Sunday, February 28, 2016

Revival: It's Personal

So many wayward leaders in the church are trying to cash in on the next Great Awakening. It's almost like some sort of competition to see what preacher will be in the spotlight of the next big revival.

But, what really matters to each and every one of us is our own joy in the LORD and the strength of His might. Our love and enthusiasm tends to grow cold -- especially when we do not renew our spirits by dwelling in His Word. The cares of the world are certainly choking Jesus out of many people's busy lives.

It used to be that you could get to church on Sunday for a time of refreshing away from the pressure of daily life; sing the praises of our God; enjoy the sweet fellowship of the saints; listen to an uplifting message and the Word rightly divided. You would leave church pumped up on Jesus, ready to take on the world.

During this time of the Great Apostasy though, church is more often a time for some motivational speech by a narcissistic guy who thinks too highly of himself, or a monotone bland packaged sermon from a lectionary delivered by a guy on salary. 

We cannot expect the preacher or teacher to do for us what only God can do -- that work in our hearts as we are filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized in His love. The renewal we seek will not be found at the next 'wave' in the church. We cannot look to some man or program to breathe life into our groggy spirits anymore than we can blame others for our own indifference. 

It's time to get back to that personal relationship each of us has with Jesus. There's no middle-man. There's no intercessor between us and Him. We are instructed to 'abide' in Christ. Cast our cares upon Him. Trust in Him. Commit our way unto the LORD. 

No one can do that for us.

"Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass."
- Psalms 37:3-5


"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near."
-- Phil 4:4-5



Thursday, February 18, 2016

ANTI-TRINITARIAN CULT IMPERSONATES RAPTURE READY By Jackie Alnor, Director, Rapture Ready Radio




Member/s of a Herbert W. Armstrong cult have deceptively started a Facebook page called Rapture Ready International Ministries. People thinking they are joining in uplifting discussions about the soon return of Jesus instead are led into false teaching. On this FB ‘about’ page they list their website as www.raptureready.com - which is the site of Rapture Ready, a website that keeps believers up-to-date on news items and articles about the end times.






No doubt, the majority of the subscribers to this FB page are friends of Rapture Ready and listeners of Rapture Ready Radio.



The problem came to my attention on February 17, 2016 when a meme of the inside of a cathedral showed up in my timeline with the words, “There is no such thing as the trinity! There is only 1 God.”  It linked to a page called “Real Bible” that was discovered to be associated with the United Pentecostal Church UPC, considered heretical for their “Oneness” doctrine – the belief that God the Father became the Son and then became the Holy Spirit, as opposed to the doctrine of the Trinity that defines God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – distinct, yet One God.





The discussion that followed between me and the FB page’s moderator, Walter Hernandez, consisted of his attempt to denounce the Trinity and defend his viewpoint. To do so, he posted three links to the same source, the United Church of God, producers of the TV program Beyond Today. The UCG on their website calls the Rapture a false teaching, demands legal observance of the Sabbath, and denounces the doctrine of the Trinity.



So I looked up Rapture Ready’s position on the Trinity and posted it in the thread:


"Who is Elohim? Elohim is the plural word for God in the Hebrew language. It can refer to three or more. It is used of the Father, Son and HOLY SPIRIT throughout the Old Testament. Even though it is translated "God" it should be "Gods." All translators use "God" instead of "Gods" to emphasize the unity of the Trinity. This unity of the Trinity is stated clearly in the Old Testament by using singular verbs with the plural noun, Elohim."



It is just like cults to be sneaky and not operate on the up-and-up. They pretended to be one of us – impersonating RaptureReady.com – showing RR's link as their own – just to deceive people and try to draw away those who trust Rapture Ready -- Bait-and-switch tactic of wolves in sheep’s clothing.



I had already un-friended Mr. Hernandez for coming to my own Facebook page, arguing with my friends about the Trinity and showing Ambassador College as his place of training. Ambassador College is an institution of the late Herbert W. Armstrong, a heretic and dangerous religious leader who taught that we can become gods.



Rapture Ready’s owners, Todd Strandberg and Terry James were contacted and neither of them know Walter Hernandez -- Strandberg confirming that the Rapture Ready International Facebook page has no connection to RaptureReady.com.



If you are one who has been fooled into thinking this FB page is valid, you might want to leave a rebuke in the comments before making a hasty retreat.

Addendum-

After my confrontation of this bogus Rapture Ready Int'l Facebook page, the owner of the page issued this statement after taking the "Ready" out of the title of his page. However he continues to show RaptureReady.com as his website in the 'about' page.

"There is no relation with the Rapture Ready or any of their publications. I am single out as a heretic because I am standing for the only true and Living God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Check the website and do your own research. He is coming back for us his church of his body. How sad that Christians should be united but there are divisions because we do not fit the theology and their seminary teachings instead if the word of God. How sad the state of this at this moment, but I am not surprise since Jesus Christ was single out as a son of the devil. Thanks God por his matchless Word of truth."





Monday, February 1, 2016

Love for the Truth with Cindy Hartline 02/01 by Rapture Ready Radio | Religion Podcasts

Love for the Truth with Cindy Hartline 02/01 by Rapture Ready Radio | Religion Podcasts: Cindy's guest is Nathan Jones from Lamb and Lion Ministries on the subject of Gog and Magog, a great war that will take place in end-times, which is mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39.