Pertinent Praise & Prayer Requests
1. Concerning Northwest Science Museum. Please join us in praise for a $5,000 offering that came recently from friends of Stan & Bonnie Lutz, who came over from Washington State to see our Vision Center – and really liked what they saw! Praise God! This supplies us with current operating expenses. Please also pray with us for many more large and small offerings so we can raise the $35,000 start up fee to hire Southwestern Museum Services to partner with us. They help raise funds (and have great contacts), find the ideal property, and build the museum building.
Also, praise God for many more visitors to our Vision Center. Stan is our museum curator and primary tour guide for visitors. On Thursday, June 25, Stan called me just after closing time to tell me he had been swamped with visitors that day. The next afternoon he called again to tell me the same thing happened that day. He was both tired and very happy. All the exposure we are now getting with the posters we have put up and are putting up in businesses and churches, plus the social media and Chamber of Commerce free advertising in towns around the area – plus national recognition is paying off. Praise God! Please keep praying! If God is motivating you to donate to this soul winning, culture impacting, and bold witness for Jesus preparing outreach, please pay attention!
2. One of the saddest days in all of American history was Friday, June 26 – the day we got the news of the despicable decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold ObamaCare and to put their stamp of approval on the homosexual agenda to legalize same sex marriage (also known as “gay marriage”) in all fifty states – in spite of state laws. (Ironically it was the same day Stan called me again to rejoice over the flood of people who came to see our Vision Center. He told me that he was sick to the stomach in the morning when he heard the news about the same sex marriage vote. I felt the same heaviness.) Over the past fifty to sixty years there has been a series of degenerate decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court on critical spiritual and moral issues in violation of both God’s Word and our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Do you recognize what is so intrinsically wrong with this deplorable decision of five out of nine Supreme Court Justices?
A. It violates and changes the definition of marriage given by God Himself, Who is the Creator of us all and the Inventor of marriage and family – the first and most basic social entity for humanity world-wide. It is an arrogant rejection of God Himself and of the established definition of marriage for thousands of years. How dare any court, culture, or church call marriage what God calls abomination? This is why I have used the adjectives “despicable,” “degenerate,” and “deplorable.” Please pray with me for an uprising of courageous Christians who refuse to be limp-wristed and compliant with this warped decision. Please pray with me for a Holy Spirit inspired rebellion against our sick society and Holy Spirit infused courage to declare, “We must obey God rather than men!” Please, please pray for true revival in the churches of American and deep spiritual awakening in society. (And please pray for the same in the war torn nation of Ukraine.) The sexual union of a male with a male or a female with a female is not diversity – it is perversity. See Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20. True diversity is the union of one man and one woman for life, both for companionship and to produce godly offspring. Malachi 2:13-16.
B. This degrading decision is also a blatant violation of States Rights according to our own U.S. Constitution, which is our second highest law of the land – next to God’s law. Do you remember that our Bill of Rights preceded the Constitution and is even more basic to our American republic? It is in the Declaration of Independence that it is stated: “We hold these truths to be self evident – that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights….” Our rights come from our Creator – not from our government! Not from our so-called Supreme Court!!! Our U.S. Supreme Court should remember that they are answerable to The Supreme Court of Almighty God. How dare they – or we – violate His decrees?
Ronald Reagan wisely observed that any government big enough to give us everything we want is big enough to take everything we have. Are you bold enough to vow to stand against our own corrupt government taking away from us God’s definition of marriage? For clarification of how this degenerate decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a violation of the States Rights according to our Constitution, please contact Alan Keyes at Liberty Tree Alliance, P.O. Box 131327, Houston, TX 77219-1327 or at http://liberty-tree-alliance.webs.com/. Alan also urges us to take action now to oppose this before our country descends into another bloody civil war.
