12:14-17; Genesis 27:30).

This bitterness will manifest itself in many ways; you will have temper tantrums, fear, anxiety, high blood pressure, depression, stress, irritability, sleepless nights, isolation, a constant negative attitude, an obsession to getting even and many more. The absence of bitterness allows for the Holy Spirit to work in my heart.

But if the Holy Spirit is grieved, I will be left to myself, which means I will struggle with all those emotions mentioned previously. This is extremely important when it comes to the matter of reconciliation.

For instance, your best friend has character assassinated or had an affair with your wife/husband. Must you forgive him? Yes, but it doesn’t mean you will remain close friends. If you have totally forgiven the person who hurt you-that is, you have no bitterness against them, then you don’t need to feel the slightest guilt or shame for not wanting a complete restoration of that relationship.

The essential factor is that there should be no trace of bitterness. But how do I know that there is no bitterness left? First, when there is no desire to get even or punish, second, when I do or say nothing that would hurt their reputation or future, and third, when I truly wish them well in all they seek to do.

God raises up an enemy to see if we really want to be like Jesus. So don’t be angry with your enemy. It is most likely the Lord who is behind that enemy to keep you humble and on your knees. Whereas the motive of your enemies may be carnal and selfish, God’s reason for using them is for your sanctification.

Recommended Reading:

Dr. RT Kendal-Total Forgiveness & God Meant it For Good

In his book, The Attributes of God, A.W Tozer describes a lady known as ‘Lady Julian’ who thought about why we are not happy and she said, “If this is all true, then why should we not all be at great ease of heart and soul? Why aren’t Christians the happiest, the most easeful people in all the wide world?’’ Then she answered her own question: “Because we seek to have our pleasure and rest in things that are so little.”

What is it that makes you happy? What cheers you up and gives your morale a lift? Is it your job? Is it the fact that you have good clothes? Is it that you’ve married well or have a fine position? Just what is it that brings you joy? That’s our trouble. We know that God is so vast that in comparison everything is just the size of a hazelnut. And yet we’re not a happy people because we’ve got our minds set on things. We multiply things, and we increase things and we perfect things. We beautify things and put our confidence in things and God.

We have our good job and God; we have our husband/wife and God; we have our strong body and God; we have our home and God. We have our ambition for the future and God, and so we put God as a plus sign after something else.

All the great souls of the world from David, Paul and Augustine and all the rest down through this present hour—every responsible writer who has ever been illuminated from the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit has said the same thing. And whether he came from one school of Christian thought or another, as long as he was orthodox and spiritual he said the same thing: Our problem is that we are putting our confidence in things and not in God.

And Julian said, God showed me that all things are only the size of the hazelnut. Why therefore should I put my confidence in things so little that God has to hold it together? Why should I trust things? We multiply, we increase, and still we are anxious and unsatisfied. Why? Because all that is beneath God will not satisfy us.

Augustine says he looked for God everywhere except his own heart:

If you find physical pleasure in earthly experiences, use the occasion to praise God for these gifts. Turn your love not on the pleasures but toward their Maker. Otherwise, the things that please you will cause to displease. Love those souls that please you but love them in God. For people will change and will pass by and pass away unless they are firmly established forever. Love them in Him, and carry to Him your own soul and whatever souls will come with you. Tell the souls, “Let us love Him! Let us love Him! He made us, we did not make ourselves and He is near.”

He did not make things and then walk away. He remains intimately involved, and all things have their being in Him. See Him. There He is, where truth is loved. He can be found within the very heart, even if the heart strays from Him. Go back into your heart and find Him sinners. Stand with Him, and you will be able to keep your footing. Rest in Him, and you will find genuine rest.

For some of us, God in His sovereign grace and mercy was patient with us and His grace was precisely the means by which He began to open our eyes to the true depth of our need of Him.

The reason riches become such a snare is because we end up evaluating life in mercenary terms and being seen by others in search terms, and life is just not so.

In the parable of the rich fool, The Lord Jesus said that the good life has nothing to do with being wealthy, and a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs. The man thought he would pull down his storehouses and build larger ones, and there he would store or hoard all his grain, produce, and his goods. Jesus told the parable, saying,

The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided? “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:13-21 NKJV).

Jesus knew that money and possessions would be a stumbling block for everyone. He didn’t say money was evil, He meant money could make you serve other gods rather than the One who offers the greatest gift of all-a rich relationship with God. As Ravi Zacharias tells us:

Riches are a form of cosmetic. They have the power to buy the trappings, but they do not have the power to enrich the soul. A rich person can do many things that the poor person cannot do but the poor person can be what God intends for one to be sometimes more easily than the rich one can. Riches are to life what the IQ is to the student. It provides access to a higher degree but it is not the means to being better person.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that great wealth is actually a great risk in life because great buying power lulls one into investing in everything that one wants materially, only to discover that material wealth is not all that is cracked up to be. How does one live on the inside when everything one wants on the outside is within reach but has left one emptier on the inside than before?

Earthly Comforts are Loaned

We easily forget that “earthly comforts are loaned,” writes Charles Spurgeon. He goes on to say:

They are not gifts, for all that we possess is God’s property. He has only let them, and what He lends He has a right to take. We hold possessions and friends on a lease that can be terminated at the Supreme Owner’s option. Therefore, do not complain when God takes His own. In a world where thorns and briars grow, it is natural that sharp points will pierce you. The world swarms with thieves, deceivers, and slanderers, with losses in business, crosses in our expectations, false or fickle friends, and with sickness and death. Little wonder our joys are stolen.

Our Master warns that our habitation is not theft-proof…. Beloved, because these calamities may be expected, let us be prepared. Hold all things loosely. Hold them as though you did not have them. Look at them as fleeting; never expect them to remain. Never make mortal things your gods. If you do, your heart will be broken when they are taken, and you will cry with Micah: “You have taken away my gods which I made” (Judges 18: 24).

Each of us could relate stories of those who have much in the area of material goods but have lived sad lives. We hear time and time again of people who end their lives as paupers when they began with abundance.

Wealth and what it brings are at best fleeting. For example, in 1923, a small group of the world’s wealthiest men met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. They were “Who’s Who” of wealth and power. At that time, they controlled more money than the total amount contained in the United States Treasury.

