A Personal Post

This is an unusual post for me, because I am just sharing my recent thoughts and prayers, and asking for your feelings and conclusions. The reason is, I’m thinking the time has come to stop posting to this blog.

Christmas Concepts: A Look at the Facts

As it’s coming up to one of the most important dates in the Christian Calendar, December 25th, I thought I’d take a brief look at some of the misconceptions surrounding the biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus. We ought to be accurate about what the bible actually teaches us, not follow commonly held assumptions or out-and-out myths. I will look at five questions:

• What date was Jesus born?
• What year was Jesus born?
• Where was Jesus born?
• When did the Magi visit?
• What do angels look like?

I Was a Spiritual Hoarder

I’m generally a very tidy person, and don’t like clutter and mess, but recently I have realised something about my life that has burdened me over the years and sometimes robbed me of the joy and peace I should know in God.

Inside, my life looks like that of the “bag-lady” in the cover photo, or like one of those hoarder’s homes! (I probably should have titled this “Emotional Hoarder” but this is about my spiritual life as much, or more, than about my emotions, so I’ll leave it as it is.)

Common Mistakes We Make About Genesis

I’d like to address a couple of common errors people make when they talk about events in Genesis. Perhaps you do this, and it’s easy to just copy what others say without checking it out. Certainly the world makes many assumptions, from which they pour scorn on Genesis, but also Christians repeat some of the same errors.

The Ark of the Covenant is the Lord

I was recently thinking about the existence and appearance of the Lord before his earthly incarnation and this has long been a puzzle to me.

It’s not that I doubt his previous existence because many scriptures confirm it, including the words of Jesus himself: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58) But in what form did he exist and what happened when God the Son was born as a human being – was he still existent in the heavenlies or not?

I’m not going to tackle those questions. But one thing has become clear to me, involving the Ark of the Covenant.

How God Prepared Me For Asbury

This is just my personal testimony, for something that happened last year. I now believe it was of God’s guidance to prepare me for what is going to happen as a result of the Asbury “revival”.

I have put the word revival in quotes because I believe a true revival is spontaneous (which this event was not) and is undergirded with sound biblical preaching of the bible truths (which this is not) and has the main aim and outcome of people being saved by the sacrifice of Jesus, or else brought to repentance of their sin, if they are worldly Christians (which this revival mostly doesn’t do).

For all this see the links below my post.

The Earliest New Testament Manuscripts

As I wander round the Internet, especially in Facebook groups, I frequently see anti Christian comments that say “The bible wasn’t even written until the Middle Ages”. Of course we know that’s nonsense, but in order to correct it we need to have factual proof of the earliest date of the bible manuscripts.

Who Are The Saints?

Recently I have come across comments and articles about saints, so I thought I would clarify the biblical position on this. To cut to the chase, everyone who has accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour and has been cleansed by his sacrifice on the Cross is “sanctified” thereby.

The bible does not speak of saints as being a specially holy group of people, but they are simply Christians.

What Do Angels *really* Look Like?

My task in this article is to dispel the common myth that angels have wings and halos. This has come into popular belief through many paintings, drawings and depictions throughout the ages, not to speak of movies and other media.

However, what we need to do is look at the truth in the bible, not modern media.

One popular modern interpretation is shown in the image above, an “angel” not only with wings and glowing light, but as a woman. This is often the case in today’s images.

Do You Ever Feel Unworthy?

I’m going to write something today that is intensely personal, but for a reason – to demonstrate the kindness and love of God.

I finally had that “penny-drop” moment this morning (it’s about time) where I realised something about myself – possibly this is true for many others – and about my relationship with God.

Attacked by the Accuser

The devil is rightly called the “accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10) and his tactics are to bring believers into fear and condemnation. His works are increasing in these last days, so maybe there is something to be learned from what happened to me last night.

The Coming Great Rebellion

https://www.thetrumpet.com/blogs/58-brent-nagtegaal/22675-the-next-jewish-revolt

In my current re-reading of the Book of Revelation I developed a curiosity about how much overlap there was with the events of AD70 when Jerusalem was destroyed. I also considered Daniel’s statue alongside the similar Beast of Revelation and therefore thought about the continuation of Rome into our own time (in thought and deed, if not in fact.)

I am not a Historicist, much less a Preterist, but at the same time I am not close-minded about the types and shadows that occur many times in the bible prophecies.

Halloween – Treat? Or TRICK?

With the end of the month fast approaching I thought it might be helpful to examine the origins and practises surrounding Halloween. Some are questioning whether they ought to “celebrate” this day, and I think after reading this you may decide not to!

Facebook Group For You?

I felt there was a need to offer a meeting place for Christians who are feeling isolated in this day and age of deception and rampant conspiracies. I’ve set up a Facebook Group called “God’s Remnant Gathered” in the hope that it can offer a little bit of fellowship and information. If you feel this could be for you, the link is here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/243241183969971

Trump’s Inauguration on March 4th

Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. administers the oath of office to President Donald Trump during the 58th Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC..Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca(Sipa via AP Images)

Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters are ready for him to become the 19th president [not the 45th or 46th] on March 4th. Why is that, and is there any validity in the belief? This article, reprinted from the link below, examines all the claims, where they come from, and much more.

The Growing Threat of Deepfakes

When I stumbled over the video shown below, I watched it with confusion. I knew it couldn’t be Donald Trump, but at the same time, it WAS! I watched it, then shared it with someone else, asking “what do you see? Is this Trump? If it’s an actor, he’s identical to the President.”

Atonement or Ransom?

There’s nothing that brings out the theological nerd in me more than unpicking the true meaning of a word in scripture, and this one is a doozy! Atonement!

For a start, it’s not really a biblical word, but was coined by the bible translators for a Hebrew word for which they felt there was no near English equivalent.

The World In Chaos – A Christian Perspective

No doubt you are as troubled about world events as I am, especially as there seems no relief in sight.

And these days, praying isn’t so straightforward either, since we have less and less clarity on exactly what is the Lord’s intention (except for the obvious biblical prophecies.)

(Personally, I pray Lord, let YOUR will be done, and YOUR will prevail.)

Today on Twitter, Ron Perlman  addressed the current situation from his own patriotic American perspective, and it sparked off some thoughts for me. What he said was this:

Inauguration Thoughts

I was recently led to start reading the book of Samuel. Unexpectedly I stumbled on scriptures that informed my thoughts about Friday’s Presidential Inauguration.

I should explain that this was part of my regular reading plan, not a deliberate policy. It happened, as they say, by chance.

I had come to the end of the book of Acts and intended to start Luke’s Gospel again, but in the meanwhile I came upon a verse in Samuel and then thought “why don’t I start Samuel instead?”

That was a week or so ago. All of this is to say, I believe I was led to read Samuel because the Presidential Inauguration was coming up on Friday this week (20th January).

Did Paul Die and Come Back?

I have been reading the book of Acts. When I came to chapter 14 suddenly for the first time something occurred to me. On checking my thoughts on the Net, it seems I wasn’t the only one!

In Lystra, where Paul and the others has gone to escape the persecution in Antioch, Paul was stoned by some of the Jewish elders of Antioch who had travelled there on purpose to harass him.

My thought was this: when Paul was stoned by the Jews and left for dead, did he actually die? And was THIS the time he later referred to as his visit to heaven: