Friday, June 30, 2017

* IS AMERICA REALLY TURNING AROUND?




The various steps taken by the new government in Washington to appoint more conservative persons to cabinet and judicial and other positions and the presidential edicts and potentially significant law changes in taxes and health care and such all signal a turning around of the big government train that has been rolling in Washington for the past several decades.

If the current administration holds on to the mantle of government in the White House and both houses of Congress for the full four years and perhaps even for eight years, they have a real chance to put a dent in and begin a turnaround from the move toward the one-world big government that knows best and is involved in every aspect of people’s lives.

But…and this is a really a big but…none of this turns around the real disaster of America these last several decades.  What is that?  The dramatic fall in morality, in the strong stand for good as opposed to evil, the understanding that there really is truth and that that truth comes from God and the Bible.

Regardless of what the left and the extremist demonstrators want you to hear and believe, the United States really was founded as a Christian nation.  The only reasons that was not expressly declared in the Constitution are these:
·        the founders did not want the government to have a specific state church singled out from other possible denominations
·        they wanted to protect freedom of religion from actions of the government
·       they apparently – or at least most of them – never ever conceived of the threat to the homeland of such alien and false religions as islam.

And most assuredly they never ever conceived of millions of Americans who do not understand the basis of the United States of America, have blindly missed the fundamentals of the nation, fail to comprehend the essentials of this great democratic approach to government, and so clearly operate outside the key beliefs that have made the country great.

You perhaps have heard this but it does not hurt to hear it again.  Consider just three examples.

The first permanent colony in the United States from England was settled at Jamestown in Virginia.  When Parson Hunt and others went ashore in Virginia on April 29, 1607, they erected a seven foot tall oak cross they had brought from England.  And Hunt consecrated the continent to the glory of God.
Much later, a hundred and sixty-nine to a hundred and eighty years later, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution were written and signed.  A huge number of those signing and participating as delegates were clergy, whether they were practicing preachers or not.  Many of the colleges they had attended were in fact seminaries. 
And make no mistake about it, the American Revolution itself was miraculous, this victory of a colonial army over the greatest military power on earth.  George Washington obviously was God’s appointed man to lead that conflict and soon the new nation.  There are so many stories of his being out there leading and not ever being shot. Consider – he was six feet two and rode a white horse.  Think that stood out in battle or wherever he went?  I’ll say.

So what has to happen now?

Much.
·        A return of the people to God
·        A fundamental change in the character and belief systems of those operating as professors and administrators in the nation’s universities and colleges.
·       A fundamental change in the character and belief systems of those operating as teachers and administrators in the school systems.
·       A waking-up of the pastors and other Christian leaders of the nation to the truth that they are not teaching the full gospel, are not serving as proper shepherds for the flock, are not preparing the people for the Lord, have largely been leading social institutions bent on building memberships or sadly just maintaining deadly dull and cold buildings where attendees come out of tradition and endure boring and trite ceremonies and messages.

The Bible so clearly warns us of the very dangerous group of people that has been and is wreaking havoc on this nation.  The great scripture from 2 Corinthians 4:4 makes the point that the god of this world (the devil) has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel.  They can’t.  And their actions demonstrate that fact.  Our founders and most believers in America never thought we would suddenly face such a huge group of virulent unbelievers.  But we do. 

All of us must pray for God’s guidance.  All of us.  It is a time of getting down on our knees and sincerely praying.  It is a time of seeking to hear God.  None of those perfunctory prayers, the formal cold ceremonial words.  No.  We need heart-felt prayers.  We need prayer in the spirit, as Paul so advises.  And we need to spend real time praying, and waiting, and listening to God.  And time in reading and studying the scriptures of the greatest book, the Bible.

And we need true, Godly leaders in this society.  We need those types of people in all areas of society. 

May God have mercy on this nation and its people.  We don’t deserve that mercy to be sure.  But God’s grace has given us Jesus and the gift of salvation.  Surely his grace can cover this current situation. 

Regardless of how long we have until the Lord’s return, we must move in this direction.


Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!
                                                                                               (JULY 2017)
                                                                                             Copyright © 2017 by John Newlin

                                                                                                                                        

[NOTE:  This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information).  It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given.  We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]
                                              
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Friday, June 23, 2017

* GOD MOMENT: JUST FOR YOU

Perspiration trickled steadily from my forehead after standing three hours in line with my wife and perhaps ten thousand other people outside the coliseum.  We had driven several hundred miles the day before to attend a series of wonderful crusade meetings.  Now we were waiting for the doors to open for the last and likely most eventful session.

The line finally began to move, and slowly we crept forward.  For more than twenty minutes we moved until at last we were able to enter the building.  Quickly we hurried to entrance ramps to the seat sections.
         
Every meeting had been crowded.  In fact, a few thousand people the night before had been unable to get in.
 
As we emerged inside the arena, our hearts sank.  It appeared that every seat already was taken.
         
Quickly we went back down the ramp and hurried as best we could in the dense crowd to another section.  Again, no seats.  We repeated the process over and over.
         
