Musings off the London Olympics: is there any hope God would yet turn us back to Him?

I didn't get to see the opening ceremony for the London Olympics, but saw a few pictures, read a few descriptions, and if there's a video out there of the whole thing I suppose I might eventually see more. I watched the wedding of William and Kate. I'm an Anglophile, partly no doubt because my paternal great grandfather was a lithographer in London, and my mother's family were mostly English as well, but maybe more because I know a little about England's history.

The wedding of over a year ago now was full of Christian references because of England's Christian history, although it's sadly clear they've lost their Christian worldview and the Christian rituals have become for the most part empty forms. The Archbishop of Canterbury is either a liberal or a Romanist or both.

I wouldn't expect their Christian past to show up in the Olympics ceremony and I'm sure it didn't, and besides, the whole Olympics thing has a pagan origin.

I know I'm a "fanatic" to many, even to some other Christians. I think it's the only thing to be if you're truly a Christian. To be honest, I don't think I'm enough of a fanatic really, I have all the symptoms of the worldliness of most Christians these days. At least I regret them.

So I see the Queen of England at the Olympics opening, not looking very happy in her photos for some reason, don't know why, usually she's smiling in her pictures. She's supposedly the "head of the Church" of England. I wonder what that means in reality, what she really believes, what with all the liberal influences in the Church of England over the last century or so.

Mitt Romney attracted some negative attention by the British press while he was there, and a snarky put-down by the Mayor of London, for some remarks Romney made about what he saw as an apparent ("disconcerting") lack of preparedness for the Olympics. I'm no particular fan of Romney, but as the frontrunning Republican candidate for President against Obama he represents America and I found myself resenting the London mayor's nastiness. Romney did run the Olympics in Utah after all, and if the task was in any way less demanding because of its location than running them in a busy city like London, one ought to expect that those who are used to running things in that city should be able to demonstrate their ability to do as well there as Romney did in Utah. In any case he should be treated with some respect for that experience. But I was also disappointed in the mayor because such snarkiness against a foreign leader is just not in the spirit I associate with England. Grace and charity are what I expect in such a situation, humility, grace and charity, not rudeness. Sure, perhaps Romney should have said nothing, but it wasn't anywhere near the rudeness of the mayor. And I'm also disappointed in Romney for changing course in response to the rudeness and saying only nice things about the London preparedness after that.

So goodbye to England's illustrious past in more ways than one. Not that its degeneration is new, it's been on its way down for decades. Too bad. England was once great. BECAUSE IT WAS CHRISTIAN. Because of its great Christian preachers, leaders, and general culture. That's the ONLY reason it was great. When it began to lose its Christian foundations it started to fall from grace. Now it's undergoing God's judgment just as America is, just as Europe is. Being overrun with Muslims is certainly God's judgment. Being attacked by terrorists is certainly God's judgment.

I don't know if The Harbinger will have much of an impact on America or not in the end but I have to believe God has sent it to us as an unavoidable proof of His displeasure with us, and a warning that if we don't turn back His judgments against us are only going to escalate. He brought down ancient Israel and they never recovered, and Isaiah 9:10 was certainly a marker or harbinger of their doom. He can do that to us as well. The harbingers the book reports on spell out our doom in an unusually literal way, as clear signs of God's speaking to America through the appearance in America of some Old Testament signs and principles, starting with Isaiah 9:10 (or Isaiah 9:8-14 to get the whole context). If we don't heed them and turn back, they will stand as testimony against the nation until it is destroyed.

Maybe God has given similar signs to England or Europe but nobody noticed them. It's possible, I suppose, though perhaps not very likely. He'd also have to give someone to notice them and bring them to the attention of the public, as He did with Jonathan Cahn.

America was once great because of our adherence to the God of the Bible and the predominantly Christian mindset of Americans. The same was once true of England, and particularly after the Reformation much of Europe. I've been for some time in a state of mourning over the great loss in both cases. America was once GOOD. Is there any of that goodness left in us after our murder of millions of our unborn, our "sexual revolution" that has violated everything related to sex that God spells out in His Word as the Law that brings blessing if obeyed, cursing if disobeyed; the great apostasy of the churches, the liberalism that gobbled up so many of them, the cults that sprang up in the 19th century (Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science), the increase in militant atheism and ridicule of God and religion?

