Feast of Trumpets — Seventh Trumpet When the seventh trumpet sounds it will usher in the return of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. This vision of the future seems fantastical. And yet it has been prophesied for millennia. Daniel wrote of this cataclysmic change in world governance when he revealed the meaning of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The dream was an allegory of a great statue representing the great world powers in succession, beginning with the Babylonian King as the head of gold. As history has confirmed, the silver kingdom of Medo-Persia, and the bronze kingdom of Greece, were followed by successive resurrections of the great Roman system. And yet, ultimately all of these great civilizations will be destroyed, so that not a trace of them will be found. But what will replace these corrupt oppressive systems of governance?
September 11th, 2021
Feast of Trumpets 2021 – The Seventh Trumpet & Christ’s Return
Comments Off on Feast of Trumpets 2021 – The Seventh Trumpet & Christ’s Return, Videos, by CGP.September 5th, 2021
Feast of Trumpets the Day of Reckoning
Comments Off on Feast of Trumpets the Day of Reckoning, Videos, by CGP.Isaiah’s Prophetic Message In poetic language and metaphor Isaiah expressed the message of the Feast of Trumpets the Day of Reckoning. It is a sobering warning to everyone for all time, but most importantly to the leaders who dictate political, social, economic, and military policy. No matter who you are or where you are, God is promising to cut down the proud and the arrogant. He will destroy the great economic system – their magnificent ship of state – along with the builders. Much later the apostle John wrote a similar vision in the book of Revelation. John revisited this theme of the Feast of Trumpets the Day of Reckoning when he scribed the message, “The great Babylon is fallen, fallen…” He recorded God’s judgment against the elite rulers of the world who had built a life of luxury on the backs of those they had enslaved. They would fall in a day and be brought to ruin in a single hour. And the merchants of the world who had profited from this tyrannical but profitable system would mourn its destruction. But why would God judge them so harshly?
August 14th, 2021
True Spiritual Privilege
Comments Off on True Spiritual Privilege, Videos, by CGP.Privilege with Obligations In a world where the epithet of ‘white privilege’ is voiced in a spirit of ignorance or resentment, it might be wise to consider the issue of spiritual privilege. Understanding our spiritual privilege as Christians, and children of God, is a key to our spiritual future. This privilege comes as the result of a covenant made millennia ago with the father of the faith, Abraham. God’s covenant meant that God acknowledged Abraham as his own kin. What a privilege to be part of God’s family. And with this covenant came promises of great blessings. But the covenant also included obligations. God expected Abraham to ‘Keep the way of the Lord.’ He was obliged to communicate God’s family values of what was right and wrong to his children. In fact, God had chosen Abraham because he knew his character, that he would teach his children God’s standards of right living. So are you among the privileged?
August 7th, 2021
Tenth Commandment — Overcome Covetousness
Comments Off on Tenth Commandment — Overcome Covetousness, Videos, by CGP.Defining Covetousness The tenth commandment — avoiding covetousness — is perhaps the most challenging of God’s divine directives. God is very concerned about what we think, as thought often leads to action. Covetous thoughts, those keen, overwhelming, selfish desires must be overcome. The scripture contrasts the passionate fleshly lusts and urges against the passionate godly desires. But how can we know whether our passions are good or bad? It is only through a thorough understanding of God’s law that we can understand is will. Those caught up in covetousness are those guilty of ‘anomia,’ lawlessness.
Christianity without Christ? Is America being subverted by a fake Christianity – a Christianity without Christ and his teaching? A recent Barna study concluded that being Christian in America in 2021 has very little connection to the message of scripture. Modern Christians are not ‘sola scriptura’ Christians as were the Celtic Christians of the 400’s AD or the European Reformers of the 1500’s. In fact you might think that these Christians consider Eve’s choice of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as the wiser choice…if they even know the biblical story. We might wonder if the decline in America is a consequence of an erosion of basic values and the watered-down Christianity that is the most popular religious worldview.
