I am sending this post out very early on the morning of January 20, 2021, the presidential Inauguration Day in the USA. We are living in extremely unprecedented, unpredictable, and, frankly, unfathomable times! It is hard to project what the state of our nation will be even by the end of this day, let alone in the days, weeks, and months ahead! Things are changing rapidly and dramatically (to say the least!)
One thing that has become abundantly clear over the past number of months is that there is a deeply disturbing war on free speech in this country. Those holding and expressing views that conflict with the “official narrative” and what is “politically correct” are increasingly being demonized, shame-labeled, censored, banned, de-platformed, and persecuted. The foundations of freedom that have been the hallmark of this country for so long are quickly eroding and being replaced with a ubiquitous spirit of cultural, media, technological, and governmental control. In the name of “diversity” and “tolerance”, uniformity and intolerance are being foisted upon our nation and have become the atmosphere we’re being forced to live and move and have our being in. Because there is little to no accountability and consequence for those propagating this intimidating and forceful conformity, the push towards complete thought-speech-action-controlling tyranny is accelerating. If unchecked, what follows after that is not a mystery (to those who know and understand history!)
As of New Years Day, I began my tenth year blogging at Christ-Centered Christianity. Although it’s my desire and intention to continue blogging through this coming year, I’m aware that there are major developments that may greatly curtail or even crush that prospect. My purpose in this post is to bring attention to that reality and to offer some appropriate suggestions and even passionate urgings in light of it.
First of all, no matter where you may live as you read this post, I ask that you would earnestly pray and intercede for the United States of America at this critical crossroads! I believe that the future of this nation will greatly determine the future course of the entire world geo-politically, economically, technologically, and culturally. The Church is also greatly divided in our nation by the political and cultural polarization that has been stoked by “the powers that be”, especially over the past four years. This is deeply grievous to the Lord and needs to be the focus of concerted intercession. It also seems that a time of intense persecution and even purging of Christians is being planned, coordinated, and may be shortly unleashed on the Church in America if the godless, globalist, Marxist forces that have infiltrated nearly every aspect of our society have their way. I’m afraid that Christians in America are gravely ill-prepared for this level of persecution should it come.
Secondly, no matter where you may live (yet especially to my brothers and sisters in the USA), I urge you to take advantage today of the following free resource hosted on this site while it is still available: Principles for the Gathering of Believers Under the Headship of Jesus Christ by Gospel Fellowships. Of all the content and resources on this blog/website, I feel this is the most important and essential at this time to prepare the Body of Christ for what may be coming shortly! To make this as simple and accessible as possible, I’ve made a PDF of the Resource page on this blog of this work for you to easily download to your computer, tablet, or phone. This will give you quick access on your own device to all of the links for the print and audiobook formats to then download individually while they remain available. That PDF link is here:
PRINCIPLES Book (Complete PDF, mp3, and more)
You may also access the Resource page for this book right here on the blog by clicking here or from the Resources tab on the header/menu at any time.
I urge you to take advantage of this resource today, and then share it around with those in your circle of fellowship and influence. I cannot guarantee how long it will be available for.
Thirdly, I’m working on converting what I feel are some of the more important posts and pages that I’ve written over the past nine years into PDF format and am listing the links to those on a new permanent page, “PDFs“, found on the header bar/menu. I’ve begun that process and will continue it over the next few days, weeks, and months as the Lord leads and circumstances allow. Given the present atmosphere and what may be imminently coming, however, it’s possible that all of this content may eventually be de-platformed and disappear from the web, so I want to be faithful to steward these teachings/resources in the most efficient and expedited manner I can at this time. If you think you may have any interest in these resources going forward, I encourage you to transfer them into your possession now, “while the getting’s good”, and then you will at least have options going forward as to how you may use them. Please feel free also to share these with those you are connected with if you feel they serve the purpose of the Lord in your circles of influence.
Finally, since I last posted, I’ve added four new resources to the FREE AUDIOBOOKS section of this site. These are all extremely well written/read and carry a very timely message for this present hour. They are as follows:
A First Century Message to Twentieth Century Christians– by G. Campbell Morgan This is an in-depth exposition of the first three chapters of the book of Revelation focusing on the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. It is as relevant today as it was in the first (and “twentieth”) century. I highly recommend it!
