Christian Talk 24.07.29

•• Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another.

~ Malachi 3:16 ••

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This blog by Terry Haines reaches out to those Biblical thinkers who want Christianity to once again greatly influence our society.

I offer my opinions and observations.

(Gen 1:28-29 / 2Ch 7:14 / Act 17:6 /

Rev 12:11)

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You Are Here

...“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also"

~ Acts 17:6 ESV

Our brothers conquered [the Antichrist] by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to their lives even in the face of death.

~ Revelation 12:11 ISV

But as for the cowardly...their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

~ Revelation 21:8 ESV

How does today's Church, especially the American church, compare to the first century church or to the predicted church of the book of Revelation? In Acts 17 we are told that those who followed Christ had turned the world upside down.

In the prophetic book of Revelation it is told that the believing fellowship will conquer the Antichrist, although most likely they will conquer him and pay with their lives to do so. How will they conquer the Antichrist and how do we conquer the spirit of the Antichrist right now?

~ by the blood of the lamb. That is, Christians will know what it means to be blood-bought and redeemed by the true Messiah.

~ by the word of their testimony. That is, Christians will reveal truth and expose evil. They will have a presence and influence in public affairs.

~ These believers will not cling to their lives even in the face of death. They will be Christians of conviction, not of preference. They will display themselves as Christians publicly, as publicly as gay people now display themselves. This will not be from pride, though, which is sin; but from devotion to the true Messiah.

Lastly, let me point out that there is a surprising beginning to the list of those who will burn in the lake of fire. The first group of people listed who will go through the second death will be the cowardly - the fearful. Fear is the opposite of faith. If we fear anything, we should fear the God who has the power and frankly the duty to cast some from His presence forever. If we look at our faith, we should look to the One who redeemed us on the cross.

So how about it, believers? Do we dare to follow Christ in a pagan society? Do we dare to be like the Old Testament Joseph, or like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do we dare to be like Esther and Mordecai? Or Jonah (reluctantly) before Nineveh? Do we dare follow the Holy One like Jeremiah did, though he was imprisoned and put in the stocks? How about the witness of Paul and the twelves disciples? They all died for their faith. I suspect very few of us will be called to martyrdom. But will we endure to the end?

Do we dare to be light in the darkness? If we do, there will be great reward for us in the coming life, but if I am not mistaken, we will also receive reward in this life. God loves to be praised in the land of the living. As we obey, we will have made our world a better place for the believers AND the unbelievers. Western civilization at its finest was civilization influenced by the words of Jesus and the whole Counsel of God.

I suspect we are headed to a Third Great Awakening in our land. Will we personally be ready as disciples to disciple others? Let us wake up to our responsibilities and to our glorious duty.

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Quotes of the Founding Fathers on Religion

When someone tells you about the separation of church and state, send them to this site to find out what our nation's founders actually believed about the benefit of Christianity on our society.

When you see the need to learn about our nation's honorable foundations and how our Constitution was intended to work, I recommend the Patriot Academy.

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Pray

Pray...

• So. Here's what came across my news feed in the past six hours.

After the blasphemous start of the Paris Olympics, with drag queens mocking the picture of The Last Supper, Paris goes dark with a power outage, and the only light you see is from the Sacre-Coeur Basillica.

Is it God telling the entire world that He will not be mocked?

THEN I came across this record of Evangelical Christian Voting.

We Evangelicals are pathetically not involved in the parts of our society where we should be influencing. My figures are even more damning. It appears that only 7% of evangelicals voted in 2022.