Do You Know My King?

Intro to ‘Do You Know My King?’

Intro by John R. Houk, Blog Editor

April 13, 2019

By Justin O. Smith

Sunday April 14^th is Palm Sunday. That day is one week before the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – Easter Sunday. On Palm Sunday Jesus rides a donkey colt into Jerusalem – the City of David – as a triumphant King:

11 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to ^[a]Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; ² and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. ³ And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”

⁴ So they went their way, and found ^[b]the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. ⁵ But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”

⁶ And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. ⁸ And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees [Blog Editor: For clarity on the “branches” see John 12: 13 NKJV] and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
¹⁰ Blessed is the kingdom of our father David
That comes ^[c]in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11: 1-10 NKJV)

Justin Smith finds his keyboard pulpit and delivers an excellent Easter message about the Redemptive work of the Risen Savior, Jesus the Christ.

By Jon McNaughton

JRH 4/13/19

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Do You Know My King?

By Justin O. Smith
Sent 4/12/2019 6:23 PM

My Dear God, how hard life is, how easy life is, how great life is for Us, sinners one and all. Our blessings great and small come to us by Your hand, and our punishments too. You are great and we are small. 

Men, women and children all revel in the wonders that abound in this magnificent creation of Yours, and we rejoice in the miracle of our salvation that we have received through the Blood of the Lamb and the sacrifice Jesus performed upon the Cross. 

The holy time of Easter Sunday is here once more, and millions of Christians worldwide are preparing to celebrate the most significant part of our faith and God's promise of "Life everlasting" for those who profess their faith in Jesus, as the Son of God, God come to earth in the flesh, and his death upon the Cross and his resurrection three days later. Upon our deaths we will be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Let's also recall that Easter coincides with the Jewish Passover holiday. The Last Supper was essentially a Passover feast. However, it has been given new significance by the New Testament and Jesus's sharing his "body", the bread, and his "blood", the wine, in a symbolic ritual that marked the sacrifice Jesus was about to make through His death: This has become a bedrock of the Christian faith. 

Just as the Apostle Paul so clearly states in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, there would be no salvation from our sins without the resurrection of Jesus: 

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins ... And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day ... that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: ... he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. ... that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." 

As many around the globe prepare for the Easter Vigil, let us all rejoice and celebrate in the love and happiness we have found through our own individual faith and personal relationship with our God. Remember the joy of Jesus's followers as he entered Jerusalem and they greeted him with palm leaves laid across the road. 

To quote one of the best preachers I've ever heard, during a sermon in 1976 in Detroit, Dr. Shadrach Meshach Lockridge observed that Jesus is "the King of the Jews ... the King of Israel ... the King of Righteousness ... the King of the Ages ... the King of Heaven ... the King of Glory ... the King of Kings and He is the Lord of Lords ... Now that's my King". And then he asked, "Well, I wonder if you know Him. Do You know Him?” 

No barriers can prevent Him from delivering His blessings to us all. Our God -- the One True God -- is enduringly strong, completely sincere, eternally steadfast, immortally graceful, imperially powerful and impartially merciful. 

In a strong and certain voice, Dr Lockridge declares unequivocally:

"[God] supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. ... He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. ... He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek." 

Will You be prepared when the Man [God] comes around "takin' names ... [deciding] who to free and who to blame", as my dear Ol' Friend Johnny Cash used to ask by way of song? 

Just as all men's days are numbered here on Earth, so too are the days numbered until the Last days, the Final Confrontation between Good and Evil and Armageddon. 

Revelations 6:7-8 tells us: "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed him. And power was given unto them over the part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." 

There's a clear division between those who are saved and those who are not. Nicodemus was afraid and ashamed to be seen with Jesus; and during a conversation, found in John 3:3, "Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily [truthfully], I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

In its madness the world opposes and harasses the righteous, because the atheistic, secular humanist world seems to hate us. The world resists us and resents us revealing its sins against His teachings. The Righteous condemn the evil of the world. Merely to watch the ungodly and heathens is a hardship; their own wickedness betrays them, and so they cannot hear the hidden counsels of God. 

Daniel 5:27 tells us, "...Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." 

St.  Augustine left this truth: "... our hearts are restless until they rest on God." 

