Here’s an interesting take on the possible origins of the Antichrist -- he could be a descendant of Esau. Esau began the whole idea of trying to wipe out the Jews by plotting to kill his brother Jacob who, of course, ended up being the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Among Esau’s descendants were the children of Amalek and one of the most famous Amalekites was Haman who also tried to wipe out the Jews in Persia as told in the book of Esther. Herod was an Idumean, also descendants of Esau, and as we all know from the Christmas story, he tried to kill every single Jewish male baby in Bethlehem in order to hold onto his power.
Later during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Idumeans pleaded with the inhabitants of the city to let them come inside the walls. The Jews allowed them in because they promised to help with the fighting. They came in, all right, and then they turned on the Jews and helped the Romans slaughter them.
The entire book of Obadiah shows God’s anger at Edom, the nation that sprang from Esau. Obadiah graphically depicts God’s fury concerning their treatment of his chosen people with prophecies of Edom's future punishment.
The Bible tells us that there will be one time when Esau breaks the yoke of his brother Jacob (as predicted by their father Isaac during that whole incident with the stolen blessing in Genesis 29). Can this possibly be the time when the Antichrist rules because the Antichrist is a descendant of Esau?
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As if we didn’t have enough to deal with on the gay marriage front, now a dictionary has gotten into the act. Merriam-Webster now includes one of its definitions of marriage as “the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage.” Noah Webster, our founding father who created the Webster dictionary, must be turning over in his grave. Here’s what his original definition had to say about marriage... it’s “the act of uniting a man and a woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and a woman for life. Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the partied engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity till death shall separate them. Marriage was instituted by God himself.”
Not many people know that Noah Webster included a call to repentance and the sinner’s prayer in the opening pages of his dictionary. We’ve come a long and not-so-good way since then.
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Are you feeling like you’re in the minority lately? If you’re a true Bible-believing Christian, it’s very likely you are. According to a recent survey, only 4% of adults have a biblical worldview. Even more chilling, only 1% of young adults hold a biblical worldview. We’re not doing a very good job of passing our faith on to the next generation. I’ve often wondered how God would be able to declare his church complete and to initiate the rapture, but with stats like these, it’s sadly getting easier to imagine, at least here in the United States. Happily the rest of the world is exploding with new believers, China and the Middle East in particular.
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Speaking of stats, here’s another sobering one. There were 14,000 pastors in Germany as Hitler was rising to power. Only a little more than 800 stood up to him. The problem was that the churches in Germany had divided their worldview between the secular and the sacred, something no Christian should ever do. And so Hitler was able to use their foolish -- and unbiblical -- worldview to gain political power with no one to stop him. The separation of church and state IS NOT in our constitution, but it was in the former Soviet Union’s!
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Five consequences for rejecting God according to Romans 1.
1. People become futile in their thinking and indulge in stupid speculations.
2. People exchange the truth of God’s word for the lie that we can be God ourselves (just like Eve did in Eden).
3. People accept homosexuality as normal.
4. The whole culture becomes violent and debased.
5. The culture encourages immorality which means we end up with corrupt judicial, executive, and legislative branches of the government.
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Some worldview trends taking the place of the word of God
1. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS which is also known as cultural Marxism. This is forced on the culture by the so-called elites who do everything in their power to deny God. Everything is equal except for the ultimate truth of the Bible and God.
2. PAGAN SPIRITUALITY from across the spectrum which is being heavily promoted by Oprah among others. This is a growing trend because it gives people license to rebel against the God of the Bible. It also provides spiritual salve for their guilty consciences -- people are able to do whatever works for them. Pluralism and tolerance become cool (for everything except the Bible). It also justifies people’s political liberalism so they can be in favor of abortion and gay marriage and other sins without feeling bad.
3. ONE WORLD SPIRITUALITY which is the amalgamation of Darwinian evolution, pantheism (God is everything and everything is God), and occultism (as evidenced by the explosion of movies and stories about vampires, demons, aliens, and superheroes with god-like powers, as well as the rise of the Wicca religion).
These trends have two goals in common -- to destroy Christianity and to create chaos so people will cry out for more government. The elites want socialism, but they want it to come through evolution rather than revolution.
****************
Have you noticed how the facts about Islam that keep turning up in the news and online get scarier and scarier and yet most people seem more oblivious than ever about the dangers of this all-encompassing political/religious system. The latest comes out of Turkey where half of all murders last year were honor killings. Now family members are forcing women to commit suicide, so the male members of the family won’t have to kill them and end up in jail. Families used to call on the younger men to do the killing because they felt the law would deal with them more leniently. Now, however, Turkey has passed a law that calls for mandatory life imprisonment for those who perform these honor killings. In order to avoid that penalty, after the family council decides that a woman should no longer be allowed to live for bringing ‘dishonor’ on the family, they leave her in a locked room with a noose, a knife, and rat poison until she complies with their verdict. How nice of them to give her a choice on how to off herself.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
International Prophecy Conference 2009
I recently attended the 2009 International Prophecy Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.
All I can say is a great, big WOW.
The speakers were a who’s who of biblical prophecy and included the host pastor, Joe Van Koevering along with Tim LaHaye, Grant Jeffrey, Mark Hitchcock, Perry Stone, Donald Perkins, and John McTernan.
Here are some of the highlights of what we all learned.
The Bible tells us that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her. John McTernan spoke about how every time America has done something to violate this principle, we’ve have some sort of catastrophe. For example, George Herbert Bush was in the process of giving a speech in Madrid insisting that Israel must divide the land when a freakish storm that eventually came to be known as the Perfect Storm (of George Clooney movie fame) began swirling in the north Atlantic where storms never have their origin and headed southwest, which storms never do. This killer storm skirted the coast of Maine where Bush has a summer home and 30 foot waves just happened to wash over that residence, blowing out the windows and destroying the place. Later in 1992, this so called Peace Process which Bush senior initiated and whose core principle calls for the dividing of the land of Israel, moved from Madrid to the United States at the same time that Hurricane Andrew hit. Soon after all this, it became clear to everyone that Bush senior was done politically and would not win re-election.
Another really amazing connection between what happens when we mess with Israel concerns the Gaza strip. At the urging of the U.S., Israel turned over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians. Jews were warned to leave and then forcibly evicted from their homes. Within the week, Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans and people here in the United States were warned to leave and then forcibly evicted from their homes. George W. Bush never recovered from the political fallout of this disaster and he left office with some of the worst ratings in history. God had judged him as he had judged his father for trying to divide the land of Israel.
More interesting tidbits: Our economy started to fall on July 20th, 2007 after another speech was given that Israel must be divided. The stock market crashed in a big way (in the 600-700 point range) on the three Jewish holidays of Rosh Shoshana, Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Trumpets.
Check out McTernan’s book on the subject AS AMERICA HAS DONE TO ISRAEL for more mind-boggling connections that are too numerous to be coincidental.
