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Further Reply to Dr Tim Orr

Posted on 01/01/2026 | 1 comment

But you, Tim. carry your presuppositions into your statements. I could say that you decide in advance that Israel must remain a subject of God’s purposes, and then you force every New Testament text to comply with your dispensational presuppositions.


Jesus declared: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and put your trust in the Gospel”. (Mark 1:15). It was not Israel which he declared but the Kingdom of God. The Jews had to repent (turn) and believe the good news of the kingdom! This kingdom would replace Israel!John 1:10-13. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.John 3:4-7. Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

The gospels continually throughout emphasised the radical good news of the new wine that will not suit the old. Surely the Kingdom of God replaces the kingdom of Israel! Jesus constantly conflicted with the rulers of Israel. They did not receive him. By rejecting Jesus their Messiah, they refused to accept the hope of Israel.

Matthew 21:43-46. Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. . . . . . . 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. You seem to agree that those who are in Christ are Abraham’s seed.

Paul says it ever so plainly in his letter to the Galatians. Looking at chapter 3:
6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.


God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. 10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”


13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.


In Galatians chapter 5 Paul wrote . . .
16 God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and that, of course, means Christ. 17 This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be cancelled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his prom-ise. 18 For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.


26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. . . . . . .


And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29 But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. 30 But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”


Now in Galatians chapter 6: 14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. 15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 16 May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people/israel= of God.
Now as for Paul in Romans. We read in chapter 2:28-29 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.


Romans 9:6-8. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.
The biblical prophets are the last people who would seem “pro-Israel” because they were constantly rebuking Israel for bad behaviour. So Paul in Romans 10:20-21 quotes Isaiah who boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”


Some prophets wrote that God utterly hated every expression of their religion because they were ignoring justice for the poor and marginalized.
The Israel of the New Testament consists of all those who accept the King of Israel! Of course, Jesus was executed as a traitor and a threat to Israel. Until this day, they hated him and he is still a threat to them.


From Pentecost on the Jewish believers were persecuted by the Jews who rejected their Messiah, as Jesus said would happen (Matthew 24:9).


I repeat 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16. For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.


Matthew 8:11-12. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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    Will The Rapture Fix All Our Problems? by David Sorensen

    Posted on 10/08/2025 | Leave a comment

    Whenever I share a beautiful vision of the future—where the righteous rise up to bring healing and restoration—this is the response I most often receive:

    “It’s useless trying to improve the world. Nothing will ever get better until the rapture happens and Jesus Christ returns. Our own efforts are all in vain. Only when Jesus comes back, will He fix everything. There is nothing we can do.”      Really? Is it futile to drive out evil, end corruption, heal humanity, and build a better world? Should we all just wait for a rapture and the return of Christ? 

    Who are the most powerful people on earth? Not presidents. Not billionaires. Not generals. The most powerful people are those who walk with the Almighty… who hear His voice… who are led by His Spirit. They are infused with the greatest force in the universe—and are destined to do mighty exploits. So why isn’t it happening? Hundreds of millions claim to walk with God. They pray. They worship. They fast. They gather. And yet… they struggle. They have little impact. No power. No visible influence in the world. Their presence barely registers in society. Why? What’s wrong? Why does the Church—two billion strong—have so little influence in the real world? Why aren’t we the unstoppable army of truth, healing, deliverance, and justice that we are called to be? Because of what we believe…

    Deception Cripples Even The Most Powerful Ones It doesn’t matter how much power someone has—if you fill their mind with lies, they become paralyzed. Even a person blazing with the glory of God will fail if their mind is entangled in deception. And that is exactly the state of the modern Church. The Body of Christ was designed to be the most powerful force on Earth—empowered by the Creator, filled with His Spirit, driven by love, releasing healing and truth wherever it goes. But today, the Church is confused, passive, and almost entirely irrelevant in shaping the course of history. Despite roaring revival meetings, costly crusades, endless evangelism, and perpetual programs, the Church has virtually no impact in the real world. Why? Because we laid down our weapons.Because we believed the lie. Because we were deceived. In the 19th century, the Rothschilds—the financial overlords behind global satanism—initiated a brilliant infiltration. They planted a new theology deep inside the Christian Church.