John Maxwell gives a list of who was there and what eventually happened to them:

• CHARLES SCHWAB-president of the largest independent steel company-died broke.
• ARTHUR CUTTEN-greatest of the wheat speculators died abroad, insolvent.
• RICHARD WITNEY-president of the New York Stock Exchange-died just after release from Sing Sing prison.
• ALBERT FALL-member of a U.S. president’s cabinet was pardoned from prison so that he could die at home.
• JES LIVERMORE-greatest “bear” on Wall Street committed suicide.
• LEON FRASER-president of the Bank of International Settlements–committed suicide.
• IVAR KREUGER-Head of the world’s greatest monopoly-committed suicide.

Greek millionaire Aristotle Onassis, who retained his wealth and died at a ripe old age, recognized that after you reach a certain point, money becomes unimportant.

As we are given glimpses into the lives of the rich and famous we find out that not only may one squander the abundance with which one has been blessed, but also that the presence of wealth is no protection against the ravages of the soul. Emptiness still stalks the rich, loneliness still haunts the icon, and disappointment still casts its shadow amidst the cheers under the spotlight.

The late industrialist John D. Rockefeller Sr. was a man so rich that he gave way more than $350 million in his lifetime. He was once asked how much money it would take to satisfy him. His reply:”Just a little bit more.”

At a news conference after the death of John D. Rockefeller Jr., his attorney was asked how much money the wealthy industrialist had left. His response was, “He left it all.” When someone’s daughter won a lottery of £7 million, she said, “The thing about money is you worry if you don’t have it and if you do have it, you wonder if it is going to last.”

Some years after he had won the lottery in New York, a man was asked during an interview by the media, “What has been the biggest difference in your life since your sudden acquisition of such wealth?” He paused, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I eat out more often.”

Those Who Love Money Will Never Have Enough

King Solomon of ancient Israel, said to be not only the wisest but also the richest man who ever lived, asserted:

The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, nor the one who loves wealth with big profits…Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!” (Ecclesiastes 5: 10–11 NLT).

The Amplified version puts it this way:

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)! When goods increase, they who eat them increase also. And what gain is there to their owner except to see them with his eyes?As the man came forth from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; and he will take away nothing for all his labor which he can carry in his hand. And this also is a serious and severe evil—that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he who labors for the wind? (Ecclesiastes 5:10-16).

It proves again that no matter how much you give a man, if he misses God his soul cries within him. If you give him everything and then add God to it, you have wronged him, and he has wronged his own soul. For God wants to be first and wants to be all. Money won’t do it.

If you take the kingdom of God and His righteousness, God may send it all to you and let you have it. But it is always with the understanding that He can take it away again and you won’t grumble. You will still have God, and God is all.

Which takes me back to our first question: Why are we not happy? We are made to depend on God; we are made for union with God and nothing about us works right without Him. As C. S. Lewis wrote:

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about a relationship with Him. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

There is a principle that  I came across that would be emulated by all of us: “Before we speak or write anything about another person we must always ask ourselves two questions—is it kind and is it true? And if the answer to the first is no, then the second no longer matters; our ethical imperative demands silence.

In fact according to Jewish law, compassion dictates that they hide the truth from the clinically condemned sufferer, even if they have to lie when the patient asks whether they are optimistic about his or her fate.

One of the sins of the tongue that we Christians fall into most easily is gossip. So what is gossip? It is sharing negative information about another person, organization, group of people or entity whether true or false when either the speaker or the hearers are not directly involved in resolving an issue.

It often masquerades itself as concern and quite honestly most gossip occurs when we know we are doing it. Nowdays social media makes it so easy to send a message that everyone has to be taught to restrain their urge to communicate.

Gossip has caused more wars, broken up more homes, destroyed families, severed friendships, ruined more businesses, split more churches, divided more teams and destroyed more lives than anything else throughout human history. Countless have lost faith in so called believers and religion and children’s lives have been forever altered by the devastation of gossip.

Telling a person with the purpose of hurting another’s reputation or credibility is but wanting to punish him. When you tell me what someone did to me, you want me to think less of him/her and trapping me to attempt taking revenge-which is usurping God’s authority.

Case Study of Forgiveness

Recently a relative told me another close relative gossiped about me and never wanted anything to do with me or answer my phones. This hurt me and my reaction caused me to sin, and this is precisely what the enemy wanted.

I would have agreed with them because there will always be a little bit of truth in what a critic will say to or about us. The person wasn’t an enemy, but still I had to forgive her. What is an enemy? This is a person who would say something about you so as to call your credibility into question.

They would rejoice at your downfall or lack of success because they would feel vindicated.  Remember even your close relatives or friends for different reasons can become your enemy, although they would not always admit to the word hate.

I’ve had to forgive them because they no longer needed me as they once did and they felt a need to distance themselves from me because of various reasons or even financial needs.

I remember speaking to a friend who told me close friends, relatives and fellow Christians distanced themselves from him and erected barriers when he lost his job. They were afraid that his ‘curses’ will affect them. These things hurt and you have to remember that such people are not your enemies and you shouldn’t make them look bad.

Chances are those people might be going through a rough time and they also need help. Remember, nobody can be effective in life without the support and knowledge of another person, regardless of what status that person holds in society. People are just people. Their financial, racial, ethnic, or worldly status in life doesn’t make them better or worse than anyone else on this planet.

Although our society honours wealth, power, attractiveness, and success above godly wisdom, the godly wisdom that comes from a poor man is a far greater asset than all the riches of this world. Solomon writes:

Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works. There was a small town with only a few people, and a great king came with his army and besieged it. A poor, wise man knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought to thank him. So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long. Better to hear the quiet words of a wise person than the shouts of a foolish king (Ecclesiastes 9:13-17 NLT).

What if someone gossips or criticizes you or doesn’t even want to communicate to you anymore? What should be the response? First, maintain a sweet spirit. The Bible says a gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stirs anger (Proverbs 15:1). Second, never defend yourself or try to impress on others how good or right you are; and never seek revenge with your response. Never get even. Never make them look bad.

Of course there is a reason for this. Sometimes it is absolutely right to warn a person about someone. For example, John the apostle, who had so much to say about loving one another, warned about a trouble maker in the church (3 John 9-10).

Paul had to report that Demas forsook him because he loved the things of this world. Alexander the coppersmith did him great wrongs, but Paul added: The Lord will pay him back for his actions. Others who had deserted him, he said, ‘May it not be held against them’ (2 Tim. 4:9-10). 

