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Showing posts from July, 2020

The Prophet to Nineveh: Why Study the Book of Nahum? Part 02

THEME OF BOOK OF NAHUM Nahum is one of the 12 minor prophets in the Bible. Like Obadiah and Jonah, his prophecy is primarily directed to a foreign entity: Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire, located in what is now known as Northern Iraq. Though this same city repented at the preaching of Jonah, 150 years later, its pride, arrogance, and sin made it ripe for irreversible judgement. It has passed the point of no return. (Capernaum Church, near the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum means 'village of Nahum.) In Part 02, we will learn the key verses, summary, and outline of Nahum. KEY VERSES OF NAHUM Nahum 1:7: The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. Nahum 3:5-7: Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and wi...

Issues Facing the Church: Road to Mental Health Part 02

One of the much neglected but pressing issues today in society, and the church, is in the area of mental health. In Part 01 we defined mental health as a fully operative cognitive skills, sense of understanding one ’ s gifting and limitations, an ability to cope with stress, living a productive and fruitful life that contributes to society. The opposite of mental health is mental illness. Causes of mental illness are numerous, but they have to do with personal challenges and adverse circumstances. While some people may need medication, all who suffer can gain wholeness through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. At the end of this article we offer some Scriptures to meditate on. Some Practical Solutions On the practical side, we suggested a balanced diet as a help to mental wholeness. Here are some other helpful tips: Sleep: Getting adequate sleep is important, though experts disagree on how much is enough. It is not just the quantity, but the quality that matters....

Why is 2020 Such A Crazy Year?

Street Riots. Looting. Student protests. Buildings occupied. Police attacked. A home-grown leftist rebellion shaking the institutes of power. It was a full-blown rebellion, even a cultural revolution. No, this is not about the George Floyd riots of 2020. It’s the key year of 1968. While China was having its own Mao-inspired cultural revolution at that time (1966-1976), the West was rocked by home-grown leftism, which includes communism, socialism, fascism, and Nazism ( Note : while some say Nazism was ‘right-wing,’ not only were its methods leftist, but it used the words ‘National Socialism’ in is title). On April 4th, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, a crime that spawned riots in over 100 American cities. Protests in Paris became frighteningly close to a leftist takeover. In June, US Presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles. Two months later the Democratic Party’s Presidential Convention was disrupted...

Beyond Covid-19: Is There A Word from the Lord? Prophetic Times & Signs

Whether in times of peace or pandemic, calm or crisis, weariness or war, it is of the utmost importance that we have ‘ears to hear’ what the Holy Spirit is saying. Fortunately for us all, He is saying a lot. The Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns, economic downturns, protests and riots are a societal shaking. One of the purposes of shaking is to get our attention. This is not to say necessarily that God instigated these things (much of it He did not); however, He can and will use the unsavoury to fulfil His glorious purposes. So far, we have learned that God is always speaking (Hebrews 1:2) and we live in a time of increasing deception (Matthew 24:4; II Thessalonians 2:9-12). This creates a dangerous scenario of false messiahs / false christs (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). The last thing you want to do is following the wrong Jesus; the first thing you should do is follow the right Jesus. And we learned that the right Jesus is the Son of David, Messiah/Christ, Son of God, a...

TAKE YOUR REST: THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT PART 02

Jesus and the Sabbath As a Torah-observant Jew, Jesus certainly recognised the Sabbath; after all, He was regularly in a synagogue on that special day. Like a normal rabbi, He ‘worked’ on the Sabbath by reading the Law or teaching in the synagogue. Yes, Jesus observed the Sabbath day, but not the tradition of the elders. Healing on the Sabbath   In the famous incident in Mark 3:1-6, Jesus healed the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. While most reasonable, normal people would rejoice at such a great miracle; indeed, the pious could view this as a sign that Messiah had come. Yet the Pharisees had a different view. Threatened and jealous over His success, they saw their power base eroded by this unordained rabbi from Galilee. They were losing the warm glow of the spotlight. Therefore they watched with suspicion if He would healed the crippled man. If the miracle occurred, they would use it as a basis to accuse and silence Him. Jesus puts Hi...