Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after his resurrection?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after his resurrection? I never noticed this & it's amazing....The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!' Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.
Was that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!
In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it..The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Now, if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table.
The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'. But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because........... The folded napkin meant, "I'm Coming Back". 

A Parable

A Parable - Jack Kinsella - www.omegaletter.com

 
You wake up one morning and find a guy camping out in your back yard. You go out and ask him what the heck he thinks he's doing there and he says he used to live in your house before he lost it to back taxes.
 
You bought the house from a realtor at fair market value and didn't know about the tax foreclosure, but now this is your house and he'll have to go find somewhere else to set up camp.
 
The next morning, you get up to find the guy has moved his whole family into your backyard and refuses to leave. But you're a compassionate sort -- you've gone through hard times yourself, and you find yourself in empathy with the guy.
 
You don't need the whole backyard, but you don't want to get locked into anything, either. So you just go about your daily business and let the people in your backyard go about theirs.
 
Until one day you come home and find them sitting in your living room watching TV. Well, it's raining out, and they are watching your favorite TV show, so you don't throw them out, but you don't necessarily welcome them, either. Maybe they'll get the idea on their own.
 
Next morning, you get up and find yourself standing in a line to get to your bathroom. "Enough is enough," you bellow. "Everybody out!"
 
Later, the head of the family in the back yard comes to you and says, "As far as we are concerned, this is our house. Our family lived here for generations before you bought it, and we want it back. We'll let you have the master bedroom and part of the living room, but the kitchen is ours."
 
Well, until they came, you lived alone, and you find you kind of like the company. But you draw the line at giving up the kitchen -- as a professional chef, (it's a parable, I can make up anything I want) the kitchen is the center of your home.
 
So you strike a bargain in which you have access to the kitchen, under supervision, for certain agreed-upon periods during the day.
 
However, they insist, you must pay all the bills for maintaining the house and pay for all the food. You finally hammer out an equitable agreement in which they agree to keep up the property in exchange for your footing the bills.
 
It isn't a perfect agreement, but you can afford it, they are dirt-poor, and you don't have time to do all the work yourself anyway.
 
So you pay the bills, the squatters take over your house, but they trash every room they take over. While you agreed to share the living room, its such a pig-sty that you just give it over to them and start spending most of your time in your bedroom.
 
The last straw comes when you go to the kitchen as per your agreed-upon hours and are forbidden entry. This is the very last of the last straws. You toss everybody out of the house and lock all the doors.
 
In response, they go on a rampage in your back yard, burning your toolshed, digging up all your flowers, and chanting threats that your house is next. Exasperated, you call in the law.
 
Turns out the policeman is the squatter's brother-in-law so he refuses to evict them from your yard. So you take it to court.
 
The judge, (who turns out to be the squatter's cousin) rules that since you let them squat in your yard, they have a proprietary interest so, they can stay in your backyard, but not in your house.
 
You don't think the verdict is fair, but you are a law-abiding sort, so you surrender your backyard and try to negotiate an agreement whereby you can cross 'their' territory to get to your lawn mower and garden tools.
 
You finally work out a deal where you can go get your lawn tools, but in exchange, you have to cut their grass, too. The first time you try to go get it, they won't let you through unless you give them bathroom privileges.
 
It seems reasonable; you aren't in the bathroom all the time anyway, and they have to go somewhere, so you agree and they let you pass. You finish cutting the grass and there they are back in the living room watching TV.
 
You throw them back out and they start throwing rocks through your window. You call the police and the same brother-in-law shows up and begins making excuses for them. Exasperated again, you take them to court.
 
The (judge who is a cousin) rules that since you agreed to the bathroom deal, what's so bad about them watching a little TV once in awhile?
 
He refuses to evict them from your yard, and includes the bathroom sharing arrangement as part of the formal deal.
 
When you ask for damages for the broken windows, they are refused on the grounds it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't locked them out.
 
Now, you can't get to your lawn tools without making a new concession every time you go there, so you decide to just close off the back yard and let them wade through the field of their own making.
 
You put up a privacy fence to separate 'their' part of the yard from yours, leaving a little gate they can come through to use the shared bathroom. Next thing you know, they start lobbing paint filled balloons over the fence at your house. From the bathroom, they toss paint balloons down the hall and into your living room.
 
You call the police, get the same brother-in-law who again sides with the squatters in the back yard. So you go to court, where the judge orders you to take down the fence. Convinced you are getting a raw deal, you refuse. The judge says, "Then don't come complaining to me if they retaliate because of your fence."
 
"But," you protest, "the only reason for putting up the fence is to prevent them from attacking my house."
 