The Consequences of an Untamed Tongue

In Romans 1:29-30 Paul lists some of the consequences of man’s turning away from God. Here is part of the list: They are fully of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.

The very fact that gossip appears in this list is significant. Some of the heart attitudes related to with gossip are strife, deceit and malice.  Gossips are classified with people who are slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful. The danger of this kind of talk is brought out by James as earthly, soulish, and demonic (James 3:15).

Christians who permit themselves to gossip about others-especially fellow Christians are directly disobedient to God’s Word and are slipping from the ‘earthly’ to the ‘soulish’, and then from the ‘soulish’ to the’ demonic.’ That is how powerful the tongue is.

It defiles the whole body and the believer who is guilty of gossiping actually defiles himself/herself and that part of the Body of Christ to which he is related. Worse still, if others may speak or gossip against us, it produces or causes physical pain that the enemy uses to attack us.

The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell (James 3:5-6).

The tongue causes a fire, a passionate desire that, when disconnected from the Spirit, is designed to consume and to destroy. It is the fire of the dragon. It is the forest fire that destroyed homes in California. It causes riots in cities, shows up in news reports as fake news, it consumes careers, it ends marriages, it divides ministries, and it leads to clinical depression, suicidal thoughts, and double homicides.

Do you find yourself being burned or burning others in relationships again and again? Keep your tongue (your actions and your words) in check! According to James 1:26, “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

The consequences of an untamed tongue is self-deception—you may be convincing yourself to a course of actions that God never intended and inviting physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences that you don’t want.

According to James 3, a person who can control his or her tongue is perfect, able to keep everything else in check. I submit to you that it is time for you to grow into a different kind of love. Paul teaches us that,

When the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside. (1 Corinthians 13:10-11 AMP).

Truth to be told, there are too many of us playing with fire. We must grow in our knowledge of God and His love in order to grow into loving relationships, without the hurt, anger, and disappointment that we have experienced and caused for others.

If you grow up, the love and relationships you enter and build will begin to grow as well. When you know the perfect love of the Father, the immature, immoral love of this world becomes less and less appealing.

For many of us, Christmas is our favourite time of the year. But each year it grows more difficult to navigate the suffocating commercialism and secularization of the season to arrive at the genuine reason for the celebration: the incarnation of God as a human to become the sacrifice for our sins and make possible our reconciliation to God.

I’m afraid we’ve lost our sense of meaning at the unfathomable miracles that made possible the advent of our Savoir. The question is, does the celebration of Christmas contain elements that are pagan in origin? Absolutely. There is no doubt about that whatsoever.

It was originally a totally pagan midwinter festival celebrating the ‘rebirth’ of the sun. The people burned yew logs, sang carols, and ate and drank too much. When the first missionary, Augustine, came to England he sent word back to Rome saying that he was unable to get the people away from this pagan festival.

Pope Gregory said that the best policy would be to turn it into a Christian festival, and that is what has happened, with questionable results. Today the Church universally celebrates this pagan festival, despite the fact that it is nowhere commanded or even encouraged in the Bible.

Syncretism

This mixing of Christianity with other ideas is known as syncretism, and the apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians knew that it could destroy the faith of the church, for when the Christian faith is mingled with human tradition (men’s idea of the material rather than the spiritual world), the teaching and message of Christ is disregarded (see Colossians 2:8-9).

So Paul has a very important message for the Church, for it reminds us of the dangers of religious practices entering the Church, whether these have apparently biblical or pagan roots. These practices are merely rituals, with little attention paid to the Jesus of the Bible.

Paul also mentions two essentially non-Christian practices that had become part of their lives. The Colossians had begun observing annual, monthly and weekly festivals, even though there is no trace in the New Testament of Christian observance of a calendar – indeed, the calendar that the Church observes is largely a pagan one mixed into Christianity.

Observance of Calendars

There is no corresponding Christian calendar in the New Testament, no instructions about observing Christmas or Easter, but for the Jewish people a calendar was a vital part of their walk with God.

Most Christians are hostile to the idea that Christians should not observe Christmas, but not one verse in the New Testament commands Christians to do anything special at Christmas.

In fact, the Christmas season is based on a pagan mid-winter festival celebrating what they saw as the ‘rebirth’ of the sun on 25 December.

This ritual was made ‘Christian’ when Augustine was sent from Rome by Pope Gregory to evangelize Britain in 597, and he found that the locals would not change their celebrations. They included yuletide logs, carols and orgies.

Every village elected a ‘Lord of misrule’ for 12 days, who was able to have any young girl he wanted for the ‘12 days of Christmas’. So the Pope’s advice was to ‘Christianize’ the festival.

The legacy of this decision is that Christ is reduced to a baby in a manger, and is often dismissed as such. Furthermore, there is no specific instruction to celebrate Easter either.

Christ is risen ‘every day’, and his life should be enjoyed and celebrated as such. Even Sunday observance is never actually commanded in the New Testament.

We are free to keep Sunday special if we want to, and we are free to count every day as the Lord’s Day if we want to. We are not under any law about Sunday, Christmas or Easter, and yet so many Christians seem to think that we are.

My personal view in this season is to ensure that we take human traditions, worldliness and self-indulgence out of our celebrations and exalt Jesus Christ as the exact likeness of the unseen God (the visible representation of the invisible). He was born as a Human something we ought to celebrate on any day of the year.

He is the Firstborn of all creation. For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him by His service, intervention and in and for Him. He is the exact likeness of the unseen God the visible representation of the invisible; He is the Firstborn of all creation.  

And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together). He also is the Head of His body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place (stand first and be preeminent).

For it has pleased the Father that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently. And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him the Son all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, (the Father) made peace by means of the blood of His cross (see Colossians 1:14-20 AMP).

In the next video, David Pawson goes into a lot of more detail about the true meaning of Christmas.

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It was 40 years ago this week that China opened its doors to the world and launched a series of ambitious reforms that would create one of the world’s largest economic engines.

“China is now the world’s second largest economy, the biggest manufacturer, top trader of goods, and the second largest consumer of goods and recipient of foreign investment,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a speech in Beijing celebrating the 40th anniversary of the landmark reforms.

