Sunday, December 20, 2009

Awesome Zion National Park!



"You don't have to go find beauty in Zion. It's everywhere you look." - Jeff Aiello


I visited Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park some years ago, but watching Jeff Aiello explore the region and its spectacular sites, often "otherworldly" as he refers to it, makes me yearn to return and see even more!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)

continued...
What's BEWILDERING to me is the different responses I've received from several of God's ministers who have read Beyond Babylon - towards it and me - before and after Dennis Leap's PARTIAL review! (Malachi 2:9).

When I faithfully sent a computer disk with my book on it to minister Wayne Turgeon, he graciously read all of it and responded:

"Of, how I admire those with both the ability to write as well as the courage to put down their ideas on paper! I felt that you have a very gripping style of writing that uses twists and slants of words or phrases to make your point. I looked up every scripture you referenced and it became clear that you have really spent a lot of time in your Bible. Being Jewish, I think, gives you an added perspective that I could never have... Much of what you have written is not 'new revelation' as I'm sure that you'd readily agree... It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."

What does he mean it's not his place to determine if what I wrote is true or not? God holds every INDIVIDUAL responsible to prayerfully determine whether something is of God or not! How did we prove Malachi's Message was biblical? Did we rely solely on our minister's evaluation? Worldwide all over again?

Mind you, unlike Mr. Armstrong's lengthy manuscript of close to 300 typed pages, Beyond Babylon is only 1/2 that size, literally! I suggested Gerald Flurry read the first and last chapters. Mr. Turgeon told me Flurry returned it to him, saying something like, "He's always sending us stuff."

I have written short letters to the point, like correcting him about Mount Hermon and Mount Carmel after he continued to confuse the two in several articles. I'm familiar with them because I've been blessed to have lived next to both of them. Mr. Turgeon also wrote that I was a little "too radical" for Mr. Flurry and wondered what I'd said or done that had given him that impression. I explained it's because I took exception to his careless condemnation of those religious Jews who want the Temple built as "extremists." I wrote that it's extremist for secular, humanist Jews to oppose converting the Promised Land into a Holy Land!

Flurry was surprised and had also written against the STRONG EMOTIONS some feel over Jerusalem and Israel. How could God use someone so distant over there?! Some of us have a GOD-GIVEN LOVE for Jerusalem and a genuine passion for Judah that's most personal; we're not a stranger in OUR Homeland! (Psalm 102:14; Psalm 137; Isaiah 62). That's not "radical," it's BIBLICAL!

Minister Carl Craven also read Beyond Babylon and acknowledged it as biblical. He said he hadn't looked up every Scripture, but was sure if he had they'd also be used correctly. I commented that I know it's biblical, but that I was just waiting for headquarters to prove that to themselves as well. He expressed an understanding of how it's difficult to be patient meanwhile. When Dennis Leap did call, it was to instruct me to STAY HOME FROM SABBATH SERVICES while he looked at the book! I didn't recall such an unusual request being made of Mr. Armstrong, and recognized it went against "innocent until proven guilty," but obliged with the hope of returning soon (John 7:51).

"Prophesy Not!"

After some time, I called Mr. Leap. He said he'd read PARTS of the book, and that it wasn't important whether Mr. Flurry had read it or not (even though I'd been led to believe he'd pass it on to him). He stated, "You use some pretty strong language in there," to which I replied, "But it's biblical, isn't it?" "Well, yes, but...". He also noted, like Mr. Turgeon, that most of it is what we already teach. I agreed and said that that should serve as a GOOD SIGN, but that the NEW REVELATION about the Two Witnesses and Europe is firmly built upon that foundation.

Dennis Leap found it difficult to accept that a LAY MEMBER would write such a book. He admitted Flurry had received bits of revelation from lay members, but NEVER a whole book! I didn't want to be judged by precedent, but by whether or not what I'd written is biblical. If I was in error, then it was his duty to clearly show me where FROM THE BIBLE, like Aquilla and Priscilla helped improve Apollos' understanding (Acts 18:26).

I was informed if I wanted to return to services, I would have to forget Beyond Babylon, act like a "regular lay member," and basically deny that it was from God! Like Mr. Armstrong, I had PROVEN what I'd written to be TRUE. Actually, Leap didn't say that it wasn't or attempt to refute it!

I told Mr. Leap I didn't want to play politics. By his insistence that I must be a MINISTER to write such a book, he was still looking to MEN OF STATURE! And since I'm not one, he was demanding that I "PROPHESY NOT!" (Amos 2:12).

He got very angry when I mentioned this and said he was severing all ties between the PCG and myself, and that I wasn't to claim any association with the PCG. He said I was now free to go and do whatever I felt God would have me to do with BB and not worry whether or not he or Mr. Flurry had read it! When I expressed the hope of reconciliation, he retorted we could when I repented. Of what? OBEYING GOD RATHER THAN MAN? Is that "rebellion?"