"Not my problem," says the judge. "You should have thought of that when you threw them out of their own house that they've lived in for generations."
 
"But I bought it from a realtor. I have a deed," you protest.
 
"It's because of that deed that I let you live in the house instead of the backyard," the judge says.
 
"But this court can't totally ignore the fact they lived there for generations before you took possession," noting, "when you moved in, you agreed to let them stay. Now it is up to the two sides to work out an equitable sharing arrangement."
 
The judge bangs his gavel, then says to you, "Oh, and cut the grass. Your yard is an eyesore."
 
You leave the courtroom, understandably stunned. You bought the house fair and square -- and nobody is disputing it. You've got the documents to prove it. But despite that, neither the squatters, the police nor the judge recognize your right to sole occupation. And every effort to explain the sharing arrangement puts them in a stronger legal position.
 
You should have just tossed the guy out on his ear the day he set up camp in your yard.
 
Now, you're stuck with the situation as it has evolved; outnumbered in your own house; the police and courts are openly hostile to your claims.
 
And no matter what the terms of the original agreement was, you know they are only going to uphold one side's obligations under any agreement -- and it isn't your side.
 
So one day, having had enough, you pick up a club (because you are outnumbered) and charge over there to have it out with them. This time, the police blame you for an unprovoked attack.
 
The court awards them damages in the form of full legal title to your back yard.
 
The war goes on, back and forth, between you and the squatters who now own your backyard up to the fence, with the squatters claiming the entire back yard and still complaining that the gate makes it too hard for them to exercise their right to the shared bathroom.
 
You finally lock them out of the bathroom. Your neighbors, sick of the commotion (and all former neighbors of the squatters in the back yard) band together into a neighborhood association aimed at driving you out of the neighborhood.
 
They sign petitions demanding you move away. They complain your privacy fence is an eyesore. Your house is ugly and paint-spattered, your back yard is a mess and there are people living in tents when they should be living inside a house and they blame YOU for their pitiful situation.
 
A few pretend to be your friends, but at the same time, you know that they are sneaking paint and balloons into your back yard for the squatters to throw at you.
 
But at least they are not at the moment openly attacking the front of your house from their side of the street, so you pretend back and try not to antagonize them.
 
Assessment:
 
It has all the makings of a plot line for a Stephen King novel or a nightmare of the sort brought on by a late night snack of double anchovy pizza washed down by a cold glass of milk.
 
Instead it is a thinly disguised parable about Israel and the Palestinians. The Arab 'Palestinians' had lived in the region for four hundred years as subjects of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Title passed from the Ottoman Empire to the British when the British captured Jerusalem during the First World War.
 
Britain was granted legal title under the British Mandate, and Israel came into legal possession of that title to its' 'house' in 1948 when it was recognized as an independent state by the United Nations in 1948.
 
The new title holder, Israel, did not take the title away from the Arab occupants. The British did that. Israel took possession of the land from the British. Israel's Arab neighbors attacked openly five times, were defeated five times, and now quietly arm the Palestinians for war while claiming to be negotiators for peace.
 
The UN has ruled in favor of the Palestinians in every dispute that has come before it, including many as ridiculously one-sided as those in my parable.
 
The Arab-controlled UN General Assembly has never passed a resolution condemning a single Arab action, but has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than all the rest of the world's serial human rights abusers combined.
 
The Palestinian claim to Israel is as thin as the squatter's claim in the parable, and the behavior of the squatters in the back yard is instantly recognizable as mirroring the various Palestinian intifadas over issues like sharing Jerusalem and refusing Jewish access to the Temple Mount.
 
The Temple Mount is the heart of Israel's religious existence. Without it, it would be like the home of a professional chef without a kitchen.
 
And Jerusalem is Israel's ancient, God-given and Divinely restored capital. For the Jews, demanding a share of Jerusalem would be like demanding a share of one's living room.
 
(Neat how I worked those in, no?)
 
In 2007, The Palestinians announced a tentative date for their meeting with Ehud Olmert in Annapolis, Maryland. PA President Mahmoud Abbas made the announcement, adding a warning that, "unless ALL the issues at the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are solved, violence will break out anew," reported the Jerusalem Post.
 
As in our parable, the police and judge in this case are all related, so there was no outcry from them when the squatters threatened to attack, even though they had no claim to the shared living room (Jerusalem) and reneged on the deal to share the kitchen (Temple Mount).
 
And like the bewildered homeowner, Israel reacted to the threats with a statement from Ehud Olmert promising to try harder, only to be met with a demand for even more from the other side.
 
According to the Jerusalem Post there was the promise. . .
 
