JMJ.......PRAY THIS ISN'T YOU !

You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door.

Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers.

At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way.

With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun.

You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it...

In the darkness, you make out two shadows.
One holds something that looks like a crowbar.

When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire.

The blast knocks both thugs to the floor.

One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door

and lurches outside.

As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years before,
and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless..

Yours was never registered..
Police arrive and inform you

that the second burglar has died.

They arrest you for First Degree Murder

and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.

When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry:
authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask.
"Only ten-to-twelve years,"

he replies, as if that's nothing.

"Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead

story in the local newspaper.

Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys.
Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them..

Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.

But the next day's headline says it all:

"Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die."

The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters..

As the days wear on, the story takes wings.

The national media picks it up,

then the international media.
The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win.

The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and
that you've been critical of local police for their lack

of effort in apprehending the suspects.

After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time.
The District Attorney uses this to allege

that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial.

The charges haven't been reduced,

as your lawyer had so confidently predicted.

When you take the stand, your anger at

the injustice of it all works against you..

Prosecutors paint a picture of you

as a mean, vengeful man.

It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.

The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England, killed one burglar and wounded a second.

In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term..

How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ?
It started with the Pistols Act of 1903.

This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and
established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license.

The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns..

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and
mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987.
Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the street shooting everyone he saw.
When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions.
(The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane, Scotland,

Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals.

Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners.

Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns.

The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearm's

still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights,
the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism.

Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened,
claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun.

Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying,

"We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

All of Tony Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times,
and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs
who had no fear of the consequences.
Martin himself, a collector of antiques,
had seen most of his collection
trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended,
citizens who owned handguns
were given three months to turn them over to local authorities.

Being good British subjects,
most people obeyed the law.
The few who didn't were visited by police
and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply.

Police later bragged that they'd taken
nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

How did the authorities know who had handguns?
The guns had been registered and licensed.
Kind of like cars. Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA;
THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

"...It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."
--Samuel Adams

If you think this is important, please forward to everyone you know..

You had better wake up, because Obama is doing this very same thing, over here, if he can get it done.

And there are stupid people in congress and on the street that will go right along with him.

Coming Out Of Egypt

"Out of Egypt I called my son." (Matt. 2:15)

Psalm 106 tells us about Israel's rebellion during the forty years in which God led them out of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan. In the Bible, Egypt represents the world (sin) while Canaan was the promised holy land of rest for God's people. In the same way that the Israelites rebelled during their journey out of the sin of Egypt into the promised holy land of Canaan, you and I rebel on our journey out of our world of sin into a sanctified, holy rest in Jesus. As we examine Psa. 106, we will see that Israel's rebellion, thousands of years ago, is a picture of our rebellion today, as God strives to sanctify our sinful souls.

Psa. 106:1-5 - These verses praise God for His love and faithfulness.

Psa. 106:6-12 - Before crossing the Read Sea, Israel rebelled in fear when they saw the Egyptian army coming. Even though they had only just left Egypt, they had already forgotten the mighty miracles God had done there, right before their eyes. Amazingly, even the presence of God in the pillars of cloud and fire did not comfort them. We often do the same thing when problems come our way because we also forget the many times that God has faithfully delivered us from our troubles. We remember those times when things are going well but, when trouble comes, our memory soon fails and we rebel. Despite Israel's rebellion, God saved them from the Egyptian army and v.12 says, "then they believed his promises and sang his praise." Like the Israelites, we seem to need a miracle each day to keep us praising God and believing His promises. To stop our rebellion, we need to constantly meditate on His faithfulness and "stand strong in the Lord and in His mighty power" (Eph. 6:10).

Psa. 106:13 tells how their memory soon failed again: "But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel." Israel quickly forgot and continued to rebel, just as we do.

Psa. 106:14-15 - Israel again tested God by craving other food: "In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them." God gave them the meat they wanted plus a little extra in the form of disease so we need to be careful. Many of us crave things like money but what comes with such craving? 1 Tim. 6:10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." This is a solemn warning for us not to test God by craving things but to be satisfied with His provision.

Psa. 106:16-18 - Certain men rebelled and coveted the leadership. They "grew envious of Moses and of Aaron ... the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram … Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked." In those days, Israel knew very well whom God had appointed as leaders but they rebelled anyway. Today we have many leaders, some good, some bad, but we must not speak against them unless they are going against God's Word. Also, we need to be aware of our ability and gifting in the body of Christ. In Rom. 12:3 we are told, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." The fact is, if we want to be great then we must follow Jesus' advice and be humble: "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matt. 23:11). Whereas we love to promote ourselves, God loves humility so we must take care not to grow envious and rebel like some of the Israelite men did.

Psa. 106:19-23 - The Israelites made a golden calf idol; they worshipped a grass eating bull. God got so mad that Moses had to plead with Him not to destroy them. We also make idols of certain people, power, money, sports, movies, games etc. Also, prayer meetings and church often come second to things like sporting events. This is the same as making a golden calf so once again we can be just like the Israelites … and no doubt we grieve God also.

