You put down the Archbishop of Canterbury for saying "one world, one faith" but not even 3 months ago, you place the same person on a pedestal saying he was inspired by God to have the authority to remove 14 books from the Bible.

Care to answer that?

The time will come when we might not be able to read a Bible,hear a sermon or teach the Word as readily as we might now.

The righteous will be the ones who will have to operate subtly and covertly as they have before.

The enemy might be able to silence our hymns or limit our gathering together but how easily can he forbid our being honest or prudent or kind or brave or rational?

How well could he cull people for being decent human beings?

The people who believe more in the adversary's power to do harm than God's power of Love may try to blend in with the new regime or they may cower in the hopes that they will be overlooked until the Lord retrieves them.

The rest will stand out because they will be functioning in a different and better way.

People will start to wonder what makes these people thrive even under adversity.

The foe will resent their influence because it offers an alternative to what and who he hopes to install.

They will be obvious because they are NOT charlatans or the self-deluded but people who prove the truth of their choice by every aspect of the way they live.

Their worship may be hidden but their Grace cannot be concealed.

The people who want that kind of liberty,strength,and wholeness will ask to share in what these believers have.

The Anti-Christ will know where they get their power and will cut them down as soon as he asks them who they serve and they confirm his suspicions.

But,their message will remain even after they are removed.

Their martyrdom itself will open eyes to the reality of God's truth.

The darker it gets,the more visible each pinprick of Light becomes.

In the days when we cannot hand out a tract,we can run an errand for a neighbor.

When we can't listen to gospel or wear a cross,we can live a healthy lifestyle and maintain loving relationships.

We can have stronger communities and more productive workplaces than the rest.

When we are denied the chance to witness with our words,we can validate our faith and give our testimony with our deeds.

That's something any of us can do and we can start it now.

We might not be able to prevent the enemy from having his hours of control over this planet but we can limit his achievement and make the forces of hell sweat for everything they get.

We can grind it into their conciousness that it will be our absence (not their presence) that will give them even the suggestion of a temporary victory.

We can become "God's Guerillas" and a "Redeemed Resistance" but we will serve our cause best by what we do for our Maker instead of how we might respond to His rather under-whelming nemesis.

satan isn't going to win.

he never wins.

The most he has ever accomplished is to make us lose by default.

The instant we show up to play,he is defeated.

he appears as a lion seeking who he might devour but he is toothless so he can't confront anyone that's too tough.

he has to find victims who put themselves in his path then become so intimidated by his roar that they fall into his jaws.

Then he has to wait for death to soften them enough that he can feed.

he cannot survive when his intended prey is strong,armed and too wary to be ambushed.

he only thinks he is a predator.

Instead,he relies on our becoming carrion.

Those of us who have Life don't need to fear him.

We become victors by standing with God rather then against anyone else.

Our forgetting or neglecting that fact is the only means by which our foe makes it through a single skirmish.

If we live for God and according to His will for our lives,the efforts of the enemy to usurp God's creation will be futile.

Note to the lower impotence:

This is our Father's world-not yours.

Get used to the idea.

Not it wasn't, it was the Archbishop in 1875, but it both hold the same station and uphold the same beliefs that each held previously. Just like the Pope, he is held accountable.

So are you saying each person's beliefs or actions should be held accountable for future generations to judge due to position?

Amen!

I am just curious to know how you seem to know that Christ is coming soon? He may, and that is fine with me. I just think you are getting a little to big in your britches to be think this. It could be tonight tomorrow or 1000 years from now, but he still will come like a thief in the night. Should people take the chance with their souls and wait to trust him? No! But you or noone else knows when he will come back.

I am also very sure of my salvation and still think you preach more gloom and doom. That may work for you but just because I believe in a different way of bringing the message does not mean I am unsure of my salvation.

"By what is going on in the world and the way we are going I can't see but it being soon and very soon."

And they have been saying that for 2000 years. They said that during the last mini ice age, they said that during the Black Plague, etc. It will not happen when you think it will. It just won't.

Are you saying each person's beliefs or actions should be held accountable for future generations to judge due to their personal position?

My favorite discussion - eschatology. If we look at any 100 period of history we could say all those signs are there, and most likely a scholar at that time would say that. I would say that the development of faster communications, i.e. internet, cell phones, cable T.V. etc., would be the one thing that could possibly bring us closer than any other generation. Do I know this will bring the rapture or tribulation closer? NO.

As a Christian and as I mature in my relationship with Jesus, I don't concern myself with the doom and gloom preaching. Why should I? My faith lies with Jesus and he promised he was preparing a home for me. I do need to be concerned with my relationship with God and am I continuing to mature and grow.