Mark Hitchcock spoke about four possible scenarios for America since it is not mentioned in end times prophecy: 1) a nuclear or EMP attack, 2) a financial apocalypse, 3) an energy crisis, or 4) a fall from within. He also felt that during the Rapture, America will lose more Christians percentage-wise than any other country and that this would reduce us to a third world country overnight. His book, THE LATE GREAT UNITED STATES has more on all of this.
Perry Stone pointed out that God is a God of patterns and that the things that occurred in Genesis provide a template of what will happen again. He then proceeded to show how America follows the pattern both of ancient Israel (13 tribes vs 13 colonies, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea to become a nation, we crossed the Atlantic ocean, etc.) and the Roman empire (where it seems that we are similarly being destroyed from within). He suggested that our economic situation is very much like the story of Joseph in Egypt and that Obama is like ‘the pharaoh who knew not Joseph’.
America seems to have reached her peak. The Antichrist and the one world government can’t bring the mark of the beast to bear while the U.S. dollar still exists nor can the world join together in a global government in the first place unless America is no longer strong and free. Israel has to stand alone, which means no more support from the U.S. which also means no more blessings on America. America is also ripe for judgment for the sin of killing millions of babies and its growing support of the abomination of state-sanctioned gay marriage.
Grant Jeffrey gave a riveting talk about the Shadow Government and the plan by global elites to take over the entire earth. Even before the election was decided, both Obama and Hilary Clinton attended a meeting of the Bildiburgers, a select, elite group somewhat like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Likely it didn’t matter who came out on top because whoever ended up as president would choose the other as secretary of state.
Even scarier is the ever-growing technology which can now keep tabs on all of us. Radio Frequency chips (RFIDs) are in everything, including the clothes you wear. They don’t disable them when you buy the clothes (with your also-able-to-be-tracked credit card) and these chips can be read up to 100 feet away with a reader. Right now it’s used for inventory control, but the possibilities for more evil purposes are endless. American passports now have this chip and they’re talking about putting them in drivers licenses. And did you know that every email any of us has ever sent since the beginning of email is still out there, even if you immediately erase it. The National Security Agency runs a huge computer that keeps all the data. Mr. Jeffrey’s advice -- when sending emails, act as if a policeman is watching over your shoulder.
A crew from God TV filmed all the sessions and they’re going to be on sometime in the future. Check out their website at GodTV for the times and also check out the website of conference host Dr. Van Koevering at God's News Behind the News.
All I can say is a great, big WOW.
The speakers were a who’s who of biblical prophecy and included the host pastor, Joe Van Koevering along with Tim LaHaye, Grant Jeffrey, Mark Hitchcock, Perry Stone, Donald Perkins, and John McTernan.
Here are some of the highlights of what we all learned.
The Bible tells us that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her. John McTernan spoke about how every time America has done something to violate this principle, we’ve have some sort of catastrophe. For example, George Herbert Bush was in the process of giving a speech in Madrid insisting that Israel must divide the land when a freakish storm that eventually came to be known as the Perfect Storm (of George Clooney movie fame) began swirling in the north Atlantic where storms never have their origin and headed southwest, which storms never do. This killer storm skirted the coast of Maine where Bush has a summer home and 30 foot waves just happened to wash over that residence, blowing out the windows and destroying the place. Later in 1992, this so called Peace Process which Bush senior initiated and whose core principle calls for the dividing of the land of Israel, moved from Madrid to the United States at the same time that Hurricane Andrew hit. Soon after all this, it became clear to everyone that Bush senior was done politically and would not win re-election.
Another really amazing connection between what happens when we mess with Israel concerns the Gaza strip. At the urging of the U.S., Israel turned over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians. Jews were warned to leave and then forcibly evicted from their homes. Within the week, Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans and people here in the United States were warned to leave and then forcibly evicted from their homes. George W. Bush never recovered from the political fallout of this disaster and he left office with some of the worst ratings in history. God had judged him as he had judged his father for trying to divide the land of Israel.
More interesting tidbits: Our economy started to fall on July 20th, 2007 after another speech was given that Israel must be divided. The stock market crashed in a big way (in the 600-700 point range) on the three Jewish holidays of Rosh Shoshana, Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Trumpets.
Check out McTernan’s book on the subject AS AMERICA HAS DONE TO ISRAEL for more mind-boggling connections that are too numerous to be coincidental.
Mark Hitchcock spoke about four possible scenarios for America since it is not mentioned in end times prophecy: 1) a nuclear or EMP attack, 2) a financial apocalypse, 3) an energy crisis, or 4) a fall from within. He also felt that during the Rapture, America will lose more Christians percentage-wise than any other country and that this would reduce us to a third world country overnight. His book, THE LATE GREAT UNITED STATES has more on all of this.
Perry Stone pointed out that God is a God of patterns and that the things that occurred in Genesis provide a template of what will happen again. He then proceeded to show how America follows the pattern both of ancient Israel (13 tribes vs 13 colonies, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea to become a nation, we crossed the Atlantic ocean, etc.) and the Roman empire (where it seems that we are similarly being destroyed from within). He suggested that our economic situation is very much like the story of Joseph in Egypt and that Obama is like ‘the pharaoh who knew not Joseph’.
America seems to have reached her peak. The Antichrist and the one world government can’t bring the mark of the beast to bear while the U.S. dollar still exists nor can the world join together in a global government in the first place unless America is no longer strong and free. Israel has to stand alone, which means no more support from the U.S. which also means no more blessings on America. America is also ripe for judgment for the sin of killing millions of babies and its growing support of the abomination of state-sanctioned gay marriage.
Grant Jeffrey gave a riveting talk about the Shadow Government and the plan by global elites to take over the entire earth. Even before the election was decided, both Obama and Hilary Clinton attended a meeting of the Bildiburgers, a select, elite group somewhat like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Likely it didn’t matter who came out on top because whoever ended up as president would choose the other as secretary of state.
Even scarier is the ever-growing technology which can now keep tabs on all of us. Radio Frequency chips (RFIDs) are in everything, including the clothes you wear. They don’t disable them when you buy the clothes (with your also-able-to-be-tracked credit card) and these chips can be read up to 100 feet away with a reader. Right now it’s used for inventory control, but the possibilities for more evil purposes are endless. American passports now have this chip and they’re talking about putting them in drivers licenses. And did you know that every email any of us has ever sent since the beginning of email is still out there, even if you immediately erase it. The National Security Agency runs a huge computer that keeps all the data. Mr. Jeffrey’s advice -- when sending emails, act as if a policeman is watching over your shoulder.
A crew from God TV filmed all the sessions and they’re going to be on sometime in the future. Check out their website at GodTV for the times and also check out the website of conference host Dr. Van Koevering at God's News Behind the News.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Islam -- Cruel and Usual Punishment
It still amazes me that so many people think Islam is a religion of peace and that those who follow it come to the United States and happily blend right in to our American way of life. Muslims do not and cannot integrate with our culture because they’re living under another cultural imperative entirely.
