Titans, the Angels Who Sinned, and the Origin of Demons

Who were these meropes anthropoi, and what’s the connection to the Rephaim of the Bible?

Homer named a few of them in The Iliad: Theseus, who killed the Minotaur on Crete; Aegeus, the mythical founder of Athens; Polyphemus, the cannibalistic giant son of Poseidon, one of the Cyclopes; Caneus, a nigh invulnerable warrior, transformed from a woman into a man by Poseidon; Dryas, leader of a tribe that fought a long war with the Centaurs; and so on.

Significantly, Hesiod mentions that the meropes anthropoi became daimones after death, although he viewed them more favorably than Jews and Christians do demons:

But after earth had covered this generation — they are called pure spirits dwelling on the earth, and are kindly, delivering from harm, and guardians of mortal men; for they roam everywhere over the earth, clothed in mist and keep watch on judgements and cruel deeds, givers of wealth…

Hesiod, Works and Days, emphasis added

The Book of Enoch offers a slightly different explanation for the origin of demons:

And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.] And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.

1 Enoch 15:8-12 (R.H. Charles translation), emphasis added

Thus, between Hesiod and Enoch we can connect the meropes anthropoi, the men of the Golden Age, to the Nephilim, children of the fallen Watchers. Both lived during a pre-flood age, and both, upon death, became wandering spirits called demons. It’s just that the Greek view of daimones was more favorable than the Jewish (or Mesopotamian, for that matter) understanding of demons.

Needless to say, that’s another PSYOP by the Enemy.

Kronos, Saturn to the Romans, was king of a race of gods called the Titans, who reigned supreme after Kronos deposed his father, Uranus (with extreme prejudice—Kronos castrated him with a scythe). The golden race of men created by the Titans was the only one that lived during the reign of Kronos. Told that he would be deposed in turn by his children, Kronos tried to preserve his kingship by eating his kids as soon as they were born. Zeus was spared that fate by his mother, Rhea, who gave Kronos—obviously not a picky eater—a boulder wrapped in a blanket instead. When Zeus was grown, he freed his siblings and led a war to depose the old tyrant. The Titans were defeated and imprisoned in Tartarus.

So through the link between the Semitic root mrp’ and the Greek word meropes, we have a connection between the Nephilim and the heroic men of the Golden Age of Kronos, the meropes anthropoi, “the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.”

Now, back to the Bible: Og, last “of the remnant of the Rephaim”, ruled the land of Bashan, a territory that included Mount Hermon, the place where the rebellious Watchers descended. In Deuteronomy 1:3, Joshua 12:4-5, and Joshua 13:12, we’re told specifically that Og “lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei and ruled over Mount Hermon.” Edrei was the site of the battle between Israel and the forces of Og. And one of the Ugaritic texts, KTU 1.108, confirms the link between Og and the Rephaim as denizens of the netherworld.

May Rapiu, king of eternity, drink wine, may he drink, the powerful and noble god, the one who rules in Athtarat [Ashtaroth], the god who reigns in Edrei…

KTU 1.108

In other words, the Amorites of Ugarit believed that a god named Rapiu, a singular form of the word rpum (Rephaim), ruled exactly the same territory as Og, king of Bashan. And since Rapiu, the king of eternity, was linked to the Rephaim, the honored ancestral dead, Og’s kingdom around Mount Hermon was essentially the gateway to the underworld.

Here’s another interesting data point: In Ugaritic, Bashan, which Ugaritians pronounced with a “th” instead of an “sh”, meant “place of the serpent”—a callback to the divine rebel, the nachash, of Genesis 3. Remember from Isaiah 14, the nachash was cast down to Sheol where the dead kings of the nations reside. Did that happen at Bashan?

Canaanite myth offers another link between Og and the Rephaim: Danel (the Ugaritic equivalent of the Hebrew name Daniel), the hero of a Canaanite myth called The Legend of Aqhat, is described in the story as a mt rpi. According to Amar Annus, mt rpi, which means “man of Rephaim”, is a linguistic match for meropes anthropoi. That specifically links the golden race men from the age of Kronos—i.e., the Nephilim—to the Rephaim, and thus to the council of the Didanu.

But get this: Danel is also called mt hrnmy, which probably means “man of Hermon.”

Yeah. That Hermon.

So now we can link the biblical Rephaim, the mythical meropes anthropoi of the Golden Age of Kronos, the Nephilim, the Watchers of Genesis 6, and the mysterious council of the Didanu—which, remember, was probably the name of an ancient tribe of Amorites claimed as the ancestors of the kings of Ugarit, Assyria, and Babylon.

This is a good time to point out that the ill-fated Ammurapi III of Ugarit mentioned above shared a name with the most famous king of the old Babylonian empire, Hammurabi. Scholars typically translate their names, ammu rapi, as “my kinsman is a healer.” This draws on the possible meaning “healer” of the Semitic root rpi.

Although this author is not a scholar of ancient Semitic languages, in the context of what we’ve just read, a more accurate rendering of Ammurapi/Hammurabi might be “my kinsman is a Raphi’“—one of the Rephaim.

Since you’re perceptive, you’ve probably already figured out where this is leading. But to put this on the record, we will now lay this out in black and white: The name of an ancestor of several Amorite royal houses, Dedan, whose descendants were called the Didanu, Tidanum, and variations thereof, is the name from which the Greeks derived the word titanes—from which we get the name of the Titans.

Dedan is a name attested in the Bible. Dedan and Sheba are locations in western Arabia mentioned several times by the prophet Ezekiel (about which more later). It’s also the name of one of the leaders of Korah’s rebellion against Moses, Dathan (see Numbers 16).

One of the nephews of Nimrod was named Dedan, maybe not coincidentally. Could his name have been in honor of the Titans, the old gods who descended at Mount Hermon in the dim, distant past?

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While we’ll never identify for sure the Dedan whose name became synonymous with the old gods, or why the Amorites appear to have carried the belief that they were their heirs, we can document the connection between the Watchers of the Bible and the Titans of Greek myth.

When the Olympians defeated the Titans, Zeus banished them to Tartarus, a place of torment for the wicked as far below Hades as the earth is below heaven. That just happens to be the current address of the Watchers who landed at Mount Hermon.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

2 Peter 2:4 (ESV), emphasis added

The Greek word translated “cast them into hell” is the verb ταρταρόω, tartaroo, which literally means “to thrust down to Tartarus.” This is the only use of that word in the New Testament. Hades, meanwhile, is mentioned nearly a dozen times, including twice by Jesus. That distinguishes Hades from Tartarus, which was apparently reserved as a special place of punishment for angels who sinned. And the only explicit example of angels sinning in the Bible is in Genesis 6:1-4, which is confirmed by the passages in 2 Peter and by Jude, who clearly linked the punishment of the angels to a sexual sin.

Further, the Jewish scholars who translated the Hebrew scriptures into Greek two hundred years or so before Jesus’ birth into the text called the Septuagint understood the link between the Rephaim and the pagan gods. In 2 Samuel 5, the scholars translated the site of David’s battle against the Philistines, emeq rapha, as Valley of the Titans.

So. The Titans of the Greek myths were the “angels who did not stay within their own position of authority,” the Watchers of Genesis 6. They are bound in Tartarus, kept “in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” Their children, the Nephilim, whose spirits are the demons that plague the earth to this day, were the shades of Sheol, the Rephaim, who were summoned in rituals by Amorite kings who believed they were their honored dead ancestors.

Seriously.

Does the phrase “the iniquity of the Amorites” (Genesis 15:16) begin to make more sense?

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Summoning the Rephaim

Let’s bring our timeline of history into focus: The Bible tells us that Abraham arrived in Canaan 430 years before the Exodus. With the Exodus at 1446 B.C., that puts Abraham in Canaan in 1876 B.C., just as the fog over the political situation in Mesopotamia lifted with Amorites in control.

So let’s review:

  • Amorite kingdom of Babylon founded — 1894 B.C.
  • Abraham arrives in Canaan — 1876 B.C.
  • Isaac born to Sarah — 1851 B.C.
  • Isaac marries Rebekah — 1811 B.C.
  • Hammurabi crowned king of Babylon at Eridu — 1792 B.C.
  • Jacob and Esau born — 1791 B.C.
  • Abraham dies — 1776 B.C.
  • Hyksos take over Lower Egypt — c. 1750 B.C.
  • Jacob arrives in Egypt — 1661 B.C.
  • Ahmose drives Hyksos out of Egypt — c. 1550 B.C.
  • Moses leads the Exodus — 1446 B.C.
  • Joshua leads the Conquest of Canaan — 1406 B.C.

 

Interesting, isn’t it, that the Amorite domination of Mesopotamia began just as God called Abraham and directed him to Canaan? And that Babylon reached the peak of its power with the ascension of Hammurabi the Great just about the time Jacob and Esau were born?

At the same time, a Semitic-speaking, Baal-worshiping state emerged to take control of northern Egypt just before the arrival of the house of Jacob. Wouldn’t it be, you know, coincidental if the Hyksos rulers of Lower Egypt were Amorites, too?

Well, yes, it would—if we believed in coincidences. And as it happens, scholars do, in fact, believe the Hyksos were Amorites.

