Sampson Needs Some Strength

Word comes that another Christian celebrity “leader” is teetering on the edge of apostasy.

Marty Sampson, worship leader for Hillsong, recently posted on Instagram that he is losing his faith. He just issued another statement clarifying, saying that his faith now is on “incredibly shaky ground.”

First and last for this week’s Israel Watch: pray fervently for Marty Sampson!

His Instagram post said that he is “struggling with many parts of the belief system that seem so incoherent with common human morality.

“If most of humankind had a choice, would we not rid the world of the scourge of cancer? Or sickness and disease? Why doesn’t God do such a thing? Of course there is an answer to this question, but the majority of a typical Christian’s life is not spent considering these things. Questions such as these remain in the too hard basket.”

He’s asking questions everyone asks. All this recalls, for me at least, Mark 4:

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold. Then Jesus said, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’”

I note all this for you this week because as usual, the very good apologetic of Bible prophecy is being ignored for the most part.

Sampson has posted quotes from believers and skeptics/agnostics. Among the believers/apologists, he’s mentioned folks like William Lane Craig. He is fairly famous in his field.

My issue with Craig is that he compromises on the origins accounts of Genesis, and he is not a Bible prophecy guy. He will make intellectual arguments and while I’m sure some come to faith through his work, I wouldn’t trust my eternal state to it.

Sampson also quotes the diabolical Bart Ehrman, a professor at North Carolina, whose own journey from faith to unbelief is well documented. He is particularly popular with Millennials.

“I have and continue to analyze the arguments of prominent Christian apologists and biblical scholars, and am open minded enough to consider the arguments of atheist debaters and debaters from other religions. If the truth is true, it will remain so regardless of my understanding of it. If I search it out, surely it will become even more clearly seen as the truth that it is. Examining a diamond more closer reveals the quality of the diamond. As I am still breathing, I am still learning.”

Yes, he is still breathing. Pray with all you have that someone will reach out to him with the remarkable story of Israel’s national resurrection. Pray that the Lord will be merciful to him and put the astonishing record of predictive prophecy in his path.

I am passionate about this approach to apologetics, especially among young people. However, let’s not minimize its effectiveness with people of any age or background. I have had these conversations with Muslims in Jerusalem, Buddhists in Chicago, and New Agers in Southern California.

Israel is a spiritual lighthouse out there in a sea of evil. The devil wants our faith shipwrecked. We have a sure word to bring to those doubting the claims of Christ. Christ Himself is the very embodiment, literally of Truth. He is the spirit of prophecy.

Do you have someone in your life like Marty Sampson? A granddaughter? A nephew? Son? Daughter?

There are so many! I implore you to get out there among them and use your Bible to point out the truth of Christ’s claims. The story of Israel is, I believe, bullet-proof when it comes to this issue.

Souls are at stake.

As my friends like Todd and Terry know—as we discuss often—Jesus is coming very soon.

I want Marty Sampson to go with us.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loony in Lebanon

Whew.

We’re one week past my 666^th column for Rapture Ready and I feel fine! Nothing bad happened to me last week!

I kid somewhat, but let’s get on to some serious topics. Back to Israel.

One of the things pro Israel folks worry about is the threat of a rocket attack from Hezbollah, based of course in once-beautiful Lebanon.

The country has been so ravaged by civil war and terrorism in the last half-century that it’s hard to imagine anything else holding sway there.

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:

“Since its inception, the Lebanese Hezbollah has been inculcating the ideology of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in the Shiites in Lebanon, establishing the personality cult of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, and emphasizing that Hezbollah is totally subject to the Supreme Leader. On the other hand, time and again senior Iranian leaders have stressed Hezbollah’s complete loyalty to Iran and its commitment to the Iranian leadership. Cultivating Khamenei’s personality cult is evidence that Hezbollah regards Iran and its leader the highest source of authority for its strategy, including its military moves against Israel.”

Estimates are that 150,000 rockets are stockpiled by this arch-terror group. Founded six years after the Iranian Revolution (and two years ahead of Hamas), Hezbollah is a para-military wing that has waged much mischief in the area.

“An up-to-date example of the personality cult of Ali Khamenei can be found in the opening ceremony of Hezbollah’s summer activity in southern Lebanon, attended by operatives of Hezbollah’s military and civilian infrastructures. At the end of the ceremony, the participants sang the “Song of Pledge of Allegiance” to the ruling Islamic jurist (wali al-Faqih) Imam Ali Khamenei. The song is also called “We Love Loyalty.” The contents first and foremost express commitment and loyalty to Iranian Leader Khamenei (“We love loyalty, loudly do we pray for Ali Khamenei”). Another motif in the song is solidarity between Hezbollah and other countries where Iran handles proxies among the Shiite communities. The common denominator between Hezbollah and the Shiite communities mentioned in the song (Bahrain, Yemen, and Iraq) is loyalty to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.”

So sharia law holds sway there, crippling the economy, wreaking human rights abuses on the population, and holding out no hope for peace.

Sheik Nasrallah is the leader of these wolves, and Israel has a right to be concerned about the escalation. A recent development, though, involves sanctions on Iran severely curtailing Hezbollah’s activities, since the group is funded almost entirely from Tehran.

Meanwhile, to the south in Cairo, another terror group detonated a bomb near a cancer center, killing 20 people. The government says it was perpetrated by Hassm, a group with allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Remember, the Brotherhood is the head of the snake in the Middle East. This means that while Egypt’s military government is stable at the moment, Israel continues to be caught in a pincer movement between terror groups.

Iranian Brigadier General Mehdi Rabbani claimed Sunday that Hezbollah is stretched across Israel’s border. Israel has warned that a war there would not be confined to Lebanon’s borders, but would extend to Syria as well.

As usual, people get nervous over Iranian saber rattling, but forget the almost comical claims of Middle East despots threatening Israel. Rabbani claims that Iran’s armies are “growing stronger day by day” and that no army can win a ground war against them.”

He must be reading from Saddam Hussein’s PR book. We know how that ended.

Despite the saber rattling from the region’s terrorists, I predict Israel will handle any and all threats. I hope that something will be done to eliminate many or all of them so long as Netanyahu and Trump remain in power.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com