There are those who are sure God won't send us a revival at this late stage in the history of the world. There are certainly reasons to think this could be the case, especially the apostasy itself which a revival would have to correct to be a true revival, but which could just swallow it up instead. Perhaps it's a new Reformation we really need. Mormonism is not Christianity but they want a revival. Catholicism is not Christianity but they'd certainly like to see a revival of Catholicism. Muslims want to see Islam spread. The New Agers even have their own notions that some kind of "revival" is coming, some kind of great evolutionary leap from what they see as the retrograde influence of Christianity into some wonderful new world of peace and light. Kind of what the UN envisions as well.

Christians know all this could only be the ascendancy of the spirit of Antichrist, ultimately over the whole world, and not true revival, and this is certainly what COULD happen instead of true revival at this stage in history. It would fit prophecy of course. Well, God knows, God is in charge. I still hope true revival might come and wake up what's left of the true Church and turn the hearts of the apostates to the true God. In America, in England, in Europe, where God first laid down the principles of His word through the New Testament and brought civilization where there had been nothing but the darkness of paganism and witchcraft. To which we're all now reverting if He doesn't intervene.

Defending the Second Amendment

I put this up at my other blog, Too Late for America, linking to Chris Pinto's radio show today that quotes from many of America's early leaders on the meaning of the Second Amendment, then decided it needed to be mentioned here as well because of the threat from the UN that could take away the guns of American citizens.

Chris Pinto takes us back to the founding generation of America and shows the original intent of the Second Amendment, which was the right, and the obligation, of ALL the citizens to be armed for protection of the nation, for self-protection and against every kind of tyranny. Tyranny which of course the UN represents.

Jonathan Cahn radio interview

A good interview with Jonathan Cahn by Dr. Larry Spargimino on South West Ministries Radio, two days, yesterday and today:
Wednesday July 25 program
Thursday July 26 program

Joseph Farah on some of The Harbinger critics

Joseph Farah of World Net Daily has an article today taking to task some of the critics of The Harbinger, specifically Brannon Howse and Jimmy DeYoung. Glad to see it.

Did Jan Hus hear personally from God? Prophecy, Discernment, spiritual gifts etc.

Was recently watching Chris Pinto's film A Lamp in the Dark again, and noted that Jan Huss, one of the pre-Reformation Reformers, burned at the stake for his commitment to the Bible as the ultimate authority for a believer,* claimed to have had a private revelation from God that sounds to me like it should be called a prophecy. Wondered how that sits with all those Protestants out there who deny that such things have occurred since New Testament times. Jan Huss is one of our heroes, after all, originally a Catholic Priest, as were most of the Reformers, who saw that the Bible contradicted the teachings of Rome. He became a recognized leader in the movement that finally deposed Rome from its dominance of Europe and established the word of God as the "light unto the path" of the believer.

So here's the prophecy: In the film the narrator says:

Before he died he claimed that God had given him a promise. The name "Hus" means "goose" in the Czech language and so the Lord had told him:

They will silence the goose, but in one hundred years I will raise a swan from your ashes that no one will be able to silence. [Source: Jan Hus: The Goose of Bohemia, by William P. Farley --about 32:38 into the film]

So, all you cessationists out there: Do you deny that this was a special revelation, even a prophecy, given to Jan Hus personally by God?

He was prophesying of course of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation which God would bring to Europe a hundred years after Hus's time. One might wonder if calling Luther a "swan" reflects God's sense of humor of course (or if a swan has characteristics that do fit Luther that I'm not aware of.) The Popes don't say much that I agree with but the Pope who referred to Luther as a "wild boar" got it right in my estimation. You could say that we needed a wild boar at the time of course. But anyway, as far as the Reformation goes Luther could be regarded as the beautiful swan that brought it all to fruition.

