SIGNS OF THE TIMES: LIVING IN A DARK WORLD

This is darkness. 

Right now.

Right here.

You can see it.  You can feel it.  You can almost cut it.

If you know God.  If you know Jesus.  If you know the Holy Spirit.

Many leaders of this world are as lost as they can be.

In the United States, so many leaders of the country are just lost.  And confused. 

We are in the last of this period of human history.  I can use all sorts of different words to describe it – the end times, the last of the church age, the days just before Jesus’ return, the time just before the horrible seven year tribulation and the move into Jesus’ thousand year rule from Jerusalem – his kingdom literally being on earth and not just inside each believer.

We really cannot always know whether the actions of some leaders – government, political, even media and entertainment “celebrities” that occupy the minds and focus of so many people – are intentionally evil or just the result of being lost and confused and plain not knowing what to do.  But all believers can and should with the guidance of the Holy Spirit discern when they are not of God.

And in the same way, we can and should discern and recognize deception impacting our lives, whether from some national leader or policy or some local person with whom we have contact, just someone in our lives, our paths, maybe even a family member.

In these very days people in America are falling away from the Lord rapidly.  Deception is rampant.

And the United States of America (and so many of its people)?

·         Lost

·         Suffering greatly from its attitudes and pressures on Israel

·         Suffering greatly from its acceptance and increasing endorsement of behavior and lifestyles that God himself condemns

·         Suffering greatly from not knowing the Lord, not knowing the Word, not knowing what is happening and is about to happen in God’s plans and timetable

·         Suffering greatly from not knowing the absolute truths of God available readily through the Bible.  Everything is not relative.  That is a lie of the devil.

·         Suffering greatly from not knowing God’s commands and how he intends for people to live (not knowing God’s promises and the inherent great blessings that come from following and living in those promises)

You if you indeed are a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are not of this world.  This current system is not your home.  Yet you do find yourself living in the midst of the quagmire, and you do suffer daily from all you see and experience.  I know you do.

In this situation you must maintain your connection with God and to the extent possible with other like believers.  Being in the presence of other true Spirit filled believers in the Lord is a support and comfort and joy. 

You must maintain your joy.  You must.  Others who may be close to turning to the Lord need to see your faith and peace and inner strength and joy and perseverance. 

Yes we live in the midst of this all.  Yet we know the truth.  We know who wins in the end, as some like to say.  We know that in the Lord we have already won. 

Keep your eyes on Jesus.  There can be no more important advice to give.  Stay focused.  Do not be distracted from your faith and the path God has called you to.  Praise God.  You know the truth.

                                                                                                                                                (October 2013)

                                                                                                                           Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin

[This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers].

INCONCEIVABLE BUT TRUE

It is scarcely conceivable that Jesus Christ – God – would come down from heaven, spend time with us, and then let himself be crucified, suffering horribly, at the hands of beings he created.  Maybe it’s not conceivable at all - just something to accept.  Because it is true.  It did happen.

God.  There is such a gap between God and people.  Yes, I know.  A person who has been born again and filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit has God with him always.  Not only is the Holy Spirit there, but Jesus and the Father live in him and he lives in them. 

Still, what a gap.  God – the creator of everything.  All powerful.  And then people.  Human beings.  Flesh with a spirit.  On Earth.

How and why do you love us so, do you care so?

What is a man, that you are mindful of him?

The son of man, that you care about him?

Yet you made him a little less than God.

You have given him dominion over the work of your hands

You have placed all things under his feet –

All sheep and oxen

And beasts of the field,

The birds of the air and fishes of the sea

And all that passes along the paths of the sea.

                                                                                (a paraphrase of part of Psalm 8)

What is a man, Lord.  What is a man?  And why do you care so much?  Oh, there are limits.  We found that out in Noah’s day when you eliminated everyone on earth except righteous Noah and his family.  But you still kept the design, the thread alive.  Eight people survived. 

There is something about this current human design, isn’t there.  Something that has your heart.