The best-known of the Hyksos kings, Khyan, is attested from inscriptions found as far from Egypt as Cyprus and modern-day Baghdad (probably originally in Babylon). An Amorite king with the same name, spelled Hayanu, is listed in a genealogy as a distant ancestor of Šamši-Adad and the royal house of the old Assyrian kingdom.

Scholars have also noticed strong similarities in the burial practices of the Hyksos and various Amorite kingdoms, especially the practice of sacrificing donkeys for burial with important people and under the doorways of new buildings.

So yes, it’s strangely coincidental, if you’re a believer in coincidence theories. Otherwise, it seems an unseen hand or hands moved the Amorites into position in Egypt and Canaan just before the Israelites arrived—almost as if they’d been placed there to wait for God’s chosen people.

It’s also noteworthy that while the Anakim were confirmed in Canaan by extrabiblical sources from Egypt, the Anakim haven’t been found anywhere else in the ancient Near East.

But you know by now we’re not coincidence theorists. Let’s pull these historical threads a little harder. Why did God link the timing of Israel’s return to the iniquity of the Amorites?

We’ve established that the Amorites founded Babylon. This is documented mainstream history, unquestioned by secular scholars. The Amorites are also linked by historic records to a tribe called the Tidnum/Tidanum which seemed to have a strong military reputation, troublesome enough that the last Sumerian kings of Mesopotamia built a very long wall in a futile attempt to keep them away. That is also solidly documented mainstream history.

The Bible links the Amorites to the Anakim (Deut. 2:10-25). The Transjordan campaign was aimed at two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, who were both remembered as giants. Remember that the Amorite king Og was called the last of the Rephaim (Deuteronomy 3:11). Texts found throughout Mesopotamia identify the Tidnum/Tidanum as a tribe of the Amorites. In Ugarit, the spelling is usually Ditanu or Didanu. And those texts are usually in the context of venerated dead ancestors, especially the honored royal dead.

The city-state of Ugarit, usually described as Canaanite by Bible teachers, was more accurately an Amorite kingdom. The tablets found by archaeologists there have provided a wealth of knowledge about ancient Hebrew and the history of the period around the time of the Exodus. And some of the connections between secular history, the Bible, and the supernatural realm are absolutely fascinating.

For example, a funerary text identified as KTU 1.161, or RS 34.126 (designations that identify the tablet in question), plainly connects the Amorite tribe of Didanu (Ditanu/Tidnum/Tidanum) with the biblical Rephaim—in a ritual to summon them from the dead!

“Sacrifice of the Shades” liturgy:

You are summoned, O Rephaim of the earth,
You are invoked, O council of the Didanu!
Ulkn, the Raphi’, is summoned,
Trmn, the Raphi’, is summoned,
Sdn-w-rdn is summoned,
Ṯr ‘llmn is summoned,
the Rephaim of old are summoned!
You are summoned, O Rephaim of the earth,
You are invoked, O council of the Didanu!1

(Emphasis added)

Yeah, I know! What?!

Scholars who look at this text from a secular perspective tend to view it as an academic curiosity, a window into the psychology of people who lived 3,500 years ago. But as Christians, filtering this through the lens of truth, we get a whole different picture.

In this ritual, the Rephaim, a group that included the “council of the Didanu,” were invoked to accompany the recently deceased king of Ugarit, Niqmaddu III, to the underworld. They were also there to bless the new king, Ammurapi III, who—although he probably didn’t know it—was the last king of Ugarit. His kingdom was about to be overrun by the so-called Sea Peoples sometime around 1200 B.C.

The Rephaim and the council of the Didanu were apparently summoned to impart to the king the power to overcome death, and to make the living king one of the rpum—the Rephaim. Assuming this ritual wasn’t an invention for Ammurapi, and evidence from Babylon suggests it wasn’t, it appears that the coronation rites of the Amorite kings of Ugarit (and maybe other Amorite kingdoms) summoned the king’s dead ancestors, who they identified as the Rephaim.

Imagine a ritual like that in front of the White House on Inauguration Day!

Now, buckle up, because we’re going to work through some challenging stuff in the rest of this. Most of what follows comes from a paper published in 1999 by scholar Amar Annus of the University of Tartu, Estonia,2 whose research into the Mesopotamian origins for some of the weirder themes in the Old Testament, like the Watchers and their sin, is truly groundbreaking.

For starters, Annus concluded that the West Semitic root for the word Rephaim, mrp’, appears to be the origin of the Greek word merops. The word can have a similar meaning in both languages, “healer” or “healing.”

Kos, an island in the southeast Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey, was formerly called Meropis, after one Merops, the mythical first king of the island. Merops was thought to be an autochthon, an original inhabitant of the land, one who sprang from the rocks and trees as opposed to a foreigner who settled in it. His people, then, were the Meropes. The key point is that Merops, Meropis, and the Meropes all derive from the Semitic root mrp’.

We also find that root as the basis of the phrase meropes anthropoi. That phrase was used by the Greek poet Hesiod in his famous poem Works and Days to describe the men who lived in a long-ago Golden Age.

First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men who lived in the time of Cronos when he was reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things, rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods.

Hesiod, Works and Days

Who were those meropes anthropoi, and what’s the connection to the Rephaim of the Bible? We’ll pick up there next month.

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1 Suriano, Matthew J. “Dynasty Building at Ugarit: The Ritual and Political Context of KTU 1.161,” Aula Orientalis 27 (2009), p. 107.

2 Annus, Amar. “Are There Greek Rephaim? On the Etymology of Greek Meropes and Titanes,” Ugarit-Forschungen 31 (1999), pp. 13-30.

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Mark of the Beast Part II

Continued…..

this mark may very well be the ultimate human enhancement because it will give someone new found strength, abilities and youth

The Last Divided Kingdom of Daniel and the Beast of Revelations Connection

Last Kingdom Revelations Daniel 2
Saved Unmarked Non-mingled seed
Unsaved Marked Mingled Seed

 

Once genetic modification begins to happen, it only takes 3-4 generations before God’s creations would no longer exist through intermarriage or war. However, it could happen much faster if the mark of the beast was some kind of advanced hybrid RFID bio-chip that carried the power to rewrite human DNA. All of these recent developments may very well be why Jesus says, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”  What Jesus is saying here is that if He does not come back when He does, then His people would soon perish from off the earth? Trans-humanism and genetic tampering certainly meet the criteria for creating this kind of scenario. Furthermore, with both the genetic and electronic parts of the mark of the beast fully operational, the clock is now ticking. This is also why I believe that we must be living in the end times and that Jesus is coming back very soon. Understanding that the mark of the beast may very well be a genetic marker that bears the name and resemblance of it’s designer helps us understand Satan’s ultimate plan to remake God’s creation into His own.  Trans-humanism represents Satan’s plan of salvation for humanity. Just as God created us in His image, so too the mark of the beast will change us into a fallen image of a fallen angel. The problem is that on human terms this mark may very well be the ultimate human enhancement because it will give someone new found strength, abilities and youth. The question is, will you still be human? Will you bear any resemblance to what God created and can you be saved? Unfortunately, I believe the answer is no!

The idea that we are created in God’s image means that we resonate with many of His Holy qualities.  Our conscience comes from this resemblance to our creator and that is why some things just feel right and are universally considered wrong.  In the same way, wolves, quail and whales have a very different morality and patterns of relating versus humans. However, if we were no longer made in God’s image because our DNA was tampered with, then we would no longer have a Godly conscience for the same reason.  This is a big problem because the Bible says that we are unredeemable if we have a reprobate mind or a seared conscience. (Rom 1:28) This was the same kind of mindset that was happening during the Days of Noah because the Bible says that “every intention of the heart of man was only evil continually.”  (Genesis 6:5) Redesigning our DNA would also redesign our minds permanently because DNA is both the language and assembly line of what will be created in reality. A seared conscience is not the only other unredeemable or unforgivable sin however.  The other one is blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is found in Matthew 12:32 & Mark 3:29. “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks or blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” I believe there is a connection between a seared conscience, blaspheming the Holy Spirit and Trans-humanism.  How can this be? Because rewriting our DNA would literally change every dimension and feature of our body including our mind and our conscience. Let’s listen to see how God feels about that.

  • 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 17 – Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Our bodies are Holy because the Holy Spirit is Holy! Understanding that God will not stand for any kind of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit or destruction of His temple helps us understand why this also applies to our bodies because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Changing what God created and called good is an act of war because we are His temple, His house and His children. God doesn’t want us to look like anybody else because He has already contractually redeemed us by virtue of being the children of Adam & Eve. By faith, it is only a matter of time before we receive our new bodies, but certainly one temptation that Satan could offer humanity is a new body now. Just give up your ancestral link to both Adam & Jesus.  Still, if we believe that God created us and that we are His temple, how could anyone think that changing our DNA would not qualify as corrupting God’s temple or blaspheming His Holy Spirit? In fact, the same promise of destruction applies to those who destroy God’s temple as to those who take the mark of the beast. Is that a coincidence? Once we know that a Holy God wrote our DNA as a literal blue print for His temple that He would literally inhabit, then we have to ask one more question. “How can a Holy God inhabit an un-holy temple?” This is why taking a mark that would re-write our DNA to be more like Satan and less like God would surely qualify as a special sin, and deserving of God’s wrath.

