My son and the belle of the ball, his beautiful brideWhat a weekend!
On Friday we took off early for the Fargo Metropolis and the Red River Prophecy Conference. Not well attended, like conferences here in the cities, but interesting speakers and much to learn.
We had two reasons to go northwards. My son had his ROTC awards ball on Saturday evening too. It was a boon to be able to attend the prophecy conference at least partially as well.
For the first time in four years we were able to attend the church my son has attended during his time at college.
Impressions.
Today we are back at school, resting, and getting things in order. We are sorting thoughts. As with any prophecy conference, all of the information must synthesize in the head and process. Information overload is par for the course.
Let me make an attempt at description.
First of all, I'd like to give a nod to those who think prophecy people are fear-mongers. The themes of this conference were not exactly uplifting. One speaker in particular seemed to delight in "shock value" presentations. I'm not saying that his information was bad, but he liked to leave us on the down themes of future developments.
Yes. Things are looking bad for the future.
Some topics we heard about were famines and death, Christian persecution and earthquakes.
I loved it when the preacher condemned Monsanto. It's heartening to see the heartland reject the evils of GMO's and their effect on the world. Famine certainly would be easy to bring about with the monopoly seed companies have on the food supply. One person's decision could bring down a major food shortage these days. That's power, and I don't think it's very benign.
I appreciated the talks on worldviews. It's important to have the CORRECT worldview these days. Don't trust yourself to come up with it either. It comes from something outside of man. It comes from God, and His Word. READ THE BIBLE to get your worldview, and trust God to impart the correct ideas. He will.
One of the most interesting sessions was on the new age movement of festivals such as "Burning Man," "Tomorrowland," and "Wickerman."
These music and yoga gatherings attract up to half a million participants. They go on for several days, and they all bring about inner transformation. This transformation seems incredibly positive and affirming, but it is in fact in the spirit of this world, demonic. People claim to be changed forever. The earth is the focus, and self actualization a goal. "We are the world...A brighter day....let's start living..."
One of the events common in these festivals is the burning of a large effigy. This is actually an ancient pagan ritual.
Rev. 9 (NKJ) Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
The effigy is a picture of the beast, coming up out of the burning pit.
Fascinating, and a warning. Don't worship the beast! Yet that is exactly what the participants at these festivals do. They recognize the power of the devil as the greatest power.
Christians should have absolutely nothing to do with it, yet it appears many who claim to be Christian follow along blindly into these festivals, all in the spirit of unity.
Unity is exactly what the anti-Christ wants. Unity against God.
Remember, Jesus came to divide. He says in Matthew 10:
35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;
God will bring His kingdom together. Man is unable to do so. God will bring destruction, God will bring judgement. God will do His work. Anything man does to unify or unite is not of God.
God. That is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Not Allah, not any other god) Yahweh has the power to bring His kingdom into being. We, his followers, need not worry on this score. We are called to love and serve Him and watch His plan unfold.
We, the people who believe in Jesus and are born of the Spirit, need not strive for world unity! We follow the Holy Spirit, and His power and strength.
One thing I love about prophecy is the hope it gives. God fulfills prophecy that is from Him. His prophecies are true.
That brings me to the sermon we heard at Salem Ev. Free church yesterday morning. The first point the pastor made was that God's prophecies are fulfilled. They were fulfilled when Jesus was on the cross. (The piercings, the stripes, the wounds) We can infer that all of His prophecies in Scripture will be fulfilled.
To those of us who believe, the evidence of God's power and fulfillment of promise is unavoidable. We are overwhelmed by the statistical improbability of life, of DNA, of creation, of prophecy fulfilled. It's just too amazing to deny!
Yes, things look bleak. The world is headed down a path of deception toward a devilish scheme predicted in Bible prophecy.
But we, God's own beloved followers, have much hope. We know our Savior comes for us, and we have eternity with Him, the true God of the Universe.
Gladness.
So much more to write... but I must get back to getting order here at home.
One more observation: people who like prophecy conferences don't appear to be the "movers and shakers" of the world. In classic "last shall be first" principle, those attending the conference were the weak and needy. God has such a sense of humor and love! It is truly the weak who will see His power, and God gets the glory. There in Nordic territory (Moorhead is a Norwegian stronghold) were the weak, the maimed, the downtrodden. I'm not saying one can't be beautiful to attend prophecy conferences, but you might stick out!
Weak ones, take courage!
