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UNVEILING THE GLORY OF GOD BY FAITH: CHAPTER 7

The fall of man in the garden of Eden marked the beginning of the loss of the
glory of God since creation began, simply because God’s glory cannot stand the
presence of sin and rebellion. Mankind was created to thrive only in the
environment of God’s glory, and it is for that reason the Bible says that men are
created in image and likeness of God. Every time a man will find himself leading a
life minus the glory of God then that man will experience high level deficiency and
shall remain highly incapacitated so much so that he can’t fulfill the purposes of
his life.
God created men for a purpose and that purpose can only be revealed and
manifest in a life filled with the glory of God. Romans 3: 23 – for all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God. The events in the Bible following aftermath of
the fall of man and departure of the glory of God brings to the fore the first
pronouncement of curse to the ground by God, the fullness of the repercussion as
far as this curse is concerned meant that man was cut off from the life of plenty
that he used to enjoy in the garden at the beginning before the fall. Adam and Eve
were expelled out of the garden of Eden where all provision was made sufficient
by God.
The glory of God isn’t just a feeling, an event or an Old Testament experience, it is
a spiritual tsunami of everything contained in the character of God. The word
glory is literally translated “heavy weight,” meaning the heaviest, grandest thing
about someone. The glory of God is the manifest presence of God; in fact, it is
greater than just presence it is the power. When Jesus resurrected from the dead
it was this power that resurrected him. Our source of deliverance power is from
the glory of God, this power is greater and stronger than any other power on
earth and in heaven
Some people might think that the glory of God is untouchable may be because it
is power reserved only for certain individual or some churches; the truth is that
God intended all men to operate in the power of His glory and to enjoy every
influence that comes with it. God’s glory is not meant only for a Sunday service
when we go to church, it is supposed to be a lifestyle experience, a twenty-four
hour seven days’ experience with God. It’s inbuilt capacity to establish God’s
kingdom through us as His ambassadors here on earth. The place to see God face

to face is on the platform of His glory. Men are able to interact with God safely on
the platform of God’s gory because when God comes and meets a man soaked in
His glory then He only sees His glory and that gives God comfort.
The Lord’s glory is the supernatural power that enables wealth creation. The
ground lost its power of abundant production of crops and fruits and instead
started producing thistles after the fall of man. Other series of many challenges
like enmity between mankind and other wild animals started at this point of time
of the departure of God’s glory. It was at this point that snakes became a
dangerous enemy to mankind while initially the two co-existed peacefully. Many
hostilities being experienced by mankind until today can be directly or indirectly
traced back to the time when God’s glory departed from mankind in the garden of
Eden after the fall.
The need for redemption of God’s glory in the life of mankind is so much
pertinent such that it cannot be overemphasized. All men have the opportunity to
enjoy the free justification by the grace of God through Jesus Christ the son of the
living God. (Romans 3:23-24 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God. And all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that by Christ
Jesus.) This scripture provides the only sure way of restoration of the lost
relationship between God and man. The act of redemption through the grace of
God comes with such a great number of blessing to all who believe in Jesus Christ
and are saved by the blood.
The seven blessings associated with the glory of God in mankind
i. Filling of the Holy Ghost – Holy Spirit of God is one of the perfect gift to
all men who believe and love the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal
savior. We all have the opportunity to experience redemption through
the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Revelation 22:1 –
The angel of the Lord showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb) The blood
always brought the fire down in the old covenant, and so it is today, the
blood brings the Spirit of the Lord down upon your life. The river of life
refers to the Holy Spirit. He proceeds out of the lamb who is the Lord
Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the sins of the world.

ii. Uninterrupted, abiding cleansing through His shed blood
The book of 1John 1:7-9 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son,
purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. This is an a biding continual cleansing. When God looks
at you He sees the blood of His son Jesus and the power of the glory.
The image and likeness of God is restored back to mankind through the
blood of Jesus shed on the cross. Your righteous is not made on the
account of your good works, but it is purely on the account of the power
of the blood of Jesus.
iii. You receive your sanctification through redemption
We are washed by the blood of Jesus and not by our good works. The
work done by the blood of Jesus on the cross was sufficient to transform
us and that made us to be called sons of God. (1Corinthians 6:11 – We
were washed by God. Because of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because you trusted in Him, and because His Spirit has transformed your
life, you are a new person.) The old nature of the old man gets
swallowed by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, you become a new
creation. Your identity is changed and you become a child of God
iv. You get reconciled back to God through redemption
In the book of (Ephesians 2:13 – But now in Christ Jesus you who were
once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ). The
blood of Jesus restored your lost relationship with God, all the benefits
of being a child of God also gets restored by the same blood. The power
that comes with the glory of God also gets restored through the
redemption. The book of (Colossians 1:20 – and through Him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in
heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross)
Everything in man was created to function only in the presence of God
and this is the purpose why God in His own wisdom saw the need to
reconcile man back to Himself. You are the one to benefit in the
redemption plan because your source of power for you to operate

optimally is solely founded in God’s presence. Away from God’s
presence is death.
v. Because you are redeemed, God does not remember your sins
Jeremiah 31:34 – No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one
another, “know the Lord; because they will all know me, from the least
of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.” For I will forgive their
wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” There is such a great
importance that comes with our sins being washed away. Our place in
heavenly kingdom is guaranteed by the cleansing power of the blood of
Jesus Christ. There is no more death penalty by the washing of our sins
through the blood of Jesus Christ. Our son ship to the kingdom of God is
reaffirmed through the washing of our sins. The real impact here is that
all the accusations the enemy has labeled against you before the court
room of heaven is removed completely. You are set free by the blood of
Jesus.
vi. You become perfected through redemption
Perfection simply means, the action or process of improving something
until it is faultless. Can you imagine what it means being declared
faultless before God? It is amazing for sure what the blood of Jesus can
help us achieve. (Hebrews 10:14 –For by one sacrifice he has made
perfect forever those who are being made holy) When we become
perfect it means that we can deliver our targets because we are efficient
in our ways of operation. A perfect man can become a perfect husband
not because of his own strength but because of the divine power behind
his activities. The God given perfection will ensure that your talent is
sharpened for it to function properly. You can achieve your goals and
purposes in life without much struggle because God is behind every
project you are engaged in. Your family becomes God’s agenda when
you gain perfection with God, your battles becomes God’s business
when you gain perfection with God. Perfection power in you activates
the power of covenant with God to be aroused, you are escalated in the
spiritual realm to walk at the level where certain things will just begin to
manifest even without you praying over them because the Holy Spirit
will be doing some prayers on your behalf with words that men cannot
understand.

vii. Because you are redeemed you have both victory and protection
The power of redemption in your life is meant to usher in a new
dimension in your life as far as your spiritual warfare is concerned.
Winning battles one after the other becomes a normalcy because of
redemption. (Revelation 12:11 – And they overcame by the blood of the
lamb and the word of their testimony.) Exodus 12 describes the Passover
in Egypt when Israelites marked their doorposts with the blood of the
lamb, symbolic of the blood of Jesus. You now have victory over the
enemy and protection by the redemptive blood of Jesus. You can engage
in offensive spiritual warfare and nothing shall harm you because you
are fully protected by the blood of Jesus. The nations which are
regarded as super power like United States of America are indeed given
that status because they have the capability to both defend their
territory and also take any decisive offensive military measure to
neutralize anything that poses potential threat to their security as a
nation.

The relevance of man’s life on earth is hidden in the glory of God. Great servants
of God have stood out in their generation because they carry unique measure of
God’s glory. Jesus himself is on record testifying after he came from the forty
days’ prayer and fasting that the glory of the Lord God is upon him to accomplish
the task God sent him to do, meaning that he has been empowered now by the
glory of God to execute the task God sent him to do here on earth. The moral
lesson we can learn here is that not a single man can by himself alone accomplish
the purposes of God in his life without the backing of the glory of God. Isaiah 60:1
– Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
It is the glory of God that will enable you to arise and stand out among your
peers. When you discover the secrets on how to dwell in the presence of the glory
of God then you will always find yourself a head of your competition. God’s glory
is able to inspire divine wisdom and understand which is above academic
knowledge. Joseph was able to interpret dreams not because he was more
schooled than those of his time but simply the power of the glory of God which
was operational in his life. The official agent carrier of God’s glory is the Holy
Spirit of God.

There is a need for the manifestation of the glory of God for one to practically
experience a tangible change and transformation in the physical realm. The world
is tired and sick of theoretical Christianity where there is a lot of talks but very
little practical manifestation. The famous story of the dry bones coming back to
life valley of dry bones in the book of Ezekiel happened because God found a
faithful man by the name of prophet Ezekiel who was used by God to unveil the
glory of God. The very single aspect that distinguishes prophets from other men is
that they are men and women who carry the grace of God. Prophet Ezekiel
unveiled the glory of God by having faith in God and he did so by practically
obeying the instructions of God even when it appeared not make sense.
One of the requirements that will help you manifest the glory of God is practical
faith in God. The Bible tells us in the book of John 11:40 – Jesus said unto her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?” You can
see the glory of God manifesting to raise the dead if you believe, but for you to
witness this then your faith must be alive.
What is FAITH?
Faith is obedience to God.
Faith is not just mere believing; faith is more than believing. Believing is part of
the process of faith. Faith is the name given to the action that we take, actions of
obedience based on our conviction of who God is and the integrity of His word. If
there is no obedience component to your definition of faith, then that is not faith
according to the word of God.
Faith is an action of obedience. Even if you take action without obedience to the
word of God then still it does not measure to the definition of faith. Many people
sometimes take action based on a different motive for instance some will take
action to be seen by men because they want to please men, that action is not
action of faith at all.
Faith with works

  1. Faith comes by hearing the word – Romans 10:17
  2. Faith is established by confession – Mark 11:23 – Whosoever shall say to
    this mountain, be thou removed
  3. Make your faith complete -Vs 22 -Faith is made complete by what we do

Speak prophetic word to manifest the glory of God
Prophet Ezekiel was instructed by God to prophesy and indeed he prophesied. He
did not just act or prophesied according to the way he wanted to do things as a
person, he acted according to the way God commanded him to do. Following the
direction as per the command of the Lord is a very key component factor to
manifesting the glory of God. Sometimes people do certain thing because they
seem to be a good idea. Not every good idea is God’s idea. If you want to
manifest the glory of God, then you must learn to discover the will of God and
test the spirit so that you can establish the presence of God in that action before
you engage in it. For you to manifest God’s glory you must understand the
scriptural conditions connected to every promise of God. Knowing the promises
of God is good but it is not enough. You must understand the scriptural
requirements connected to that promise then take an action of faith according to
that scriptural requirement.
Purpose to live in obedience to God
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 – “If you fully obey the Lord your God and observe to do His
commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the
nations on earth”
There are numerous blessings associated with obedience to God. It is the power
of the glory of God when it is unlocked by the act of obedience to God that
escalates you to the next level of life. The benefits of obedience include blessings,
deliverance, and miracles. Some of the ways in which a believer in Jesus Christ can
exercise obedience include keeping God’s commandments, trusting God, living a
life of humility, praying always, studying the word, and living in love.
Most believers have not paid keen attention to study the participatory role they
need to inject for God to reveal His glory in and through them. There is a space for
grace when God’s manifestation is to happen and also there is a space for work
required from men as a contributory factor to enable the complete circuit of the
miracle.

Abraham also chose to obey God when he accepted to go to a place he did not
know. God finally unveiled his glory upon the life of Abraham and he got a child of
promise in the long run
Hebrews 11:8-22 – It was by faith Abraham obeyed God’s call to go to another
place that God promised to give him. He left his own country, not knowing where
he was to go. It was by faith that he lived in the country God promised to give him.
The action of Abraham leaving his own mother land to a country he did not know
was an act of faith. The glory of God will follow the first step of faith we take in
life. Some acts of faith might look like foolishness before the eyes of men but one
needs not to bother what men will say because it will bear forth great dividend.
Faith without works is dead
A person is justified by faith alone apart from works for heaven, but he is justified
by works for usefulness on earth.
James 2:17 – In the same way faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is
dead.
It is the role of man to input tangible work in order to activate the results of faith
in the physical realm. God is a spirit and as such God has no legal authority to
work anything on earth until he finds a man to use as a vehicle. The terrestrial
world is under the authority of mankind and that is part of the reason Jesus had
to put on the suit of the body of a man for him to operate on earth. The God Jesus
could not die because God is immortal, he needed to leave his glory, come down
on earth to wear the body of a man so that he became like one of us that is when
he could carry the punishment of men on behalf of men. Faith is obedience to
scriptural requirements that commits God to reveal His glory in you.
Diligence in serving God
God told Israelites in the Old Testament to prepare themselves for three days if
they wanted to see Him. In Exodus 19:10-19 – The Lord told Moses, “God down
and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and
have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day; for on
that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch”

God’s glory cannot just be accessed casually as if you are taking a walk in the park,
there is need for proper preparation. The process of preparedness on our side is
what will pave the way for the Lord to appear in our circumstances. The glory of
requires a specific spiritual infrastructure for it to land on safely; just in a similar
manner you cannot land an air plane anywhere. A broken heart and a contrite
spirit God cannot despise. Israelites needed to separate themselves apart for the
glory of God to come; and God instructed them to take three good days of
cleansing process. The nation of Israel needed to put away every idol in the land,
they needed to engage in prayers of repentance and exercise forgiveness. The call
to washing of the clothing was a connotation of spiritual purification process. Our
God is a Holy God hence the need for us to be Holy if we are to see the glory of
God in our life.
It is not enough just to say that I believe and stop there, there is more that needs
to be done after confessing that you believe. There are many people believing
when they say that I believe I will be healed, I believe I will prosper, I believe I will
get a child. All these powerful confessions sound good but it is not the end of the
road as far as faith is concerned. If all you do is just believe meaning to agree then
that is not enough. There are conditions given by God. Every promise in scripture
has conditions connected to it for its manifestation to come forth. Believing is one
of the requirement but not the only requirement.
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen. Faith is the purchasing power of things not seen. Faith is the
currency that purchases thing for us in the realm of the spirit. Romans 10:17 –
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This tells us that faith is
movable, it can move from one place to the other. Faith can move from a location
outside your spirit in to your spirit.
There is need for men to understand faith. Failure to understand faith is what
makes many believers to remain stagnant in their journey with God. There is a
relationship between your faith in God and expression of the glory of God in your
life. Four times in scripture the Bible talks about the just shall live by faith.
Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38 All of these four
scriptures point very clearly that the just shall live by faith. In Mark 11:22-23 –
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to

this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his
heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”
Jesus was giving the disciples an understanding the need to have faith in God
Bible based Faith is predicated on two attributes of God and these attributes
assists in manifesting the glory of God
i) Attribute of integrity – The word integrity comes from the word integer,
meaning semblance, consistency – Numbers 23:19 – God is not human,
that he should lie, not a human being that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Men don’t lie because they are bad but because they are men. Lying is a
system that is enshrined in men and for various reasons they lie. Every
time God speaks he submits to what he says and that is what
distinguishes him from man. When God speaks even him he is bound by
his word. There men who are sincere but they lack integrity in their
ways of operation. In life there are no guarantees except in God alone,
the word of God is the only guarantee that you can trust and it will come
to pass. Men can change their mind and disappoint you. The Bible says
cursed is the man who trust in another man, but blessed are those who
put their trust in the Lord. Your guarantee is in the word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. You therefore need to learn to hear the word of
God at all times. When we study scripture it gives us an opportunity to
vet the integrity of the word of God. God is not afraid to allow you to
prove His integrity. The Bible is a compendium of God’s integrity. God
can be trusted. Regardless what you can see God can be trusted,
regardless of the medical report God can be trusted. It does not matter
the bills arrears you are currently in but one thing that remains constant
is that God can be trusted. Make a choice to trust in God today and your
life will never remain the same again. God will turn around your
situation to make sure that your trust in him is fully compensated to the
maximum. When God promised Abraham that he will make his name
great it came to pass and today we are the seed of Abraham standing as
a manifestation of the faithfulness of God.
ii) Attribute of Grace and Truth