The Pharisees hated Jesus, but they couldn't stop Him. Pilate found no fault in Him. The false witnesses were obviously false. Herod couldn't kill Him. The grave opened its doors to Him and Death couldn't hold Him. 

Do You know my King?

If one wants Life Everlasting, do not embrace the potter's ground [Matthew 27:3-8] when the Man comes around. See not "the terror in each sip and in each sup" [and] "partake of that last offered cup".  "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26:27-28 

Say it with me. Oh God, Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory. All the power belongs to my King. People can speak of black power, red power, yellow power and white power, but there's only power through Our God and His power. Thine is the power; Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 

By Justin O. Smith

_____________________

Edited by John R. Houk

Source links are by the Editor.

© Justin O. Smith

Frustration Exists yet Peace is Found in Jesus

John R. Houk

© November 9, 2018

I am a Christian, Conservative and Counterjihad blogger. The blogs I post more often than not are usually an expression of my frustration and/or annoyance with what I read, hear and view of events occurring in the public domain.

One disclaimer I offer in respect to my Christian faith is that I am definitely not perfect. I get cranky and I have little doubt the crankiness were expressed contrary to the way the Lord Jesus would prefer I respond. And as such I have stepped into sin for anything that God finds displeasing can lead to separating oneself from God. Adam and Eve discovered this terminal effect in the Garden of Eden. Yet God in His Mercy promised a path away from separation and a return to the Presence of God by a Promise within the curse pronounced on the Deceiver - Satan:

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” -- Genesis 3: 15 NKJV

This is a Promise of a Deliverer for the curse bought upon humanity by choice to restore Communion with God. In the Christian perspective this is Jesus the Son of God and Mary (in this case “the woman”). Jesus has both nature of God and the nature of humanity (yet born without the sin-separating curse bequeathed by Adam and Eve). Jesus’ sinless human nature is what qualified Him as a Deliverer to be a sacrifice to Redeem humanity’s lost-separated life with His sinless Life. AND in the death of Jesus the debt is paid for AND in the Resurrection to Life of Jesus transmutes humanity’s life restored with God via the Resurrected Life of Jesus the Christ yet by the choice to Believe in the efficacy of the Death, Burial and Resurrection.

The question becomes: How does a human person discover a choice exists that can restore one in Communion with God as Adam and Eve had before their Fall into a Separated state of existence in relation to God the Creator (which was the death alluded to by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil)?

The answer: THE GOSPEL!

⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

 “How beautiful are the feet of those who ^[a]preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. -- Romans 10: 8-11, 15-17 NKJV (Bold text Blog Editor’s)

Call on Jesus and YOU WILL be Saved and find peace.

The inspiration for these thoughts is an American Family Association (AFA) email I received yesterday. Below is the linked version of the email which includes a Vimeo video.

JRH 11/9/18

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The Gospel

Email by Tim Wildmon, President AFA

NOVEMBER 8, 2018 @ 8:16 AM

American Family Association

THE GOSPEL

Though we deal with people, we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood.

We at American Family Association believe that God has communicated absolute truth to mankind, and that all people are subject to the authority of God's Word at all times. Therefore we believe that a culture based on biblical truth best serves the well-being of our nation and our families, in accordance with the vision of our founding documents; and that personal transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest agent of biblical change in any culture.

The gospel is of first importance. Though we deal with people, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We know this is a spiritual battle for the souls of mankind. The manifestation of spiritual wickedness in God's world is real, powerful and deceiving. As good as we may be at times, the bottom line is we are all sinners by nature and by choice. But thanks be to Christ who is the sacrifice for our sins. Because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus we can be born again with the promise of eternal life with God. To be reborn spiritually we must admit we are sinners and believe in our hearts that God raised Christ from the dead. There is no better feeling than to be grafted into the family of God.

We see God’s love for us through the sacrifice of His son. It’s because of God's love for us that we are compelled to share this good news with you and live a life consistent with a biblical worldview. Maybe you have heard this many times, but it has not drawn you to repentance. We want to invite you to do that today! Don’t wait any longer! Or maybe you have experienced salvation but needed a reminder of God's love for you to restore the joy of your salvation.

Vimeo VIDEO: Bert Harper | How do you become a Christian?

Please forward this email and/or share on social media with at least one person. We believe it is personal transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that's the greatest agent of biblical change in any culture.

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve" (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).

