The Sunday Message, by OneVike
This is what Jesus said would happen to those who follow Him.
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved."Matthew 24:9-13
Up until recent times, most Christians in America could not imagine living in a country where such things would happen in their lifetime. Who would ever imagine a time when Christians would be hated and people would betray their faith for the false prophets? I can't help but think of folks who grew up in the Bible belt or of the Laura Ingalls-type pioneers of the 19th century prairie days. Did they ever come close to imagining what that kind of world would be like? And yet here we are, actually living in such times.
"You will be hated by all nations because of me," Jesus said. It's not just imaginary anymore, because since the House of Representatives passed the so-called "Hate Crimes Bill", it is just a matter of time before Christians are persecuted for quoting Scripture from the Bible.
This is real, this is now. Jesus Christ knew that this day would come, and he spoke of it when He walked among us. We are living during a time when we will see attacks on Christians, and conservative political radio, escalate as it has in Canada, because of newly adopted hate crime language in the law. It is clear to me that we must be ready to stand up and fight for what is right. I know that not all of us have a public reach through web logs (blogs), radio, books, and TV. But at the very least, we must stand up for our Christian principles in our communities and with our friends and family.
As we approach the time we celebrate the birth of Christ, let us remember why He came. Christ was the light that entered the world so that men could be set free from the darkness, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:19 We now live at a time when evil abounds, and it is incumbent upon Godly men to stand for what is right, regardless of what the ramifications may be. Sharing the gospel means to share the light with those in the dark, and that means we must stand for the truth.
I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear His voice and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen
Thank you, OneVike, for posting this. We are definitely witnessing these words of Christ coming to pass in our time and in our nation.
And now, since apparently the New World Order has been established as of November 10, 2009, we can expect things in this world and in this country to deteriorate rapidly for those who know Jesus Christ as Savior.
We can take comfort in knowing the Scriptures tell us that all these things will happen right before Christ returns- the time when He will rule this earth is drawing closer and closer.
Sadly, true followers of Jesus will be slaughtered by the faux followers.
The Bible details Christ's loathing for organized religion, but organized religion has been very effective at glossing this important fact over.
As an example, Jesus warned that we would be judged AS we judged others. How many people--under the direction of their 'ministers,' judge others?
How many people write essays condemning homosexuality--for example--without a shred of logical proof as to what Christ thought about it. How many of these get written despite Christ's admonition?
And every single one of these will be justified--as foretold. Christ told us of false prophets--of hypocrites.
When these jerks show up at a funeral for a fallen soldier "in the name of Christ," what might a non-christian think of these fools? What are they supposed to think?
When I write to Post_Scripts to point these simple--though uncomfortable--truths out, the "Christians" launch with the insults. Exactly where does Christ instruct you all in those methods? Of course He doesn't. If Christ is not instructing Fred, Nick, Tina, et al, who is?
What many people fail to see in the Gospels is the allegory to today. It wasn't the godless Romans that had Jesus crucified--it was the religious hierarchy. It was NOT Romans being talked about in John 8:59. It was simple fools under the direction of their 'religious' 'leaders.'
As a Christian--a real one--I am afraid of you all more than the unbelievers.
Quentin, you are one messed up dude.
How many people write essays condemning homosexuality--for example--without a shred of logical proof as to what Christ thought about it.
We have gone over this heresy that you believe and I have shown you concrete evidence that homosexuality along with every other sin will be dealt with by the hand of God, and he will not tell those who practice any type of sin to enter into His rest. No Quentin, like all sinners who fail to repent they too will be thrown into hell fire, "WHERE THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED."Mark 9:48
Check out what I wrote about Homosexuality : Defiance of God and the Truth. I hope you will let it sink in this time. That is all I can do for you on the subject of homosexuality and sin. After that it is up to you to quit spreading lies about what Christ taught. Because that sir is Blasphemy.
As for your opinion of what the Scriptures say about judging.