Prevailing Prayer: What Hinders It? – by Dwight L. Moody This title speaks clearly for itself. Interestingly, this production was published by LibriVox shortly after I published my latest post, Stoking the Fires of Prayer and Intercession (especially for those who struggle) and its chapters tie in very closely to the different aspects I focused on in that post. If there is one burden I feel at this time, it is for the Body of Christ to increase in the degree and depth of prayer and intercession for the Church and the nations.
The Night of Weeping– by Horatius Bonar This is a classic treatise on the purpose and promise bound up with suffering and hardship in the Christian life. I truly feel this is a book richly written under the Holy Spirit’s anointing and is very timely for the Body of Christ at this time! It is also wonderfully read by a LibriVox volunteer.
Paul the Dauntless– by Basil Joseph Matthews This extraordinary piece of literature on the life of the apostle Paul really took me by surprise as to how well it was researched, written, and read. I would call this one a “hidden classic” that, while being in the genre of “historical fiction”, gives great care to the details of Scripture, geography, culture, and the like. It really “brings to life” the full sweep of the life of Saul of Tarsus/Paul the apostle. I believe that the spirit of this dauntless man is what will mark the remnant saints at the end of the age, and so we will do well to immerse ourselves in his life. As he said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)
All of the free audiobooks hosted on this site have serialized players added for ease of listening as well as links to download the entire book. Please take advantage of these wonderful blessings while they are available!
Dear saints, we are living in unprecedented, Biblical days! God is on the Throne, and He is our High Tower! We do not fear, but we must be prepared in spirit, soul, and body for what is coming and is even upon us! I give you my best as a fellow follower and servant of Christ. I am far from perfect and greatly covet your prayers in this hour for my family and me! We are all in this together for the glory of God and the expansion of His unshakeable Kingdom! May He find us faithful!!
In His love,
David
Update: Some very significant, insightful, and helpful comments have been contributed to this post after it was published. Please be sure to scroll down and take the time to read through what has been shared! It is as important, and even more so, than what I have written! All blessings!!
PRINCIPLES Book (Complete PDF, mp3, and more) – PDF link
PDFs page
FREE AUDIOBOOKS main menu page
Christ-Centered Christianity 
Dear David I read a blog of yours early last year where you quoted Isaiah “ see I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?” You then asked a very pertinent question for me which was (in my own words ) are we going to remain the same after covid lockdown or are we going to change and seek the Lord and continue to grow in Him?
I was a bit apprehensive but I said yes Lord it’s me I don’t want to stay the same so change me by your Spirit. I can’t tell you in words how my life changed from then on…. absolutely amazing how Gods Spirit has become so very real for me. So I want to encourage you in the Lord and say thanks ! Onward Christian soldiers ! 🌹🌹
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Thank you for sharing this testimony, my dear sister! Your words are such an encouragement! May the Lord continue to draw you, strengthen you, and lead you by His Spirit! All blessings in Christ!
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Thank you David. I’ll dig in to these resources.
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Blessings, my brother! We’re pressing on!
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Dear David,
I have been waiting imaptiently for this update.
While I had something to share with you earlier I thought it is not time yet.
But I feel it is time now and beleive it is crucial… So I am going to violate the common decency of keeping the comment shorter than the post… please bear with me…
I come from a country that went through the same scenario that your country is going through, just recently…. There was unprecedent amount of prayer to keep the Govt that was persecuting christians away from coming to power during the last election…. Christians from all denominations organized with out denominational differences… there were all night prayers…. days of prayers and fasting in huge gatherings…. All the prophets who had the media prophecied a change of Govt… Christians got to the booth to vote for a favourable Govt promptly…. But it seemd none of it worked!!! The same Govt. came to power….
But there were a small group of praying people who kept loyal to the true gospel who said that God will not give a favourable Govt… But a time of persecution in coming… And people were called to prepare… But very few listened because these loyal ones who knew the plan of God neither had fame or media…..