__________________________

Frustration Exists yet Peace is Found in Jesus

John R. Houk

© November 9, 2018

_______________________

The Gospel

Copyright ©2018 American Family Association. All rights reserved.

Donate to AFA

Larson Responds to Militant Atheist

Lee Larson responded awesomely to a profanity-distributing atheist who idiotically denies God’s existence then heaps descriptive profanity on Almighty God. Militant atheists are often illogical. 1) They deny God’s existence. 2) Then help insults on the person of God as if He exists as if the atheist will offend the Almighty.

JRH 1/4/18

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Larson Responds to Militant Atheist

January 3, 2018

Lee Larson

G+ Community (Fox News) Faith and Values

The fact that you have to resort to foul language tells everyone your level of intellect.

God gives purpose to life, He brings love & hope to a dark world. If all you believe is that you are born and then you die your life has no real meaning. As such you are drawn to grab all you can get any way you can get it. That is what our world loves because that makes people very rich, but it also makes it very brutal.

My happiness (or perceived happiness) is all that matters, as a result a lot of pain takes place along the way. Just take a look around and you will see it everywhere. Probably in your own life and that is why you have a hard time believing in God, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible.

I pray someday that you will experience a P.A.C.K. (Planned Act of Christian Kindness) event. When you least expect it, someone reaches out to you with an act of kindness wanting, even refusing, to accept anything in return, and letting you know that this is the Lord loving on you at this unusual time & place.

Like the free gift or service provided you and comes a reminder that this is what the grace of God through Jesus Christ is like, something you cannot buy or earn at any price. Jesus already took the punishment for your sins when He willingly died on the Cross for the redemption of all sins.

For that is the only way that we may stand in the Presence of our perfect Creator on that final day. There is good and evil in our world, there is light and there is darkness, there are things we can see and there are things that we cannot see. Things that we can explain and things that far exceed our human capacity of understanding. So why is it so hard to believe that the immense complexity of our own being as well as that of our world and the vastness of space exists because of an all-powerful and loving God?

One that provided us with His living Word in the Scriptures, One that came in person in the form of His Son to bring His Word to life so that we may believe, and One that sent His Spirit to dwell within us so that we may feel His very Presence and know true love, peace, and hope in eternal life with Him.

God bless!

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Edited for clarity by John R. Houk

I pray the editing meets with Lee Larson’s approval.

To view the atheist’s original post and the following comments including Larson’s post go HERE.

Medical Description of the Flogging and Crucifixion of Jesus

My lovely wife sent this Easter message to from Rev. Tony Cooke. Rev. Cooke was one of my instructors when I attended RHEMA Bible Training Center (now RHEMA Bible Training College) between 1982 – 84.

Rev. Tony Cooke

JRH 4/16/17

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Medical Description of the Flogging and Crucifixion of Jesus

Origin Tony Cooke

Email Sent 4/15/2017 10:03 AM

Excerpted From: The Expositors Bible Commentary

(Commenting on Mark 15:15) The Romans first stripped the victim and tied his hands to a post above his head. The whip (flagellum) was made of several pieces of leather with pieces of bone and lead embedded near the ends. Two men, one on each side of the victim, usually did the flogging. The Jews mercifully limited flogging to a maximum of forty stripes; the Romans had no such limitation. The following is a medical doctor’s description of the physical effects of flogging.

The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper in the subcutaneous tissues, producing first and oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles… Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. (C. Truman Davis, “The Crucifixion of Jesus.  The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View,” Arizona Medicine 22, no. 3 [March 1965]: 185)

It is not surprising that victims of Roman floggings seldom survived.

(Commenting on Mark 15:17-18) The crown was made of some kind of prickly plant such as abounds in Palestine. This they pressed into his scalp. Again there must have been copious bleeding because the scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the body.

(Commenting on Mark 15:19) The mocking was followed by further physical violence. The blows hitting his head from the staff drove the thorns more deeply into Jesus’ scalp and caused even more profuse bleeding. They also kept spitting on him…

(Commenting on Mark 15:20) At last tiring of their sadism, the soldiers tore the robe from Jesus’ back. The fabric had probably stuck to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds.  Thus when it was callously ripped off him, it caused excruciating pain, just as when a bandage is carelessly removed. Jesus’ own clothes were now put back on him.