Understanding the heart of God and knowing that He is not willing that any should perish, means that people perish against God’s will because there are other issues at play. Chiefly, His Holiness as the rightful judge of the seen and unseen world.  Just as we were legally redeemed in the court of heaven by the rights of creation and through a Father’s rights to His children, so too if it could be proven that God was not our Father, then even a loving God must through His righteous declare our verdict of conviction. Isn’t it interesting that if an earthly father was fighting for his rights to his child that the issue of DNA would come up? They would test the DNA of both the father and the child and if there are no commonalities, then the father’s rights could be terminated.  Moreover, some would say that the purpose of the book of Ruth in the Bible was to give us yet another picture of exactly how God can legally redeems us. In the book, Ruth, who was a Moabitis, married an Israelite, but unfortunately he died shortly thereafter. Instead of remaining in Moab, she decided to stay with her mother in-law and return back to Israel.

Once she was there she obtained favor of Boaz, who happened to be able to marry her because he was her next of kin.  This is why Jesus is often referred to as our “Kinsman Redeemer” because He too was a son of Adam with ancestral links to all of humanity.  In fact, based on this idea, the most boring and yet important book of the Bible may very well be the book of numbers because it lists the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam.  This proves that Jesus was our Kinsman and that He can legally redeem all of Adam’s descendants. We may very well be in a fallen state, but there is enough of a familial match for us to be counted a relative of both Adam & Jesus. This means that Jesus is the only one who is qualified to redeem us. He was the unblemished Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Now most people would certainly say that Jesus did not die for cows, pigs and chickens, but what if taking the mark of the beast changed your DNA so that you no longer shared any familial DNA to Jesus of Adam?  This is why tampering with our DNA would be the ultimate blasphemy. It would pervert the image of God, contaminate the words of God, desecrate the temple of the Holy Spirit and remove all familial connection to Jesus, all in one fell swoop. If the mark of the beast rewrites our DNA according to the specs provided by Satan, then it could possibly turn us into the temple of Satan and remakes us into his image. If the mark of the beast is a genetic marker like what is being promoted through the religion of Trans-humanism, then this would completely explain why someone couldn’t be saved after taking this mark. There would be no way to cut it out, take it off or ever turn back once a decision like this has been made.  

It is impossible to debate that if the Bible is true, then God wrote and designed all of the information that is found in our DNA. Moreover, God blessed it and gave it His seal of approval by calling it good.  If someone else writes our DNA, then how could it be called good unless they were God? This is why Trans-humanism is blasphemy. Another way of looking at this is, whoever writes your DNA is your God because they are your creator.  Whoever writes the DNA is the author and they determine the image that will be created. The problem is that the one and only true God would no longer be our Creator or Father. If Jesus was a descendant of Adam, and we change our DNA, then we are no longer His Kinsman. We are no longer related to Jesus because we have become a whole new species.  This is why God arranged it so that everything in His creation would only reproduce after it’s kind, because He was completely against anyone else creating any other kind of life. In fact, most people are unaware that God specifically forbids the mixing of species in Leviticus 19:19, which says, “Do not mate different kinds of animals.” This alone is a justification as to why Tran-humanism is wrong, and why carrying a genetic marker of the beast would be an unforgivable sin.

What must not be forgotten is what the promise of Tran-humanism brings to the table. Trans-humanists routinely talk about how redesigning humanity is the next step of evolution.  More importantly, they make fun of the idea that there is a loving and creative God because, in their opinion, they can make better humans than He can. Trans-humanism was Satan’s’ crowning achievement in the Days of Noah and it will be once again as he comes good on his plan of salvation for mankind.  This is the same promise that Satan said to Eve if she ate of the fruit, “you will become like God’s.” Certainly, it is true that many people in our fallen state might consider some of Satan’s changes to be a drastic upgrade from what we currently have. The problem is that this taking this mark destroys God’s image, His temple and makes us unredeemable.  Not only that, but the promises of Tran-humanism are nothing compared to the new bodies that the Lord has promised to all those who follow Him. However, let’s not kid ourselves, it will take faith to turn down this mark because of some of the amazing promises of Trans-humanism. Moreover, it will take faith to say no when our lives are on the line. Initially, there may be many of the general population who are lining up to take the mark of the beast? People will see it as their salvation because they will be bigger, better, stronger, faster and live 10 times longer. Only simpletons, religious fanatics and ignorant people would ignore such an amazing discovery of science. This is just another example of how science has replaced God and how we are evolving into gods.

The world is already obsessed with being superior or extraordinary. These days, every movie or cartoon is about humans that excel to the point of superhuman abilities or wielder of magic.  It is clear that the desire to be more than human is in all of us. Even Paul groaned in the flesh in expectation of the new body that we will receive at the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 8:23) Why would we think that the offer of a new body with new abilities wouldn’t be just as tempting as the fruit that Satan offered to Eve in the Garden of Eden or a bowl of pottage that Jacob offered Esau to give up his birthright?  The problem is that we would loose our God given humanity. Tom Horn mentions that when they put quail DNA in chickens, the end result is that the chickens move their heads like quail and sound like quail. Complex memories and patterns of behavior are stored in our DNA. If we change it, then we will change everything that it means to be human including our mind, our will, our emotions, our hopes, our dreams, our desires and our faith. We will have defiled the temple of the Holy Spirit and blasphemed the one who made us. So you are probably saying we have years before this is happening, at least in the USA.  Well think again because a Wisconsin company has become first US Company to microchip employees and they are throwing a big party to celebrate! For myself, there can be nothing more insulting to be branded like a cow with a piece of the company literally inside me. It is time for the church to speak out about a 1900 year old prophecy that speaks against such technology. We can wait no longer because the Millennials have never even heard about this life changing decision that is right in front of our faces! As Jesus said in Luke 21, “when we see these things happening, then we need to stand” up to the world and everyone around us by saying “we will not take this mark.” I also believe that we have come to the point in history where sharing the warning not to take the mark of the beast may be just as important as sharing the gospel! Like many other things, prophecy is like an alarm clock because it is supposed to alert us to what time it is on God’s prophetic clock.  We can’t be worried about earthly things when we could be leaving this earth any day now. Now is the time we need to be looking for the return of Jesus! Now is the time to share both the gospel and the warning not to take the mark of the beast with all those who might be left behind. Now is the time to be about our fathers business!”

http://fox8.com/2017/07/24/wisconsin-company-to-become-first-us-company-to-microchip-employees/

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The Mark of the Beast “Part 1”

The Bible with respect to the “mark of the beast” is chilling…

If you haven’t read our first three articles, I recommend going back and reading them in order to fully understand the chain of events.  The paradigm or cipher that we are using for this entire series is the one that Jesus gave us in Luke 21. “When you see these things happen, then stand up, and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.” This simple scripture lets us know that there will be a time in human history when our newspapers and our Bibles will converge.  I believe that we can make a case that prophecy is happening like never before. In fact, the accuracy of the Bible with respect to the “mark of the beast” is chilling. In our last two articles, we covered what happened in the “Days of Noah,” and how this same genetic tampering is happening again. Here is a quick summary of some other Biblical prophecies that are also happening right now.

  • Jerusalem is no longer tread down by the Gentiles.  Luke 21
  • Jerusalem has become a “burdensome stone” for the whole world.  Zechariah 12:3
  • Persecution of Christians is at unprecedented levels in modern times and they are being beheaded just as Revelations describes. Revelations 20:4
  • There is a dramatic increase in pagan and occulted activity just like Jannes and Jambres. 2 Timothy 3:1-9.
  • There are more false Christ’s, false religions, false gospels and false prophets than ever before. Matt 7:15, Matt 24:24, Ezekiel 13:9, Jeremiah 23:16, Luke 6:26, Matthew 16:11-12, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Acts 20:28-30, 2 Peter 3:14-18, 2 Peter 1:12-21, Titus 1:6-16, 2 Peter 2 & Matthew 23:1-29
  • There is a great falling away happening in the church.  Specifically the church has become politically correct rather than Biblically correct. Furthermore, the ecumenical movement is springing up promoting false gospels and many different ways of salvation.
  • The Days of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah are once again in full swing. Like 17:28
  • The most controversial passage in the Bible, which is in Genesis 6, is happening again through modern technology known as Tran-humanism.  Human DNA is being tampered with and this will result in a new species of mankind that will have the super-human abilities similar to the Nephilim that are described in the Bible. The information that God wrote down in our DNA is being changed. The new humans will have a different image than what God originally created.  Their obvious superiority will create the “war of the seeds” prophesied in Genesis 3 and is later to be fulfilled in the final “divided kingdom” found in the 2nd chapter of Daniel between those with regular seed and those with “mingled seed.” Once the modern Nephilim begin to intermingle their seed, the DNA of all humanity will become corrupt within 3-4 generations and God’s creation will be utterly destroyed.  