    The First Christians Transformed The World Before that moment, Christians were a force of unstoppable transformation. Everywhere they went, they dismantled the altars of human sacrifice, exposed and defeated demon worship, abolished slavery, ended public torture, restrained sexual perversion, and laid the foundations for a new civilization—a kingdom of righteousness. They built the first schools. The first hospitals. The first orphanages. They created a world that, for the first time in human history, gave dignity to the poor, protection to the weak, and healing to the broken.Before Christ’s followers arrived, Earth was a global horror show—every culture soaked in blood, sacrificing children and adults to demons, delighting in torture, drowning in sexual depravity. But then came the Church—establishing a new world where people could walk safely on the streets, where compassion triumphed over cruelty, and where justice began to reign. Paid vacations.Healthcare for all.Education, elections, food security, human rights…It all began with the arrival of the Kingdom of God through His people. They came with the mindset of heaven. They knew their mission: To end the rule of evil and establish the reign of Christ. But then came the great hijacking.

    How The Church Was Hijacked By Satanism The Rothschilds are the head of global Satanism, and they have been funding most of the evil in this world that has led to suffering of billions of people. They also financed and distributed the Scofield Study Bible—loaded with hundreds of footnotes promoting a new doctrine: Dispensationalism. This new doctrine had been invented by John Nelson Darby, whose family owned Leap Castle, where 150 dead bodies were found in the cellars and skeletons were even buried inside the walls. Darby was involved in occult societies and was an employee of the Rothschilds. C.I. Scofield was a convicted criminal lawyer, expert in fraud and forgery. These men created the doctrine of dispensationalism, which spread through the Scofield Study Bible. This new Bible was sent for free to the Moody Bible Institute in America, where generations of pastors were trained to spread this new message. What was at the core of this false gospel?• Evil must increase—don’t resist it.• The Antichrist will rule—just accept it.• Satan will dominate the world—there’s nothing you can do.• Your only hope is escape—wait for the rapture.• Jesus will return and rule later—not now.• A new political-military state of Israel must be established.• Christ will return to a physical temple in that state and reign from there.• Only then will there be peace. This deception swept through the Church like wildfire. It became the unchallenged narrative. Question it—and you’d be silenced. Reject it—and you’d be cast out. Promote it—and you’d be richly rewarded. Thus the Church was transformed from the most powerful movement of truth and deliverance into a timid cult of escapists—hiding under their beds, waiting for evacuation. It was one of the most effective satanic takeovers in history. And it was done—with the Bible in hand.

    Brave Warriors Became Cowards And Escapists What most Christians didn’t realize is that this new theology twisted the Scriptures at every turn. Key words were mistranslated. Verses were ripped from their context.A message completely contrary to Christ’s gospel was preached. Instead of walking in the reality that Christ is among us now—that we are His Body, His Temple, His Dwelling Place—the Church was taught that Jesus is far away in heaven, unreachable, and won’t act until He returns someday in the future. nstead of being an unstoppable force that kicks hell out of here, we were told to wait to get the hell out of here.Glorious conquerors became passive cowards.Christian leaders surrendered.Christian educators went silent.Christian innovators gave up.Christian politicians stepped back.Why?Because they were told:“Don’t bother. The world is doomed. Evil wins. Just wait for Jesus to come back and fix it.”The most powerful army of truth, love, and justice was shut down by a lie. No more radiant light. No more cultural transformation. No more justice in society. No more bold, prophetic witness. A thick, suffocating veil of fear was cast over billions of believers, convincing them they couldn’t overcome Satan or the Antichrist—and that escape was the only option. But God…