Christians have no cultural mandate, but are able to work, eat, and dress according to the places where they live. In contrast, Islam deifies 7th century Arabian culture. It’s Arab imperialism disguised as a religion. Islam is a one party totalitarian system that puts you to death if you try to leave it.
We continue to call Islam a religion, but it’s actually a political system whereas Christianity and other religions are not. Islam follows the political structure of 7th century Arabia where the chief had absolute power over the members of his tribe. Every Muslim nation today has a dictator or other single leader who holds absolute power over the people. Just like in the Arabian desert all those centuries ago, freedom of speech and religion are nowhere in sight.
As most people know, Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day facing toward Mecca. Again, this is cultural imperialism. Christians don’t pray toward Rome or the Holy Land nor do Jews pray toward Jerusalem. Is Allah in Mecca? I don’t think so.
As for dietary laws, only those foods which were acceptable in 7th century Arabia are allowed today, thus the prohibition on pork among other foods.
Women really lose out under Islam where they are totally subjected to horrible treatment. Women are forced to wear what illiterate, nomadic tribeswomen wore in the desert during the 7th century when Islam was founded. Women are pretty much a segregated subculture under the total dominance of men. They’re separated in schools and are even segregated in fast food restaurants -- no family dinners at McDonald’s allowed under Islam. Worse, public decency police called muttawa search the malls for women whose loose scarves might reveal a curl of hair. Once found, they are allowed to beat these poor women with sticks. Islam punishes rape victims rather than the rapists -- a woman needs four male witnesses to attest to a rape otherwise she is considered the guilty party and can even be stoned to death because of it. Thanks to the Islamic concept of ‘honor’ killing, a woman can be legally murdered by her male relatives for such 'violations' of the family honor as dating an unacceptable man or wanting a divorce or losing her virginity outside marriage. The perpetrators suffer little or no consequences for their acts. Islam allows men to have an endless number of ‘pleasure’ wives, a woman whom a man can legally 'marry' for a single night of sex, then walk away from in the morning, no strings attached.
Punishment is cruel, unusual, and downright barbaric under Sharia law in Islam. The Koran specifically commands that those who disobey Allah be tortured, so they cut off hands, ears, and tongues. They gouge out eyes. They behead people and carry out public floggings. Did you know there are three official state beheaders in Saudi Arabla? These guys are like rock stars over there. Every Friday, they have public beheadings of murderers, sorcerers, adulterers, robbers, and others in Riyadh’s ‘Chop Chop’ square.
The United States must NEVER allow Sharia law to gain a foothold, not even in enclaves of predominantly Muslim populations. If you want to know more, check out Noni Darwish’s riveting new book, CRUEL AND USUAL PUNISHMENT. Ms Darwish lived the first thirty years of her life under Sharia law and she tells how that was and how Sharia might soon be coming to a neighborhood near you if all of us don’t stand up for our constitutional freedoms and for our country.
Christians have no cultural mandate, but are able to work, eat, and dress according to the places where they live. In contrast, Islam deifies 7th century Arabian culture. It’s Arab imperialism disguised as a religion. Islam is a one party totalitarian system that puts you to death if you try to leave it.
We continue to call Islam a religion, but it’s actually a political system whereas Christianity and other religions are not. Islam follows the political structure of 7th century Arabia where the chief had absolute power over the members of his tribe. Every Muslim nation today has a dictator or other single leader who holds absolute power over the people. Just like in the Arabian desert all those centuries ago, freedom of speech and religion are nowhere in sight.
As most people know, Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day facing toward Mecca. Again, this is cultural imperialism. Christians don’t pray toward Rome or the Holy Land nor do Jews pray toward Jerusalem. Is Allah in Mecca? I don’t think so.
As for dietary laws, only those foods which were acceptable in 7th century Arabia are allowed today, thus the prohibition on pork among other foods.
Women really lose out under Islam where they are totally subjected to horrible treatment. Women are forced to wear what illiterate, nomadic tribeswomen wore in the desert during the 7th century when Islam was founded. Women are pretty much a segregated subculture under the total dominance of men. They’re separated in schools and are even segregated in fast food restaurants -- no family dinners at McDonald’s allowed under Islam. Worse, public decency police called muttawa search the malls for women whose loose scarves might reveal a curl of hair. Once found, they are allowed to beat these poor women with sticks. Islam punishes rape victims rather than the rapists -- a woman needs four male witnesses to attest to a rape otherwise she is considered the guilty party and can even be stoned to death because of it. Thanks to the Islamic concept of ‘honor’ killing, a woman can be legally murdered by her male relatives for such 'violations' of the family honor as dating an unacceptable man or wanting a divorce or losing her virginity outside marriage. The perpetrators suffer little or no consequences for their acts. Islam allows men to have an endless number of ‘pleasure’ wives, a woman whom a man can legally 'marry' for a single night of sex, then walk away from in the morning, no strings attached.
Punishment is cruel, unusual, and downright barbaric under Sharia law in Islam. The Koran specifically commands that those who disobey Allah be tortured, so they cut off hands, ears, and tongues. They gouge out eyes. They behead people and carry out public floggings. Did you know there are three official state beheaders in Saudi Arabla? These guys are like rock stars over there. Every Friday, they have public beheadings of murderers, sorcerers, adulterers, robbers, and others in Riyadh’s ‘Chop Chop’ square.
The United States must NEVER allow Sharia law to gain a foothold, not even in enclaves of predominantly Muslim populations. If you want to know more, check out Noni Darwish’s riveting new book, CRUEL AND USUAL PUNISHMENT. Ms Darwish lived the first thirty years of her life under Sharia law and she tells how that was and how Sharia might soon be coming to a neighborhood near you if all of us don’t stand up for our constitutional freedoms and for our country.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Movie Madness
Movieguide magazine, a Christian family guide to movies and entertainment, has put out their annual year in review issue.
There’s lots of interesting stuff.
They list the ten Best Movies of 2008 for families and give the theme/reason why they were chosen:
1. WALL-E (love gives all to save mankind -- best love and sacrifice)
2. FIREPROOF (learning to truly love -- best redemptive love story)
3. PRINCE CASPIAN (substance of things hoped for -- best faith and chivalry)
4. BOLT (love overcomes all obstacles -- best faith and trust triumph)
5. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D (discovering the value of family -- best finding family)
6. NIM’S ISLAND (hope, courage, and keeping promises -- best coming of age)
7. KUNG FU PANDA (the truth is there is no secret -- best overcoming elitism)
8. THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX (commending a code of real honor -- best valor in the face of danger)
9. MADAGASCAR 2 (love bears ignominy and perseveres -- best father/son reunion)
10. HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (learning to do the right thing -- best good, clean fun).
The ten Best Movies of 2008 for Mature Audiences:
1. IRONMAN (sacrifice redeems cad -- best conversion to righteousness)
2. GRAN TORINO (redemptive power of sacrifice -- best learning true valor)
3. VALKYRIE (righteous courage -- best standing against evil)
4. CHANGELING (a mother’s love will not be silenced -- best truth triumphs)
5. THE LONGSHOTS (the gifts God gives you -- best use of God’s gifts)
6. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (save mankind to save the world -- best pro-humankind)
7. EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED (truth vanquishes false philosophy -- best expose of tyranny)
8. TYLER PERRY’S THE FAMILY THAT PREYS (Jesus forgives sinners -- best forgiveness in Christ)
9. MARLEY AND ME (unruly dog builds family -- best pet builds marriage)
10. HENRY POOLE IS HERE (miraculous deliverance from despair -- best atheist finds God).
One of the cool findings they report: movies reflecting high moral, biblical, and Christian standards do much better at the box office than movies that violate those high standards. Even better, this is especially true of movies that go out of their way to aggressively violate such standards. Moviegoers tend to reject them.