“December 18, 1978, was an important day to be remembered in the history of the Chinese nation,” Xi added, saying that it marked the “start of a great journey of reform, opening-up and socialist modernization.”

But unlike Deng Xiaoping, who helped launch the country’s reforms 40 years ago and wanted to reduce the power and influence of the Communist Party over civil society, China’s current leader believes in the absolute power of the Party and wants his government to exert control over every aspect of Chinese life.

Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has severely cracked down on human rights, religious freedom and freedom of expression. Christians are experiencing some of the worst persecution in decades.

“Under President Xi, the government has further tightened control over Christianity in its broad efforts to “Sinicize” religion or “adopt Chinese characteristics,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.  “In other words, to ensure that religious groups support the government and the Communist Party.”

Christians are not alone. Muslims, Buddhists and other faith groups are also coming under intense scrutiny.

“The Chinese government has also ratcheted up restrictions over Buddhism in Tibetan areas and imposed unprecedented control over religious practices in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang,” Human Rights Watch added.

The recent arrest of a prominent church pastor underscores the level of persecution against Christians.

On December 9, authorities in the city of Chengdu, in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, arrested pastor Wang Yi, along with his wife and 100 members of Early Rain Covenant Church.

Authorities shut down the church and charged pastor Wang with “inciting subversion of state power.”

Ian Johnson, who has written extensively on Christianity in China and knows pastor Wang personally, said, “One can only hope and pray that he will come out of jail or that the sentence will be light, but given the current climate I’m not so sure.”

Johnson, writing for the New York Times, said the charge against Mr. Wang and his wife, Jiang Rong, “was far more severe than what other leaders face” and that the term “subversion of state power” is “a catchall charge often used against dissidents and political activists who speak out against the government.”

Wang and his wife could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

This past Sunday morning, members of Early Rain Covenant Church were blocked from entering their worship building. With their leaders detained and facing jail, churchgoers decided to pray and worship outside.

Early Rain, like scores of other congregations, is outside government control as part of China’s burgeoning so-called underground or house church movement.

Appearing on CBN News‘ WorldBeat, Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs, says this movement has touched every corner of China.

“And that’s the exciting thing, all across China, there are house churches, there are what they call ‘family churches’ and the reason the Communist government is so worried is because there are far more Christians in China than there are members of the Communist Party,” Nettleton told CBN News.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N6SHy-Lb3g]

More on this story visit CBN.com

Copyright © 2018 CBN.com-All rights reserved

On Dec. 9, Chinese authorities arrested Pastor Wang Yi and more than 100 members of the Early Rain Covenant Church.

As CBN News reported, Pastor Wang’s home was raided and ransacked by police.  The raid may have been triggered by a 7,300 words manifesto titled “Meditations on the Religious War,” which Pastor Wang wrote and posted on social media.

In it, he condemns China’s Communist Party and urges Christians to perform acts of civil disobedience.

Pastor Yi criticized the government for forcing its citizens to engage in “Caesar worship” by treating President Xi Jinping like a god.

He wrote that ideology “is morally incompatible with the Christian faith and all those who uphold freedom of the mind and thought.”

“His home was ransacked. It was a mess,” Zhang Guoqing told The South China Morning Reporter. “The police said our church is an illegal organization and we cannot attend any more gatherings from now on.”

There has been no word from the pastor or the church members since their arrest.

Foreseeing his possible arrest, Yi wrote a letter titled “My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience” back in September with the instructions that it should be published by his church should he be detained more than 48 hours. Brent Pinkall and Amy Cheung are credited with the translation of the letter into English. The church released the letter on Wednesday.  The entire letter is published below.

My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience

On the basis of the teachings of the Bible and the mission of the gospel, I respect the authorities God has established in China. For God deposes kings and raises up kings. This is why I submit to the historical and institutional arrangements of God in China.

As a pastor of a Christian church, I have my own understanding and views, based on the Bible, about what righteous order and good government is. At the same time, I am filled with anger and disgust at the persecution of the church by this Communist regime, at the wickedness of their depriving people of the freedoms of religion and of conscience. But changing social and political institutions is not the mission I have been called to, and it is not the goal for which God has given his people the gospel.

For all hideous realities, unrighteous politics, and arbitrary laws manifest the cross of Jesus Christ, the only means by which every Chinese person must be saved. They also manifest the fact that true hope and a perfect society will never be found in the transformation of any earthly institution or culture but only in our sins being freely forgiven by Christ and in the hope of eternal life.

As a pastor, my firm belief in the gospel, my teaching, and my rebuking of all evil proceeds from Christ’s command in the gospel and from the unfathomable love of that glorious King. Every man’s life is extremely short, and God fervently commands the church to lead and call any man to repentance who is willing to repent. Christ is eager and willing to forgive all who turn from their sins. This is the goal of all the efforts of the church in China—to testify to the world about our Christ, to testify to the Middle Kingdom about the Kingdom of Heaven, to testify to earthly, momentary lives about heavenly, eternal life. This is also the pastoral calling that I have received.

For this reason, I accept and respect the fact that this Communist regime has been allowed by God to rule temporarily. As the Lord’s servant John Calvin said, wicked rulers are the judgment of God on a wicked people, the goal being to urge God’s people to repent and turn again toward Him. For this reason, I am joyfully willing to submit myself to their enforcement of the law as though submitting to the discipline and training of the Lord.

At the same time, I believe that this Communist regime’s persecution against the church is a greatly wicked, unlawful action. As a pastor of a Christian church, I must denounce this wickedness openly and severely. The calling that I have received requires me to use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and God. My Savior Christ also requires me to joyfully bear all costs for disobeying wicked laws.

But this does not mean that my personal disobedience and the disobedience of the church is in any sense “fighting for rights” or political activism in the form of civil disobedience, because I do not have the intention of changing any institutions or laws of China. As a pastor, the only thing I care about is the disruption of man’s sinful nature by this faithful disobedience and the testimony it bears for the cross of Christ.  

As a pastor, my disobedience is one part of the gospel commission. Christ’s great commission requires of us great disobedience. The goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world.

For the mission of the church is only to be the church and not to become a part of any secular institution. From a negative perspective, the church must separate itself from the world and keep itself from being institutionalized by the world. From a positive perspective, all acts of the church are attempts to prove to the world the real existence of another world. The Bible teaches us that, in all matters relating to the gospel and human conscience, we must obey God and not men. For this reason, spiritual disobedience and bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious King.