Something angels keep trying to look into, to understand.

Help us, Lord.  Help us to be who you envisioned us to be.  Help us not to fail.

You alone can do it.  Without you we are sunk.  We’ve proved that over and over, individually and collectively.  Humanity proves that countless times every day.

Thank you for your love and your care.  And for the opportunity to be with you and the Father.

 

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                                                               (September 2013)

                                                                                                              Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin.

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.

 

 

THE GREAT DECEPTION!!!!

We are living in the last of the last days, the season of the return of Jesus, the season of the Day of the Lord.  Numerous things have been prophesied to happen in this time, and as those who read our newsletter and other communications know, many have.  The coming of the Lord is near.

Now we are moving forward at a rapid rate.  While concrete physical prophecies have been and are being fulfilled, the prophecies of the falling away from the Lord and deception are also happening.  Jesus’ first response to his disciples when they asked him about the signs of his return was that they should watch that they not be deceived.  Shortly thereafter he warned them that people would come claiming they are the Christ.

As our Lord has warned us all, I want to re-emphasize now:  deception is extensive in our day – in the leaders of our governments, in the media, in the entertainment world certainly, and even in our personal interactions with others.  With that in mind, consider for a moment what could be the great deception of the evil one in these last days.

We have read the Bible.  We know the end of the book.  We know believers win.  But that does not mean the time leading up to the tribulation period will not be increasingly difficult for believers.

What if the evil one somehow could convince a large number of people that a particular individual is Jesus, is the Messiah, and thereby totally mislead that huge block of people?  Jesus has already warned us about this.  And just consider - there are so many who do not know scripture, do not know Jesus, do not know the Holy Spirit, and they would be easy prey for such a dramatic deception.

Believers must be alert and sensitive to all that is going on.  Keep your eyes on Jesus and also be alert and sensitive to the actions of the evil side.  To the extent possible, if it is possible and if believers will still be here and not already collected by the Lord, it surely is our responsibility to use all our best efforts with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to warn people that they are being misled if and when such a giant deception occurs.

I expect this may happen.  This surely fits with all we know about the evil one, who is after all the father of lies.   Jesus has in his own words warned us although he has not given us the details.  How are you going to respond if huge numbers believe Jesus is here, if even some prominent world church leaders announce they recognize this false messiah as Jesus, and yet you know from scripture and from the guidance of the Holy Spirit that this is a false messiah, that Jesus has not yet come?

The end times will likely not be easy, even for those who will hear the call and the trumpet blast and join Jesus in the air when he collects his CHURCH.  So much may yet happen before that point.

So be alert.  You have been warned again.

And may God bless you all always.

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                                                                     (August 2013)

                                                                                                              Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin.

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.

 

Sign of the Times: THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

 

Thirty-three years ago on a hilltop on a farm field north of Elberton, Georgia a bizarre set of large granite stones appeared.  Their message was even more troubling. 

 

Recently we visited the site.  Elberton is a small town not near any interstate highways.  It is the center of a granite industry, which explains in part the location of what is now known as the Georgia Guidestones.

 

In the late 1970’s a mysterious person with the phony name of R. C. Christian appeared in Elberton.  He went to the head of a local granite company and told him of his desire to put in place the structure now known as the Georgia Guidestones.  That executive, now deceased, remarked later he thought he was in the presence of a nut and was thinking how to get him out of his office.  But as the conversation continued, it was clear Christian was serious, and the executive directed him to a local bank where the financial arrangements could be made. 

 

The local banker, Wyatt Martin, remembers how this was all arranged.  Funds were sent by Christian, and communications also, from various diverse places.  Everything was kept confidential, and the banker had to agree to that.  Nothing has ever been divulged.

 

Christian in later years did contact the banker from time to time, and they would meet in Atlanta as Christian was passing through.   As I understand, Christian has not been heard from since about 9/11.  My estimate is he would be in his mid-nineties if still alive, based on what I’ve read.

 

Christian only divulged he represented a group he did not identify.  Nothing more is known.