Four of the top five movies in 2008 had strong or very strong Christian, moral, and/or biblical content (with HANCOCK being the exception). Ten of the top ten movies had at least some Christian, moral, and/or biblical principles.
I don’t know about you, but I often have a beef with movie critics -- it seems the more they like a movie, the more I’ll probably dislike it. So I especially enjoyed this tidbit -- according to Movieguide, most movie critics picked as their favorites the worst movies seen by the fewest number of people.
The bottom line good news is that family friendly movies and movies with positive Christian content make the most money, on average, of any other kind of movie and these kinds of movies did so again in 2008. In fact, 2008 was the year that Communist movies like CHE totally bombed at the box office. Pedophile movies like HOUNDDOG with Dakota Fanning, anti-American movies like WAR, INC., anti-Christian movies like ADAM RESURRECTED, RELIGULOUS, and SAVE ME, also all bombed at the box office. It was the year where sex, foul language, graphic nudity, and homosexuality did not sell yet again.
Christians need to realize that this trend will not continue unless they support good movies as much as they can, thus sending the message to Hollywood to produce more of the same. We can’t ignore the huge influence Hollywood has on our kids and grandkids and on the society in which we all live.
With that said, here are some of the worst movies of 2008 for contributing to the corruption of the culture. In no particular order, they include: MILK, HANCOCK, W., SEX AND THE CITY, THE READER, THE HOUSE BUNNY, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, SAW V, THE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, and WANTED.
****************
The top three religions in the world are:
1. Christianity -- 2.1 billion
2. Islam -- 1.5 billion
3. Secular/Non-Religious/Agnostic/Atheist -- 1.1 billion.
The largest religious bodies and churches in the world are:
1. Catholic Church -- 1,100,000,000
2. Sunni Muslim -- 1,000,000,000
3. Eastern Orthodox Church -- 225,000,000
****************
Americans seem to be confused about several important moral issues. While 88% of Americans disapprove of adultery, only 52% say abortion is wrong while 50% say homosexual behavior is morally wrong.
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If you needed more proof that we're living in a post-Christian age, check this out. Active Christians in American number about 43 millions adults or 19% of the nation’s 226.2 million adults according to an R.R. Bowker study. ‘Active’ Christians are those most likely to read the Bible in their spare time, be committed churchgoers. accept leadership positions in the church, and feel obligated to share their faith.
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The political correctness gestapo isn’t only at work in the U.S. when it comes to the homosexual agenda. Now the European Union has demanded that all foreign aid to Nigeria be suspended after the Nigerians voted not to recognize homosexual marriage.
There’s lots of interesting stuff.
They list the ten Best Movies of 2008 for families and give the theme/reason why they were chosen:
1. WALL-E (love gives all to save mankind -- best love and sacrifice)
2. FIREPROOF (learning to truly love -- best redemptive love story)
3. PRINCE CASPIAN (substance of things hoped for -- best faith and chivalry)
4. BOLT (love overcomes all obstacles -- best faith and trust triumph)
5. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D (discovering the value of family -- best finding family)
6. NIM’S ISLAND (hope, courage, and keeping promises -- best coming of age)
7. KUNG FU PANDA (the truth is there is no secret -- best overcoming elitism)
8. THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX (commending a code of real honor -- best valor in the face of danger)
9. MADAGASCAR 2 (love bears ignominy and perseveres -- best father/son reunion)
10. HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (learning to do the right thing -- best good, clean fun).
The ten Best Movies of 2008 for Mature Audiences:
1. IRONMAN (sacrifice redeems cad -- best conversion to righteousness)
2. GRAN TORINO (redemptive power of sacrifice -- best learning true valor)
3. VALKYRIE (righteous courage -- best standing against evil)
4. CHANGELING (a mother’s love will not be silenced -- best truth triumphs)
5. THE LONGSHOTS (the gifts God gives you -- best use of God’s gifts)
6. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (save mankind to save the world -- best pro-humankind)
7. EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED (truth vanquishes false philosophy -- best expose of tyranny)
8. TYLER PERRY’S THE FAMILY THAT PREYS (Jesus forgives sinners -- best forgiveness in Christ)
9. MARLEY AND ME (unruly dog builds family -- best pet builds marriage)
10. HENRY POOLE IS HERE (miraculous deliverance from despair -- best atheist finds God).
One of the cool findings they report: movies reflecting high moral, biblical, and Christian standards do much better at the box office than movies that violate those high standards. Even better, this is especially true of movies that go out of their way to aggressively violate such standards. Moviegoers tend to reject them.
Four of the top five movies in 2008 had strong or very strong Christian, moral, and/or biblical content (with HANCOCK being the exception). Ten of the top ten movies had at least some Christian, moral, and/or biblical principles.
I don’t know about you, but I often have a beef with movie critics -- it seems the more they like a movie, the more I’ll probably dislike it. So I especially enjoyed this tidbit -- according to Movieguide, most movie critics picked as their favorites the worst movies seen by the fewest number of people.
The bottom line good news is that family friendly movies and movies with positive Christian content make the most money, on average, of any other kind of movie and these kinds of movies did so again in 2008. In fact, 2008 was the year that Communist movies like CHE totally bombed at the box office. Pedophile movies like HOUNDDOG with Dakota Fanning, anti-American movies like WAR, INC., anti-Christian movies like ADAM RESURRECTED, RELIGULOUS, and SAVE ME, also all bombed at the box office. It was the year where sex, foul language, graphic nudity, and homosexuality did not sell yet again.
Christians need to realize that this trend will not continue unless they support good movies as much as they can, thus sending the message to Hollywood to produce more of the same. We can’t ignore the huge influence Hollywood has on our kids and grandkids and on the society in which we all live.
With that said, here are some of the worst movies of 2008 for contributing to the corruption of the culture. In no particular order, they include: MILK, HANCOCK, W., SEX AND THE CITY, THE READER, THE HOUSE BUNNY, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, SAW V, THE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, and WANTED.