Psa 106:24-27 - The Israelites grumbled and despised their promised inheritance of Canaan because they feared the giants in the land so God let that generation die in the desert. Our promised inheritance is eternal life but we must stand firm and suffer hardship in order to inherit it. Rom. 8:17 tells us that "we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." and Jesus said in Matt. 24:13, "he who stands firm to the end will be saved." There are Goliaths opposing us also. We can be intimidated by the majority of the world which hates Christianity but we must stand firm to the end and not cower. Let's not despise our inheritance and die in the desert like the Israelites.

Psa. 106:28-31 - Through immorality with foreign women, some Israelites were enticed to join the pagans in Baal worship so God destroyed thousands of them with a plague. We must avoid ungodly groups like the Ecumenical Movement which is drawing most Christians into unholy fellowship with false religions like Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. 2 Cor. 6:14 warns us, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" We must resist the great peer pressure which entices us into this type of unholy fellowship, which is supposedly in the name of love.

Psa 106:32-33 - The Israelites rebelled so often that Moses got mad at them and was punished by God for speaking rashly. We can drive leadership to do the same thing so we need to be obedient as Heb. 13:17 tells us, "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." Of course, we must separate from false teachers and bad leadership as Rom. 16:17 says, "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them."

Psa. 106:34-42 - Israel disobeyed God in many other ways: they failed to destroy nations when commanded to; they mingled with the pagans; adopted pagan customs and worshipped their idols; they sacrificed their own children to demons and prostituted themselves etc. Because of this, God handed Israel over to the nations and their enemies ruled over them. Today, God commands that the church hand unrepentant sinners over to our enemy, Satan. In 1 Cor. 5, a man was proud of his immorality and God said, "hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord … Expel the wicked man from among you" (1 Cor 5:5, 13). Just as God disciplined Israel by handing them over to their enemies, He commands that the church expel unrepentant sinners in the hope that they will repent and later be restored to the church.

Psa. 106:43-48 - These verses tell of God's love for Israel. He often disciplined them and then later delivered them when they cried out in repentance. Like the Israelites, we quickly forget God's purity and faithfulness and as a result we fear, crave, covet, envy, idolise, despise our inheritance, join with false religions etc. and, just as God did with the Israelites, He forgives us when we repent of our rebellion.

So it can be seen that in whatever way the Israelites rebelled thousands of years ago, we do the same thing today. It seems amazing that they could witness so many great miracles yet so easily forget and grieve God through their rebellion. But the fact is, we do the same thing and probably deserve greater wrath because we have the Holy Spirit as a constant witness of God's presence. Just as the Israelites deliberately chose to forget the miracles and God's physical presence in the pillars of cloud and fire, we deliberately choose to forget God's faithfulness and the spiritual witness of the Holy Spirit. And, just as God brought His rebellious people out of Egypt and eventually into the promised holy land, He wants to deliver you and I out of our rebellious ways and into a holy rest in Jesus. Isa. 30:15 says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."

This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
www.ChristianIssues.biz

Healing – Why Not Everyone?

Non-sin related illness

I believe that until we reach heaven we will never know why God heals one person and not another. What we do know for sure is that God is on the throne; He is in absolute control of all things and will always do what is right. Rom. 8:28 tells us that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" so we can be sure of God's love and the fact that if we are not healed then it is not because He does not care about us. He will always do what is best for His kingdom and our eternal good. An example of God healing for the good of His kingdom is in John 9:1-3 where Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. The disciples asked if sin was the cause of the man's blindness and Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." This man's healing was used by God to further the kingdom. Also, Job, a righteous man, suffered at the devil's hand even though he had not sinned. God has given us Job's story to make us aware of activities in the spirit world which we know little about. Who knows, some of us may face trials similar to Job's?

Sin related illness

Sin was not the cause of the man's blindness in John 9:1-3 but sin can cause health issues as John 5:1-15 tell us: After Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, He told him in verse 15, "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." This story tells us that sin can be behind sickness and this is also shown in James 5:14-16 which say, "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." These verses make it quite obvious that sin can cause illness and also that healing can come from confessing our sins. The Psalms also show a connection between sin and sickness. Psalm 38:3 says, "Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin." Psalm 32:1-5 and Psalm 103:1-5 show this as well.

Salvation healing

I have heard stories of people being physically healed when they were first saved and this is backed up by what is said in Mark 16:15-18. These verses are in the context of evangelists going into the world and preaching the Gospel. Speaking to the disciples, Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved ... they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." So, sick people may receive both spiritual and physical healing when they first believe.

Death is inevitable

When Adam sinned, physical death entered the world and affected all mankind so we can't expect to be healed of every disease and live forever. Common sense tells us that most of us will die from some illness so we should not always expect to be healed.

So, the Bible tells us that illness may -

• be from God so that He can be glorified through healing us.

• be used by God to try us like with Job.

• be caused by sin and healed by confession.

• be used to discipline us as shown in the Psalms.

• be a natural part of life that we must accept.

Other than the promised healing from a sin related sickness, as seen above in James 5:14-16, a Christian has no biblical guarantee of being healed so it is wise to be willing to accept that fact.