 

And so the granite sculpture.  You can see much about it on the internet.  There are four giant slabs upright in a pinwheel fashion, nearly twenty feet in height.  On each are ten “commandments” written in eight different languages – English, Russian, Spanish, Hindi, Swahili, Arabic, Chinese, and Hebrew.  All are wide spread languages other than Hebrew.  Across the top of the slabs is another slab with a statement on each side in four ancient languages – Babylonian cuneiform, sanscript, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and ancient Greek.

 

Then, on the ground not far away is a granite slab with more information.  It points out a time capsule is six feet under the slab, to be opened on ____(no date given).  It details the monument.  It points out even several astronomical features of the monument, and we did see various holes and such in the structure.

 

Anyone who knows the Bible and the prophecies concerning the return of the Lord will immediately be troubled by the commandments.  Quite apparently this structure is meant to stand no matter what happens on earth.  And quite apparently the group behind this has very clear opinions as to how humans are to live on the planet.  Regardless of what R. C. Christian’s specific group might be called, it is readily apparent that it has to do with the dark side of the end times.  No matter how it is set up or connected, it is part of the anti-christ spirit that characterizes the last days. 

 

THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES (THE ENGLISH VERSION)

(This is what is inscribed on each of the eight faces in the various languages.  My comments are given under each in brackets)

 

1.     Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

[Currently there are over seven billion people on earth.  So a population under half a billion is a reduction of around 93%!  More than six and a half billion people would have to be eliminated for this to happen.] 

 

2.     Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.

[Arranging reproduction has been experimented upon in the past.  The Third Reich was into that.  Modern DNA knowledge seems to make this possible.]

 

3.     Unite humanity with a living new language.

[Certainly this accommodates a one-world government to which the later commandments seem to be heading.]

 

4.     Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.

 

5.     Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

 

  6.   Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

[So one world court for the entire world – fits the one-world government scenario.]

 

  7.   Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

            [Sorry – this will never happen as long as people are filling the positions.]

 

  8.   Balance personal rights with social duties.

 

  9.   Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.

           

10.   Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

[Note the commandment says “Leave room for nature” twice.  The implication is that people can be a cancer on the earth; also, that the earth itself is what is important.  This view is sometimes seen in extremists in the environmental movement.]

 

A great surprise to me is that the stones were not torn down by the local people.  This is a traditional small Southern town.  We saw Baptist churches and a Methodist church.  The reports say some people were horrified when they saw it.  But others (and others from elsewhere) seem not to have been frightened.  Reportedly, a witches coven from Atlanta adopted the site as a second home, and even held a wedding there.  Yoko Ono included the site in a song she wrote. 

 

There has been mild defacement of the monument (by paint), and perhaps because of that there is a television monitor inconspicuously placed on a pole nearby.  There is no defacement now. 

 

Evidently, amazingly, the mysterious R. C. Christian deeded the monument to the local government! 

 

Acording to one web site, this is one of the ten great mysteries on earth.

 

 

THIS IS MY OPINION OF THESE GIANT GRANITE SLABS: 

 

For all those people who have been deaf to warnings of the imminence of the coming return of the Lord and the end of this age, this “American Stonehenge” serves as a giant wakeup call.  For all those who seem to have difficulty comprehending the activities of the evil side on earth in the planning of the coming one-world government, this monument in Georgia points out in no uncertain terms  that somewhere there exists a covert – e.g., secretive – organization that has as its objectives and ideals a dramatic reduction of the population of the world, the establishment of a world government, some type of new humanist spirituality, biological engineering of future generations, and a great overemphasis on environmentalism.  That should send a chill down your spine. 

 

As you consider this and all other signs of the times, the key for your peace and joy as always is to

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

 

                                                                                                                                       (July 2013)

                                                                                                            Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin

 

 

 

[NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

 

STOP TRUSTING IN MAN!

Stop trusting in man,

Who has but a breath in his nostrils.

Of what account is he?

