EXHORTATION: Ready or Not, The King is Coming - David R. Barnhart

Yes, Jesus Christ is coming back again, and whether you believe it or not, you will someday have to face Him as your Savior or your Judge.

My heart breaks when I think about how soon the Lord’s return may be, and how little His Church is being prepared or encouraged to watch and wait for His coming as the Bible instructs us to do.

For most Christians, the major strategy in dealing with the doctrine of Christ’s return is to ignore it. For those in liberal churches, the solution is to opt for some kind of socialistic utopia here on earth and call it the kingdom of God

But according to the teachings of the New Testament, other than proclaiming the gospel of salvation, there is no more important doctrine than the coming again of Jesus Christ.  By His coming, Jesus will bring God’s promise of redemption into complete and total fulfillment. We’ll no longer just talk about the streets of gold, we’ll walk on them. We will no longer simply talk about Jesus, we’ll talk with Him face to face, and His own hand will gently wipe every tear from every eye. We’ll not only talk about seeing our loved ones who have gone on before, we’ll be together with them for eternity without ever again experiencing a single moment of separation.

God’s prophetic clock is counting down to the appointed hour. If you don’t believe it, listen to the latest news reports or read the morning papers. The signs of His coming are everywhere, yet the silence of the churches is deafening when it comes to proclaiming this vital truth of Scripture.  How it must grieve the heart of God to look at a sleeping church in a hell-bound world.

We are witnesses today to the fulfillment of manifold signs and prophecies of the Lord’s return. In fact, no generation since Pentecost has ever witnessed more fulfilled prophecies regarding Christ’s coming again than has this present generation. But being a witness to these things carries with it great responsibilities.

Today we are witnesses to the return of the Jews to their land and the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. We are witnesses to a resurgence of the gospel among the Jewish people, who are embracing Christ as their Messiah in numbers not seen since the time of Pentecost. We are witnesses to a revived hatred for the Jews, along with a global effort to destroy the Jewish state. We are witnesses of a hatred throughout our culture for the name of Christ and His Word, as well as a hatred for those who proclaim it.

We are witnesses to the martyrdom of thousands of Christians who are laying down their lives for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, under the grotesque hand of militant Islam. We are all witnesses today of attempts to create a one-world government and a one-world economy.

We are witnesses today of “the great falling away,” as so many churches embrace apostasy, false teachings and unbiblical practices. If Paul told the churches of his day to “WAKE UP,” what do you think he would say to the churches in the twenty-first century who have joined the ranks of the enemies of God?

The doctrine of Jesus’ imminent return must be reclaimed today in its pristine richness, as taught by the New Testament Church. Without this compelling doctrine, it is unlikely the fires of revival will ever burn again in our churches. If the events of the past decade, as well as the events that are presently unfolding in the world, are unable to motivate the church to rise up and proclaim the truth of God’s Word, the world will remain without a shred of hope!

“Rise up, O men of God, have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of kings.”

David R. Barnhart

http://www.thevineandbranches.org/index.cfm/church/ready-or-not-the-king-is-coming/

Donning the Hijab – Priviledge, Blackmail, or Threat?

Mainly in the western world, the mainstream media and Islamic supremacist groups are constantly preoccupied

with the supposed plight of women who are denied their much-desired “right” to wear hijab. But as we showed

in our detailed write-up a few years ago (see here), the main pushers for this “right” often turn up to be 

aggressive men who to all intents and purposes only want to tag their female-folks for the purpose of more 

effective control.    

The women who are compelled to don the same suffocating attire in all weather, day and night, certainly

don’t feel as enthusiastic! However, in many situations, they simply have no choice.

For instance on some campuses in Northern Nigeria, it is understood that the hijab provides a ready ID that

can save the female moslem in case of some supposedly spontaneous Islam-engineered massacres.

In other places such as Gaza in the Middle-East, women are compelled to put on the hijab, whereafter they 

are deployed as disposable pawns in the ongoing political intrigues in the region.

The most recent case in Nigeria is the indefinite closure of the International School,

University of Ibadan, Ibadan (see here). Here, we have a private school funded strictly by the Parents,

having a Moslem lawyer as the chairperson of the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA), and another distinguished 

Moslem as the Chairman of its governing Board; yet some Islamists claim Moslems are being denied their 

fundamental human rights to attend school in hijab!  Thank God for a clear statement from the PTA denouncing 

such moves. Similarly, Lagos state has suddenly decided (mid-November 2018) that while waiting for the case 

pending in the courts to be resolved, the status-quo to maintain is that students should be free to wear the hijab

 to school!