But I want to encourage you…. those things that were feared about the Govt has not come to pass… And many got a burden to invest time and effort in making “babes in christ” grow into “young men in Christ” who HAVE overcome the evil one…. God has given a Divine delay and everyone whose eyes are open to have understanding of the times ( 1 Chronicles 12:32 ) is given Divine wisdom to prepare the true church, the true sheep, to be GOOD soldiers of Christ who can endure hardships. ( 2 Timothy 2:3 )
So I feel that God will do the same for you… He will delay what is to come in mercy and our prayer is that you WILL NOT MISS the day of His visitation to prepare you lest you be levelled to the ground….
Luke 19:44 And they will level you to the ground, and your children within you, and will not leave a stone upon a stone within you, BECAUSE you did not know the season of your visitation.”
At this point there are a few resources I would recommend reading:
1) Is the Great “Shaking” at Hand? by T. Austin-Sparks ( https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/002209.html )
2) A Final Shaking by T. Austin-Sparks ( https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/004172.html )
3) Pioneers of the Heavenly Way by T. Austin-Sparks ( https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/pioneers_of_the_heavenly_way.html )
PDFs are available at: https://www.bookministry.org/Kindle.html ( need to scroll down )
I have been corresponding with brothers in the Bruderhof community in your country… And one of the brothers sent me this devotional today….
=====
Our reverence for the reality of the Holy Spirit must become so great that our trivial personal concerns, including our state of health and our emotional needs, will be consumed as in a mighty flame. When the great hour comes, will there be a generation worthy of it? As far as humankind is concerned, only one thing is worthy of the greatness of God’s kingdom: the readiness to die. But unless we prove our readiness in the trivialities of daily life, we shall not be able to muster up courage in the critical hour of history. In our communal life we need to overcome completely all our petty attitudes and feelings, to give up all personal ways of reacting to things, that is, fear, worry, inner uncertainty – in short, unbelief. Instead, we need faith, a faith as small as a tiny seed, but with the same potential to grow. This is what we need, neither more nor less. Through Christ and his Holy Spirit, this faith is at work in our midst. We have felt it, but we have not lived accordingly. If the Holy Spirit had to withdraw from us because we have grieved it and driven it away, and not held it in reverence but valued our own affairs more, then all we can do is ask, “Send thy judgment upon us, and in thy infinite mercy spare nothing!” And then this judgment in mercy, this mercy in judgment, will release us from ourselves and prepare us at last for mission, so we are ready for God to use. – e b e r h a r d a r n o l d August 1928
====
This community was persecuted by Hitler for their devotion to Christ and they had to flee Germany at one point and they have a website that gives out free e-bboks ( https://www.plough.com/en/books/free-ebooks ) that can give you spiritual wisdom during these times.
The greatest need of the hour is to know that WE DONOT fight against flesh and blood.
It is the adversary’s tactic to make us spend our energies against flesh and blood because the Lord does not promise us a victory in that realm. But it is assuring to know that in the realm in which warfare is fully effective God does give us ALL POWER such as HE worked in Christ when HE raised Him up and seated Him FAR ABOVE all principality, power and dominion. ( Ephessians )
Lance Lambert tells a very interesting story of spiritually defeated T Austin Sparks meeting with F B Meter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-CG8IzC6o8
I would suggest that everyone throw away their petty devotionals and get something really good such as:
1) Day by Day with the Persecuted Church by Jan Pit ( https://www.amazon.com/Day-Persecuted-Church-Jan-Pit/dp/1852405120 )
OR
2) Summit Living by Norman Grubb ( https://www.amazon.com/Summit-Living-Norman-P-Grubb/dp/087508267X )
We need to know that the alternate Kingdom against God was setup in the garden of Eden on the basis of a LIE. So it is not a surprise that in the end times the same kingdom is going to come up against God’s people by a plethora of lies birthed by the Original Lie…. Then it is not a surprise that the popular song is “It ‘s my life” and the popular attitude thereby is “It ‘s my body, It’s my choice, My will be Done!!!!” The iniquity of the nations will be full ( Genesis 15:16 ) before the Lord returns.
