Whom do they follow, whom do you follow … ?
In the world people follow different types of models in life. They can be put into two succinct categories. One who has goals and is moral and has ethics. Another who obfuscates facts for self -prominence, wealth and power.
People will educate themselves and gain knowledge for the goals they have in life. Some want to do good, not just for themselves but to improve life for others (Humanists can be both secular and religious). Others do things only for self -gain. Ones philosophy in life — what their religion teaches matters. It explains how you relate to people and the world.
However, there is a third group that are pilgrims, having dual citizenship of their country, but their official citizenship is in heaven. The good they do is to promote Christ Jesus their Lord.
The philosophy you adhere to will shape your life, your worldview. In religion, the God you serve will also shape your life.
Some follow Jesus because they recognize him as the highest ideal for man. Christians follow Jesus because the Bible teaches he is God in the flesh, that He said “I am the way, the truth and the Life” (Jn.14:6). Paul the apostle said to imitate me as I imitate Christ.
Other religions have their own teachers and prophets. For example, Islam follows Mohammed. Did Mohammed follow God, yes: his God Allah. We should not be confused; his god was not the same God the Bible presents, nor the one the ancient prophets heard from.
It has been said that all the world is a stage and we are all actors. In a certain way a script is written. We are certainly not puppets, our willing participation in good or evil is our choice that is fulfilling the script
We should always expect the unexpected… from both God and His Adversary. Earth is ground zero for a war that most of the participants stay invisible, but its outcome can be seen by what takes place.
God is in control of both the circumstances and the outcome. At the time we may not get the message God is sending through circumstances or a person, or scripture? We may not understand how he is in control at the time but we will be able to look back and understand some of it in the future.
Some have wondered (and some have complained) – what does politics have to do with Christianity, with religion? If you can’t see the relationship of these two by now then there is no amount of explanations that would suffice.
As believers who are intent on following Christ we live by His power in a world that is antagonistic to Him and his standards. We are his standard bearers. We try to influence people to live by these higher standards. What one is convinced of they will live by. The world rejects the Christ in the bible. But there is one coming they will accept, he will appeal to all the world as “a Christ.”
We are in a time period of preparation. The world is in such rebellion to the truth that everything is being affected by believing the lies. These are pervading nearly every aspect of life.
In 1980, one of the organizational leaders of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, Paul Henri Spaak of Belgium said to the United European Community: “What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, and whether he be god or devil, we will receive him.“
So the world leaders are open for whoever can come along to solve the political, financial religious dilemma and make peace. As Israel insisted on a king like the other nations, they were given what they desired, Saul.
The church which is supposed to be the pillar and ground of truth is also open. A diabolical hoax has been presented to the church that has been extrapolated from cultural myths. Under the guise of evangelism we are told it’s correct to use the name of other gods for God. Claiming they are the same God. Such as Allah being used, this syncretism is now called Chrislam. An intentional blending of the religions claiming unity in the Abrahamic faith. It is also rationalized, that if it works it should be used (the worlds way of pragmatism).
There are those teaching that numerous cultures knew the true God just like Israel, even without the gospel known. The bible teaches the gospel was hidden just as Paul said in Romans 16 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures.” So without the Scripture, without missionaries, they could not know God. Yet the very organization that claims to be missionary based – YWAM has adopted Daniel Kikawa (and Don Richardson’s mythologies for their evangelism)
From Kikawa’s book, his theme: “Christians should cease representing Jesus as the Son of the foreign God of a foreign people, especially if these foreigners had never shown concern for nor had any involvement in the lives or culture of the natives. We should instead introduce Jesus as the Son of their creator God” Evangelism is focused on truth – it’s about the Jesus of the Bible. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You cannot bring someone to salvation without having the truth as your basis. He is telling us to give the other cultures gods as the Father who sent the Son. Jesus is THEIR God’s Son. If names were hats, God wears a thousand hats. So he teaches that any country you go into you tell them the Lord has developed your culture and present Jesus as the son of YOUR god.