(Commenting on Mark 15:21) Men condemned to die by crucifixion were customarily required to carry the heavy wooden crosspiece (patibulum) on which they were to be nailed, to the place of execution. Jesus started out carrying his cross (John 19:17), but it proved to be too much for him.  The patibulum usually weighed thirty or forty pounds and was usually strapped across the shoulders. One can hardly imagine the pain caused by the rough heavy beam pressing into the lacerated skin and muscles of Jesus’ shoulders. The scourging of blood so weakened him that he could not go on carrying the heavy crossbeam.

 

(Commenting on Mark 15:24) Mark simply says, “And they crucified him.” What incredible restraint! Especially when one considers that crucifixion was, as Cicero said, “the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible” (In Verrem 5.54.165).  What took place physically is described by Davis (“Crucifixion of Jesus,” pp. 186-187).

Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.

The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain—the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. . . . Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. Jesus fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over—the loss of tissue fluids reached a critical level—the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues—the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. . . . The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues . . . . His mission of atonement has been completed.  Finally he can allow His body to die.

All this, the Bible records with the simple words, "And they crucified him" (Mark 15:24).

The article is excerpted from The Expositors Bible Commentary (Volume 8, pages 775-780, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984.)

+++

Blog Editor: Visualize the blood, pain and suffering must have felt by volunteering to freely give up his life that all who believe might have life. What it we believe?

Christ was Crucified and died the same day. Counting Crucifixion day, the third day arose bodily from the tomb after defeating Satan and taking hold of the keys of death and life. Christ’s new life is our life if only we believe:

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”^[a]

⁹ (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first^[b] descended into the lower parts of the earth? (Ephesians 4: 7-9 NKJV)

==

¹⁹ For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2: 19-20 NKJV)

Jesus is Risen indeed!

______________

Bio for Tony Cooke

Bible Teacher and Author, Tony Cooke has been married to his wife, Lisa, since 1979. Together, they have been serving the Body of Christ since 1980.

Since 2002, Tony and Lisa have traveled full-time with an assignment of “Strengthening Churches and Leaders.” Tony’s passion for teaching the Bible has taken him to forty-six states and twenty-six nations.

In 2014, the website of Tony Cooke Ministries reached 230,967 unique individuals, many of them pastors, missionaries, and other church leaders in 219 nations and territories with encouraging and helpful ministerial resources.

Books authored by Tony include: Life After Death, In Search of Timothy, Grace: the DNA of God, Qualified, Through the Storms, Your Place on God’s Dream Team, and The Work Book: What We Do Matters to God.

Prior to traveling, Tony was involved in pastoral ministry for more than twenty years, and served as an Instructor and the Dean of Rhema Bible Training Center. He also served for thirteen years as the Director of an International Ministerial Association.

In addition to being a 1981 graduate of RHEMA Bible Training Center, Tony studied Religion at Butler University and received a degree in Church Ministries from North Central University.

Tony, and Lisa reside in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and are the parents of two adult children, Laura and Andrew.

The Radical Jesus: How Would the Baby in a Manger Fare in the American Police State?

You may have heard of “WWJD”. Which is an acronym for “What Would Jesus Do?” This interesting kind-of Christmas essay from John W. Whitehead might create a new acronym: How Would You Support Jesus in a Police State? (Perhaps HWYSJPS?)

The baby Jesus grew up in a no-tech yet harsh Roman police state. Whitehead speculates on the challenges Jesus would face in a high-tech police state. The overregulated police state that America has evolved toward, especially under the guise of America’s Leftist control. (But Whitehead takes a few stabs at issues Conservatives might be supportive of as well.)

JRH 12/19/16

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The Radical Jesus: How Would the Baby in a Manger Fare in the American Police State?

By John W. Whitehead

Sent December 19, 2016 8:03 AM

Rutherford Institute

“Jesus is too much for us. The church’s later treatment of the gospels is one long effort to rescue Jesus from ‘extremism.’”—author Gary Wills, What Jesus Meant

Jesus was good. He was caring. He had powerful, profound things to say—things that would change how we view people, alter government policies and change the world. He went around helping the poor. And when confronted by those in authority, he did not shy away from speaking truth to power.

Jesus was born into a police state not unlike the growing menace of the American police state.

But what if Jesus, the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet, had been born 2,000 years later? How would Jesus’ life have been different had he be born and raised in the American police state?