Jesus being the son of God possessed these attributes and he
manifested them during his ministry here on earth. Christ was the glory
Himself. His divine glory was veiled during His earthly life. The glory of
God in this attribute is the magnificence, worth, loveliness, and the
grandeur of His many perfections. The power of forgiveness through the
blood of Jesus shed on the cross was the clearest demonstration of the
power of God’s grace. In the book of John 1:14 – The word became flesh
and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory if
the one and only son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.
We all need this glory for us to experience the fullness of salvation of our Lord
Jesus Christ, without which our life in salvation will always remain a struggle. The
church needs this glory for her to impact the world according to the plan of God.
Church cannot continue doing the work of ministry as per the head knowledge
and assume that all shall be well. The things of God are spiritual and only the
divine empowerment from God through His glory is the only cure for this gap.
The need to look for the glory
There are four ways in which we can use to tap the glory of God into our life. One
of the ways is you learn to look for the glory. Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit
gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, Acts 7:55 – But Stephen full of the
Holy Spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at
the right hand of God. Looking for the glory of God is a very critical component in
life because what we see in life determines our decision making process. Our
world view is shaped by what we can see; we can lose hope when we look at the
many things that are not working. God commanded Moses in the wilderness to
lift up a serpent for Israelites just to look. The serpent was symbolic of God’s
glory; it was made in a way that anyone who would look at the serpent would be
saved when they are bitten by a snake.
The same glory that Stephen saw is the same glory that raised Jesus from the
dead, it was manifested as fire by night and cloud by day time (Exodus 13:21).
This same glory separated Israel and the land of Goshen from the rest of Egypt
when there was light in the land of Goshen, but not in Egypt (Exodus 10:23). We
need to see that glory of God’s presence even in this generation.
The need for prayer

Secondly we need to pray for the glory of God to come. Jesus went into the
wilderness where he prayed and fasted for forty days and forty nights. In Look
4:18 – The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. There can never be any
other better source of freedom apart from that which is given by the glory of God.
Nelson Mandela in South Africa fought for freedom and independence and he
was jailed at Robben island for twenty-seven years, but finally he died and did not
enjoy that freedom. Many South Africans today are yearning for fresh leadership
that can guarantee freedom despite having gotten their political freedom many
years ago.
Freedom that comes from the glory of God is everlasting and very much
sustainable because God himself is the one who pays the bills. You need to start
looking unto Jesus who is the glory of God then you will receive the liberty that
comes with that glory. Your expectations and hope should be focused upon Jesus
who is the source of our glory given to us by God the father. Seek him and he will
be found ask it will be given to you knock and the door shall be opened unto you.
Prayer is the master key to the store room of heaven where the glory of God the
father is kept.
You need to pray that the glory of God will be revealed to you and in you. You can
see and experience the glory of God but you must pray that God may reveal His
glory upon your life. Miracles, signs, and wonders will become a normal thing in
your life when the glory of God comes down upon you. The story of God’s glory in
the upper room still remains as the most spectacular day when God manifested
His glory upon his children, Acts 2:1-4. The Bible says all of them were filled with
the power of the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues. Each and every believer in
Jesus Christ born again has the capacity to see the glory of God through the filling
of the Holy Spirit. Prayerfulness is extremely key in experiencing this divine
encounter. A prayer less Christian is a powerless Christian, while a prayerful
Christian is a powerful Christian. Pray in the morning, in noon time and in the
evening. Pray about everything both small and big things.
Pastor need to pray for their families, church members and nation at large. Pray
that the will of God be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Pray that God’s

mercy be revealed and that the world may come to the knowledge of Christ Jesus
by receiving his salvation. Seek God in prayer that the great commission may be
fulfilled according to the will of God the father.
The need for preparation
Thirdly the need for preparation for the glory of God is very critical if you are to
see and experience the glory of God. The glory of God does not just come upon
anybody anywhere. The manifest presence of God calls for serious spiritual
preparation because it’s a consuming fire, it can kill if not handled with care by
demonstrating maturity. Preparation from our end as children of God is very
patient because God has delegated to us the authority to have control of our
body and the earth. Failure to prepare our mind to embrace the glory of God is in
itself good enough to hinder the move of God in us, hence lack of manifestation
of God’s glory. You have the power to choose good or evil, God does not chose for
you because he says in His word that he has laid before life and death and it is
upon you to choose.
You must prepare your spirit if you want to walk in the fullness of experience of
the glory of God. Romans 5:5 – And hope does not put us to shame, because
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has
been given to us. We must learn to walk in love and obedience to the commands
of the Lord, meditating upon the word day and night. God commanded Joshua to
meditate on His word and observe to do all that which is written in the book of
the law, then he will experience the glory of good success. We must overcome the
heart diseases that easily clog our spiritual arteries in order for us to stay healthy
spiritually. You must learn to love everyone around you unconditionally because
that is the love of God, this will help you to increase the amount of God’s glory in
your life. Avoid at all cost the spirit of strife, bitterness and anger. Forgive easily
those that wrong you and learn to forget.
The need to walk in the glory
The glory of God looks for a permanent dwelling place, an environment where His
presence is very much welcome. It takes a mindset which is ready to have a long-
term journey in God’s presence. 2Cor 3:18 – And we all who with unveiled faces
contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-
increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. It is important to

realize that the ultimate goal for the glory of God is to transform us so that we
may experience restoration of the image of God in our life. The process of
transformation can be long and tedious but it requires resilience and serious
commitment.
When you choose to take a walk with the agent of Satan you can be sure that the
end result is going to be disastrous. Simple research will tell you that most of the
decisions you have made in your life were influenced by the friends you have
been walking with. Learn to walk with God at all times. Remove all the red tapes
in your life, some of the zones you refer to as private till they become private and
no go zone to God, these are the areas that needs transformation. God is ready to
walk with you so that He can transform your life today. Only say yes to His will
and you will experience a life full of the glory of God.

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The Past Reveals the Truth!

Today as I observe and experience life in America I am shocked at how so many of my friends and family choose to be ignorant. Yes, I said it!

People who are calling themselves Christian today and turning their eyes away from the evil that is spreading like a plaque through our modern day churches, where the Bible is trampled and pages are ripped out so as not to offend someone, and being led by Pastors ignoring sin as described clearly in scripture are soon going to find themselves standing on the outside wondering what happened. This is not said in judgement but in concern for those who are following leaders who know how to tickle the ears and appeal to the flesh.

When our government passes laws that totally ignore God’s word and make it a crime to obey the basic tenets as given in holy scripture it is time for us as citizens to change that government and replace the evil with the good! This country’s founding fathers put in place the mechanism, if honored, that can peacefully change and manage our governments at all levels.

It is every Christian’s responsibility to stand strong on God’s word and to be active and to make the changes in our God given power to make these legal changes by utilizing these laws that are in place. These laws which also protect our rights to free speech and to worship without interference by the government, also give us the right and responsibility to select who we want to represent us in our government. This is most important for Christians because if we do nothing we are saying to evil, “you decide for me”, “you pick my representatives”!

This amazing country that we live in was most certainly founded on Biblical Judeo Christian values by men who were far from perfect but were given supernatural guidance. The true history of the Pilgrims and the Puritans has been so corrupted by todays education system of indoctrination that even the teachers that are teaching it are dumbfounded when they learn the truth! The history of patriotic pastors and the determination of their church members reveals that it was in fact the church that was the backbone that led to our independence as a nation. King George and his counselors proclaimed initially that the uprising in the colonies was brought on by Presbyterians.

It was the ‘Great Awakening” with George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, and others that brought spiritual unity across denominations and the Colonies together in such a way that the idea of a “united Nation” could actually be realized. It was the hand of God that truly moved through George Whitfield as he traveled from town to town preaching the gospel with power and authority, reportedly over 18,000 sermons throughout nearly all 13 colonies. It was the love of God and the appreciation of God’s word that brought the country back to the founding roots that reminded the colonists/settlers why their parents and grandparents came to America and why they were in America too. Our Christian history in the forming of this nation can not by denied or ignored and anyone who does so is not a friend of yours, of our country or of God!

I have studied the Bible for over 60 years and I love and believe it. I accept God as almighty and Jesus as His only son whereby only by faith in Him can anyone be saved! I have studied our American history for many years. I have heard many challenges to our humble beginnings and respect others ideas and beliefs, I respect that they can be sincerely wrong and misguided just as many in our churches today are. Our concern is that many are being led to a lifetime of deceit, misery and eternal damnation.

As a minister to Pastors let us insert here that we have many wonderful Pastors who are brave Champions for God serving throughout America today and we applaud them. Sadly there are many many more Pastors who are willingly silent as their sheep are being hurt by government and regulatory changes. These Pastors are feeling the same impact on their families and saying nothing and doing less. As a Pastor you can not allow someone to shut you up because they say “something is Political”. As a Pastor you must teach truth and right from wrong. It is not showing “grace” if your silence allows your congregants to go into eternity without a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ! 

If you are not calling sin out at all levels from personal lifestyle to governmental laws redefining marriage and God’s design for man and woman, then it may be time to step back and review your own relationship with God! Yes, this may sound hard but these and other sins are specifically identified in God’s Holy Word!

History shows that when God’s people turned away from His statutes and his commandments then His judgement would always come! It also shows that when His people repented and fell before Him he would forgive their sin. Pastor, I trust that you are in God’s word and faithfully study it. You may be a wonderful biblical scholar. Now I will challenge you to become an expert on our American History too, at least know how we began as a nation and how Pastors were a vital part of this.

Pastor you are not alone. There are many Pastors in your community that feel your pain, confusion and maybe your shame but now is not the time to hunker down in a fetal position. Now is the time to educate yourself. You become the expert. You “Shepherd” the flock God has given you with boldness. Prepare your flock by equipping them with knowledge and the truth of what is happening in our world today. You teach with authority of the scripture without fear of man but fear of God! Surround yourself with other Pastors who will join you. Start or join a Champions Table. Your family and congregation need you to be strong and above all don’t be afraid of your sheep. You are there to fight for them not with them!

There are four action items that I suggest:

#1 Read “The Black Robe Regiment” by Pastor Dan Fisher (a must for Pastors)

#2 Take the “Biblical Citizenship Course” offered by The Patriot Academy and FREE through “TPUSA Faith”

#3 Read “One Nation Under God” by Attorney David Gibbs, Jr, “Ten things every Christian needs to know about the Founding of America”

#4 Read “The American Story” by David and Tim Barton,  by America’s foremost authorities on America’s Founding Fathers

These 4 things will give an accurate historical foundation of this country that is Biblical and supported with actual documentation. It is what every Christian in America should know! (We have provided these links for you for convenience only. We have no tie to any of these authors other than being Christian brothers.)

As a prayer ministry we are constantly praying for our Pastors. We love and provide encouragement to Pastors around the world. If you would like for me and Linda to pray for you and start sending you our personalized e-prayer please register with us. We know how hard pastoring is and you need to know someone is faithfully praying!  

I pray that you will do the 4 things suggested and you will see for yourself why I say “The Past Reveals the Truth”

 

 

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Babylon Rising

Babylon was founded by an Amorite chief named Sumu-Abum of the Amnanum tribe, who got the party started around 1894 BC by grabbing land from a neighboring town, Kazallu. Babylon was so unimportant that the first four kings of the dynasty didn’t even call themselves “king of Babylon.” It wasn’t until Hammurabi put it on the map in the eighteenth century BC that the city became Babylon as we think of it. Beginning around 1792 BC, he conquered all of Sumer, Akkad, and the Euphrates Valley as far as Mari, where Hammurabi not only defeated his “old friend” and “brother,” the Amorite king Zimri-Lim, but he apparently ordered the ritual destruction of the palace and main temple there.

That points us back toward the theme of the book, which is identifying the spirits behind geopolitics—“theopolitics,” to borrow a phrase coined by my wife, Sharon.

Scholars typically define the name of Babylon’s greatest king as meaning “my kinsman is a healer,” from the Amorite term ʻAmmurāpi, derived from ʻAmmu (“paternal kinsman”) and Rāpi (“healer”). But rāpi is from the same root as the biblical word “Rephaim.” There isn’t a single example in Canaanite texts where the rapha are healers. It’s more likely his name means “my kinsmen are Rapha,” or more simply, “my fathers are the Rephaim.”

A genealogy of the dynasty of Hammurabi, compiled about a hundred years after he died, names one of the ancestors of the Amorite kings of Babylon as Ditanu, which, you’ve noticed, is the name of the ancient Amorite tribe that, as we showed in an earlier article, gave its name to the old gods of the Greeks, the Titans. That same Ditanu was claimed as an ancestor by the ruling houses of at least two other powerful Amorite kingdoms between the eighteenth and thirteenth centuries BC. Ditanu was one of “seventeen kings who lived in tents” named as ancestors of Shamshi-Adad, an Amorite king who ruled northern Mesopotamia around the time of Hammurabi.