The Mark Of The Beast Is The Game Changer

  • Revelation 13:16-18 – And he (one of the Beasts) causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

In order to give a brief overview of what we know about the mark of the beast, we will cover the few scriptures that actually talk about it.  Frankly, the mark of the beast is one of the most interesting points of Bible prophecy because it is so specific. I have always been intrigued by the whole idea, but I have also realized that I might actually live in a time where this actually happens. In the same way that Israel becoming a nation in 1948 changed my dad’s life by making him realize that the return of Christ was near, so too the mark of the beast has had a similar affect on my own life.  To think that a 1900-year-old prophecy about sophisticated technology could actually come true is nothing short of astonishing! There is no way that the apostles and prophets could have known this without real supernatural power. How could they have known that one day a simple mark could identify someone and provide all the details of their life? How could this mark verify how much money someone had? The mark of the beast is a perfect example of how and why prophecy is so powerful.  Prophecy is the calling card of God and it proves that He is the real author of human history. Most people do not know that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies, which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. So why are there are almost 8 times as much said about the 2nd coming of Jesus?  Because the deception is going to be just that good, so we need to continue to share the warning of what is to come.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the mark of the beast is already here, at least in some form or another.  In fact, hardly a day goes by where we don’t buy something with a similar mark. Of course I am talking about a bar code. A bar codes is actually two sets of numbers that are divided by small sets of double lines.  Each number in a bar code is represented by a different set of lines that run up and down in a vertical direction. The first set of lines tell the machine to start reading the first set of numbers. The second set of lines tell the machine to move on to a second set of numbers, while the final two lines tell the machine to stop reading altogether. The first five numbers of the sequence identifies the manufacturer and the second set of numbers tells us what product they are selling. If we look at the second set of numbers in the bar code, I want you to notice the type of lines that are above the number 6. These are the same marks, just slightly shorter, as the ones that appear in the beginning, middle and end of the bar code.  This means all bar codes currently being used are based on the numbers 666. Because of the almost universal use of bar codes, this also means that the global system that will one day become the beast is also already here in some form.  

 

 

 

There is another part of the above passage that is quite noteworthy because it says, “and he (one of the Beasts) causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead.” So we must consider all of the possible causes that Satan might use to deceive and manipulate people into taking this mark.  Most people believe that the “cause” talked about here is lethal force and that certainly may be true. However, I want us to entertain another possibility as well, because I believe that it may be entirely probable that whatever this mark does or represents will be so popular and desirable that people will be lining up to get it.

  • Revelation 14:9-11 – And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

This verse reveals just what a game changer the mark of the beast really is.  The reason that the mark of the beast is a game changer during the “end times” is because the power of the gospel to save people is useless if they have already taken the mark of the beast.  In other words, once someone takes this mark they can’t be saved. “Why,” is a question that I have struggled with for years because it seems like such a simple thing. How can a random mark keep us from being saved?  After all, just look at how prevalent tattoos have become. Not to many people are suggesting that someone with tattoos can’t be saved. If murderers, adulterers and thieves can be saved, then why does a simple mark change either God’s ability or mind with respect to forgiving someone’s sin? Of course, many of us know that there are other “unforgivable sins” in the Bible and so we will briefly discuss them.  The question is, is there a correlation between the mark of the beast and some of the other unforgivable sins? I believe this study will answer these questions and reveal their connection to an astonishing development in technology, but before we do that, here are some other verses about the mark of the beast.

  • Revelation 20:4 – Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
  • Revelation 19:20 – But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur

As we can see, the Bible clearly and repeatedly says that if we take the mark of the beast, then we cannot be saved. It even goes on to talk about how many people are killed because they didn’t take the mark. In fact, the persecuted Saints are rewarded for their sacrifice by reigning with Christ for 1000 years.  What this also means is that the power of the gospel to change lives and save souls in the end times has ended unless they have refused this mark. In effect, the church may soon be facing a complete change in what it is preaching because convincing someone not to take the mark of the beast may very well be the equivalent of salvation. Unless the church is able to convince people not to take this mark, they will have no chance to ever be saved. Of course, this does fly in the face of how some churches teach the doctrine of “Eternal Security.”  While I do not want to get into that debate, I do believe that when it comes to the mark of the beast, a true believer will not take the mark. For myself, although I believe that God is faithful even when we are not and that God knows who are His, I also believe that the ones who will be saved are the one’s who will reject this mark. (2 Timothy 2: 13 & 19) It is as simple as that. No matter what side you are on with the idea that “once saved, always saved,” most of us will at least concede that come judgment day, there will be a lot of people who have deceived themselves into thinking they were saved when they were not. This is what we do not want to happen. So all believers must be willing to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith and teach others to do the same. (2 Corinthians 13:5) This also means that if we examine the scriptures and ourselves we can be “confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” In this case, the word of God has been trying to prepare us for this moment for 1900 years. So when it comes to a direct commandment regarding salvation, I believe we cannot afford to be wrong. We must warn people not to take this mark! Especially when we are facing a direct imperative from God’s Holy Word.  Yet, the idea that we can take this mark and still be saved is gaining momentum even among conservative Christians such as John MacArthur. While I can honestly say that I have enjoyed many of his sermons, this is one area where I am in complete disagreement with Him.

When it comes to the technology that is required for the mark of the beast, the RFID chip more than meets the requirements. If you are not familiar with an RFID chip, here is how Wikipedia defines it.  “Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves. Active tags have a local power source (such as a battery) and may operate hundreds of meters from the RFID reader. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object. RFID is one method for Automatic Identification and Data Capture.”  This is the most obvious choice of the technologies that would allow a one-world government to accomplish their goals of total control with the mark of the beast.  We will cover other technologies when we get to what has been called “Beast Technology.” In fact, Terry James has written a whole book about it. The sad truth is that the United States government is developing most of these hidden technologies.  Consider this quote by Paul Hellyer, who is the Former Canadian Defense Minister. “It is ironic that the U.S. would begin a devastating war, allegedly in search of weapons of mass destruction when the most worrisome developments in this field are occurring in your own backyard.  It is ironic that the U.S. should be fighting monstrously expensive wars allegedly to bring democracy to those countries, when it itself can no longer claim to be called a democracy when trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars have been spent on projects which both congress and the commander in chief know nothing about.” The amazing thing is that the NSA, DARPA and even Google are all providing different parts of what is becoming a puzzle with a clear picture of what is to come.  The above quote comes from an article written in 2014 about how a DARPA / Google executive brags about being implanted with a chip or as she calls it, a “wearable” or an electronic tattoo.

Many companies around the world are requiring this mark in order for someone to work in their company.  This invasion of privacy is all being done in the name of heightened security and the inconvenient and tedious task of authenticating oneself.  Unfortunately, terrorism is now being importing around the world so that the ensuing chaos can justify the extreme means that a chip inherently demands.  This is all part of the oldest strategy in the book, which is often called the Hegelian Dialectic. Whatever your goal is, create a problem where what you want to do would actually be the most natural and logical solution to the problem that you have created. Given the scenario that seems to be developing, I believe that one of the most important things that we as the church could do is to share about how a one world government is coming to assimilate us all and forcing us to take this mark.  Talking about how and why we must not take this mark could literally save someone’s soul? If we really knew what the mark of the beast was and we were out in front of it and warning people ahead of time, then it could very well be possible to save millions of souls. While they might think we are crazy at first, once the rapture or some of the other end times scenarios happen in front of their eyes, they just might wake up to the fact that the God of the Bible knows the future. Whether Christians are still here or not, the lost have no hope unless we tell them about what is coming.

If the “end times” really is the ultimate peer pressure situation, then one has to wonder exactly how are people going to survive it.  Yet we know that a great innumerable multitude from every nation will be saved in the tribulation, which also happens to be a lot more than even the Jews. (See Revelations 7:9-17) I believe that this is because of the warning that is given through prophecy about what will happen during these last days.  Speaking of peer pressure, I love to tell the story that James Dobson tells about how to get your children to survive peer pressure situations. The illustration is all about how your child is going to get into a car one day and they are going to be offered a cigarette. These days it is not a matter of if, but only when.  This is when Dr. Dobson makes some startling remarks. He says that if your child is offered a cigarette in a peer pressure situation, then your child will take that cigarette unless two things have already happened. 1) He has been told that he will one day be offered a cigarette. 2) He has already decided ahead of time what he will do when that happens. Why am I bringing this up?  Answer: because unless we tell the world about the mark of the beast, they have virtually no chance of getting saved.

Now let’s reverse this story.  What if a trusted spiritual adviser or pastor told someone that that they could still be saved after they take the mark of the beast?  What if they were told that they would never see any tribulation or be forced to make a lethal decision in order to avoid this mark? How do you think that would make them feel if they found out the hard way that their leader was wrong?  We know that when someone’s personal expectations are not met, they usually become depressed, disillusioned and defect to the other side. After all, if their spiritual leaders were wrong about that, then why aren’t they wrong about everything?  This is how lies produce a whole lot of horrible life changing decisions, and this is why Satan is the father of lies. Very few Christians debate about whether Jesus will return and take us to be with Him, but many groups argue about the timing of that event. The main thing is that it will happen and that we should be prepared for the worst. Even though I favor somewhere between a Pre-tribulation or Pre-wrath rapture, I am not willing to tell someone that they will never face some kind of tribulation or be put to death over not complying with the Mark Of the Beast. After all, this is actually happening every day.  Besides, the destruction of America could very well happen before the rapture no matter what we think our departure date is. If Jesus didn’t know the day, or the hour, then how can we get so incredibly opinionated about these events as if we are 100% sure?