****************
The top three religions in the world are:
1. Christianity -- 2.1 billion
2. Islam -- 1.5 billion
3. Secular/Non-Religious/Agnostic/Atheist -- 1.1 billion.
The largest religious bodies and churches in the world are:
1. Catholic Church -- 1,100,000,000
2. Sunni Muslim -- 1,000,000,000
3. Eastern Orthodox Church -- 225,000,000
****************
Americans seem to be confused about several important moral issues. While 88% of Americans disapprove of adultery, only 52% say abortion is wrong while 50% say homosexual behavior is morally wrong.
****************
If you needed more proof that we're living in a post-Christian age, check this out. Active Christians in American number about 43 millions adults or 19% of the nation’s 226.2 million adults according to an R.R. Bowker study. ‘Active’ Christians are those most likely to read the Bible in their spare time, be committed churchgoers. accept leadership positions in the church, and feel obligated to share their faith.
****************
The political correctness gestapo isn’t only at work in the U.S. when it comes to the homosexual agenda. Now the European Union has demanded that all foreign aid to Nigeria be suspended after the Nigerians voted not to recognize homosexual marriage.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Voting for Obama
I am so thankful I didn’t vote for Obama.
Everything he’s done so far has been anti-God and anti-Bible.
He revoked the Mexico policy, so we’re not only funding abortions in the U.S., we’re funding them abroad.
He’s been on Arab TV and thinks it’s his job to make the American people understand the Muslim viewpoint. Someone ought to tell him it’s his job to stand up for America and to protect her citizens.
Hate crimes legislation, one of Obama’s prime objectives, has now moved to the front of the legislation line. Everyone’s freedom of speech and freedom of religion will suffer with pastors being the first to go. If you want to see how it’s going to be, check out what’s going on in Canada.
The stimulus bill is an ‘Obamanation’ of frivolous spending and untold pork projects that will NOT stimulate the economy. All the welfare reform that has worked so well and gotten untold numbers of people off welfare is gone with the stroke of a pen. The bill includes provisions leading to government health care and mandatory electronic health records for everyone with no opting out. We’re rapidly heading down the road to socialism.
My heart breaks for my country.
The irony is that many people ignored God’s clear directive and voted for Obama thinking he would fix the economy. If history holds true, this bill and the mortgage bailout he's planning are going to shrink our economy and we’ll soon be a second rate, has-been superpower.
Since God is in charge, I can only think that America is being judged in the form of an Obama/Democrat/far-left liberal presidency. Romans 1 says when people reject God, their foolish hearts are darkened, that they become fools. We can see that happening everywhere we turn. Common sense seems completely absent in every avenue of society. Why else would people believe that a horrendously debt ridden country like we’ve become can get out of debt by spending more money, and on ‘stuff’ that we don’t really need. It’s totally unbelievable. We deserve every bit of judgment we receive. Perhaps this is also the way God is going to take America off the world stage to set up the situation needed for the end times to play out.
As a country, we’re ALL responsible for Obama being in power and all the other things which have led us to the state we’re in today. But those Christians who actually voted for him will have to answer to God for not doing their homework and finding out exactly what he really stood for instead of falling for his empty rhetoric about hope and change.
***********
I recently read about the Muslim man who murdered his wife. The uniquely Muslim twist to this is that he did it by beheading her, the favored killing method of Islam. She was trying to divorce him. How ironic that he’d started a Muslim TV station meant to bridge the gulf between everyday Muslims and Americans. The station wasn’t doing as well as expected, so I suppose his pride was at stake. I fear we’ll be seeing more of these kinds of 'honor' killings in the future. Perhaps it will wake America up to what this ‘religion of peace’ is really all about.
************
The Obama administration has given $700,000 to “The Future of Babylon Project” which aims to rebuild the city of Babylon as a ‘cultural tourist’ mecca. Saddam Hussein had visions of himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar when he started rebuilding the city back in the days when he still held power. Now that the insurgency is dying down, the project is moving forward once again. Many cynics laughed at the Bible’s insistence that Babylon was slated to become the wealthiest and most powerful city on the face of the earth. As always, God will have the last laugh as Babylon’s rebirth gains momentum right before our eyes.
************
How sweet is this.... The pope called Nancy Pelosi on the carpet, giving her a stiff scolding on her recent visit there. How she thinks she can be a Catholic and push for every kind of abortion known to man is beyond me. After bum rushing the so-called Stimulus package (or the Great Generational Theft Act as many are calling it) through Congress so she could take this trip to Rome, she ended up being soundly rebuked. I especially appreciated the irony that our Speaker of the House, who never refuses any opportunity for an interview, gave out no interviews after she met with Pope Benedict XVI nor were there any pictures of her and the pope together. Until she toes the Catholic line on abortion, he obviously doesn't want to be seen in the same photo with her.
*************
I knew the movie MILK about the homosexual mayor of San Francisco would somehow be rewarded at the Academy Awards, if only to show the world that Hollywood is in favor of ‘gay’ marriage and thinks the rest of us are a bunch of homophobic bigots. And so it happened last night when Sean Penn won the Oscar for Best Actor. Of course, during his acceptance speech, he had to spout some nonsense about how the grandchildren of those who voted in favor of marriage being between one man and one woman would have nothing but shame for them somewhere down the line. Ho hum. I had been fearful that MILK would win Best Picture, but happily that didn’t happen thanks to that great little movie that could, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
Everything he’s done so far has been anti-God and anti-Bible.
He revoked the Mexico policy, so we’re not only funding abortions in the U.S., we’re funding them abroad.
He’s been on Arab TV and thinks it’s his job to make the American people understand the Muslim viewpoint. Someone ought to tell him it’s his job to stand up for America and to protect her citizens.
Hate crimes legislation, one of Obama’s prime objectives, has now moved to the front of the legislation line. Everyone’s freedom of speech and freedom of religion will suffer with pastors being the first to go. If you want to see how it’s going to be, check out what’s going on in Canada.
The stimulus bill is an ‘Obamanation’ of frivolous spending and untold pork projects that will NOT stimulate the economy. All the welfare reform that has worked so well and gotten untold numbers of people off welfare is gone with the stroke of a pen. The bill includes provisions leading to government health care and mandatory electronic health records for everyone with no opting out. We’re rapidly heading down the road to socialism.
My heart breaks for my country.
The irony is that many people ignored God’s clear directive and voted for Obama thinking he would fix the economy. If history holds true, this bill and the mortgage bailout he's planning are going to shrink our economy and we’ll soon be a second rate, has-been superpower.
Since God is in charge, I can only think that America is being judged in the form of an Obama/Democrat/far-left liberal presidency. Romans 1 says when people reject God, their foolish hearts are darkened, that they become fools. We can see that happening everywhere we turn. Common sense seems completely absent in every avenue of society. Why else would people believe that a horrendously debt ridden country like we’ve become can get out of debt by spending more money, and on ‘stuff’ that we don’t really need. It’s totally unbelievable. We deserve every bit of judgment we receive. Perhaps this is also the way God is going to take America off the world stage to set up the situation needed for the end times to play out.