About five hundred years later, the Amorite kingdom of Ugarit summoned a group called “the council of the Ditanu” from the netherworld during necromancy rituals, and a temple to the Ditanu confirms that they were believed to be among the gods.

The kingdom established by the Amorite dynasty that produced Hammurabi has cast a long shadow across history. It built on earlier religious and cultural traditions established by the Sumerians and Akkadians, but God called out Babylon and the Amorites specifically for their wickedness. The occult religious system of Babylon was so vile it became a symbol of evil from the time of Moses through the end of the apostolic age. John the Revelator used Babylon to represent the corrupt end-times church of the Antichrist.

Of course, the kingdom of Hammurabi’s Babylon was doomed to collapse almost as soon as he established it. After the great lawgiver’s death around 1750 BC, his successors kept the kingdom intact for a while, but Elamites from the east, Assyrians from the north, and people in the far south broke away, so that by about 1600 BC, the Amorite dynasty in Babylon once again controlled only the land around the city. Still, the power of Hammurabi was such that southern Mesopotamia has been called Babylonia ever since the time of Abraham.

In 1595 BC, an army from the new Hittite kingdom in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), led by king Ḫattušili I, conducted a long raid down the Euphrates. Bypassing the Assyrians in northern Mesopotamia, the Hittites sacked Mari and then ejected the Amorites from Babylon. The Hittite withdrawal back into Anatolia left a vacuum that was filled about twenty-five years later by the Kassites, a mountain people from western Iran who captured Babylon and controlled it and much of the territory once ruled by Hammurabi for the next four hundred years.

This makes the Kassites, not the Amorites or Chaldeans, the people who ruled Babylonia the longest, and the Kassite kingdom endured from the time of Jacob until the period of the judges in Israel.

Meanwhile, Amorites slowly assumed power in northern Egypt. During the time of the Hebrew sojourn, the rulers of Egypt—at least the part where the Israelites settled, the Nile delta—were Amorites. They were called “Hyksos” by native Egyptians, a word that roughly translates as “rulers of foreign lands.” Egyptologists refer to it as the Second Intermediate Period, which lasted from about 1750 BC to 1550 BC. It appears that after a series of weak rulers, Egypt was divided between a native kingdom in the south based at Thebes and the foreign Hyksos in Lower (northern) Egypt, whose capital city was Avaris in the northeastern Nile delta. The Hyksos brought with them their art, their architecture, their weapons, and their gods.

This helps make sense out of the greatest miracle that God performed during the Exodus. You see, even though the Hyksos were run out of Egypt by the Egyptians about a hundred years before Moses led Israel to Mount Sinai, the chief god of the Hyksos, Baal, was worshiped in Egypt for several centuries more. Ramesses the Great, who ruled Egypt about two hundred years after the Exodus, was a Baal worshiper. He set up a stela at Pi-ramesses, near the site of the abandoned Hyksos capital Avaris. The engraved memorial stone commemorated Set’s four hundredth anniversary of ruling at Tanis, but the god was depicted exactly like the images of Baal found in Syria, with a tasseled Canaanite kilt and conical headdress with a streamer. The gods of the Amorites influenced Egypt far more than we’ve been taught; the Amorite Hyksos and the Egyptian pharaohs who came after them worshiped Baal-Set as a single entity.

That’s the key to understanding the parting of the Red Sea: In Canaanite religion, Baal became king of the gods by fighting and beating the sea-god, Yamm. Amorite, Canaanite, and Phoenician sailors worshiped Baal as their patron and protector for more than a thousand years.

So, the parting of the Red Sea, which happened right in front of a place called Baal-zephon, named for Mount Zaphon, which the Amorites believed was the home of Baal’s palace, demonstrated Yahweh’s mastery over the chief god of Israel’s oppressors.

Have you ever noticed that God told Moses to turn the Israelites around and camp in front of Baal-zephon to wait for the Egyptian cavalry to catch up? God didn’t just deliver Israel from the hand of Pharaoh; He delivered Israel from the hand of Baal!

In short, the social and religious culture of the Amorites was the world from which God called the patriarchs and prophets to establish His chosen people in the land where His Name would dwell, Canaan. The language, customs, and, most of all, the gods of the Amorites dominated the world of the ancient Hebrews.

The Amorites faded from history after the conquest of Canaan, at least under the name “Amorite.” But their descendants continued to play important roles in ancient Israel. The Arameans, whom scholars generally agree were descended from the Amorites, set up kingdoms in Damascus and elsewhere in Syria after the so-called Bronze Age collapse, a period of violence and chaos in the eastern Mediterranean around 1200 BC. They were a thorn in the side of Israel (and Judah, after Solomon’s death) for hundreds of years. The Chaldeans, who established the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the seventh century BC, likely emerged from nomadic Amorite tribes who migrated from the west into southeastern Mesopotamia sometime around 900 BC.

The greatest Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar, is generally who comes to mind when we think of Babylon, but that city was around for a long, long time before the Chaldeans took it over. Think about the time scale—Hammurabi the Great died more than eleven hundred years before Nebuchadnezzar was born. Now, who was the king of England in 923 AD?

Exactly. Eleven hundred years is a very long time. Yet the gods of Mesopotamia were the same, with few exceptions.

Meanwhile, the Phoenicians, descendants of the Amorites who occupied the Mediterranean coast of Syria and Lebanon, brought their culture and religion into Israel from the time of the judges to the time of Jesus and beyond. For example, Jezebel, the infamous wife of Israel’s king Ahab, was from Tyre, which competed with the Greeks and Romans for control of trade on the Mediterranean for centuries. Carthage, a colony in north Africa established by Tyre around the time of Jehoash, king of Judah (circa 814 BC), nearly destroyed Rome in the late third century BC. Temples to Phoenician gods like Melqart, Baal-Hammon, and Tanit have been found as far away as Spain.

And tophets, ritual places of burial for infants and children sacrificed to Baal-Hammon, similar to the Tophet near Jerusalem where children were burned as offerings to Molech, have been excavated at Carthage and multiple sites on Sicily and Sardinia.

Here’s the point of this brief history: The iniquity of the Amorites still affects the world today. And the gods behind the Amorites are pushing the world toward Armageddon.

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“The Shift” a Sci-Fi Thriller based on the Book of Job!

“The Shift” is an incredibly well written movie set in modern times but based on the story of Job in the Bible. This movie will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. The relationships of the characters are very authentic and most will identify with one or more of the characters at different times in your life.

This movie brings the supernatural to a new level of thinking for most Christians and will definitely grab the attention of the sci-fi fans as well. When Kevin Garner meets The Benefactor he is carried to the multiverse and the struggle between good and evil begins.

The very emotions that you can imagine that Job must have experienced comes to life on the big screen in epic proportions! In the movie Kevin’s personal life is under attack and his faith is questioned. He is carried thru the multiverse thru time and space. He even fights with himself! He meets many people along this journey some good and some not so good! Just like real life.

When watching “The Shift” you will feel all the struggle Kevin feels and will see the many temptations “The Benefactor” brings to try and break Kevin.

This is masterfully done and I believe it will appeal to todays audience whether Christian or not. I am purposefully being a bit vague because I do not want to spoil it in any way for you.

The cast is incredible with: Neal McDonough(Band of Brothers), Sean Astin(Lord of the Rings/Rudy), Kristopher Polaha(Wonder Woman 1984), Rose Reid(Finding You), John Billingsley(Star Trek: Enterprise), Emily Rose(Haven) and from (The Chosen) Liz Tabish, Paras Patel and Jorden Walker Ross.

This movie also has discussion guides prepared for your use as well as a five day reading plan that can be accessed in the website.

We are being blessed with another Angel Studio’s movie that is highly entertaining and very powerful! “The Shift” will touch lives that tradition will not. Now is the time for churches to embrace this as a great opportunity to reach the lost and offer hope to many who may never enter their church!

To learn more and get advanced tickets : Click Here

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CHAPTER 3 BECOMING A VESSEL OF HONOUR

 

By: Pastor Joshua Gwara Omolo, Kenya, Africa


2Timothy 2: 20: – But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of
wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purges
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use,
and prepared unto every good work
Definition of a vessel
The word vessel is often used in the Bible, and in English terms it translates to be either a
container such as a bowl or a jug, or either a ship or a boat. The Biblical meaning denotes a
person whom God calls and uses as a vessel.
God’s plan to all mankind is to use men for a special purpose and special calling to fulfill the
purposes of God. The primary purpose of God to all men is to worship God in truth and in the
Spirit.There are also numerous advantages and blessings that accompany the when an
individual accepts to be used by God as a vessel, there is a special level of honour and favor that
manifest when a believer choses to obey God’s command to be used by Him and those
blessings comes in handy to remove the shortcomings in the life of the carrier of the grace of
honour.
The power of being a vessel of honour
Some challenges can only persist in your life simply because you are yet to yield to the calling of
God. Becoming a vessel of honour is a choice in life. A person who has chosen to accept God’s
calling has the opportunity to undergo divine transformation process that leads to experience
of honour and favour from God. Greatness in life can only manifest in the life of a man who is
able to accommodate the process of sanctification and transformation that comes from God.
The call of Simon Peter by Jesus is what led him to be transformed from being a fisherman to
being an Apostle (fishers of men), “a chosen vessel.” The word “chosen” implies that he was
special, precious, valued and prized. Even before Peter started serving God he was special in
the eyes of the Lord.. Jesus is on record telling Peter, “follow me and I will make you fishers of
men” (Mark 1:16-20) and that comes with honour. All of us are very special to the Lord. All of us
have great value to God. We possess certain uniqueness in us different from the other people
around us.

The Purpose Driven Life
The purpose as to why God created man is to serve God. Our worship to God is the number one
assignment in life. Our God the father of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ is very categorical in
His word when He says in the book of John 4:23 – Yet a time is coming and now has come when
the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of
worshippers the Father seeks. God is looking for true worshipers whose hearts are inclined to
the word of God, this therefore calls for mankind to offer himself as a living sacrifice.
Our worship to God is always hindered due to the fallen nature of mankind. There are many
things in our life that requires purging for God to use us as vessels of honour; for us to become
carriers of the divine power of God it requires total sacrifice where we should purpose to live
selfless life fully dedicated to the master’s need. The need for us to purge ourselves from the
carnal desires is extremely important in order to create sufficient space for the Spirit of God to
sanctify us in readiness for the work of God.
Learn to purge yourself by choosing to live a holy life
Holiness is a choice and not a chance in life. The reward that comes with it is beyond
imagination. Holiness is the pillar on which God’s divine promises to successful life is pegged
on. The Bible says without holiness it is impossible to please God. We can engage in so many
activities in life but without holiness then all that we are doing is exercise in futility. There is
need for our value systems to go through serious purging process for us to be transformed to
be like Christ.
We carry a lot of dry bones within us after the fall of man and the process of sanctification is
inevitable for the purpose of our transformation.
The old nature which was the nature of the sinful man cannot qualify to become a vessel of
honour that can be entrusted by God to carry his glory. True believers must purpose to become
intentional faithful worshippers and deliberately invest serious capital in quality work of
spiritual development in order to acquire the gold status in the kingdom of God (Phil 2:12 –
work out your salvation with fear and trembling).
Kingdom of God operates on reward system
Salvation is purely by grace but the rewards from God are based on the good works. The
faithful followers of Christ must desire to live a life like Christ himself. Purging process is that
step of choosing to say no to ungodly behaviors and to say yes to those things that glorifies
God. Our salvation requires quality investment on character development. We need to be
accountable to one another, the church needs to develop the habit of reading and studying the

Bible. Application of the word in our day to day walk with Christ is the main proof of a new life
in Christ Jesus. Let every believer in Christ Jesus learn to not only hear the word but also
become doers of the word; meditating on the word day and night in order to make the word of
God dwell in us richly is key to spiritual development. Every level in our spiritual walk with God
attracts a given measure of favor commensurate to that level and every believer has an
opportunity to choose the level they want to belong.
It is important to remember that everyone shall be rewarded according to their works. The
quality of your investment and the value of the materials invested. In Genesis 5:24 – Enoch
walked with God and he was no more seen; for God took him away. Enoch simply allowed God
to increase in him till there was nothing left of him that death could claim. We need to learn to
reduce so that God may increase in us on daily basis. Quality work on our personality and
interest’s that conflicts against the intentions of God must be purged for the Spirit of God to
sanctify us in preparation for the next level. We must learn to sacrifice our time, finances and
energy by giving them fully to the Lord’s service then we will increase in the knowledge of God.
Four levels of vessels/workers in the kingdom of God: –

  1. Gold
  2. Silver
  3. Wood and
  4. Clay
    5 Kingdom Principles to becoming a vessel of honour
  5. Arm your soul with the power of love – Mark 12:30-31 – Love the Lord your God with all
    your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…
  6. Guard your soul/heart – Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for everything
    you do flows from it
  7. Purge yourself – 2Tim 2:21 – those who cleanse themselves from the latter.., James
    5:16:- confess your faults one to another
  8. Avail yourself for God – Isaiah 6:8 – whom shall I send and who will go for us. (Mathew
    24:38-39 – For as in the days that were before the flood…)
    -Mathew 9:37-38 – The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few…
  9. Build Trust – Luke 16:10 -Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted
    with much.
    Love covers a multitude of sin. – Mark 12:30-31 – Love the Lord your God with all your
    heart….

Love is a person and it is the person of God. Love determines the wellness of the condition of
your soul. When your soul is sick then you suffer acute limitations in living a purpose driven life.
Lack of love creates a high level deficiency of passion to please God in everything you do hence
leading to boredom. When you hear people say that they don’t find a meaning in life the reason
behind is that love of God is not present in that person. Many people who commit suicide fall in
this category where they try to substitute the love of God with other substances which doesn’t
work at all. Love is a force of God, it has power over hate.
Two forces govern this world: the force of hate and the power of love. John 3:16 – for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have an everlasting love. Jesus was full of love and the Bible says he did good in
every place he went. Vessels of honour worthy to be used by God are supposed to be agents
and carriers of the love of God. The easiest way to defeat evil in the present world is to show
love even to your enemy.
We steal and cheat because we do not love. We commit immorality because we do not love.
Sex outside marriage destroys both parties involved. Government leaders embezzle public
resources because they do not love. In fact man sinned and channeled all evil into the world
because he chose to let go of God’s love. God is calling all men back to the first love through
effective repentance. Revelation 2:1-2 – Nevertheless I have this against you, that you left your
first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first work.. God
is raising case against the church in Ephesus about the lost love. Love is a force from God and
hate is a force from Satan (1John 4:7). You live in the light when you carry love. Just as light has
power over darkness so love has power over hate.
In the book of Hebrews 10:32, says “When the people were in the bloom of their first love,
were they enthusiastic! They put everything into their relationship. They yielded themselves to
God” The love for God surpasses everything in life because it is the core foundation of the
reason for our living. We are blessed the way we are today because of the great love God has
for us, and if we are indeed the children of God then we need to exhibit the same of the father
to the world. Ephesians 2:4-5 – But because of His great love for us , God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have
been saved.
Many wars and rumors of war happening in the world today are orchestrated by hate because
love is absent. Many families have become dysfunctional because there is no love. The
shootings in our public schools are happening because of hate. God is calling all men to
embrace His love by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior over our life for us to experience
the true love of God, it is impossible to share the love of God without the salvation of Jesus
Christ. When we receive Christ Jesus then we can become a vessel of honour.