The point that I am trying to make is that the Bible is doing exactly what Dr. Dobson says is necessary to survive the ultimate peer pressure situation.  The Bible is telling us that one day we could see great tribulation. The Bible is saying that one day we could be forced to make a choice whether to take this mark of the beast or face being beheaded.  The Bible is warning us that we need to stand firm and realize that we cannot be saved if we take this mark. So while the rapture is in fact our “great hope,” the timing of the event can also prove to be a stumbling block if taught improperly. The general apathy about the fact that the mark of the beast is actually here seems rooted in our 100% certainty that the rapture will happen before we are ever put in a situation where we have to say no to the mark of the beast.  Sadly, nearly every prophecy class I have taught has had someone basically ask, “Why do I need to know all of this if I’m not going to be here anyway.” The fact that something that is just like what is described as the mark of the beast is already and being implemented has not even caused any real alarm. The fact that it could be here has not made us question just how “pre” our “pre-tribulation” rapture theory really is. Even if the rapture does happen shortly, those who have been left behind have no chance of surviving unless some of us who will soon be gone get busy telling everyone around us to get ready because they just may be in such a situation.  Even now up to 42% of the people in the United States are willing to take this mark. This statistic represents the complete failure of the church to preach Bible prophecy. If the warning is never preached, then people will be at the complete mercy of the lies that are being told. This is why the “mark of the beast” is the ultimate game changer. When was the last time that you heard a sermon about the mark of the beast? If the church itself is unprepared, then what chance do you think the world has of saying no to something that the person next to them has just lost their heads for? The more we are silent and the more we continue to just let life go along without any warning, the more the next generation will be lost.  This is why the Bible says, “my people perish for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)

Another thing that I find amazing about how the Bible says that this goes down is that apparently, everyone has the right to say no to this mark.  Sure they can threaten us with death or with the death of those we love, but they can’t actually just force us to take the mark. Why? If I were an evil dictator, I wouldn’t care if someone didn’t want to do something because I would just make them do it.  In fact, I might get more joy out of forcing someone to do something that they didn’t want if I just killed them. Why does it have to be our choice? Isn’t it interesting that even the Anti-Christ and his kingdom have to live by the laws of God. In this war for the souls of mankind, the individual must be given a choice if they are to be won to one side or the other.  They can’t simply be held down and marked. They must do this of their own free will. This whole scenario is astonishing to me and we would do well to remember that the entire universe truly does run on the laws of heaven. So, to summarize what we have learned so far about the mark of the beast, here is what we know.

  1. The mark of the beast is associated with the number 666, which is just like a Bar Code.
  2. The Anti-Christ / Beast causes everyone to take it.  
  3. No one can buy or sell without it.  
  4. The mark is a form of identification and verifies how much money we have.  
  5. The mark is taken in the forehead or hand.
  6. One of the main consequences of not taking this mark seems to be beheading, which is currently part of Muslim traditions.
  7. The mark of the beast cannot just be forced upon us.

While this is surely a lot of information, the truth is there are many things we still do not know about this mark. Certainly, there have been many books that have talked about the mark of the beast, but I have always had one major question about what this mark really is.  How can taking a mark keep someone from getting saved. After all, the blood of the risen Lord is the most powerful thing in the universe. Remember, “God is not willing that any should perish,” so how does this still happen because of a mark? (2 Peter 3:9) Moreover, the Bible is full of stories about people that God loved and even used to accomplish so many great things, and yet they were horrible sinners.  David is a prime example because he was a man after God’s own heart, but he was also a murderer and an adulterer. Still, God used David. In fact, only under David’s reign did the children of Israel ever take over all of the land that they were promised in the Bible. What I love about the Bible is that it does not hide the sin of its fathers in the faith and David was no exception. Instead, God exposed him and judged him.  The lesson I have learned about God is that there just aren’t too many sins that He can’t conquer. Then comes the mark of the beast and suddenly it changes everything, or did it? Over the years, I have always been looking to uncover something more about how a simple mark is such a big deal to God. What strikes me as odd is why something that is “wearable,” such as a chip or an electronic tattoo, couldn’t just be removed. One might think that the worst-case scenario would be to just cut that hand off right and the problem would be fixed, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.  For some reason once someone takes the mark of the beast they cannot go back. How cans a simple mark on our hand or our forehead end up marking every cell in our body? Many people have attempted to answer this question with another question, which is “how can someone eating a piece of fruit start this whole mess to begin with?” While the answer could just be “because I said so,” it hasn’t stopped me from asking why and this is where it has led me.

Skipping to the punch line, I now believe that while an RFID chip may be part of the mark of the beast, I believe the mark of the beast is actually a genetic marker from “the beast.”  The mark may even have some DNA derived from the beasts of the field. I first really entertained this idea after listening to Tom Horn as he related a conversation that he had with His wife Anita. The best I can recall, his wife Anita says to Tom, “what if it was not just a mark, but a genetic marker?”  Boom, a nuclear explosion went off in my head and I had to turn off the radio. Within a few hours the puzzle just started falling in place! One of the first big clues that this may be the case is found all the way back in the 2nd chapter of Daniel where he talks about the statue with the “head of gold.” At the bottom of that image is the final kingdom that would be in existence right before the return of the Messiah. This final kingdom was different than any of the others because it was the only one that was divided into iron and clay. Daniel describes these two ingredients by saying that, “they mingled themselves with the seed of men and the two would not cleave together.”  In other words, this kingdom had two kinds of people in it.

The first kind of people had “mingled seed” and the second kind of people had “unmingled seed.”  When we talk about seed, we’re referring in modern terms to what we would call DNA because this is the part of the seed that is necessary if anything is going to grow.  We also know that these people who had “mingled seed” are represent by clay, which was the most inferior and weakest substance found in the image as a whole. This idea of “mingled seed” seems to have a connection to what happened in Genesis the 6th chapter, which also happens to be the Days of Noah.  If you have read the last article, then you know I believe that the “Days of Noah” were the days where human DNA was being tampered with by fallen angels. This tampering resulted in a new species of mankind called the Nephilim. This tampering is made much more believable now that we can literally take a swab of someone’s DNA and do the same thing. The Nephilim were very different from ordinary men, but they are very similar to the “super soldiers” that our government is currently trying to perfect. Our government is using the science of Trans-humanism to alter mankind and design new life forms.  They are disrespecting God and His creation by changing what God created to suite their own agenda. The obvious superiority of this new breed of mankind will create a new level of racism between those who are modified and those who are not. This fulfills what the Bible prophesied in Genesis 3 regarding the “war of the seeds.” It also fulfills the idea put forth in the 2nd chapter of Daniel that these two people groups would be at odds with each other. Recall that Daniel says about them, “they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”

I believe that what this verse is telling us is that in the last kingdom it will be divided because there will be two types of people in this kingdom. Some will have un-mingled seed and some will have mingled seed, which means that they have been genetically modified. This “divided kingdom” will be the last kingdom to rule the earth before Christ’s return, which also means that this is the same kingdom as the “Beast” of Revelations. Just like the Divided Kingdom, the Beast Kingdom will have two types of people.  There are those who have received the mark of the Beast and those who refuse this mark. Maybe this is not a coincidence. Maybe the people who take the mark of the Beast are the very one’s who have tampered with their DNA. Can it also a coincidence that this technology exists today through Trans-humanism? How about the fact that Trans-humanism is literally blending mankind with the beasts of the earth? Is this also a coincidence? Maybe this mark is not just a mark at all, but a genetic marker that literally has some of the beasts’ or Anti-Christs’ DNA mixed into it. This would make him the father of all those who take this mark, thereby changing the fatherhood of men from God into Satan.  

End of Part I:  Part II will be posted in a few days!

Be sure to read Dr Kevan Kruse’ articles that are archived at  www.allpropastors.org 

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“Vision: is it received, developed, or discovered?”

Father Theodore Hesburgh, former president of Notre Dame University said, “Vision is the essence of leadership.”

Visionary leadership is knowing where you want to go, how to get there, and the three things required to make it happen: First, having a clear and compelling vision. Second, articulating and modeling it well. Third, getting your team focused and excited about pursuing it.

Above all, you must be confident and consistent, no one follows an uncertain or faint trumpet. Great leaders develop a clear and compelling vision by using one of the following three approaches. You can impose it, buy it, or forge it through persuasive consensus.

One, imposing a vision can be either by demand or persuasion. Teledyne founder, Henry Singleton, believes an organization is built around a mind with an idea that is aware of the key issues of his generation.

Great leaders stay ahead of the curve and lead from the future, not to the future. They are seasoned visionaries, sharpened by their image of the future. Their ability to empower and connect their teams’ everyday efforts to the vision is without question. They guide their organization with confidence and humility, not as overbearing power brokers.

Poor leaders impose their vision through demands often disguised as motivation, but in reality is manipulation. Great leaders’ caste their vision until it becomes the common vision of the team through communication that is vivid and compelling.

Second, you can buy a vision. Consultants will happily create a fashionable mission statement that creates a lot of energy, but few sustainable results. The problem with these “off-the-rack” solutions is they are so generic that they are usually worthless.

Visions can’t be bought like a McDonald’s burger or Starbucks latte. They can’t be a Burger King vision where everyone has it their way. Your team and stakeholders know immediately that you’re trying to sell them a second-hand, cut-and-paste dream that they reject immediately. If they don’t they are naive and of no real value, you need to release them.

Third, forging a vision. This happens through leadership consensus by encouraging broad contributions in putting flesh on the skeleton you provide. This produces a vision that’s the most enduring and effective for long term sustainable results.