We are studying a book in Sunday School at present that is making most of us think about our beliefs and at times question why. It also makes for interesting discussions in class. I don't always agree with the author, but he used an analogy of a song that fits this topic. It is:

You better watch out; you better not cry;

you better not pout, I'm telling you why,

Jesus Christ is coming to town.

He knows when you've been sleeping;

He knows when you're awake;

He knows when you've been bad or good,

So be good for goodness sake.

Satan wants us to question our forgiveness, our salvation, but Christ tells me I am forgiven. I also know I have to let the Holy Spirit work through me, and try to let go of my independant Spirit. God did not create robots, but he does want us to lean on him and allow him to use us to bring good news to the world. I didn't mean to wander so much, but I love the study of end times and heaven, and more importantly I love my Lord and Savior who gave himself so that my sins could be forgiven.

Thank You Sharon22 and my friend quantumcat !!!!!!

A true believer is not led into the fold of God by the threat of Hell and burning fires but by the love of God and faith in him. Anyone can be threatened to do something they don't want to but that doesn't mean they truly believe in the word. When someone does something out of love and free will, it is because they truly believe in it and then it comes truly from the heart and actually means something.

Michael Bell and others can scare as many people into coming to church but that doesn't mean they truly believe or will be saved.

Michael,

You write countless blogs about the end of times, etc., but have you ever thought about writing a blog simply about salvation. I've noticed on most of your blogs, you rant about everything wrong with the world, and then at the end you write something like "Have you made your choice today",

or "accept what Jesus did on the cross", but I don't think you've ever been specific about what a person must do to get to heaven and avoid hell.

How does a person become saved and KNOW that they are saved?

It may sound like an easy question, but many churches disagree about the specifics. I came across a youtube video of a sermon about salvation by a preacher named Paul Washer which I thought was interesting. He basically says that most churches in America are deceiving people, and leading people to believe they are saved when they are not. It's about an hour long, but its worth watching. I'd like to know if you all agree or disagree with his message.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

These blogs of gloom and doom are not for the unsaved ones I talk to them in person.

These blogs are to let people who don't know scripture well and can't see what is going on right in front of their eyes.

Most churches don't even talk prophecy!

I like seeing people rejoice in their faith although I could do with a bit less Michael-bashing.

He may not be offering all that everyone needs but if he provides one person with what they require to create a good relationship with God (even if they come to that point while protesting Michael's views),then it's worth every bit of bandwidth he's used to be our Jeremiah.

They say that God has little use for "soothsayers".

If the word is defined as people who tell the truth,then I don't think the Lord has a problem with that.

If it refers to people who give soft,smooth words that are more palatable than factual,then I think God would find them just as distasteful as Michael.

We don't need the phony or deluded to give us false doctrines and empty assurances as a scam artist might pull forth a paper towel stuffed with chicken entrails and convince us he has removed all the sickness from our body.

The saved and unsaved need a testimony that gives the whole of God's message with the forth-telling and the glory of the Gospel.

While we are proclaiming both in what we say and do,those who have accepted Christ as their Savior might want to renew their vows as a bride might show her mate that she would marry him all over again.

Here is a version Wesley came up with in the nineenth century:

(That'd be John Wesley-not the ones from Star Trek or Angel.)

...Christ has many services to be done.

Some are easy, others are difficult.

Some bring honour, others bring reproach.

Some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests.

Others are contrary to both...

Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.

The Prayer

I am no longer my own, but Thine.

Put me to what Thou wilt, rank me with whom Thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for Thee or laid aside for Thee,exalted for Thee or brought low for Thee.

Let me be full.

Let me be empty.

Let me have all things.

Let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,Thou art mine, and I am Thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

It seems as if the big question we have to answer is this:

If it all fell to pieces tomorrow,would we still be HIS?

Hehehe

I am sure people would quit bashing Michael if he would quit bashing groups of people he does not understand or that he feels disagree with his religion.

I remember the story of the Sun and the North Wind.

They had a wager as to who was stronger.

They spotted a traveller and decided to remove the boy's coat.

The North Wind howled and pummeled the youth with chill blasts of air but the lad clung to his coat all the tighter.

The Sun then had his try.

He surrounded the traveller with light and warmth until the boy relaxed.

Then,he turned up the heat a bit until holding on to that coat felt uncomfortable.

The sun shone on him until he decided he no longer needed the coat since the Sun was doing a better job at keeping him toasty.

The traveller put his coat away and the North Wind had to concede the bet.

What tactic serves us best when we're trying to change people?

Do we attack them and try to take away what they have or do we give them a better alternative that encourages them to make the choice that fits our agenda because it also fits their best interests?