I do not come from a country where christians are not killed by a mob or burnt alive though some parts of our country is somewhat safe. BigTech is playing a huge role in this spreading of lies and will play a huge role in the coming persecution and censorship of Christian speech ( https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/amazon-removes-controversial-books-father-conversion-therapy-n1026446 )
But we need to know that:
=======
A few years ago, Dr. Carl F. Henry, founder and editor of Christianity Today, sent out a questionnaire to what he called, “Twenty of the leading intellectual preachers in the country.” And the question that he sent out was this: “What do you see for the church of Jesus Christ by the year 2000.” I remember only one of the replies, it was given by Elton Trueblood, the Quaker philosopher. He said this amazing thing: ***!!!!!!”By the year 2000 the church will be a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant, militant paganism.”!!!!!!!**** I swallowed that hook, line and sinker, and woke up about 2 o’clock in the morning with mental and I think spiritual indigestion. Then I began to remind myself that Christianity was not served up to the world in a silver platter. Christianity was born in a sophisticated, totalitarian society.
The early church was walled in on one side with the mightiest military machine
in history, the power of Rome.
It was walled in on the other side with Greek intellectualism.
It was blocked ahead by the monopoly the Jews thought they
had on God.
Those men who turned the world upside down had
No colossal intellectual capacity.
No great financial backing.
No social standing.
They were about the most despised men in and around Jerusalem. And yet they broke out somehow – and later it was said that they turned the world upside-down.
Excerpt from: http://www.ravenhill.org/weeping1.htm and http://www.ravenhill.org/weeping2.htm
============
Some practical steps to circumvent the survillence of BigTech are given below.
1) Keep an eye on “Irupt” ( https://inrupt.com/ ) details: https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/tim-berners-lee-wants-to-turn-the-internet-on-its-head-and-decentralize-it-once-more-353998.html
2) Use a de-googled smart phone:
2a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9fFiaGv2WA&t=679s
2b) https://e.foundation/
3) Use an Computer Operating System ( OS ) that gives privacy:
3a) For Desktop: https://www.qubes-os.org/
3b) To carry around in your USB drive so you can boot of any computer and use your private OS: https://tails.boum.org/
Other FREE services and software that focus on privacy and prevents survillence.
4) Email: https://protonmail.com/
5) VPN: https://protonvpn.com/
6) Chat: https://signal.org/en/ ( https://whatisthebusinessmodelof.com/business-models/signal-business-model/ )
7) Online Conferencing & Collobration: https://meet.jit.si/ & https://mattermost.com/
8) Social Networking: https://joinmastodon.org/
God bless you.
May God help us to uphold your country in prayers.
He is the Soverign one!!!!!
DONOT PANIC!!!!! BUT DO NOT LOSE THE CHANCE TO PREPARE!!!! LEST IT HAPPEN TO YOU LIKE ESAU WHO LOST HIS BIRTHRIGHT THROUGH INSTANT GRATIFICATION!!!!!!
LOVE!!!!!!
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Wow!!! I’m speechless! Thank you for all that this comment contains. Your words are very timely and encouraging! I hope that the readers of this blog will take the time to read through, digest, and explore the links that you’ve provided. Your experience, insight, and counsel are very helpful as many of us are walking through uncharted territory in these unprecedented times! Grace and peace in abundance in Christ Jesus!!
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Thank you 🙂
For the time being https://archive.org/ wants to take a stand against censorship and rewriting of history. So you could upload your PDFs there in your free account and use unlimited space. They automatically convert them into other formats also and make online viewing also available. Example: https://archive.org/details/RoyHessionTheCalvaryRoad
Your blog can be archived in their “way back machine.”
For example, I get the devotionals from an old website “ChristAsUs” that way.
The new http://christasus.com/ is under construction so I get the old site that was snapshotted in the wayback machine through https://web.archive.org/web/20180419145942/http://christasus.com/DailyList.asp
I just archived your latest update here: https://web.archive.org/web/20210121102748/https://christcenteredchristianity.com/2021/01/20/important-blog-update-please-read/ and it is going to stay online even if your site goes down. There are web browser plugins like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wayback-machine_new/ that makes this process easier.
The advantage is that they may be able to block your domain or deny your servers to host it. But they cannot block archive.org easily. Our Govt blocked it and then had to unblock it. Even if they block the archive.org domain their servers will be running and you will be able to access it through Proxies and VPN.
You can snapshot other Christian websites also for use later.