    The Truth Breaks The Spell And Sets You Free Twenty years ago, God spoke clearly to me: “Expose this hijacking. Dig deep. Uncover the roots. Restore the true gospel to My people. ”That’s why I’m writing my next book—a piercing revelation of what Jesus truly said about His return and the so-called end of the world. It will shake you. It will set you free. In it, I expose corrupt translations, false interpretations, and deliberate deceptions inserted into the Bible. Most Christians think they’re reading the Word of God…But in critical areas, they’re actually reading a lie—carefully interwoven into compromised translations and twisted theology. This book is a trumpet blast. A call to reformation.A divine weapon to break the spell. It’s time to break the chains of deception. It’s time to reclaim the gospel of the Kingdom.

    Why We Can’t Simply Rely On The Bible Some people say, “I don’t need a book—I only read the Bible.” But what if your Bible has been severely mistranslated? What if your mind has been unknowingly conditioned to misinterpret critical passages—not because of what the Bible says, but because of theological filters you’ve inherited? What if the truth is right in front of you, but you cannot see it—because religious programming has blinded your perception? What if you’ve been subtly trained to abuse Scripture—to ignore the biblical audience, and apply verses to yourself that were meant for a specific group in a very different time? What if you’ve developed the damaging habit of constantly denying and distorting the Bible’s own timeframes—insisting events must occur in your lifetime, when Scripture clearly says they happened long ago? What if you regularly rip verses out of their biblical, historical, and cultural context, and convince yourself that those ancient messages, spoken to people in a specific time and place, are secretly about you, today—in a totally different world? Let’s be honest: the modern Church has been taught to shamelessly abuse the Word of God. And most don’t even realize it. We grab a single verse, yank it from its context, and throw it around like ammunition to support a theology that’s twisted, toxic—and in some cases, completely insane. We call ourselves “Bible experts,” while often having no real understanding of the verses we misuse to defend our inherited beliefs.

    Yes, we do need books. Not just any book—but a book that fearlessly exposes the lies Satan has injected into mainstream theology, and that brings us back to the original, untampered message of Jesus Christ. Pray For Me, While I Write This Book Would you blindly trust a textbook in a medical school if it were full of lies—false claims about cancer, vaccines, and diseases—crafted by corrupt pharmaceutical cartels? Because that’s what’s happening in medical education: students aren’t trained to heal, they’re groomed to become the obedient salesforce of a criminal, profit-driven system. Christianity has been no different. Our faith has been infiltrated, manipulated, and reprogrammed by global deceivers—and their lies are now preached as “truth” in pulpits around the world. That’s why we need courageous servants of God—voices who will accept the cost of persecution, endure the smears and censorship, and stand for truth… not for applause, not for comfort, but because they love people more than their own religious reputation.

    Please pray for me as I write this book. If possible, then support this project, as it will have tremendous impact on the entire world. Imagine two billion Christians no longer waiting for an escape, but rising up to transform their nations? That’s what you will be investing in. Let’s do this together. 

    Make a donation to David Sorensen’s mission STOP WORLD CONTROL.COM
    >> Thank you! https://stopworldcontrol.com/support/

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    Expecting Jesus?

    Posted on 29/01/2024 | 2 comments

    What do you expect –what do you imagine the Coming of Jesus to be like?

    Did you know that there are over a hundred passages by New Testament authors that anticipated Jesus’ return? Were the apostles mistaken? Many sceptics think they were misled.

    Here’s one: C.S.Lewis, the famed Christian apologist wrote: “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things are done.’ And He was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.” From The World’s Last Night

    So what were Lewis and other sceptics expecting? And what are you expecting?

    Perhaps you, like countless others, expected the wrong thing and thus concluded that He has not come as promised after 2000 years?

    Just like the Jews they expected Jesus to come in a physical body appearance. And He didn’t. Nor did He promise to come like that.

    The Jews also thought He was literally coming to stand and physically rule on the earth, a deliverer from the Roman occupational forces. That’s why they rejected the teachings of the apostles. And He didn’t come like that nor did He promise to do so.

