Friday, December 5, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
"No document in world history so changed the world for the better as did the Ten Commandments."
Dennis Prager’s new video series on the Ten Commandments offers insight into the profound historical impact and continued relevance of the most important laws ever written. “No document in world history so changed the world for the better as did the Ten Commandments,” Prager says in the introduction to the video series. “Western civilization – the civilization that developed universal human rights, created women's equality, ended slavery, created parliamentary democracy among other unique achievements – would not have developed without them.”
The crucial premise of the Commandments, Prager states, is their source: “an Authority higher than any man, any king, or any government.” Moses did not give the law; the biblical text makes clear that “God spoke all these words.” In this way, the Commandments transcend the whims and inevitable tyranny of man, who will define morality in terms of what benefits him.
Prager uses murder as an example of a moral issue that man without God will redefine as right for his own gain. For those who would argue that man does not need God to determine that murder is wrong, he points to the recent past where Communists and Nazis at the behest of the state killed around one hundred million citizens in the absence of a Higher Authority.
It's all too easy to be swayed by a government or a demagogue or an ideology or to rationalize that the wrong you are doing isn't really wrong. And even if you do figure out what is right and wrong, God is still necessary. People who know the difference between right and wrong do the wrong thing all the time. You know why? Because they can. They can because they think no one is watching. But if you recognize that God is the source of moral law, you believe that He is always watching.
The transcendence of man-made systems of authority is crucial in the First Commandment (in the Jewish enumeration), when God chooses a profound way to describe himself:
"I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
Prager argues that understanding the significance of this statement is essential to understanding all other Commandments. First, God establishes himself as the source of morality, the foundation of “ethical monotheism,” an objective code of right and wrong emanating from God rather than man. In this way, no man-made political system can redefine morality. But another crucial aspect of the First Commandment is God’s emphasis on freedom:
Note that God is not saying in this introduction to the Ten Commandments that He created the world. It surely would have made a lot of sense for God to introduce the Ten Commandments with the statement, "I am the Lord your God who created the world." That is, after all, pretty impressive, and would make sense: "I created the world: You better listen to Me." But no, the one thing God declares is that He took the Children of Israel out of slavery and into freedom. That's how much God hates slavery and how important God considers freedom. The Founders of America based their entire view of America on this belief -- that God wants us to be free. That is why the most iconic symbol of the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell, has only one sentence inscribed on it -- a verse from the Hebrew Bible: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof."
The Ten Commandments: Introduction: http://youtu.be/TK57RiMqTdk
Dennis Prager’s new video series on the Ten Commandments offers insight into the profound historical impact and continued relevance of the most important laws ever written. “No document in world history so changed the world for the better as did the Ten Commandments,” Prager says in the introduction to the video series. “Western civilization – the civilization that developed universal human rights, created women's equality, ended slavery, created parliamentary democracy among other unique achievements – would not have developed without them.”
The crucial premise of the Commandments, Prager states, is their source: “an Authority higher than any man, any king, or any government.” Moses did not give the law; the biblical text makes clear that “God spoke all these words.” In this way, the Commandments transcend the whims and inevitable tyranny of man, who will define morality in terms of what benefits him.
Prager uses murder as an example of a moral issue that man without God will redefine as right for his own gain. For those who would argue that man does not need God to determine that murder is wrong, he points to the recent past where Communists and Nazis at the behest of the state killed around one hundred million citizens in the absence of a Higher Authority.
It's all too easy to be swayed by a government or a demagogue or an ideology or to rationalize that the wrong you are doing isn't really wrong. And even if you do figure out what is right and wrong, God is still necessary. People who know the difference between right and wrong do the wrong thing all the time. You know why? Because they can. They can because they think no one is watching. But if you recognize that God is the source of moral law, you believe that He is always watching.
