HAL LINDSEY: 2.11.17

 

 

February 10th, 2017

On last week's program, I discussed President Trump's executive order establishing a temporary ban on persons entering the United States from seven nations -- all hotbeds of terrorism, sponsors of terrorism, or involved in civil wars that have terrorist combatants.

It had caused quite an uproar. Protests were staged at U.S. airports. Some were led by immigration rights organizations and groups who are paid by the federal government to resettle refugees.

The New York cab drivers protested, too. They said the temporary ban made them targets for retribution. But they only stopped picking up passengers at JFK for an hour, then it was back to work.

Shortly after I recorded that program, a U.S. District Judge in Seattle, Washington, issued a nationwide restraining order that blocked the President's travel ban.

Incredibly, he didn't dispute the President's very clear authority to issue the order. He really couldn't. The law is very precise and previous Presidents, including Obama, have done precisely what President Trump did. The judge just said that he thought "there's no support" for the idea that "we have to protect the U.S. from individuals" who reside in the countries on that list.

In other words, he said that in his opinion the President didn't make a wise choice in doing what he did. It wasn't necessary. So the judge just decided to order that the ban be lifted.

Many on the Left have tried to paint the temporary ban prohibiting travel into the U.S. from those specific nations as a "Muslim ban." Either they are terribly uninformed or they are lying. My vote goes for lying.

The seven nations on the list are Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Seven nations specified by the previous administration. It bans entry of all travelers from those nations, not just Muslims. The executive order doesn't even mention Muslims.

The five largest predominantly Muslim nations in the world are not on the list. Of the world's 1.7 billion Muslims, 90% are not affected by the temporary ban.

So how can anyone say with a shred of honesty that this is a "Muslim ban?" If you hear anyone in the government or the media call it that, you know they are doing so to advance their own agenda.

With the temporary travel ban, the President is simply pausing the immigrant admissions process for a short while so that the Department of Homeland Security can figure out ways to more safely allow people in those countries to come here. Each of the seven nations represent a unique vulnerability in U.S. security.

As things now stand, it is almost impossible to properly vet visa applicants from these nations. That's why DHS needs some time to devise new guidelines and procedures before the process resumes.

As President Trump told members of the U.S. Central Command, we don't want to import into America the very threats that our soldiers are facing on the battlefield.

Now, doesn't all of this sound reasonable? And responsible? We normal folks think so. But, apparently, members of the judiciary on the Left Coast (appropriately labeled, if you ask me) don't think so. Just yesterday, a panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the original judge's stay of the ban.

Once again, they found no fault with the President's authority to do this. (That makes me wonder how they would have responded to President Obama's order suspending these programs for six months if any Democrat state attorney-general had bothered to sue President Obama to stop his ban. Hmmm. Doesn't that make their motives sound a bit suspect? Just saying....)

Once again, the appeals court seemed to feel that the President's temporary ban might cause some inconvenience for a few foreign students studying at universities in the states of Washington and Minnesota. Never mind the President's unquestioned authority to do it or the danger some incoming "refugees" might pose to Americans.

Or never mind that President Carter completely banned the entry of all Iranians, then had the FBI hunt down and deport all Shi'ite Muslims from Iran and many Iranian students.

Of course, at that time the Muslim Brotherhood had not exerted several years of influence on a Presidential administration and the Democrats weren't so desperate to flood America with millions of questionable, military-aged immigrant men from the Middle East.

On top of that, we've had an additional 40 years of delusional, anti-American attitudes inculcated in our youth at America's colleges and universities.

So, the practical effect of the judge's nullification of the President's ban, and the appeals court refusal to overturn the stay, is that the rush is on for people traveling from those seven nations to get to America as quickly as possible. In fact, that is exactly what this New York Times headline proclaims: "Lifting of Travel Ban Sets Off Rush to Reach U.S."

Now, it's headed for the Supreme Court.

No one argues that the ban was not rather messy in its implementation. It was abruptly announced on a Friday afternoon. Lower-level officials were caught off-guard. Interpretation of the new order varied from location to location. It created confusion.

There were some unfortunate detentions, but in the end, everyone was allowed in and no one was detained for more than a few hours. In all, just a couple of hundred travelers (of more than 350,000 entering the country that day) were subject to the review and all were released.

Within a couple of days, many of the kinks had been worked out and it was announced that all valid "green card" holders either in the country, en route, or about to embark would be accepted.

But, to be fair, there was a compelling reason for the abruptness of the ban's announcement. To make something like this go smoothly, it would have to be publicly announced in advance. Seminars would need to be held to teach DHS and TSA personnel how to implement it. In other words, the very terrorists we are trying to prevent from entering the country would be notified well in advance just how much time they had to get into the U.S. before the welcome mat is yanked.

That sort of defeats the purpose of the whole operation. For the order to work, it had to be done without warning.

But the terror organizations needn't worry. The judges on the West Coast have your back. You now have plenty of time to get your stuff together and get over here before rational thinking is restored!

This week, too, I'll discuss what may be some softening of the new administration's backing of Israel's right to expand the settlements in Jerusalem. Also, our resolve to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. During the campaign, President Trump did not mince words. He would move the embassy.

