DAILY DEVOTIONAL – APRIL 1, 2023 God’s Purpose in Our Wounds By Tim Dilena

In The Root of the Righteous, A. W. Tozer wrote, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” God is smart. He'll tell you what's ahead, but he won’t tell you how you’re going to get there. He gave Joseph a dream where he saw sheaths of wheat in the field bow before his sheath. God showed him what was going to happen but never showed him how he was going to get there.  Let’s be real. If God had showed him the process, it wouldn’t have been a dream.  It would have been a nightmare. Let me tell you the three things that God did to prepare Joseph to lead and be second-in-command of a country. 1. He was going to be betrayed by the closest people in his life. 2. He was going to be accused of something, and he couldn’t defend himself. 3. Promises were going to be made to him, and promises were going to be broken. If God can wound you deeply in your pride and self-sufficiency, he can begin to use you greatly. Here’s two ways that happens. First, nobody heard Joseph’s side of the story except those of us who are reading it thousands of years later.  That’s amazing because we all want to defend ourselves, react from our hurt pride, take control of the situation.  Sometimes the greatest lesson that God teaches you in this hard school is to keep your mouth shut.  Stop talking about it to every friend who will listen; get off of social media; let God defend you.  Genesis 30:33 is a verse that I've lived by, and it says, “My honesty will answer for me later.”  Most times, I want my honesty to answer for me now, but the Bible says later. Second, difficulty is not necessarily directional.  This is what I mean: Just because it's difficult doesn't mean that God's will is for you to move on.  It's poor providence that you’re supposed to move somewhere else just because where you're at right now is hard.  What if difficulties are God deepening something in us?  What if God himself has led you to that difficult place?  If we’re serious about seeing what God has for us, we will wait in the difficulties, with our wounds, for him teach his lessons to us. After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.

 

DONATE Saturday, April 1, 2023 The Conquering King LISTEN   “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.” —Zechariah 9:9  Often when Jesus performed a miracle, He would say something like this: “Don’t tell anyone. My time has not yet come.” But ultimately His time did come, the time for Him to go and voluntarily die on the cross. And on the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday, Jesus did something that we might call a real attention-getter: He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Now, it may seem odd to us that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we think of as a humble creature. From our perspective, perhaps an Arabian stallion would have been more appropriate. However, the meaning was not lost on the Romans or the Jews. It was a perfect choice. In Roman culture, a hero returning victoriously from war would ride in on a donkey as the crowd laid out palm branches before him. For the Romans, Jesus effectively was declaring Himself a king. Also, the Jews knew that when the Messiah came, He would be riding on a donkey. Speaking through the prophet Zechariah, God said, “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9 NLT). This was something very significant, and the people understood it. Add to this the fact that Jesus was a wanted man. There was a price on his head. The leading priests and Pharisees had said that if anyone knew where Jesus was, they should report it immediately. Jesus was playing His hand, if you will. To the Romans He was declaring Himself as a conqueror. And to the Jews He was declaring Himself as the Messiah. Jesus didn’t enter Jerusalem as a helpless victim. He arrived as a powerful victor, marching bravely into battle. Share this today:

The Marriage Devotional by the Luskos Get Your Copy » Infuse your marriage with renewed joy, tenderness, and strength with 52 devotions written by Levi and Jennie Lusko. Whether your marriage needs to be fine-tuned or completely overhauled, you can discover biblical principles and practical guidance that will bring a vibrancy to your relationship that only Jesus can give. Learn to cultivate your marriage so that it doesn’t just survive, but thrive! Copyright © 2023 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Harvest Ministries exists with your support to Know God and Make Him Known. If you would like, you can update your preferences. This email may be considered an advertising or promotional email. Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie P.O. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514-4000 Phone: 1-800-821-3300

 

