The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary Daniel 9:26
Several days ago it appeared that the Turkish military was attempting a coup against the government led by their president, a guy named Recep Erdogan. Erdogan was away from the capital but called upon the Turkish people to take to the streets to resist the coup. Led by the mosques this they did in mass and the coup was quickly ended. President Obama praised the restoration of democracy and supposedly everything will go back to normal.
However, it did not take long for Erdogan to start his reprisals and begin to complete his goal to totally transform Turkey from a secular republic to an Islamic caliphate. For about a century the Turkish military had been the guardian of the democratic process but after Erdogan was elected, first Prime Minister, then later President, he has been purging the military of any leadership which would oppose his Islamic goals.
A day after the coup attempt almost by magic there were already long lists of generals, journalists and judges to remove. Some already had their heads lopped off by the masses and Erdogan began pushing to restore the death penalty so he could make all this legal.
Two days ago it was announced that every dean of a college or university (1577 in total) must resign, 21,000 teachers had their licenses revoked, 1500 judges were suspended, 9000 police officers and 500 clerics removed as were many thousands in the military. That was followed up by a decree that all of these people and their families are now on a no fly list. Tragic.
The recent supposed coup attempt in Turkey is probably the most important thing to happen in the world so far this decade. The fall out from it may lead to a massive war in the Middle East as Turkey attempts to form it's caliphate and be the dominate force both for territory and for the hearts and minds of Muslims worldwide. It will affect the alignment of NATO, the safety of Europe and the economic interests of the United States.
It has been suggested by authors such as Joel Richardson that a leader of Turkey will be the Biblical "Gog" mentioned in Ezekiel 38 that will lead an end time invasion against Israel. Many of the territory names mentioned in Ezekiel historically can be linked to Turkish areas (European identifications are the result of a very old bias that wants to see the pope as the Antichrist and the western half of the Roman empire, or Europe, his 10 nation confederacy). Some think this Gog could also be the prophesied Antichrist.
During the time of Christ and the apostles the land area on the Eastern half of today's Turkey was known as Asia Minor. Rome ruled at that time but previously the land had been part of the empires of Assyria, Babylon, Medes and Persians and finally the Grecian empire. After Alexander the Great died the Greek empire was split up between his 4 top generals and Asia Minor became part of the Seleucid dynasty. Among lands that dynasty included were greater Syria (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq) as well as Israel.
Prophecies in Daniel talk about these empires, the break up of the Greek empire, and suggest that the coming Antichrist will come from territory that had been part of the Seleucid dynasty. Interestingly there was a partial fulfillment of that prophesy in 165 BC when a leader of the Seleucid dynasty, Antiochus Epiphanes, dedicates the Jewish temple to Jupiter and sacrifices a sow on the altar. Antiochus is considered a type of the Antichrist to come.
A few years later the Romans defeated the Greeks and expanded an empire of their own and so they ruled both Asia Minor and Israel (or Palestine). When the Jews rebelled against Rome and Jerusalem was destroyed along with the Jewish Temple (the sanctuary of Daniel 9:26) by the Roman legions in 70 AD the vast majority of the Roman legions involved as well as their support troops were not Italian but rather drawn from and stationed in Asia Minor, Greater Syria and Arabia. According to the Roman historian Josephus, the Roman general Titus actually tried to stop his troops from destroying the Jewish temple but they would not listen to him because of their hatred for the Jews.
It is from one of the lands of these troops, "the people of the prince who is to come", that the prince, the Antichrist, will arise.
John wrote Revelation around 94 AD. The seven churches mentioned there were located in the Western half of Asia Minor. The letter to the Church of Pergamum mentions that city as being where the throne of Satan is. This was a giant altar built by the Selucids to honor their chief god which later honored the Roman gods. There was a pagan priesthood at Pergamum, the chief priest's title was Pontifix Maximus, and that title was eventually transferred to the Roman emperor. After Emperor Constantine moved the center of the Roman Empire from Rome to Asia Minor to a city he renamed Constantinople (now Istanbul) he handed the title over to the Christian bishop of Rome.
In the 1800's German archaeologists dismantled the altar of Pergamum and moved it to a museum in Berlin. They refused to return it to Turkey when asked so 2 years ago Turkey rebuilt it at the original site. On a side note, when Obama was running for President he went over to Germany to make his first major foreign policy speech and while doing so was standing directly across the square facing the Pergamum museum which displayed the giant altar.