July 11th, 2021
The Prophets — Hosea Speaks Truth to Power
Comments Off on The Prophets — Hosea Speaks Truth to Power, Videos, by CGP.Hosea Speaks to Political Turmoil Hosea witnessed the decline and ultimate fall of the 10 tribe confederation of Israel, and his messages resonate with us today. Decades earlier the once united Kingdom that had flourished under the reigns of David and Solomon became divided into two warring factions. The ten northern tribes led by Ephraim chose Samaria as their stronghold. The 3 tribes under the Davidic dynasty in the south continued to be ruled from Jerusalem. But it wasn’t long before the northern kingdom dissolved into political chaos. The nation had experienced a time of great prosperity and expansion under the rule of Jeroboam II, but in Hosea’s day trouble was on the horizon. In short succession within a 13 year period, 5 kings rose to power through a series of murders, intrigue, and barbarism. This time of great instability led to a situation where the dominant power of the day, Assyria, stepped into the political fray. The Assyrian king, Pul, demanded a tribute of 1000 talents. And the Israelite ‘puppet’ king willingly extorted the money from his wealthiest citizens in order to secure his position of power.
July 3rd, 2021
Ninth Commandment — Truth and Your Neighbour
Comments Off on Ninth Commandment — Truth and Your Neighbour, Videos, by CGP.A Society Where Truth Falters In a time when liars figure, and figures lie, what is the relevance of the ninth commandment, ” You shall not bear false witness?” Was it just a narrow rule given to a primitive people dealing with perjury in courtroom situations? Or does this principle encoded in God’s divine directives have universal applications? The apostle John, writing at the end of the early church era, boldly asserted that sin was lawlessness — a disregard for God’s commandments. Today we are seeing the results in nations that have abandoned God’s instructions and tolerated lies or neglected the truth. Politicians massage the facts to garner votes, financiers colour the stats to manipulate the economy, researchers skew their results to please their patrons, cubicle warriors use rumours to smear their competition, educators teach half-truths to comply with the system, and media outlets endorse fake news to promote their agenda. And as Paul warned, religious charlatans would gain prominence, both fooling others and being fooled by obscuring the truth of scripture. Who is My Neighbour?
June 26th, 2021
The Prophets — Amos Delivers God’s Message
Comments Off on The Prophets — Amos Delivers God’s Message, Videos, by CGP.Amos Speaks Truth to Power Amos, the prophet, understood that the Lord God loved his people, even though they had rebelled time after time. So God had commissioned Amos, a farmer, to take a message to the leaders of the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel in Samaria. The Lord was giving them both a warning, and a message of hope. Amos knew that the Lord had chosen Israel to bring the light of truth and hope to the world. But they could not do that task unless they were willing to walk in agreement with God. So Amos, was tasked with speaking God’s truth to the powerful leaders of the day, who had forgotten God.
June 23rd, 2021
Eighth Commandment — Combatting Theft and Deception
Comments Off on Eighth Commandment — Combatting Theft and Deception, Videos, by CGP.The Way of Deception The Eighth commandment, Lo T’ganav literally means, “NO you steal!” This is God’s instruction for combatting theft and deception. It is sometimes easy to ignore our complicity in this problem. We can perhaps quickly say that we are not pirates, burglars, robbers, or thieves. But then, perhaps we are not truly grasping the full implications of this command. This teaching underscores a deep systemic problem in society that has been a part of humanity for millennia. Paul characterized it as the ‘carnal’ attitude, that was opposed to God’s will and would ultimately end in death. The way of thieves was one of deception, as their intent was to gain through stealth what was not rightfully theirs. So do we follow this way or support it by our actions or attitudes?
June 19th, 2021
The Prophets — Moses’ Message for Our Day
Comments Off on The Prophets — Moses’ Message for Our Day, Videos, by CGP.Disciples of Moses? The Pharisees of Jesus’ day thought of themselves as disciples of Moses. They thought they knew Moses’ message, but they were wrong. Jesus consistently exposed the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. For though they made a great show of fastidiously tithing on thyme leaves, an insignificant matter, in reality they were cheats and cons. They had avoided the fly in their meal, but had proverbially “swallowed the camel.” The politically correct crowd of the time claimed Moses’ message as their own, but the truth was quite the opposite. They lacked the justice, mercy, or faith that Moses had taught. None of these hypocritical people kept the law, the teachings God delivered through Moses. In fact, they were plotting to kill Jesus, the one who was trying to correct their lack of understanding. Jesus had not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to make the full intent of these writings known. The people would reap what they were sowing, just as Moses prophesied. The apostle Paul encountered similar self-righteous attitudes when confronting the Jewish religious leadership that challenged his ministry to the Gentiles. Are we or our modern religious leaders guilty of holding similar attitudes towards God’s law?