I haven't particularly thought of what I do with my blogs as a "discernment ministry" but maybe I should, as that does happen to be a big part of it. I have prayed for discernment many times, and in my experience God answers that sort of prayer -- prayers for understanding, prayers for wisdom -- much more readily than other kinds of prayers (such as for healing of my extremely painful bone-on-bone arthritis of the hips.) No, I'm certainly not claiming that my prayers guarantee I'm going to be right in my judgments, of course not, only that I have many times found myself understanding something after prayer that before had been confusing and I thank God for that. Happening to watch this film again and happening to notice that quote from Hus is very likely God's answering a prayer for understanding about the gifts for today although I don't remember a specific recent prayer about this.

I just got another comment on my "Heaven" blog, certainly a discernment issue and the one topic that really brings them in -- most to denounce me for daring to suggest that the heaven experiences are counterfeits.

They often fault me for not having read the books, but they also never succeed in showing that what I've learned from other sources about the books is false. In most cases of course a reviewer should read the book or see the movie or whatever, but there really are cases where that is not necessary, where the public knowledge of their content is sufficient to make a judgment. Remember The Last Temptation of Christ? There was no need to see the movie if your concern was Bible truth because its main story line was well known and clearly in contradiction with the Bible. Same with the DaVinci Code. On the other hand, the book The Harbinger needs to be read because there are many different ideas floating around about what it says and many misunderstandings out there to mislead people about it.

So, you could say that whether or not you always need firsthand knowledge in order to render a judgment is also a matter of discernment.

Discernment implies careful sorting of truth from lies or deception, in the light of the Holy Spirit of course. Discernment is needed first of all in reading the Bible or "rightly dividing" the Word of Truth.

If you believe that God's supernatural gifting of the Church stopped after New Testament times then you'll automatically understand all claims to supernatural experiences today to be false. No discernment is required. But if you believe otherwise then rightly judging a particular case requires you to spend time carefully comparing the Biblical standard with the claim to supernatural experience.

Does the quote from Jan Hus prove anything or not?

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Follow-up thought: It could be argued that cessationist doctrine itself, the doctrine that all supernatural experiences ceased after apostolic times, is a CAUSE of the discernment problems we're encountering so much today, the false signs and wonders, the New Apostolic Reformation and the like. Hidebound intellectualism interferes with true spiritual growth and experience, and interferes with the exercise of true spiritual discernment.

It also promotes a cynical mindset in those who have experienced something they can only call supernatural, leaving its understanding up to their own wildest imaginations. No wonder they fall for fleshly and demonic tricks since they know they are real at least and all the critics do is denounce what they haven't themselves experienced. No wonder if they get the source of such phenomena wrong because true supernatural spiritual discernment is not being encouraged, because it's not considered to be needed any more. In fact discerning of spirits is one of those spiritual gifts that supposedly stopped after the apostolic generation. We're supposed to rely only on intellectual understanding of the Bible, in a time when if we ever needed a God-inspired gift of discernment it's now. Proposition for a future blog topic if nothing else, the Lord willing I should live so long.

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*OK, specifically he was burned at the stake for denying the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation.

Advanced Hermeneutics

It was a dark and stormy night. Rain beat against the tall north windows. A flash of lightning would have shown a figure stealthily tiptoeing down the stairs if there had been anyone there to see it. A shot would have rung out if it hadn't coincided with the crack of lightning that hit close to the house. In the morning a rat was found dead at the foot of the stairs, a bullet through its brain. The cat wouldn't even touch it, just sat nearby licking its haunches. When the detective arrived he immediately suspected Replacement Theology and called for the guests to gather in the parlor.

Don't ask.

[No, I was certainly not making any comparisons between The Harbinger and my goofy murder mystery. Just a moment of silly whimsy born of discouragement about the kind of thinking the Harbinger is up against.]

The critics as usual missing the point completely. My last post on The Harbinger? I can only hope.

Well I did get to hear Brannon Howse's latest program on The Harbinger. (NOTE: It will only be available for two weeks and then you have to pay to hear it).

More of the same.