In this mailing: Gordon G. Chang: TikTok: America's Do-Or-Die Moment with China Amir Taheri: The French Model: Another Crisis TikTok: America's Do-Or-Die Moment with China by Gordon G. Chang  •  April 2, 2023 at 5:00 am       Congress is now considering the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats That Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, sponsored by Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and John Thune (R-S.D.). The RESTRICT Act, as the proposed legislation is known, creates a framework for the secretary of commerce to review foreign-linked social media platforms and to take action if necessary. The legislation, intended to target TikTok, is controversial and being criticized as overbroad. Xi is swiftly erecting totalitarian controls inside China, which he undoubtedly will extend to America and the rest of the world if he gets the opportunity. In short, the threat to the U.S. is existential. The threat is also urgent because China's ambitious ruler is making preparations for war. His regime in fact declared a "people's war" on America, which is the Communist Party's way of justifying a strike on the U.S. There are, consequently, critical factors that legitimize curbs that would otherwise infringe First Amendment protections. TikTok, after all, is one of Xi's tools to take down the United States. Radio Free Asia reported in August 2020 that a People's Liberation Army intelligence unit, working out of the now-closed Houston consulate, was using big data to identify Americans likely to participate in Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests and then created and sent them "tailor-made" videos on how to organize riots. Related reporting reveals the videos were distributed by TikTok. China's app can access each keystroke of every user and even their location at any moment. "It is very much like giving them the keys to the kingdom," said Evan Greer of Fight for the Future, a privacy group, to Fox Business. "Everything is seen in China," a member of TikTok's Trust and Safety Department said. A "Beijing-based engineer" known as "Master Admin" had "access to everything." TikTok had said it never shared user data with the Chinese government and would not do so. The BuzzFeed reporting revealed this assurance and similar ones to the federal government were false. The Communist Party has used TikTok to, among other things, glorify drug use, push critical race theory, and amplify Russian disinformation about the war in Ukraine. The CCP does not allow the Chinese people to use the app. TikTok's twin site in China, Douyin, promotes patriotic themes. China's regime has a dagger, in the form of TikTok, pointed at the heart of the United States, and Americans have to figure out a way to make sure the Communist Party can no longer use it, First Amendment or no First Amendment. "The Constitution," as is often said, "is not a suicide pact." China's regime has a dagger, in the form of TikTok, pointed at the heart of the United States, and Americans have to figure out a way to make sure the Communist Party can no longer use it, First Amendment or no First Amendment. "The Constitution," as is often said, "is not a suicide pact." (Photo by Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images) Adi Robertson, The Verge's senior tech and policy editor, makes an impassioned plea to not ban TikTok, China's popular video-sharing app, on free speech grounds. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), speaking on the floor of the Senate on March 29, also raised First Amendment objections to a proposed TikTok prohibition. Nonetheless, it is time to either ban TikTok or force the sale of all its shares to American parties. The American owners must also control all the app's algorithms, in particular, the algorithms curating content. If Beijing does not permit such a sale, the federal government should expropriate TikTok. "The First Amendment includes a right for citizens to receive information—even, in fact, foreign propaganda," Robertson correctly writes in "The TikTok Ban Is a Betrayal of the Open Internet." "And banning TikTok would affect not only speech from TikTok but also the speech of users on the platform, who could see their videos made inaccessible." Continue Reading Article

 

Sunday, Apr 2, 2023 Satan’s Empty Boxes “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” — 1 Peter 5:8 Have you ever done something sinful, something that seemed so exciting and promising at first, only to feel empty after actually doing it? When we pursue sin, we’ll always feel that way—left high and dry. This empty sensation reminds me of a story told by the preacher Clovis Chappell. Once there was a Christmas party in an orphanage. Beneath the tree were all sorts of beautifully wrapped packages. With all the children gathered around him, Santa Claus passed out the gifts. As he did so, everyone excitedly opened his or her present, enthusiastically examining each new toy. Everyone, that is, except for one young man, the village idiot. With no package to open, he sat, crestfallen, in the corner. Upon realizing his bad fortune, everyone became quiet, and all the children stared at him. Just at that moment, Santa Claus reached behind the tree, pulled out the biggest box of them all, and handed it to the village idiot. The young man’s face lit up. Excitedly, he tore away the ribbons and wrapping paper and pulled off the lid only to find an empty box. As he stared despondently into it, all the children laughed. Many of us have that same experience again and again in life. Life is filled with empty boxes, and we each take our turn at playing the idiot. “Give me the goods,” we say, and Satan hands us an empty box. What are these empty boxes? Sin. Satan says, “Oh, just one little lie” or “one little look” or “Everybody’s doing it.” But when we give in, we realize he has taken us again, promising the world but delivering nothing. The Devil is the great illusionist, the great liar. He promises all manner of delights. He promises excitement, but in the end he clothes his victims in filthy rags, hunger, and misery. If these people decide to turn around and return to their Father’s house, Satan sends all the bloodhounds of Hell after them to overwhelm them with temptations and pull them down into the miry clay. How foolish is the man or woman who believes the promises of the Father of Lies. Every good gift comes down from above, not up from the pit with its hook that pulls you into the lake of fire. Have you opened any empty boxes lately? If so, ask God to forgive you and show you how to pursue His righteousness. As you seek God, He’ll help you discover the excitement and abundance of living obediently in Him. “We must not so much as taste of the devil’s broth, lest at last he bring us to eat of his beef.” Thomas Hall

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Found In Him

 

Found In Him – Toni M. Babcock

“…I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” (Philippians 3:8b-9a CSB).

There is no place we should rather be found than ‘in Jesus’. 

This is the hope of every believer in Christ. 

The alternative is to be ‘un-found’ — lost in a world plagued with evil and sin. 

Jesus knew the stakes involved when he stepped onto planet Earth. 

He once responded to those who chose to not believe His words, 

“…You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins, For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.’” (John 8:23b-24 CSB).

 
This was a dire warning. 

The people he was speaking to were fastidious about keeping the Law and appearing righteous before men. 

However, the weight that tipped the scale was not due to their goodness or badness, but to their sin of unbelief — the one sin that outweighed them all. 

Clothed in their own righteousness, they failed to remove the filthy rags of self-reliance (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV) and clothe themselves with the righteousness of Christ.

The good news is, Christ is Risen; and all who believe have been raised with Him, (Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV) (Ephesians 2:4-10 NKJV). 

