How Reformation Affected Your Life

It doesn't matter if you are Christian, atheist, or agnostic. Reformation affected your life. It is 500

years to the day since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, a modern equivalent of a Facebook post ( yes you can thank Martin Luther for Facebook), which began the Reformation.

And though Roman Catholic Church still mourns this historic event as a  tragedy that brought division to their Church, and a wave of violence to Europe, it also brought the Western world civil liberties, freedom of conscience, science, modern democratic values, and a sharp increase in both knowledge and the standards of living among ordinary people. All the things you enjoy everyday and take for granted.

In standing up to the papacy in matters of faith and conscience and encouraging people to know God and the Bible for themselves by translating the sacred texts into German, Luther began a spiritual and literary revolution in Germany, and the rest of Europe. People wanted to learn to read, so they could read the Bible and the writings of Luther, as well as other reformers. Soon political leaders also began to stand up to the papacy since people stopped believing in their ability to condemn them to hell for any act  of disobedience which eventually led to separation of church and state, which we so value today. The Catholic Church could not control people like they used to since the priests were no longer the only ones who could read and interpret the Scriptures, so they began to enjoy not only freedom of faith, but also became free to discover the world around them and how it worked as their expression of faith thus beginning the scientific revolution, which makes it quite ironic today for some atheist scientists to accuse Christians of being anti-science when it was them who laid the foundations for it.

There was also initially a big wave of violence against the Church and state, but it was not as much a result of Reformation ( Luther never incited anyone to violence) as the result of  spiritual, economic, and political oppression the common people endured under the Roman Catholic Church and Aristocracy controlled by it. Many people sought revenge. It was like taking the lid off od the pressure cooker, but once it ebbed away Europe was on a path to much more prosperity and advancements in every area of life.

You might even say that Luther began the first social media revolution comparable to invention of the Internet. His writing written in common German circulated all over Germany  thus unifying German language, and the same happened in other countries and their languages. Puritans took the ideals of Reformation to America, which made it into  the most powerful and prosperous country in the world. I dare say that America would never become what it is today if Reformation never happened, so whether you knew it or not Reformation affected your very life in countless ways. What changes did one man bring into the world! It is amazing when you think about it. One lowly unknown priest in a little unknown university town changed the world.

But then, so did Jesus. He also came into this world as a lowly carpenter  from very little esteemed Jewish village of Nazareth. Didn't He say that whoever believes and follows Him will do great things? Do likewise. Be the light to this world. Your words and actions have more impact on the world around you than you know.

Author's Note: Photo of the Martin Luther statue by John Rallison

One Year To Jerusalem 2018

All eyes again begin to turn towards Israel as we enter one last year to its 70th anniversary of rebirth as a nation, and as I explained exactly 9 years ago when I first published the "Countdown to Jerusalem 2018," the number 70 is very significant in Israel's history, therefore we expect something historically significant to happen in Israel between now and May-September 2018. 

Already there are news coming out that some landmark treaty is about to be signed by the Palestinians as a result of Donald Trump's efforts in mediating peace between the two nations, the holy grail of every new American administration.

But of course this game was played before by Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat before him with every new American President, only for the agreement to be broken by another wave of Palestinian violence, so everyone is wondering why this one should be any different?

I guess we will believe it when we see it, but if indeed this agreement will be successful in creating even some temporary peace and stability in the region, then it could lead to more work of restoration in Israel, perhaps even the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Jerusalem or if it falls apart it could lead to another war against Israel that the Jewish people will yet again win.

Either way, be prepared to hear more and more in the news about Israel as this year unfolds, and to see more intense upheaval in the world as the birth pangs of Messiah's Kingdom continue to intensify. Europe will continue to deal with the refugee crisis that wars in the Middle East have caused, and so  will United States and Canada as greater number of refugees from Central America and Africa continue to pour in because of the continued conflicts, famine, and economic instability there.

The British spat with European Union over its exit from it will cause in turn economic fears in the euro zone, which may lead to the fall in the value of euro, and if our late brother John Paul Jackson heard from the Lord right, this in turn will cause the crash of the U.S. dollar, which may send a shock wave through the Canadian economy and cause the long overdue housing and credit bubble to burst. And there is also a possibility of a cyber attack on U.S. financial institutions and/ or the electrical grid for which the current "ransom" cyber attacks might well be a test run.

But will all that is going on for all those of us who know the Lord there are reasons for hope and we don't have to fear these things as many of us are being prepared for theses things. The Lord has been speaking to many of us personally about this for decades now and He warned us about it through the Bible thousands of years ago. If we put our trust in Him instead of the system of this world, we will be fine, especially if we have not entangled ourselves in it, if we live content owing nothing to no one except love, but if some of you don't, if you are in financial debt then it is the last minute to get your house in order.

There is plenty of sound advice on how to do that out there, so do not delay and begin to learn to live within or even below your means. Pay off all those credit cards as fast as you can, even if it means to live on rice and beans for a year, sell the stuff that don't really need and store some non perishable foods and other essentials, even if no crush happens, you will be better off this way anyways.  "Contentment with godliness is a great gain." ( 1 Timothy 6:6)

France Decides Their Identity And Future In The Second Round Of Presidential Elections

Decades of social engineering and unregulated immigration policy are now bringing many Western countries to the point of crisis over their identity and their future as citizens of native origin of those countries finally begin to push back against gradual destruction of their distinct cultures.

