TWO VITAL RED ALERTS!
Apprising ministries regarding last days apostasy
and last days prophecy do a fine job and are easily
found by serious students of God’s Word. It is not
our purpose to use News & Nuggets to duplicate their
effort. At the same time, it IS our goal to point
readers in the right direction when especially
important matters of biblical significance arise.
This issue of News & Nuggets actually points to two
red alerts.
Red
Alert # 1. The Manhattan
Declaration.
Are you familiar with the arcade game for little
children where heads continually pop up inviting the
player to whack them before they disappear? No
sooner does one succeed whacking one when another
appears elsewhere.
Satan loves to play this game of popping heads. He
will press a movement forward until it is recognized
and challenged by God’s people. He will then draw
back, and reassert his same agenda under the guise
of another name or movement.
For years, God’s people have been faithfully and
duly warned about the Evangelicals and Catholics
Together Accord. Various discernment ministries
have faithfully warned about this horrific
compromise of the Word of God under the guise of
unity. In that movement, both believers and
idolaters united for the sake of defending common
moral values.
During the last month we have witnessed the shocking
reappearance of this same movement under the
auspices of the *Manhattan Declaration. At the
moment I type, over 261356 folks have signed this.
By the time you read this there will likely be over
300,000! (See for yourself at
http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/ ). And while
you’re visiting the site, pick up on the long list
of religious signatories. They will include
familiar evangelical names such as Erwin Lutz,
Joseph Stowell, W. Grudem, Kay Arthur, James
Dobson, J.I. Packer, Jonathan Falwell, Ravi
Zacharias, and a host of others. Add to this list
a long line of Roman Catholic archbishops and
dignities.
There are, however, two shocking differences between
this Declaration and the original ECT Accord.
First, we have added a high number of folks involved
in the New Spirituality movement, in particular, the
contemplative prayer movement. (For more
documentation on this, see the Lighthouse Trails
Research people at
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.org/).
Contemplative prayer has been the singular most
efficient tool for uniting believers with
unbelievers in the past 20 years.
The second major difference is that this is an
unstoppable wave of sentiment. Two hundred thousand
folks signed this Declaration over the space of ONE
MONTH!
So, why the fuss? In reality, when one reads the
Declaration he will quickly agree that we espouse
the general values it promotes. Yes, there are
technicalities which cannot be overlooked (For
example, we do not share the Catholic doctrine of
the sacredness of human life which is the basis for
Catholic opposition to the death penalty.) Yet, all
in all, the truth is that we do share many of these
moral values.
Why then, does this Declaration represent such a
dangerous trend? Let’s boil this down to a few
reasons:
1. First, it is wrong to unify under anything
less than the Name of Christ and the pure doctrines
of the Word of God. One who loves the Lord
Jesus Christ cannot and must not align with His
enemies. And yes, anyone who stands staunchly
against the doctrine of salvation by grace through
faith alone is the enemy of Christ and is anathema.
This includes the entire Roman system. (Gal. 1:7-9).
The hard cold fact is that God’s people in our own
fundamental Baptist and Bible churches are unwilling
to side with Christ against the enemies of His
truth. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17.)
Simply stated, the Lord Jesus Christ does not need
help from His enemies.
2.) Secondly it is disobedient to defer to false
teachers as spiritual authorities. The
Manhattan Declaration is filled with quotations
from, among others, Catholic dignitaries. When we
quote false teachers as spiritual authorities 1.)
We give credence to their lies in other areas. Why
would you give credence to the enemies of the
gospel? and; 2.)We place God’s authority on an
equal plain with the world’s authorities . That is
not humility, that is gullibility. We cannot love
Christ’s sheep and expose them to the wolves. Matt.
7:15, Acts 20:29.
A final reminder. In the weeks to come you
will surely be accosted by genuinely sincere folks
who urge you to add your signature to this
Declaration. Will you take the time to look up the
scriptures in advance and prepare your own response
so that you may lovingly instruct your misguided
friends? We urge you to use this event as a means
of helping younger and weaker brethren. We urge you
to be ready to give every man an answer!
*Special thanks to www.MidwestChristianOutreach.org
for putting me on to this fast moving event.
Red
Alert # 2. The EU is moving
closer to a formal declaration regarding
Jerusalem.
In a release entitled “Europe Moves To Divide
Jerusalem” from **One Jerusalem Now, we read: “ Led
by Sweden, there are reports that 27 member states
of the European union are prepared to recognize a
portion of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian
State. This unprecedented campaign has united
Israel’s political parties as never before....”
There are prophetic tremors, and then there are
serious plate shifts. Activities regarding the city
of Jerusalem have had prophetic teachers on pins and
needles. These tremors are building to seismic
proportions.
We should never be surprised when we witness tension
over Jerusalem. The Word of God clearly teaches that
the city of Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot
until the end of the times of the Gentiles. (Luke
21:24). However, we also know that tension over
Jerusalem will increase as unbelieving Jews return
to Israel preparation for the establishment of their
covenant and Antichrist’s venomous outrage which be
poured out upon them.
It is not enough to pay attention to Israel in your
prophetic studies. Here are three good reasons to
pay attention to the city of Jerusalem: 1.) Israel’s
enemies will concentrate their efforts here. This
tension will undoubtedly contribute to the rise of
Antichrist; 2.) Israel’s own efforts to rebuild its
temple worship with all of its associated
accoutrements are focused here. 3.) The Bible
instructs us to continue praying for the peace of
Jerusalem. We who are the Lord’s watchmen
(remembrancers) are to give Him no rest till he
makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. (Isa. 62:6
&7.) Psalm 122:6 says “Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”
Why, then, should we pray for Jerusalem? We pray
for her because we love the same things our Lord
loves. We pray for her immediate peace so that some
Jews may yet be won to Christ before the coming
horrific Day of the Lord. We pray for her ultimate
peace because we long for the day of her redemption,
and we long for the vindication and enthronement of
her Great King, Jesus Christ! Pray that the EU in
general, and the Swedes in particular, will be
hindered in their goal to return portions of
Jerusalem to Israel’s enemies.
** Source: www.OneJerusalemNow.org
