AT TWILIGHT’s LAST GLEAMING – The Former Then The Greater Beacon of Hope

~ By James Fire

LOOKING AT THE TOUGH TRUTH

Patrick Henry (whose famous quotes are well known by American patriots, “Give me liberty or give me death” and “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country”) when addressing the President of Colonial America said the following regarding the seriously grave situation concerning the British forces that assailed the barefoot American soldiers,

“For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” (For an article FROM The MIND of FIRE, that speaks about Patrick Henry and liberty, go here.) 

In other words, he was willing to look the facts squarely in the eye, no matter how painful or unpleasant they were. It could be the most reprehensible, offensive list of facts that we really don’t want to hear but need to hear!

This is what we need to do in this late, dark hour in our American history.

I’ve been listening to the teachings of the late pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (these were recorded back in 1979); I’m currently in the book of Jeremiah, who was known as ‘the weeping prophet’ – because it was his lot to witness the demise of his beloved nation of Israel.

He witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem, the abject ruin of its streets and venues; I can well imagine he looked down the street where he once lived and saw nothing but ashes and wreckage. He had warned and warned the king, the government, the nobles and all the people, but to no avail. He told the king countless numbers of times:

“This is the judgment of GOD! Babylon is coming because we have refused to repent of our sin and turn to the LORD! Don’t resist Nebuchadnezzar’s armies, don’t fight! Submit to this and at least you will survive. But if you rise up and wage war, you’ll be fighting against the LORD GOD Himself and you’ll be destroyed!”

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CROSSING The ‘T’s TTUF STUDY 1st THESSALONIANS Ch. Four Cont’d & Five

~ by James Fire

For another great teaching in 1 Thessalonians, check out pastor Pat Lazovich from Calvary Chapel Sierra Vista! 

1st THESSALONIANS Chapter Four Cont’d & Five

INTRODUCTION: We don’t see miracles every day; they are by definition uncommon. That is their nature. If they happened all the time they would be considered mundane, not miraculous!
Yet the Bible is full of miracles and every time they happen, people react with utter astonishment.

Miracles are of two sorts: the first sort is the suspension of the laws of physics, and the direct intervention of GOD Who performs an act that would be considered by modern day science as ‘impossible’. Enoch’s translation from this planet and into the domain of GOD is such an example. The raising of Lazarus from the dead is another. The LORD Jesus walking on water.
And there’s the other sort where GOD will sovereignly use natural law to accomplish His purposes, such as the Flood with rain falling (an unprecedented event at that time) and tectonic-pressured geysers issuing millions upon millions of tons of water that covered the Earth.

Rain falling from the skies was rather a weird notion in Noah’s day.
The weird notion of today is the rapture of the church: the catching away of both the living and the dead “in Christ” who will be instantaneously transported from this world and “caught up” to meet the LORD “in the air” and from there, on to our Father’s house where JESUS has prepared for us mansions (JOHN 14:2; that He has conceivably been working on for perhaps the entire 2,000 years since He left the Mount of Olives at the ascension?)!

It's truly a bizarre idea that this world looks upon with incredulity, even mockery and derision, and yet even in the realm of today’s science, quantum physicists have been able to teleport electrons from one point to the other without traversing the distance between them. Granted, those are mere electrons, teleported only a few inches apart, a tiny brick wall separating those two points; but conceptually, that would represent a kind of ‘rapture in miniature’.

And if GENESIS 1:1 is taken literally – that GOD created all things from absolutely nothing [the Hebrew word barah means exactly that] other than His spoken Word – then transporting people from one dimensional reality to another isn’t so far-fetched at all!
With a little use of some imagination we can even accept such a thing as theoretically possible, every time Captain Kirk asked Scotty to “beam me up!”.

We’ll be getting into this controversial subject of the rapture and related issues in this study!

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LEVITICUS – A HOLY PEOPLE’s ACCESS to The HOLY GOD – Chapter ELEVEN & TWELVE

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez and James Fire

Complete Study of Leviticus by pastor Chuck Smith

 
LEVITICUS 11 & 12: “DO’S AND DON’T’S TO BE KEPT CLEAN” – Albert Lopez, Facebook video not available for this teaching.

INTRODUCTION: Last time we were in Leviticus, during Pastor Sonny’s teaching, we heard about the “Jaw-Dropping Pleasure” God displayed and also about a Jaw-Dropping DISpleasure God displayed. Both, I am sure were Jaw dropping if you were there to see it all and even if you weren’t there, just reading about them and imagining it is.
We read in Leviticus 10:10-11:
And to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.

This summed up what the purpose of the Lord was: giving his people the statutes and any instruction that came with it. We found out after the jaw dropping display of displeasure (in keeping in the theme of ‘eating’) the surviving sons of Aaron who were supposed to eat, were not really hungry; but Moses said that the Lord had commanded this.