Using a false god that is part of their culture, claiming, HE sent the son is not evangelism. This assimilates Jesus to another God. Jesus was a Hebrew born in Israel, lived and died in Israel, and, was raised from the dead in Israel. God the Father sent him to make the new covenant with his people, that through them all people would be blessed (Gen.12:3) and fulfill his prophecies. How can these other gods of other cultures have sent the son when they do not mention Him, have scripture or even know Israel exists?
Years ago Beatle George Harrison, sang my sweet lord expressing his ecumenism; “They call you Christ, Vsnu, Buddha, Jehovah, our Lord. You are Govindam, Bismillah, Creator of All.” This is gist of what is being taught now.
It is not just about the name of a god but a god who has a made up belief system attached to him. If we are to accept the names of these cultures /nations gods should we not also accept what their gods taught them? How can one separate the god of their culture from his teaching or history? And how does one reconcile the differences taught?
This has become the trend for those who cannot be straight on giving the gospel. And we have
spent numerous hours addressing it on the website and making dvd’s for the body of Christ to be informed (the newest one is listed after the newsletter).
On the other hand, some say as long as we believe in Jesus whatever else we believe or do does not matter. Actually our belief in Jesus shapes our other beliefs and practices – Christian doctrine matters.
We constantly hear the world say “to believe in one self.” I understand that one can have a certain confidence in their talents or abilities, but eventually self will let you down, for the simple reason it’s a fallen nature. Jesus said the opposite; deny yourself because if you focus on self, fallen man (even believers) you deny yourself the power of God to work in your life. Jesus said you can achieve nothing of value (for his kingdom) without Him. The world’s philosophies are always trying to intrude on the church. Weak men in the faith and ethics are used to deliver them to the church.
The gospel is no longer the only way to have membership in the church. You don’t have to be “in Christ” to be in the church (or be the church). If you tithe enough you too can be part of the elites closed circle to the pastor (or bishop, or apostle, or prophet). He might even make you an elder, that can co rule and reign over the sitters that come every Sunday morning.
And we wonder why we are such a weak condition?
Send in the clowns … to remove the frowns
Let us laugh and be entertained “in church.” Over 20 years ago a movement began that was called another Pentecost. Come and get drunk on the Holy Ghost and laugh yourself silly. Some even broke out in laughter when hearing about hell. They laid on the floor writhing in ecstasy as the master of ceremonies said “touch,” “fill” and pointed his finger to pass on what they thought was the anointing. Numerous other Latter Rain revisitations have broken out since then.
Could it be that God was trying to prepare us for the future which is NOW; to have us test what is said by His word? If so, much of the church failed. For this was not God who sent this kind of revival. Again, people gravitated toward an experience, and it is still going on by Rodney Browne and others. What’s next, the crying revival
In the meantime Britain which was impacted by this immensely has become a center of Islam, they have elected their first Muslim mayor of London and sharia is courts are spreading. In Iraq 91 % believes they should have Sharia law and we thought we would change this? PEW Poll Analysis: A billion Muslims in the world want Sharia law, that’s more than half. What of in the US? Poll of U.S. Muslims by The Polling Company for the Center for Security Policy, 51% want Sharia law.
Islam, Wicca, even Satanism and New Agers have all experienced growth in recent years both here and in Europe. While the church continues to lose many. Why is that? Could it be that they are better at explaining the lies than the churches are at explaining the truth?
We have paid a huge price in America with inexperienced leadership, both in politics and the church. Just because someone is called a professor or a prophet, and respected by men does not mean they are teaching correctly.
Can America readjust its downward motion? Who do we depend on to do this, a new president? Where will revival come from? Charisma magazine offers Bill Johnson as one “Born for Revival” (he is on the August 2016 cover). Is this whom revival will come by? A man who denies Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. A man who is involved in word faith, Toronto, prophets and apostles and everything that is wrong?