Whereas the mainstream media are quick to advocate for the so-called hijab-denied women, 

they turn blind eyes to the several other cases where women simply want to be left to 

choose whether to put on the hijab or not. Tunisian Moslem women are an example of people 

who successfully resisted the male chauvinists.  The Iranians were not so successful.  

Shown in the picture above was the gathering of more than 100,000 Iranian women from all works of life, 

on 8th March 1979.  They were protesting the then new Islamic government’s ruling that women must put 

on a headscarf whenever they are away from home. The hijab has since become standard feature in Iran; 

and recently, an Indian athlete preferred to withdraw from a competition in Iran rather than put on a hijab. 

This remains the true response of Moslem women wherever they have the freedom to truly express 

themselves!

Osinbajo, a Daniel in the Den

There could be no doubting that the almighty God has positioned Prof Yemi Osinbajo in the office of Vice President of Nigeria to have highly strategic influence at unprecedented auspicious times.  With an audacious Islamist mafia running roughshod over the nation’s affairs at a time even the influence of the President himself is suspected to be at best extremely minimal, demonstrating Christian loyalty as Vice President in the administration requires a specially prepared man of God!

Such principled loyalty and dignified composture while still maintaining Christian integrity is indeed a high-value witness from Pastor Osinbajo in this generation.

Even while it is only the LORD that can assess the full impact of Pastor Yemi Osinbajo’s quiet and faithful witness in the corridor of powers, one or two events have been too glaring for anyone not to see.  Such as the confirmation of a Christian, Walter Onoghen, as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, a fundamental intolerable blow to the aspirations of the Jihadists which they nevertheless had to bitterly endure.  Pastor Osinbajo was also at hand to serve the Islamist the bitter pill of removing one of the de facto powers of the ruling cabal from the highly strategic office of head of State Security.  Though the Christian replacement was no sooner booted out by an infuriated shameless junta, the moslem replacement could only be a poor replacement in achieving the original plans of a daring and desperate Islamic mafia.

It is also, of course, obvious even to the blind, that any time Pastor Osinbajo held sway as acting President,  the military suddenly found enough spirit to dare confront the infamous Fulani herdsmen (now identified by COCIN president as none less than highly trained Fulani militias).  Only the LORD knows the extent of setback to Islamist agenda those periods translate to. The US-based Nigerian human rights advocate, Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe wrote a detailed article on Osinbajo’s courageous moves and strategic influence on the affairs of our nation to date,  which can be read on our blogspot here https://churcharise.blogspot.com/2018/08/acting-president-osinbajo-saves-day.html

Church Arise! calls on the Body of Christ in Nigeria to discern and appreciate the strategic but precarious position Pastor Osinbajo is currently called by the LORD to occupy at this time in our nation.  It probably is no less precarious than Daniel’s at the courts of the Mede-Persian kings - including that memorable night in the den of the lions! The least the Church could do for him is constantly hold him up in prayer so he would finish not only well but strong - like his predecessor Daniel.

A POLITICAL ROADMAP FOR THE CHURCH IN NIGERIA

Church Arise! issued an official Statement titled CHURCH’S PRIORITY IS TO DISCERN GOD’S WILL AND BOLDLY PROCLAIM IT WITH A UNITED VOICE at the onset of the gubernatorial election in Osun State. The opinion expressed in the statement is also applicable to the coming general elections in February 2019 - from the Ward level to the Presidential election.

The summary is that the Christian Association of Nigeria should endeavour to define the strategic interests of the Church, identify a single candidate who is committed and have the capacity to promote those interests if elected into each relevant office, and should thereafter unapologetically mobilize the Christian constituency to give maximum legitimate support for such candidate.  If this is done, the Church has already won, irrespective of the eventual outcome of the election!

In addition to the Statement, we would add here that for the topmost office in the nation, the Presidency, the cabal currently in government is extremely determined to retain power, and it might take more than PVCs to it out of office.  While several of the new breed presidential aspirants might indeed be able to secure victory over the incumbent in any free and fair elections, it would be a pipe dream to expect that outcome given our current situation. 

As things are now, a grand alliance will be required.  This is not necessarily a negative development, and should not mean compromising on our core Christian principles. Rather, it would lay the foundation for governance by coalitions.  As in Israel and several countries in Europe, even small groups with major agenda can win the concessions most important to them, without necessarily occupying the highest offices. The Church should begin to mobilize her members to placing more values of issues pertaining to the Kingdom of God, and be ready to make clear stands, like Leah Sharibu.  A group that would supervise this should be forged together,  and allowed to gradually and steadily grow in influence till the Lord’s return.

TOWARDS 2019 ELECTIONS: BLOOD SACRIFICES GALORE.