Jesus said to judge but to judge righteously. How you decide what to avoid in life is by using judgment, and whom you decide to hang out with is by using righteous judgment, the way you raise your children is to judge the way they would want to be judged. See, I have no problem being judged as I judge. The problem with you is you want sin to abound, so you will not judge those who sin, because you think that if you do not judge others for being wrong or sinful, then God will not judge your sin. Wrong, regardless of how you judge you will be judged also, and sinful behavior regardless of your fundamentalism will be judged by GOD!
God said do not be like the Pharisees and judge hypocritically. Because, Jesus, James, Paul, Peter, Mark, and all the rest in the early church judged sinful behavior and God allowed it to be so, because without judgment of sin by Christians, the world will not know what sin is. But I guess that is fine with you. A world full of sinners so your sins will not look so bad.
What many people fail to see in the Gospels is the allegory to today
I do pray for you. If you think the Bible is just allegorical for our times, then like Origen you probably think Satan can be saved if he repents. As Paul wrote to Timothy, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,2Timothy 3:16
No Quentin, the Bible is not some allegorical book that you can pick and chose what to believe should pertain to you.
Quentin, since you included me in your comment, I have a couple of questions for you. How often do you judge others and what does that mean to you in terms of your own faith?
Pastor O.V., this is your true calling, another fine piece!
Pastor OV, I happened on this while looking for sermons and I wondered what you thought about it? Do you agree with some of it, none of it or all of it?
Muslim scholars and clerics are as follows:
Islam accepts the writings of the Hebrew Torah (Pentateuch, first five books of Moses), the Hebrew ‘Psalms to David,’ and the Christian Gospels of Jesus (the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).
Allah is the same God that is seen in the Hebrew/Christian Scriptures. Allah is the same as the Hebrew/Christian God Yahweh/Jehovah.
The Quran does not teach the principle of violence.
When a Muslim uses the term ‘infidel,’ he is not talking about a Christian or a Jew. The term ‘infidel,’ according to the Quran, refers to an atheist; someone who does not believe in God at all.
The principle of ‘Holy War Jihad’ cannot be found in the teachings of Muhammad and the Quran.
Many Christian ministers, Jewish rabbis, and news reporters are also echoing the above statements. The overall consensus among the religious world then, seems to center on two premises:
that the religion of Islam and the teachings of the Quran, and the prophet that started Islam, Muhammad, do not teach the things that the terrorists are doing and …
that Allah is the same as the Hebrew/Christian God Yahweh/Jehovah.
Quentin doesn't feel required to provide "facts" or "evidence" when accusing people of blasphemy or heresy.
Quentin has also previously stated that he doesn't know many "real" Christians. This was because according to Quentin many people follow the Bible according to Paul rather than Christ. Quentin of course failed to explain how the teachings of Paul contradict the teachings of Christ, but then again Quentin has demonstrated on several occasions that he is selectively comfortable with contradictions.
Based off of Quentin's writings I am forced to conclude that he is a fan of dialectic reasoning. But like so many adherents to dialectic reasoning he applies it selectively and only when it suits his immediate purposes.
In his latest writing he seems to be upset with Christians who throw around insults. Yet he saw absolutely no problem with sending an email to my father telling him that he hoped I wouldn't have to die in combat for my father to realize that Iraq was a pointless war. Quentin has also written verifiable false statements concerning the character of other posters (that's called libel) when people have had the audacity to disagree with him on a political or economic point.
One need only look at his utterly ridiculous inference that fake or phony Christians "judge others" while he as a "real" Christian doesn't do such things...hasn't he already done so as soon as he wrote that statement? Or perhaps he is stating that no one should make a value judgment...that would certainly explain the intellectual inadequacy of many of his positions.
Bottom line I will be quite content to let Christ judge my actions as opposed to Quentin, who at times seems to display quite the "god" complex.
All lies. The religion of Islam looks at Christians as violating the sin of Shirk. Allow me to explain.
To begin with, allow me to address the question of what Muslims believe God is and what Islam teaches about Jesus and the idea that Christians believe in the trinity.
Long before Muhammad was born, Arabic Christians were already referring to God as Allah — and millions continue to do so today. The Allah of Islam, however, is definitely not the God of the Bible, while Muslims passionately defend the unity of God, they patently deny His Trinity as the Bible supports. Muslim Clerics, recoil at the notion of God as Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. They categorically reject the unique deity of Jesus Christ as the Son, and the divine identity of the Holy Spirit.