Another thing we recommend is to download all PDFs of free books and sermons you like. Keep a copy of them on your hard disk and also upload them to archive.org. You have unlimited space available for upload. Some good place to get good sermons are
1) https://www.sermonindex.net/
2) https://www.sermonaudio.com/main.asp
3) https://www.austin-sparks.net/audio_alpha.html
4) To download from youtube you could use plugins of Firefox browser ( https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ ) like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easy-youtube-video-download/
https://calibre-ebook.com/ can be used to convert PDFs into other formats like ePub and mobi
Youtube has taken action to block mp3 download of videos/sermons recently. So what you get will be a Video when you download which will take a lot of storage space. So the best way is to use a software like https://mutsinzi.com/alternative-to-pacpl-mp4-to-mp3-converter/ to extract just the audio and store them.
If you have the money you could also invest in buying CDs or DVDs to physically share your resources with other believers who are cut off from the Internet.
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/ is a website that serves persecuted Christians and Brother Andrew ( https://www.opendoorsusa.org/about-us/history/brother-andrews-story/ ) has written a good book that will help https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00723JLLM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
MOST IMPORTANT
—————————-
The most important thing is to memorize the Bible.
We homeschool our kids and one of our priorities is to make kids memorize entire books of the Bible. So that they have a copy in their mind even if physical bibles are confiscated or unavailable. Some countries are following a more subtle path of rewriting the Bible so that the kids will have a Bible but it will be a perverted one. ( https://www.frc.org/op-eds/china-to-christians-were-rewriting-the-bible-and-youll-use-it-or-else ) Adults also memorize the Bible. We just memorize books entirely one verse a day. Every day we rehearse the entire contents of the current book we a memorizing. But there are Apps that help you too like https://biblememory.com/
LOVE
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Once again, thank you so much for your helpful and encouraging sharing!! I will look into backing up my content on archive.org. That and the other links are so helpful! I hope that this information will be useful for many others who read this blog as well. All blessings in Christ, and prayers for you and your family! Love!!
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I already archived it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20210122005915/https://christcenteredchristianity.com/
You could do a double-check if all the pages and downloads are available through the web archive URLs and only need to back up what is not available 🙂
God bless you.
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Initially, I was not able to save the Audios and PDFs in
https://christcenteredchristianity.com/audio/
and
https://christcenteredchristianity.com/pdfs/
using the browser plugin.
But I was able to save the audios and PDFs by directly visiting https://web.archive.org/save and checking the First Option called “Save outlinks” also.
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I had to save PDF and Audio URLs one by one. So please double-check if the whole website is available through the URL https://web.archive.org/web/20210122005915/https://christcenteredchristianity.com/ and if downloads are possible. If a download is not archived it will show and then you can archive it. Please remember to check the “Save outlinks” options when you archive
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Thank you for your work on this. That’s a great service to me and future readers of this blog. I will take some time with it over the next few days to make sure it is all fully uploaded, functional, and good to go! You’ve done the lion’s share, so thank you!!!
Blessings, my friend!
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I would heartily support so much of what you’ve said. I love T. Austin Sparks and Norman Grubb. A similar history to yours here in my country. I believe we must, more than ever, keep our eyes on Jesus, looking to him alone because our redemption is drawing near! Will certainly uphold God’s true remnant in the USA and around the world. God encourage us all. Thanks David for your honest post, as always! Greetings all.
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Thank you 🙂
Yes, neither the memory images of the old Jewish carpenter who walked in past in Israel or the idol of the Anglosaxon Protestant Republican Jesus that is carried on the shoulders in the USA is going to help here. What we need is moment by moment true living communion with the Life-Giving Spirit Jesus became ( 1 Corinthians 15:45 ). His ascension was to accomplished to fill everything ( Ephesians 4:10 ) which includes us. Fixation with the historic Jesus and the Jesus to come a second time should be replaced with active present communion with the Spirit of Christ. Hudson Taylor’s book “Union and Communion” is very good to take a start. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/taylor_jh/union.html
We need to take seriously the command ABIDE IN ME in John 15 and the way to do it is in 1 John 2:27.
The circumcised ear is of great importance if we have to traverse the adversities of persecution. God ofter sends warning and delays so that people can train themselves to have this circumcised ear that has “spiritual hearing”: https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/spiritual_hearing.html
LOVE
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Yes, that is what is most needed!!