In the 700's Asia Minor was conquered by Muslim forces. In 1299 we see the beginning of the expansion of Turkish rule with the formation of the Ottoman Empire gaining steam a hundred years later. From 1453 to the 1800's Muslim Turkey ruled a caliphate that controlled a large geographic territory, including Northern Africa and the Middle East. By the early 1900's their empire was shrinking and so Turkey and the Ottoman Empire aligned with German forces during WWI in an attempt to become strong again. It was during this time (1915) that Muslim Turks murdered over 1.5 million Christian Armenians and Assyrians. In 1917 the British and their allies took over Arabia, Palestine and much of the Middle East and Turkey's borders became what they are today.
In 1923 a man named Kemal Attaturk (known as the father of modern Turkey) came to power. He instituted free elections and transformed Turkey into a secular state. It has remained so until Erdogan was freely elected and began to change things (his famous quote is that Democracy is the bus we will ride until it's time to get off).
It is the desire of many Muslims for there to be a Muslim empire, or caliphate, throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa and Southern Eurasia. But Islam is quite diverse ethnically, politically and spiritually. There are in that part of the world Arabs, Persians and Turks, secularists, moderates and fundamentalists divided up into the two main branches of Islam, Sunni (about 85 per cent) and Shia (about 15 per cent).
The primary Shia power is Iran. Iranians are ethnically Persian, most of their population is young and secular but the country is controlled by a group of fundamentalist mullahs who control every aspect of government and life. Their desire is to be the leader of the Muslim world and their theology seeks the destruction of Israel and confrontation with the West in order to usher in a glorious Islamic world. They sponsor terror groups such as Hezbolla and are behind the sectarian violence between the minority Shia and majority Sunni in Iraq.
The main Sunni power is in the Arab countries of Saudi Arabia, which has a lot of money and which controls the main Muslim holy places of Mecca and Medina, and Egypt, which has a large population and is the center of Islamic education for the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia funds the building of many mosques throughout the world including a lot in the United States. They are trying to hold together a Sunni coalition with other Arab nations. They are also fundamentalists but because they interact with the West there are more radical Sunni forces, as well as Iran, that want to overthrow the Saudi kingdom.
Egypt has been relatively moderate for the last few decades and they have a peace treaty with Israel. There too the military have been involved. During the Arab Spring a few years ago the people overthrew a corrupt leader, drew up a new constitution, but then like Turkey the people elected a leader (from the radical Muslim Brotherhood) who started to remake Egypt into a fundamentalist Muslim state. President Obama, siding as he has done so often with the Muslim Brotherhood, praised the democratic process. This time however the military stepped in and changed leaders.
Most Arabs in the Middle East hate the Jews and want to eliminate the Jewish nation but have a hard time working with each other.
That is why the rise of a Sunni Turkish caliphate may be very appealing to most Muslims (at least to the Sunnis) and to the West. The Turkish armies will end the fighting by groups like ISIS (who will not get their caliphate), bring peace to Syria and will stop all the infighting caused by artificial borders created by the Allies in WWI. Muslims the world over will look with pride to what the Turkish caliphate will bring about and the West will be glad to see an end to chaos in the Middle East. Perhaps there might even be a peace treaty made with Israel (for 7 years of course).
Ah, but prophecy says that like a fish with hooks in it's jaws Turkey's armies will be drawn to the beautiful land. Iran, Libya and Sudan will be it's partners. God will then intervene. How close are we?
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Monday, July 4, 2016
Modern Day Pentecost
Throughout the history of the Christian Church, from Pentecost onward, there have been believers in every century who moved in the power of the Holy Spirit to teach, preach, pastor, serve and administer, but also to prophesy, to heal, to raise from the dead, to deliver from evil spirits, to speak words of wisdom and knowledge, to work miracles, to have visions, to speak in other languages known and unknown and to interpret what has been spoken and to move in other manifestations of the Holy Spirit as He wills.
I have a thick book called - The International Dictionary Of Pentecostal, Charismatic Movements - which lists some of these through the centuries. Here are a few examples taken from there showing that spiritual gifts were still common even after the death of the last apostle.
First Century - Around A.D. 96, Clement, bishop of Rome, and Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, document the continued operation of prophetic gifts.