At the end of the process you want a vision that is not only compelling, but energizes great buy-in by the core leaders and all the stakeholders. You don’t forge a vision overnight, but through patience, perseverance, and passion.

If you can’t get your team’s energized buy-in to the vision, ask yourself the following questions. How passionate am I about it? How often do I show it to them, not just in locker room pep talks, but through my daily actions? How much did I ask the team to contribute in the process

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Religion, Science and the Future of Transhumanism

By Dr. Thomas Horn

 

Recently, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science featured a piece written by Professor S. Jonathon O’Donnell in the Department of Religion and Philosophies at the University of London titled, “Secularizing Demons: Fundamentalist Navigations in Religion and Secularity.”

O’Donnell’s aim? According to the article’s abstract, it was to explore at a deeper level than his peers the “anti-transhumanist apocalypticisms” of our day, the central voice behind which was identified as yours truly—“evangelical conspiracist Thomas Horn [and his] milieu [community gathering place]”

In other words, the University of London professor has determined that I and those who work with me at SkyWatch TV and Defender Publishing are the “leaders of the transhuman resistance” that members of that community had better pay attention to. The peer-reviewed Zygon agreed at least to the point they found reason to promulgate O’Donnell’s thesis.

A title such as this placed upon me and the associates within “my milieu” is, I assure you, not as offensive as it may seem. Quite the contrary, I am encouraged that my line of work in the media has captured the attention of renowned spokespersons of the scientific world—such as those deemed worthy of being featured in Zygon. The very fact that personalities of such high regard and academic acumen are addressing what I’ve concluded throughout my career proves that my work is worth addressing. If I was completely off the mark out in La-la Land, I may still gain attention for being an agitator, but to persons such as O’Donnell, I would simply be considered inconsequential and not worth the precious time it takes for them to write such a detailed response to my convictions. Likewise I am deeply flattered to see how mostly professionally and fairly my stance on the subject was handled, as I nearly expected this to be yet another “hit piece” upon myself and my associates. Most naysayers who have come against our work have formulated little more than a straw man’s argument. It’s clear by their retaliation that they haven’t truly read my work to begin with. They assume—errantly so—that we are just religious men and women who cry “sin” against anything laboratory-created as it doesn’t innately have the hand of God upon it. Such may not have been the case for O’Donnell. Much to my surprise, O’Donnell did not appear to be driven by the sole desire to paint me as a half-witted lunatic like some others have done throughout recent history. For that, I openly offer my gratitude.

There was, however, a few intrinsic flaws in his conclusions about us and our “demonologies” of transhumanism and secularism that we will discuss in this and the next couple magazines.

Why?

Because in 2018 we will: 1) host a conference in Branson, Missouri (this September, more info coming soon) where scientists, artificial intelligence developers, technologists and theologians will gather to inform the public on the ramifications of the soon coming technological singularity; 2) release a book on the subject by members of “The Milieu,” and 3) broadcast a month long Special Investigative SkyWatch TV Report on the hottest issues involving transhumanism and Christianity. This magazine will guide and apprise our readers on the most germane subject matter as things develop in the weeks and months ahead.

But Back to professor O’Donnell and his thesis for the time being.

There is always an inherent fallacy when a personality trained in the scientifically oriented school of “show me proof/evidence” analyzes a stance based on religious conviction, particularly as it relates to eschatological prophecy and ruminations about events that have not yet occurred. It will probably always be this way on this side of eternity, since what we “evangelical conspiracists” see written on the wall regarding the scriptural warnings of God aren’t impartially considered amidst the “proofs” and “evidences” of science. It’s no secret that science recurrently discounts religion, and by extension any conclusion that a religious spokesperson may come to. Though I wouldn’t immediately accuse O’Donnell of it personally, well-learned academics heavily entrenched in the scientific community or its publications quite frequently respond to religious concerns with “intellectual snobbery.” And we’re not guiltless on the religious end either, as many a minister will immediately regard people who place their faith in science with an air of “moral snobbery.” It should not have to be this way, but it is a reality perpetuated just as much or more by the Church than by the secular world as I see it. Religion—especially conventional Christianity—recurrently discounts science, and though I understand why, I think this is an unnecessary tragedy. Many preachers and teachers of the Church today distance themselves from addressing scientific development and discovery (and the more “fringe” the topic, such as transhumanism, the greater the distancing) because the Bible is always the final authority, so “science is irrelevant when it contradicts Scripture,” or so the thought process relates. On the other hand, the world at large (including Christians) considers most aspects of transhumanism (and science in general) to be enormously important to our current, and future, generations, so it matters a great deal. How sad, then, that any minister willing to tackle the “fringe” topics is seen as a conspiracy-theorist whacko (often by the Church as well) instead of the man with the salve that could potentially help heal some of the festering tension between secular and religious people groups.  

In many cases, such as a pastor of a local congregation whose duty is primarily to sharpen the Body of Christ and spread the Good News of our Savior, speaking of transhumanism and its potential travesties might be a distraction from what he or she is personally called and gifted to do. Though, there remains to be a massive deficit of voices on the God-fearing end of the spectrum that choose to stand in opposition to certain aspects of transhumanism and its prospective travesties, and the result of this is a tragedy in itself. When so few spokespeople of the Gospel are willing to address such important issues in the secular sphere: 1) Believers have nobody on their side to tell them why or how these scientific developments are immoral and possibly devastating, and they are therefore misled to support what they don’t know the Bible expressly forbids; 2) nonbelieving agitators against religion have that much more reason to blast the world with the claim that the Church is outdated and irrelevant; and 3) those who may or may not feel convicted to believe in or follow God already (or those who have yet to even consider what they believe) have a scarce few intelligent, educated theological responders to listen to and guide them (most of whom are already squelched by a “conspiracist” label) and therefore have no reason to see Christianity as anything more than an archaic system of beliefs that can’t relate to the modern world they live in.

The more a minister of the Word compares Scripture to science and the convictions and agendas therein, the more Scripture proves itself to be true from the beginning, so really, a minister’s attention toward what is happening in laboratories across the globe today should not be as intimidating as it has become anyway—yet it appears that hardly anyone in the mainstream Church takes this position. Ministers are missing a great opportunity here to reach those who are confused about what Scripture actually says on the subject…

I don’t wish to insinuate that it is every Gospel minister’s responsibility to drop everything and start preaching about the inner-workings of every sinister scientific organization and the impending dooms that may be birthed from them (and as I said prior, this might prove to be a distraction away from many ministers’ personal callings), but it is my goal in this thread of thought to point out that there have been so very few ministers of the Gospel that have stood up to address these issues for all three people groups just mentioned—which covers all three known categories of people in existence (believers, nonbelievers, and those who haven’t decided yet).

I can’t say that I blame anyone. To take the bull by the horns and speak out regarding the concerns of modern science is a risky move, and it places one in a minority position. My opinions and concerns about the incoming “replacement humans” are often disregarded or staunchly opposed by the scientific community (and lay readers who follow it), despite the fact that a great deal of my arguments have been solidly based on what concern-flags the scientific community has raised in the first place. (As for me or my associates being labeled “conspiratists,” a conspiracy is not a conspiracy when there’s proof, and much of my research traces back to the horse’s mouth, so that label largely cancels itself out if we’re all willing to be honest here…) A minister can quote from the same ten science journals in a row and identify the same impending catastrophes as a secular spokesperson on any given day, but between these two voices, by default of his religious distinction, the minister’s warnings may be discarded by the mainstream who believe his conclusions to be born out of a sacred duty that many believers don’t yet fully comprehend, and toward a God that nonbelievers need not heed. He or she has become a part of the minority, much like many of the prophets in the Old Testament when the majority of Israelites were so consumed with pagan revelry that the warnings of God fell to the wayside until it was too late—and seasons of great tribulation followed every time. (In the case of transhumanistic sciences, however, we are not talking about “seasons” of tribulation, but potentially a permanent and unchangeable reality that no petri dish or super-computer on the planet can reverse.)

I can certainly relate to this—not because I equate myself with an Old Testament prophet, but because I have attempted to raise awareness of irreversible dangers transhumanism poses to the human race that God designed and have watched as, over the years, many have ignored the warnings I believe God persuaded me to put out there. How exciting and flattering, then, that my warnings have been heeded by a man in O’Donnell’s position who finds it necessary to concentrate upon and attend to the research I’ve compiled regarding the relationship between today’s “Promethean faith” (transhumanistic ideals of “playing God” by redesigning His creation; more clarification on this later) and the clear-cut commands of God against some of these practices as addressed in the Word—even as early as Genesis.

Thus, starting in the next edition of SkyWatch Magazine I’ll begin a series of articles to address everything from the nearness of technological singularity to the ethics Christians and conservative philosophers will need to deal with… and sooner than most imagine.

 

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Cain, the First City, and the Mystery of Head Shaping

Life after Eden must have been a crushing disappointment for early humans, especially the First Couple. Forget about the burden of living under the curse—toiling to coax enough food from the ground to survive, the pain of bringing new life into the world, and all the rest. The realization that they had disappointed their Creator and condemned their children and their children’s children until the end of time to lives apart from Yahweh must have been nearly unbearable.

The Bible gives us very little on the rest of their lives. We only know the names of three of their children: Cain, Abel, and Seth. There must have been others and at least two of them were girls, because Cain and Seth both married and had children of their own. (See? The old question, “Where did Cain find his wife?” isn’t that hard to answer.)