I'd like to keep it simple if possible:

They have NOTHING to say about the book itself and they still don't get what it's all about. Brannon still hasn't read it but Jimmy DeYoung says he has and yet he doesn't get it either.

ALL they have is the accusations about side issues they've been amassing for weeks now, about Jonathan Cahn's associations with NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) people (they have only ONE instance of that, by the way, and they ignore his objection that he doesn't know enough about the NAR to agree or disagree with them), his appearance on Glenn Beck and Sid Roth, the fact that he believes God may still speak to His people through dreams and prophecies and the like (in connection with the ONE fictional dream that occurs in the book, the only thing in the book that even remotely justifies any of their accusations, and their ONLY reference to the book itself).

Then they go on to Joseph Farah who made the film based on the book, The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment, but do they say anything about the film? Nope, NOT A WORD, they are content to go back to a World Net Daily article in May of 2005 in which Farah endorses a book called The Mega Shift. They spend at least ten minutes on this book, which, I agree, is clearly an example of the end-time apostate doctrine of Dominionism, and does unfortunately reveal a lack of discernment on the part of Farah. But that's ALL they talk about and obviously they think they have discredited the film based on The Harbinger by talking about this OTHER book, though The Harbinger has nothing to do with Dominionism, and Farah's unfortunate lack of discernment in that case does not prove a thing about his film The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment.

Yet they claim they aren't arguing guilt by association.

ALL CIRCUMSTANTIAL POINTS, NOT ONE SINGLE POINT AGAINST THE BOOK ITSELF, because they don't have one, and they still DON'T GET IT.

And because they have a good reputation among discernment ministries others are jumping on their bandwagon also without reading the book and also not getting what it's really all about.

Again, the book is ALL ABOUT THE HARBINGERS, REAL OCCURRENCES IN THE REAL WORLD THAT UNCANNILY PRECISELY REPEAT THE EVENTS AND ATTITUDE OF ISAIAH 9:10. That's what the average reader finds so compelling about the book, that's the point of the book. Missing that is missing it completely.

It's really amazing that they address EVERYTHING BUT THE POINT OF THE BOOK.

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Again, let me make it clear: If the book was at all based on NAR beliefs or gnosticism or mysticism, showed any compromise with false doctrine, I'd have to agree with the critics. But it isn't and it doesn't. DESPITE all these peripheral concerns, legitimate enough in their own right (though far from proven against Jonathan Cahn), the book's message remains valid, utterly untouched by any of these attempts to undermine it.

The harbingers are REAL occurrences in real reality, so far beyond coincidence or human manipulation the theology and eschatology of Jonathan Cahn is irrelevant. He's just the reporter. Maybe you don't like the sort of messenger God chose for the purpose, but God didn't ask you. The critics have remained blind to this one central fact.

*****PROVE SOME OTHER SOURCE FOR THE HARBINGERS THAN GOD HIMSELF AND YOU'D HAVE A POINT.*****

AS IT IS YOU ARE JUST BLOWING HOT AIR. Destructive hot air, smearing innocent people, but still just hot air.

The harbingers are portents of God's judgment on the nation because they literally repeat the same situation in America that occurred in Israel as described in Isaiah 9:10 -- fallen bricks, sycamore tree, the determination to rebuild and replant with stronger materials -- the exact same materials Israel intended to use, same kind of stone, same kind of tree. The verse describes God's judgment in the form of an attack by Assyria and Israel's defiant attitude toward it instead of repentance, which is going to bring further judgment as subsequent verses make clear. The repetition of the same literal events in America, the fallen buildings to be replaced by a better building with a quarried cornerstone, and a single symbolic sycamore tree that was replaced by a pine type tree, and the attitude of defiance saying we'll build and plant bigger and better -- even spoken unwittingly by some of America's leaders -- is something that could only come from God Himself. This is no simple call to repentance that anyone could have given who is tuned into the sins of America, this is a declaration of God's judgment apparently given to us by God Himself.

The critics don't get it and they don't seem to care. They are content to tar Cahn with insinuations and innuendoes and leave it at that.

What else is there to say really? Time to commit this to God, pray and trust in Him, there's really nothing more to say.