Second Century - Irenaeus of Lyon describes the gifts of prophecy, discernment of spirits, and exorcism in his Gallic church, and even mentions that individuals have been raised from the dead.
Third Century - Origen of Alexandria says healings, exorcisms, and validating signs and wonders continue to be experienced in the church.
Skipping ahead 1400 years we see:
Seventeenth Century - Early Quaker literature records visions, healings, and prophecies, which they liken to the Day of Pentecost. There is even evidence of tongues speech among them, although Goerge Fox, their founder, eventually discourages such ecstatic utterances.
Eighteenth Century - John Wesley, the founder of Methodism (1703-91) introduces into Protestantism an awareness of the Spirit's operation in all of human experience unlike any other in Western Christianity at the time. Although not personally given to enthusiastic religion he is very tolerant of followers who claim dreams, visions, healings, and revelations.
The "Awakened", a Lutheran revivalistic movement in Finland, begins in 1796 with a sudden out pouring of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by such observable signs as visions and glossolalia (tongues). This renewal continues into the 20th century.
Nineteenth Century - The West of Scotland revival (1830) features a variety of spiritual giftings, including prophesy, healings, glossolalia, and interpretation of tongues.
Pentecostal phenomena, including glossolalia, are reported among South Indian Christians in Travancore and Madras State in the 1860's and 1870's.
(end of quotes)
America experienced prior to the Revolutionary War a revival known as the First Great Awakening, led by such revivalists as the Wesley brothers and Jonathan Edwards. Out of the Second Great Awakening which happened prior to the Civil War and which continued afterwards through many evangelistic tent meetings came the theology of a second spiritual experience after conversion which became known as a "holiness" experience. This was a deep inner transformation of a person which then reflected in their desires and the type of life that would flow from that.
In 1900 a holiness preacher, Charles F. Parham, reads an account by missionary M. Jennie Glassey who went to Africa in 1896. There had been reports of the possible reappearance of the gift of tongues with actual occurrences in India and Africa and this was very exciting to many who wanted this gift before they proceeded to the mission field. Parham travels to Shiloh, ME, where he hears speaking in tongues for the first time and is convinced that it represents evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and would be a key tool for world evangelism.
In January 1901 Parham and his students at Bethel Bible School pray that the Holy Spirit would be poured out as it was in the book of Acts and Agnes Ozman became the first one there to to speak in tongues.
In 1905 one of Parham's students, William Seymour, receives the Pentecostal experience and is one of the key people leading the famous Azuza Street revival (1906-1913) which had a world wide impact and from which sprang the formation in the next two decades of the Pentecostal branch of Christianity.
From the Azuza revival on most people openly claiming the experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues were not welcome in their denominational churches. This began to change in 1959 when Episcopal Priest Dennis Bennett became baptized in the Holy Spirit, started preaching it to his church in Van Nuys, Ca, and was not forced to be quiet about it and leave. This was credited as the beginning of the Charismatic movement in the mainline churches.
In 1967 the Charismatic movement hit the Catholic Church which eventually led to Jackie's Charismatic experience in 1971 and my experience of salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit late November 1972. The Holy Spirit eventually led our family out of the Catholic Church but the tongues and prophecies, the praying with expectation for healing and deliverance, the experiencing of scripture as alive and powerful, the words of wisdom and knowledge, inspired dreams and even visions have not ceased for us.
Modern Pentecost began with a deep desire for souls to come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. The early saints wanted the power for that reason. It still drives us. Pentecost is not about vibrant worship, although that is great. It is not about spiritual gifts, although people today need healing and deliverance and prophetic words and encouragement just as much today as at the beginning. It is certainly not about thinking that we are better or more holy than any other Christian, although it is hard to imagine why anyone would't want to have the Bible come alive or be able to worship and pray with a spiritual gift made just for us so we can go on when our native words and understandings run out.
Modern Pentecost is about surrendering our souls to everything that the Father desires for us. It is about us being weak and Him being strong and the Holy Spirit leading us in our weakness to do strong things. It is about faith that is alive, hope in the midst of the worries of this world and learning to love all those with whom we share this earthly soil. And it is about trusting Him, that when we yield our heads and our hearts, our feet, hands and tongue, that He knows who we are and can do all He has promised.
