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Current Faith
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For quite some time already, there are several incidences that show the proceedings of the end times, as predicted by Jesus Himself and other scriptures in the Bible: persecution, natural catastrophes, false teachings, even false Christs. And of course, also the increased work of the Holy Spirit.Persecution begins at such very points, where intolerance blinds people. The so-called "political correctness" is the biggest intolerance I've ever come across! Christian persecution is building up more and more all over the world. The so-called "tolerance" here in Europe, especially in Germany, has come to that extreme that our own Christian identity is lost. Believing in Jesus is seen as fanatism which has to be kept low. In the USA, this "tolerance" has come even farther, where public places displaying Christian smybols and even public prayers are facing lawsuits.
Yet people look away, just as they do in countries like North Korea, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and others where Christians are imprisoned, tortured and sometimes kept even worse than murderers. With statements like these here, I don't want to open hard discussions (this is already done at other places with no results) - I just want to draw everybody's attention to reality. The correct answer to this is NOT BY FIGHTING against all that, but BY TURNING BACK TO GOD and accepting His solution for our salvation in JESUS CHRIST. In Matthews 24, Jesus is predicting incidents like these, also natural catastrophes that are becoming worse than ever before (take the tsunami of December 2004, earthquakes, floodings, hurricanes), wars, etc.
Notice: this is NOT God's "punishment". No matter whether man-made or natural catastrophes, it all derives from a fallen nature that needs redemption. But God can allow and use those things as to His will. As we say here in Germany, God can write very evenly on the most crooked ways. What we see are those things that He allowed to pass. But we don't see what He has prevented us from! This is why God made us know that those who don't have the Holy Spirit don't understand His message (1 Corinthians 2). And like Jesus said, we are to be alert. We can rely on the fact that He has overcome this world (John 16) and that we can live in His victory (1 Corinthians 15)!
We are still in times of grace, but I am pretty sure that time is short. We have to get out of our comfort zones and publically proclaim WHO is Lord of Lords! We cannot avoid things from happening, but we can tell people of how they can avoid getting lost! As our Creator, God is THE one who can oversee things much better than anyone of us ever could. Therefore, it is my concern that people learn to trust Him again, Him who loves us so much that He gave the ultimate sacrifice so we might get the possibility to relate to Him again! But He does not force anybody into anything, this is why everybody must decide for him or herself.
In this link here, I will upload articles with contents like this whenver I find them, from different sources. And also articles on what God is doing these days, because the increase of the work of the Holy Spirit is also a sign of the last days!
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Egg Mystery Cracked: the Chicken Came First!
By Aimee Herd, Breaking Christian News BCN, July 22, 2010
CREATION, DAY 5: "And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.'" –Gen.1:20-22
It's funny how honest science seems to eventually come around to confirming or agreeing with things written in the Bible. A recent revelation by researchers at Sheffield and Warwick universities in England was no exception, as it answers the age-old question; "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Of course, Believers in God's creation of the heavens, earth and everything in them would say, "Duh! The chicken!" But, scientists needed to study it anyway, and now they've come to the same conclusion. (Photo: AP)
According to a Sun article, the researchers discovered that the "formation of eggs is possible only thanks to a protein found in chicken's ovaries. That means eggs have to be formed in chickens first."
And, there you have it. God created the chicken first; the chicken laid an egg.
The findings of the study were published in the paper: Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein.
Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University's Department of Engineering Materials, noted, "it had long been suspected that the egg came first—but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first."
He added, "The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation, but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process."
Source: News Staff – The Sun, FOX News
Saving Haiti One Village at a Time
CBN News, July 16, 2010
Much-loved Ugandan pastor among dead in Kampala World Cup terror blast
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries, July 16, 2010
KAMPALA, UGANDA (ANS) -- A much-loved Ugandan pastor was amongst those killed in last Sunday's terror blasts that ripped through two locations while people were watching the World Cup final game on television
the World Cup Final," said Alex Mitala, General Overseer, National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches in Uganda.
Peter Mutabazi and his wife Alice
He was Peter Mutabazi who pastored a local Pentecostal church at Bwaise, in the suburbs of Kampala.