As a result, Christ’s resurrection empowers a faith that ‘puts on the Lord Jesus Christ’ forsaking sin to follow Him, (Romans 13:14 NKJV).

 
The empty tomb reminds us of two spiritual realities; to live ‘in Christ’ through faith, or to die in sin in despair, thus the message to the world is clear. 

Let no one carry the weight of unbelief to the grave. Christian, proclaim it — 

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31 NKJV). Halleluiah!

 
Toni is author of Reflections from the Heart, in Light of the Gospel of Jesus, and The Stone Writer, Christian Fiction for Young Readers and Teens. Contact

Report estimates death toll of 300,000 from COVID shots!

And $150 billion in economic productivity lost

A new report on COVID, and the shots that were used against it, has revealed a stunning human toll from those "medications": 26.6 million injured, 1.36 million disabled and 300,000 dead.

Nor is the economic loss easier to accept: $150 billion.

And these are from the shots, not the COVID-19 virus itself, a coronavirus that likely came out of a lab in Wuhan, China, that was doing experiments on how to make those viruses more lethal, and more easily spread.

The estimates are from Phinance Technologies, which explained, "The SARS-CoV-2 virus outbreak and the political and societal process that started unfolding in its wake will be looked at in retrospect as one of the most important moments in modern history. The waves of fear that the invisible threat posed to each and every individual united them in the acceptance of a solution to the problem."

TRENDING: God's prescription for national healing

It continued, "The monolithic solution that corporate, regulatory and societal leaders came up with was a novel inoculation technology using mRNA to instruct our body cells to produce a particular section of the virus (spike protein) that the body could build defenses against. This technology was previously forbidden to be used in human subjects in several international bio-ethics treaties."

According to a report from Liberty Counsel, "The 2022 Vaccine Damage Report is a culmination of one year’s worth of data compiled by former Wall Street analyst Ed Dowd and his team at the research firm, Phinance Technologies. The report reveals the injuries, disabilities and deaths, or 'human cost,' of the COVID-19 'vaccine' program in the United States for the year 2022. The research team focused their research on the 148 million employed Americans between the ages of 16 to 64."

Dowd reported that the injuries' cost was estimated at $89.9 billion, the cost of disabilities at $52.2 billion and deaths at $5.6 billion.

The report estimated a 50% increase in lost worktime rates, a 28% increase in absence rates, and an estimated 26.6 million individuals affected.

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"Regarding disabilities of a civilian labor force aged 16-64, there was a 24.6% rise in disabilities since 2021 and an estimated 1.36 million individuals affected," the report said..

The mortality rate for the age group 25-64 reported a 23% excess rate. with the "estimated 300,000 excess deaths."

The report notes, "While these groupings characterize different levels of damage from the inoculations, they are not static and could interact with each other. For instance, there might be individuals who had no visible effects after vaccination but nonetheless could still be impacted from the inoculations and could therefore be represented in the sub-group of injured individuals. In a similar way, individuals with mild injuries from the inoculations could, over time, develop severe injuries to the extent of being disabled, or an extreme outcome such as death. The likely path of outcomes would be from injury to disability to death. We need to consider, however, that to a lesser extent there could be individuals who suffer extreme outcomes when they had previously only experienced mild injuries until then. We can relate this with the anecdotes of otherwise healthy athletes suffering heart attacks during sports competitions at an alarming rate since the 2021 inoculations."

Dowd explained, "Our economic damage estimates are what we can measure. The knock effects such as lost productivity due to a worker being present but working at say 50%-75% of capacity is missed plus burn out from those picking up slack. Also supply chain delays are not captured. The multiplier effects are massive."

The report also pointed out, "The decision to accept a novel type of 'vaccine' and roll it out to mass populations in such a short timescale, is probably one of the most important of the current century. The fear in the population and the hope of a universal solution led populations to accept the novel 'vaccines' and then to accept the new technology as a platform for many other products. Pandora's box was open and it is an obvious boon to the pharmaceutical industry. It was done with consent and even encouragement from the gatekeepers (governments, regulators, academia) and allied with a media campaign that reminded us of wartime."

The study's estimates also explained Pfizer and Moderna, makers of the shots, "combined made $11.5 billion in revenues" in the U.S. in 2022.

"Every dollar they made cost the U.S. economy $13."

EDITOR’S NOTE: Question: Why do the political and corporate leaders of America – long the freest, most successful, most prosperous and most Christian nation in history – bow and scrape before China, a ruthless, communist, totalitarian and explicitly atheistic dictatorship openly committed to ruling the world, including America?

The astonishing answers come into focus only when one contemplates both the unprecedented level of political and financial corruption in America’s ruling class (multiple Biden family members received $31 million in payola from China), and simultaneously the communist Chinese government’s brilliantly devious methods of unconventional total warfare, by which China is stealthily infiltrating, subverting, corrupting and colonizing the United States of America.

The China threat has rarely been more dramatically or pointedly documented than in the sensational March issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled “HOW CHINA IS CONQUERING AMERICA.” Whistleblower is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.