Monthly Archives: February 2010

February 4, 2010 · 7:39 am

Islamic Terrorists Vs. Radical Christians: New Games. New Rules. (Part 3)

An Updated Rerun 2009 Series

Click on the following for earlier articles in the series: Part 1 and Part 2.

Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, legendary football coach at the University of Alabama, once said, “It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”

The days of unskilled shoe bombers are almost over. Instead, America can soon expect to see Mumbai-type terrorists. Radical. Dedicated. Trained. Armed. Willing to die. Filled with hate. Hoping to kill large numbers of innocent men, women and children before they exhale their last breath.

These terrorists want to win. And they are prepared.

To counter these radical terrorists, America needs radical Christians who are dedicated, trained, armed, filled with love, willing to die for their family and neighbors and hoping to be life-giving witnesses to terrorists and others until their last breath.

I wish I could say that all of us Christians are prepared and ready to go…or even a small fraction of us. But the truth is that most (99%) of us are not dedicated. Not trained. Not armed (with spiritual weapons). We are bogged down with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.

But guess what? The radical terrorists will pay no heed to our excuses. They will kill you, me, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors, and whomsoever, if we are not prepared.

So, we need to make up our minds now.

Because when the terrorist attacks hit us, our president, our governors, our mayors, our city council members, our police and the national guard will not be able to help us. They will be too late. Only the DMORT teams will arrive on the scene in time to stuff us and our loved ones into body bags.

Today, I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live. (Deuteronomy 30: 19 New Living Translation)

(CONTINUED Part 4)

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February 3, 2010 · 9:58 am

Why All The Outrage To Pat Robertson’s Remarks About Haiti? (Part 5)

Click on the following for earlier articles in the series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Over the last fifty years, the chief restorational influence on American Christianity came about because of some West Coast hippies. It was called the Jesus People Movement.

The movement’s message was simple: God is love; and He loves you.

It’s an understatement to just say the Jesus People were different than other new Christians of the 1960’s and 70’s. They had long hair, wore jeans, liked rocking guitars rather than organ music, were both enthusiastic and informal at the same time, and came out of communal living environments.

And when the Jesus People attended traditional churches, guess what happened? They didn’t fit in well with the starched white shirt, dark suit and formally dressed crowd. It was like trying to mix oil and water together; each repelled the other.

Thus, the Jesus People Movement spawned their own churches, ones like Calvary Chapel Churches and Vineyard Churches which held laid back, informal services focused on God’s love and building intimate relationships with God and each believer. And also, a new type of assembly came on the scene: Home Groups.

Plus, the music changed. Maranatha Music, Vineyard Music, and eventually today’s modern worship music, all had their origins in the Jesus Movement.

There is no doubt that God’s hand was on the Jesus People Movement. We American Christians needed a fresh focus on God’s love and building relationships without all the hindrances of traditional trappings. Thus, the Jesus People Movement has produced solid fruit in us believers.

But as with all movements throughout the history of the Church, the pendulum has swung too far in one direction. So much so, that today’s Church no longer views Jesus as the Judge or the Holy One who when John saw Him on Patmos , he fell at His feet as though he were dead.

Most of us American Christians now view Jesus as a warm and fuzzy Savior who tolerates all kinds of sin. After all, Jesus is love. And shouldn’t love put up with all kinds of sin?

The answer is a definite NO!

(Love) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)

So, with all of this in mind, let’s begin looking at Pat Robertson’s remarks, okay?

(Continued in Part 6)

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February 2, 2010 · 7:47 am

Islamic Terrorists Vs. Radical Christians: New Game. New Rules. (Part 2)

An Updated Rerun 2009 Series

Click on the following for an earlier article in the series: Part 1.

How do you defend a city or a nation against dedicated, radical terrorists like Kasab?

To be honest, there are no fool-proof courses of actions to stop radical terrorists from duplicating a Mumbai-type of incident in our nation. This is especially true if the terrorists have been trained like Kasab and his friends were.

America’s strength is that we are an open society. But sadly, this is also our number one weakness in fighting terrorism. If you couple openness with our national “It won’t happen to us” attitude, we’re sitting ducks, just waiting to be plucked.

For instance, let’s say that you’re staying with your family at the luxurious Beverly Wilshire Hotel, just off Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Then, all of a sudden, terrorists burst into the lobby. They begin shooting AK-47’s and exploding grenades, killing and maiming everyone they see. Confusion and havoc reigns.

Somehow, you rush your family into a first floor cafe and hide behind a makeshift pile of tables and chairs. You hear the terrorists walking in your direction.

