‘Peace and Safety’ – then sudden destruction
Rev Brian McClung, on his blog, “The Sound of an Alarm” has mounted an interesting article as a follow up to the article on “The woman and the ephah” he posted in December and which we have on our site also. Rev McClung highlights yet another exercise in EU propaganda with prophetic overtones. We commend the article to our readers.
In a follow up to the article on the woman and the ephah I have come across reference to a video on a number of blogs this past week. It is also on YouTube. It is another exercise in EU propaganda.
Read more...The video is a production by the European Young Socialists, who are extolling the virtues of European integration. I am not really interested in the ins and outs of the video and I haven’t watched it through. That is why there are no links to it in this post. I am however very interested in the lyrics of the song that can be found here. Here are those lyrics:
Verse 1
They say that we’ve got nothing in common
No cultural ties to build on
The project just can’t work
They say that nationalism will break us
Conservatives will fight us
But trust we really do care
Chorus
And we shout what about Europe United?
Peace and safety for all of the people
Democracy, freedom, subsidiarity
Federalism, the solution we’ve got
Verse 2
They say we’ll never work together
To make our union stronger
Let us say no!
We’ll build a Europe bold and new
A democracy that’s true Europe
United as one!
Verse 3
We say the EU’s a confusion
Lacking a Constitution
But we know what to do
Reform now, we want to see enlargement
Accept our major statement
Europe united as one!
I was particularly taken with the line: ‘Peace and safety for all the people’ in the chorus. These are the very words which the Apostle Paul by divine inspiration states will be the thinking and utterance of those who have followed Antichrist and who will defy the God of heaven and His Christ prior to His second coming.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 Paul writes: But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
I have underlined the words in this passage of Scripture that are worth noticing in connection with this song. The Scripture states that ‘Peace and safety’ will be the deluded spirit that imbibes these followers of Antichrist and the words that are spoken by those who are shortly heading for sudden destruction.
The coming of the Lord will overcome them as a thief in the night. They will not be expecting it. They will have denied the Lord and the truth of His Word. By this time the false prophet will have set up the image of Antichrist and those spoken of in these verses will be worshipping him as God.
Then Suddenly Christ will appear in His glory and consume Antichrist with the brightness of His coming. There will be no escape. Sudden destruction will come upon them.
Some points worth emphasising:
1. I am not saying that this is the fulfillment of this passage of Scripture. Like the use of the woman in the Greek urn in the earlier post by those involved or supportive of the EU, it simply demonstrates that the spirit of Antichrist is developing further in these days. That spirit was present in New Testatment times, 1 John 4:3: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2. Let us never doubt what God says in His Word with respect to the future. He knows all things which shall come to pass.
3. Let us not be afraid of employing a literal principle of interpretation of Scripture. The Scriptures don’t need to be ‘spiritualised’ away. We can safely interpret prophecy regarding the future by the same interpretive rules as have been used with regard to fulfilled prophecy. There is indeed symbolic language in the Bible and in the prophecies, but this symbolism does not negate the literal nature of these events. We should reject any interpretation that spiritualises these prophetic passages.
4. The European Union will be part of the kingdom of Antichrist that will be in existence prior to the coming again of Jesus Christ. There are further upheavals that must and will take place. The present troubles in the Euro with respect to Germany and other European mainland countries, and the agitation in Scotland for independence, may well play a part in the developing of the final kingdom of Antichrist.
Comments from Free Presbyterian ministers on decriminalising sodomy in Northern Ireland 30 years ago.
Rev. Ivan Foster’s submission to the Newsletter for the article above:
NL – 1. Thirty years on, what do you think of that change in the law?
IF – The decision was a retrograde step with immeasurable moral harm to the whole nation, especially the rising generations and their moral perceptions. I believe the increase in the abuse of children stems from the changing public attitude toward sexual perversion that the change of the law in 1982 brought about. The dangers that resulted from the changing of the law are greater by far than those that were anticipated.
Read more...
NL – 2. Do you have any more sympathy for the case Jeffrey Dudgeon took to the European court now than you did then?