It’s understood that secular archaeologists and historians won’t agree with much of what we believe about human history. That’s okay. We Bible-believing Christians don’t reject science when we interpret data through a biblical lens. Science is the process by which we collect and record information to test theories about the way things are. Analysis is what we do with that information after it’s collected. It’s not the science we often question, it’s the analysis.

Scholars do agree, however, that civilization emerged in the Fertile Crescent around 10,000 B.C. (Note: We’re using dates that are generally accepted by a consensus of scholars so we don’t get bogged down arguing about the timeline. That’s outside the scope of what we’re trying to do here.)  Agriculture, cities, writing, trade, science, and organized religion all developed in a broad arc that stretched from Egypt through the Levant and down into Mesopotamia.

This civilization is called the Ubaid culture by scholars. That’s not what the people who lived in it called it, of course; we don’t know what they called themselves because they never invented writing. The Ubaid civilization got its name from Tell al-`Ubaid, a small settlement mound in southeast Iraq where famous archaeologists Henry Hall and Sir Leonard Woolley dug up the first bits of pottery from those people between 1919 and 1924.

Map of Ubaid civilization sites in Sumer. The first city, Eridu, is on what used to be the shore of the Persian Gulf. (credit John D. Croft / CC-BY-SA-3.0).

This happens a lot with prehistoric cultures. The names of their entire civilizations are accidents of discovery, coming from wherever the first archaeologist, bored shepherd, or greedy tomb raider found the first bit of evidence from people we’d never heard of before. Let’s just hope when archaeologists 8,000 years from now discover the remains of our civilization, it’s not by stumbling across the shell of a Wawa or a Piggly Wiggly.

Archaeologists who study the Ubaid culture agree that it spread from Eridu in southeast Iraq, eventually going as far as what is today northwest Iran, northern Syria, southern Turkey, and the Levant (Syria/Lebanon/Jordan/Israel). The Ubaid civilization was typified by large unwalled villages, rectangular multi-room mud-brick houses, high quality pottery, and the first public temples. Crop irrigation developed by about 5000 B.C., so cereals and grains could grow in the dry climate that again dominated the region. The first city in Mesopotamia, and therefore the oldest city in the world, appeared around 5400 B.C. Although agricultural settlements like Jericho (c. 9000 B.C.) and Jarmo, east of modern-day Kirkuk in Iraq (c. 7100 B.C.) are older, Eridu, located in what is today southeastern Iraq, was remembered by later Sumerians as the first city, with a degree of specialization among its citizens not seen before in other settlements.

The Sumerian King List, dated to about 2100 B.C., records it this way:

After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu. In Eridu, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28,800 years.⁠1

Interestingly, the Bible may support this account.

Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

Genesis 4:16-18 (ESV), emphasis added

Some scholars, such as Egyptologist David Rohl, believe it’s possible that the “he” in the second sentence refers to Enoch, not Cain. The last word, Enoch, might be a later addition. In that case the builder of the city was Enoch, and the city was named for his son, Irad—hence, Eridu.

To speculate a little further, we can apply a rudimentary translation to the name Alulim and come up with “fourth man” (A = prefix + lu = “man” + lim, a contraction of limmu = “four”). Again, this is speculative and it may be way off base so don’t take it as gospel. But if it’s correct, then Alulim might have been Irad, the “fourth man,” or fourth generation, after creation—Adam, Cain, Enoch, Irad—and the first king of the first city on Earth, Eridu—the city which bore his name.

Regardless of its origins, what is most interesting about Eridu is that besides being the oldest city in Mesopotamia, and possibly the world, is that was also the home of the oldest and largest ziggurat in Mesopotamia. This was the temple of one of the most important gods of the ancient Near East. He was known as Enki to the Sumerians and Ea to the later Akkadians and Babylonians. Enki was the god of the sweet waters needed for life. He was depicted with two streams of water flowing from his shoulders that represented the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the main sources of fresh water in Mesopotamia.

Along with An (or Anu) the sky god and Enlil, the god of the air, Enki was one of the three most important gods in Sumer. He arrived very early in Sumer from Dilmun, probably the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. In fact, the Sumerians believed Enki personally created Eridu, elevating it from the marshy ground on what was then the shore of the gulf.

Enki was the god of magic, craftsmanship, and wisdom. Although Enlil was the king of the gods, Enki was the keeper of the mes (sounds like “mezz”), decrees of the gods that formed the fundamental concepts and gifts of civilization—everything from religious practices to social interaction to music.

The Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, describes how everything on Earth came into being through the defeat of the chaos goddess Tiamat by Marduk, son of Enki/Ea, the chief god of Babylon. However, the older Sumerian story credits Enki with giving life to all things, including mankind, and names Enlil the slayer of Tiamat.

The differences in the story are at least partly due to the ebb and flow of power over the centuries. Each city in Mesopotamia had a patron god or goddess. The importance of a deity was, as you’d guess, tied to the fortunes of its city. Just as Eridu was the home of Enki, Enlil was chief deity at Nippur, Inanna (Ishtar) was supreme at Uruk, the sun god Utu was the patron deity of Sippar, and so on. To give you an idea of the incredible amount of time we’re dealing with, Enki ruled in Eridu for about 3,500 years before Marduk replaced Enlil at the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, an event linked to Babylon’s emergence as the region’s dominant power in the 18th century B.C.

That’s about the same amount of time that’s passed between Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and you reading this sentence.

This essay is not in any way a thorough review of life, culture, or religion in ancient Mesopotamia, but there is one more aspect of life in the ancient Near East to call to your attention. It’s something we usually only hear about from fringe pseudo-scholars who blame the phenomenon on extraterrestrials. Scholars—archaeologists and sociologists—have known at least since the late 1940s that people throughout Mesopotamia, before they learned how to write, figured out how to turn their children into coneheads.

It appears, based on human remains dated to between about 10,000 B.C. and 3500 B.C., that cranial deformation was widespread in the Ubaid culture, and Eridu—the world’s first city, possibly built by Cain or his son—was Ground Zero for head shaping. An archaeological dig at Eridu just after World War II discovered about a thousand bodies that were buried during the Ubaid. Of the 206 sets of remains the archaeologists exhumed, “all of the crania had been deformed in one fashion or another.”⁠2

Got that? 206 out of 206. Not a few, and not just the elites. It appears that everybody from every strata of the Eridu culture had a deformed skull.

Deformed crania from the Ubaid culture site at Seyh Höyük in Turkey (photo by Kirsi O. Lorentz).

Now, instead of asking why, the lead archaeologist decided “earth pressure” after burial was the cause2—even though none of the skulls were cracked or broken, which would be expected if the deformations had occurred after death.

Evidence of head shaping has been found at sites all over Iraq, southwestern Iran, eastern Turkey, the valleys of the Zagros mountains, and the western shores of the Persian Gulf, dated from 7500 B.C. to about 4000 B.C. After that, the practice seems to disappear.

Hmm. If we place a global flood sometime between 4000 and 3500 B.C….

 

1 Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G. “The Sumerian King List: Translation,” The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm), retrieved 12/24/16.

2 Coon, C.S. “The Eridu Crania: A Preliminary Report,” Sumer 5, 1949, p 103.

To go much deeper with author and Biblical History Researcher Derek Gilbert read his recent book “The Great Inception”

 

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Stand firm on the Word 

We are living in very uncertain times – recent weather disasters, another mass shooting – bring us all to the stark reality of how fragile life is, and how important family, and most important, our relationship with God is.  

Some have said that these natural disasters are sent by God as Judgement. Well I don’t see God in that way because sin was already judged in Christ on the cross. The sin that will eventually separate us from our loving Heavenly Father is the sin of not believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and died for my sins. So I  know God is not punishing mankind with calamity but rather warning mankind through the words of His son as to what is to come in these last days. 

Mathew 24: 4. -8

Satan is the God of this world (2 Cor 4:4) and his time is limited, but so is ours. We need to know that the earth is in birth pains and the glorious church will arise and bring hope and salvation to many as we converge toward the end of this dispensation. 

As a husband of a beautiful wife and father of two beautiful children, I stand in awe of a loving Heavenly Father who gives us mercy when we desperately need it, and strength when we are weak. 

Having been in ministry for over 30 years on three continents, we often stand amazed at what God does to pluck people from the jaws of death. People in impossible situations come through because God is a God of the impossible. If we could do it on our own we wouldn’t need God. 

I hope my words to you today resonate with what you may be facing. You may be facing a family member who is a prodigal, a financial loss that could be devastating, a negative report from a doctor BUT God……….

Eph 3: 20-21 –

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us…….(NKJV)

Isaiah 7:9 –

“If you do not stand firm in your faith you will not stand at all.” (NIV)

Keep your eyes on Jesus lest you sink into the water, hold on to your first love, and the Word of God that is alive and active will sustain you through troubled times. 

Dr Nick Coetzee 

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May Your Name be Inscribed in the Book of Life?

Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on September 20. Judaism teaches that God opens the Book of Life when Rosh Hashanah begins and closes it when Yom Kippur ends (which is when the sun sets September 30). During these “Ten Days of Awe” Jewish people are trying to convince God to write and seal their name in the Book of Life for the next 12 months. This is what Judaism teaches, but is this what the Bible teaches?