Guard your soul/heart – Proverbs 4:23 – above all else guard your hearts………
Self-preservation is the enemy number one to spiritual prosperity. When we quit thinking about
ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of
consciousness ( By Joseph campell). Self-sacrifice is the heavenly language and the truest
weapon to guard our heart. The Bible says in Mathew 16:25 – “For whoever wants to save his
life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it” We must learn to carry our
cross daily and follow Christ.
The heart of a man is the center piece of his/her personality. Every bit of the destruction of a
man begins at the point when the heart is corrupted through perversion. Proverbs 4:23 –
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free
from perversity; keep corrupt talks far from your lips, let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your
gaze directly before you. The most effective way to guard your heart is by ensuring that the
four main gates in your body are properly manned. The two gates in human body are the eyes
and the mouth
Guarding your heart is essential in the context of sin because it helps you protect your inner
most self from the deceptive allure of sinful temptations. It involves making choices that align
with your moral and spiritual values, avoiding harmful influences, and striving for a pure heart.
In the Bible the heart is considered the seat of life or strength. Hence it means mind, soul, spirit,
or one’s full emotional nature and understanding.
Guarding your heart involves energizing your life with the transforming truth of God’s love and
God’s word. Never treat scripture like a collection of facts. Pay attention to all the instructions
given by God in His word. The servant of God Joshua was told by God himself to ensure to
mediate the word of God day and night and to observe to do all that is written in the word and
then God will prosper you together with your children. Listen closely to the word of God.
Engage in a routine spiritual service to clean your heart on regular basis by reading the word of
God which is the Bible and meditate on the word. Our character tends to follow the path of
what we constantly meditate about whether good or bad. When you form a habit of meditating
on the word of God then this will positively build high self-esteem. People who suffer low self-
esteem cannot perform to the expectation of their masters, as the Bible says in the book of
Proverbs 23:7 – As a man thinketh, so is he. This expression means that what someone says or
does is directly proportionate to what he thinks. The mind here becomes the primary breeding
ground for who we become.
The consequences of unguarded heart can manifest in so many ways for instance poor choices,
broken relationships, hurt and disappointments. But remember when we mess up and are not

the best version of ourselves, God is faithful to forgive and restore. The desire to press on and
walk closer to the Lord is all we need.
Purge yourself – 2Tim 2:21 – If a man therefore purges himself…….
Confession of our sins to God and one to another is the primary foundation means to purging
ourselves from sinful desires. You must make concrete and even extreme choices against that
which you have sinfully desired. There needs to come a time when you need to take a break
and move to a solitary place and call yourself to a meeting room where you dialogue with your
spirit, you need to reach a point where you take a vote on issues that matters not only in this
temporal life here on earth but also on matters regarding eternity. Self-assessment based on
the truth of the word of God is extremely important when you start evaluating your
performance in life. It is at this point that you can make independent decision which is devoid
of any human influence as the third party.
Vessels of honour are costly to make and they take time and a lot of sacrifice to produce. The
same principle applies when you reach a point where you must let go and let God have his will
and way in your life. Sometimes it will cost you to separate from some of the friends you value
so much. In some instances it will cost you to reject certain offers for the sake of Christ, but in
all these it’s worth paying the price for the sake of the prize ahead. I want to just remind us that
there is a crown awaiting those that will overcome in heaven, so there is need to keep
reminding ourselves this fact in order to make the wise decision to glorify God in all that we do.
I hope you believe in the say that goes, “in life no pain no gain”
Guarding your heart in essential in the context of sin because it helps you protect your
innermost self from the deceptive allure of sinful temptations. It involves making choices that
align with your moral and spiritual values, avoiding harmful influences and striving for a pure
heart. The reason David sang to the Lord saying, “Create in me a clean heart and renew your
right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Only God can create in you a clean heart, all other human
efforts cannot achieve anything of this kind.
Allow God to constantly search your heart and show you if there is any evil that needs
attention. Always ensure that you carefully weigh your heart at all times to ensure it remains
pure. Prayerfully you can seek for God’s guidance and protection. Learn to set aside time when
you can dedicate yourself to the reading and meditation of the word of God so that he word
may dwell in you richly, this calls for discipline to overcome the temptation of being glued to
the gadgets and television.
It is prudent to learn to evaluate all information before you consume them. Social media is a
wash of much illicit information that comes with the intention to pollute people’s minds.
Pornographic images and literatures is a deadly poison to the heart.

Avoid rourmour mongering and spreading of lies and propaganda among your friends. Your
tongue must be bridled if you are to walk right with God. The tongue is a small part of the body
but it can wreak havoc if left unchecked at all time. All these are steps to becoming a vessel of
honour which God can use for noble purposes in the kingdom
Availability for God’s service – Isaiah 6:8 – Whom shall I send……
We are living in a very fast world where everything seems to be on the first lane, this culture
has permeated in the church where we are almost rubbishing the need for fellowship. Almost
everything is going virtual so much so that today many churches are having majority of their
members attending virtually especially after the covid19 effects.
Virtual fellowship is good but physical fellowship is better. We will never reach a point of
satisfaction by substituting our physical presence in the presence of God with gadgets. Jesus
second coming will not be virtual but physical, it’s the reason God wants you physically
regardless of your busy schedule. Hebrews 10:24-25 – And let us consider how we may spur
one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in
the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day
approaching.
God is looking for people whom he can send worldwide. The harvest is plenty but the laborers
are few because not many people are ready to avail themselves to be sent by God. Many
excuses that we keep on advancing cannot hold water at all. Some are waiting to serve when
it’s convenient, others are waiting till they retire then is when they can engage in the ministry.
Elisha was unable to stand mentorship of his master prophet Elijah when he tried to still hold
on to the things of the world and his people. Elijah had to rebuke him sharply that is when
Elisha saw the need to go back and slaughter the oxen then he came back and served Elijah
effectively and finally he got a double portion of his anointing.
You cannot become a vessel of honour till you refuse to remain an average Christian, carrying
average testimony, earning average income and living average life. God’s vision and dream for
you is abundant life (Joh 10:10 – The thief comes not but to steal, to kill and to destroy: I am
come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly). Double portion
anointing which was received by Elisha was as a result of total sacrifice and quality focus on the
things of God. Both your time and money are needed to be available for the Lord/s service.
When you serve God, you grow closer to Him. You learn more about His character and what He
desires for your life. As you draw near him he reveals more of Himself to you and gives you a
greater understanding of His will. Serving God also strengthen your faith and deepens your
trust in Him.

When you become available and serve God, you grow closer to Him and God promises to
establish your plans. You need to commit to Him every day and committing just means giving
your best every day to God. You don’t need to be perfect. Belong to a fellowship where you are
known by the leadership that you are a member. Participate in the programs of your church or
fellowship with the rest of the church members.
One of the best ways to know that you are available to the service of God is when the programs
of your church or fellowship are fairly accommodated in your diary. When you grow to the
point where you can decline certain rising assignment because you have already dedicated that
time to God in your calendar then that will be a sign that indeed you are available and ready for
growth. The only way you can be disciple to grow to maturity in Christ is when you allow your
spiritual mentor to determine a sizable portion of your diary. God through his servants who are
your mentors sometimes can change your personal plans you had already slotted in your diary
and you will not need to struggle so much to accommodate the God given instruction, which is
obedience.
The desire to make more wealth has remained today one of the main obstacle to availability for
God’s service. Many churches are struggling to gather sufficient quorum of congregation
because members are doubling from job employment to other businesses, many working for
over twelve hours a day in order to make the ends meet. Unfortunately the money is never
enough, this trend has turned around God’s plan where now people are serving money instead
of money being the servant to men.
Build Trust – Luke 16:10 -Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with
much.
Trusty deficit is a big challenge today not only among the spouses but also between man and
God. Many businesses have gone under based on lack of trust among the employees. Trust is
the currency that can never experience recession regardless of the season of life. Trust is like
the air we breathe, when it is present nobody notices; when it is absent, everybody notices.
Mistrust begets mistrust; trust begets accomplishment. Many pastor are struggling to accept
the concept of champions table because they are wondering whom they can trust with
sensitive information about them.
Many employees fail to get their promotions at their places of work because of trust deficit.
Majority of spouses have divorced because they suffered trust deficit in their marriage.
Corruption and economic challenges being experienced in many nations across the world can
be directly linked to mistrust among the leaders in government.
God is looking for men who can be entrusted with little so that they can graduate to much.
Always learn to do what you believe is right, even when others disagree, will lead others to

respect your honesty. Interestingly when building trust, you must be willing to upset others in
occasion. Do not be thirsty of affirmation from men if you want to build trust because most of
your decision will not be appealing to the majority around you.
Mathew 3:17 – And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased!” This was God’s signature of trust He had on Jesus. Trust is the master key that opens
the strong room of great success that money cannot buy. Risking your heart by trusting
someone else to take care of it takes courage, and that’s the reason why when you choose to
trust another person, you step out of your comfort zone.
The Lord is telling us in Jeremiah 17:7-8 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, The man
who puts his decision based on the faith in God. The man whose value system is aligned to the
will of the Lord is that man who is ready to forego anything for the sake of relationship with
God. Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son Isaac because He trusted in the Lord God.
When he fully obeyed God then it was counted righteousness by faith.
God wants to give you life of abundance, influence, greatness, confidence and balance if only
you trust Him. The journey of faith must begin with first and foremost trusting upon the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior of your life. When you trust in the Lord he will give you
power to become the son of God. John 1:12 – But to all who received him, to those who
believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Trust in the Lord is the seed
that begets life eternal in Christ through the washing of the blood of Jesus. You can change your
life today by choosing to become trust worthy in all your relationships. Above all you can be
saved if you choose to trust in the Lord with all your heart, with your entire mind and with all
your spirit
Trust can be built by placing block after the other, and with gradual commitment till it becomes
a powerful tool to make you become a vessel of honour .A vessel that God can use to bring
glory to His name. You should purpose to use every tool given by God which is the application
of the word of God to build trust with God and with the people around you.

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The Iniquity of the Amorites is still Alive Today!

God made a puzzling statement to Abraham while establishing His covenant with the patriarch, linking the time that Israel would sojourn in Egypt to the behavior of one group of people. 

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Genesis 15:13–-16, ESV)

Iniquity is easy enough to understand; it means sin, vice, or immorality. But what did the Amorites do that God found so offensive? Who were these people and where did they come from?

The Amorites first stepped onto the world stage in the middle of the third millennium B.C. The earliest known reference to an Amorite was from the ancient city of Shuruppak, dated to about 2600 B.C. According to the Sumerian King List, Shuruppak, about halfway between modern Baghdad and the Persian Gulf, was the home city of the last Sumerian king before the Flood. That king was either a man named Ubara-Tutu or his son, the hero of the Sumerian flood myth, Ziusudra, the Mesopotamian Noah.

Scholars disagree on the location of the Amorite homeland. There are two main candidates: One is Jebel Bishri, a low mountain range along the west side of the Euphrates River in central Syria. The other is the Diyala River valley, which descends from the Hamrin mountains toward modern Baghdad. This is the traditional border between Iraq and Iran, and between Arab lands to the south and Kurdish territory to the north.

There is evidence for both theories. One of the peaks in the Jebel Bishri range, Jebel Diddi, may be named for an ancient Amorite tribe, the Didanu (or Tidanu, or Tidnum, depending on when and in what language it was written). Or it may be that the tribe was named for the mountain. Either way, the name is important.

Estonian scholar Amar Annus has demonstrated that the name of this ancient Amorite tribe was probably the origin of the name of the old Greek gods, the Titans. That’s significant, because it links the Amorites and their worship of gods connected to the netherworld, such as Molech, Dagan, Baal-Hammon, and the Rephaim, to the sinful angels mentioned by Peter and Jude—the “sons of God” of Genesis 6:1–4, called “Watchers” in Jewish texts of the Second Temple period such as the Book of the Watchers, or what we know now as the first thirty-six chapters of the Book of First Enoch.

Annus also showed that the Watchers were known as apkallu in ancient Mesopotamia long before the Second Temple period. They were considered sages who brought the gifts of civilization to humanity on behalf of Enki, the god of wisdom. That’s similar to the description of the Watchers in Enoch, although the Jewish and early Christian view of “gifts” like weapons, witchcraft, and mating with human women to produce giants was considerably less favorable than in, say, Babylon.

How do Watchers differ from run-of-the-mill angels? Unfortunately for us English speakers, our language lacks the richness of some others. The word “angel,” borrowed from the Greek angelos (“messenger”), hides the fact that there are several classes or categories of angel, such as malakim (“messenger”), cherubim, seraphim, ophanim (the wheels of Ezekiel’s vision), and others. Based on the use of the term in Enoch, it’s clear that Watchers were especially powerful and exercised free will. Their decision to commit what they knew was a sin suggests that they also had knowledge of good and evil.

Not coincidentally, the Bible tells us that these rebellious angels were cast into Tartarus, just like the Titans of the Greeks. Although your Bible probably reads “hell” in 2 Peter 2:4, the original Greek names Tartarus as the prison of these spirits. Tartarus is a separate place from Hades, a sort of maximum-security hell reserved for supernatural threats to the divine order. Yet the Amorites (and their descendants, the Phoenicians), Greeks, and Romans continued to worship the old gods, especially the king of the Titans, Kronos (Saturn to the Romans, Baal-Hammon to the Phoenicians). Their offspring, the demigod heroes such as Perseus and Hercules, were, by definition, Nephilim.