Consider the following if you will.

The Christmas narrative of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.

The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable, where Mary gave birth to a baby boy. That boy, Jesus, would grow up to undermine the political and religious establishment of his day and was eventually crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be.

However, had Jesus been born in the year 2016…

Rather than traveling to Bethlehem for a census, Jesus’ parents would have been mailed a 28-page American Community Survey, a mandatory government questionnaire documenting their habits, household inhabitants, work schedule, how many toilets are in your home, etc. The penalty for not responding to this invasive survey can go as high as $5,000.

Instead of being born in a manger, Jesus might have been born at home. Rather than wise men and shepherds bringing gifts, however, the baby’s parents might have been forced to ward off visits from state social workers intent on prosecuting them for the home birth. One couple in Washington had all three of their children removed after social services objected to the two youngest being birthed in an unassisted home delivery.

Had Jesus been born in a hospital, his blood and DNA would have been taken without his parents’ knowledge or consent and entered into a government biobank. While most states require newborn screening, a growing number are holding onto that genetic material long-term for research, analysis and purposes yet to be disclosed.

Then again, had his parents been undocumented immigrants, they and the newborn baby might have been shuffled to a profit-driven, private prison for illegals where they would have been turned into cheap, forced laborers for corporations such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Walmart, and Victoria’s Secret. There’s quite a lot of money to be made from imprisoning immigrants, especially when taxpayers are footing the bill.

From the time he was old enough to attend school, Jesus would have been drilled in lessons of compliance and obedience to government authorities, while learning little about his own rights. Had he been daring enough to speak out against injustice while still in school, he might have found himself tasered or beaten by a school resource officer, or at the very least suspended under a school zero tolerance policy that punishes minor infractions as harshly as more serious offenses.

Had Jesus disappeared for a few hours let alone days as a 12-year-old, his parents would have been handcuffed, arrested and jailed for parental negligence. Parents across the country have been arrested for far less “offenses” such as allowing their children to walk to the park unaccompanied and play in their front yard alone.

Rather than disappearing from the history books from his early teenaged years to adulthood, Jesus’ movements and personal data—including his biometrics—would have been documented, tracked, monitored and filed by governmental agencies and corporations such as Google and Microsoft. Incredibly, 95 percent of school districts share their student records with outside companies that are contracted to manage data, which they then use to market products to us.

From the moment Jesus made contact with an “extremist” such as John the Baptist, he would have been flagged for surveillance because of his association with a prominent activist, peaceful or otherwise. Since 9/11, the FBI has actively carried out surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations on a broad range of activist groups, from animal rights groups to poverty relief, anti-war groups and other such “extremist” organizations.

Jesus’ anti-government views would certainly have resulted in him being labeled a domestic extremist. Law enforcement agencies are being trained to recognize signs of anti-government extremism during interactions with potential extremists who share a “belief in the approaching collapse of government and the economy.”

While traveling from community to community, Jesus might have been reported to government officials as “suspicious” under the Department of Homeland Security’s “See Something, Say Something” programs. Many states, including New York, are providing individuals with phone apps that allow them to take photos of suspicious activity and report them to their state Intelligence Center, where they are reviewed and forwarded to law-enforcement agencies.

Rather than being permitted to live as an itinerant preacher, Jesus might have found himself threatened with arrest for daring to live off the grid or sleeping outside. In fact, the number of cities that have resorted to criminalizing homelessness by enacting bans on camping, sleeping in vehicles, loitering and begging in public has doubled.

Viewed by the government as a dissident and potential threat to its power, Jesus might have had government spies planted among his followers to monitor his activities, report on his movements, and entrap him into breaking the law. Such Judases today—called informants—often receive hefty paychecks from the government for their treachery.

Had Jesus used the internet to spread his radical message of peace and love, he might have found his blog posts infiltrated by government spies attempting to undermine his integrity, discredit him or plant incriminating information online about him. At the very least, he would have had his website hacked and his email monitored.

Had Jesus attempted to feed large crowds of people, he would have been threatened with arrest for violating various ordinances prohibiting the distribution of food without a permit. Florida officials arrested a 90-year-old man for feeding the homeless on a public beach.