Who can you expect to help you at this precise moment?

Will the president help you? He’ll make a quick statement on TV, deploring terrorism, and will probably add, “Most Muslims are good people. These are just a few bad eggs!”

After all, the president needs the Muslim vote in the next election and doesn’t want to offend CAIR.

Will the governor help you? This is California, not Texas. So, the Governor will first take a quick telephone poll to discover what the people think. You know, he’s running for senator or some important cabinet position and his competition is tough.

The governor will also appear on TV, deplore terrorism, announce that he is considering all options, may even call out the National Guard, and then will take a helicopter to the scene.

Will the mayor and city council help you? These guys will be relegated to low-level radio interviews. But of course, they will deplore terrorism, violence, yada, yada and more yada.

What about the police? They and their SWAT teams will surround the hotel. Phone calls will be made to the governor, mayor, police chief, and whoever else needs to be contacted about weighing all of the pros and cons before taking action. Valuable time will pass before any decision will be made.

What about a DMORT team? This is the one positive which will happen almost immediately. A Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team from Region IX will be dispatched as soon as they hear about the attack. They will bring victim identification equipment, body bags, and storage units for the expected dead people.

So, what can we do?

(Continued in Part 3)

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February 1, 2010 · 7:01 am

Why All The Outrage To Pat Robertson’s Remarks About Haiti? (Part 4)

Click on the following for earlier articles in the series: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Paul said to Festus, “This has not been done in a corner.”

Paul’s remark referred to the ministry, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. You see, everyone in Jerusalem knew about Jesus and His ministry. It was not carried out in secret. Thus, Jesus’ words were trumpeted via Jewish grapevines into every Jerusalem home.

Now, because of this awareness, the apostles and believers had great favor with the people after the ascension of Christ (Spring, 30 AD). The Apostles taught daily at a Temple colonnade and held healing services in the streets.

This tenuous status quo lasted for almost five years. Then, with the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul and Jewish leaders brutally persecuted the Christians. The bloody campaign caused many believers in Jerusalem to relocate to other cities in Judea and Samaria, but the original apostles stayed behind.

The persecution by Jewish leaders lasted for the next twenty-nine years in an on-again and off-again fashion. Ironically, Saul became the Apostle Paul, and then received the heaviest persecution from the Jews for his work with the Gentiles. And the apostles in Jerusalem – Peter, James and John – eventually achieved a peace of sorts with Temple leaders.

From 35 AD until 64 AD, Jerusalem Christians assembled in home churches, but Jerusalem Christianity still had a distinct Jewish flavor about it. Some writers even refer to Jerusalem’s brand of Christianity as “Temple Christianity” to distinguish it from Paul’s Christianity.

As for the Roman leaders, they paid little attention to Christians and considered them a small sect of Judaism during this time period.

All of this changed in 64 AD when Nero began persecuting Christians and in 66 AD when Jewish zealots openly fought Roman armies.

Okay, all of the above history helps lay the groundwork for a powerful prophecy concerning the siege of Jerusalem:

In 66 AD or 67 AD, depending on what source you read, a Christian gave a prophetic word to the Jerusalem church. In the word, believers were reminded of Jesus’ prophecy and warned anew about the upcoming devastation of Jerusalem and advised to move out of the city.

By early 69 AD, all the Christians heeded the prophecy, left their homes, their livelihoods and their Jewish friends, and relocated to Pella (a city sixty miles northeast of Jerusalem) and other Transjordan cities.

The result of this prophecy was that none of the Christians perished in the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Let’s look at this prophetic word:

1. Who was the prophecy intended for? People living in Jerusalem.

2. What audience heard the prophecy? Christians.

Remember: According to Josephus, one-third of Jerusalem (population 120,00) converted to Christianity. So, as forty-thousand Christians packed up and left the city, the other eighty-thousand residents watched on.

Even though the prophecy was given to Christians, believers certainly would have explained to their neighbors why they were leaving. They would have mentioned both prophecies and tried to convince their Jewish friends and neighbors to leave, too. The neighbors then would have told others. On and on, until the whole city knew the reason for the Christian exodus: a prophecy about the soon coming destruction of Jerusalem.

But sadly, at the time, the Jewish zealots were winning the war with Rome. And after all, Jerusalem was the City of God and the Jews were God’s chosen people. Thus, very few Jews listened to the Christians.

So, when the Siege of Jerusalem happened in 70 AD, all had been warned ahead of time about the upcoming calamity.

(Continued in Part 5)

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