Opportunities and Adversaries
As I think of the praises and prayer requests I have already shared and more I want to share, I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth: “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” 1 Corinthians 16:9. It seems to be a pattern (at least very common) that when God opens a great and effective door there will be many adversaries. The vital question to us is – will we focus on the great and effective door of opportunity that God has opened to us, like Joshua and Caleb did – or will we focus on the many adversaries like the ten cowards did who infused the Israelites with so much fear of the adversaries that they chose to disobey Almighty God instead of fearing Him and keeping His command. We, the Board of Directors for Northwest Science Museum, recognize that there are many adversaries – from the atheists, humanists, and evolutionists to the compromising Christians who promote theistic evolutionism and scoff at Biblical creationists. What shall we do? Move forward with the vision God has given us? Or decide our goal is unattainable and back off (quit trying) because we are focusing on the adversaries instead of on Him, Who specializes in the impossible? (You know the answer! Please pray for us!)
Even many Christians do not realize how vital Biblical creationism is to the social woes in our country – including so-called “gay marriage.” (In reality, it is not gay and it is not marriage!) How is creationism versus evolutionism connected to the social woes? If we continue to allow our corrupt society to teach our kids that they are nothing but animals evolved from the slime pits – why should we be surprised if they act like animals wallowing in slime pits of immorality and violence? If human beings are not created in the image of God, then they can be mercilessly murdered in their mothers’ wombs or pugnaciously poisoned to death on a bed of sickness. Just change the terminology from “murder” to “mercy killing” or “death with dignity.” Before the Flood the earth was filled with violence. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5 (NKJV). In referring back to the Genesis account of the reason for the catastrophic Flood of God’s judgment on wickedness, Jesus (who obviously accepted Genesis as true history) said: “But as the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit Peter wrote: “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:1-13 (NKJV).
Take a Stand!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the hour is late. It is time – way past time to take a stand for truth and righteousness. Speak the truth in love – but speak up for Jesus! For truth! For liberty in His grace. We need to stand against the aggressive homosexual agenda, the aggressive Muslim agenda pushing Sharia law, the aggressive Marxist/atheist agenda. What do all these diverse powers of evil have in common? They all hate Biblical Christianity; they all hate the American republic founded on Biblical truths and principles; they all hate the nation of Israel. Do we counter hate with hate? No –we counter with the love of Christ – even when we are hated and falsely accused of “hate crimes” and “bigotry.” Let’s pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to know when to be tough and when to be tender. Jesus is our ultimate example of being the man of steel and velvet. Abraham Lincoln was good at walking “in His steps” during the dark days of our civil war. (Isn’t that the ultimate oxymoron? What is civil about war, anyway?) My point is that we are very close to the outbreak of another “civil war” in our nation. We need to pay attention to how Jesus conducted Himself in the presence of His enemies – and the amazing examples of believers in hostile nations (as reported by Voice of the Martyrs, Spirit of Martyrdom, Open Doors, and other effective ministries.)
We need to also pray for the Holy Spirit to give us discernment to sort out deceitful propaganda from actual news concerning Islam, homosexuality, transgender issues, etc.
“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Romans 13:11-14 (NKJV)
God is Not the Author of Confusion!
Do you know why the word transgender is much more of an extreme oxymoron than such phrases as “thunderous silence” or “sweet sorrow”? It is actually as extreme an oxymoron as “theistic evolution.” Why? The fact is, it is truly impossible for sharp scalpels and hormone treatments to transform a man into a woman or a woman into a man. When Almighty God created them male and female, He did a thorough job. A man is a male down to every last cell in his body and a woman is a female down to every last cell in her body. If a man feels more like a woman than a man – does that make him a woman? If a ten-year-old boy feels like he is Superman, puts on a blue shirt and a red cape and jumps off the roof, will he fly because he “feels like Superman”? With such a boy we would compassionately attempt to clear up his confusion before he destroys himself. Does our culture no longer have the good sense to compassionately help those who are gender confused before they destroy themselves? Are you aware that there is now an organization attempting to help “transgendered” individuals recover from their regret, disappointment and continued confusion when they discover that their surgery and treatments didn’t work? Now they are more unhappy than ever – until they find their forgiveness, peace and joy in Jesus and start sharing it with others.