    Perhaps you thought He should come with visible signs like “the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mat 24:29).

    Well the fact is that sort of terminology was understood by Jews who knew their scriptures to mean judgment upon a nation—the collapsing of cosmic entities is a common motif in judgment prophecies, e.g. Isa 13:10, 19:1,24:18-20, 34;8-15, Ezek 32:7–8; Joel 2:28 Acts 2:19-20.

    Should we interpret the Bible “literally” in every instance? No. We must interpret each text as it was intended to be understood in its context and as understood by its original audience, the Jewish apostles.

    The fact is most people fail to understand that His coming was a coming in judgment against the unbelieving Jewish generation who had perverted God’s word and rejected Jesus’ claims and teachings. This is clear from  passages like Mat 23:29-39, 1 Thes 2:19f.

    But Jesus also taught many times that there would be much more to His Coming than merely the judgment upon Israel. His Second Coming in judgment would be the fulfilment of the eschatological promises to Israel.

    The Old Covenant Age ended in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple. All the genealogical records were destroyed along with the temple. That day, the nation of Israel ended and the whole system of temple sacrifices for sin with it and forever. It was the end of the age—not the end of the world.

    Today, many Christians expect the same sort of future return of Christ that the Jews expected for the second coming of Elijah—that is, a literal physical return in his previous body. This is a mistaken expectation.

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    First Peter 2–More still

    Posted on 26/09/2023 | Leave a comment

    In Peter’s first letter and verse 18 we now come to what are sometimes called the “household codes” we find in some New Testament letters. These are typical of apostolic texts that are properly interpreted today only by understanding first centry Roman Empire contexts. These first-Christians lived within these social and domestic limits. They were urged to follow these codes within their overall commitments to following Christ.

    18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds  favor with God.

    Today we Christians do not have to be subject to codes like these. As we saw in the last post, verse 16 we are to “live as free men . . .”. Yes, we have the laws of our country which we are to follow. The whole intent of Peter writing is for his hearers to present an excellent presence in their world. We should do and be the same! That’s the whole tenor of Peter’s letter. As we saw last time Peter reminds us that Jesus “is your example, and you must follow in his steps.”(1 Peter 2:21)

    Although today we do not have any similar structures, we can be guided by the Christian values that Peter promoted. He (like Paul in his letters) was not requiring anything new but addressing an existing social system in the Roman world.

    Peter’s aim was to strengthen the importance of imitating Christ in household relationships, in spite of Roman culture. These passages can point us to Jesus.

    It is essential to read these household codes together and not individually. When Peter writes “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands” (3:1) we must notice the context to understand what Peter meant by “in the same way.” there’s zero in the the preceding paragraph about men and women—it’s about masters and slaves. Paul put it similarly in his letters.

    We must not impose modern-day marital dynamics using ancient social constructs. Wives in the Roman world, under pater familias, were regarded as chatels of their husbands and could be disposed of by the head.

    s Gordon Fee explains in his “The Cultural Context of Ephesians 5:18-6:9: 

    “In this kind of household, the idea that men and women might be equal partners in marriage simply did not exist. Evidence for this can be seen in meals, which in all cultures serve as the great equalizer. In the Greek world, a woman scarcely ever joined her husband and his friends at meals; if she did, she did not recline at table (only the courtesans did that), but she sat on a bench at the end. And she was expected to leave after eating, when the conversation took a more public turn.”

    In their day, we can see just how radical Peter and Paul must have sounded when they instructed husbands to love their wives as much as Christ loved the church and to be willing to give their lives for them!  Or to remember that they too are slaves to Christ and have a master in heaven. Or not to provoke their children, but to be patient with them.

    How sad that words that would have sounded so liberating to those who first heard them are today so often used to oppress and silence. The teachings of Peter and Paul under the Gospel encouraged multitudes of women into Christian communities.