To too many Christians, the gory reports of killings by Fulani-herdsmen, the foot-soldiers currently on deployment to actualize the Islamist agenda of a total take-over of Nigeria, is more or less like an entertaining tragedy movie.  The Church is too disconnected for people to experience what was described in I Cor. 12:26  “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.”

It is therefore very common to see Christians shake their heads in pity at sights of ripped-up pregnant women, corpses of brutalised children, and other extremely gory sights; and the next moment return to their meals or their heated arguments in support of the politicians whose inaction, or even tacit support, is fuelling the killings.

How can any right-thinking person ever exonerate  from these dastard acts, a government who in utter disregard for the constitution, deliberately put moslems from a section of the country in charge of every security unit in the country? And to add insult to the injury, not only would the government NOT readily condemn the perpetrators and pronounce them the terrorists that they are, top government spokesmen kept raising alternative nauseating narratives.  The latest is the insistence by none less than the minister for interior and the police IG that it was the legally-passed popular law proscribing open cattle grazing, and non-capitulation to the cattle colony idea, that is responsible for the unending carnage.  In short the victims asked for the deal they are getting!

How can anyone suggest that some war against corruption (even if not lopsided as is the present situation) or some other positive social-economic index can balance wanton killings unapologetically designed to turn Nigerian into a fiefdom, the “estate of the Usman dan Fodio clan” with the Christian majority turned into slaves, or second-class citizens at best?

Yet, as the Christian people steadfastly fight this war we have found ourselves in, we must do so using our superior strength: our spirituality!

As cautioned by the Vice President, we must not get distracted.  We must not allow evil to overcome us (Rom 12:21), yet we must not degenerate to attempting to fight evil with evil.  A Christian who does that has already become overcome of evil!

It is quite obvious that the ongoing carnage in pockets of locations all across the country are only explorative attacks in preparation for massive nationwide carnage – only the blind will not see the ongoing deployment of able-bodied islamist reservists all over the country in guise of motorcyclists, miners, and more recently, supposed road-menders who perpetually man strategic points on the roads, pretending to be unpaid volunteers!

  Yet all this, in a sense, is only a reflection of global moves of a desperate devil who knows he has but a short time left.

The video of the mid-June outburst from a clearly frustrated legislator in West Cameroon went viral on social media recently.  He lamented a situation where every commander in the security forces is from one section of the country and the forces are treating the western section as occupied territory with unrelenting beatings, killings, and rape. He repeated over and over again that the West was no longer interested in the union! https://qz.com/africa/1406320/cameroons-anglophone-crisis-is-being-ignored-by-us-china-eu-others/. You first thought you were listening to a legislator from Nigeria’s middle belt! 

Like the vice-president reminded the nation, the expression “this country is nothing but a geographical expression” was indeed first made, not with respect to Nigeria, but Italy in 1814! Acrimonious, seemingly intractable differences have since occurred and indeed ongoing in many nations around the globe. With incredible injustices being perpetrated.

Pastor Bosun Emmanuel reminded the audience at CETCon that blood is the legal-tender for spiritual transactions.  Don’t be shocked if it turns out that the senseless outrageous killings were more or less blood sacrifices.  The same analysis will make sense of the non-political carnage at Offa at a bank robbery where about 33 people were needlessly killed.  And by people whose access to virtually limitless fund by connection to state treasury should not actually be in any desperate need for money to warrant the carnage.  Think blood sacrifice!

And there might not be a direct connect with politics either; but in virtually every society around the globe, there are to be found minority groups or communities being hounded and persecuted relentlessly.  As perhaps an extreme example, consider the report from the US, of as many as 77 practictioners  of alternative medicines dropping dead of non-natural causes in three years. The report is that they are being hacked down by multinational pharmaceutical companies whose profits and control of the health sector is being threatened by new unpatentable natural cures for cancer, among other diseases!

The big difference in Nigeria’s case is that it is religiously coloured, and it is the minority persecuting the majority.

So the majority must put on her thinking cap. Seize the opportunity to unite.  But in joining such needed efforts, we must not forget we are christians. Self-defense as advocated by the revered elder, TY Danjuma is already enshrined in the constitution; but it must not become pre-meditated offensive, especially against randomly picked representative members of the attacking clan.

Doris Bura, long-term supporter of Church Arise! from the North East, once lamented people subscribing to sorcery and witchcraft as a defence against Islamic terror! And as we also reported in the past, the old cultic Yoruba militia, the Agbekoyas, are bidding their opportunity in the west.  All these jumping from the fry pan into the fire moves, must be resisted. If Christians would mobilize and unite, at this juncture, there probably would be no need for armed resistance and blood-letting. We can use the present adverse situation to prepare for our post-Egypt existence. A glorious future beckons, let the Church Arise!