As a country, we’re ALL responsible for Obama being in power and all the other things which have led us to the state we’re in today. But those Christians who actually voted for him will have to answer to God for not doing their homework and finding out exactly what he really stood for instead of falling for his empty rhetoric about hope and change.
***********
I recently read about the Muslim man who murdered his wife. The uniquely Muslim twist to this is that he did it by beheading her, the favored killing method of Islam. She was trying to divorce him. How ironic that he’d started a Muslim TV station meant to bridge the gulf between everyday Muslims and Americans. The station wasn’t doing as well as expected, so I suppose his pride was at stake. I fear we’ll be seeing more of these kinds of 'honor' killings in the future. Perhaps it will wake America up to what this ‘religion of peace’ is really all about.
************
The Obama administration has given $700,000 to “The Future of Babylon Project” which aims to rebuild the city of Babylon as a ‘cultural tourist’ mecca. Saddam Hussein had visions of himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar when he started rebuilding the city back in the days when he still held power. Now that the insurgency is dying down, the project is moving forward once again. Many cynics laughed at the Bible’s insistence that Babylon was slated to become the wealthiest and most powerful city on the face of the earth. As always, God will have the last laugh as Babylon’s rebirth gains momentum right before our eyes.
************
How sweet is this.... The pope called Nancy Pelosi on the carpet, giving her a stiff scolding on her recent visit there. How she thinks she can be a Catholic and push for every kind of abortion known to man is beyond me. After bum rushing the so-called Stimulus package (or the Great Generational Theft Act as many are calling it) through Congress so she could take this trip to Rome, she ended up being soundly rebuked. I especially appreciated the irony that our Speaker of the House, who never refuses any opportunity for an interview, gave out no interviews after she met with Pope Benedict XVI nor were there any pictures of her and the pope together. Until she toes the Catholic line on abortion, he obviously doesn't want to be seen in the same photo with her.
*************
I knew the movie MILK about the homosexual mayor of San Francisco would somehow be rewarded at the Academy Awards, if only to show the world that Hollywood is in favor of ‘gay’ marriage and thinks the rest of us are a bunch of homophobic bigots. And so it happened last night when Sean Penn won the Oscar for Best Actor. Of course, during his acceptance speech, he had to spout some nonsense about how the grandchildren of those who voted in favor of marriage being between one man and one woman would have nothing but shame for them somewhere down the line. Ho hum. I had been fearful that MILK would win Best Picture, but happily that didn’t happen thanks to that great little movie that could, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday Miscellanea
1. I saw a nifty cartoon recently. It showed a boss and an employee talking.
Boss: “Bob, you are the most honest, trustworthy, joyful, patient, kind, loyal, and respectful employee I’ve ever had work for me.”
Bob (thinking to himself): Honesty (Exodus 20:16), trustworthiness (Exodus 20:15), joy, patience, kindness (Galatians 5:22-23), and loyalty and respect (1 Peter 2:17-18).
Boss: “Keep it up, but just make sure you keep your Christianity and Bible stuff out of the office.”
How typical. People wants all the fruits of Christianity such as good employees, loyal friends, freedom, good laws, honesty in government, the Constitution, and yet they don’t want to acknowledge it as such.
2. In my Bible Counseling class our assignment was to take our Bibles to work for the rest of our lives!! What a great assignment for every Christian.
3. Nietsche said a couple of really interesting -- and true -- things:
a) “When one gives up Christian belief, one thereby deprives oneself of the right to Christian morality.”
I wish we could get this across to the many Americans who want religion out of government and yet want to keep the same morals. No wonder those morals are sadly disappearing -- they have no foundation to stand on.
b) “Christianity presupposes that man does not know, cannot know what is good for him and what is evil: he believes in God, who alone knows. Christian morality is a command; its origin is transcendent; it is beyond all criticism, all right to criticism; it has truth only if God is truth -- it stands and falls with the belief in God.”
Christianity and its morality has been proven time and time again. The answers to life are clear if only people would open their minds and hearts.
4. The secular mainstream media is not free of religion as they’re always claiming. They’re promoting atheism, a religion, because they want to remove all traces of God from our daily lives. This is not neutrality. There’s no such thing. Evolution supporters try to pull the same trick. If they were really interested in the truth, dialogue between both sides would be allowed.
5. Homosexual ‘bishop’ Gene Robinson is having to reduce clergy and support staff although not his own six figure salary. He thought the pews would be filled with hundreds and even thousands of homosexuals after he was ordained, but that hasn’t happened and he’s now being forced to cut back. Even more offensive is the fact that his salary includes $40,000 for his housing which he shares with his homosexual lover.
A similar result occurred when homosexual marriage became an option in Massachusetts. The huge rush by homosexuals to get married that many expected to see never happened either. Which just goes to show that the so called ‘gay’ agenda isn’t about rights, but about dismantling the laws and boundaries of society.
6. Speaking of homosexuals, the latest government statistics show that 65 % of syphilis cases are homosexual males. Turns out homosexual men are the ‘primary drivers’ of increased syphilis rates overall. Even more telling, this sexually transmitted disease was almost eradicated less than 10 years ago. The number of cases has been going up since the year 2000.
7. Where can you find true biblical teaching on a nation-wide basis anymore? Christian high schools are caving. Christian higher education is caving (just for starters many Christian colleges and seminaries embrace something called Christian psychology which is an impossible combination since the two systems have a completely different basis from which they operate). Churches are caving which explains in part how Obama got elected. Even so-called Evangelicals are no longer biblical. They have pieces of the truth and with those pieces they’re able to attract the hungry masses, but then they don’t deliver the most important aspects of the gospel.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could come up with a way to take people who make their entry into Christianity through people like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, and somehow guide them to the next step. How can we do that? How can we reach them? I think Bill Keller of Liveprayer has the right idea -- he’s trying to infiltrate the ‘secular’ media with the message of Christ rather than ‘preach to the choir.’ At this time we Christians have no real platform -- the mainstream media, Hollywood, the music industry, TV, the major denominations, have all been stripped of the God of the Bible.
Christian and conservative talk radio remains a powerful force, but that might soon be coming to an end with all this talk of the ‘Fairness Doctrine.’ The most unregulated area right now is the internet. In fact, Christian radio might have to default to the internet (as Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend is doing by having his radio show also shown live on the internet) in order to get out the message of God. But how many will take the extra effort when they get home to search out a program they used to listen to in their car? Probably the same sold-out Christians who are already holding the line on Biblical Christianity.
8. During a speech at Obama’s inauguration festivities, Al Gore assured a group of junior high kids that they know more than their parents, basically implying that kids shouldn’t listen to their elders. I remember hearing about Maria von Trapp (of Sound of Music Fame) recalling how during the days of Hitler’s rise to power, she and her classmates in school were also told that their parents were old and reactionary and that the future lay with their own younger generation.