    So once again, our central question: Is the point of the household codes to declare pater familias the only godly household structure for all of time, or is the point of the household codes to declare Jesus Christ as the example to be followed no matter the societal norms? 

    Let’s talk more next time.

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    First Peter-Chapter 2

    Posted on 10/08/2023 | 1 comment

    As we look at Peter’s first letter to people in various places we see how he was encouraging them, preparing them. Preparing them for what?

    A most important, earth-shattering event was to take place. Terrible judgment was about to come on many back there in Jerusalem and Judea. The fabulous temple there and the Jewish religion as known for centuries, would be destroyed and replaced by a new creation (Mat 21:43-46). This would impact them and many Jews where they lived. Here we look at the first half of chapter 2.

    In this part of his letter, Peter calls on his readers to thirst for the “pure milk of the word like newborn babies, if they have tasted the kindness of the Lord” and put aside all malice, envy, slander, hypocrisy etc.

    Think how much the Lord has blessed us all abundantly! There’s much more. So let’s keep thirsting after the pure milk of God’s word to grow our salvation!  So important to long for the word of God. Look, it doesn’t matter how mature we think we are. The Lord’s blessing is inexhaustible. He wants us!

    Yes, grow up in your salvation. Salvation is not merely getting newborn, started. There’s a big future idea, a whole of life growth of our salvation, as Peter reminded them several times in his letter.

    So where to go? Peter says go to Jesus. Where else? Jesus is the One to come to—his open arms. He is the “chosen and precious.” Quoting from Isaiah 28, Peter identifies Jesus as like the most important stone in a building. That’s the cornerstone. It has to be laid exactly, in line, dead level, plumb. Then the building will follow the right design.

    “Look, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone and who believes in him shall not be disappointed”.

    Jesus said if you don’t gather with him, you are scattering (Luke 11:23). Do you want to be building for God? Well, you have to strictly follow the playbook! Jesus is “the living stone that was rejected by men but chosen by God”. You have to build on the true rock, His words. Anything else is on sand. Anything else is useless. What God has not planted will be pulled up by the roots (Mat 15:13). This is serious.

    This building design called for these newborns to be stones too—living stones! Each was being built up into a spiritual house for a special role of offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus.

    And so are we today—part of the house that He is building, against which the gates of hell will not stand.

    Peter wrote (v7) this precious situation belongs to the followers of Jesus. Quoting Psalm 118:22, he showed that the stone which rejected, actually became the very head of the corner! Then he added that others stumble because they are disobedient to the word not following the designer. For these, Jesus the precious stone was “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence” (Isa 8:14) and doom awaits them.

    These “builders”—the disobedient, were the unbelieving Jews of that generation and their system, those who rejected their messiah, that wicked generation.

    He goes on to tell his readers (v9) “you are a chosen race, you are a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation, you are the people of God’s own possession! Peter used those very same terms as did Moses (Deut 7:6) applying them to these newborn Gentiles and Jews. There was a whole new creation being formed here, a whole new nation with the bad tenants, Jewish elites and their fleshly system will be destroyed as Jesus had foretold in Mat 21:43 and Mat 23, and a new spiritual one will be formed.

    Why are his readers new-born? That they “may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” That is our role, our privilege today.

    We are the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).

    Peter recalls what the prophet Hosea wrote prophetically “once you were not a people but now you are the people of God. You once had not received mercy but now you have received mercy” (Hosea 1:10). This points to a mostly Gentile readership. These newbies are the true people of God! And so are we who believe today.

    Applause!

    All this came from the pen of Peter, a Jewish born fisherman, but now since born from above through the resurrection of Jesus with whom he had walked for 3 years, a mere 30 years had past.

    Only 30 years previously Peter could never forget when they nailed Jesus to the cross and then God raised Him up 3 days later as He had foretold.

    We struggle to grasp the reality, to feel, to enter in to those historic scenes—it all happened so long ago.