IF – Today, in the light of the consequences of legalising sodomy, I would denounce that change more vigorously, if possible, than I did then. Our fears of what would be the consequences of change have been more than realised. There is no profit or benefits emanating from sin.
NL – 3. How important was that judgement?
IF – I view it as an important event which impacted upon the morality of society in a most detrimental fashion. It was one of the major steps away from the moral standards of God’s Word in post-war UK, akin to the abolishing of the death penalty for murder. In Ulster for the last 5 years we have had the public funding of sodomy through the auspices of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister. Such a tolerating of this wicked misuse of public funding by the unionist political leadership, some of whom campaigned against the changing of the law 30 years ago, is a stark illustration of the changed attitudes in Ulster that stem from the decision to change the law on sodomy. It is no coincidence that alongside the tolerance of sodomy is found a new attitude toward robbery, violence, terrorism and murder as is epitomised in the make-up of the present Stormont Executive.
NL – 4. Did the publicity which the Free Presbyterians got from that help the church in its early growth?
IF – Whatever publicity emerged from the campaign would not have highlighted anything new about the stand and witness of the Free Presbyterian Church for the teaching of the Bible. The Church of Christ does not advance as a result of publicity campaigns but rather under the blessing of God. It is the Lord Who advances His cause as He promised in His Word. “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” Matthew 16:18. Publicity, adverse or otherwise, is not the means of growth for the work of God.
NL – 5. Were you actively involved in the Save Ulster From Sodomy campaign and have you memories of that?
I, like all Free Presbyterian ministers, under the leadership of Dr Ian Paisley, would have preached against the undermining of God’s Law by the Government and those sympathetic to wickedness. It was a simple emphasising of what was ever the witness of Biblical Protestantism.
NL – 6. Was this a fight which you ever believed you could win?
IF – There are matters which the Christian opposes for which he is well aware he will not win the sympathy or support of the world. The Bible makes it very clear that this world is progressively sliding down into gross wickedness. Indeed, the Saviour tells us that “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed,” Luke 17:28-30.
It is the Christian’s duty to oppose and protest against all departures from God’s Truth even as it was Noah’s duty to preach to a world sinking down into wickedness with the full knowledge that his efforts would not stop the decline but rather, when God’s judgment did fall, humanity would be without excuse, having been warned of its wickedness and the judgment that would follow.
Nurses “are losing their sense of compassion”
Click here to read the Daily Telegraph report.
Comment: This report on nursing care in British hospitals serves to highlight one of the consequences of the loss of gospel light in the nation. Nursing care was born of the gospel. God’s grace promotes a care for our neighbour and the history of the gospel illustrates this. The decline in gospel light in mainland Great Britain and the rise of false religions has had its impact everywhere in society, none more so than on the nursing profession. Cases of inhuman cruelty toward patients have been exposed in the press of late. This can only be traced to a decline of common grace within society.
Louis Berkhof has written: Common grace “curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men, ” (Page 434 ‘Systematic Theology’). I believe that hospital care in Northern Ireland still retains much of the old-fashioned Biblical nursing philosophy and many Christian girls still see it as a calling from the Lord to enter nursing. Sadly, the impact of apostasy and the departure from the Bible on the part of the mainline Protestant denominations has had its effect in Ulster.
What a loss a nations suffers when it turns its back on God’s truth!
“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them, ” Ezekiel 34:1-4.
The things which will announce, accompany and follow after the return of Christ
NEW! The firstfruits of Christ’s reign on earth. “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD,” Isaiah 2:1-5. Read more…
Previously published:
- Part one: Why we should watch for Christ’s return.
- Part two: What the Christian waiting for Christ’s return should look out for.
- Part three: Why the Saviour warned of deception in the last days.
- Part four: Events in Israel which will herald the return of Christ.
- Part five: Signs in the heavens.
- Part six: The rising again of the city of Babylon.
- Part seven: Jerusalem besieged by Antichrist.
The woman and the ephah!
(First published on Sound of an alarm)
The euro currency celebrates 10 years since its introduction on 1st January 2012. To mark the 10th anniversary of its inception the European Central Bank has released a video. This six minute exercise in propaganda commences with a computer generated image of a woman emerging from a Greek urn before turning into a real life woman. Read more…
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