The pastor was amongst the 76 people who were killed, while hundreds were injured.
"On that fatal night, Peter and some visiting American missionaries were seated in the Ethiopian Restaurant where they had gone for dinner and also to watch
"Al Shabaab, a terrorist group of extreme Islamic Somalis, claimed responsibility for the bomb blast in which Peter died and also five of the missionaries were seriously injured. The same group are believed to be connected to Al Qaeda.
"Peter left behind Alice, his widow and five children. His burial took place on July 13th, in Mpigi District Central Uganda, where I originally planted that local church and later handed it over to P.A.G mission. We shall all miss Peter."
On his Facebook page, Peter Mutabazi wrote, "We live in one of the biggest slums of Kampala the capital city of Uganda."
Now his many friends in that slum area will be mourning the untimely death of their friend.
For more information about his work, please visit www.bpcministries.org
Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling
Congregation sought apology for riotous attack on baptism service
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries, July 14, 2010
BEER SHEVA, ISRAEL (ANS) -- Compass Direct News (CND) is reporting that a congregation of Messianic Jews in Israel who recently lost a lawsuit against an ultra-orthodox Jewish group that allegedly incited a riot against them has decided not to appeal their case, the church’s pastor has said.
CDN said, “In 2007, Bass filed suit against Yehuda Deri, chief Sephardic rabbi in the city of Beer Sheva, and Yad L’Achim, an organization that fights against Messianic Jews in Israel, for allegedly inciting a riot at a December 2005 service that Bass was leading. On Dec. 24, 2005, during a baptismal service in Beer Sheva, a group of about 200 men pushed their way into a small, covered structure being used to baptize two new Christians and tried to stop the service.
Howard Bass and wife Randi Bass of Yeshua’s Inheritance church
(Photo: Compass Direct)
The CDN story that that after meeting with his congregation and members of the Messianic community in Israel, Howard Bass, pastor of Yeshua’s Inheritance church in Beer Sheva, said that although there are strong legal grounds for an appeal, he believes it is not God’s will to do so.
“We didn’t see that it’s right to appeal, even though there is good legal basis. But we don’t feel it’s the Lord’s will to appeal,” Bass said, later adding he felt the verdict was “totally distorted.”
“The assailants tossed patio chairs, damaged audiovisual equipment, threw a grill and other items into a baptismal pool, pushed Bass into the pool and broke his glasses. In the days before the riot, Yad L’Achim issued notices to people about a 'mass baptism' scheduled to take place at the facility in the city 51 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
“In the days after the riot, Deri bragged about the incident on a radio talk show, including a boast that Bass had been ‘baptized’ at the gathering. Bass demanded either a public apology for their alleged role in the attack, or 1.5 million shekels (US$389,052) from the rabbi and Yad L’Achim.”
The case, Bass said, was to “honor the name of Jesus Christ in Israel.” He said he had sought monetary damages “as a tool to elicit an apology” from Deri and Yad L’Achim.”
For more information, go to: www.compassdirect.org
Heeding the "Call 2 Fall" this July 4th
by Aimee Herd, BCN Breaking Chrsitian News, June 28, 2010
"Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation" (Lk 22:46).
This year America's Independence Day falls on a Sunday, when many Christians will be meeting together in prayer and worship. In light of this, a "Call to Fall" has gone out across the nation, for each Believer to "fall" to their knees in prayer for the country.
According to the Call 2 Fall website...
The "Call 2 Fall" on our knees will be happening in the many places Christians meet on Sunday. We realize that the Church gathers in worship centers, store-fronts, homes, and various other places all across America. We are encouraging Believers to kneel at least 3 to 5 minutes before the Lord wherever they may gather that day.
"Call 2 Fall" on our knees is for every Christ-follower in America. Specifically, there are multiplied millions of Believers who realize that America is in trouble and that neither Washington nor Wall Street has the answers. We are hoping that at least 40,000 churches will join in a corporate act of humility, repentance, and desperate prayer on our knees before the Lord.