9. Here’s a good argument against liberals who support everything homosexual. If they believe in evolution as much as they say they do, then how can they be for homosexual behavior? Evolution relies on heredity. Traits are passed on to future generations through DNA and the race is improved through survival of the fittest. Homosexuals must therefore have bad genes since their 'unions' don’t produce offspring and therefore can't pass on any traits at all. Of course, passing on their philosophy is another matter.
10. More insanity from the global warming nuts. Green writer James Lovelock says it’s too late to save the planet from global warming. The best we can do now is to cull the herd. I guess 4,000 abortions a day isn’t enough for them.
Boss: “Bob, you are the most honest, trustworthy, joyful, patient, kind, loyal, and respectful employee I’ve ever had work for me.”
Bob (thinking to himself): Honesty (Exodus 20:16), trustworthiness (Exodus 20:15), joy, patience, kindness (Galatians 5:22-23), and loyalty and respect (1 Peter 2:17-18).
Boss: “Keep it up, but just make sure you keep your Christianity and Bible stuff out of the office.”
How typical. People wants all the fruits of Christianity such as good employees, loyal friends, freedom, good laws, honesty in government, the Constitution, and yet they don’t want to acknowledge it as such.
2. In my Bible Counseling class our assignment was to take our Bibles to work for the rest of our lives!! What a great assignment for every Christian.
3. Nietsche said a couple of really interesting -- and true -- things:
a) “When one gives up Christian belief, one thereby deprives oneself of the right to Christian morality.”
I wish we could get this across to the many Americans who want religion out of government and yet want to keep the same morals. No wonder those morals are sadly disappearing -- they have no foundation to stand on.
b) “Christianity presupposes that man does not know, cannot know what is good for him and what is evil: he believes in God, who alone knows. Christian morality is a command; its origin is transcendent; it is beyond all criticism, all right to criticism; it has truth only if God is truth -- it stands and falls with the belief in God.”
Christianity and its morality has been proven time and time again. The answers to life are clear if only people would open their minds and hearts.
4. The secular mainstream media is not free of religion as they’re always claiming. They’re promoting atheism, a religion, because they want to remove all traces of God from our daily lives. This is not neutrality. There’s no such thing. Evolution supporters try to pull the same trick. If they were really interested in the truth, dialogue between both sides would be allowed.
5. Homosexual ‘bishop’ Gene Robinson is having to reduce clergy and support staff although not his own six figure salary. He thought the pews would be filled with hundreds and even thousands of homosexuals after he was ordained, but that hasn’t happened and he’s now being forced to cut back. Even more offensive is the fact that his salary includes $40,000 for his housing which he shares with his homosexual lover.
A similar result occurred when homosexual marriage became an option in Massachusetts. The huge rush by homosexuals to get married that many expected to see never happened either. Which just goes to show that the so called ‘gay’ agenda isn’t about rights, but about dismantling the laws and boundaries of society.
6. Speaking of homosexuals, the latest government statistics show that 65 % of syphilis cases are homosexual males. Turns out homosexual men are the ‘primary drivers’ of increased syphilis rates overall. Even more telling, this sexually transmitted disease was almost eradicated less than 10 years ago. The number of cases has been going up since the year 2000.
7. Where can you find true biblical teaching on a nation-wide basis anymore? Christian high schools are caving. Christian higher education is caving (just for starters many Christian colleges and seminaries embrace something called Christian psychology which is an impossible combination since the two systems have a completely different basis from which they operate). Churches are caving which explains in part how Obama got elected. Even so-called Evangelicals are no longer biblical. They have pieces of the truth and with those pieces they’re able to attract the hungry masses, but then they don’t deliver the most important aspects of the gospel.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could come up with a way to take people who make their entry into Christianity through people like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, and somehow guide them to the next step. How can we do that? How can we reach them? I think Bill Keller of Liveprayer has the right idea -- he’s trying to infiltrate the ‘secular’ media with the message of Christ rather than ‘preach to the choir.’ At this time we Christians have no real platform -- the mainstream media, Hollywood, the music industry, TV, the major denominations, have all been stripped of the God of the Bible.
Christian and conservative talk radio remains a powerful force, but that might soon be coming to an end with all this talk of the ‘Fairness Doctrine.’ The most unregulated area right now is the internet. In fact, Christian radio might have to default to the internet (as Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend is doing by having his radio show also shown live on the internet) in order to get out the message of God. But how many will take the extra effort when they get home to search out a program they used to listen to in their car? Probably the same sold-out Christians who are already holding the line on Biblical Christianity.
8. During a speech at Obama’s inauguration festivities, Al Gore assured a group of junior high kids that they know more than their parents, basically implying that kids shouldn’t listen to their elders. I remember hearing about Maria von Trapp (of Sound of Music Fame) recalling how during the days of Hitler’s rise to power, she and her classmates in school were also told that their parents were old and reactionary and that the future lay with their own younger generation.
9. Here’s a good argument against liberals who support everything homosexual. If they believe in evolution as much as they say they do, then how can they be for homosexual behavior? Evolution relies on heredity. Traits are passed on to future generations through DNA and the race is improved through survival of the fittest. Homosexuals must therefore have bad genes since their 'unions' don’t produce offspring and therefore can't pass on any traits at all. Of course, passing on their philosophy is another matter.
10. More insanity from the global warming nuts. Green writer James Lovelock says it’s too late to save the planet from global warming. The best we can do now is to cull the herd. I guess 4,000 abortions a day isn’t enough for them.
Monday, February 2, 2009
New Age Bible Versions Part 3
As promised in an earlier blog, here are the final six trends that appear in the newer translations of the Bible such as the NIV and NASB as shown in NEW AGE BIBLE VERSIONS: An Exhaustive Documentation Exposing The Message, Men and Manuscripts Moving Mankind To The Antichrist’s One World Religion by G.A. Riplinger.
7) The newer translations go beyond the psychology of self-esteem to show man becoming his own God. For example, instead of the KJV’s “around about the throne were four and twenty seats” (Rev. 4:4) the NASB has “around the throne were twenty four thrones”. The KJV says about man in Ps 8:5 “ For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels”. The NASB and NIV among others instead state “Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God” which is quite a promotion of status! Here’s a similar contrast in Heb 2:7 -- “Thou madest him a little lower than the angels” (KJV) vs “Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels” (newer versions). The word blaspheme doesn’t only mean slandering God, but includes the concept of claiming the prerogatives of the deity. Instead of translating the word as “blasphemy” as the KJV does, the new versions use “slander” in Col 3:8, Mark 7:22, and Matt 15:19 to name a few places.
8) The new versions have not only chiseled away at Christ and Jesus’ name. they have routed out many references to God. Compare Rev 21:4 in the KJV “God shall wipe away all tears” to the NIV and NASB “He shall wipe away.” Or Heb 10: 9 in the KJV “I come to do thy will, O God” to the newer versions’ “I have come to do thy will.” In 1 Tim 3:16 the new versions have “He who was revealed” as opposed to the KJV’s “God was manifest.” And in Matt 6:33 you find “the kingdom of God” (KJV) versus “His kingdom” (newer versions). Even more telling, in 2 Cor 10:4, the KJV says “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God” while the new versions have “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful” which is ambiguous to say the least.