This is why I am not interested in changing any political or legal institutions in China. I’m not even interested in the question of when the Communist regime’s policies persecuting the church will change. Regardless of which regime I live under now or in the future, as long as the secular government continues to persecute the church, violating human consciences that belong to God alone, I will continue my faithful disobedience. For the entire commission God has given me is to let more Chinese people know through my actions that the hope of humanity and society is only in the redemption of Christ, in the supernatural, gracious sovereignty of God.

If God decides to use the persecution of this Communist regime against the church to help more Chinese people to despair of their futures, to lead them through a wilderness of spiritual disillusionment and through this to make them know Jesus, if through this he continues disciplining and building up his church, then I am joyfully willing to submit to God’s plans, for his plans are always benevolent and good.

Precisely because none of my words and actions are directed toward seeking and hoping for societal and political transformation, I have no fear of any social or political power. For the Bible teaches us that God establishes governmental authorities in order to terrorize evildoers, not to terrorize doers of good. If believers in Jesus do no wrong then they should not be afraid of dark powers. Even though I am often weak, I firmly believe this is the promise of the gospel. It is what I’ve devoted all of my energy to. It is the good news that I am spreading throughout Chinese society.

I also understand that this happens to be the very reason why the Communist regime is filled with fear at a church that is no longer afraid of it.

If I am imprisoned for a long or short period of time, if I can help reduce the authorities’ fear of my faith and of my Savior, I am very joyfully willing to help them in this way. But I know that only when I renounce all the wickedness of this persecution against the church and use peaceful means to disobey, will I truly be able to help the souls of the authorities and law enforcement. I hope God uses me, by means of first losing my personal freedom, to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Regardless of what crime the government charges me with, whatever filth they fling at me, as long as this charge is related to my faith, my writings, my comments, and my teachings, it is merely a lie and temptation of demons. I categorically deny it. I will serve my sentence, but I will not serve the law. I will be executed, but I will not plead guilty.

Moreover, I must point out that persecution against the Lord’s church and against all Chinese people who believe in Jesus Christ is the most wicked and the most horrendous evil of Chinese society. This is not only a sin against Christians. It is also a sin against all non-Christians. For the government is brutally and ruthlessly threatening them and hindering them from coming to Jesus. There is no greater wickedness in the world than this.

If this regime is one day overthrown by God, it will be for no other reason than God’s righteous punishment and revenge for this evil. For on earth, there has only ever been a thousand-year church. There has never been a thousand-year government. There is only eternal faith. There is no eternal power.

Those who lock me up will one day be locked up by angels. Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ.  When I think of this, the Lord fills me with a natural compassion and grief toward those who are attempting to and actively imprisoning me. Pray that the Lord would use me, that he would grant me patience and wisdom, that I might take the gospel to them. 

Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family – the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life; and no one can raise me from the dead.   

And so, respectable officers, stop committing evil. This is not for my benefit but rather for yours and your children’s. I plead earnestly with you to stay your hands, for why should you be willing to pay the price of eternal damnation in hell for the sake of a lowly sinner such as I?

Jesus is the Christ, son of the eternal, living God. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever. I am his servant, and I am imprisoned because of this. I will resist in meekness those who resist God, and I will joyfully violate all laws that violate God’s laws.  

The Lord’s servant,
Wang Yi 

Yi is a prominent evangelical pastor in China.  He was listed as one of the “50 Most Influential Public Intellectuals of China” by Southern People Weekly.  He met with President George W. Bush at the White House in 2006 to discuss religious freedom in China.  And Yi came back to Washington in 2008 to attend the Conference for Global Christians in Law and was awarded “Prize for the Contribution to Promoting Religious Freedom, according to Wikipedia.

Copyright © 2018 CBN-All rights reserved

Unelected, Unqualified, Unresisted – The Man Who Would Be Our Emperor

We are all aware of the desperate anti-democratic efforts to overturn the legitimate People’s Vote of 2016 to leave the EU: witness the oh-so-conveniently judgement from the European court that Article 50 may be negated, and Britain can happily cancel Brexit altogether!

We may not be so aware of the man who, if we accept the kind of deal the EU will treacherously grant us or even revoke Article 50, will be the One in Charge of our country, our military, our laws, our immigration, our finances. This man is the EU Top Dog, accountable to no one.

Since 1 March 2018, Martin Selmayr has been the Secretary General of the European Commission. He was previously Chief of Staff to Jean-Claude Juncker, having studied law in Geneva and Passau, served with the European Central Bank, and worked as legal adviser to the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Brussels. In just 20 years he has gone from law student to being described as ‘the most powerful bureaucrat in the world’. All without having to canvass for a single vote.

Germany-born Selmayr, 48, owes his elevation to these dizzy heights to his mentor-cum-crony Jean-Claude ‘when things get difficult you just have to lie’ Juncker. Not only was he not elected, he was not even correctly appointed. An investigation has revealed ‘four instances of maladministration’.

The whole process has been likened to a coup, a massive power-grab. In the face of such allegations, the EU maintains a ‘lessons will be learned’ approach, promising to revisit procedures for such appointments in the future.

Selmayr – nicknamed ‘the Monster of Berlaymont’ – is widely regarded as a ruthlessly effective fonctionnaire. Against all precedent, he has never, in his meteoric rise through the Commission, headed any key departments, but rather served as Juncker’s campaign manager in the 2014 EU elections.

A major exposé of just how this Eurocrat seized power was published in the Spectator, where Jean Quatremer described Selmayr’s promotion as ‘a brilliantly executed coup that handed him near-total control of the EU machine’. Journalists invited to record his surprise promotion had not even been aware of a vacancy.

When Selmayr took over, anyone who resisted him was unceremoniously fired. Only days into his appointment, he wrote to all EU staff (the 33,000 now answerable to him) proclaiming that the EU Civil Service ‘must not be satisfied with being the machine to run our establishment’ (ie its actual job), but that the Civil Service (ie Selmayr himself) would act as ‘the heart and soul of the Commission’. In other words – go back and learn your place, you little national Commissioners.

Even more jaw-droppingly, he has got away with it, using the tried and tested method of bribing your minions using other people’s money. All EU Commissioners have been promised a Selmayr Sweetener. Retiring Commissioners are already entitled to a generous transition allowance of up to two-thirds of their basic salary for roughly two years, up to approximately 13,500 euros a month. Selmayr intends to extend this to three, or even five, years.