"Israel Radio later quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying that he would make a "great effort" to ensure that the conference becomes a first step towards peace. Olmert said it was imperative to avoid making excuses and to venture forward in negotiations despite the risks involved. . .
 
. . . followed by the new demand:
 
Meanwhile, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, former PA prime minister Ahmed Qurei, said Tuesday there would be no talks with Israel unless a deadline was set for establishing a Palestinian state.
 
Our parable has a nightmarish-like relentless quality to it -- like running down a long hallway and the faster you run, the longer it gets. You go to the cops, its the enemy's brother-in-law. The only judge is a first cousin. All the rules seem to work in reverse, and always against you, even when it is patently obvious -- like in a bad dream.
 
What used to be your back yard, bought and paid for (in Israel's case, in blood during the Six-Days War) is now behind a fence erected to protect what is left of Israel's homeland. The judge [the UN] sides with the Palestinian demands that the fence come down 'as a condition of peace' when the only reason FOR the fence is to KEEP the peace -- by keeping out Palestinian terrorists.
 
In the real world, you just couldn't make something like this up from scratch. If you did, it would have that same surreal, dreamlike quality to it that our parable does.
 
It is hard to imagine an institution as corrupt as the one represented by the police and judge of the parable, and even harder to imagine rulings that one-sided being handed down by any legal authority.
 
Yet the UN and General Assembly's record is so one-sided and biased against Israel that you probably suspected the parable was about Israel and the UN long before I told you.
 
The point is, you couldn't make this up -- in any other context, it is too unbelievable to make sense. I hope that I am telegraphing my next point -- it means you're seeing the Big Picture -- if you can't make stuff like this up, how hard is it to accurately predict it, in detail, thousands of years in advance?
 
Look how many predictions we're talking about, all coming together at the same time, to paint an otherwise impossible Big Picture:
 
First, the Bible predicted the restoration of Israel -- the exact same piece of geography to the same ethnic group, to be called by the prophesied name of "Israel." This is an event unparalleled in the history of human civilization.
 
At the time in which the prophets spoke of a restored nation of Israel, that nation had already been destroyed by the Assyrians a generation before. It would not exist again for 2500 years.
 
But when it was restored, the Bible said, it would be restored geographically, ethnically and religiously, and its scattered citizens would return with their ancient customs, traditions, language and religion intact.
 
By itself, that is an amazing prophecy, made even more amazing by its fulfillment in our generation.
 
Second, the Bible predicted Jerusalem would return to Israeli possession. That was even considered an impossible prophecy during the modern era.
 
The UN Partition Plan called for making Jerusalem an 'international city.'
 
From 1948 to 1967, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount part of Jordan. But in 1967, both fell under Israeli sovereignty for the first time in twenty-five hundred years, precisely as prophesied.
 
Third, the Bible predicted that Israeli possession of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem would become the central flashpoint of global politics, with the Prophet Zechariah predicting the whole world would become obsessed, as if drunken, over the question of who owns Jerusalem.
 
Fourth, all the prophets predict that Israel will, in the end, stand alone and friendless against the entire world in their claim for both the city and the Temple Mount.
 
Israel is the only genuine representative Western-style democracy amid a sea of radical Islamic dictatorships in the midst of what amounts to a war between radical Islam and Western society. Israel's enemies are equally the enemies of the Western world.
 
But the Western world consistently (and, given the whole 'war' thingy, inexplicably) sides against Israel and with its shared radical Islamic enemy.
 
When asked, most can't quite explain why. It just seems like the right thing to do.
 
Western government spokesmen mumble something about 'Palestinian victimization' by the Israeli 'occupation' == but when pressed, can't identify the actual victimizer nor explain what Palestinian territory Israel is actually 'occupying'.
 
And they know that any Palestinian state created out of the current population will be a terrorist state and whatever weapons they send them to 'defeat' the Zionist occupiers will later be turned on them.
 
But they don't seem able to help themselves. It doesn't make any sense, even when you try to explain it logically.
 
But the Bible PREDICTED it. Look at the layers of predictions that all depended upon one another in order to project the Big Picture we see before us. The picture we see is the one the Bible prophets foresaw and foretold.
 
Had the Arabs accepted the 1947 Partition plan, the Bible's predictions would have failed. Had the Israelis not recaptured the Old City and Temple in '67, the Bible's predictions would have failed.
 
If the Western world sided with Israel as its natural, Western democratic natural ally, (which is also the most logical scenario) the Big Picture would be unrecognizably altered and Bible prophecy would fail.
 