By 2000 B.C., the Tidanu tribe had developed a reputation across the ancient Near East of being mad, bad, and dangerous to know—so dangerous, in fact, that the last Sumerian kings of Mesopotamia ordered a massive public-works project directed at these savage Amorites. The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, a mighty city-state in what is now southeastern Iraq, built a wall north of modern Baghdad 175 miles long, from the Euphrates across the Tigris to the Diyala. This wall, which one smart-aleck scholar recently suggested was intended to “make Sumer great again,” was built specifically to keep the Tidanu away. We know this because the Sumerian name of the wall literally translates into English as, “Amorite Wall That Keeps Tidanu Away.”

The problem for Ur was that it didn’t keep Tidanu away. More on that later.

So, the big question for scholars is this: Did the Amorites come from the middle of Syria, or did they come from northeastern Iraq/northwestern Iran? The answer may be “yes” to both.

Some scholars believe that Amorites, specifically the Tidanu/Ditanu, began migrating east from around Jebel Bishri sometime in the middle of the tThird mMillennium B.C., moving through northern Mesopotamia and northwest Iran before descending the Diyala Vvalley and entering Sumer from the north. Evidence suggests that Amorites lived farther east into what is now Iran than previously thought, possibly following their flocks through the mountains or setting up trading posts along routes that connected Sumer to people living east of Mesopotamia. Lapis lazuli, a blue stone prized in the ancient world, is still found mainly in northeast Afghanistan, and it was used in art and jewelry in Egypt as far back as 3700 B.C. Merchants hauling cargo through the mountains needed places to eat, sleep, and care for their donkeys, and it appears that some of those ancient caravan stops on the eastern edge of Mesopotamia may have been staffed by Amorites by the time of Abraham in the early second millennium B.C.

We’re limited in how far back we can trace the Amorites. While it’s clear that the Amorites had their own language, most of what we know about it comes from deciphering Amorite names. Almost all of the early written records from the places they lived are in Sumerian or Akkadian. For example, while the moon-god was called Nanna by Sumerians and Sîn by Akkadians, he was Yarikh to the Amorites. But when Amorites came to power across the Near East after 2000 B.C., government documents were still written in Sumerian or Akkadian, even in diplomatic messages sent to faraway countries like Hatti (the Hittites, who controlled most of modern Turkey) and Egypt. So, piecing together Amorite culture and history from tablets written in Amorite will probably never happen. Tracing their movements is only possible by identifying Amorite names in Akkadian and Sumerian records.

While it can’t be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, evidence suggests that the cult of Kronos, king of the Titans, began where the Amorites were first identified. Stories of the old god did not originate in Greece. Instead, evidence firmly documents the earliest worship of Kronos in northern Mesopotamia (southern Turkey or northern Syria), and older circumstantial evidence points specifically to Jebel Bishri, exactly where the earliest Mesopotamian records place the Amorites.

At the risk of sounding like a television presenter (oh, wait—I am one), I have to ask It’s worth asking at this point: Is it possible that the Titans, called Watchers by the Hebrews, made an infernal bargain with the early Amorites? Was this why the Amorite kings who ruled nearly all the lands of the Bible in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob traced their ancestry back to one Ditana, the legendary founder of the Tidanu/Ditanu tribe? Could this explain the pride of the Amorites who founded Babylon, whose magicians considered themselves masters of occult knowledge received from the spirit realm before the Flood? Is this why Amorite kings as late as the time of the judges in Israel summoned “the council of the Ditanu” from the netherworld through necromancy rituals?

More important: Is the child sacrifice demanded by the old god, Kronos (and his other identities, Saturn and Baal-Hammon), the reason the practice continues even today?

Almost five thousand years after they emerged onto the world stage, the iniquity of the Amorites is still not complete. The bad news is the Watchers/Titans were not the only gods they served.

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Building a Healthy Destiny Social Life

By: Pastor Joshua Gwara Omolo, Kenya, Africa

Definition of social life
Three words are important here; Society, social life and relationship. A society is a group of
people that have common factors of life, and are therefore able to, not only co-exist, but also to
live together. The predominant factor of life they share here being culture. The fact that they
share the same culture empowers them to live in harmony in almost every aspect of life. That is
society. Many pastors are living in loneliness detached from the society and unable to feel the
Social life around them hence the reason All propastors international is addressing this
challenge by encouraging pastors to form champions table where they can defeat loneliness;
this is meant to empower them to master the individual’s manner of integration into the
society. Every man needs to understand and create an inbuilt capacity to correlate with each
member of the society and experience mutual benefit from the relationship
The perfect Relationship
Relationship on the other hand can be defined as, “the way in which two or more people or
groups regard and behave towards each other, and it is the state of being connected. God
never intended that any man should live in silos as it is the norm in many societies today
especially in the cities around the world. The book of psalm 133 clearly demonstrates the divine
benefits that can be achieved when people live together in unity, God pours his unprecedented
blessings in such kind of a fellowship beyond anyone’s’ imagination Allow me to say at this
point that the vast majority of the human population today is faced with the big problem of
broken relationship not only with fellow men but also with God the creator of Heaven and the
Earth.
The society we are living in today has become largely dysfunctional due to multiple systemic
failures which can be attributed to the broken relationship between man and God. When God
created the first man Adam he said it is not good for man to be alone then Eve was created to
complement and social life of Adam in order to solve the challenge of loneliness by providing an
effective companionship and to enable them to reproduce
Every level of relationship in life has a specific mutual benefit which should be realized by both
parties involved. The intention of God the author of the perfect relationship was to empower
mankind to develop an effective social life which is also dependent on God’s divine
supernatural relation with Him God the father. Many failures in the life of mankind today can be directly or indirectly attributed to the broken relationship between man and God; it is for
this reason that Jesus the son of God came and died on the cross in order to restore back the
original relationship between man and God. Jesus died for us to show God’s greatest love for
mankind and to restore our relationship with Him (John 15:13). In Jesus, God has shown us how
much He loves us, even while we are still sinners. In Christ we are assured of His constant love
that will never fail; this is the solid foundation for our relationship with God
Four Steps to Redeem our Relationship with God

  1. Receive the Gift of God who is Jesus
    Our spiritual birth is the perfect point of mending our relationship with God the father (John
    3:3-8). We need to believe in our heart that Jesus son of God died on the cross for our sins and
    on the third day he resurrected from the dead, then confess with our mouth that Jesus is our
    lord then we receive salvation immediately (Romans 10:9-10). Our restored relationship with
    God is the beginning of our ongoing transformation into Christ likeness (2Cor 5:17). The perfect
    relationship with God leads to perfect relationship with men.
    Only God can redefine our dysfunctional relationships in the society today. Embracing other
    items in an attempt to fill the void of the broken relationship cannot suffice at all. Many people
    have chosen to fellowship with gadgets instead of fellow men, but still the void of loneliness
    remains. God is the author of perfect relationship and we must admit that He is the only one
    who can restore this broken relationship.
    Many other things like pets too cannot substitute the place of effective relationship with fellow
    men. There is nothing wrong keeping these animals but God’s original plan was for men to
    relate with fellow men in accordance to the Patten and guidelines given by the scriptures in the
    Bible. The ultimate goal in the whole mix of relationship is to establish eternal relationship with
    God, relationship that knows no barrier so much so that even death cannot conquer it.
    Definition of social life
    Social life is a relational ability with fellow man. Healthy social life is the ability to build a
    healthy relationship with fellow man. You build the kind of relationship that enhances the well-
    being of each party involved. Your relationship with fellow man is built in such a way that each
    party involved draws optimal destiny benefits. It is a relationship that enhances mutual benefit
    for everyone involved. That is a healthy relationship.
    Not all relationships carry mutual benefit. Many relationships we form with fellow men are
    platforms of being used, in the end, only the user benefits. Some are platforms of being abused.
    Abuse is abnormal use. And at times the relationships are platforms on which people use us for very wrong things. You meet a house wife whose husband has turned her into a punching bag.

That is abuse. And that is not a healthy relationship.
Giving as a building block towards a healthy relationship
God has provided a very elaborate and well detailed protocol on how to engage and build a
healthy relationship through the principle of giving. The culture of giving is the master key to
almost every success. One story share by all those deemed to be successful in the world today
and this cuts across the divide is giving.
Offer your body as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing unto God. This is your spiritual act of
worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1). Since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, God is
placing this non-negotiable terms and condition that His friends must surrender their bodies to
be owned and utilized for worship. Holiness is the act of individuals decision to separate
him/her self from any form of sinful indulgence, it is a choice deliberately made by the man of
faith to honor God with his body. The man of faith must learn to live according to the covenant
of the word. Failure to take this action of living a life full of sanctity is what is referred to
engaging in the patterns of the world. The world has its own culture and ways of doing thing.
Quiet often, the patterns of the worldly life is offensive to God because they are contrary to the
kingdom principles of living right with God.
The word of God says it more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I
showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the word of the
Lord Jesus himself said; “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But the hard reality today is
that the culture of giving is diminishing by the day in every culture.
America became a great Nation based on the platform of giving, but the culture is diminishing
each and every day and no wonder some other the Tigger nations are emerging with such a
great challenge to the economy of the USA. The newly formed BRICS alliance has but one
agenda to sideline the US Dollar in order to bring down the US economy.
The great funding for missionary works that used to flow from America to Africa has reduced
significantly and the many churches activities in the outreach ministries in African has also
reduced marginally, seminary colleges that used to sponsor theology courses are turning into
commercial training institutions in order to remain a float. The Bible is saying that we should
not grow tired in doing good because it will soon flow back to us (Ecclesiastes 11:1 – cast thy
bread in many waters: for thou shall find it after many days)
All these changes are sponsored by the new emerging trend of the culture of materialism
where people would want to be defined by the wealth they own instead of the God they

worship, hence this has broaden the gap between the rich and the poor. Many economies in
African countries today project a grim picture of inequality; a quick profile of a society where
1% of the population owns the 99% of the wealth in the land while the 99% population are left
to survive on 1% of the wealth in the country, what a big shame and what a negative contrast.
Healthy relationship can never exist in such unequal society where majority of people die of
hunger instead of disease. A healthy relationship is a platform for sustainable peace. Peace is a
relational state of being. It is a state in which conflict has no power to access and shake your
relationship. A relationship that is attaining the state of peace manifests in conflicts being less
frequent. But the intensity of the conflict is also less and less. It takes longer to experience the
next conflict.
A healthy relationship has friendship. The Greek word ‘philos’ from which we obtain the word
‘friend’ means associate.
Friendship as a building block towards a perfect relationship
A friend is someone you associate with. When couples are friends, they tend to always
associate with each other. They keep each other’s company. Not only do you associate
physically, you also do so internally. You easily divulge the secrets of your hearts to each other.
The purpose of champion’s table initiative by the All propastors international (APPI) is to enable
pastors to embrace this intimate level of fellowship of sharing the burdens with one another
just the way Jesus did with Peter, James and John. Learning to be compassionate and caring; is
quite a challenge but its rewarding.
This is what we see in John 15:15-16. In the beginning of this Scripture our Lord Jesus
announces to his disciples that he is the true vine and they are the branches. Then he speaks of
the need for the branches to abide in the vine. In vs 13 he says, “Greater love has no-one than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends” Then in this portion of scripture, he says,
I no-longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I
have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.
You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit”
Abraham became a friend of God and he was accounted as righteous in the eyes of God. The
tag of friendship comes along with unmatched favor that opens many doors in life. Our Gog the
father of our Lord Jesus Christ is very much alive to this kingdom principle of friendship. And the
scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God (James 2:21=23). There are many gates
that God is will open in your life if only you cultivate and appreciate this kingdom principle. The
friendship pillar requires one to be sensitive of the need of the other party.

Friends will be careful not to venture into areas that can easily offend their counterparts.
Friendship requires serious investment of quality time and support; using every relevant
material that can add value to ensure that it remains sustainable. God is calling for effective
worship done in truth and in the spirit. You don’t need to be perfect to engage friendship with
God; God is the one who will make you perfect through sanctification. God does not call the
qualified but he qualifies the called ones and you can be a part of the called ones only by having
faith in God as earlier mentioned.
Affirmation as a building block towards effective relationship
True friends celebrate one another whenever there is achievement. Acknowledging the
strength in your friend is a key to winning confidence of that friend. Affirmation is one of the
good mannerisms in building friendship in a relationship that can stand the test of time.
Celebrate your fellow pastor by pointing out to him the area of his strength even as you
cultivate friendship in you champion’s table. Spouse need to learn to acknowledge the strength
in their partners and that will remain as a pillar of trust in their holy matrimony. Leaders need
to learn how to commend their followers in the areas where their performance has exceeded
expectation.
Many parents have lost control of their children simply because they have never affirmed the
strength in their sons and daughters. In Mathew 3:17 – And a voice from heaven said, “This is
my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased” This was a land mark statement loud enough to
erase any fear of doubt or contradiction about the identity of Jesus and his relationship with
God the father. God himself spoke expressly without using any messenger to send a very strong
message to the world that Jesus is the son of God and that God id well pleased with him. Our
sons and daughters are in need of similar affirmation for them to manifest and project their
strength effective in their generation.
Every man on the planet is born with a special talent and unique gifting. The challenge we have
in the society is that people are trying to compare and compete with each other instead of
complementing one another. Often many people have been broken and their self-esteem
destroyed because this same mistake of unhealthy competition. God’s plan was to ensure that
his strength is revealed in our weakness and this is the reason why we need to learn on how
depend on God at all times. Spouses can only walk the long journey of marriage successfully
when they learn to discover and appreciate the strength in their partners. The culture of blame
game and finger pointing which is common in many marriages is one of the main factors that
have led to collapse in many marriage institutions.