If an individual doesn’t know if he is male or female – that is confusion – ultimate confusion. Pronouncing such confusion “normal” and celebrating it does not change the fact. It is confusion – and God is not the author of confusion. “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” 1 Corinthians 14:33
What Is the Solution?
Have you ever thought what a difference it would make in the heart, mind, and life of a gender-confused individual if he would repent of his ingratitude toward Almighty God for creating him a male when he “feels” more like a woman and he longs for the body parts and feminine traits of a woman? Have you considered the difference it would make for him to obey God’s commands such as:
1. “You shall not covet” Exodus 20:17 and Romans 7:7.
2. Be content with what you have. Philippians 4:8-13; 1 Timothy 6:8.
3. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality….”
1 Thessalonians 4:3.
Bruce Jenner, I feel sorry for you as a very confused man, whose name and life are in the spotlight. I pray for you to be converted, forgiven, saved and content to become the man God created you to be. I’m sorry, confused Sir, but I will never call you Caitlin. Compassion does not mean that I will comply and conform to your confusion. Friends, please pray with me for the conversion of Bruce Jenner to Christ.
More Prayer Requests
More than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes was published last year in March – and it is even more pertinent now in the wake of these latest decisions by our Supreme Court. My stock is getting low and I hope to get it republished soon by a publisher who can give it much wider circulation to impact our culture and reach souls for Christ. Was it mere coincidence that a representative of Westbow Publishers contacted me recently? Westbow is a branch of both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. They now have a half price special for launching a new book – and provide access to over thirty-eight thousand book sellers plus at least five hundred media outlets to advertise the book. Please pray with us for wider circulation and greater impact!
My primary purpose for writing More than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes was to inform, inspire and challenge believers to be who we are in Christ. I have read reports that somewhere around fifty-eight to sixty million Americans profess to be born again believers in Jesus Christ. If only ten to twenty percent of these professing believers begin to act like who God says we are, we could see this nation powerfully impacted and turned around from destruction in less than a year. God did not inspire Paul to write to the Roman believers that we ought to be more than conquerors – He inspired Paul to inform them that we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us and paid the ransom penalty for our sins. We are FORGIVEN – and nothing – absolutely NOTHING can separate us from His love. Believers who know who they are – and truly believe it – become unstoppable bold witnesses for Jesus. This is the spark for deep, genuine revival in our churches – and nationwide spiritual awakening. It is happening NOW in some of the most hostile nations on earth, and it can happen here again! Will you pray with me for another great awakening?
Of course, my second purpose for this book is to challenge the lies of our corrupt culture and help snatch from the fire as many as possible of those who don’t yet know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Many of them are not only corrupted by their own sin and the culture, but also are confused and curious. Please pray with me for the Holy Spirit to draw them from corruption, confusion and curiosity to Christ. Let us remember – and never forget – as the tensions build toward “civil war” these inspired words of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NKJV)
(Note: I am planning to use retirement funds for the start-up costs on republishing “More than Conquerors in Cultural Clashes”, but if you want to help finance this vital project, please contact us.)
Here is what Professor Jack Cottrell wrote in his review: “The material keeps bubbling out of the author’s pen like an unchecked spring of refreshing water. We can either heed its message and bring life back to both our nation and our world, or we can ignore it and allow everything around us to die of spiritual thirst.”
Fall Mission Trip
Earlier I told you that it seems to be the pattern that when God opens a “great and effectual door” there will also be many adversaries. Why? Because we are involved in spiritual warfare, that’s why! I realize that Ukraine is unsettled and volatile – there are real dangers and huge frustrations. But I have open invitations to return and work with several of our most vital and trusted co-workers, who are focused more on the open doors because of the danger than they are on the danger and frustration. Remember, if we never go anywhere where there is danger, we will never go anywhere!
It’s Now or Never
Last year we shared with you the transformed lyrics for the seductive song popularized by Elvis Presley entitled “It’s Now or Never.” I think it’s time to share the powerful words our friend, the late Rick Rodriguez put together with the beautiful melody to “It’s Now or Never.” He restructured it from an invitation to temptation into an invitation to transformation in Christ.