9) The new versions tend to soften man’s sinfulness and guilt. In 1 Cor 4:4 we have “For I know nothing by myself” (KJV) whereas the newer versions say “My conscience is clear’ (NIV, NASB). Col 2:11 changes from “the sins of the flesh” (KJV) to “the body of the flesh (NIV, NASB). Matt 18:7 in the KJV reads “woe unto the world because of offenses” compared to “woe unto the world because of stumbling blocks”. Even more telling, Luke 7:30 in the KJV says “rejected the counsel of God against themselves” as opposed to “rejected God’s purpose for themselves” in the newer versions.
10) The KJV is actually easier to read when you compare grade levels and vocabulary. The grade level average of the KJV is 5.8 while the grade level average for the NIV is, amazingly enough, 8.4. The author includes a comparison chart of the hard words used in the NASB as compared to the easier words in the KJV. Here are a few quick examples: great plainness of speech (KJV) vs lividness of speech (NASB), carried away (KJV) vs deportation (NASB), coasts (KJV) vs environs (NASB), cast out (KJV) vs eliminated (NASB), band of soldiers (KJV) vs whole Roman cohort (NASB), and hall of judgement (KJV) vs Praetorium (NASB).
11) The newer versions are harder on women. The KJV says in 1 Tim 5:16, “If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them” while the new versions lay this burden solely on women, “if any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, let her assist them. Rev. 13:16 says “free and bond” (KJV) which includes everyone in both categories as opposed to “free men and slaves” (newer versions) which is more nebulous. James 4:4 translates as the all-inclusive “ye adulterers and adulteresses” in the KJV as compared to “you adulteresses (NASB). The newer versions also take the credit away from women. Check out Heb 11:11 in the KJV where it's Sara who shows faith: “Through faith also, Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Now here’s that same verse in the newer versions with Abraham as the star of the passage: “By faith Abraham even though he was past age -- and Sara herself was barren -- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.”
12) The newer versions show a decided lack of uniformity when it comes to servants and slaves. A servant is one who exerts himself for the benefit of another master while a slave is a person held in bondage, a thrall. The KJV uses the word “servant” in every case, along with “bondman” and “handmaid”. The newer versions can’t seem to make up their minds and are very schizophrenic in their translations. The KJV always translates the Hebrew ebed as “servant” while the new versions flip flop and use both “servant” and “slave”. The Greek pais is also inconsistently rendered in the newer versions as both “slaves” and “servants”. Doulos, the word most often translated as “slave” in the newer versions, becomes “servants” in those same versions in Revelation 10.
The bottom line is that it never hurts to cross check whatever translation you’re using with the venerable King James Bible.
7) The newer translations go beyond the psychology of self-esteem to show man becoming his own God. For example, instead of the KJV’s “around about the throne were four and twenty seats” (Rev. 4:4) the NASB has “around the throne were twenty four thrones”. The KJV says about man in Ps 8:5 “ For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels”. The NASB and NIV among others instead state “Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God” which is quite a promotion of status! Here’s a similar contrast in Heb 2:7 -- “Thou madest him a little lower than the angels” (KJV) vs “Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels” (newer versions). The word blaspheme doesn’t only mean slandering God, but includes the concept of claiming the prerogatives of the deity. Instead of translating the word as “blasphemy” as the KJV does, the new versions use “slander” in Col 3:8, Mark 7:22, and Matt 15:19 to name a few places.
8) The new versions have not only chiseled away at Christ and Jesus’ name. they have routed out many references to God. Compare Rev 21:4 in the KJV “God shall wipe away all tears” to the NIV and NASB “He shall wipe away.” Or Heb 10: 9 in the KJV “I come to do thy will, O God” to the newer versions’ “I have come to do thy will.” In 1 Tim 3:16 the new versions have “He who was revealed” as opposed to the KJV’s “God was manifest.” And in Matt 6:33 you find “the kingdom of God” (KJV) versus “His kingdom” (newer versions). Even more telling, in 2 Cor 10:4, the KJV says “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God” while the new versions have “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful” which is ambiguous to say the least.
9) The new versions tend to soften man’s sinfulness and guilt. In 1 Cor 4:4 we have “For I know nothing by myself” (KJV) whereas the newer versions say “My conscience is clear’ (NIV, NASB). Col 2:11 changes from “the sins of the flesh” (KJV) to “the body of the flesh (NIV, NASB). Matt 18:7 in the KJV reads “woe unto the world because of offenses” compared to “woe unto the world because of stumbling blocks”. Even more telling, Luke 7:30 in the KJV says “rejected the counsel of God against themselves” as opposed to “rejected God’s purpose for themselves” in the newer versions.
10) The KJV is actually easier to read when you compare grade levels and vocabulary. The grade level average of the KJV is 5.8 while the grade level average for the NIV is, amazingly enough, 8.4. The author includes a comparison chart of the hard words used in the NASB as compared to the easier words in the KJV. Here are a few quick examples: great plainness of speech (KJV) vs lividness of speech (NASB), carried away (KJV) vs deportation (NASB), coasts (KJV) vs environs (NASB), cast out (KJV) vs eliminated (NASB), band of soldiers (KJV) vs whole Roman cohort (NASB), and hall of judgement (KJV) vs Praetorium (NASB).
11) The newer versions are harder on women. The KJV says in 1 Tim 5:16, “If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them” while the new versions lay this burden solely on women, “if any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, let her assist them. Rev. 13:16 says “free and bond” (KJV) which includes everyone in both categories as opposed to “free men and slaves” (newer versions) which is more nebulous. James 4:4 translates as the all-inclusive “ye adulterers and adulteresses” in the KJV as compared to “you adulteresses (NASB). The newer versions also take the credit away from women. Check out Heb 11:11 in the KJV where it's Sara who shows faith: “Through faith also, Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Now here’s that same verse in the newer versions with Abraham as the star of the passage: “By faith Abraham even though he was past age -- and Sara herself was barren -- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.”
12) The newer versions show a decided lack of uniformity when it comes to servants and slaves. A servant is one who exerts himself for the benefit of another master while a slave is a person held in bondage, a thrall. The KJV uses the word “servant” in every case, along with “bondman” and “handmaid”. The newer versions can’t seem to make up their minds and are very schizophrenic in their translations. The KJV always translates the Hebrew ebed as “servant” while the new versions flip flop and use both “servant” and “slave”. The Greek pais is also inconsistently rendered in the newer versions as both “slaves” and “servants”. Doulos, the word most often translated as “slave” in the newer versions, becomes “servants” in those same versions in Revelation 10.
The bottom line is that it never hurts to cross check whatever translation you’re using with the venerable King James Bible.
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