The transcendence of man-made systems of authority is crucial in the First Commandment (in the Jewish enumeration), when God chooses a profound way to describe himself:
"I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
Prager argues that understanding the significance of this statement is essential to understanding all other Commandments. First, God establishes himself as the source of morality, the foundation of “ethical monotheism,” an objective code of right and wrong emanating from God rather than man. In this way, no man-made political system can redefine morality. But another crucial aspect of the First Commandment is God’s emphasis on freedom:
Note that God is not saying in this introduction to the Ten Commandments that He created the world. It surely would have made a lot of sense for God to introduce the Ten Commandments with the statement, "I am the Lord your God who created the world." That is, after all, pretty impressive, and would make sense: "I created the world: You better listen to Me." But no, the one thing God declares is that He took the Children of Israel out of slavery and into freedom. That's how much God hates slavery and how important God considers freedom. The Founders of America based their entire view of America on this belief -- that God wants us to be free. That is why the most iconic symbol of the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell, has only one sentence inscribed on it -- a verse from the Hebrew Bible: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof."
The Ten Commandments: Introduction: http://youtu.be/TK57RiMqTdk
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
WORD FOR THE NATION OF UNITED STATES
Terry Bennett
July 1, 2012
The Lord says: The greatest difficulties and troubles America has faced are at hand! It will be a trial by fire and will involve multiple arenas.The shroud of evil is coming onto America. True believers will be ridiculed, falsely accused, intimidated, attacked, and hunted.There is a satanic conspiracy to enslave, control, and dominate your people, to create chaos and fear in order to paralyze your nation. If this plan will not succeed, then destruction of the resources (including economic wealth), military, and people will ensue.Internal chaos, civil unrest or civil war, could lead to the threat of external war (including nuclear) and invasion.
http://terrybennettministries.com/wordforthenation.html
Terry Bennett
July 1, 2012
The Lord says: The greatest difficulties and troubles America has faced are at hand! It will be a trial by fire and will involve multiple arenas.The shroud of evil is coming onto America. True believers will be ridiculed, falsely accused, intimidated, attacked, and hunted.There is a satanic conspiracy to enslave, control, and dominate your people, to create chaos and fear in order to paralyze your nation. If this plan will not succeed, then destruction of the resources (including economic wealth), military, and people will ensue.Internal chaos, civil unrest or civil war, could lead to the threat of external war (including nuclear) and invasion.
http://terrybennettministries.com/wordforthenation.html
Friday, October 17, 2014
We believed in Acts 1:8 to receive power and be witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. We had spiritual fire, healings, and deliverance from demons. I traveled to many villages, sharing my testimony. Within 7 years, I started 200 churches with some 30,000 members.
ZHANG FUHENG
At our recent Israel China Kingdom Destiny Conference (co-sponsored by Maoz and Revive Israel), we had the honor of meeting Zhang Fuheng, one of the five "fathers" of the house church in China. Here are some excerpts of his sharing:
Part One - Testimony
In 1979 I became quite ill. I could not move except for my mouth. I wept almost everyday; I even cursed my own birthday and considered suicide.
There were very few Christians in China at this time. One Christian man who lived in a village at some distance, had his twin daughters taken away from him and sold into servitude. When he came searching for his daughters (but did not find them), he heard about my illness and came to share the "good news" about salvation with me. At that time I received new hope in my heart.
I began to pray to be healed. I prayed day and night for a week. Nothing seemed to happen. One morning I woke and saw the blanket was on the floor and realized I must have moved. I sat up, got out of bed and went downstairs. Everyone was shocked. Everyone in the house received the Lord.
The next week we opened the house to tell people about what happened. 200 people showed up including Christians from the surrounding villages. Of that group, 60 people from our village received the Lord, and a house church was started overnight in our home.
We had no Bibles at all. Someone from another village lent me his "bible" for one month, which was only part of the New Testament, with several books missing. I didn't know what to do, so I copied by hand the Scriptures that had been given me, before I had to return it.
(Just recently, 40 years later, the two daughters of the man who first shared the gospel with me were located, and their family reunited.)
Part Two - House Churches
In 1949 Mao ordered all foreign missionaries and businessmen to leave the country. Local Christian leaders were jailed. 1949 to 1979 was a dark period with much suffering. People wept and prayed. In 1979 the new Chairman Deng Xiaoping started the "Open Door Policy" allowing some business and trade to return.
At that time there were two types of churches: those registered with the government (the "three self" churches), and those unregistered, mostly in the villages. We in the villages could not relate to the registered churches. Their structure seemed foreign and Western to us, and unbiblical. We did not know what to do; so we just started reading the book of Acts. There we found all the answers. We felt the new house church movement was restoring the original apostolic tradition.