If anyone is interested, I also have the audiobook version of Union and Communion by J. Hudosn Taylor hosted here on the blog: https://christcenteredchristianity.com/resources/free-audiobooks/union-and-communion-or-thoughts-on-the-song-of-solomon-by-j-hudson-taylor/
The True Vine by Andrew Murray is also an excellent resource for helping to cultivate an abiding relationship with the Lord. It’s a compilation of 31 relatively short meditations focusing on the vine/branch relationship, so it can be used as a month-long daily devotional. The audiobook of that can be found here: https://christcenteredchristianity.com/resources/free-audiobooks/the-true-vine-by-andrew-murray/
Thanks again! (again! 🙂 )
Blessings to you, my dear brother!
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Thank you 🙂
I will read the True Vine and also sent it to others also!
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I affirm your reference to Hudson-Taylor’s book. We worked through it at a silent retreat a few years ago, facilitated by a missionary friend in Hong Kong. She hopes to complete her Ph.D on Hudson Taylor’s lesser-known writings via a South African university in the next while. She and her husband visit our house church whenever in furlough in South Africa. They keep us up to date on progress made.
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Erroll, thank you for your confirmation and contribution on this thread! I’m so thankful for the fellowship of those who have the same heart and mind in the Lord in these days! Love and blessings!!
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In it together, David. Thanks for the link to H-Taylor’s book.
Love.
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One great encouragement in the tough days ahead will be the marvelous work that the Lord is doing in Iran through underground churches.
1) Iran has world’s ‘fastest-growing church,’ despite no buildings – and it’s mostly led by women: documentary : https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/worlds-fastest-growing-church-women-documentary-film
2) Sheep Among Wolves: Volume One : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndf8RqgNVEY&t=236s
3) Sheep Among Wolves Volume Two : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SAPOLKF59U
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My son has been encouraging me to watch these videos! Thanks for the links!
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Yep, been checking this out in the last months and days. The Iranian underground churches are such an inspiration, as have been the house churches in China. Greetings.
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Wow! Bravo! He is still on the throne!!
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Dear David,
There is something that really bothers me. During the election scuffle Lynette woods ( https://unveiling.org/author/lynette/ ) who has been faithfully maintaining the T Austin Sparks website for us for years ( https://www.austin-sparks.net/ ) posted something on twitter ( https://twitter.com/T_Austin_Sparks/status/1321161266543489024/photo/1 ). It read like the following:
==============================================
Satan is described as the liar and the father of lies.
For that reason, ALL untruth is an abomination to God..
We must be lovers of truth.
And this is going to pursue us everywhere;
It will pursue us into our own life within ourselves,
That we are not deceiving ourselves at all
==============================================
I have been following “far right-wing”, “right-wing” and “mainstream” media. And I am not sure that we Christians who wanted the truth, which may not have come out of the mainstream media, were not lied to, by the exaggerations in the alternate media which was supposedly right-wing or Christian.
For example, A dear friend in the US spoke to me and send me some stuff about the presence of the Chinese military on US soil. Later the same person after talking to a high-ranking US military official told me that it was disinformation from the left and that the left was spreading such conspiracy theories among the right-wingers to make them look stupid in public. Frank Viola wrote about this recently: https://frankviola.org/2013/07/03/dontbelieveeverythingyouhear/
I am afraid that much of the prophetic stuff that came out ( https://frankviola.org/2020/12/03/propheticnonsense/ ) was based on this disinformation as a very large number of Christians were sure that their candidate would come to power even during the day of inauguration. The disinformation is continued sadly even today and people have not noticed.
We had a similar situation in our country last year. On December 31 2019 midnight almost all the prophets announced that 2020 will be a year of plenty and that business will flourish and so on. Those videos were being circulated to mock Christians all throughout 2020 due to the pandemic. Now, these prophecies came from the same folks whose utterances about the Govt that was to come actually failed big time. But even now we do not find much alarm in many of the believers to wait and “test prophecies” as the scripture commands us ( 1 Thessalonians 5:20,21 )
If we study scripture and history we find that just before persecution or disaster there was always a “wave of prophecies that spread optimism” which PREVENTED the people from preparing seriously for what was ahead. For example, Prophet Jeremiah warned:
Jeremiah 7:4 Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ For if you really “correct your ways and deeds,” if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. But look, you KEEP TRUSTING in DECEPTIVE words to no avail.