These are all predictions recorded thousands of years in advance, and puzzled over by every generation to study them in the centuries since. Had any of them failed, the Big Picture we see would not be the one that they, or we, expected.
 
But here it is, in all its splendiforus gloriousness -- undeniable evidence of both the accuracy of Bible prophecy and reality of a Creator God Whose foretold Plan of the Ages is coming together before our very eyes!
 
But the top-rated television program on cable last Sunday night wasn't, "The King Is Coming," or, "Prepare to Meet Thy God."
 
The top-rated show on cable last Lord's Day was the History Channel's, "The Lost Book of Nostradamus." Which is the fulfillment of yet another Bible prophecy:
 
"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2nd Timothy 3:7)

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A Letter From James, Part 5. Conclusion

A Letter From James, Part 5. Conclusion - A Bible Study by Jack Kelley - https://gracethrufaith.com/verse-by-verse/a-letter-from-james-part-5-conclusion/

 
This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series A Letter From James
 
In this study we'll conclude our survey of the the letter from James, half-brother of Jesus. The original Apostles named him overseer of the Church in Jerusalem, a position he held until his death in 62AD. James probably wrote his letter around 50 AD or even a little before. The stoning of Stephen in 36 AD had led to the persecution and scattering of the young Church, which was still primarily made up of Jewish converts. This study will focus on chapter 5, the final chapter of his instructions to the scattered Church.
 
Warning to Rich Oppressors
 
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.(James 5:1-6)
 
Without any warning, James turned to unleash this tirade against the wealthy. In a few years the Romans would come, destroying everything in their path. The life style that the rich had come to enjoy, often by oppressing the poor, would be ripped away from them and they would be left with nothing. From the language it's reasonable to see this as a dual fulfillment prophecy, taking place both in the first century Roman conquest of Israel and in the end times where the Lord will hold the whole world accountable for things like this.
 
Patience In Suffering
 
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
 
Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
 
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear-not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple "Yes" or "No." Otherwise you will be condemned (James 5:7-12).
 
Just as quickly as he left, James turned back to his primary recipients, the scattered Church. But everything he said to them is also good advice for our time. In many countries, the Christian way of life has never been tolerated and believers there have always lived under the threat of persecution. In the US and some other western countries this has not been the case, and persecution for our faith has been largely unknown. But lately we've seen growing signs that those days are rapidly coming to a close. American Christians are seeing increasing instances of persecution among us as our influence on society diminishes and our public voice is stilled. Patience will be the order of the day, and the Lord promised to reward us for it.
 
He said, "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth" (Rev. 3:10).
 
The Prayer of Faith
 
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective
 
Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops (James 5:13-17).
 
The Lord's promise to heal His people first appears in Exodus 15:26 where it became one of the names by which He's known, "Jehovah Rapha," the Lord who heals you. This promise continues throughout the Old Testament. The Psalms, Proverbs, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Malachi contain numerous examples. Here are just a couple.
 
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:2-3)
 
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
 
But this promise was not just for God's people in the Old Testament. Jesus healed the sick. When He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel He told them to heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2). Later, He said whoever has faith in Him will do the things He did (John 14:12). That includes healing the sick. Peter and Paul healed the sick and raised the dead. Paul said that the gift of healing has been distributed throughout the Church for the common good of the body (1 Cor. 12:7).
 
Those who deny that the gift of healing exists in the Church today do so in the face of substantial evidence to the contrary, and without a single verse to support their position. Having never performed or perhaps even seen a miraculous healing, they've applied the reverse of 2 Cor. 5:7 and are living by sight instead of by faith.
 
Think about this for a moment. God has chosen us, the Church, to be His example of the incomparable riches of His grace in ages yet to come (Ephes. 2:7) bestowing on us every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). When Jesus came He demonstrated these gifts and empowered His disciples to demonstrate them as well. He said anyone who has faith in Him would do the things He did. Would He then suddenly withdraw His gifts from us without telling us He was doing so, leaving us without the remedy for our infirmities that He died to give us?
 
It is true that not everyone who applies James 5:14-16 is healed. But in those cases the reasons don't originate with God. He is the God who heals us. He sent His Son to die for us so we could be healed. Jesus never said the timing wasn't right, or that it wasn't God's will for a person to be healed.
 
The only recorded time when Jesus was given the choice to heal someone or not is in Matt. 8:2-3.
 
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
 
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
 
Numbers 23:19 tells us God is not a man that he would lie, or the son of a man that he would change his mind. "Has He ever spoken and not done it, or promised and not fulfilled it?" Moses asked. And Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. We can't blame God.
 