Effective communication as a building block towards healthy relationship
Dialogue is a key factor in enhancing effective relationship because dispute and disagreement is
bound to occur where there are two or more people. Proper communication channels and
communication tools must be put in place to facilitate this process. Effective communication
must ensure that that there is feedback as a confirmation that the message has been received
properly. The language involved must be made simple and understandable by the parties
involved, it must also be structured in a manner that is should contain elements of respect to
the consumer or receiver. Some of the other extraneous factors that can hinder effective
communication may include environmental stress factor like illiteracy, hunger, diseases,
insecurity and uncontrolled external information.
Jesus warned his disciples to be weary of the dangers the disciples were to encounter. In
Mathew 10:16 – Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as
shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. The message here was to prepare the disciples
psychologically so that they can be made ready for tough times ahead; it also contains
measures that the disciples were to apply in order to overcome the difficult situations they
were to encounter. The symbols used in the message (sheep, wolf, dove and snake) are to
create a clear and simple understanding of the hostility that would come their way.
The world around us is today has become more hostile to the people of God and the situation is
not going to get any better. The anti-Christ movements are now come out in the open to
declare that they do not want God. We believers must therefore come alive to this fact that we
need to engage the strategies of communications that were shared by Christ himself. We must
begin by establishing clear channels of communications in our households then escalate it to
the outer most parts of the world.
A good communicator must also learn first to be a good listener. Failure to listen to the
feedback can destroy a relationship. Believers often find themselves in this league where we
only want to speak to God all our thoughts and once we are done then we leave God’s presence
thinking that we are done with our prayers. Effective prayers must include listening to what
God is telling with regards to the petitions made before him. God is the one to determine the
final answer to our petitions hence the need to want to hear from Him. Parents must learn to
listen to their kids. The habit of treating kids like they must only follow what they have been
told to do without being given an opportunity to share their take is an outdated approach is
positive parenting.

  1. Admit that we are sinners
    The first step to restoration of the perfect relationship between men and Go is to admit that
    the life we are living is headed in the wrong direction. We must accept responsibility because of
    the bad choices we keep on making on daily basis. In the book of Luke 15:11-17, the prodigal
    son made a choice to detach himself from the father; we need to acknowledge the sins that
    separates us from God the father (Romans 3:23) and its penalty of death. But for many of us it
    is very difficult to come to this conclusion of admitting our sins, and we tend to hide or blame
    others for our sins as did Adam. We still try to convince ourselves that life is good even on the
    face of this massive failure we can see in our society today. Admitting our mistakes like the
    prodigal son is the first step to restoration of our relationship with God.
  2. Return to God in repentance
    We need to climb down from our ivory towers with a repentant, humble attitude rather than
    hiding and covering (Acts 3:19; Genesis 3:10; Isaiah 59:2). Returning to God through confession
    and asking for forgiveness of our sins removes the sin that blocks our relationship with Him.
    When we confess our sins before God he promises to forgive us (John 1:9), and forgiveness is
    what restores relationship that has been broken. The prodigal son did not just plan to get his
    relationship right with his father but he practically took a step and returned back to the father.
    Many people keep on with procrastination of their step to returning to God by harboring many
    unnecessary excuses. God is saying in the book of 2Corinthians 6:2 – “In acceptable time I have
    heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you,” Behold, now is the accepted time;
    behold now. The prodigal son humbly acknowledged, “I am not worthy to be called your son”
    (Luke 15:19). He was simply acknowledging that he did not deserve anything from the father.
    This is the kind of spirit that we need to wear for us to return back to God
  3. Recognize that God will lovingly welcome us home
    No matter how far we have gone, our loving God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ welcomes
    us home. There are seven things that the father does in the story of the prodigal son – looking,
    running, kissing, giving clothing and ring and sandals, and throwing a feast (Luke 15:20-24).

These acts are a clear illustration of the heavenly father’s love for sinners. The story of the prodigal son gives us a clear picture of our heavenly father who is always ready to forgive all sins no matter how deep they may seem to be. In Isaiah 1:8 – God says, “Come now, let us
reason together,” says the Lord though your sin are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow.
He is a compassionate and loving father who runs towards us to give us a hug. Let us embrace
this unmatched love. Let each one of us consider this outpouring love of God so that we may
receive of His great salvation.

  1. Receive the Gift of God who is Jesus
    Our spiritual birth is the perfect point of mending our relationship with God the father (John
    3:3-8). We need to believe in our heart that Jesus son of God died on the cross for our sins and
    on the third day he resurrected from the dead, then confess with our mouth that Jesus is our
    lord then we receive salvation immediately (Romans 10:9-10). Our restored relationship with
    God is the beginning of our ongoing transformation into Christ likeness (2Cor 5:17). The perfect
    relationship with God leads to perfect relationship with men.
    Only God can redefine our dysfunctional relationships in the society today. Embracing other
    items in an attempt to fill the void of the broken relationship cannot suffice at all. Many people
    have chosen to fellowship with gadgets instead of fellow men, but still the void of loneliness
    remains. God is the author of perfect relationship and we must admit that He is the only one
    who can restore this broken relationship.
    Many other things like pets too cannot substitute the place of effective relationship with fellow
    men. There is nothing wrong keeping these animals but God’s original plan was for men to
    relate with fellow men in accordance to the Patten and guidelines given by the scriptures in the
    Bible. The ultimate goal in the whole mix of relationship is to establish eternal relationship with
    God, relationship that knows no barrier so much so that even death cannot conquer it.
    Definition of social life
    Social life is a relational ability with fellow man. Healthy social life is the ability to build a
    healthy relationship with fellow man. You build the kind of relationship that enhances the well-
    being of each party involved. Your relationship with fellow man is built in such a way that each
    party involved draws optimal destiny benefits. It is a relationship that enhances mutual benefit
    for everyone involved. That is a healthy relationship.
    Not all relationships carry mutual benefit. Many relationships we form with fellow men are
    platforms of being used, in the end, only the user benefits. Some are platforms of being abused.
    Abuse is abnormal use. And at times the relationships are platforms on which people use us for very wrong things. You meet a house wife whose husband has turned her into a punching bag.

That is abuse. And that is not a healthy relationship.
Giving as a building block towards a healthy relationship
God has provided a very elaborate and well detailed protocol on how to engage and build a
healthy relationship through the principle of giving. The culture of giving is the master key to
almost every success. One story share by all those deemed to be successful in the world today
and this cuts across the divide is giving.
Offer your body as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing unto God. This is your spiritual act of
worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1). Since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, God is
placing this non-negotiable terms and condition that His friends must surrender their bodies to
be owned and utilized for worship. Holiness is the act of individuals decision to separate
him/her self from any form of sinful indulgence, it is a choice deliberately made by the man of
faith to honor God with his body. The man of faith must learn to live according to the covenant
of the word. Failure to take this action of living a life full of sanctity is what is referred to
engaging in the patterns of the world. The world has its own culture and ways of doing thing.
Quiet often, the patterns of the worldly life is offensive to God because they are contrary to the
kingdom principles of living right with God.
The word of God says it more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I
showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the word of the
Lord Jesus himself said; “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But the hard reality today is
that the culture of giving is diminishing by the day in every culture.
America became a great Nation based on the platform of giving, but the culture is diminishing
each and every day and no wonder some other the Tigger nations are emerging with such a
great challenge to the economy of the USA. The newly formed BRICS alliance has but one
agenda to sideline the US Dollar in order to bring down the US economy.
The great funding for missionary works that used to flow from America to Africa has reduced
significantly and the many churches activities in the outreach ministries in African has also
reduced marginally, seminary colleges that used to sponsor theology courses are turning into
commercial training institutions in order to remain a float. The Bible is saying that we should
not grow tired in doing good because it will soon flow back to us (Ecclesiastes 11:1 – cast thy
bread in many waters: for thou shall find it after many days)
All these changes are sponsored by the new emerging trend of the culture of materialism
where people would want to be defined by the wealth they own instead of the God they

worship, hence this has broaden the gap between the rich and the poor. Many economies in
African countries today project a grim picture of inequality; a quick profile of a society where
1% of the population owns the 99% of the wealth in the land while the 99% population are left
to survive on 1% of the wealth in the country, what a big shame and what a negative contrast.
Healthy relationship can never exist in such unequal society where majority of people die of
hunger instead of disease. A healthy relationship is a platform for sustainable peace. Peace is a
relational state of being. It is a state in which conflict has no power to access and shake your
relationship. A relationship that is attaining the state of peace manifests in conflicts being less
frequent. But the intensity of the conflict is also less and less. It takes longer to experience the
next conflict.
A healthy relationship has friendship. The Greek word ‘philos’ from which we obtain the word
‘friend’ means associate.
Friendship as a building block towards a perfect relationship
A friend is someone you associate with. When couples are friends, they tend to always
associate with each other. They keep each other’s company. Not only do you associate
physically, you also do so internally. You easily divulge the secrets of your hearts to each other.
The purpose of champion’s table initiative by the All propastors international (APPI) is to enable
pastors to embrace this intimate level of fellowship of sharing the burdens with one another
just the way Jesus did with Peter, James and John. Learning to be compassionate and caring; is
quite a challenge but its rewarding.
This is what we see in John 15:15-16. In the beginning of this Scripture our Lord Jesus
announces to his disciples that he is the true vine and they are the branches. Then he speaks of
the need for the branches to abide in the vine. In vs 13 he says, “Greater love has no-one than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends” Then in this portion of scripture, he says,
I no-longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I
have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.
You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit”
Abraham became a friend of God and he was accounted as righteous in the eyes of God. The
tag of friendship comes along with unmatched favor that opens many doors in life. Our Gog the
father of our Lord Jesus Christ is very much alive to this kingdom principle of friendship. And the
scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God (James 2:21=23). There are many gates
that God is will open in your life if only you cultivate and appreciate this kingdom principle. The
friendship pillar requires one to be sensitive of the need of the other party.

Friends will be careful not to venture into areas that can easily offend their counterparts.
Friendship requires serious investment of quality time and support; using every relevant
material that can add value to ensure that it remains sustainable. God is calling for effective
worship done in truth and in the spirit. You don’t need to be perfect to engage friendship with
God; God is the one who will make you perfect through sanctification. God does not call the
qualified but he qualifies the called ones and you can be a part of the called ones only by having
faith in God as earlier mentioned.
Affirmation as a building block towards effective relationship
True friends celebrate one another whenever there is achievement. Acknowledging the
strength in your friend is a key to winning confidence of that friend. Affirmation is one of the
good mannerisms in building friendship in a relationship that can stand the test of time.
Celebrate your fellow pastor by pointing out to him the area of his strength even as you
cultivate friendship in you champion’s table. Spouse need to learn to acknowledge the strength
in their partners and that will remain as a pillar of trust in their holy matrimony. Leaders need
to learn how to commend their followers in the areas where their performance has exceeded
expectation.
Many parents have lost control of their children simply because they have never affirmed the
strength in their sons and daughters. In Mathew 3:17 – And a voice from heaven said, “This is
my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased” This was a land mark statement loud enough to
erase any fear of doubt or contradiction about the identity of Jesus and his relationship with
God the father. God himself spoke expressly without using any messenger to send a very strong
message to the world that Jesus is the son of God and that God id well pleased with him. Our
sons and daughters are in need of similar affirmation for them to manifest and project their
strength effective in their generation.
Every man on the planet is born with a special talent and unique gifting. The challenge we have
in the society is that people are trying to compare and compete with each other instead of
complementing one another. Often many people have been broken and their self-esteem
destroyed because this same mistake of unhealthy competition. God’s plan was to ensure that
his strength is revealed in our weakness and this is the reason why we need to learn on how
depend on God at all times. Spouses can only walk the long journey of marriage successfully
when they learn to discover and appreciate the strength in their partners. The culture of blame
game and finger pointing which is common in many marriages is one of the main factors that
have led to collapse in many marriage institutions.

Effective communication as a building block towards healthy relationship
Dialogue is a key factor in enhancing effective relationship because dispute and disagreement is
bound to occur where there are two or more people. Proper communication channels and
communication tools must be put in place to facilitate this process. Effective communication
must ensure that that there is feedback as a confirmation that the message has been received
properly. The language involved must be made simple and understandable by the parties
involved, it must also be structured in a manner that is should contain elements of respect to
the consumer or receiver. Some of the other extraneous factors that can hinder effective
communication may include environmental stress factor like illiteracy, hunger, diseases,
insecurity and uncontrolled external information.
Jesus warned his disciples to be weary of the dangers the disciples were to encounter. In
Mathew 10:16 – Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as
shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. The message here was to prepare the disciples
psychologically so that they can be made ready for tough times ahead; it also contains
measures that the disciples were to apply in order to overcome the difficult situations they
were to encounter. The symbols used in the message (sheep, wolf, dove and snake) are to
create a clear and simple understanding of the hostility that would come their way.
The world around us is today has become more hostile to the people of God and the situation is
not going to get any better. The anti-Christ movements are now come out in the open to
declare that they do not want God. We believers must therefore come alive to this fact that we
need to engage the strategies of communications that were shared by Christ himself. We must
begin by establishing clear channels of communications in our households then escalate it to
the outer most parts of the world.
A good communicator must also learn first to be a good listener. Failure to listen to the
feedback can destroy a relationship. Believers often find themselves in this league where we
only want to speak to God all our thoughts and once we are done then we leave God’s presence
thinking that we are done with our prayers. Effective prayers must include listening to what
God is telling with regards to the petitions made before him. God is the one to determine the
final answer to our petitions hence the need to want to hear from Him. Parents must learn to
listen to their kids. The habit of treating kids like they must only follow what they have been
told to do without being given an opportunity to share their take is an outdated approach is
positive parenting.

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Asymmetrical War at its Best

By: US Army Colonel (Ret) David J. Giammona

In my tour of duty in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan, I saw first-hand how our military operates in what it calls asymmetrical warfare, or what it calls “hearts and minds” operations. At its very root, asymmetrical warfare, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “is between opposing forces which differ greatly in military power and that typically involves the use of unconventional weapons and tactics (such as those associated with guerrilla warfare and terrorist attacks.”   

Without a doubt, the years we spent in Iraq and Afghanistan would be called asymmetrical, meaning it is not linear like in World War I or II. In those wars, there were front and rear lines of demarcation; in other words, at the front line, combat operations were taking place, and in the rear, supply lines, rest, and recuperation were taking place. Not so any longer. In asymmetrical war, combat is all around, and many times, it is hard to distinguish between the enemy and friendly. 

Asymmetrical also means that combat takes many forms and does not always include weapons and firepower, such as in the case of the “hearts and minds” operations. The Army used those types of operations in Vietnam to great success, and I was part of those types of operations in Afghanistan. 

What are “hearts and minds” operations? They are simply tactics to win over the population by giving them much-needed supplies such as food, shelter, clothing, and protection from the enemy. An example of that is when we went out to the tribes in Afghanistan and distributed warm clothes and food in winter. The tribal leaders were indeed grateful to us for helping them and their families. We did this on a regular basis, and this won over their “hearts and minds.” This opposed the Taliban, which used brute force, fear, and hardcore military tactics to force them into submission.

