TRUE HOPE TIMES


Volume 3 January 21, 2012

Hello,
This week we continue our study series on "2012:  True Prophecies or False Predictions?"  We will be answering much of what has been touted as impending doom in store for the world!  This is also the subject of our True Hope Live! Sunday messages which you can listen to by visiting our Sermon Studio - - in fact you can hear many of our messages on various issues by clicking here and we invite you to do so!
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From Dr. Timothy
Dr. Timothy Hoflund
2012 - TRUE PROPHECIES -or-
FALSE PREDICTIONS?
 
Part 2

Wow!  From the Mayan Calendar to business men "in the know" we are being hit from all sides with predictions ranging from economic catastrophe to the catastrophic end of planet earth and just about everything in between!

Hearing a prophecy about 2012 (or anything else for that matter) is a much different matter than listening to a prophecy!  Being aware of the noise of a voice or even being aware of the words spoken (hearing) is far different than accepting what is being said in a way that will influence your thinking and decision making processes (listening).

On the one hand, in today's American society, it is just about impossible to NOT hear the many voices crying out with this prophecy or that ... on the other hand that does not mean that we should listen to those voices!  In fact the Lord provides us with very pointed instruction about this very thing!

First of all, Jesus declares that HIS sheep KNOW HIS VOICE - - furthermore, one test of IF we are His sheep is found in His explanation about LISTENING!  See what our Lord says - -
  • Jesus answered Pilate saying ". . . Every person who listens to my voice comes from truth.''  (John 18:37 Simple English Version) 
    Therefore, if we are "of the truth" we will not pay attention to a voice that is not the voice of Jesus Christ our Lord!
  • Before this Jesus had said - - ". . . but you don't believe, because you are not my sheep.  My sheep listen to my voice. I know them. They follow me."  (John 10:26-27)
    Thus, if we are HIS, we may hear the sounds of other voices speaking but we will follow ONLY HIM!  It is HIS voice alone that we listen to!
My point is this:  If some other religion or some other society/culture prophecies something that the Bible does not prophesy - - then it is just plain error to follow those voices that do not belong to Jesus Christ!

Now, here is another nugget - - IF Jesus Christ is YOUR TRUTH, (He says that "I am the way, the truth and the life ...") then why give ear to any other voice that predicts the future?  Only Jesus Christ holds the future in His hands and no other entity offers the truth about the future!

In fact God instructs His own people about this very thing in Deuteronomy 13!  Here God clearly distinguishes the difference between accurate predictions and following what is True!
  • 1.  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and
     2.  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
     3.  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
     4.  Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
  • Just because a prediction may prove accurate does not mean that the prophecy is true or that the source of the prophecy should be accepted!
Now let's consider for just a moment the MESSAGE of the Mayan, the Hopi, the I-Ching and other sources of the predictions concerning 2012 ...
... these are all godless, pagan, idolatrous cultures that worship and follow false gods!

In other words, the prophecies are given with the intent of drawing people to follow false gods and not the One True God!  In fact, the Maya declare that at the time of this 13th b'ak'tun their god B'olon-Yokte' shall be revealed in great display!

So here is my challenge to the people of God who are mindful of and many of whom are basing their thoughts of the future on the false prophecies of 2012:  IF the predictions made are made by a people who reject Jehovah, who are pagan, idolatrous worshippers of false gods THEN why are you following their voices?

Many Blessings!

NEXT TIME - - What do these so called prophecies REALLY SAY?


Many Blessings!
Dr. Timothy


PROPHET'S CORNER
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
  Isaiah 5:20-21
Judge: Following Christian Beliefs Is Wrong

From:  WND.NET

A ministry that follows the dictates of its faith is engaging in wrongdoing, according to a New Jersey judge who recommended today that the state Division on Civil Rights find the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association violated the state’s nondiscrimination law.

“The respondent violated the [Law Against Discrimination] when it refused to conduct a civil-union ceremony for Ms. Bernstein and Ms. Paster,” wrote Solomon Metzger, an administrative law judge whose determination will become final if not overturned by the Division of Civil Rights.

“Respondent opposes same-sex unions as a matter of religious belief, and in 2007 found itself on the wrong side of recent changes in the law.”

The seaside location has been popular for years for weddings, but the association, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, determined it could not biblically allow same-sex ceremonies to take place on its property.

So when Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster signed up for such a ceremony, they were turned down. They filed the discrimination complaint, and the state’s Division on Civil Rights joined their cause.

“The government should not be able to force a private Christian organization to use its property in a way that would violate its own religious beliefs,” said Jim Campbell, a litigation staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund.

“Religious groups have the right to use their private property in a way that is consistent with their beliefs. That right, protected by both the New Jersey and U.S. constitutions, obviously trumps any law enacted by the state’s legislature.”

ADF, which represented the ministry, said would it consider the next step in the case, but its argument is that the ministry is exercising its constitutionally protected right to use its private property in a way consistent with its beliefs.

The women made their request in 2007, and the association declined because such an event would have violated its religious convictions.

ADF had argued that the association’s evangelistic goals include even classical concerts and Saturday-night family entertainment.

“Through these events, the association connects with people who might not attend its worship services and encourages them to attend those services in the future. For example, the association begins its Saturday-night family entertainment events with a brief prayer and typically a quick promotion of its upcoming religious services and events. These are just some of the diverse ways that the association strives, in all its programs, to reach the entire community with the love and Gospel message of Jesus Christ.”

Allowing various events at its pavilion, a wood-framed, open-air structure overlooking the Atlantic, was part of such an outreach, the arguments said.

Metzger’s opinion noted that since the dispute erupted, the state denied a portion of the organization’s tax exemption relating to the piece of property, because it “was not available on an equal basis.”

Ocean Grove then requested and obtained a tax exemption for the property under a different application standard.

“As a religious organization that deems same-gender unions sinful, respondent is loath to be associated with such ceremonies and maintains that compelling this through the LAD violates its right of expressive association, free speech and free exercise of religion,” Metzger said.

But he wrote, “That it had never before declined a wedding, other than for scheduling conflicts, only means that it had never before been asked to permit a same-gender service.”

 
Messages From Leaders

QUOTES TO PONDER
By Various People of Faith 


"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every
portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the
world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing
Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle
rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on
all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he
flinches at that point.  - Martin Luther
 
"If the doctrine of Christian union is true, then division and
sectarianism are a great and prodigious evil, and therefore ought to
be abolished. Who then will lay the axe to the root of this corrupt
tree to help cut it down?"  -D.S. Warner
 
"There is no Christian Gospel if history simply unwinds into a
meaningless puddle, if the cosmos simply escapes into a cataclysmic
black hole, or if the universe finally dies of exhausted energy.
Without belief in a biblical eschatology, there is no Christian hope.
Without a sense of perfect moral judgment in the end, the human heart
is homeless."  - R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
 
"To be where God is quietly talked about seems a lovely thing. But to
be where God really grips us is a risky matter. As long as a Living
God is about and given any chance at all, it will be found dangerous
to be in His presence. Dangerous, that is, to everything that is more
to our liking than it is to His."  - Dr. Paul S. Rees
 
"If rich men only knew when they died, how . . .
their relatives would scramble for their money,
the worms for their bodies, and
the devil for their souls,
they would not be so anxious to save money!"  - William Tiptaft
 
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