    Peter’s readers were the forerunners of a totally new society having great responsibility, never seen before. So Peter urges them, aliens and strangers, to keep their behavior excellent among the outsiders. They may be slandered as evil by others but will see their good deeds and glorify God in the day of visitation that is coming soon.

    This phrase ‘day of visitation’ is fascinating. Peter had in mind an ‘end-times’ event (see 1 Pet 4:7).

    The glorious light of God’s people show that God’s judgments are righteous and this will be acknowledged in the coming judgment.

    So their behaviour would be very important.

    Let’s talk more about that next time.

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    Teresa: Living Godly

    Posted on 19/11/2022 | 2 comments

    People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

    Forgive them anyway.

    If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

    Be kind any way.

    If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

    Succeed anyway.

    If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

    Be honest and frank anyway.

    What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight;

    Build anyway.

    If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

    Be happy anyway.

    The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

    Do good anyway.

    Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

    Give the world the best you have anyway.

    You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God;

    It was never between you and them anyway.

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    The Olivet Discourse

    Posted on 21/02/2022 | Leave a comment

    In coming posts I aim to show that Jesus, in answering the disciples’ questions on the Mount of Olives, predicted the end of the age and his coming (Parousia) within his own generation. They were left in no doubt that He would come in their generation.

    Matthew, Mark and Luke were not mistaken either, writing down what would happen and which history confirms. Paul, Peter, John and James in their writings of the New Testament show they believed His coming was imminent. Soon.

    The “last days” in the New Testament refers to the end of an era, an age and not the end of time. The end of the long Mosaic age. The end of one age and the beginning of a new age. A New Covenant.

    Futurist commentators say that our Lord’s ‘second’ coming is yet to happen and many of them teach that event is soon. If that is true, it follows from the texts that we face a time of great falling away, a most terrible ‘great tribulation’ while Satan’s kingdom triumphs.

    But good news! We do not face what Jesus referred to as ‘the great tribulation’. We will not be ‘left behind’. Such erroneous views promote despair and an escape mentality. Many people want to opt out, some with the wish to be raptured, to escape the spectre of dying. To get out of this terrifying world.

    Yet Jesus prayed for his disciples “ I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

    We are called to bear witness to Jesus, his death and resurrection and his matchless character, power and authority at the right hand of the majesty on high. He is present with us, his new creation, his holy nation, within our lives, at home in our hearts, in a new covenant of the Holy Spirit.

    All Jesus’ predictions, all of them, that we read here in the Olivet discourse came true together in amazing detail. Glory to God and to the Lamb forever for ‘He shall reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet, and then the end shall come’!

    We are using as a basis here the Matthew, chapter 24, NASB version —plus some references to parallel texts in Luke and Mark.

    Jesus answered two questions put to him by the disciples—a ‘when’ question and a ‘what’ question.

    The coming of the Son of Man, the end of the age, is about judgment on apostate Israel, the rejecters of Jesus Messiah, a judgment which will use earthly means, the Roman armies. It is not about the end of the world.

    Before we begin, let us understand some important principles which must guide our interpretation.

    First, context. This discourse must really be seen in the wider context of the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke. This is especially so in Matthew. The reader should understand the narrative leading up to chapter 24, at least from chapter 21 and understand Jesus’ caustic and condemning words to the scribes and Pharisees and in the parables in chapters 21-23 of Matthew.

    Reading of Chapter 23 is critical—for example, the ‘eight woes’ (vs.13-33) followed by the charge that their leaders will persecute those he will send and the terrifying prediction that “upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (vs.34-36). This is the same generation mentioned in Mat 24:34.

    As you know, there are no chapter divisions in the original texts. It is a continuous narrative.

    Second, this discourse was addressed to four of the twelve apostles at a particular point in time and place. It was not addressed to disciples beyond that generation, let alone to today’s readers. Of course, these four hearers imparted what they learned to other disciples in their lifetime.