Mr. Armstrong WASN'T an ordained minister either when he wrote what he felt GOD would have him to share! The Identity Doctrine also wasn't so much new truth, as a new way of presenting it. I'm sure glad he didn't let those two points stop him! Aren't you? So I was UNJUSTLY DISFELLOWSHIPPED for believing God used me to write a book, and MARKED for exposing the facts about Mr. Leap's folly!

Will Dennis Leap stop being jealous of what God would have me to offer (1 Sam. 2:29)? Will Gerald Flurry HONOR GOD more than a man, and recognize Beyond Babylon belongs to God and HIS Church? (II Sam. 19:5-7; Ga. 2:9). Will Flurry again uphold God's Word or try and prop up Leap and fall with him? (Isa. 22:19). Did God remove Mr. Amos so Dennis Leap could be used to try us all?(Nahum 1:11). WHY'S THE BIBLE OUT OF THE PICTURE? (In The Philadelphia Trumpet's photo of Mr. Flurry). Does Mr. Flurry feel he's now got it made? (1 Cor. 10:12). A picture's worth a thousand words!

No Cowards in the Kingdom!

May God give COURAGE to His people! If they're AFRAID to question Dennis Leap's serious actions, how can God expect them to stand up to the world (Jer. 12:5; Rev. 21:8)? God's sick of sycophants and tired of the timid! We're to be bold as lions (Dan. 11:32)! We're supposed to be ready to die for one another, not betray and desert each other! Yet too often the household of faith has lost its warm and loving environment for an intimidating atmosphere of fear and oppression (Jer. 12:6). It's pretty bad when you can't trust your own family (Jer. 9:4). Brethren turning in brethren to the "authorities" for wrong reasons and maliciously reporting on others (1 Cor. 5:8). How COLD-HEARTED (Matt. 10:32-40).

God pronounces WOE to those who support wrong judgments (Isa. 5:32) and CONDEMNS IT as an ABOMINATION (Prov. 17:15). He speaks against selling out someone to gain an advantage (Ex. 23:8). Those who've become accomplices to CHARACTER ASSASSINATION haven't just abandoned a Church member, they're guilty of BETRAYING CHRIST! (Ex. 20:16; Matt. 10:33). It's actually God's law they've thrown out and His Word they've despised (Isa. 5:24). You can't treat someone so hatefully and fool God that you love Him (1 John 4:20). You might turn your back on a brother, but you're going to FACE GOD (Mark 9:42)!

Whether you've sold out to curry favor with a minister, or to stay put in an organization or position - that "blood money" will COST YOU YOUR LIFE! God will JUDGE SUCH PEOPLE (if they don't repent) and throw them down from their high and mighty imaginations and lofty positions (Isa. 22:15-19; Deut. 32:36). For those bent on JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS blindly, acting like GOOD NAZIS, God's going to give them over to Europe! If that's what you want, that's what you'll get!

FATHER Knows Best!

Too many are still looking to men to save them! Is it up to Gerald Flurry to decide who'll enter God's Kingdom? Of course not, and he'd readily agree, but brethren it's just as BLASPHEMOUS to believe it's up to him or any other MAN to decide who can go to Petra! Which minister was crucified for you? (1 Cor. 1:12- 13; 3:3-9). Into what surname were you baptized? If GOD put you into HIS Church, can any man put you out? If God gave you His Holy Spirit, can any minister take it away? If God finds you worthy to escape, can any man prevent it? (Luke 21:36). WHOSE APPROVAL ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? (John 9:22; 13:42-43).

Aren't you willing to be like Jesus, who was forsaken by all? Aren't you willing to follow Jesus outside the camp, bearing His reproach and suffering His shame? (Heb. 13:12-13; 2 Tim. 1:8). Those who put an IDOLATROUS TRUST in ministers or politicians are going to discover they can't deliver! (Deut. 32:36-39; Hosea 13:10). Mortals can't save you or protect you. Besides, if you're only trying to save your skin, you'll lose your hide! Only Jesus Christ can offer salvation, and only those whom the FATHER finds worthy will escape. It's not up to any pastor general or minister. Many of them will get slaughtered with THEIR sheep! (1 Cor. 9:27; Isa. 46:2).

If God could provide the "travel arrangements" for Enoch, Elijah and Philip - INDIVIDUALS - can't He take care of you? (Acts 8:39; Rev. 12:6; Jer. 3:14). God won't forget you or leave you behind (Heb. 6:10; Isa. 49:15). He knows the scattered condition of His saints and the reasons why, and promises us: "I will seek that which is lost, and bring that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick..." (Ezek. 34:16). The Good Shepherd doesn't forsake His flock!

God's Two Witnesses are SOON to take the stand! They'll testify before a WORLD COURT, and to many it will sound familiar - having read about it in Beyond Babylon! It's only biblical that just as surely as Europe's on the rise, so too are God's star witnesses (Isa. 60:1). But when have proud and stubborn RELIGIOUS LEADERS ever accepted God's change of guard or venue (Rev. 11:8)? Sardis didn't. Joseph Tkach didn't. Will Gerald Flurry graciously PASS THE BATON to the Two Witnesses? Or will history repeat itself? We'll see!