The United States military and government know how to use the media and other social media platforms for their own propaganda purposes to influence the American population as well. The CIA has been embedded in Hollywood for years to target certain segments of the population. It is a well-known fact that the Uncle Sam ads during World War II brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to the war effort along with millions of recruits and needed resources such as rubber, steel, and other war materials. 

In our book, The Military Guide to Disarming Deception, Troy Anderson and I have an entire chapter called “The Hollywood Deception,” in which we write about how we are all being groomed by the media to accept a one-world government, digital currency, the end of the world, possible alien invasions, and host of other events coming upon the planet. Do not underestimate the power of the media to persuade people to accept the new norms of culture. Just look at that influence in the last pandemic and then think about how it will be in the future as they “program” us to group think as in George Orwell’s book 1984. 

We, as believers, must understand that the spiritual and cultural wars we find ourselves in are asymmetrical; that is, they are all around us shooting at us from every direction. That is why it is imperative that we become battle-ready and prepare not only ourselves but those we serve in our congregations. I once interviewed Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of 1st Baptist Church of Dallas, TX. I asked him this question: “What do you think of pastors who are not preparing their people for these end times and the spiritual warfare that surrounds us?” His answer was extraordinary: “Colonel, I say they should be sued for spiritual malpractice.” 

I firmly believe that we have time, however brief it may be, in order to teach, preach, exhort, and educate our people through the Word of God to understand and prepare for the events that will surely take place. 

David J Giammona

President Battle Ready Ministries                                 

Cell: 931-249-9206                          

US Army Colonel, Retired Author/Speaker                     

https://facebook.com/giammonadavid

Web: https://davidjgiammona.com/

Web: https://battle-ready.org/ 

Twitter: DavidGiammona@GiammonaDavid

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A Journey into Our Judeo Christian Roots!

In our day where technology seems to take us almost anywhere by the click of a button. We want to invite you to an extraordinary event that will take you back in time to a bigger than life experience. On September 18 and 19th the full length feature movie “Route 60, The Biblical Highway” opens in theaters all across America.

Seeing this beautifully produced movie in Israel by TBN on the big screen is second to only being there in person. Linda and I have been to Israel and “Route 60” takes us on a journey where few are able to visit. With our hosts Mike Pompeo and David Friedman we are able to travel on the screen to places as special guests of Israel. All of these locations are rich in the history of our Judeo Christian heritage.

As I was watching the screening we were honored to see, it actually brought clarity to me about locations that we read about in the Bible. This movie brings to life where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and many of our heroes and prophets walked. We go with them to where Jesus lived and ministered to the masses. Mike Pompeo and David Friedman bring together the connection of Jews and Christians and how we are blessed to have such a common history.

The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous and you will feel as if you are right beside them. Stepping into the past has never been easier and we are certain that even if you have visited Israel many times “Route 60, The Biblical Highway” will take you places and share some history you have never seen.

David Friedman as our former Ambassador to Israel and Mike Pompeo as a former Secretary of State were given this special opportunity to travel and see these historic landmarks and thanks to TBN and Mathew and Laurie Crouch we are able to join them.

Let us encourage you get your tickets early as we expect it to sell out everywhere.

Click Here to watch the Trailer!

Special Note: Our APPI Team wrote all of the Study Resources for “Route 60, The Biblical Highway”

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Chaos and Creation

The account of chaos—Leviathan—in Psalm 74 is a bit different from that in Genesis 1. We learn God is from old, working salvation in the midst of the earth (which again, at the beginning would have been only water). Then we learn God divides the seas (which, in Genesis, occurs in Genesis 1:6) and breaks the heads of the sea monsters, along with crushing the heads of Leviathan. Later, we learn God establishes the heavenly lights and the sun (which, in Genesis, doesn’t occur until the fourth day, described in Genesis 1:14–19).

            It is generally believed among biblical scholars Psalm 74 and Genesis 1 are likely polemics of the Baal Cycle. That is to say, they are attempts to take credit away from Baal for subduing chaos (Leviathan) and giving proper credit to YHWH for this and for creation itself. It is known from tablets found in Syria over the last 150 years that the Semites of western Mesopotamia, the Amorites and Canaanites, believed that it was their storm-god Baal who had subdued the chaos monster.

Thus says Adad, I brought you back to the throne of your father, I brought you back. The weapons with which I fought Tiamat I gave to you. With the oil of my bitter victory I anointed you, and no one before you could stand.[1]

            Adad is the actual name of the west Semitic storm-god we know in the Bible as Baal. (“Baal” is a title that means “lord,” not a proper name.) The excerpt above is from a letter from Adad through his prophet, Abiya, to the king of Mari, Zimrī-Līm. The god was apparently reminding Zimrī-Līm that the king had been restored to power by his divine favor, which included sending to Zimrī-Līm the clubs he’d used to defeat Tiamat!

            Another tablet found at Mari, which was located on the Euphrates River near the modern border between Syria and Iraq, confirms that the clubs had been sent from Aleppo, which was known as the “city of Adad,” to the temple of Dagan (the earlier spelling of the Philistine god Dagon) at the town of Terqa, south of Mari.

            While that’s a fascinating bit of history—think about that: the divine clubs of Baal were physical objects!—the point is that Zimrī-Līm ruled at the same time as Hammurabi the Great of Babylon, which is about the time scholars believe the Enuma Elish was composed, and at least four hundred years before the Baal Cycle. So, it appears that even between Baal and Marduk there was competition over just who defeated the monstrous god of chaos.

            We must remember, people in the ancient Near East would not have the type of scientific, literal, and material point of view we have today in the western world. Rather, their view would have been more symbolic. This doesn’t mean it is any less real or true, it is merely a different way of looking at the world. When we look at the sea, we think of ocean currents and marine biology. When they looked at it, they thought of Leviathan/Tiamat/Litanu, chaos, and death. Therefore, what we have in Genesis 1 and Psalm 74 is not a scientific description of how everything was created, but a symbolic polemic describing who gets the credit for creating everything. According to the Bible, it’s not Baal. It’s not Marduk. It is YHWH.

            One might wonder, if it is a polemic, where is the battle? It is true, we do not see an epic battle in Genesis 1. There is a description of a defeat in Psalm 74, but it is still quite different when compared against the Baal Cycle. The idea conveyed by the biblical writers is when YHWH of Israel started creation, these chaotic forces were already held in check. There was no need for a battle; Leviathan was already bound because the one true God didn’t need to fight.

This would have been considered a slap in the face to Canaanite religion and the inferior god Baal. It was saying YHWH is the God who is truly in control and always has been. YHWH restricts chaos, not Baal. If a Canaanite living at that time were to read the Genesis account of creation, he would understand instantly what the text was doing. It’s busting down Baal and lifting up YHWH as supreme.

            We see this same sort of thing in Psalm 89:

You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. (Psalm 89:9–11, ESV)

This idea is repeated as an apocalyptic idea by the prophet Isaiah 27:

In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 27:1, ESV)

In Psalm 89, Rahab is a name for Egypt but is also equated with the sea beast Leviathan. In Isaiah 27, we read of a time in the future where chaos is not simply subdued but is destroyed forever. Consider what John N. Oswalt’s commentary on the book of Isaiah says about this:

Most scholars today are in agreement that while the exodus events are in the center of the writer’s thinking, they are not by any means all that is there. Rahab is clearly a term for Egypt (cf. 30:7; and Ps. 87:4, where Rahab and Babylon are paired); so also the monster (or “dragon”) is a term for Pharaoh (Ezek. 29:3). But it is also clear that those terms are not limited to those historical referents. As is known from Ugaritic studies, the twisting monster is a figure in the struggles of Baal with the god of the sea, Yam, as is “Leviathan,” which is equated with the monster in Isa. 27:1. Given these facts, and the evidence that the myth of the struggle of the gods with the sea monster was known in one form or another all over the ancient Near East, one has reason to believe that Isaiah is here, as in 27:1, utilizing this acquaintance among the people for his own purposes. It is important to note that the allusions to Near Eastern myths in the Bible all occur after 750 B.C., long after the basic antimythic character of biblical faith had been established. Thus there is an appeal here neither to some current Hebrew myth nor to some original one, now dead. Rather, just as a contemporary poet might allude to the Iliad or the Odyssey, utilizing imagery familiar to his hearers but that is hardly part of their belief system, so Isaiah uses the imagery of the well-known stories of creation to make his point. It was not Baal or Marduk or Ashur who had any claim to being the Creator—it was the Lord alone.[2]

            The idea coming out of this comparison of Psalm 74 and Genesis 1 is that by the time the actual creation starts, Leviathan/Chaos is already subdued. This would seem to indicate in the text, at least in the mind of the writers of these passages, there is a lot more going on with Genesis 1:1-3 than what we are typically taught in Sunday school. We learn in the very first verse God created the heavens and the earth. However, what was that process like? What were the conditions? How long did it take? We are not told specifically, but we are given clues if we think of this as a polemic on ancient Canaanite religion.

            Whether taken as literal or symbolic, the texts indicate a creation story unlike anything most of us were taught in the Church, but it’s one that biblical scholars are very familiar with. The sea represents chaos, yet as we see in Genesis 1:2, chaos is already subdued by the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters. The battle was over before it began. Whether Leviathan is meant to be understood as a literal sea beast existing somewhere in spiritual existence or as a symbol for the very real chaos of nature is unknown. Perhaps it is both. In any event, the text allows us a little more freedom in understanding creation than what we may have previously been taught.

            There are other interesting things to pull from this idea as well. In Genesis, once the water was still and chaos subdued, God started to create order from disorder. This idea, order from disorder, is common throughout ancient near-eastern religious texts, yet the writer of Genesis gives proper credit to YHWH, the God of Israel. To the writer of Genesis, the other, lesser gods tried to usurp YHWH’s accomplishments and attributes, so he wishes to set the record straight.

            The main reason for reiterating this point is because there are occult/pagan circles today who follow doctrines related to “order out of chaos,” “as above, so below,” and others. Since, in our culture today, those are recognized as doctrines outside of Christianity, it is worth repeating the point of polemics here. It seems the writer of Genesis was dealing with a similar thing in his day, so to set the record straight, he gave credit to YHWH for these things instead of allowing the lesser gods to usurp and defile them.

[1] “A Prophetic Letter of Adad to Zimrī-Līm” (A.1968). English translations in J. J. M. Roberts, The Bible and the Ancient Near East. Collected Essays (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002), ch. 14, pp. 157-253, “The Mari Prophetic Texts in Transliteration and English Translation,” and in M. Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East, with contributions by C. L. Seow and R. K. Ritner (ed. P. Machinist; Writings from the Ancient World, 12; Atlanta, GA., Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), pp. 21-22 (A. 1968).

[2] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 341-42.

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Ancient Aliens and the God of Chaos

With popular shows such as Ancient Aliens promoting the belief that ancient gods were just
misidentified extraterrestrials, mistaken for gods by the men who met them, the world is now
very familiar with the Ancient Astronaut Theory. Many ancient texts, especially those from the
ancient near-east, are used to support this claim. Among the most used are ancient Sumerian,
Babylonian, and Jewish texts.
However, there are certain inconsistencies found within those texts which do not seem to
promote Ancient Astronaut Theory. For example, in the creation mythology of Baal, the gods
existed in a watery abode. Ancient Astronaut theorists might be tempted to think of this as a
water-world exoplanet. If this were the case, and if these alien gods communicated with
mankind, we should expect beliefs around those communications to develop within their culture
and religion. Why is it, then, large bodies of water such as the sea were more closely related to
concepts of chaos and death in these belief systems? If alien creator gods came from water-
worlds, shouldn’t the seas of Earth represent life rather than death? A closer look at the ancient
texts themselves can provide us a clearer picture of the whole story.
The Enuma Elish is the Babylonian epic of creation, also known as The Seven Tablets of
Creation. 1 All the tablets containing the creation myth were found at Ashur, Kish, Nineveh,
Sultante, and other excavated sites. The tablets date to about 1100 BC but there are indications
that they’re copies of a much older version of the story. 2 The myth describes the birth of the
gods, the universe, and human beings. In the beginning, according to the story, there was nothing
else except chaotic water everywhere. Out of the movement of the water, the waters divided into
fresh and salt water. The fresh water is identified as the god Apsu while the salt water is
identified as the goddess Tiamat. Through these two entities came the birth of younger gods.
The younger gods were noisy and troubling Apsu, so upon the advice of Mummu, Apsu
decides to kill the younger gods. Tiamat hears of this and warns her eldest son, Enki (sometimes
Ea), so he puts Apsu into a sleep and kills him. Enki then creates his home from Apsu’s remains.
Tiamat becomes angry over Apsu’s death and consults with Quingu, who advises her to bring
war against the younger gods. Tiamat gives Quingu the Tablets of Destiny, which solidifies the
rule of a god. Quingu wears the tablets as a breastplate. Tiamat then summons the forces of chaos
and creates eleven monsters to destroy the younger gods.
Ea/Enki and the other younger gods fight against Tiamat, but are unable to win the battle
until Marduk emerges as a champion among them. Marduk defeats Quingu and kills Tiamat by
shooting her with an arrow, splitting her in two. Marduk creates the heavens and the earth from
Tiamat’s corpse (half to make the heavens, half to make the earth). He then appoints jobs to the
younger gods and binds Tiamat’s eleven monsters to his feet as trophies. He then takes the
Tablets of Destiny from Quingu, thereby solidifying his reign.
Marduk then talks with Ea, recognized as the god of wisdom, and decides to create
human beings. He does this by killing the gods who convinced Tiamat to go to war. Quingu is
found guilty and killed. Ea creates Lullu, the first man, from the blood of Quingu. Lullu’s job is
to help the gods in their task of maintaining order and keeping chaos restrained. The story then
ends with a long praise of Marduk for everything he did. The entire story is about chaos being
subdued by the destruction of a great sea beast.
In other words, the sea beast is a symbol for chaos.
A similar story can be found in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle. Ugarit was an ancient city,
located at what is now Ras Shamra in northern Syria.