Slowly we began to realize that we might be among the ones forced to go outside.
         
As a last attempt, hurrying before the announcement was made that all standing must leave, we walked around to the section beside the stage.  We struggled to get to the top of the ramp to the seats.  Looking about, I saw no available seats.  I looked down.  Nothing.  I looked up.  Nothing.  I was panting now, and I just stood, damp from perspiration, tired from the day of waiting and standing in the blazing sun.
         
Slowly I turned to where my wife was standing and, I assumed, looking around.
         
Cathy was staring directly into the stands to our right, not moving at all.  I looked in the direction she was staring.  A seated woman was staring back at us.  Two empty seats were to her right, and another to her left, but no people were moving towards them.
         
“It’s Joan,” was all Cathy could say.
         
It really was Joan, the wife of the former assistant minister of the church back home, hundreds of miles away.  Joan had been fighting a serious illness for years.  She and her husband had moved from our city a year ago.
         
Shocked at seeing her in this huge crowd, we did our best to walk around others and go towards her.
         
As we came nearer, Cathy shouted, “I can’t believe it’s you!  We’ve been looking everywhere for seats.  There just aren’t any.” 
         
“We’ve been saving these two,” Joan replied, stunned at seeing us.  “I guess we were saving them for you.”
         
We all knew God had arranged this, for Cathy and me to be able to participate in the final session and to sit beside Joan and her minister husband Bob, who was dumbstruck by our presence when he returned in a minute to claim his seat on Joan’s left.  We even had time to pray together for Joan’s health before the night ended.  Another precious moment orchestrated by God.

                                                                                        Copyright © 2017 by John Newlin



[NOTE:  This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information).  It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given.  We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]                     

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

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Blog:  johnnewlin.blogspot.com

Monday, June 19, 2017

WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW TO HELP THIS COUNTRY AND ALL PEOPLE

I hope all of you write down anything you ever hear from God – whether received in prayer, while you are reading the Bible, while you are just sitting quietly, while you are walking down the street, maybe in a dream or vision. Any word, any communication from God to you is golden. And it has value not only when you receive it but later, sometimes much later. Be sure from time to time to look back at your notes of words you have received from God.

Taking that advice and looking back over past writings, I found two accounts of dreams God sent about a year ago that bear directly on our time right now. I had actually included them in a Watchman Warning back then.

First, in the wee early hours of May 2, 2016, I had a dream in which I saw the action before me. I was not actually a character in the dream, just an observer.

As the dream began, the scene was in Congress. Three men were walking pointedly down a corridor, very purposefully, determinedly. One was a senator and was carrying a briefcase.

In the dream I saw as if from behind, and I saw these three walking. To the left of these along the corridor was an area that continued the length of the corridor. It was full of people watching and murmuring. Murmuring. There was a sense that the senator and Congress don’t know what they are doing.

The senator was walking to vote on a very important matter – environmental, economic, something like that, something important.

And this murmuring from the crowd continued.

Suddenly the senator turned to the crowd and spoke:

“Yes, we don’t know what to do.

But here’s the truth.

You don’t know what to do either.

None of you.

No one on earth knows.”

And in the background these three words came forth:

“Only God knows.”

And then this message: People have to get on their faces and ask God – all people!

And the dream ended.

That was a direct message from God.

The key of the whole thing is obvious: This situation we the people are all in now cannot be solved by people. The people do not know what to do. The organizations and the world systems just are not working well.

 And then my wife Cathy just a few days after my dream had a dream clearly from God. In it people sat in a theater watching a play about a fire burning a building. All the while, the theater itself was on fire! Can you think of a better description of our situation in America today? People all the time watch movies and programs and activities with violence, mayhem, wild disasters, immoral behavior, and more, all the time they themselves are living in the midst of and at risk of that very thing in this society.

It is time for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to get down and pray seriously. Get down on your knees and pray. Get on your faces and pray. Go to your prayer closet and pray. Sit in your favorite chair in the corner and pray. However you spend time with God, do it.

Pray for God to remove the veils from the minds of the people, that they will be able to see and to receive and to understand the truth – to understand who the Lord is and the times we are living in and to receive the Lord as their Savior, their King. Pray for revival. Pray for the Holy Spirit to touch everyone. Pray for everyone to be able to discern truth from falsehood.

Help yourselves and all people! Yes, the Lord is coming soon. But surely we don’t have to sit by and let America totally fall to shreds before he comes.

We all have to answer to the Lord.

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus! 

                                                                                                (June 2017)
                                                                     Copyright © 2017 by John Newlin

 [NOTE: This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information). It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given. We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

 All contributions to John Newlin Ministries, Inc. – whether money or material goods or stocks or bonds – are tax deductible. John Newlin Ministries, Inc. is a 501 © 3 nonprofit corporation.

P O Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408   910 395 1465 
 www.johnnewlinministries.org 
 Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org   Twitter.com/johnnewlinmin 
 Blog: johnnewlinblogspot.com