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer in Ohio and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.

America the Beautiful!

America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward


O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

************

The Twelve Tribes of Israel - the Anglo-Saxon-Celtics and white peoples of Northwestern Europe -- are Israelite in origin. We're the so-called "Lost Ten Tribes." We were taken captive by the Assyrians and later, as prophesied, migrated north and west into Europe and King David's dynasty continues in the Sceptered Isle.

Read more:
The Israelite Origins of the United States

Friday, December 18, 2009

Root & Branch program at the Israel Center

Lowell Gallin writes:

Dear Friends,

Please find below our Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 Root & Branch program at the Israel Center listing for the Friday, December 25th Jerusalem Post Billboard events section.

Shalom and Chanukah Sameach,

Lowell Gallin

**********************************

Tuesday, December 29th, 6:00-10:00 p.m.

"Mount Zion" by Dr. Asher Eder, Jewish Co-Founder and Co-Chair, R&B Islam-Israel Fellowship (18:00); "The First, Second and Third Israelite Temples of Jerusalem in the Qur'an and Islamic Tradition" by Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Muslim Co-Founder and Co-Chair, R&B Islam-Israel Fellowship; Secretary General, Italian Muslim Assembly, Rome Italy [www.amislam.com] (20:00). Israel Center Non-Members NIS 25, Israel Center Members NIS 20, Students NIS 10, Israel Center Life Members NIS 5, Journalists Free. Root & Branch Association [www.rb.org.il] Program at the Israel Center, Keren HaYesod 22. Tuesday, 6:00-10:00 p.m. Info: Tel. 02-566-7787; Email: rb@rb.org.il.

Email: rb@rb.org.il
Site/Blog URL: http://www.rb.org.il/

Remove the Arab threat from the Temple Mount!

Police Bar Jews from Temple Mount on Chanukah
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) Arab fears of Jews taking over the Temple Mount convinced police to ban Jews from the site during Chanukah, which celebrates the Jews' return to the Holy Temple. A report in an Israeli newspaper, disseminated worldwide by United Press International (UPI) stated that Jews planned a “mass pilgrimage” numbering in the “hundreds” to the Temple Mount on Thursday.

The “mass” throng actually consisted of only 200 Jews, but the reports set off panic among Arabs and left Jews outside the site as police blocked their entrance, as has happened several times in the past after Arab clerics spread fears of a “Jewish takeover.”

Read more

***********
This knee-jerk response by Nazi Muslim and Hellenist Israeli police is old and tired. It's past time those in the spirit of the Maccabees remove the threat, liberate the Temple Mount and cleanse the Knesset, so help them God.

A House of Prayer For All Peoples?

Jews Must Demand Rights to Temple Mount

Restore Israeli Sovereignty Over Temple Mount


Third Temple

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Obama's Hanukkah Hypocrisy

The Maccabees would tell Obama to go to hell!

Re: Chanukah II: Obama’s Revenge

The president usurper, the fraud and foreigner, Obama/Soetoro/Obama, is an unclean liar and hypocrite who calls for the ethnic cleansing of Jews - allegedly in a vain attempt to appease the Nazi Muslim beast - and has the chutzpah to even pretend to celebrate Hanukkah? Furthermore, Obama's cold-hearted demand that the Israelis "freeze" going and growing in Judea and Samaria, contrary to God commands, is abominable! The Maccabees would tell him to go to hell, and any self-respecting Jew would refuse to attend any of his filthy Hanukkah charades.

http://www.davidbenariel.org/

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Another dishonest Christmas tree seller!

Why am I not surprised? I've received an email from another dishonest Christmas tree grower and seller, also a German-American (is that a coincidence?), vainly attempting to justify the "mass of Christ" and pagan Christmas trees. Here's my response:

I thank you for responding, but I'm sorry to see your idolatrous traditions blind you - or more likely, prejudice you against the plain truth of the Bible and history. Your drunk friend is also just plain ignorant or dishonest, failing to recognize the spiritual principles Jeremiah 10 teaches us about adopting heathen customs and pagan practices to worship the true God - something both the "Old" and "New" Testaments condemn. There's absolutely no excuse for the accursed Roman Catholic "mass of Christ" that nobody in the Bible kept or would keep since it amounts to dishonest baptized paganism, whitewashed bull. As Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees! testifies:

Those who adorn their Christmas trees and remain in denial about its pagan origin, who play deaf, dumb and blind to the facts, who attempt to dismiss or downplay how it's a heathen custom, are living a lie and shamefully reject the clear commandments of God that speak against such spiritual adultery, mixing and matching pagan error with biblical truth, and will suffer the consequences for being so dishonest and deceitful.
You have a lot of chutzpah, as a Roman Catholic cultist, to pontificate to a Bible-believer who dares to share what history teaches about the Roman Catholic Cult and the pagan holiday masquerading today as the "mass of Christ."

Call for Christmas tree sellers to repent!


David Ben-Ariel