First, while Jesus taught His disciples to pray "Our Father in heaven," devotees of Muhammad find the very notion offensive. To their way of thinking, calling God "Father" and Jesus Christ "Son" suggests sexual procreation. According to the Q'uran, "It is not befitting to the majesty of Allah that He should beget a son" (Sura 19:35); and Allah "begetteth not, nor is he begotten" (Sura 112:3). The Bible, however, does not use the term "begotten" with respect to the Father and the Son in the sense of sexual reproduction but rather in the sense of special relationship; thus, when the apostle John speaks of Jesus as "the only begotten of the Father" John 1:14 (emphasis added by me), he is underscoring the unique deity of Christ. John goes on to state, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" John 1:18.
Also, when the apostle Paul refered to Jesus as "the firstborn over all creation" inColossians 1:15 Paul was emphasizing Christ's preeminence or prime position as the Creator of all things. Colossians 1:16–19 Paul goes on to write that Christians are sons of God through adoption, while Jesus is God, the Son from all eternity.
Furthermore, Muslims dogmatically denounce the Christian declaration of Christ's unique deity as the unforgivable sin of shirk, and believe such a faith is to be punishable by death. The Q'uran states, "Allah forgiveth not (the sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this" (Sura 4:116). Muslims readily affirm the sinlessness of Christ, however, they adamantly deny His sacrifice upon the cross and subsequent resurrection. They also consider Christ to be no more than a prophet and no greater a prophet than Muhammad.
In doing so, they deny the singular historical fact that demonstrates that Jesus does not stand in a long line of peers from Abraham to Muhammad, but is God in human flesh. The phrase from the Q'uran, "Allah raised him up" (Sura 4:158) is believed by Muslims to mean that Jesus was supernaturally raptured rather than resurrected from the dead. In Islamic lore, God made someone look like Jesus, and this look-alike was crucified in His place. In recent years, the myth that Judas was crucified in place of Jesus has been popularized in Muslim circles due to the propagation of a late-medieval work titled The Gospel of Barnabas. Against the weight of historical evidence, the Q'uran exclaims, "they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them" (Sura 4:157).
Finally, in addition to rejecting the divinity of Jesus, Islam also renounces the divine identity of the Holy Spirit. They will tell you that, far from being the third person of the Trinity, God who inspired the text of the Bible, says that the Holy Spirit is actually the Archangel Gabriel. The one who dictated the Q'uran to Muhammad over a period of 23 years. This is ironic considering that Islam also identifies the Holy Spirit which was promised by Jesus in John 14 is in actuality Muhammad himself.
The Bible, however, roundly rejects such corruptions and misrepresentations. The Holy Spirit is neither an angel nor a mere mortal. Instead, the Holy Spirit is the very God Who redeems us from our sins and will one day resurrect us to life eternal. Acts 5:3–4 & Romans 8:11.
Ok, now allow me to address the question of what Islam teaches about the death and destruction of those who do not and will not follow the teachings of Mohammad. Also whether or not the Q'uran teaches that the idea of a Jihad against the infidels who will not fall in line with the teaching of Muhammad.
First off. Any Christian Preacher or teacher that believes the Muslims do not teach the things that the terrorists are doing, is not a true son of God as the Scriptures teach. Another words, such a person is not a Christian, and if they are they are not theologically educated enough to speak upon the truths of the Scriptures. Allow me to elaborate.
There are certainly verses in the Q'uran that could provoke acts of terror as the Q'uran reads. Also the Islamic terrorist use these verses and Allah to condone their acts? To further make my point that the Q'uran teaches the use of terrorism, I decide to use the speeches and letters of the terrorists. First, I'll focus on the letter by Al Zarqawi to the Muslims around the world.
Al Zarqawi presents his letter in the form of a prayer in order to excite Muslims around the world. This particular portion of Zarqawi’s letter is from a verse found in Surah 98:6:
This section of Zarqawi’s letter is similar to the verse found in Surah 9:14,
All of these Al Zarqawi letters came from, “The Global War on Terrorism: Assessing the American Response.”