Who is “qualified” for bringing revival? To bring back life is God’s job, he is into making dead things alive again, and he has already given us what is needed (2 Pt.1:3. Phl.2:16)
For any of this to happen there must be Christians who want to participate and know how to present the gospel. Not just mutter Jesus loves you and promise the blessings before they understand their sinfulness to actually be saved. The gospel is like a doctor doing exploratory surgery and finding the tumor to remove it. We are not going to change the direction of the world which is in rebellion, but we can call some out.
Whole methodologies have been invented (by men) to change the culture (Loren Cunningham YWAM and Bill Bright) by their 7 cultural mountains. And where has it worked? Nowhere. Or the unity movement of pulse (press the reset button) together 2016 which unites with Roman Catholicism. Could it be that these things so many try over and over again are not of god nor the direction that is led by God? Are we that stiff necked not to see this?
We can no longer afford to be run by bureaucratic nincompoops, nor can the church afford to be run by the uneducated charlatans any longer. It’s time to stand – it’s for our survival.
Look at how long word faith teaching has been with us. Now it’s permeated everywhere and become a norm in the church. Over 15 years have gone by since the prayer of Jabez where it said, this is the only prayer God always answers (to have more.)
The truth always exposes the lies, but we need to be using the word to see it. There is no such thing claimed in Scripture for Christians. The only prayer that is always answered is by an unbeliever GENUINELY calling on Jesus to save them by the gospel (Rom.10). This was a word faith test the church failed to object to.
The Word faith prosperity message of gain still attracts the immature. John the baptizer, who called for repentance, was chosen to introduced Jesus, he was not living a life of luxury. This is why these preachers can’t preach repentance because they live in luxury. Some excuse them as it is their right to spend their enormous amounts of money anyway they want. First: they are not working for it like others who donate the money to their MINISTRY. It’s not theirs but the Lord’s. And the lord has already addressed what they are doing as wrong. So they cannot defend them by the Bible ACCURATELY.
Recently I saw on a non -Christian channel a new word faith teacher who was able to mimic a certain prosperity teacher that is still speaking (initials MM). Not only was his presentation a carbon copy in word but so were in his gestures and inflection in voice, nuances in his mannerisms. It was amazing and disgusting at the same time. Disgusting how he was manipulating his audience to believe lies, but he knew what worked.
Where do you derive your Christianity from? Direct from the source or from intermediaries (Jn.8:32, 36; 15:5). Some follow men and say they follow Christ but when checked with the Bible it becomes evident they do not. They have transgressed the borders God has in His word.
A new order is being established by an ancient religious force
Why do all those in Islam who kill others claim they are following their prophet and their book?
After all these years why are we so under-educated on this religion. It’s not that Americans are illiterate and cannot read. They are often prevented in understanding the differences by two reasons, 1) Their critical thinking has become null and void. 2) The media’s influence makes excuses on the worst behavior seen in humanity, obfuscating the facts. Americans have not been told the truth by most of the TV networks, and some who do give a small percentage of it.
Politics and black holes
Politics, Energy, the Financial market and War affect us all. It does not matter what country you live in. Globalists want America to be an international nation, not a sovereign nation (look at the UN agenda). They want no borders in a country, and there are those who want no borders in the church, unity is their goal.
Current Politics is the strangest we have seen. We have a very unlikely challenger to a likely candidate. One is an internationalist (globalist) the other an outsider that is nationalist (a rarity in politics these days). One is a long time politician who knows the game played with world leaders, the other played the game with the politicians in his businesses and will say whatever comes to mind (which is not always right or good).
Communists hate God and if they support someone in politics that speaks volumes to what that candidate stands for. Their ideology is that there is No God but the state. Mankind’s creator is replaced by government. In the church we face the same attitude by Nicolaitans claiming apostolic government is the answer. Some are willing to copy the world’s ways with these false prophets leading their churches.