James reminded us that Elijah was just a human, like we are, and yet when he prayed that the rain would cease not a drop of water fell on Israel for 3 ½ years. Then he prayed for it to resume and it did. His point was if the prayers of an ordinary man of faith could keep the rain from falling on an entire nation surely they can heal us from our illnesses.
 
The problems with our not being healed have to originate on Earth, not in Heaven. Something, or someone, is impeding our prayers. Remember, the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). A criminal knows what he does is against the law, but he does it anyway thinking he won't get caught. It's up to the police to stop him. In the same way, what Satan and his minions do to us is against the law, but they do it anyway. It's up to us to stop them, and the Bible shows us how. But we can't do that if we're somehow allowing them to do it or blaming God for the lack of results instead.
 
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20).
 
Only someone who isn't really saved can wander from the truth into the face of death. Paul taught that God takes ownership of all believers and puts His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Jesus promised never to lose any of those the Father has given Him (John 6:39). He said no one can snatch any of us out of either His or His Father's hands (John 10:27-30).
 
Therefore someone who wanders from the truth and needs to be saved from death didn't really believe the truth in the first place. Turning such a person back requires helping them become truly saved. Only the blood of Jesus can save them from death and cover a multitude of sins.
 
In Conclusion
 
Of late, I've come across the opinion that James was writing to Jews who were still under the Law and therefore is not meant for the Church. They put forth several reasons for this, beginning with the way he addressed the letter, "To the 12 tribes scattered among the nations." But when James wrote his letter the Church still consisted predominately of converted Jews. And if he wrote it in 50 AD or before, the Council of Jerusalem which opened the doors of the Church to the Gentiles hadn't taken place yet.
 
They say James advocated a "faith plus works" form of salvation, which they interpret as keeping the Law. But what he really said was that true faith will manifest itself in the performance of acts of kindness toward others. James never once advocated keeping the Law as a requirement for salvation.
 
They say he never mentioned accepting the shed blood of Jesus as payment for our sins as the way to salvation. But he was writing to people who were already saved, explaining how to live a Christian life. His focus was not on salvation but on sanctification.
 
There are even some who put James among the "Judaizers" who insisted that Gentiles wishing to follow Jesus had to be circumcised and put themselves under the Law. But they overlook the fact that it was James who, only a few years after he wrote this letter, ruled against the Judaizers in opening the door to the Gentiles without any such requirements (Acts 15:13-18).
 
I undertook this study to dispute these claims as being without merit. In doing so I'm siding with the generations of Christians who right from the earliest days of the Church saw the Letter from James as valuable instruction to the entire Church, worthy of inclusion in the New Testament.

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11 Signs That America Has Already Gone Down The Toilet

11 Signs That America Has Already Gone Down The Toilet - By Michael Snyder -

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/11-signs-that-america-has-already-gone-down-the-toilet
 
Just when you think that the depravity of the United States cannot possibly get any worse, something else comes along to surprise us.  Many of the things that you are about to read about in this article are incredibly disturbing, but it is important that we face the truth about how far this nation has fallen.  There are times when I will be having a conversation with someone else about the state of our country, and the other person will say something like this: "Wow - America is really going down the toilet."  At one time, I would have totally agreed with that.  But at this point I would have to say that we have already circled the bowl and have made it all the way through to the other end.  Our society is absolutely addicted to entertainment (most of which is utter trash), tens of millions of us are hooked on drugs (both legal and illegal), and we have murdered more than 56 million of our own babies.  Our financial system is consumed with greed, we treat our military veterans like human garbage, and most of our "leaders" in Washington D.C. are deeply corrupt.  In America today, 64 percent of all men view pornography at least once per month, it is estimated that one out of every four girls is sexually abused before they become adults, and we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the entire industrialized world.  We like to think that we are an "example" to the rest of the world, but the only example that we are setting is a bad one.  The following are 11 signs that America has already gone down the toilet...
 
#1 All over the United States, the body parts of aborted babies are being bought and sold, and the U.S. government gives the organization at the heart of this sick "industry" hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  This week, another incredibly shocking undercover video has been released which has given us even more evidence of what Planned Parenthood is really up to...
 
The most recent video shows a luncheon conversation with Dr. Mary Gatter, who currently serves as president of Planned Parenthood's Medical Directors' Council and Medical Director of Planned Parenthood's Pasadena abortion clinic.
 
In the video, Gatter is heard haggling over the price she will charge for intact fetal body parts and is concerned that she will be "low-balled." She asks for at least $75 per specimen, but wants to see what other Planned Parenthood abortionists are getting to make sure she gets similar compensation so she can buy an expensive sports car.
 