“It’s now or never – come hold Him tight
Reach out to Jesus – reach out tonight
Tomorrow may be too late
God’s waiting for you
Don’t hesitate
“When your soul is aching
And your heart is breaking
And you feel like crying
Even feel like dying
“Just call to the Father
It won’t be a bother
He’s there for you
To see you through – tonight
“It’s now or never – come hold Him tight
Reach out to heaven – reach out tonight
Tomorrow may be too late
God’s waiting for you
Don’t hesitate
“If you’re feeling lonely
If you’re feeling blue
God is there beside you
He is there for you
“Asking His forgiveness
Not so hard to do
Just call on His name
Don’t be ashamed tonight
“It’s now or never – come hold Him tight
Reach out to Jesus – reach out tonight
Tomorrow may be too late
God’s waiting for you
Don’t hesitate – don’t hesitate.”
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(Note: God’s love will wait, but will not wait forever. Today is the day of salvation – come home to Jesus!)
I want to share with you this powerful and insightful issue of “The Times and the Scriptures”, edited by our long-time friend, Norm Fox.
” I urge you to make use of this week’s T&S to get the word around to your friends and acquaintances that Christians can and must awaken, “display strength, and take action” (Daniel 11:32). Feel free to email and/or hand-distribute copies of this week’s Bulletin to your friends and family. In fact, this week’s dramatic Supreme Court news coincides with our decision, after 11 years of publication, to make Times & Scriptures a free publication for all who wish to receive it. You may tell your friends, family, pastor, and other acquaintances that subscriptions are free for the asking.
May God bless His people and this country,
Norm Fox, editor”
A TIMES & SCRIPTURES ISSUE ANALYSIS…
Five U.S Supreme Court Justices “go boldly where no one has gone before” on marriage
It’s not a Star Wars fantasy. But then, it’s not reality either, by God’s standards. Friday morning we woke up to the stark reality that the unthinkable (until the most recent one-quarter of 1 percent of human history at the most) had suddenly happened. Men could legally “marry” men—and women women—because five out of nine Supreme Court Justices said so!
In a nation that has historically given considerable attention and respect to what God clearly says on important subjects, the Court boldly plumbed the depths of behavior that no culture since Creation, not even Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19), has plumbed. They went beyond any pagan culture that has ever existed and declared same-sex unions to be marriage. The judicial hubris (the polytheistic Greeks’ term for human arrogance that defied the very gods) approaches—if not surpasses—the arrogance of the generation (Gen. 11:4-9) that tried to build the Tower of Babel.
But back to modern times. Has any recent authoritarian regime (the old USSR comes to mind) ever challenged God’s definition of marriage on this scale? Let’s not lose sight of the lightning speed with which this revolution has been achieved under the church’s nose!
Our T&S Bulletins for the past two weeks, and from time to time through recent months and years, have featured articles on this gathering storm. Beyond the particular subject of marriage, we have also emphasized broader but related subjects such as the “fear of the Lord” (a humble respect for the awesome power of God) which the “theme verse” of Proverbs (1:7) calls the “beginning of knowledge”. See Backgrounder #24, Normal Christian Education. Rom. 3:18 diagnoses the central illness of fallen man as “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Can we imagine that there is a healthy fear of God in the hearts of judges who do not even respect the Constitution they are sworn to uphold, let alone believe that they will stand before the Judge of Judges one day?
Let’s not forget, the U.S. Constitution may look like putty (maybe even Silly Putty!) in the hands of this razor-thin Supreme majority, and it might take years and generations to reclaim the rational Christian roots of the document as a reality of government. But it might not! A spiritual revival in America, bringing with it a revival of godly government, could happen in a relatively short time. The acceleration of persecution against Christians, which we do have reason to fear, could be averted or—perhaps even better—could stimulate the return to biblical values in government.