(In recent years there has been much reconciliation between the registered and unregistered churches.)
We believed in Acts 1:8 to receive power and be witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. We had spiritual fire, healings, and deliverance from demons. I traveled to many villages, sharing my testimony. Within 7 years, I started 200 churches with some 30,000 members.
In 1983 came a new wave of intense persecution. I could not live in my home village for 5 years, just occasionally slipped in at night to visit my parents. The elder Chinese believers were scattered and persecuted. Suffering became so much a part of their lives, that some of the younger Christians who had not yet gone to jail began to pray, "God, why have I not gone to jail? Have I sinned? Is there something wrong?"
Christian leaders in the villages were beaten, shot or hanged; many were jailed repeatedly; women were stripped. My wife used to say of me, "My husband has the spiritual gift of being jailed." Most of the pastors had no Bible or training.
As the gospel spread in the wake of the persecution surrounding the death of Stephen the first martyr (Acts 8:1), so did it with us. In 1979 there were 700,000 Christians in China. Our house church movement has grown to 70 million believers! That's a 100 fold growth.
Part Three – Back to Jerusalem
The Chinese church is the largest in the world; the Israeli Messianic remnant is the smallest. Yet we see you as our "elder brother." The original apostles were the root which sprang out to all the branches. We have come back to you. We are not "without hope" because we are one in the family of Jesus.
Why did the Jews suffer so much in history? You are a miracle. The restoration of Israel is an act of God; and so is the restoration of the Messianic remnant. Many Chinese tourists come to Israel and when they see what has happened, they become believers in Jesus.
There was an early revival in China in the 1920's. Those early Christians had a vision to bring the gospel "back" from the ends of the earth (China) to Israel. They dedicated themselves to the "back to Jerusalem" movement. They felt they had received eternal life from the Jews and wanted to return to them the same grace.
So a large group of them started out on foot to walk toward Jerusalem, first into the far west of China. But in 1949, after the Communists came to power, the borders of China were shut tight. Since they could not leave, they set up a community in Xin Jiang Province near the border.
These young Christians prayed for decades with this vision. They grew older. When our pastors received the same vision, we traveled out to see them. Many had died. We told the elders who met us, "Take heart. We will go to Arabia and to Jerusalem." They wept and hugged us saying, "Now, Lord, Your servants may depart."
The Chinese Church loves Jesus, loves Israel, and loves the Arabs. Today we are here, hugging you. Just as the Sun rises in the East, so will this revival return to Jerusalem.
ZHANG FUHENG
At our recent Israel China Kingdom Destiny Conference (co-sponsored by Maoz and Revive Israel), we had the honor of meeting Zhang Fuheng, one of the five "fathers" of the house church in China. Here are some excerpts of his sharing:
Part One - Testimony
In 1979 I became quite ill. I could not move except for my mouth. I wept almost everyday; I even cursed my own birthday and considered suicide.
There were very few Christians in China at this time. One Christian man who lived in a village at some distance, had his twin daughters taken away from him and sold into servitude. When he came searching for his daughters (but did not find them), he heard about my illness and came to share the "good news" about salvation with me. At that time I received new hope in my heart.
I began to pray to be healed. I prayed day and night for a week. Nothing seemed to happen. One morning I woke and saw the blanket was on the floor and realized I must have moved. I sat up, got out of bed and went downstairs. Everyone was shocked. Everyone in the house received the Lord.
The next week we opened the house to tell people about what happened. 200 people showed up including Christians from the surrounding villages. Of that group, 60 people from our village received the Lord, and a house church was started overnight in our home.
We had no Bibles at all. Someone from another village lent me his "bible" for one month, which was only part of the New Testament, with several books missing. I didn't know what to do, so I copied by hand the Scriptures that had been given me, before I had to return it.
(Just recently, 40 years later, the two daughters of the man who first shared the gospel with me were located, and their family reunited.)
Part Two - House Churches
In 1949 Mao ordered all foreign missionaries and businessmen to leave the country. Local Christian leaders were jailed. 1949 to 1979 was a dark period with much suffering. People wept and prayed. In 1979 the new Chairman Deng Xiaoping started the "Open Door Policy" allowing some business and trade to return.