Some gifts are for us personally. Some are for the benefit of the Church, the Body of Christ. Some are for His desire that all would come to know Jesus, surrender their hearts and wills to Him, and come to freely love and worship the Father.
Jackie, who was a believer for as long as she could remember, received the Holy Spirit baptism after her father gave her a little talk about his experience in receiving the gift of tongues and baptism in the Holy Spirit. He then laid his hands on her, prayed, and Jackie began to speak out in another language, thus beginning a new chapter in her Christian walk.
I surrendered my heart to Jesus as Lord and Savior alone on my knees in the living room of our little third floor apartment. At the same time I asked for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and surrendered my voice to the gift of a new language.
We were later able to pray and lay on hands for each of our 5 children to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and to ask Him to fill them with His Holy Spirit. They all received the gift of tongues right away and have been trusting Jesus through the good and the bad times ever since.
We recently prayed for a woman whose father is a famous Bible teacher to receive the gift of tongues. She had already asked Jesus for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit but had not as yet received her prayer language. Her father did not believe in such things but she knew it was for her. When we prayed we did not put our hands on her but even so a few weeks later we got the report that she was happily praying in the Spirit.
God never promised that life would be easy. But He did promise to send us a Helper, an Advocate, a Comforter to be with us always, even to the ends of the earth.
The Holy Spirit is with you at conversion. At that time your spirit is reborn and the Holy Spirit can freely move in a lot of areas of your life. But many times He is released in a more powerful way in your soul as we surrender to Him, especially as we surrender our tongue to a language that we give breath to but He gives the words.
It is my prayer that you would seek Him right now to find His great gift for you. That you would tell the Lord that you are willing to do anything that He desires of you, trusting that He loves you and only wants what is best for you. Ask Him for a fullness of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him for the gift of tongues. Then take a step out in faith to yield your voice to His gift. If may come while you are on your knees. It may come when you are relaxed in the shower, not afraid to sing nonsense. It may come while you are driving to work (good luck with the rest of your day!). But if you ask (The Father wanting to give good gifts to His children) you will receive.
I have a thick book called - The International Dictionary Of Pentecostal, Charismatic Movements - which lists some of these through the centuries. Here are a few examples taken from there showing that spiritual gifts were still common even after the death of the last apostle.
First Century - Around A.D. 96, Clement, bishop of Rome, and Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, document the continued operation of prophetic gifts.
Second Century - Irenaeus of Lyon describes the gifts of prophecy, discernment of spirits, and exorcism in his Gallic church, and even mentions that individuals have been raised from the dead.
Third Century - Origen of Alexandria says healings, exorcisms, and validating signs and wonders continue to be experienced in the church.
Skipping ahead 1400 years we see:
Seventeenth Century - Early Quaker literature records visions, healings, and prophecies, which they liken to the Day of Pentecost. There is even evidence of tongues speech among them, although Goerge Fox, their founder, eventually discourages such ecstatic utterances.
Eighteenth Century - John Wesley, the founder of Methodism (1703-91) introduces into Protestantism an awareness of the Spirit's operation in all of human experience unlike any other in Western Christianity at the time. Although not personally given to enthusiastic religion he is very tolerant of followers who claim dreams, visions, healings, and revelations.
The "Awakened", a Lutheran revivalistic movement in Finland, begins in 1796 with a sudden out pouring of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by such observable signs as visions and glossolalia (tongues). This renewal continues into the 20th century.
Nineteenth Century - The West of Scotland revival (1830) features a variety of spiritual giftings, including prophesy, healings, glossolalia, and interpretation of tongues.
Pentecostal phenomena, including glossolalia, are reported among South Indian Christians in Travancore and Madras State in the 1860's and 1870's.
(end of quotes)
America experienced prior to the Revolutionary War a revival known as the First Great Awakening, led by such revivalists as the Wesley brothers and Jonathan Edwards. Out of the Second Great Awakening which happened prior to the Civil War and which continued afterwards through many evangelistic tent meetings came the theology of a second spiritual experience after conversion which became known as a "holiness" experience. This was a deep inner transformation of a person which then reflected in their desires and the type of life that would flow from that.
In 1900 a holiness preacher, Charles F. Parham, reads an account by missionary M. Jennie Glassey who went to Africa in 1896. There had been reports of the possible reappearance of the gift of tongues with actual occurrences in India and Africa and this was very exciting to many who wanted this gift before they proceeded to the mission field. Parham travels to Shiloh, ME, where he hears speaking in tongues for the first time and is convinced that it represents evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and would be a key tool for world evangelism.