We need to remember that God’s presence was with his people but in order for God’s presence to remain with them, any sin, in any form of disobedience or rebellion against what God had already ordained in certain, specific ways, needed to be covered and paid for.
Fortunately for them (the Israelites) the animals paid the price, not themselves. Fortunately for you and me, Christ paid for the sin as he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, not we ourselves. With this, we move on to Leviticus 11 and 12 where the Lord’s instructions continue in a very clear and specific way. As we read, may we observe that we serve a God of order and not a God of confusion.

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IS AFGHANISTAN FOUND IN BIBLE PROPHECY? From LAMB & LION ministries with Nathan Jones

To view this article in its original form, click here.

Watching the news has been horrific lately, hasn't it? Afghanistan has fallen to the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban. Iran's Ayatollahs remain hellbent on developing a nuclear weapon to annihilate Israel. Islam's might continues to rapidly spread and threatens the entire world!

The Biden Administration's hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan has caused a mass exodus of people trying to flee the country after the Taliban retook the government, meeting almost no resistance. For a long 20 years now, the United States has been waging a war against terror, and in the process losing many American and allied lives in order to bring the Afghani people freedom from the Taliban and to make the West safer. But, now the Taliban are back in force, killing Christians and American allies along their meteoric rise to national power.

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LEVITICUS – A HOLY PEOPLE’s ACCESS to The HOLY GOD – Chapter Nine & TEN

Contributing commentaries by pastors Sonny Islas, Albert Lopez and James Fire
Complete Study of Leviticus by pastor Chuck Smith 

LEVITICUS 9 & 10: “JAW-DROPPING DISPLAYS OF GOD’S PLEASURE AND DISPLEASURE” – by Sonny Islas, Facebook video.

INTRODUCTION: At this point in the Book of Leviticus, Aaron and his sons begin their service unto the LORD and His people. Everything was made ready for them, even them and now it’s NOT show time, but serve time!

Every true servant of God gets to a place “where the rubber meets the road.” In other words, “it’s time to put this car or these tires to the test!” For us, like Aaron and His sons, it’s when we finally put into practice all that we’ve learned from God’s Word.
For example, I’ve been teaching my son Blue how to drive lately and soon he will have to take all that he’s learned into traffic - where the level of his driving skills will be tested (Blue’s doing a good job by the way – I’m very proud of him).

Every time you come to church to hear God’s Word then exit this building, it’s then “where the rubber meets the road.” All that you learn gets put to the test (Obviously Here first then out there). How well did you receive God’s instructions and how well will you obey those instructions is the question? The Christian’s goal should be to learn and to know all that God has said, in order to believe it, love it, obey it, and share it.
In chapter 9 we’ll read about a jaw-dropping display of God’s pleasure and in chapter 10, we’ll read about a jaw-dropping display of God’s displeasure.

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CROSSING The ‘T’s TTUF STUDY 1st THESSALONIANS Ch. Four

~ by James Fire

For another great teaching in 1st Thessalonians (and 2nd later on), check out pastor Pat Lazovich from Calvary Chapel Sierra Vista!

1st THESSALONIANS Chapter Four
INTRODUCTION: Until we see the LORD face to Face, we will always, this side of eternity, be incomplete regarding the fullness with which GOD intends to see us in Christ. There will always be room for improvement. To grow in Christ is to grow in holiness and in love – and this is not at all a burden, but a blessing. We always think of love as a blessing, but holiness?

Too often we get notions that holiness is restrictive, a lifestyle of deprivation. Certainly true holiness does restrict us from sin and deprives us of wickedness, transgression, and rebellion – but these, rather than holiness are truly the burden. Ask the drug addict strung out on dope and laying in the street whether or not he considers drugs to be a joy ride or not. Ask religious people whose lives are filled with “do’s” and “don’ts” in order to strive to achieve right standing with GOD, apart from the grace of GOD – and fail miserably: these are certainly burdens as well as the ‘free thinker’ who is too sophisticated for ‘organized religion’ and instead delves into New Age spirituality (what we used to call the occult) and suddenly finds themselves under the binding influence of demons!

It’s as we partake of Christ and all of His blessed attributes, that we grow in the blessedness that is Christ Himself. In that place, there is peace, contentment, rest, security, love, and joy as found nowhere else in this fallen world! This is the place where GOD is our refuge, our high tower, and our strength – where the evil of this world can’t affect us; where hatred can’t influence us, where fear has no hold on us; where afflictions can’t discourage us.
Being Christ-like means that nothing of this world compels us: only the Spirit of GOD and those things that compel Him (JOHN 8:29).

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