At that time there were two types of churches: those registered with the government (the "three self" churches), and those unregistered, mostly in the villages. We in the villages could not relate to the registered churches. Their structure seemed foreign and Western to us, and unbiblical. We did not know what to do; so we just started reading the book of Acts. There we found all the answers. We felt the new house church movement was restoring the original apostolic tradition.
(In recent years there has been much reconciliation between the registered and unregistered churches.)
We believed in Acts 1:8 to receive power and be witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. We had spiritual fire, healings, and deliverance from demons. I traveled to many villages, sharing my testimony. Within 7 years, I started 200 churches with some 30,000 members.
In 1983 came a new wave of intense persecution. I could not live in my home village for 5 years, just occasionally slipped in at night to visit my parents. The elder Chinese believers were scattered and persecuted. Suffering became so much a part of their lives, that some of the younger Christians who had not yet gone to jail began to pray, "God, why have I not gone to jail? Have I sinned? Is there something wrong?"
Christian leaders in the villages were beaten, shot or hanged; many were jailed repeatedly; women were stripped. My wife used to say of me, "My husband has the spiritual gift of being jailed." Most of the pastors had no Bible or training.
As the gospel spread in the wake of the persecution surrounding the death of Stephen the first martyr (Acts 8:1), so did it with us. In 1979 there were 700,000 Christians in China. Our house church movement has grown to 70 million believers! That's a 100 fold growth.
Part Three – Back to Jerusalem
The Chinese church is the largest in the world; the Israeli Messianic remnant is the smallest. Yet we see you as our "elder brother." The original apostles were the root which sprang out to all the branches. We have come back to you. We are not "without hope" because we are one in the family of Jesus.
Why did the Jews suffer so much in history? You are a miracle. The restoration of Israel is an act of God; and so is the restoration of the Messianic remnant. Many Chinese tourists come to Israel and when they see what has happened, they become believers in Jesus.
There was an early revival in China in the 1920's. Those early Christians had a vision to bring the gospel "back" from the ends of the earth (China) to Israel. They dedicated themselves to the "back to Jerusalem" movement. They felt they had received eternal life from the Jews and wanted to return to them the same grace.
So a large group of them started out on foot to walk toward Jerusalem, first into the far west of China. But in 1949, after the Communists came to power, the borders of China were shut tight. Since they could not leave, they set up a community in Xin Jiang Province near the border.
These young Christians prayed for decades with this vision. They grew older. When our pastors received the same vision, we traveled out to see them. Many had died. We told the elders who met us, "Take heart. We will go to Arabia and to Jerusalem." They wept and hugged us saying, "Now, Lord, Your servants may depart."
The Chinese Church loves Jesus, loves Israel, and loves the Arabs. Today we are here, hugging you. Just as the Sun rises in the East, so will this revival return to Jerusalem.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Derek Prince on Israel.
Jesus Himself said in John 4:22: “Salvation is from the Jews.” Every person who has received salvation through faith in Jesus owes their whole spiritual inheritance to the Jewish people. But the tragedy is that rather than acknowledge our debt to the Jewish people, multitudes of professing Christians over the centuries have compounded that debt by sixteen or more centuries of rabid anti-Semitism. Most of the anti- Semitic activity in Europe (which was the area mainly affected, but also in Russia) was carried out by professing Christians, often led by priests and by people carrying crucifixes, all done in the name of Christ.
http://www.whyisrael.org/2010/01/01/praying-and-fasting-for-jerusalem/#more-1661
Jesus Himself said in John 4:22: “Salvation is from the Jews.” Every person who has received salvation through faith in Jesus owes their whole spiritual inheritance to the Jewish people. But the tragedy is that rather than acknowledge our debt to the Jewish people, multitudes of professing Christians over the centuries have compounded that debt by sixteen or more centuries of rabid anti-Semitism. Most of the anti- Semitic activity in Europe (which was the area mainly affected, but also in Russia) was carried out by professing Christians, often led by priests and by people carrying crucifixes, all done in the name of Christ.
http://www.whyisrael.org/2010/01/01/praying-and-fasting-for-jerusalem/#more-1661
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)