In January 1901 Parham and his students at Bethel Bible School pray that the Holy Spirit would be poured out as it was in the book of Acts and Agnes Ozman became the first one there to to speak in tongues.
In 1905 one of Parham's students, William Seymour, receives the Pentecostal experience and is one of the key people leading the famous Azuza Street revival (1906-1913) which had a world wide impact and from which sprang the formation in the next two decades of the Pentecostal branch of Christianity.
From the Azuza revival on most people openly claiming the experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues were not welcome in their denominational churches. This began to change in 1959 when Episcopal Priest Dennis Bennett became baptized in the Holy Spirit, started preaching it to his church in Van Nuys, Ca, and was not forced to be quiet about it and leave. This was credited as the beginning of the Charismatic movement in the mainline churches.
In 1967 the Charismatic movement hit the Catholic Church which eventually led to Jackie's Charismatic experience in 1971 and my experience of salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit late November 1972. The Holy Spirit eventually led our family out of the Catholic Church but the tongues and prophecies, the praying with expectation for healing and deliverance, the experiencing of scripture as alive and powerful, the words of wisdom and knowledge, inspired dreams and even visions have not ceased for us.
Modern Pentecost began with a deep desire for souls to come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. The early saints wanted the power for that reason. It still drives us. Pentecost is not about vibrant worship, although that is great. It is not about spiritual gifts, although people today need healing and deliverance and prophetic words and encouragement just as much today as at the beginning. It is certainly not about thinking that we are better or more holy than any other Christian, although it is hard to imagine why anyone would't want to have the Bible come alive or be able to worship and pray with a spiritual gift made just for us so we can go on when our native words and understandings run out.
Modern Pentecost is about surrendering our souls to everything that the Father desires for us. It is about us being weak and Him being strong and the Holy Spirit leading us in our weakness to do strong things. It is about faith that is alive, hope in the midst of the worries of this world and learning to love all those with whom we share this earthly soil. And it is about trusting Him, that when we yield our heads and our hearts, our feet, hands and tongue, that He knows who we are and can do all He has promised.
Some gifts are for us personally. Some are for the benefit of the Church, the Body of Christ. Some are for His desire that all would come to know Jesus, surrender their hearts and wills to Him, and come to freely love and worship the Father.
Jackie, who was a believer for as long as she could remember, received the Holy Spirit baptism after her father gave her a little talk about his experience in receiving the gift of tongues and baptism in the Holy Spirit. He then laid his hands on her, prayed, and Jackie began to speak out in another language, thus beginning a new chapter in her Christian walk.
I surrendered my heart to Jesus as Lord and Savior alone on my knees in the living room of our little third floor apartment. At the same time I asked for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and surrendered my voice to the gift of a new language.
We were later able to pray and lay on hands for each of our 5 children to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and to ask Him to fill them with His Holy Spirit. They all received the gift of tongues right away and have been trusting Jesus through the good and the bad times ever since.
We recently prayed for a woman whose father is a famous Bible teacher to receive the gift of tongues. She had already asked Jesus for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit but had not as yet received her prayer language. Her father did not believe in such things but she knew it was for her. When we prayed we did not put our hands on her but even so a few weeks later we got the report that she was happily praying in the Spirit.
God never promised that life would be easy. But He did promise to send us a Helper, an Advocate, a Comforter to be with us always, even to the ends of the earth.
The Holy Spirit is with you at conversion. At that time your spirit is reborn and the Holy Spirit can freely move in a lot of areas of your life. But many times He is released in a more powerful way in your soul as we surrender to Him, especially as we surrender our tongue to a language that we give breath to but He gives the words.
It is my prayer that you would seek Him right now to find His great gift for you. That you would tell the Lord that you are willing to do anything that He desires of you, trusting that He loves you and only wants what is best for you. Ask Him for a fullness of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him for the gift of tongues. Then take a step out in faith to yield your voice to His gift. If may come while you are on your knees. It may come when you are relaxed in the shower, not afraid to sing nonsense. It may come while you are driving to work (good luck with the rest of your day!). But if you ask (The Father wanting to give good gifts to His children) you will receive.
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