I have created a few short videos to discuss the Book of Life. Throughout the month of September, I encourage you to seek opportunities to engage Jewish people in conversation about the Book of Life. Whenever you see a Jewish person you could greet them by saying: “May your name be inscribed in the Book of Life.” This is the popular greeting Jewish people use during these “Ten Days of Awe.”

It’s possible a Jewish person might be surprised that you know our greeting so be prepared to respond to this if it happens. Here are a few questions you could then ask a person to get a conversation going.

 Do you personally believe there is a Book of Life?

What is the Book of Life?

How do you get your name written in the Book of Life?

Can you be certain that your name is written in the Book of Life?

Would you be willing to watch a few short videos to see what the Holy Scriptures teach about the Book of Life?

There are ten Scriptures in the Bible about the Book of Life and I briefly discuss them in a few short videos. Five of the Scriptures are found in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), and five are found in the Jewish New Testament.

“Book of Life” Scriptures

(Exodus 32:31-33) God has a book and sin keeps people out of God’s Book.

(Malachi 3:16) People who fear the Lord (with awe-filled reverence) and esteem (honor) His name will find their name written in God’s Book.

(Psalm 139:16) God has a book which lists the number of days people live on earth, but this is already determined before we are born.

(Psalm 69:27-28) Some people have sinned so much that they will be blotted out of the Book of Life.

(Daniel 12:1-2) People whose names are written in the Book will be rescued from great distress. Some will experience everlasting life (a.k.a. heaven) and others will experience disgrace and everlasting contempt (a.k.a. hell). There is a connection between the book and where people live forever.

(Luke 10:20) Messiah Yeshua told people that they should rejoice because their names were already written in heaven.

(Philippians 4:3) Paul expresses certainty that people who were dedicated to the Good News of Messiah (offering eternal life) had their names in the book of life.

(Revelation 3:5) Once our name is written in the Book of Life Yeshua will never erase it. It will always remain there so we don’t have to try to be good enough to get it written in it every year.

(Revelation 13:8) The Book of Life is associated with Yeshua, the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins at Calvary.

(Revelation 21:27) Only people whose names are written in the Lamb’s (Yeshua’s) Book of Life will enter the New Jerusalem (which comes down from heaven).

After reading these Scriptures we see several things:

Sin keeps people’s names out of the Book of Life.

Names were written in the Book of Life before we were born.

The Book of Life is associated with Yeshua.

Yeshua will not erase names from the Book of Life. Once names are written in His Book they will stay there.

The Book of Life is about whether we live with God forever, or separated from God forever.

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Life or Death is in the Power of Your Words

How well do you use your words in life as a leader? If you are not sure, just look at the relationships around you. Our words can get us into trouble or they can dissolve trouble. Loving words can be like a warm breath on a lit candle that can easily extinguish a heart simmering with anger. “Please forgive me” can be just as powerful a collection of words as “I Love you with all my heart!”  In this article, we will consider the power of our words as it relates to us as Leaders of the WORD.

My father gave me great advice the day I got married. He said to me, “Son, when you and your wife get into an argument, watch your words. Once you say them, you cannot take them back.” Although I have not always practiced this seasoned piece of wisdom, I do understand the incredible importance of it. As a Leader, we have to stop and consider a few ways we can learn to weigh our words in our heart before they are spoken (or shot) out of our mouth?

In a time of drought, even the smallest bit of water can help a thirsty land. It can also help a drying heart. One of the first ways to weigh our words is to consider if they will be received as a cool glass of water or a mason jar of gas. Like the brittle grass during an absence of rain, is a heart that is hurting. The smallest spark can set it on fire. The words you choose will determine either a blessing or a blaze. Remember in meetings and gatherings, fires are good for roasting marshmallows, not each other.

Another way to weigh our words is to consider what your subordinates expect of you. If you are married, has your spouse ever said “I don’t need your solutions; I just need your sympathy”? Many of us are fixers and when it comes to talking with our spouses and those that work for (or with) us, less is often more. If you are not sure- ASK. This not only determines the content of your words, it also impacts the way you listen. You may even say something like, “How can I best assist you?” Try it next time- you might be surprised at the response.

I remember a poem by H.W. Longfellow that that said, “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth, I knew not where; for, so swiftly it flew, the sight could not follow it in its flight.” A third way we weigh our words is to consider its target. Will the words be encouraging or confronting? Is the point of the words to affirm a good choice or to expose a bad one? Regardless of the arrow, the string that sends it flying should be that of love and respect. When we speak the truth in love (EPH. 4:15), we never have to worry about a stray arrow causing unnecessary injury.

Musician Tommy Shaw stated, “Timing is everything.” If that is true in music, it is also important in our words because all of life is relationships. Our next way to weigh our words comes not from the ticking of the clock as it is the cadence of the conversation. When you are about to say something to someone, especially when it is a heated discussion, ask yourself, “At this time, will he/she hear what I am about to say?” If you are unsure about the importance of timing, please consider the Prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:1-13.

As we close, I want to provide one more way to weigh our words and that is at the foot of the cross. Only when our words are first baptized in the waters of worship to God will we be able to bring a proper sacrifice of speech to the Lord’s altar of healing. Words matter. The Apostle John wrote “In the beginning was the word (Logos), and the Word was with God and the word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .” (John 1:1, 14). When we run our words through the Word, they will always come out with grace and not growl.

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The Real Church

The Church of Jesus Christ is what it says, it belongs to Jesus Christ the Son of God the one who holds the universe together by the Word of His power. What does this mean ? 

Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail. 

Regardless of how fragmented and divided we think the church is, He doesn’t look at it that way, He sees the potential in you and me and does not judge according to appearance. ( John 7: 24) 

There is no plan B, we are it, the unstoppable force that is growing stronger and bigger everyday. We think that there is a drop off of membership in church but in reality there is a grass roots, Kingdom minded, underground church that are not confined to a denomination or a building or even a network of churches but rather an organic entity inseparably linked by the blood of Christ and joined together by real communion and fellowship. This Church cannot be contained inside four walls and is forever expanding.

The Kingdom of God is always expanding but a system is always diminishing until only two people left and even they will be suspicious of each other. 

So the real church is not a system, or a building, nor a club or business but rather an organism who’s life blood comes from the very God we love and serve. We don’t go to church, we are the church and go to Jesus. We need to see the church that meets in Tampa, in Atlanta, in Orlando etc and that is why I’m so excited to see All Pro Pastors become a strong organization that has the resources to reach out to hurting Pastors. 

Who ministers to the minister? 

Where does the Pastor and his wife go for healing of past hurts, council regarding some of the challenges leadership face.? 

The real Church is made up of individuals who prefer their brother over themselves, who will go the extra mile without complaining, and who believe the best rather than listen to gossip because Love always believes the best. 

Welcome to the greatest force in the universe, the church of Jesus Christ 

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What Could Go Wrong?

1. Let’s say you decide to finish the evening of your Fall Festival in grand style with a lovely fireworks display…only it was a bit more windy that evening than was planned for, and some of the fireworks were inadvertently blown into some dry grass and a fire breaks out. The windy conditions fan the flame and your neighbor’s property is damaged. The call to your insurance agent to file the claim goes a little like this: “Fireworks? Real fireworks? They started a fire? Did you notify us about the fireworks? Now that’s a whole different ball game…” Uh oh.

2. Perhaps your men’s ministry plans a skeet shoot to raise money for beautification of the church grounds…and you have a LOT of grounds, so no one bothers to think anything of heading out to the back acreage with all the manpower and firepower they can muster. Only there’s one amateur in the group, who also happens to have a faulty shotgun. Bad combination. Before you know it you have three injured men, one of whom is a guest who proceeds to make a call to an attorney. You immediately think that the church insurance certainly covers this. When you call your agent, he stutters, “Three people wounded at a skeet shoot? That’s a new one…why didn’t you call me before the event? ”

3. Here’s a good one: your very active Senior Adults decide to have some fun and take a hot air balloon ride! After a wonderful time, on the downward descent, the basket bumps against a group of trees, then makes a rather rough landing, jarring those inside. Your oldest church member has trouble getting out of the basket because the hard landing has actually fractured her fragile hip. You have a sinking feeling that your property insurance can do no good in this situation. You think surely your liability coverage will pick this up since the group was away from church grounds. You call your insurance agent, who can’t believe he wasn’t informed of this risky business beforehand. Not good.

Wonderful ideas for special activities seem to be quite abundant, especially when the weather begins to turn crisp and clear! As you plan for your holiday events and fundraisers, ask yourself this question: is this function we are planning out-of-the-ordinary? If you have even the slightest inclination that it IS, take a few moments to notify your insurance agent! Here’s why…


Each of the above examples might be covered in your church insurance policy. The real issue is that you don’t want to find out they are NOT after there has been a claim. Bottom line is, it takes just a few moments to pick up the phone or send an email to your insurance agent, give a brief description of your “high adventure” plans, and ask for their insight and recommendations. You’ll feel better, knowing that all your bases are covered and those involved in your activities will be better protected.

There’s no need to shy away form adventurous activities, however, it’s a great time to develop trust and practice good communication with your agent! After all, they have your best interest at heart.

This article provided to you by Strong Tower Insurance, Inc. Strong Tower Insurance is pleased to partner with All Pro Pastors in support of pastors and their congregations by offering a variety of insurance solutions to protect the mission of the church!

 

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