The she candidate has implemented the role of a word smith in her denial of sending or receiving classified information. Its marked “confidential and top secret” (not classified). The real problem is that someone removed these markings that had access to them. So many others (even recently) have been prosecuted for far less. So what does this tell us, or does it even matter to you?
This is how politics and its technicians work. They poly, holding two opinions at the same time. Apparently the FBI and justice dept. had different opinions than the pledge of allegiance “and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The “she” candidate, the one who helped instigate the “Arab spring” which brought such a mess to the Middle east tells Israel that terrorists are praying, “Please, Allah, make Trump president of America.” Will she say this to the Muslims? She just admitted that they are Islamic, contrary to the claims of both her and the administration. (poly)
America and Islam
Should we prevent Muslims from openly entering into our country and have a stronger vetting process? Politician’s argue that if we stop them from entering into our country, it will make them even more angry at us and produce more terrorists! More than what they are already producing?
How does this logic work? Keeping them out until we figure out a better way to know who they actually are is common sense. If we can continue the open door policy we should expect some (increasing) bad with the good as almost all the experts on this have warned. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said, “Members of the Islamic State are trying to use the U.S. refugee program to enter the United States.
We have seen what the refugees have brought to other countries. This is the 2nd phase of the “Arab spring,” or more accurately named the “Muslim Expansion.” Why are the refugees seeking refuge in Christian countries and five of the wealthiest Muslims Countries are not taking in Syrian refugees. Could they know something we do not?
Germany is now in turmoil because they wanted to help. Swedish police now tell women to stay indoors after sunset because of the refugees. Much of the news has moved away from reporting what is actually taking place.
911 remembered
Everyone remembers where they were on the day of 911. I certainly do, it was early in the morning here in Hawaii when I was working on articles on the computer and went into the living room to turn on the TV. I immediately knew from the first plane hitting the Tower what this was, an attack.
It was 6 months prior to this I was receiving death threats by Muslims overseas. I had gone to the FBI with the emails and they said they could not do anything, they referred me to the local police. I then went to them and they said unless something has actually taken place they could not do anything (now I think they would react differently.)
As I watched the second plane hit the tower this became an even larger concern, so I went back to go on to the computer. I found I was hacked and the computer was dead. I was using Win 98 at the time and I could not revive it no matter what I did. Coincidence that this took place at the same time? I doubt mine was an isolated incident.
This was a sad sobering day, only now do we fully grasp what had begun from it.
The current conventional “wisdom,” (man’s opinion) is those who do violence are not following ‘true’ Islam. That there is no such thing as Islamic terrorists.
As far back as 1987 Ollie North warned us in America of the threats he and his family were receiving from a terrorist (Abu Nidal, a radical Palestinian guerrilla leader) who is quoted in Der Spiegel saying, “Between America and us, there exists a war to the death. In the coming months and years, Americans will be thinking about us.”
The past tells the future.
Calling it by any other name but the right one We hear straw man arguments of why we should not to use the term radical Islam as if this terminology will make matters worse. But it is not about them, but us. It focuses us on whom and what the enemy is. Simple logic tells us if you can’t name the enemy, you can’t fight them as the enemy. The false view of not calling them religious terrorists to avoid recruiting more jihadists only results in more successful Jihadi recruits. Not recognizing, acknowledging the religious component to this, only allows it to persist and expand.
They say when you mention terrorism connected to Islam -Your an Islamaphope – well, the media is run by truthaphobes. If you missed the news on one station you will find the exact same words used on another station as the memos go out (This same action is also happening with messages in the church.)
The media is to distribute information that is truthful, accurate, but they mostly persuade people to believe their own deceptions. Like Islam means peace, when it really means submission to their God Allah, AND his prophet.
The western media has created the concept of a peaceful softer Islam but when you go to the middle east you find it’s just not so.
The Pope, Francis, who is supposed to be a religious leader of a church. Like other popes prior he has become a friend to Islam, inviting them to the Vatican for prayers joining them in their mosques.
He claimed members of ISIS are primarily motivated by a lack of money and resources, it’s not about their religion. Neglecting the obvious– the “I” in ISIS stands for Islamic.