On top of the extra cash, there will be loads of extra benefits: an EU office, company car, two assistants, etc. So thanks to Selmayr, a departing EU Commissioner could receive double, if not triple, what they currently receive. (All tax free, please note.)

So there you have it, Remainers, People’s Voters, May Dealers, et al! Even before his 50th birthday, and without ever having stood for office, this man will soon be the Alpha and Omega of the EU Commission.

And don’t forget the other little gem from the EU treaties, and already highlighted in TCW. Not only does this EU minion have untrammelled power, he is guaranteed total legal immunity, even from criminal behaviour. Total unaccountable power and legal immunity. And May would sign us up to this. A totalitarian dictatorship, with terrifying sanctions, having signed away (without consent) our rights to legal and military sovereignty.

You have been warned.

Copyright © 2018 Janice Davis The Conservative Woman-All rights reserved

The reason we cannot access these websites is because they do not yet comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect last May. Created and approved by the European Parliament and Council, the GDPR regulates how companies handle the personal data of EU citizens.

Any business that does not conform to these EU regulations could receive massive penalties. Some, like the L.A. Times, are choosing to abandon the EU market.

This is raw imperialism—regulatory imperialism. The Oxford Dictionary defines imperialism as the “policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization.” The EU today is using the GDPR and other regulatory tactics to colonize the Internet.

“Europe wants to conquer the world all over again,” wrote Mark Scott and Laurens Cerulus at Politico earlier this year. “Only this time, its killer app isn’t steel or gunpowder. [The GDPR is] an EU LEGAL JUGGERNAUT aimed at imposing ever tougher privacy rules on governments and companies from San Francisco to Seoul” (emphasis added).

Using the GDPR, the EU has invaded every home, government and corporation on Earth that uses the Internet. Across the planet, governments and corporations have had to invest millions of dollars and countless manhours to figure out how to respond to and comply with the GDPR.

More than 500 million people live inside the EU; they are relatively wealthy, and more than 85 percent of them have access to the Internet. For many governments, businesses and other organizations, ignoring the European market isn’t an option.

On the other hand, foreign companies cannot simply ignore GDPR. Failing to comply with the regulations could garner a fine of up to €20 million (US$22.7 million) or 4 percent of annual global turnover.

In the end, if a government or corporation wants to do business with the European Union, it has only one option: surrender.

The GDPR is not the EU’s only regulatory weapon. In January, the European Parliament is expected to formalize the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. This new law, approved by the Parliament in September, is an extension of the EU’s existing copyright laws, updated to work in today’s world of rapidly evolving digital technologies.

This new EU law is terrifying U.S. technology companies, especially Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Many consider it to be an attempt not only to curb the power of America’s big technology companies, BUT TO LITERALLY TAKE OVER THE INTERNET.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said recently that it “poses a threat to both your livelihood and your ability to share your voice with the world.” This month, YouTube rolled out a global campaign seeking to educate people on the alarming consequences of the EU’s copyright directive.

EU bureaucrats say the new law will protect people and content, and perhaps it will. But it also stands to harm people, businesses and, potentially, entire markets and economies, especially in America. The legislation is complex and incredibly vague.

This is partly why it is so frightening to the likes of YouTube and Facebook. Ignoring the legislation will result in colossal fines. But for these technology giants and other companies, complying with the legislation will require overhauling major components of their businesses.

There are also many questions about the administration and policing of the EU’s new regulations. At the end of the day, the EU bureaucrats are the ones who will interpret and enforce the law. This gives them incredible power and influence over U.S. tech firms, and over the entire Internet.

There have been other regulatory assaults too. In the last couple of years, Google has been fined more than $7 billion by the EU. On Tuesday, consumer groups across Europe asked regulators to investigate Google over claims it is breaching GDPR by allegedly tracking the movements of users. And it’s not just YouTube and Google; Brussels has engaged in similar inquisitions against other Silicon Valley giants, including Facebook and Twitter.

All this is not to say Google, Facebook and America’s big technology companies in general are above reproach. To be sure, there are genuine concerns and questions about the behavior of these companies and their inordinate power and reach.

That said, do we really want a handful of anti-American, European bureaucrats trying to solve these problems? We have enough evidence proving that Brussels isn’t acting altruistically, in the best interests of mankind. The EU is clearly attacking America’s influence and trying to establish itself as the king of the Internet.

So what does all this mean?

Even the most distant observer of Bible prophecy has heard the term “mark of the beast.” This mysterious “mark” is mentioned multiple times in the book of Revelation. All sorts of conspiracy theories exist about exactly what this “mark” is, but there is no need for theorizing.

For now, let’s notice Revelation 13. In verse 11, the Apostle John says, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” This beast is also pictured in Revelation 17; in chapter 13, she is riding the seven-headed, 10-horned beast of Revelation 17. These prophecies forecast the end-time formation of a German-led, Catholic-inspired European superstate.

Now notice Revelation 13:16-17. Talking about this European beast power, John writes, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: AND THAT NO MAN MIGHT BUY OR SELL, SAVE HE THAT HAD THE MARK, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

Notice, this European beast power has a dictatorial global presence (Revelation 17 and 18 prove this too). It has power over “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond.” Notice too, the beast power has the influence and power to dictate who is allowed to “buy and sell,” in other words, to trade, to practice commerce and industry.

The seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire is going to have tremendous regulatory and financial power. It’s going to REGULATE global business and industry, trade and commerce.

Verses 16-17 clearly show that if people don’t accept this “mark”—if they don’t follow Europe’s rules—they will not be allowed to conduct business with this powerful and wealthy European superstate. Does this sound familiar? In spirit, this is what has already happened with the GDPR.

It’s happening with the imminent EU copyright directive. The message behind both these initiatives is clear: Do business our way, submit to our rules, or we will shut you out of our market. We have yet to see the literal institution of the “mark of the beast,” BUT THE EU TODAY IS OPERATING IN THE SPIRIT OF THE MARK OF THE BEAST!

Isn’t this electrifying? The EU right now doesn’t feel like an autocratic, imperialist power. It doesn’t feel like an invasion is underway. When one sees Jean-Claude Juncker shuffling behind the lectern, one isn’t exactly paralyzed with fear.