Some Christians say that God does not want us to ever get sick or that He will heal us of any and every sickness but that is not scriptural (more on this below). Some even say that if a person is not healed then it is because of sin or weak faith. That is a very judgemental, hurtful and ungodly thing to say and it may destroy a person's faith. Also, it implies that God is a God of the strong and does not care for the weak. When I think of this it seems to me that God would be more likely to heal the weak to strengthen their faith and allow the strong to stand fast in sickness to show their faith. That is just a thought, who but God knows the truth of each individual case?

Healing in the atonement

1 Pet. 2:24-25 are often used to support healing but these verses are not talking about physical healing, rather they are talking about how our sinful souls were spiritually healed: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." These verses are in the context of sin, in past tense, and are about our salvation. In plain words Peter is saying, "You were lost and sin-sick sheep but now, by Jesus' wounds on the cross, you have been healed, you have been saved, and have returned to the Shepherd of your soul." Returning to our Shepherd can only be understood in the sense of sin because it is sin that separates us from God, not sickness. So it can be seen that the healing spoken of in these verses is not physical but spiritual healing which comes from the forgiveness of sin through Jesus' death on the cross.

Matt. 8:16-17 are also used to support healing in the atonement but these verses are only telling us that Jesus fulfilled the Isa. 53:4 prophecy about Himself: "...he drove our the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.'" These verses simply tell us that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that He would heal. There is no mention of future healing for all believers. If there really was healing in the atonement then it would be for everyone. We would all be healed all the time and live forever; all new believers who have the faith to be saved and cleansed of all sin would be immediately healed of all their diseases by that same faith; the blind would see, the lame would walk etc. but we know that does not happen. There is a guaranteed spiritual healing for those who put their trust in Jesus but there is no guarantee of physical healing even though it occurs at times according to God's will.

Finishing off

Physical sickness is a reality of life and, putting aside unnatural events, we are all going to die from some health problem. I believe that we should confess our sins and pray for healing and for the faith to gracefully accept whatever God chooses to do with our life. We should never consider for a moment that He does not love us or that weak faith is preventing our healing. In Luke 22:42, Jesus faced His suffering saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." So, let's stand strong in our faith like Jesus and remember that many souls have been saved through witnessing the graceful death of a saint ... it would be a wonderful thing to be used so mightily by the Lord at the end of our days.

This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/healingwhynoteveryone.pdf

Mick Alexander

leeandmick@gmail.com

www.ChristianIssues.biz

Christmas Message from Chairman L. Brent Bozell

The year’s coming to a close and finally, just for a few days, maybe even just a few hours, it’s quiet around here. There are some staff still here, and will be working through Christmas, and through New Year’s Eve. Others are wrapping up and preparing to leave for the holidays. Some have already gone. This is good. They work exhausting hours and they need this time off, especially those with families. My office door’s closed; email’s shut down; the phones are off. There are no copywriters, no editors for this letter.

I am thinking about our consequential times. We are at a seriously critical and equally dangerous moment. Next year we will vote as a nation to embrace socialism, or to reject it. I take comfort in the confidence I (still) have that America will reject socialism if presented with a referendum on that form of governance. But if the forces of the Left are successful in muddying the waters, as they were in 2008, the transformational moment that was promised will be reached. And if these Leftists are given another four years with the keys to the kingdom, surely the kingdom will fail.

How many Americans see this? Not enough, unfortunately. It’s never enough. It’s always in the hands of the few to lead the rest.

Last Sunday President Obama was making his umpteenth visit to “CBS 60 Minutes,” that program that regularly unleashes pure vitriol on conservatives, then rolls out the red carpet for the left. It was a typical love-fest, but this time Obama made what is probably the most outrageous statement of his entire presidency.

Obama declared his socialist administration to be at least the fourth greatest presidency in history.

“I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln —in terms of what we’ve gotten done.”

Obama is more accomplished than… George Washington? Thomas Jefferson? John Adams? Teddy Roosevelt? Ronald Reagan? Obama is greater than all of them? What sheer arrogance! This is a man blinded by power. But here is what should really frighten us: He is destroying the America we know – there is no question of that — and that is an accomplishment in his eyes, so great an accomplishment that he sees himself as at least the fourth-greatest president in history for doing so.

This is a dangerous man.

How many Americans see this? In the case of the “60 Minutes” audience – not a one. CBS purposely edited out that sentence. The single most striking moment in the interview – and CBS deliberately took it out.

The leftists in the “news” media will say and do everything, including spiking the news, to promote this man’s re-election. By the same token, they will say and do everything, including acts of character assassination, against anyone who dares challenge his rule.

This is what we’re up against. Next year will be the most important election since 1860, and the second most important in our history, and the national “news” media are absolutely committed to getting Barack Obama re-elected so he can complete the transformation of America.

​Here is a video from Alex Kendrick, Writer, producer, director, etc of the following movies:

​1. Flywheel

​2. Facing The Giants

​3. Fireproof

​4. Courageous

​I love his work and can't wait to see his next production

​Jim Eckland