-          Isaiah 2:22 (1984 NIV)

We live in a time – and have for decades – where a huge portion of the population have sought help, aid, relief, leadership, and just about any other good thing you can imagine, from the government and other cultural leaders.  They have looked to man for their salvation.

This approach has culminated in recent years in America in the very deification of great athletes and movie stars who, while great in their professions, are just that – people who can play a sport exceedingly well or act exceedingly well.  Yet younger people especially hang on their every word and seek to be like them. 

As far as the government goes, years of ever growing government under both political parties and ever growing entitlement (“aid”) programs has led people to depend more and more on it.  But government cannot solve your problems.  It is an enormous bureaucracy, which by definition is ponderous, slow, extraordinarily inefficient, and dull.  Anyone who has worked with a large organization knows what a bureaucracy is like.  Just look at the storms that have hit various areas.  It is the people themselves who immediately began working to help those affected, as it should be!  The government, FEMA, eventually will get involved, but the people affected surely can’t wait for that.  Local helpers and charitable groups are there always immediately.    

Or consider your protection.  In the history of this country people were to protect themselves.  Police have never been able always to protect the citizens. Most victims of crime know that. Police generally come in after a crime to investigate and to capture the perpetrators.  There just aren’t enough police to patrol everywhere.  I remember years ago when I lived near Houston.  The chief of police in that giant city said that very thing to the citizens – we can’t protect you.  You have to take care of yourselves. 

Somewhere along the way, many people moved from being actively involved in society to becoming spectators in much of life just as they are in professional sports.  I remember once hearing a major athlete speak with derision of those who just come and sit and watch.  The real joy and focus of the sport, to him, was in participating, in playing the game.  Certainly we can see how this applies to many Christians as well, who basically are just that even in their faith – spectators.  Minimally involved, they go once a week to sit and have someone else tell them a few words he has arrived at by study and prayer and reflection.  And then they leave.

Americans have stopped playing the game of life, preferring rather for others to take care of all those areas we are not greatly interested in.  Americans would rather work in their jobs, have a house, and maybe a couple cars, maybe a boat, focus on their families, watch games and cook out. They just don’t want to get involved in dealing with issues of the day, so they have all been left to the government – local and national.  And so those governments have evolved, and people have been elected and appointed to high positions who clearly are taking the country in a direction that much of the population does not wish to go.  The country is moving to ever great national government and even apparently to a greater union with other world governments.  And now the citizens do not know what to do.

Spiritually, we all know what is happening.  We are living in the last of the last days, and we are heading toward the return of the Lord and that seven year tribulation period.  Part of that period involves a one-world government and a universal (read “false”) church.  Quite apparently we are well on the way to that time.  Recently when Cathy and I were praying about what we should be doing next, the Lord gave us specific direction.  And he finished it off by giving Cathy this verse:  1 Peter 4:7:

The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. (1984 NIV)

Read that and receive it.  And do what it says.

May you all live in the blessings of God always.

 

 

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                                                                        (June  2013)

                                                                                                              Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin.

 

 

NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.

No believer in Jesus Christ has any excuse for being naïve and ignorant!

We have all these past few days been caught up in a wave of emotions and grief over the terrorist activities in Boston. Certainly we are concerned with all the victims and their families and should be praying for God’s comfort and healing for them.

That said, there is one other point to be made. Several times I have heard persons – newsmen and even a major political figure – say something like, “what kind of people would do something like this?”

What a naïve question. Haven’t we all lived through many years now of terrorist attacks in the US and other countries, attacks by people who clearly do not care about human life, who are following some tortured belief in other purposes and causes they value more? The original World Trade Center bombing in the early 1990’s, the US Cole attack, the huge 9/11 attack in New York City, the attack on the rail system in Spain, the attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the recent killing of the US ambassador and others in Libya, and on and on. In certain areas of the world the terrorist attacks are steady and ongoing – especially parts of the Middle East. So how can anyone who has been alive and lived ask such a naïve question?