Had Jesus spoken publicly about his 40 days in the desert and his conversations with the devil, he might have been labeled mentally ill and detained in a psych ward against his will for a mandatory involuntary psychiatric hold with no access to family or friends. One Virginia man was arrested, strip searched, handcuffed to a table, diagnosed as having “mental health issues,” and locked up for five days in a mental health facility against his will apparently because of his slurred speech and unsteady gait.

Without a doubt, had Jesus attempted to overturn tables in a Jewish temple and rage against the materialism of religious institutions, he would have been charged with a hate crime. Currently, 45 states and the federal government have hate crime laws on the books.

Rather than having armed guards capture Jesus in a public place, government officials would have ordered that a SWAT team carry out a raid on Jesus and his followers, complete with flash-bang grenades and military equipment. There are upwards of 80,000 such SWAT team raids carried out every year, many on unsuspecting Americans who have no defense against such government invaders, even when such raids are done in error.

Instead of being detained by Roman guards, Jesus might have been made to “disappear” into a secret government detention center where he would have been interrogated, tortured and subjected to all manner of abuses. Chicago police “disappeared” more than 7,000 people into a secret, off-the-books interrogation warehouse at Homan Square.

Charged with treason and labeled a domestic terrorist, Jesus might have been sentenced to a life-term in a private prison where he would have been forced to provide slave labor for corporations or put to death by way of the electric chair or a lethal mixture of drugs.

Either way, whether Jesus had been born in our modern age or his own, he still would have died at the hands of a police state. Indeed, as I show in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, what Jesus and other activists suffered in their day is happening to those who choose to speak truth to power today.

Thus, we are faced with a choice: remain silent in the face of evil or speak out against it. As Nobel Prize-winning author Albert Camus proclaimed:

Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children. And if you don’t help us, who else in the world can help us do this?

WC: 1495

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ABOUT JOHN WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Click here to read more of John Whitehead's commentaries.

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My Problem with Islam

John R. Houk

© February 18, 2016

I have often been called bigoted against Islam. In many ways this is an accurate accusation, but not for the typical reasons associated with bigotry. The primary reason I disparage Islam is because its revered writings such as the Quran, Hadith and Sira target Christianity with stealth vitriol. Islam dualistically calls Jews and Christians as People of the Book as if that is a heritage to be respected. Then the truth emerges that Jews and Christians are only allowed to live if those adherents agree to submit to the supremacy of Islam followed by theopolitical condemnations of Jews and Christians. I cannot do justice to the Jew-hatred in the Quran, Hadith and Sira because I am a Christian.

However I am quite aware that Islam directly calls the central articles of faith in Christianity as fake or cruelly made up to defy the original will of God (Muslims call Allah), hence ultimately Christians must be dealt with as infidel (or Kafir or Kufr or Kuffar - however you find the disparaging appellation written by Muslims).

Some of those central Biblical articles of faith is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God as much as He is the son of Mary (more Biblically as the son of Man). This denies the entire premise of God the Father emptying himself of divine prerogatives to be born as a sinless man in order to Redeem all of humanity from the spiritual Fallen nature bequeathed to the descendants of Adam and Eve. Thus Jesus the Anointed One (Christ/Messiah) is the very incarnation of the ONE God. That perfect man would and did offer Himself as a sinless sacrifice under the sentence of an unjustified crime.

This comes to the other pathetic denial of Islam. Islamic revered writings also claim Jesus never died on the Cross but rather died of natural causes. ERGO according to Islam Jesus never arose from the dead a fully alive person after a Crucifixion.

The next Islamic denial was also quite controversial in the early days of the followers of Christ; viz. the Holy Trinity under the concept that Jesus as the incarnation of the Father in union with the Holy Spirit are three individual persons that exist as ONE God. In the early days of Christian faith Christian theologians struggled with the logic of the Three in ONE nature of God.

Was Jesus fully and man and fully God simultaneously? Was Jesus both fully man and fully God but two separate beings? Did the Holy Spirit proceed from Jesus or the Father or both? Whatever the theological differences on God’s nature you should notice all the theologians believed the existence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. TODAY the huge majority of Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Protestants follow the Three equal persons are in ONE God theology. Islam says only Allah exists and faith has no place for three in ONE.

I suspect there are more issues at variance between Christianity and Islam however what I have just share is good enough for me to believe Islam is an antichrist religion that exists as a Satanic challenge to the ONE true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that the Quran’s rescripting of the Holy Bible is a load of antichrist Satanic gibberish.