The EU looks and behaves like a sprawling, unwieldy, bureaucratic mess. And it is, at least in many respects. But it is this perception that makes the EU so dangerous; it is so easy to misread and underestimate. Remember, the beast of Revelation 13:11 looks like a lamb, but speaks and behaves like a dragon.

The beast power is rising. Europe’s power and influence is growing. For now, it’s not using tanks and aircraft carriers. Instead, it’s growing its power by creating long documents filled with complex, boring legislation. It’s called regulatory imperialism, and Europe has mastered it.

If you don’t believe me, the next time you’re in Europe just visit www.latimes.com.

Copyright © 2018 Brad Macdonald Managing Editor, theTrumpet.com

The memorial services for the late President George H. W. Bush were so over the top that it transcended an Olympic ceremony or a Broadway musical production such as Les Misérables.

Beneath all the pomp and ceremony were multiple messages for the primary demographic target — conservatives, Republicans and Christians.  The purpose? To redefine and rebrand patriotism, conservatism and Republicanism in the subconscious mind.

Masterfully layered into the Bush memorial services were repetitive symbols like American flags, Bibles, church sanctuaries, choirs, military rituals, and families along with the sounds of Christian music and patriotic testimony, Bible verses read aloud, Christian songs, and the synergistic forces of God, country, duty and service.

For the informed viewer, these are the signatures of persuasion experts like journalist and political commentator Walter Lippmann, “the father of public relations” Edward Bernays, and Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels who produced massive rallies with over 180,000 people packing mega-stadiums with massive Roman columns, Wagnerian opera music, and giant Nazi flags featuring swastikas — an occult symbol from ancient Tibet. During these rallies, tens of thousands of people lined up in endless rows shouting “Sieg Heil” as they raised their arms and hands in the Nazi salute.

The propaganda genius of Goebbels, the talents of Albert Speer, the Nazi architect who built massive, futuristic Nazi stadiums and buildings for giant rallies, and the stirring music of Richard Wagner, the highly-gifted composer and director of Hitlerian operas, combined to catapult Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to a Messiah-like level.

This is not to suggest that the late President Bush was a Nazi because he wasn’t. President Bush’s highest loyalty appeared to be towards an idealized New World Order, a massive fact completely erased in the mass media spectacle.

Bush, Sr. and the New World Order

The behind-the-scenes, Orwellian propaganda masters carefully rewrote and revised the history of President Bush, Sr. from one of a total commitment to the New World Order to one of a total commitment to Christianity and the Bible.

Consider a few of his past remarks.

On February 28, 1990, he spoke at the United Nations, saying:

Time and again in this century, the political map of the world was transformed. And in each instance, a new world order came about through the advent of a new tyrant or the outbreak of a bloody global war, or its end.

On September 11, 2001, he said,

Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective–a new world order–can emerge…. We are now in sight of a United Nations that performs as envisioned by its founders.

On September 11, 1990, he delivered an address to Congress titled, “Toward a New World Order,” regarding the crisis in the Persian Gulf after Iraq invaded Kuwait the previous month.

President Bush, Sr. repeatedly spoke before the nation and the world in support of the New World Order.

In the best-selling FaithWords/Hachette book Trumpocalypse: The End-Times President, a Battle Against the Globalist Elite, and the Countdown to Armageddon by myself and Troy Anderson, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated investigative journalist, we uncover the Deep State forces that are allied with numerous secret societies in an all-out effort to remove President Donald Trump from office.

An Orwellian Deep State Funeral

The President Bush, Sr. funeral services featured an endless series of evangelical Christians, Christian symbols, Bible verses and Christian hymns. Instead of summoning the adopted Nazi god Wōtan and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, or superman, the Orwellian Deep State producers epically created endless funeral ceremonies for the late President Bush, which were perhaps the single, greatest global pageant surrounding the death of any world leader in the past 100 years.

Although, stylistically and ideologically different than the Nazi’s annual Nuremberg rallies, the Deep State producers of what can only be described as the “Bush-Orwellian Space Opera” were very similar in construction of a massive, media propaganda machine on many subconscious levels that tapped into the Jungian archetypes of the collective consciousness.

Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung theorized that Hitler and the Nazis had released a powerful spiritual being named Wotan, or Odin, that supernaturally energized Hitler and the German people.

In Christian theology, Wotan would be characterized as a specific territorial spirit that can rule over a nation. This ancient Nordic and Germanic god are connected to Yale University’s Skull and Bones, the secret society that the late President Bush, Sr., and his son President George W. Bush belonged to.

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Inside three different majestic cathedrals, the Bush Dynasty consisting of former President George W. Bush, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush, Sr.’s granddaughters and other notables, gathered to pay their respects to the late Bush, Sr. Former President Bill Clinton and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, current President Donald Trump, and their wives, were in attendance at the funeral ceremonies of the late President Bush, Sr. which took place at numerous locations with unrivaled glory, pomp, worshipful music, endless Bible verses, traditional Christian hymns, and choreography that exceeded the devotion given to any modern king.

Funeral Designed to Reprogram ‘Deplorables’

In fact, this was on many levels deeply moving to Americans of all political persuasions and specifically designed to re-program the minds of what Hillary Clinton called the “Deplorables,” or conservative President Trump supporters, through a strategic “counterpoint process” that subliminally caused both Republicans and President Trump supporters to subconsciously compare and contrast the behaviour and style of Donald Trump with an idealized and mythological President George H. W. Bush who became larger than life.

When Jenna Hager Bush, one of the granddaughters of President Bush, Sr. read from the 21^st chapter of the book of Revelation it was very moving.

Now, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful (Revelation 21:1-5).

In a very revealing manner, every major television network broadcast the ceremonies and heaped worshipful comments on the late President Bush, Sr., as if he was the Messiah.

Please do not misunderstand my words here. I am not implying that this was the intention of the Bush family and the deceased President Bush, Sr., but this entire event spanning over several days was masterfully planned and directed by one of the world’s most gifted creative teams — a team that understood the deep-seated need of ordinary people to worship, if not God, then a man.

The funeral of the late President Bush, Sr. took place in multiple cathedrals in which major evangelical leaders, singers, and musicians sang “Amazing Grace,” “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and other traditional Christian hymns. The Bush family and others also read actual Bible verses.