"It's been years since I've talked about compensation, so let me just figure out what others are getting and if this is in the ballpark, that's fine. If it's still low, we can bump it up. I want a Lamborghini," Gatter laughed.
 
This is wickedness at a level that is almost unspeakable, and it is being bankrolled by the U.S. government.
 
Let's hope that "I want a Lamborghini" gets plastered all over the Internet hundreds of millions of times.  I encourage everyone to get on Facebook and Twitter and start blasting out messages like this one to everyone that they know...
 
If we cannot even stop the U.S. government from funding this kind of evil, what possible hope is there for the future of this nation?
 
According to WND, some members of this "industry" even receive monetary bonuses "based on the baby parts they harvest"...
 
StemExpress, which is run by Planned Parenthood abortion doctor Ronald Berman, offers its procurement technician's bonuses based on the baby parts they harvest, according to the Center for Medical Progress. Larger bonuses are offered for more valuable body parts, classified as "Category A" parts, while smaller bonuses are given for "Category C" parts.
 
This alone is enough to prove that America has gone all the way down the toilet.  But I will continue with the list...
 
#2 Just a few days ago, we learned that hackers had stolen personal information from 37 million users on an adultery website known as Ashley Madison...
 
A hacking insider has told Sky News he thinks the people threatening to release personal details of users of an adultery website are bluffing and using the publicity as advertising to sell the data to the highest bidder.
 
Hackers calling themselves Impact Team have stolen and leaked data from some of the Ashley Madison website's 37 million users and are threatening to publish more.
 
For now the group has released just 40MB of data, including some credit card details and several documents about its parent company Avid Life Media (ALM), it is reported.
 
The big story here is not the hacking.
 
Rather, the big story is the fact that 37 million of us have signed up to participate on a website that facilitates adultery.
 
#3 Rates of violent crime are increasing by double digit percentages in many major U.S. cities in 2015, and some of the crimes being committed are almost too horrible to talk about.  Just consider the following example which comes from the Daily Mail...
 
A 22-year-old man and his 21-year-old girlfriend were walking along McNichols Road near Birwood Street on Thursday around 11:30pm when a group of three to six men approached them in the well-lit area, WWJ reported.
 
The couple was allegedly forced behind a nearby business, where the six men robbed and stripped them of their clothes.
 
Police say the violent men took turns sexually assaulting the woman and when the attack ended, the victims ran nude to a nearby liquor store for help.
 
Another couple was attacked just a few hours later at 2:40am when a 21-year-old man and his 19-year-old girlfriend were walking in the area of McNichols Road and Pierson Street.
 
Four men ordered them to the ground and then took took turns sexually assaulting the woman, forcing her boyfriend to watch, WWJ reported.
 
Incredibly, these gang rapes barely made a blip on the news here in the United States.  There are so many similar crimes taking place all around us that there is nothing really "unusual" about these horrific rapes.
 
#4 Under the Obama administration, our federal government has become absolutely obsessed with political correctness and is spending money in some of the most bizarre ways imaginable.  For instance, the feds recently spent $125,000 "to study adjectives that could be perceived as sexist or racist".
 
#5 Speaking of pouring money down the toilet, the Obamaphone program is a perfect example.  It turns out that all you have to do to get a free cellphone from the federal government is to show them someone else's food stamp card...
 
The 2014 CBS4 investigation showed repeated instances of fraudulent activity and waste in the Lifeline program in Denver. It's an FCC administered program designed to provide free monthly cellphone service to the needy so they can have cellphone service allowing them to seek employment or call for emergency help if needed. Recipients are required to show official documentation like Medicaid, housing assistance or food stamp cards verifying their low income status in order to receive the free phone service.
 
But last year a vendor in Denver working under the FCC program had employees who volunteered to use someone else's food stamp card to secure a free phone and service for a CBS4 producer who was not eligible for the program.
 
Vendors typically receive $3 for every phone they are able to give out. In other cases, vendors said a CBS4 producer could simply show someone else's electronics benefit card in order to secure a free phone and service.
 
#6 Meanwhile, the government doesn't even want to talk to normal, hard working citizens that just need a few questions answered.  According to a report that was just released, the IRS hung up on 8.8 million taxpayers that called in looking for help during this most recent tax season.
 
#7 The federal government has made it exceedingly difficult for law-abiding people to immigrate to this nation legally, but meanwhile they have left our borders completely wide open and have actively encouraged people to immigrate illegally.  As a result, large numbers of criminals, drug dealers, gang members and welfare parasites have come pouring in.  According to one recent report, 2.5 million illegal immigrants have entered this country while Barack Obama has been in the White House...
 
A new report estimates that 2.5 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States since Barack Obama took office in 2009.
 