Also, Al Zarqawi uses the very writings of the Q'uran to gain approval from Muslims around the world.
Islam extremists have highlighted the verses in the Q'uran that support their belief. They are the true followers of Islam. Like the Christian fundamentalist like me who preach that homosexuality is a sin, the Islam terrorists like Al Zarqawi preach the truth that the Q'uran teaches death to all who will not follow Muhammad's teachings. Unlike some false Christian teachers who teach that there are no ties to terrorism in the Q'uran, I will not back down from the truth.
Finally, there are many verses in the Q'uran that provoke Muslims to do what Muhammad taught. Make no mistake about it, the Q'uran, which is the Muslim Bible, teaches such terrorist as Bin Laden, Al Zarqawi, and their followers that it is within the will of Allah to kill anyone who will not follow what the teachings given to the prophet Mohammad.
Like I said the Christian leaders who repeat the lie that Islam is a peaceful religion are the very anti-christs that Jesus, Paul, John, Peter, and other early Christian leaders warned us about in the 1st century when Christianity was still in it's infancy.
I hope this helps to satisfy your question about Islam.
Amen, and Dittos my friend.
One question I have never been able to get an acceptable answer to is this...
Islam teaches that Christ was a prophet...
The Christ of the Bible claimed to be divine...and the Muslims consider the Bible to be an inspired text.
In order to be a prophet of God, one must never commit such blasphemy...
So either Christ is divine and the Koran's teachings on Christ are incorrect...
Or Christ was a horrible blasphemer and the Korans teachings on Christ are incorrect...
Or perhaps I am missing something, but I have run the question past several Muslims in order to get clarification, and thus far have not received any.
Pastor O.V., I have just read your response to my inquiry and I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very enlightening. Nick also responded with a conundrum in the Koran that would on the face of it appear to be an error for which there is no explanation other than it is an error.
Most logical, educated and intelligent people who are not completely blinded by their faith would have to agree that the Koran has so many verses in it that people can pick and choose among the verses to find whatever they want to find in order to justify their personal agenda. If it were otherwise then the Koran could not be both a book of peace and tolerance and a book ordering the death of others for various defined transgressions.
It would seem to me that as passionate as Muslims are for their religion they would be outraged over this division. One side is clearly being blasphemers of Allah's holy word, but which is it and why hasn't the Islamic council ruled on this to clarify the Koran? I think the answer is obvious, neither side is right and this is why the Supreme Islamic Council can't rule on it because they would be admitting the Koran encourages and justifies murder and it calls for compassion and peace...a classic carrot and stick approach. To acknowledge something the world's collective morality would abhor is not helpful to spreading the word and gaining converts. So each side plays off the other when time and circumstance make it convenient to do so.
This is the ugly truth rational and peaceful Muslims do not want to admit anymore than those so-called open minded liberals who are quick to agree that only a miniscule part of Muslims are bent on murder because it wins them favor and this suits their political agenda far more than if they took a stand and denounced this duality as hypocrisy.
I'm sure there are many persons out there who upon reading this are ready to pounce and claim the Bible is also a book of both murder and peace with errors, but I'll leave that up to providence. I'm content to address the Koran and how it relates to the ongoing terrorism in so many disparate countries around the world. This part makes the issues some might raise with the Christian faith look to boring by comparison. And I don't really care to go all the way back to the Crusades to find something to assault today’s Christians, the Pope or the Bible...again, that’s boring, it's ancient history, I would rather keep it on a subject relevant to our survival right now.
You are correct for feeling confused Nick.
After all, try as you may, you never shall get an upfront honest answer from any Muslim.
O mean if they are a good practicing Muslim then they will inevitably refuse to answer you because you are a heathen and do not deserve an answer.
If however they are not actively practicing their faith, they will not answer out of fear they will be found out to be in violation of some law that Muhammad wrote when he was scheming to sleep with his neighbors wife.
Now, as for Christ. he is the way the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father accept through Him.