"Call 2 Fall" in corporate humility before the Lord is set for Sunday July 4, 2010. Why that Sunday? Because on the day we celebrate our "Independence," we should also express our "Dependence" upon the Lord. Throughout this special day, we encourage Believers to spend time on their knees in crying out to God to heal our souls and our land.
Below is a good word from Dave Kubal, president of Intercessors for America, regarding the Call 2 Fall, and praying for the USA.
Sorrow Must Not Stop Us
The Lord's final meal with His disciples was a very serious and disturbing event! At the beginning of the Passover Seder as Jesus institutes the "Lord's Supper," He declares that He will never observe the Passover again. He sobers the scene even more when He states that He will no longer "drink of the fruit of the vine." The disciples' dreams and visions of reigning with power and prestige were dashed.
Jesus announced that He was no longer going to be around.
Immediately after the covenant meal, they walked a mile or so to the nearby Mount of Olives to pray. Jesus was in such anguish "that His sweat was like drops of blood." The Father even dispatched an angel to minister and strengthen His Son who was in agony and pain.
Jesus finished praying and returned to His disciples who were supposed to be on watch with Him and praying. He found them all asleep.
If Jesus ever needed supportive intercessors, it was at the time just prior to His Crucifixion. But those that He counted on to hold Him up in prayer proved non-reliable because they were "exhausted from sorrow."
Fellow intercessors, this is a lesson we must learn. We must not let sorrow stop us from interceding. It is easy to view God's destiny for this nation as in jeopardy, but we cannot allow this to produce sorrow that stops us from praying.
Father, help us to faithfully watch unto prayer—and when the Church and our nation do turn back, help us endeavor, as it says in Luke, to strengthen the rest of our fellow Believers across the world. Amen
-Dave Kubal, President, Intercessors for America
While criticizing Israel, Turkey kills Kurds
June 21, 2010 Israel Today Staff
Many in the international community, including mainstream media outlets, have labeled Turkey's reaction to Israel's interception of a so-called "aid" flotilla to the Gaza Strip a few weeks ago as exaggerated. The latest news out of Turkey reveals that the criticism against Israel is also highly hypocritical.
Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted Israel over the deaths of nine activists aboard one of the flotilla ships after they attacked the Israeli boarding party. He accused Israel of crimes against humanity, and has led the international charge for an investigation and sanctions against the Jewish state. Erdogan's government has decided to downgrade relations with Israel over the incident.
Since the flotilla raid, Turkey has engaged in its own "war on terror" with little or no attention from the international community, and certainly no calls for independent commissions of inquiry.
On the same day as the flotilla raid, Kurdish rebels attacked a Turkish naval base, killing 12 soldiers. Last week, Erdogan's government responded with air strikes on Kurdish positions in northern Iraq that killed 120 people, including a 7-year-old girl.
There were no condemnations of Turkey for using "disproportionate" force, and no UN Security Council meetings regarding the latest flare-up of a 26-year conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.
Some 30 million Kurds live in adjoining portions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Together, these areas make up Kurdistan, the ancient homeland of the Kurdish people, a distinct ethnic group without a country of their own.
For decades, Turkey has oppressed its Kurdish minority of 14 million people by forbidding the use of the Kurdish language and other symbols of national identity in state schools and government institutions. A Kurdish parliamentarian, Layla Zana, was expelled from parliament in 1994 and imprisoned a year later for daring to utter a single sentence in Kurdish from the podium.
Soccer Leads South African Kids to Christ
Christian World News CWN, June 13, 2010
Ancient City of Ephesus to be Nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List
by Teresa Neumann, Breaking Christan News BCN, June 14, 2010
"It was the second largest city of the Roman Empire for many years, ranking only behind Rome, the empire's capital."
city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near the present-day town of Selçuk in Turkey's Izmir Province. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era, and later, in the Roman period, it was the second largest city of the Roman Empire for many years, ranking only behind Rome, the empire's capital. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World."