The Center for Immigration Studies released a study Monday citing data from the Center for Migration Studies, Pew Research Center and the Census Bureau that indicates 400,000 illegal immigrants on average have entered the country annually since 2009.
 
From the middle of 2013 to May 2015 alone, 790,000 illegals have come into the United States. These undocumented individuals entered the country after President Obama unveiled a controversial executive order in 2012 to stop deporting young illegal immigrants who entered the country as children.
 
And honestly, that 2.5 million number is probably on the low side.  These illegal immigrants are committing some of the most horrible crimes imaginable, and if you doubt this, just read this article.
 
#8 Our society is being transformed into what I like to call "a Big Brother police state control grid".  Just a few days ago, we learned of another example of this phenomenon.  The following comes from the New York Post...
 
A key part of President Obama's legacy will be the fed's unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of "racial and economic justice."
 
Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama's racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school - all to document "inequalities" between minorities and whites.
 
What is truly sad is that so few Americans are actually upset that virtually everything we do is being watched, tracked and monitored.  For much more on all of this, please see this article.
 
#9 Just recently, I authored a piece which railed about the fact that the average American citizen spends more than 10 hours a day plugged in to some form of media.  Many of us become extremely anxious if something is not playing at least in the background.  We spend endless hours watching television, listening to the radio, going to the movies, playing video games, messing with our smartphones and surfing the Internet.  Sadly, what most people don't realize is that more than 90 percent of the "programming" that is being continually pumped into our brains through these various media outlets is controlled by just six absolutely enormous media corporations.
 
#10 At the same time that the elite are endlessly pumping their twisted messages into all of our minds, they are becoming increasingly obsessed with controlling what the rest of us say.  In one recent article, I explained how support for "hate speech laws" in America is rapidly growing.  Today, 51 percent of all Democrats support these kinds of laws, and it is only a matter of time before liberal politicians start pushing really hard for the same kind of hate speech laws that have already been implemented in Europe and Canada.
 
#11 On top of everything else, we have been stealing more than 100 million dollars an hour from future generations of Americans since Barack Obama entered the White House.
 
Let that sink in for a moment.
 
If someone were to write a movie script about the theft of 100 million dollars from a major financial institution, nobody would ever actually want to make that movie because such an amount would be too hard to believe.
 
But this has actually been happening every single hour of every single day while Obama has been in power.
 
In a frenzy of insatiable greed, we have been taking trillions of dollars that belong to our children and our grandchildren and spending it ourselves.  When you break it down, it comes to more than 100 million dollars every single hour of every single day.  This is a crime of unimaginable proportions, and if we lived in a just society a whole bunch of our "top politicians" would be going to prison for this.
 
I could keep going, but I will stop for today.
 
So what do you think?
 
Is there any hope for America?

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Beleaguered brethren, relief is on the way

Beleaguered brethren, relief is on the way - Elizabeth Prata -

http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2015/07/beleaguered-brethren-relief-is-on-way.html
 
What a blessed relief the rapture is to look forward to!!!
 
 In his tremendous sermon delivered last Sunday, July 19, Pastor John MacArthur demonstrated once again the qualities of a superlative shepherd.
 
 After Memorial Day he planned to go on vacation as usual. He delivered a sermon to help his flock prepare for events that may occur while he was gone. He said in his good-bye for now sermon,  "Hope for a Doomed Nation" that
 
So as we look at our nation - and I don't know what's going to happen in the next few weeks when I'm not here. I'm just kind of preempting that a little bit by helping you to be able to think through whatever happens. I have to say at this point that there are many churches who aren't helping.
 
One event was obviously what turned out to be the devastating Supreme Court decision to legalize homosexual marriage in all 50 states as the law of the land. We knew that the Supreme Court decision was coming out in early June, and we knew the decision would not likely swing to the moral side of the compass. So the Pastor was preparing his flock to receive bad news and retain their spiritual equilibrium (and ours too, if we listen to GTY). However, in addition to the SCOTUS decision, we also endured the Charleston church shooting, Chattanooga military base terrorist shooting, Louisiana movie theater shooting, and the Planned Parenthood videos. A lot happened while their senior pastor was away.
 
 So much so, that the rapidity of our moral collapse as a nation is dizzying. The collapse is coming from many different directions. That's partly why it's dizzying, our heads are swinging from this side to that to detect all the incoming. So though Pastor MacArthur's vacation was going to be the usual length, most of the summer, MacArthur had an opportunity to return and preach for one Sunday, July 19 before resuming this week. In the face of moral collapse, heightened danger physically and spiritually for every Christian in this country, and grief over the heinousness of the Planned Parenthood videos, how can a pastor best help his flock at such a time as this?
 