In the second millennium BC, the population of Ugarit was Amorite and would have
controlled roughly 2,000 square kilometers on average. 3 During some of its history, Ugarit would
have been directly within, or at least in close proximity to, the Hittite Empire.
Ugarit was destroyed in the early 12th century BC and its location forgotten until 1928
when a peasant accidentally discovered an old tomb. The area of the tomb was found out to be
the necropolis of Ugarit. Excavations have since revealed a city with a prehistory reaching back
to c. 6,000 BC. 4
Archaeologically speaking, Ugarit is considered Canaanite. 5 Arguably, the most important
literary document recovered from Ugarit is the Baal Cycle, which describes the basis for the
belief system surrounding the Canaanite deity Baal. In fact, Ugarit bordered the northern Israelite
kingdom and can be considered the center of ancient Baal worship. Of further importance is the
discovery of the Ugaritic language, which is closer to biblical Hebrew than any other Semitic
language. There are extremely interesting word-for-word parallels between Ugaritic myths and
passages in the Old Testament which show clear polemics (controversial arguments intended as
an attack on a differing belief or idea). As we will explore a bit later, we can read the creation
account in the Bible and see a polemic to the Baal Cycle.
The Baal Cycle isn’t as much about creation as it is a competition between gods to win a
position of rulership with the supreme god El. It describes a battle between Baal (meaning
“lord”) and Yam (meaning “sea”), and another battle between Baal and Mot (meaning “death”).
Yam is also called Nahar (meaning “river”) and is also described as a sea monster with seven
heads named Litanu (the Canaanite word for ‘Leviathan”). In the Baal Cycle, Yam is a symbol
for the sea and the forces of chaos, comparable to Tiamat in the Enuma Elish. Baal defeats Yam
and is declared king of the other gods, yet still under El. He is given the titles “the Rider on the
Clouds,” “Most High,” and is described as having everlasting dominion.
To a person in the ancient Near East, the sea was considered extremely dangerous,
chaotic, and even otherworldly. The sea is untamable, unpredictable, and wild. Sea creatures
themselves were considered symbolic portrayals of the place in which they lived: the sea. This is
the reason we see the symbol of the sea and a great sea beast/monster/dragon repeated in the
religious texts of the ancient near-east. To those people, there was no better representation for
death and chaos. 6 We even see this idea turn up in the Bible.
We are at least two thousand years and half a world removed from the ancient Jewish
culture in which much of the Bible was written. The best way to understand and interpret the
Bible is to put yourself in the ancient writer’s shoes. What was going on at the time of the
writing? What was the writer dealing with in terms of competing theologies? What was the
cultural environment of that time? By asking these questions and looking at the text through
ancient Near Eastern eyes, we can gain a better understanding of the scriptures.
This brings us back to the idea of polemic. As stated briefly earlier, a polemic is a type of
theological jab at a different religion or belief. These show up all over the texts in the Bible. The
idea was not always to give a literal account of something, but to attribute credit to the true God
of Israel, YHWH. For example, we find in the Baal Cycle the term “Rider on the Clouds” is
attributed to Baal. Yet, we read a response to that claim throughout the Bible as YHWH is
referred to in the same way. 7 Even Jesus Christ referred to Himself in this manner. 8 The point was
not to describe the oddity of God riding on clouds; it was to state that Baal was not the one in
charge. It is a deliberate swipe at the belief of Baal having everlasting dominion by taking his
title and attributing it to the true God, YHWH.
This is only one example of a polemic in the Bible. There are many others.

Some of the most interesting polemics can be found in the creation accounts of the Bible.
The idea of polemic will also help explain some different descriptions between these creation
accounts. For example, we can compare Genesis 1:1-3 with Psalm 74:12-17.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void,
and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of
the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Gen. 1:1–3, ESV)
Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea
by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of
Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You split open springs and
brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have
established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you
have made summer and winter. (Ps. 74:12–17, ESV)
Here, we have two very different sounding accounts. In Genesis, we learn God created the
heavens and the Earth; the Earth was without form and void; there was darkness over the face of
the deep; the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters; and then God began His creation by
creating light.
The account in Genesis establishes the conflict between God and primordial chaos,
represented by the sea and a sea monster, in the very second verse of the Bible. The word
translated “deep” is the Hebrew tehom. That’s a cognate—same word, different language—to the
Akkadian têmtum, which in turn is a variant form of Tiamat, the Sumerian name for the chaos
monster of the sea.
Why did the Spirit of God hover over the waters? Although there is no record here of the
conflict between YHWH and “the deep,” it appears the intent was to restrain something—chaos
itself.

1 All seven tablets, translated to English, can be read here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm
2 http://www.ancient.eu/article/225/
3 Pardee, Dennis. “Ugaritic”, in The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia (2008) (pp. 5–6).
Roger D. Woodard, editor. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-68498-6, ISBN 978-0-521-68498-9
(262 pages).
4 Yon, Marguerite (2006). The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra. Singapore: Eisenbrauns. p. 15.
ISBN 978-1-57506-029-3. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
5 Tubb, Jonathan N. (1998), “Canaanites” (British Museum People of the Past)
6 For more information on this, refer to the Chaos to Restoration Lecture Series by Dr. Michael S. Heiser
at https://youtu.be/xUspLJjSjqo?list=PL52EgTwZYdvWlIxnSQphmeI8dDgE1mNde
7 Psalm 68:4 and Daniel 7:13, for example.
8 Mark 14:61-62

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Star Trek and the Nine

Without a doubt, Star Trek has been one of the most influential entertainment franchises
in history. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and others are iconic characters, recognized around
the world. Oddly enough, though, through the series creator Gene Roddenberry, the starship
Enterprise is linked to CIA mind control experiments, a group of “aliens” who claim to be
the creators of humanity, and—believe it or nothere we go again—the assassination of John
F. Kennedy.
Let’s back up to World War 2. During the war, Andrija Puharich, the son of immigrants
from the Balkans, attended Northwestern University outside Chicago where he earned a
bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1942 and his M.D. in 1947. Through an invitation from a
well-off family friend, who’d married into the Borden dairy family, Puharich found himself
in Maine in early 1948, where he established a research institute to pursue his interest in
parapsychology, the Round Table Foundation of Electrobiology, usually shortened to the
Round Table. 1
An early member of the Puharich Round Table was Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New
World and The Doors of Perception, a book about his experiences with mescaline (and the
book that inspired rock singer Jim Morrison to name his band The Doors). Puharich financed
his research with gifts from donors, one of whom was Henry Wallace, who’d been vice
president under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Wallace, a 32 nd degree Freemason, persuaded
Roosevelt to add the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States—the pyramid and the all-
seeing eye—to the dollar bill. 2
This book isn’t big enough to hold a full account of what Puharich was up to for the U.S.
Army in the 1950s 3 , but the upshot is that he was apparently researching parapsychology and
chemical substances that might stimulate the human mind to reach into realities beyond those
we can normally perceive with our natural senses. And at one of his gatherings in Maine, on
New Year’s Eve in 1952, Puharich and his Round Table, working with a Hindu channeler
named Dr. D. G. Vinod, conducted a seance that apparently made contact with something
calling itself The Nine. 4 Thus began a truly breathtaking chapter in America’s mostly hidden
programs that searched for ways to weaponize the occult.
Some months later, on June 27, 1953, the night of the full moon, Puharich gathered
around him what was to be a core group of the Round Table Foundation for another
session with Vinod. The membership of this group of nine members—á la The
Nine—is illuminating. Henry Jackson, Georgia Jackson, Alice Bouverie, Marcella Du
Pont, Carl Betz, Vonnie Beck, Arthur Young, Ruth Young, and Andrija Puharich. Dr.
Vinod acted as the medium.
Imagine the Fellowship of the Ring, with government funding and a security
classification that was, well, “cosmic.” 5

This group included old money—very old money. The Du Pont name is obvious, but
some of the others were no less prominent. Alice Bouverie was an Astor—a descendent of
John Jacob Astor and the daughter of Col. John Jacob Astor IV, who built the Astoria Hotel
and went down with the Titanic. Arthur Young was the designer of the Bell helicopter; his
wife had been born Ruth Forbes. Yes, that Forbes.
Ruth’s previous marriage had been to another old money family that traced its roots back
to the early days of the American colonies, George Lyman Paine. Their son, Michael Paine,
married a woman named Ruth Hyde, and in 1963, Michael and Ruth Paine became friends
with a young couple newly arrived from Russia, Lee and Marina Oswald.
Yes, that Lee Oswald. Lee Harvey Oswald.
So. A Du Pont, an Astor, and a Forbes/Paine, in a psychic research group funded by the
U.S. government, communicating with… what?
And what was the monkey god doing there?
Dr. Vinod sat on the floor, the nine members of the group in a circle around him, with
a copper plate on his lap, prayer beads in his hands, and a small statue of “Hanoum,”
a Hindu god that the author believes to be Hanuman, the Monkey King. If this is so, it
is interesting in that Hanuman was a human being, a minister, before becoming divine
due to his devotion and courage. The half-human, half-divine image is one that
becomes more important and more obvious as this study progresses. Another
important aspect of Hanuman is his depiction in much Indian art as holding an entire
mountain in one hand (and a club in the other). When—in the Ramayana and during
the battle of Rama and Ravana—Lakshmana was mortally wounded, Hanuman raced
to a mountain covered with different healing herbs. Not knowing which one
Lakshmana required, Hanuman simply brought the entire mountain. Hanuman—as
well as his fellow monkey-men, the Vanaras of southern India—is often shown with
his hand in front of his mouth, signifying “silence” as well as obedience, in much the
same way western occultists depict Harpocrates. In this sense, replete with silence,
obedience, a club, and a mountain of herbs, Hanuman might easily have been the
patron saint of MK-ULTRA. 6
What an interesting coincidence, if you’re a coincidence theorist. Remember that Aleister
Crowley believed The Book of the Law was dictated to him by Aiwass, the messenger of
Hoor-Paar-Kraat—Harpocrates.
Anyway, The Nine disclosed that they wanted the Round Table to lead a spiritual renewal
on Earth, and eventually revealed that they were extraterrestrials orbiting the planet in a
giant, invisible spacecraft.
It sounds crazy, but remember that the group assembled that night included highly
intelligent, very successful people. And Puharich later wrote, “We took every known

precaution against fraud, and the staff and I became thoroughly convinced that we were
dealing with some kind of an extraordinary extraterrestrial intelligence.” 7 In other words, if
this was a hoax, it worked on some very smart people.
On the other hand, the decades-long career of Andrija Puharich suggests that it may also
have been a case of “leading the witnesses,” in a sense. He appears to have been a seeker
who, like Fox Mulder in The X-Files, really wanted to believe.
But it was more than that. The Nine declared, “God is nobody else than we together, the
Nine Principles of God.” 8
So extraterrestrial and divine. Remember that while the Round Table was hearing from
The Nine, Aleister Crowley’s acolyte Kenneth Grant was developing his occult system based
on an ET god from Sirius.
Dr. Vinod returned to India a short time later and contact with The Nine was interrupted
for more than fifteen years. Then, in 1971, Puharich discovered Israeli psychic Uri Geller.
Geller, best known for his alleged power to bend silverware with his mind, became for a
time the new link to The Nine. Through Geller, The Nine informed Puharich that his life’s
mission was “to alert the world to an imminent mass landing of spaceships that would bring
representatives of The Nine.” 9
Well, that didn’t happen. And Geller decided to move on in 1973, so Puharich had to find
someone else to bridge the gap between Earth and the giant, invisible craft allegedly orbiting
the earth. He eventually connected with former race car driver Sir John Whitmore and
Florida psychic Phyllis Schlemmer, who became the authorized spokesperson for their
contact within The Nine, who identified himself as “Tom.” 10
Puharich, Whitmore and Schlemmer then set up Lab Nine at Puharich’s estate in
Ossining, New York. The Nine’s disciples included multi-millionaire businessmen
(many hiding behind pseudonyms and including members of Canada’s richest family,
the Bronfmans), European nobility, scientists from the Stamford Research Institute
and at least one prominent political figure who was a personal friend of President
Gerald Ford. 11
Also, a member of Lab Nine in 1974 and ’75 was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry,
who reportedly wrote a screenplay based on The Nine. Some suggest that concepts from the
channeling sessions Roddenberry attended surfaced in the early Star Trek movies and in the
series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Before Lab Nine folded in 1978, the identities of Tom and the Other Eight were finally
revealed: Tom was Atum, 12 he said, the creator of the Great Ennead, the Egyptian gods
worshipped at Heliopolis, near modern-day Cairo. Besides Atum, the Ennead included his
children Shu and Tefnut; their children Geb and Nut; and their children Osiris, Isis, Set,
Nephthys, and sometimes the son of Osiris and Isis, Horus. 13

Connecting dots between Andrija Puharich, who was almost certainly a CIA asset during
much of the time he conducted parapsychological research, 14 and the volunteers of his Round
Table and Lab Nine, we can link the United States government (and specifically the U.S.
Army and CIA during the period of mind control research projects like BLUEBIRD and
MKULTRA), 15 members of upper class society from the East Coast and Canada, the creator
of the most successful science fiction entertainment franchise in history, extraterrestrials, and
gods. And not just any gods—the pantheon that included the chaos god, Set, who Crowleyite
Kenneth Grant believed was the spirit of the age.
Oh, yes—and the Kennedy assassination.
How do we wrap our heads around this? Considering that Puharich was likely doing this
research for the government and that he led the witnesses, suggesting to Geller and at least
one of his successors while they were under hypnosis that they were being contacted by The
Nine, 16 it appears that this was a long PSYOP to stir up belief in the existence of ETIs and the
return of the old gods.
To what end? For Puharich and his superiors, maybe it was an experiment into group
dynamics, or maybe a test of how people would react to the imminent arrival of
extraterrestrial visitors. Or maybe, as with the Paul Bennewitz case, it was an intelligence op
to misdirect the wealthy members of Lab Nine and their social circles toward an ETI
explanation for any unexplained aerial phenomena and away from secret government
projects.

1 Levenda, Peter (2005). Sinister Forces—The Nine: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft. Walterville,
Oregon: TrineDay. Kindle Edition, Kindle Locations 7603-7604.
2 Melanson, Terry (2001). “The All-Seeing Eye, The President, The Secretary and The Guru.”
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/All_Seeing_Eye.htm, retrieved 8/14/17.
3 For that we recommend Peter Levenda’s Sinister Forces: The Nine.
4 Levenda, op. cit., Kindle Locations 7734-7737.
5 Levenda, op. cit., Kindle Locations 7765-7769.
6 Levenda, op. cit., Kindle Locations 7809-7815.
7 Puharich, A. (1974). Uri; a journal of the mystery of Uri Geller. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, p. 18.
8 Penre, Wes (1999). “The Council of Nine.” Fortean Times. Republished at UriGeller.com:
http://www.urigeller.com/plan-nine-outer-space/. Retrieved 8/22/17.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Christiane., Zivie-Coche, (2004). Gods and men in Egypt : 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Cornell University Press.
14 Penre,

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