Abraham asked, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” He was trying—unsuccessfully—to dissuade God from destroying Sodom (Gen. 18:25) but his point was still valid. Review our Backgrounder #42, Psalm 2: When Nations Defy God. Notice especially verses 1-3 for perspective on God’s role vs. man’s in struggles like this, and verses 6-8 foretelling Christ’s role as both Savior and Judge of the earth.
Meanwhile, Christians must “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) and “go boldly” in the service of “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
For discussion: See the excellent topics suggested under “Responding in prayer” on page 2
T&S WEEKLY BULLETIN, June 28, 2015, Page 2
Gems from Justice Scalia’s blistering “marriage” dissent
Condensed by T&S from his Supreme Court dissent against the marriage ruling
Editor’s notes: Notice special Scalia “touches” such as the capitalization of “Ruler”—a mock-deification of the Supreme Court—and his ironic use of “These Justices know” later in the opinion.
America has five “new Rulers”
“Today’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court. The opinion in these cases is the furthest extension in fact—and the furthest extension one can even imagine—of the Court’s claimed power to create ‘liberties’ that the Constitution and its Amendments neglect to mention. This practice of constitutional revision by an unelected committee of nine, always accompanied (as it is today) by extravagant praise of liberty, robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776: the freedom to govern themselves.”
Naked claim to “super-legislative” power
“This is a naked judicial claim to legislative—indeed, super-legislative—power; a claim… at odds with our system of government [replacing it with]… A system of government that makes the People subordinate to a committee of nine unelected lawyers does not deserve to be called a democracy.”
Five Justices overrule “lesser legal minds”
“The five Justices who compose today’s majority are entirely comfortable concluding that every State violated the Constitution for all of the 135 years between the 14th Amendment’s ratification and [in 2003] Massachusetts’ permitting of same-sex marriages. They have discovered in the Amendment a ‘right’ overlooked by every person alive at the time of ratification, and almost everyone else since. They see what lesser legal minds… could not. They are certain that the People ratified the 14th Amendment to bestow on them the power to remove questions from the democratic process when that is called for by their ‘reasoned judgment.’ These Justices know that limiting marriage to one man and one woman is contrary to reason; they know that an institution as old as government itself, and accepted by every nation in history until 15 years ago, cannot possibly be supported by anything other than ignorance or bigotry. And they are willing to say any citizen who does not agree with that, who adheres to what was, until 15 years ago, the unanimous judgment of all generations and all societies, stands against the Constitution.”
Being reminded of our impotence [not “importance”]
“With each decision of ours that takes from the People a question properly left to them—with each decision that is unabashedly based not on law, but on the ‘reasoned judgment’ of a bare majority of this Court—we move one step closer to being reminded of our impotence.”
Responding in prayer… Suggestions from Family Research Council:
• Pray for our pastors and leaders that they will be courageous to stand against this overreach by the Court and its illegitimate ruling, that they will not be double-minded nor timid, but will speak the Word plainly and will lead their people with great wisdom and resolve (2 Chr. 26:16-21; Josh 1:8-9).
• Pray that Governors and Attorneys General will stand for the truth. With many of our people, especially youth, confused over this matter, it won’t be easy. Every leader needs our prayers! (2 Chr. 32:7).
• Pray for the Christian colleges, schools and ministries of every kind that their leaders will not bow the knee to Baal by compromising the Christian faith to keep their tax exemption, which the Obama administration’s Solicitor General admitted “will be an issue” (Rom. 11:2-5).
• Pray for believers whose faith will be gravely tested in the days ahead, for county clerks who will be called upon to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and for employers and employees who will be pressured to celebrate same-sex marriage (1 Peter 4:12-14).
• Pray that God will use this terrible decision for good and that it will strengthen the backbone of the Church, that God’s people will proclaim the truth as never before, that our churches will experience revival and America will see a great awakening! (Eph. 5:11-16).
Copyright 2015, The Times and the Scriptures, 948 Darlene Ave, Springfield, OR 97477, www.timesandscriptures.org
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“Oh, thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heavn’s rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;
and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust!’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
— (4th verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner”)