The late President Bush, Sr.’s granddaughter, Jenna, read a moving passage from Revelation, yet about three-quarters of evangelical churches in America forbid the teaching of the entire book of Revelation and any secular or public employee, teacher or student who dared to read that exact same passage of the Bible would be punished, fined or fired!

Lauren Bush and Ashley Walker Bush, the daughters of businessman Neil Bush, read from the book of Isaiah where it states, “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night, but the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory” (Isaiah 60:19).

The Coming Global System – ‘Mystery, Babylon’

The verses read by Jenna, Lauren and Ashley are what theologians call the prophetic verses of the Bible. But the ultimate focus of the prophetic verses consists of very strong warnings about a coming one-world government, one-world religion and one-world economic system known as “Mystery, Babylon” that will be ruled by the Antichrist.

The first Babylon arose at the time of the Tower of Babel, as described in eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis. This was the world’s first global government, religion and economic system that God judged because He knew it was Luciferian in nature.

God’s judgment upon ancient Babylon consisted of destroying their globalist society and separating the nations and the peoples of Babylon into independent, sovereign nation-states in order to establish checks and balances and prevent a Luciferian global dictatorship from emerging.

Through these judgments, God reveals Himself as being in support of nationalism and against globalism. Ancient Babylon was the world’s first New World Order.

In the best-selling FaithWords/Hachette book The Babylon Code: Solving the Bible’s Greatest End-Times Mystery by myself and Troy Anderson, the former executive editor of Charisma magazine and a Los Angeles Daily News reporter, we explore this biblical mystery in great depth, revealing the link between today’s globalists, secret societies that passed down occult knowledge over thousands of years, and the Tower of Babel.

Babylon was the First New World Order

Through the prophetic verses God warns about a soon coming second New World Order and a globalist system that is satanic in nature and one which Jesus Christ will judge and destroy at His literal Second Coming.

It must be understood that the New World Order, which is the goal of many secret societies such as Skull and Bones, is a counterfeit of the Kingdom of God.

The prophetic verses of Scripture warn that Jesus Christ is returning to planet Earth to destroy “Mystery, Babylon” at the Battle of Armageddon where Christ will defeat Satan, the Antichrist, False Prophet, the fallen angels, and the New World Order.

Jesus Christ will then bring in the New Heaven, New Earth and New Jerusalem where all those who put their faith in Him will enter Paradise in an eternal dimension and live forever.

Conversely, all those who choose to worship the Antichrist as God will be sentenced to a cosmic prison called the Lake of Fire for all eternity.

It’s very difficult to believe that the late President George H. W. Bush, former President George W. Bush, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other members of the Bush family who claim to be strong “born again” Christians would not be aware of one of the central themes of the Bible and not be aware that the beliefs of Skull and Bones are in direct opposition to that of the Bible.

The Goal was to Degrade President Trump

The mainstream media is continually revealing its Orwellian nature by operating as the one, unified monolithic voice of Orwellian Big Brother. They must be reading from the same script told to us non-stop about how incredibly Christian, kind, sensitive, humble, people oriented, servant-like, great listeners, and deeply-committed Bible believing Christians the late President Bush, Sr. was, and then programmed the viewers into comparing the aggressive and bold President Donald Trump with an illusory President Bush, Sr. who apparently was more Christian than evangelist Billy Graham.

The mind-control goal was to degrade President Trump and erode the loyalty of his base. One of the primary ways to do this was to reinvent President Bush, Sr. as an “on-fire evangelical Christian.”

But if the late President Bush, Sr. and other Bush’s are such devout evangelical and born-again Christians how can they simultaneously be members of a secret German occult society known as Skull and Bones, which advocates the New World Order that is warned about in Genesis 11 and the book of Revelation, and which the Bible says that Jesus Christ is coming back to destroy this New World Order, or “Mystery, Babylon”?

The Skull and Bones secret society, also known as the Brotherhood of Death, uses a symbol of a human skull and a pair of human crossbones very much like the symbol of pirates.

Hitler’s highest-ranking Nazi officers wore leather trench coats and military caps with the Skull and Bones on them. They also wore the Skull and Bones proudly on their belt buckles, above their medals, and in other places. Skull and Bones, or the Brotherhood of Death, comes from the Thule Society, a secret German occult society dedicated to creating the New World Order.

In Bush family history, Prescott Bush, the father of the late President Bush, Sr., had a business relationship with E. H. Harriman who purchased the Union Pacific Railroad with the help of the British royal family and members of the Rockefeller family.

A private bank was created for Harriman’s sons, Averell and Roland Harriman. In 1926, Bert Walker connected with the Morgan family who brought his son-in-law, Prescott Bush, into the bank that began gaining control over German shipping and business assets.

Prescott Bush and Harriman were members of Skull and Bones. Prescott Bush was connected to the funding centers for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Prescott Bush was very active in launching the career of President Bush, Sr.

This doesn’t mean that the late President Bush, Sr., former President George W. Bush, and other members of the Bush family have Nazi-like intentions, or that Skull and Bones today has the exact same beliefs as Skull and Bones did in the past

But on the most basic level there is an inherent conflict between the teachings of the Bible regarding the New World Order and a system of global government.

The fact is that during the Orwellian Space Opera surrounding the funeral of the late President Bush, Sr., there was a strategic and methodical effort to revise the history of the late President Bush, Sr.

All of the late President Bush, Sr.’s many references to the New World Order were erased from the mass consciousness of millions of people, not by the Bush family, but by an Orwellian media.

Copyright © 2018 Paul McGuire All rights reserved

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Lisa Luby Ryan wanted the perfect life: children, who adored her and a husband that would protect, guide and love her. But things didn’t turn out that way. She had been sexually abused at a young age, lived in a chaotic home and wasn’t loved by her parents.

Honesty, trust and a wholesome relationship between a man and a woman simply wasn’t Lisa’s reality. As she went through life, through relationships and men and a broken family of her own, she knew in her mind that “All I wanted was to be loved.”

But God asked her the question, “How can I heal you when you’re not willing to heal yourself? Are you willing confront your secrets and give it all up to me?” Are you willing to give it all up?

Are you willing to be healed? Lisa had to confess her past; a life of affairs, abortion, divorce, and neglect. She freed herself by facing the truth and God was faithful to restore the broken pieces.