With that in mind I’d like to share an article that I first read on my Prophecy Update email that actually links to an article by John McTernan on the Rapture Ready website.

JRH 2/18/16

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The Koran vs. the Bible

By John McTernan

Date: Listed as “NEW” thus 2/2016

Rapture Ready

The Koran directly attacks Christianity. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Psalm 12:6 “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). There is a move in the United States and the entire Western world to block anything from being said negatively against Islam. Exposing Islam and its doctrines that are contrary to Western culture is called Hate Speech. In both Europe and Canada , Christians have been heavily fined and threatened with jail for speaking negatively about Islam. Telling the truth accurately means nothing, as it is classified as hate speech. There are forces working in the United States to also promote that speaking against Islam is hate speech. Islam is being packaged and sold to the West as a peaceful religion. Based on this concept of speaking out about Islam being hate speech, an examination of the Koran shows this book itself is hate speech, specifically, against Christianity. The Bible was written 500 years before Muhammad and therefore has nothing to say about Islam. In fact, the Bible only directly condemns pagan worship. It has nothing directly to say about Hinduism or the other ancient Eastern religions. By doctrine and teachings, the Bible disagrees with the eastern religions, but it does not condemn them. The Koran directly attacks the major doctrines of Christianity. The Christian faith has several key beliefs. The teaching that is unique to the Christian faith is that there is one God who eternally manifests Himself in three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is known as the Godhead or the Blessed Trinity. The second critical doctrine is that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God; therefore He is unique from everyone else. His Father was not human, but the holy God of Israel. The third key doctrine is that the Lord Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for man’s sin and then rose from the dead. There are other important doctrines, but these three really comprise the very heart of the Christian faith. With this foundation, let us examine the Koran to see what it states about the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. A chapter in the Koran is referred to as Sura, so when reviewing the Koran the word Sura with numbers after it gives the location of the verse. I use the Koran online for research. This is found at: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/index.html The Blessed Holy Trinity: The Koran clearly states that Christians lie when claiming God is in the form of a Trinity. These are strong words; however this is exactly what the Koran states. The Koran claims that the Lord Jesus is only an apostle and for Christians to desist from teaching the blessed Trinity. In this same Sura, the Koran denies the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. In one Sura the Koran attacks the very heart of Christianity by denying the blessed Trinity and that the Lord Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. It calls Christians liars and demands that the preaching of the Trinity and Jesus being the Son of God stop. The Koran identifies Christians sometimes as “followers of the book,” but when they proclaim Christian doctrine, the Koran then calls them liars. Muhammad writes that it is acceptable to believe the Bible, but not Christian doctrine! The Sura shows this: Sura 4.171 O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector. The Lord Jesus Is the Only Begotten Son of God One of the central doctrines of Islam, as clearly presented in the Koran, is that God does not have a son. An exhaustive search of the Koran shows that in at least 11 Suras, the Koran states that God does not have a Son. This is clearly aimed at Christianity because no other faith claims that God has a literal Son. The Koran even states in Sura 9:30 that those that believe Allah has a son should be destroyed by Allah! The Koran is very clear that it was written to attack this Christian doctrine. The following are the Suras claiming that God does not have a Son: Sura 4.171 Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector. Sura 6.101 Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth! How could He have a son when He has no consort, and He (Himself) created everything, and He is the Knower of all things. Sura 9.30 And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths;they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away! Sura 10.68 They say: Allah has taken a son (to Himself)! Glory be to Him: He is the Self-sufficient: His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth; you have no authority for this; do you say against Allah what you do not know? Sura 17.111 And say: (All) praise is due to Allah, Who has not taken a son and Who has not a partner in the kingdom, and Who has not a helper to save Him from disgrace; and proclaim His greatness magnifying (Him). Sura 18.4 And warn those who say: Allah has taken a son. Sura 19.35 It beseems not Allah that He should take to Himself a son, glory to be Him; when He has decreed a matter He only says to it “Be,’ and it is. Sura 19.88 And they say: The Beneficent God has taken (to Himself) a son. (91) That they ascribe a son to the Beneficent God. (92) And it is not worthy of the Beneficent God that He should take (to Himself) a son. Sura 21.26 And they say: The Beneficent God has taken to Himself a son. Glory be to Him. Nay! they are honored servants. Sura 23.91 Never did Allah take to Himself a son, and never was there with him any (other) god-- in that case would each god