    We must resist the all too common habit of applying Jesus’ words to us, as if he was speaking to 21st-century readers about our future. Of course, this applies to all the texts in the New Testament, although we are edified by seeing how the truth of the gospel applies to us. There are many words recorded as spoken by Jesus to his disciples which cannot apply to us today. God gave us scriptures for us but they were not written to us!

    Matthew 24 is often dubbed “the Little Apocalypse” because of the symbolic nature of verses 29-31. Jesus used cosmic collapse language, understood by Jews, Hebrew thinkers, and was frequently used by the prophets speaking from God about judgment.

    It is very important to realise, as scholar N. T. Wright wrote, “Jerusalem remained the focal point of everything that the Jews were and did. Jewish identity was bound up with, and focused upon, a single city, and within that city a single shrine.” Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God.1994.

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    Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity

    Posted on 01/12/2021 | 2 comments

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    Our Amazing Hope

    Posted on 22/07/2021 | Leave a comment

    Isaiah 51:11

    Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their hearts. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sighing and sadness shall flee away.

    Now, here in Brisbane, Australia, most of us we face all the hype –if not the hope–of the Olympics coming to Brisbane. And people will be waiting for the event.

    And as a dear friend of mine said today on his fb page “I guess the closer 2032 comes the greater the excitement”

    He then said “and yet as we wait for the return of Christ there will be little mass hysteria but on that day the whole world will know that the King has come.”

    Well . . . . ! Not all of us!

    No.

    Some of us, admittedly not many believers, are NOT actually waiting for the return of Christ, believing as Jesus told his students on the Mt of Olives (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) that he “assuredly” would come before some of his listeners had passed away (see Mat 16:28, 24:34, Mk 13:30, Lu 21:32).

    Ha! We are certainly waiting for that wonderful moment, not far off especially for us ‘oldies’, when “we, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come singing unto the (heavenly) “Zion”,

    and everlasting joy shall be upon our hearts.

    We shall obtain gladness and joy and sighing and sadness shall flee away.”!

    Yes!

    Assuredly!

    This now is our blessed hope.

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    An Interesting Inside Story

    Posted on 22/07/2021 | Leave a comment

    I saw this comment to a dream by Praying Medic (www.prayingmedic.com) by one David Gracely. July 21, 2021

    “If the Communists want to rail against “white privilege” they only have themselves to blame because that is what they want taught in the public schools.

    It is called the Theory of Evolution and the full title of Darwin’s book is “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.”

    Darwin favored the elimination of the Negro and Australian peoples because he looked upon them as inferior. Hitler took Darwin to heart. So did Karl Marx who wanted to dedicate Das Capital to Darwin, who declined his request.

    My generation got the bum’s rush with the teaching of the Theory of Evolution in public schools in the 19t50’s. This is how that came about.

    A very bright fellow worked for the Bureau of Standards, then the CIA, and finally worked for NASA, rising as high in the ranks as you could go without getting involved in politics. He was told by his superior to write up a schedule for the space program.

    He was a very meticulous man and he wanted to do the job right, and so it took him two years to complete the job. He turned over his work to his supervisor who turned it over to President Eisenhower. Von Braun and his rocket team were ready to go. But President Eisenhower did nothing. The man who had labored so hard to make up the space schedule was not a happy camper with the President’s response. And then the Russians launched Sputnik and were lauded by our MSM to no end. The President asked the military to try to launch but failed at least twice. Finally he gave the green light to Von Braun and his rocket team and they were successful. But the damage had been done.

    The cry went up by the liberal educational establishment.

    “How come the Russians beat us into space? Why do they have better scientists then we do? Why, they teach their children the Theory of Evolution in school! That’s why they have better scientists. We need to teach our children the Theory of Evolution too”.

    And so my generation got the bum’s rush with the Theory of Evolution.

    How do I know about this inside story? Well, my dad told me about this shortly before he died in 2005. The man who wrote up that report was his oldest brother, Fredrick Gracely.”

    With grateful thanks to David Gracely and Praying Medic–and Almighty God who gave us all we have. Ian.

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