 He opened that sermon, We Will Not Bow by saying,
 
A lot is happening at a very rapid rate. And with all the discussion that's been going on, I've been kind of eager to get to you, and maybe help to give you a perspective.
 
His phrase, 'get to you', was filled with urgency and the word 'to' was emphasized. You'll hear it if you listen. It reminded me of a mama on a playground suddenly hearing her child cry because he fell down, and her instinct is to rush over and scoop him up and protect. That was the attitude in his statement, a shepherd rushing over to protect the sheep, to calm them and give them food. This in itself is encouraging.
 
 The sermon was encouraging as much as it was informative. Toward the conclusion of it, MacArthur focused on the relief that is in store.
 
 No matter what is occurring in the world or the United States ultimately there will be an end. The end for believers will be blessed relief from the corruptions of our flesh, the battles against the temptations of the world, and the deliverance from the presence of satan and sin. It will all end and for us, the end will be a holy blessed relief. It all can be summed up in one word: Jesus. He gives the relief and His work on the cross actuated it.
 
 Part of that relief will be the righteous satisfaction in seeing evildoers punished. The end for those who do not love Jesus is eternal conscious torment after having been judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. I know this isn't a palatable statement for many to read, but once we are glorified at the rapture and the end of all things plays out, we will be part of Jesus in every way. He longs for making all things right and we will too. Sinners' sins are so terrible against our Jesus that we will want to see Him enthroned, claiming His position as dispenser of justice.
 
 MacArthur said
 
But that same event brings us relief, relief. Verse 6, "It is only just for God to repay with affliction." And implied, it is only just for God to give relief. He will give relief to His own. Affliction will end. Persecution will end. Suffering will end. That's His promise. And it will end for those that belong to Him-those who have been afflicted by a God-rejecting, Christ-rejecting world.
 
 And what does that relief look like? Verse 10, we'll be glorified with Him on that day, "to be marveled at among all who have believed." I love to think of that. We're going to look at each other and say, "Whoa, did you turn out amazing! I never could have imagined." I've told you before, I know there are many of you, that when we get to heaven, I won't recognize. Perfection with obliterate any memory of what you used to be.
 
 We're just passing through, aren't we? We're just passing through. (John MacArthur "We Will Not Bow")
 
I began this essay saying what a good shepherd John MacArthur is. I have several friends who had opportunity to hear the sermon live last Sunday. They both tweeted how blessed they were to hear it and be comforted along with many other solid believers. I write this essay because not everyone has such a blessing.
 
 As the moral slide gains steam and hurtles down that downgrade, many discerning believers are left adrift inside their local congregations with unworthy shepherds. Some pastors are just plain unskilled at being able to comfort through scriptures. These pastors preach topically, usually three points of self-help sermons such as "Three Ways to Get Your Kids to Listen to You" or "Six Ways to Change Your Life". Self-help is no help at all when trials come.
 
 Other pastors are ignorant of eschatology or are unwilling to give it credence. Thus they avoid scriptures that refer to the end of all things such as the Matthew 24 or 1 Thessalonians verses, which actually are designed to comfort. (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
 
 Other pastors are not saved and are actually agents of satan. We don't like to believe this, but it is true far more often than most people realize. S. Lewis Johnson preached,
 
And so it was inevitable, Paul says, that factions would exist in the church. For there must also be factions among you that those are approved may be recognized among you. In fact, the factions and the process of being approved by the way in which we respond to the problems of the local church is really an anticipation of a separation that is to occur at the judgment seat - well, at the Great White Throne judgment.
 
 There are people who are in ostensible fellowship with local churches that are not going to be in heaven. We know that. The Bible details that, too. Satan is very active in the Christian church seeking to overthrow the ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so, consequently, he infiltrates the Christian churches. And if it's a Christian church that is a fruitful church there will be some there that are not emissaries of our Lord but are really emissaries of Satan. Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
 
 And he says "not only are they sitting in the pew, they're standing by the pulpit." As a matter of fact, the ones standing behind the pulpit are more dangerous and more likely to upset the Church of God. And so Satan is very anxious to have one standing behind a pulpit, or standing behind this pulpit, too, for that matter.
 
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)
 
 So for those who do not have the blessing of a faithful pastor, and/or are attending a church filled with false doctrine but don't know where else to go, or are dealing with factions and disgruntled members, or who simply feel alone even in the middle of a local congregation, take heart.
 
 We are sojourners on this hostile planet. But that will end. Relief is on the way. Praise Jesus. 

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