have certainly taken away what he created, and some of them would certainly have overpowered others; glory be to Allah above what they describe! Sura 25.2 He, Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Who did not take to Himself a son, and Who has no associate in the kingdom, and Who created everything, then ordained for it a measure. The Lord Jesus Died on the Cross The Koran literally says the Lord Jesus did not die on the cross. It claims that He appeared to have died on the cross, but He was not killed nor was He crucified. Allah just took Jesus to heaven. The Koran directly attacks the vicarious death of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross, and thus rejects His redemption of man from sin. The Koran goes on to state that on the day of resurrection Jesus Christ will be a witness against Christians. The Suras from the Koran prove this fact: Sura 4.157 And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa [Jesus] son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. 158 Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise. 159 And there is not one of the followers of the Book but most certainly believes in this before his death, and on the day of resurrection he (Jesus) shall be a witness against them. According to Islam the worst sin a person can commit is shirk. This sin is also called association. This means associating Allah with a man. The very heart of Christianity that the Lord is the Son of God is the worst sin in Islam! According to the Koran, Allah forbids heaven to anyone who commits this sin and their abode is hell without any help. The Koran and Islam by their very nature are anti-Christian, and therefore in our modern world’s way of thinking, it is hate speech. There can never be reconciliation between Islam and Christianity because the very heart of Islam is anti-Christian. The Sura that shows this: Sura 5.72 Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be no helpers for the unjust. The teachings of the Koran are in stark contrast to the Bible. The Koran states that God does not have a son. The Bible states that all life is in the Lord Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. With the Bible, if you have the Son, you have eternal life: if you do not have the Son, then you do not have eternal life. A person that does not believe this makes God a liar. The Koran written 500 years after these verses denies the Son, and therefore makes the God of the Bible a liar. The Bible is written in the positive stating God has a Son. The Koran is written in the negative attacking this fundamental doctrine of Christianity. When Muhammad wrote the Koran, he knew exactly what he was doing. He was creating a new religion which rivaled Christianity. He wanted to make sure there was no connection between the God of Islam and the holy God of Israel. The warning of the Bible is same today as it was at the time of Muhammad: 1 John 5:9-13: If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. The Bible ends with a warning to those who tamper with it and remove scriptures. The warning is that God will remove that person’s name from the Book of Life which means removal from eternity in heaven with God. Muhammad wrote the Koran as a replacement to the Bible. In the Koran, he removed the Bible’s core beliefs; therefore, Muhammad’s name and those that follow him are removed from heaven. To God, it is extremely serious to tamper with the Bible. Revelation 22:19 “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” In summary, the God of Islam has no relationship to the God of the Bible. In fact, the God of Islam is at war with the Bible as the Koran calls anyone believing in the blessed Trinity a liar. The very origin of the Koran was to refute the authority of the Bible and reject the holy God of Israel. The Koran and Islam, at its very foundation, is hatred of Christianity, and therefore have no place in America. The Koran, as given by Muhammad, is hate speech and should be exposed as such. Note: America was the only nation in all of history that was founded on the blessed holy Trinity. There were three documents which created the United States of America . Most people are very familiar with the first and third documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution It was the second document that ended the Revolutionary War and granted America[n] nationhood. The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783 formally ended the Revolution and granted the United States independence from Great Britain. This document can be found at: http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/paris.html In a real sense, the United States formally became a nation on September 3, 1783. When the United States became a nation, it was done “In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.” The preamble to this Treaty states that it is based upon the “Holy and undivided Trinity.” The concept of the holy Trinity is unique to Christianity. This statement means the United States was founded on the Christian faith. The Preamble is very short: “In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.” The Treaty then ends just like the Constitution with a statement it is being signed in the “Year of our Lord.” The witnesses representing the United States were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and D. Hartley: “… In witness whereof we the undersigned, their ministers plenipotentiary, have in their name and in virtue of our full powers, signed with our hands the present definitive treaty and caused the seals of our arms to be affixed thereto. Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.” _____________________ My Problem with Islam John R. Houk © February 18, 2016 ____________________ The Koran vs. the Bible Edited by John R. Houk Any text enclosed by brackets by are by the Editor. Rapture Ready FAQ Page