The Pope along with others say Global warming is “the great threat.” What kind of leader says the biggest threat to us all is a little warmth, not death by killing.
He opened his mouth to say these words of wisdom, “no religion had a monopoly of violent members” “…Not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent,” (note: no one said they were all violent.)
Authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence. Pope Francis dismissed Islamic State as a “small fundamentalist group” not representative of Islam as a whole.
ISIS responded quickly refuting the Popes words of ignorance in their magazine Dabiq. As to the statement “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence”
The article insists, to urge all Muslims to take up the sword of jihad, the “greatest obligation” of a true Muslim. ISIS included a section in the most recent issue of Dabiq titled “Why we hate you & why we fight you.”
The first reason they list: “We hate you, first and foremost, because you are disbelievers; you reject the oneness of Allah – whether you realize it or not – by making partners for Him in worship, you blaspheme against Him, claiming that He has a son” Does their motivation to kill sound cultural, political or religious to you? It is really about Jesus and Christianity. Yet everyone refuses to believe their words!
The Pope has not responded and is being quiet … yes, even a fool who keeps his mouth shut can look wise.
The way of Islam
Islam is not just a religion, it is a complete surrender to its god and his system of life. A theology of submission with a belief in a theocracy (called umma), which encompasses everything, legal, political, economic, social, military components and religious living.
What we are facing now is civilization Jihad. We can see what Islam is. Not a single Muslim country is run in accord to the freedom values that the west holds (which happens to be based on Judeo Christian beliefs).
Many have made the mistake of finding this justification for Jihad only in the Quran. The Quran is not the primary source of Islam, it is one of the primary sources of Islam. The Hadith’s reveal the prophets character and ways.
The Hadiths contain what Mohammed said during his teachings of 23 years. Sunnah is the way of the Prophet. Islam becomes a submission to Allah AND his apostle. It is one prophet they follow, not prophets, and it is not Jesus. Once this is understood we have better grasp of what we are seeing today.
Of the 452 terrorist attacks in 2015, all but 2 were Islamic. To insist there’s not an Islamic terrorist problem is plain insanity. But the leaders of nations (ours too) continue to insist on this. It’s been proven that the attacks and bombings are correlated to the rate of Muslim immigration in countries.
Surah 9:29: Picthal: “Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture (Christians & Jews) as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.” Mohammed is known to say “I am the prophet that laughs when killing my enemies.” (sahih Hadith))
Isis along with hundreds of other terrorist groups are in concert with their founder Mohammed. Some call it radical Islam, but it should be called ancient Islam. If one studies history they will find that Mohammed led some 27 invasions and had plans for many more.
What we are seeing is the original Islam, and some admit it. ISIS celebrated a bloody Ramadan month with attacks June and July. 14 different terror attacks, military campaigns were carried out in Syria, Iraq, the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. In their weekly magazine, al-Naba they boast that 5,200 people were killed or wounded in “military operations”, including the attack we had in Orlando.
Since 9/11 there have been over 29,000 attacks worldwide. Think of this war going on for the last 15 years, and many are in the latter years.
By August in 2016, Islamic Terrorism had executed 1,534 Islamic attacks in 51 countries, in which 13,581 people were killed and 16,424 injured.
At Al Quds University there are ornaments and pictures of the perpetrators of violent attacks. Top Palestinian Authority officials regularly glorify these so-called “martyrs” by naming streets and sports tournaments after them and heaping praise on their families.
Who are the martyrs? Is it Islamists, Isis and their maniacal armies? Since when is a martyr someone who intentionally kills innocent people and kills them-self? The real martyrs are the Christians they kill, who hold onto their faith in the face of death. They are the ones that get promoted and receive real rewards in the real heaven.
You reflect the image of the God you serve. What image are these terrorists reflecting, not a merciful god.
To revisit the question we began with, whom do you follow?
May you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Mike Oppenheimer