In our own country, there was not much “correcting of ways and deeds.” There were prayers, chain prayers both public and private, mass gathering prayers, taking public & private faith stands unitedly, “believing against appearances”, etc. But the ground reality looked something like.
Jeremiah 5:31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
Then there was this Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower named “Christopher Wylie” who came out to tell us how right-wing people are fed conspiracy theories
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/768216311/whistleblower-explains-how-cambridge-analytica-helped-fuel-u-s-insurgency
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/768216311/whistleblower-explains-how-cambridge-analytica-helped-fuel-u-s-insurgency
But most Christians have been “wilfully blind” to investigate if there was any truth in it just because it came from the mainstream media.
I think as believers we have a moral obligation to reject lies. Even the lies about people who oppose us should be rejected because LOVE DOES NOT REJOICE IN INIQUITY!!! ( 1 Corinthians 13 ). We know that the end times will be like the days of Noah. Our own Blesssed Lord told us so ( Matthew 24:37-39 ). His holy Apostoles warned us too ( Acts 14:22, 2 Timothy 3:1-13, 2 Peter 3:3 ) and There profitable books on it by G H Pember called “Earth’s earliest ages: and their connection with modern spiritualism and theosophy” ( https://archive.org/details/earthsearliestag00pemb/mode/2up ) and Watchman Nee wrote about “The latent power of the soul” ( https://bit.ly/2YsotCA ). But this knowledge should not be used by the enemy of our soul to fill us with his lies about those who oppose us. We should remember that the omniscient God came down in person to inspect Sodom and Gomorrah before he passed judgment on it. I am very much saddened to say that these conspiracy theories which may have some truth in them have turned multitudes of Christians away from the simple devotion to Christ ( 2 Corinthians 11:3 ) and have made them troubled by word and spirit ( 2 Thessalonians 2:2 )
I have been following “The Centre for Humane Technology” seriously ( https://www.humanetech.com/ , ) after I heard the “Congress hearing on the use of persuasive technology on the internet” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjKV_j_mFIQ ). Its co-founder Tristan Harris ( https://twitter.com/tristanharris ) is a “Former Google Design Ethicist.” and came out to expose the tactics of these organizations through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C74amJRp730 .It tells you how these organizations monetize by taking advantage of “outrage”. They have a very good documentary called Social Dilemma, and the full version is available for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk-oGXljjBA&t=1705s I think this is very good for us to understand our times and how technology enslaves us and hijacks our “power of choice”. I just got an invite from them to watch the following.
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After the Attacks:
Join us for a conversation with researchers tracking conspiracy theories and hate groups in the wake of the Jan 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
https://www.airmeet.com/e/17258130-5f48-11eb-9af0-f5e009e37ce1
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I hope to get some balance in my understanding of the recent issues. Maybe you and others will also like it 🙂
Love.
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Thank you for these further insightful thoughts and legitimate concerns. We are living in times of great deception and at times it is coming from sources and being found in places that we may least expect it. I believe that we are begin forced to grow in discernment and must rely more and more on the Holy Spirit’s revelation and confirmation of all truth.
“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:14-15
Amen!
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Yes, David! You put it in few short words “forced to grow in discernment”. All things working together for those who love Christ! Never outsmarted by the god of this world through the darkness he creates around us because of the Living Light Christ in us ( John 1 ) guiding us to the maturity of the full stature of Christ… 🙂
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I have a very simple definition for myself about what “Satanic” means. It is anything that distracts us and leads ( seduces either by “curiosity” or “various lusts” ) us away from the simple devotion ( simplicity/”all sufficiency” )of Christ ( 2 Corinthians 11:3 ). Most definitely these “curiosities” or “lusts” will bring in the “cares worries and anxieties OF THIS WORLD” and choke the Word in us ( Mark 4:19 ). The result is not death but “paralysis” as caused by frequent strangling.
The plant has come up! It is not withering in the sun!! but yet it is unfruitful!!!!!
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This is so very true, and, I would presume, never more true than in the days we are living in when every distraction known to man is accessible through that little device in the palm of our hand. Lord, help us!!!
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