But now, it seems to appear that the government may be walking that promise back a bit. Is it a return to the policies of previous administrations? Or, is it a decision not to add fuel to fires that are burning white-hot right now?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit the White House in a few days. It will be interesting to see what emerges from those meetings.

Nevertheless, we should continue, as the Psalmist encouraged, to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." [Psalms 122:6 KJV]

Finally, it may surprise you to learn that I was not born again as a full-grown, mature Christian. I started off as a baby in Christ. Just like you.

We are all works in progress. We are all continually "under construction." Simon, the vacillator, later became Peter, the rock. Saul, the legalist, became Paul, the champion of grace.

The process of pruning and cultivating continues day by day, season by season, until we go home to be with our Father.

This week, I will discuss the danger of "Galatiansim." That's the erroneous teaching that says God's grace covers all our failings up to the point that we are saved. But after that, we must live the Christian life by somehow mixing "grace" with "being good" to qualify for heaven.

The Apostle Paul was so upset by that teaching that he called the believers at Galatia "foolish!" He wrote to them: "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" [Galatians 3:3 NASB]

I'm so glad that once we are born again into the body of Christ, we don't have to depend on our own devices to keep us there. We can fully trust the same grace that redeemed us to keep us.

Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

A NOTE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WATCH "THE HAL LINDSEY REPORT" ON TBN: Remember, the Report is now seen 30 minutes later, beginning at 6:00 pm Pacific/9:00 pm Eastern each Friday.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey

 

The Answer - By Hal Lindsey - http://www.hallindsey.com/ww-2-4-2017/

 

Frustration... rage... condemnation... confusion... fear....  To many, it feels like we're in the middle of a massive and growing storm with a funnel cloud forming in the sky above our heads.  Temper tantrums - with stomping feet, held breath, pointed fingers, and raised fists - are not the answer.

 

But there is an answer... and He has a name.  Jesus.

 

Jesus was a Man of perfect humility.  He's the One who said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5 NKJV).  But He was also perfectly honest about His identity as God the Son sent from heaven to save us.  Just look at some of the remarkable things He said about Himself.

 

In Mark 14:61-62, the high priest asked Jesus point blank "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?:"  And Jesus answered just as clearly.  "I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."

 

If you have an electronic Bible, it's interesting to search for the words "greater than" in the New Testament.  You quickly learn that Jesus claimed to be "greater than" the temple (Matthew 12:6), "greater than" the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:41), and "greater than" Solomon (Matthew 12:42).

 

Jesus told the person known to Bible readers as "the woman at the well" that He could give her "living water."

 

In trying to figure out His identity, she used the phrase "greater than."  She asked Jesus if He was "greater than" the patriarch Jacob who was said to have dug the well.  Jesus didn't say "Yes," or "No."  But His answer clearly tells us that He is as high above Jacob as Mount Everest is high above an ant hill.

 

He said, "Everyone who drinks of this water [meaning water from Jacob's well] will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13-14 NKJV).

 

To a world that's desperately thirsty, and doesn't even know what it thirsts for, this is Good News!

 

Later in the book of John, Jesus told some Jewish religious leaders, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.'  Then the Jews said to Him, 'Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.' Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?'" (John 8:51-53 NKJV)

 

The Jewish leaders were outraged that Jesus might be placing Himself above Abraham, the father of the nation.  They seemed to think that by putting the question straight to Him, they might shake Him to His senses.  They asked, "Are You greater than our father Abraham?"  Their own answer would be, "No one's 'greater than' Abraham."

 

Jesus - a Man of meekness and humility - astounded them with His answer.

 

"If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him... and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." (John 8:54-56 NKJV)

 

At this point their minds were reeling.  Abraham had lived and died more than 1600 years earlier, and this Fellow spoke as if He knew the patriarch personally.  They said to Jesus, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"

 

Jesus then gave an answer that resonates across the millennia.  "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58 NKJV)

 

Their outrage was so great that they picked up stones to throw at Jesus, but He slipped away.  This was not the time, the place, or the method by which He was to die, and He knew it.

 

Why did His statement make them so angry?  Because He was pronouncing Himself to be God.  When Moses asked God His name, He replied, "I AM THAT I AM."  God told Moses to tell the children of Israel that "I AM" had sent him to them. (Exodus 3:14)

 

But Jesus was also revealing an astounding aspect of God's character.  Jesus didn't say, "Before Abraham was, I was."  That would have meant Jesus was impossibly old.  But what He actually said was far more amazing than that.  He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."  Present tense.  Only God could make such a claim!

 

His majesty and greatness deserve our awe and heartfelt worship.  But there is more to Him than that.  He's not just this distant Majesty out there in the great beyond.  He's here now.  By His Spirit, He's as close to you as the air you breathe.  And He's saying now what He said two thousand years ago, as recorded in Matthew 11:29-30.

 

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

 

If you've accepted this invitation from Him, this is a good time to relax in the security of His salvation, but also to respond to His great love with renewed determination to live in ways that please Him, and to share His love with others.

 

If you have not accepted that invitation... there's no better time than now!