France is the country with over 1000 years of history and very strong national as well as cultural identity, but it also has the biggest Muslim population of all European countries and a very large immigrant population that began to have a real impact now on French identity and culture, which shows itself in big arguments over burkinis at the beach and women wearing burkas and headscarves in public places, which is considered "not French" by majority of indigenous French citizens. This clash had been escalating to violence over the years with Muslim women physically assaulting scantily clad French woman in a public park to police removing burkini off of a Muslim woman at the beach to a series of Islamic terror attacks in France in recent years and months.

This is a backdrop to today's presidential elections, in which two candidates represent two different visions for the country. Marine Le Pen represents those who wish to control immigration better and to ensure that new comers would not only respect, but assimilate to French culture thus preserving its traditional identity and retain its sovereignty within European Union or even leave it if they must, while Emmanuel Macron represent those in France who want to stay in European Union and  try to create some sort of unity in its fractured society and those who are afraid that any change or strong stand on immigration policy would cause the already frequent riots to turn to a full blown civil war.

This is a difficult choice that French citizens must make today and it is hard to say which side will win, but regardless of who will win, the identity and culture related problems will not go away and other Western countries are going to face the same problems in the near future as France faces today, if they won't change their approach to immigration, especially in the face of the millions of refugees that are flooding them due to wars taking place in Africa and Middle East.

So far, out of all Western countries Canada had been an example of high rate of assimilation of immigrants into the main stream Canadian culture, which celebrates unity in diversity, but that was largely the result of well crafted immigration policy that controlled the number of immigrants and refugees Canada was receiving every year with strict rules regarding the necessity of them knowing either French or English well enough to get around and get jobs before they received their citizenship and them being educated on Canadian values that they will have to abide by as Canadian citizens. Now the current Liberal government is rapidly changing that approach by increasing the numbers of immigrants and refugees received, effectively opening wide its American borders to anyone who wishes to come in, and fast tracking the citizenship even for those who did nit assimilate yet, and in my opinion this will bring down the road to Canada the very same problems that France is facing today. May God give wisdom to the French voters today and may the rest of us learn from Europe's mistakes.

How Alt Right Violence Helps The Cause Of Islamic Terrorism

It is quite ironic, but the ideology and actions of alt right terrorists such as Anders Breivik of Norway,  who claim to be concerned about Islamisation of Western societies, actually only helps the cause of those radical Muslims who wish to eventually impose Islamic laws on Western societies   and here is how.

When alt right terrorist come and kill Muslims in the Masques such as it was the case recently in Quebec, Canada or immigrants like in the case of Breivik, then Muslim terrorists use it even more as a tool to radicalize Muslim youth because it "proves" their narrative that Muslims and Islam are under attack and marginalized by white "Christian Crusaders" since to them all white people living in the West are "Christian" even though they might actually be atheists espousing alt right ideology like  Alexandre Bissonnette. Sadly even the Western main stream  media such as CBC also described him as a "white Christian"( proof: CBC: Candian Mass Murderers Usually White and Christian ) despite the fact that he liked among other things atheist's pages on Facebook, but they reported only that he liked Donald Trump and Marie Le Pen of France trying very unfairly in my opinion, to tie those two political leaders to alt right ideology and terrorism, thus helping to fuel more Islamic terrorism by confirming the radical Islamic narrative.

Furthermore, such violent attacks on Islamic communities will make it impossible to have an open discussion in Western societies about the limits to accommodation of Islam, which radical Islamic elements will exploit by accusing anyone voicing an opposition to establishment of Sharia law in Muslim communities in Canada, or U.S. of fueling hate that leads to violence.

The rise of nationalist sentiments both in Europe and America is a direct reaction to radical Islam, its ideology, and violence. The people who simply want to preserve their own culture, want safety from Islamic terrorism, and want  full sovereignty for their countries are not driven by the alt right ideology even though alt right activists agree with them on some points.

We have to remember that just because two groups of people agree with each other on couple of points, it does not mean that they are one and the same or that they agree with everything. If Western civilization is to survive and not descend into the chaos that we observe now taking place in the Middle East, we have to find a way to foster true tolerance, which is accepting one another's differences without allowing any one group in society to have a privileged status or impose their political, social, or religious ideology on everyone else. We cannot be calling every Muslim a terrorist, but we have to acknowledge the problem of Islamic terrorism head on. And we cannot call every one criticizing Islam and islamophobe, but we must condemn any type of violence against Muslims in the strongest terms.

Violence always breeds violence and must be condemned. That is why Jesus taught us Christians to love our enemies and not to return evil for evil, but to overcome evil with good. This is what real Christianity is about and that is why no alt right terrorist should ever be called a Christian, because to be a Christian means to be like Christ, and He never killed anyone, but instead He sacrificed His life for the sake of those who hated Him.