Ephesus(Turkey)—A report in Archaeology News says Turkey's Ministry of Culture is taking steps to nominate the ancient Greek city of Ephesus to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
According to the report: "Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman
Amazingly, what the report failed to mention is that over 2 billion Christians (composing the world's largest religion) value the ruins of Ephesus because of its great Biblical history. The apostle Paul ministered there for three years, wrote a letter to the Ephesians which became Scripture, and the early Church's third ecumenical council was held there in 431 A.D.
For that reason alone, Ephesus should be a protected site.
UK Preacher Jailed for Sharing His Faith
By Peter Wooding, CBN News United Kingdom Correspondent, June 04, 2010
Japanese Pastor Publicly Repents for Japan's Past Sins
Teresa Neumann, Breaking Christian News BCN, May 21, 2010
feelings of repentance. Not only do I want to repent to countries that Japan invaded and bombed and killed, but also as a Christian I want to really repent towards Israel."
Pastor Reiji Oyama and others(Japan)—Christian Today reports that Pastor Reiji Oyama, one of the founders of Japan Evangelical Association (JEA), requested time on the closing day of a JEA gathering to reconcile with fellow Believers in countries that Japan previously occupied. (Photo: Christian Today Japan)
"Japan repeatedly killed, murdered, stole, robbed, raped—just humiliated her neighbors," Oyama said. "Therefore, as a Japanese, I really want to express my
According to the report, mission leaders in attendance were asked to pray to remove anger and bitterness toward others from their heart. Japanese church leaders were specifically encouraged to extend a hand to mission leaders of Asian countries that Japan hurt while they prayed.
Full story here: Michelle A. Vu - Christian Today
Abducted Christian Children in Yemen Released
Wolfgang Polzer, special to ASSIST News Service ANS, May 19, 2010
Their youngest son Simon is believed to be dead (but this information is not confirmed).
The fate of the parents is uncertain.
(Riyadh)—Two children of a kidnapped German Christian family are free. The family had been abducted in North Yemen by Shiite rebels eleven months ago. (Map: CIA World Factbook, 2007)
German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle confirmed press reports Saudi Arabian security forces had managed to release the two children. Family members in East Germany told the evangelical news agency, Idea, that the two daughters; Lydia (six-years-old) and Anna (four) are free.
The fate of their parents Johannes and Sabine Hentschel (both 38) is uncertain.
The family and a British engineer were kidnapped during an outing near Saada in North Yemen. They were with two German bible school students and a South Korean teacher, who were found murdered on June 12, 2009. The nine Christians had been working at the Al Jumhuri hospital in Saada.
Yemen is one of the strictest Islamic countries. 99 percent of the 21 million inhabitants are Muslims. Small groups of Christians gather in secret.
Source: ASSIST News
Iranians coming to Christ in great numbers!
German Evangelical News Agency idea, March 26, 2010
pressure by the Islamic regime. "The Iranian government wants to destroy the Christian faith," Mousapour said. Yet at such a rate the pressure increases, people are having unexpected faith experiences. "Jesus Christ encounters them in their dreams," she was told by friends in Iran. Thus, drug addicts are being delivered from their addictions the same as sick people are getting immediatley healed. More and more young Christians get encouraged and are talking publically about their experiences. Mrs Mousapour estimates that more than 100.000 Christians are living in Tehran alone. The interest in Christian faith is alltogether strongly on the rise in the Islamic nation, although "the falling away from Islam" is forbidden. Christians have no chance of making professional careers, neither at public authorities nor at commercial companies. Baptisms are also forbidden, as is the call "halleluyah". Whoever is doing it anyway, has to count on being arrested. President Mahmud Ahmadinejad shortly ago offended Christians massively when declaring that he will tear off the head of the dove – the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Mousapour criticized the fact that Muslims who had converted to Christianity are being arrested on no grounds and are tortured. The whereabouts of many of them cannot be traced.
Mahim Mousapour: Empowering the democratic movement
Bonn/Teheran (idea) – In the Iranian capital of Tehran, thousands of Muslims have become Christians these past months. They gather illegally in house churches.
Mahim Mousapour, an Iranian pastor living in exile in Frankfurt, Germany, gave this information on the annual meeting of the International Society for Human Rights (Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte, IGFM) on March 26 in Bonn. In her view, these faith decisions are a consequence of the political