Now turn to people who are true Christians, who know and believe in Jesus, who have been born of water and the spirit. Not only do such people have faith in Jesus and know the Bible is true; they also know the devil is real. They know that evil is real. They know that evil people are out there. Not a few evil people. More than that.

We are living in the last of the last days. The Bible points out how people will fall away from God as we near the return of Jesus (II Thessalonians 2:3). It also points out something very clear: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 Timothy 3 goes on to expound on this. We can readily identify with this right now. And don’t forget how Jesus warned of wars and rumors of wars. We are in the midst of a war – not just the war in Afghanistan or Iraq, but a bigger war. Not just a war of radical Islam extremists against others, but a bigger war. We are in the midst of the playing out of the war of good versus evil. It has been going on for thousands of years, and it is moving steadily to a conclusion.

You and I live in this difficult age and place. While certainly there will still be persons coming to know the Lord in various parts of the world, there will also be all sorts of terrible things going on at the same time. We are told all this will happen. And hopefully all of us will be here to be called by the Lord when he soon comes in the clouds.

We - if we are true believers of Jesus – have no right to be ignorant of what is happening. We certainly can be horrified and saddened, but we have no right to be surprised by the overall direction of world society. We are living in the end of this age. The Lord has given us much to protect ourselves, and we should always pray for protection for our families and friends, for ourselves. We can put on God’s armor every day as Paul describes in Ephesians 6, and we can in Jesus‘ name take authority over evil and over situations. In Jesus’ name we can order demons away from us and from our households.

But we cannot be naïve. And in the end, we do have to realize that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. These are difficult times in which we live. The wheat and the tares grow together.

Lastly, the Bible points out how the devil has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So we can understand how unbelievers cannot see what is happening.

But you can. And you should.

In all things,

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                                                                                 (April 2013)

                                                                                                                 Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin

 

This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included. We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.

FAITH IN GOD

One thing you must have as you follow God is faith. 

·         God is who he says he is.

·         He will do what he says he will do.

·         And…you will never understand everything.

Consider Job.  Did he suffer in order to be refined?  To be perfected?  To grow as a believer?

Or did he suffer as some form of punishment?

If not, why then? 

If you’ve read Job, you know.  All those sufferings came about through some sort of a challenge by satan to God.  As a result of the challenge, God – who clearly has a high regard of Job - gives satan the right to do virtually everything to Job except kill him. 

But Job never knows this, never learns this, even at the end of the book when God speaks with Job.

Maybe a personal example would be valuable.  About four years ago, suddenly I had a really violent physical attack.  Acute pain.  I wasn’t so sure I could move, or endure.  Cathy called several prayer warriors to pray and a couple rushed over to help.  Needless to say I was calling on God and on scriptures, that is, when I could think.  Pain can block thinking and prayer sometimes.  I was weak for several weeks. 

So about two or three months after all this, I was standing in the kitchen after reading the Bible and praying for a couple hours.  I was suddenly aware of the presence of the Lord right across the counter that separates our kitchen from the dining area.  And Jesus spoke to me – “I’m never going to lose you, John.”  Tears filled my eyes.  And I said, “What did I do wrong?”

And the answer came back:  “Nothing.”

So I had done nothing wrong.  I can still speculate about that horrible period and what happened, but that is all it is – speculation.

Let’s take this lesson to you specifically.  God may never answer your requests precisely as you think you would like, or give clear reasons for why things happen.   He will most certainly answer, as we are promised in scripture.  But the answer will be God’s answer.  And he no doubt knows far better than we what we should have asked.

We have to have faith.  We have to trust him!

Romans 8:28 gives us the reason we can trust – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Most assuredly we can trust God and live in the peace that comes from Romans 8:28, for look at what Jesus endured for us in coming to the earth and in going to and through the cross.

While we should always seek to grow in knowledge and revelation of God and scripture and to live in the fullness of who we are in Jesus Christ, we will never understand everything.  We can work and struggle to know and understand a great deal, but everything?  No. 

God, after all, is God.

Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin